April 9, 2010
Science Friday: Be Bee Free
DeBee-ing your pad. Below and here.
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April 8, 2010
Tax Blogging: T-minus 9 Days
Yes, most Americans have an aversion to paying taxes, and some people get positively perturbed about the whole notion. But how does our tax burden compare with other countries as a percentage of the gross domestic product? Stats guru FiveThirtyEight does the math and provides the charts. Hint: don’t complain; we have it easy. But we also have crumbling schools and pot-holed roads and not a fast train in sight. (Spain’s tax burden is average, by the way, at around 36 percent while Sweden and Denmark, the “happiest place on earth,” duke it out for first at nearly 50 percent.)
If we could just have a system where Warren Buffet paid more taxes than his secretary, we might feel better.
April 6, 2010
Perspective
I’ve been feeling busy and grumpy since the weekend; family and friends left and I miss them. Work is piled high. Today, my tenant’s brand-new AC system broke. Taxes are almost due; there are six trucks at the construction site in my alley. Yuck.
Then I took a moment to make coffee and read Bob Herbert’s column while the water boiled. Once again, he brings me back to reality. I have a job, I have my legs, and I’m not in a war zone. I am lucky; privileged even.
I’m going to give to the Wounded Warriors program, force myself to find some perspective, and get back to work without complaining.
April 2, 2010
Science Friday: Protecting Bat Caves
Can cave gates protect bats? Below and here.
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April 1, 2010
The Top April Fool’s Day Hoaxes of All Time
At least as judged by the Museum of Hoaxes. (Oh, you didn’t know there was such an institution?)
I don’t think it made the hoax museum list, and this is embarrassing to admit, but one year I remember falling hook, line, and sinker for an NPR story on exploding maple trees. Those public radio tricksters!