taxes.

I know you've heard otherwise.  But taxes.  Really pretty low.

1930 - 1980

Historical marginal income tax rates for Married Filing Jointly at stated income levels.^[3]

Year	$10,001	$20,001	$60,001	$100,001	$250,001
1930	6%	10%	21%	25%	25%
1932	10%	16%	36%	56%	58%
1934	11%	19%	37%	56%	58%
1936	11%	19%	39%	62%	68%
1938	11%	19%	39%	62%	68%
1940	14%	28%	51%	62%	68%
1942	38%	55%	75%	85%	88%
1944	41%	59%	81%	92%	94%
1946	38%	56%	78%	89%	91%
1948	38%	56%	78%	89%	91%
1950	38%	56%	78%	89%	91%
1952	42%	62%	80%	90%	92%
1954	38%	56%	78%	89%	91%
1956	26%	38%	62%	75%	89%
1958	26%	38%	62%	75%	89%
1960	26%	38%	62%	75%	89%
1962	26%	38%	62%	75%	89%
1964	23%	34%	56%	66%	76%
1966 - 1976	22%	32%	53%	62%	70%
1980	18%	24%	54%	59%	70%

[edit]

And --

Year 2011 income brackets and tax rates

Marginal Tax Rate[6]	Single	Married Filing Jointly or Qualified Widow(er)	Married Filing Separately	Head of Household
10%	$0 – $8,500	$0 – $17,000	$0 – $8,500	$0 – $12,150
15%	$8,501 – $34,500	$17,001 – $69,000	$8,501 – $34,500	$12,150 – $46,250
25%	$34,501 – $83,600	$69,001 – $139,350	$34,501 – $69,675	$46,250 – $119,400
28%	$83,601 – $174,400	$139,351 – $212,300	$69,675 – $106,150	$119,401 – $193,350
33%	$174,401 – $379,150	$212,301 – $379,150	$106,151 – $189,575	$193,350 - $379,150
35%	$379,151+	$379,651+	$189,576+	$379,151+

how do you make money?

Mike Lupica is famous.  The NY Daily News pays him money to write about Yankees baseball.

He turns things like this out --

So Cashman, who has given Yankee fans Sabathia in the last 10 years and a lot of guys named Burnett and Kevin Brown and Randy Johnson and Javy (Grand Slam) Vazquez and Jaret Wright - guys who make you stand and cheer when they're NOT giving up five runs a game - talked about re-arming the Yankees, you bet. What he really meant that night when he talked about pitching was Cliff Lee, whom he was supposed to money-whip into coming to New York.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2011/08/28/2011-08-28_yankees_fans_have_gm_brian_cashman_to_blame_for_giving_them_aj_burnett_and_his_s.html#ixzz1WR3mjCcK

 1. Cashman has given Yankee fans a lot of guys named ...

Um.  By my math he has only given Yankee fans one each of these guys, respectively.

2. Guys who make you cheer when they're NOT giving up five runs a game.

Once again. UM! Who the fuck cheers WHEN anyone is giving up five runs a game?

3.  The Yankee pitching staff is amazingly awesome.  It's strange, but very true.  They have given up only 525 runs.  They play the Red Sox, who have scored the second most runs in baseball this season, 19 times.  This is the 5th best clip in the league.  Also keep in mind that they score an insane amount of runs; the best in the league, in fact.

Sigh.  This is entirely too common.  That some dip-shit can rant and rail that something is so, when it is is actually very different.

I just wish we stopped paying them money and attention. NotGraphs does an amazing job at reducing foolish writing into glib sentences.  You should read them and make THEM famous and pay THEM money.

weight: a timberman race report

In the course of one year I have lost approximately 30 lbs.  There are, essentially, two ways to look at this ...

1. I am a hyper dedicated badass.  There are few problems that have ever been laid before me that I have not risen, incredibly, to meet.  I am a surgical master applicator of self discipline and will power.

2. Jesus, you stupid, lazy, fat bastard! Why, why WHY! did it take you four feckin' years of triathlon-ing (including one pretty freaking mediocre ironman) to drop those lbs?


This race report comes to you through those alternating lenses of self perspective.  Enjoy.

10% irr

Here is what was going outside my bedroom window at 6:30 am this morning.

In my professional life I spend a lot of time en tango with the utility. They make "their case" and I make mine. When they go home they don't have to deal with me, yet I have to deal with them. Their model, and their arguments drive me absolutely insane.

They run the largest (and perfectly legal) monopoly in the united states. They are pretty much guaranteed a rate of return. They certainly act like it.

Exhibit A. Our street right out side our apartment window got the old jackhammer/backhoe treatment starting yesterday. Zero notice was given about this.

Exhibit B. When my wife returned home from work yesterday, one of the workers was sprawled out on our stoop. Sure its hot. And he's tired. My wife being a pretty agreeable gal actually said, "Sorry" as she approached. She reports: he sort of lazily got up and moved with an eye roll.

Exhibit C. Today's digging started at 6:30am!

Exhibit D. My electrical utility had been billing us on an average meter. Fair enough. They came and read the thing -shocker- they forgot to charge us around $50. And wouldn't you know it, they want that right away. So, having already paid my bill, they would like $50 more dollars immediately.

My utility bill, for electrical services, is around $50 a month. Of this bill $0.62 is for renewable portfolio standard programs. That's roughly 1%. My $50 forgot to charge you fee is 10% of my yearly electricity bill. I pay more money to my utility in accounting errors than I do to get (a very meager amount of) renewable energy onto our electricity grid.

Very often, when I am doing my work, I get the refrain, "We love renewables. We just don't want them funded on the backs of our rate payers."

Of course not, what with getting rattled out of bed at 6:30 am, our backs couldn't possibly take much more stress.