Comments for The Schrug

Comment on What Jay Severin thinks about the poor by Ivo

Ivo — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 01:57:02 +0000

If I meet him on the street I’ll spit into his face…this old grumpy man is a disaster for the Commonwealth…Go back to Long Island you punk

Comment on Crop! How should I edit this photo? by Michael Pahre

Michael Pahre — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 15:54:36 +0000

The first crop is best, although you ought to tweak it to allow slightly more blue sky (but not as much as the one following it). The blue sky might look nice, but there is nothing interesting about it. (See: Adams, Ansel and filter, polarizing.)

Have the focal point of the picture (beautiful mountain peaks) falling down from the top 1/3 of the image. That’s a widely useful rule of thumb.

Comment on Crop! How should I edit this photo? by Brad

Brad — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:43:53 +0000

You could always “letterbox” it, but that’s really avoiding the issue & your question. I’d split the difference and go with the center crop but tweak it to favor the sky, giving the shrub just enough grass in front of it to give it separation and anchor it in the foreground.

Comment on A question for "limited government" advocates by david

david — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 19:16:49 +0000

42? As in … Bill Clinton? I don’t get it. 8^)

Comment on A question for "limited government" advocates by Michael Pahre

Michael Pahre — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 19:09:45 +0000

Comment on Tax stories by david

david — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:59:57 +0000

Thanks, Michael. It was the CPBB report (first link) that got me started on this train of thought to begin with. 8^)

For more on how tax rates for very high income individuals have changed over time, see http://severinwatch.com/2010/04/20/does-jay-severin-know-his-tax-history/.

Comment on Tax stories by Michael Pahre

Michael Pahre — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:22:41 +0000

Here are a few links to help out your cause: Federal tax burden on middle-class families is near a record low. Even lately, federal taxes went down nearly across the board the current year as opposed to the previous one. A strong majority of Americans -- including a majority of self-identified Republicans -- say that they personally pay a "fair" share in federal taxes.

Comment on Tax stories by david

david — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:58:20 +0000

Oops. I meant to provide some additional citations. For the maximum taxable wages for Social Security, see http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/COLA/cbb.html#Series. For median family income figures, see http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=226. For minimum wage history, see http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774473.html. For the raw data used in this post, see http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=t7A3VbTf9VE5GcIS5SBItXA&single=true&gid=0&output=html.

Comment on Nice find: An online historical tax calculator by david

david — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 15:21:13 +0000

I answered my own question about “average federal income tax.” It has to do with the progressivity of the income tax. If you look at the raw data (http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=226) you’ll see that they’ve published both the effective tax rate, which they’re calling “average,” and the marginal tax rate. In 2009, the median income for a family of four was $75,954. That family was in the 15% tax bracket, but after and deductions the actual tax was figured to be 4.63%, or $3,516.67.

Comment on My trip to the Tea Party by Michael Pahre

Michael Pahre — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 18:41:45 +0000

Video hint: for head shots, put the face in the upper 1/3 of the frame, not the lower 1/3 or the middle. You can often, if not usually, crop off the top of the head or even a little bit of the forehead when in a tighter shot.