April 18, 2006

• Internet Island Topic #9

     

  

  Internet Island Topic Post 9.00

  9.01: Tax Time

  In the States, Tax Time is almost here. You have to file by April 17. A lot of people wait till the last minute. A lot of people complain about paying taxes, or about how their return amount is too small. Throughout history, societies have taxed mankind. One of the main grievances which sparked the American Revolution was unfair taxing of the colonial people by the Crown. Do you think your country's taxes are fair? What would you do to change the system?

  In America, it is said that the "flat tax" is almost a reality. Over the past few years, the amount of taxes that the poor and the rich pay is leveling out, which means of course that the rich pay less and the poor pay more. Since we do not really have a social service in America, as in France or Canada, for example, the taxes we pay are much less than in those countries. Our present government seems to want to privatize everything. I don't believe in "big government", but I do believe in socialized medicine, and there are some social programs that should have more government control, and of course the more social services one wants in a country, the more one should be willing to pay for them through the taxation process.
  I have always "modifed" my W-4 so that I get the amount of money I need in cash. At the end of the yearly cycle, when taxes are either overpaid or due, I either pay or collect, and I don't complain. I sometimes feel that the government is spending far too much than what it has in the bank, and that America actually owes far more than the average American knows, and at some point all the other countries form which we "borrowed" are going to want their money back, or the equivalent in American real estate. This might explain why they are 'selling' off the National Parks parcel by parcel. This year, I might be able to "break even" so I only claim myself on my W-4. I have claimed two in the past in order to get more money from my paycheck during the week, but then I had to pay a large amount when taxes were due the next cycle.
  I think we pay enough taxes. Our state merchandise tax is quite high, at 8-3/4 percent if I remember. (I know, I'm on the internet, and can easily check.) The point is that the average citizen seems to pay more in taxation than the benefits he receives from his government, and the rich seem to get richer, and have far too many loopholes. I am certainly not an accounting wizard (or else I wouldn't owe so much credit card debt) but I do think the rich should pay more taxes in the scheme of things than I do, and that poorer folks than me should pay even less.

  
  9.02: They Don't Make Them Like They Used To

  They don't make them like they used to. It is often said that technology advances rather quickly, especially nowadays. Sometimes we hear that appliances and devices we use in our lives were much better made in the past. What is the oldest "appliance" in your house. How long has it lasted and why?

  
  I've been around for a while. And as I age, I find that I'm somewhat better put together than most of the appliances and technological geegaws I have "collected" over the years.  The most recent wave of appliances I've purchased would be my "collection" of computers. I still have all my computers, even though the first one has a 6.4 gig hard drive. It was an old Toshiba from 1997 when Toshiba marketed a line of PCs alongside their laptops. There are two Compaqs. My latest is an HP from last year. Individual Computers never seemed like something that was going to last, simply because the technology moves so quickly that as soon as one model is released, it's obsolete. I was looking into purchasing a home computer back in the late 70s and early 80s. The Amiga had a program which edited video, and I lusted after one of those computers for a few years, but waited till the end of the 90s to actually begin my purchasing history. My automobile is a "vintage" 1999 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder convertible. The first thing to go (in 2001) was the electric motor to operate the top. It was neat while it lasted, but taking the top down by hand is actually faster. I can't do it while stopped in traffic however. At one time I actually had three automobiles, in various stages of disrepair.
  Prior to computing, I had a Brother word processor. It was like an electric typewriter with a computer screen. You saved files to a 3.2 floppy drive. Before I went to college back in 1971, my mother bought me a Remington portable typewriter. This is probably the oldest appliance I still own. It was once busted by my current roommate, Joel, before he was my roommate, back in the late 70s. I took it to a typewriter shop and got it repaired. It never seemed to work the same after that. Before I got the Remington, I typed on an old Underwood in the family home. I wish I still had that typewriter. It was a beauty. You had to really "work" to hit the keys on that sucker in order to type. I've destroyed many keyboards over the years because I still hit the keys when typing much like I used to on that old Underwood.   

  
  9.03: What is Your Earliest Memory?

  What is your earliest memory? Look deep into your past and blog about the first thing or things you remember. Was it your mother's smile? The view from between the bars of your crib or playpen? Do you remember your first steps? Your first report card?

  I've always maintained that my earliest memories are actually memories of having those memories. There are some things from around age 4 or 5 that I remember very clearly, with my elephantine memory, just as if they were happening now. I clearly remember living in Highland Park from about 1958 to 1960. I remember my first trip to school at Garvanza Elementary. I've recently visited the school, and the building is much smaller than I remember, but I still got the same "feeling" that I've always felt about going into the halls of academe for the first time. My childhood home from those times was destroyed for a housing project back in the 70s, so I can't go 'back home' again, but I still can see the street on which I lived and have some particular memories, like when my little brother took his first steps, or going on my first Hallowe'en trick or treating, that stick in my mind.
  Going back earlier, to when we lived in Silver Lake, is a bit more difficult to imagine. I know the story of how I rescued my brother when he was a toddler as he nearly fell down the hillside by our rented house. But I don't know if I'm remembering the event, or the constant retellings from my childhood. Similarly, I can somewhat remember living in Idaho, where I was born, and where we lived till I was about 4. I remember snowfall. And building snowmen. I remember sitting in the back of a truck looking out at the world. It could have been a moving truck when we left Idaho for California. I clearly remember sitting in the back seat of our 1947 Chevy coupe with my stuffed dog Nikki on the long trip. Back in Idaho I remember "helping" my grandmother irrigate the yard. Also incinerating the trash in a large brick incinerator in the back yard. Since we visited grandmother in the early sixties when I was in the 4th and 5th grade, I sometimes think my memory of the "place" is from then, and my memories of living in Idaho are really memories of having memories. I remember my sister in California, but not in Idaho. Since she was born 19 months after I was, and I remember both her and my little brother, who was born in California, from our early days in the L.A. area, I might be remembering a time before she was born, but I doubt it. Sometimes when I concentrate, I can dig up something in memory from my childhood which seems "new", but couldn't seem to latch on to any other memories from very early in my life.

   

  • 8:38 am
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