So time has come to get down to the serious business…
Better late than never!
And yet:
“Less than four days before it hosts the opening game of the World Cup, São Paulo became the scene of protests, street fires and teargas on Monday as striking subway workers brought chaos to the city.
The strike – which disrupted half the metro stations and worsened traffic in South America’s most populous city – was the latest headache for organisers as national teams from the United States, Spain and Argentina flew in for the start of the tournament on Thursday.”
Might it be that ordinary people are not that dumb as some of us think them to be?
In fact this lesson has been taught to us time and again so I only hope this instance we’ll figure it out less painfully that the French did in 1789.
Football is deeply ingrained in Brazilian culture to the extent that much of world sees the nation through the lens of the Brazilian National Football Team. Since football was brought to this South American – See more at: http://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/research-projects/politics-and-sport-in-latin-america/brazil/#s
Football is deeply ingrained in Brazilian culture to the extent that much of world sees the nation through the lens of the Brazilian National Football Team. Since football was brought to this South American – See more at: http://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/research-projects/politics-and-sport-in-latin-america/brazil/#sthash.1rNrsCQ9.dpu
Furia asta produsa de taxa pe stalp merita o clipa de reflexie.
Finantele unui stat se afla intotdeauna la intersectia multor forte, de cele mai multe ori divergente.
Toti cei aflati in interiorul acelui stat pretind servicii sociale cat mai bune platind taxe cat mai mici. Asta se intampla la suprafata si este perfect normal sa fie asa.
Pe de alta parte multi dintre cei care controleaza robinetul banilor publici fac in asa fel incat acestia nu sunt folositi pe atat de eficient pe cat ar putea fi – indiferent daca din lacomie, frica sau pur si simplu nestiinta – iar o mare parte din platitori fac pe dracu in parte sa nu plateasca pe cat ar trebui.
Culmea este ca prea multi dintre noi le gasesc justificari atat celor aflati in prima situatie cat si celor dintr-a doua.
‘Pragmaticii’ spun: ‘pai normal, din ce sa-si plateasca campaniile electorale si apoi sa mai traiasca si ei?’ iar ‘idealistii’ sunt de parere ca ‘trebuie sa fii prost sa iti incredintezi banii tai statului, ‘cel mai prost administrator’!’
Si uite asa am ajuns intr-un cerc vicios. Serviciile sociale nu se imbunatatesc, ba chiar dimpotriva, tocmai pentru ca banii, oricat de multi, ajung sa fie ‘sifonati’ iar contribuabilii din ce in ce mai scarbiti isi platesc taxele cu si mai putin entuziasm. Ca sa nu mai vorbim despre imensul dezavantaj competitiv pe care il resimt ‘fraierii’ care isi platesc taxele, dezavantaj care duce la consolidarea pe piata tocmai a celor care reusesc sa isi micsoreze cat mai mult povara fiscala. Si nu ma refer aici la evazionistii clasici ci si la cei care fac acest lucru legal, folosind in mod eficient diversele cai legale care exista. Nu am inventat noi apa calda, paradisurile fiscale si nici consultanta de business sau studiile de orice fel.
Tocmai de aceea taxa asta pe stalp mi se pare extrem de bine venita. ‘Stalpii’ nu pot fi ascunsi in nici un fel. In felul asta nimeni nu se poate deroba de la plata acestui gen de taxe, bineinteles daca ANAF ia masurile potrivite. In felul acesta se mai atenueaza dezechilibrele produse de faptul ca unii isi ascund cu succes profiturile iar altii nu.
Sunt si doua categorii mari de ‘daca’, in afara ingrijorarea permanenta cu privire la ‘soarta banilor’:
In primul rand colectarea acestei taxe nu trebuie sa mareasca povara fiscala. Ce se ‘castiga’ de aici trebuie ‘dat inapoi’ in alta parte, de exemplu la impozitul pe profit, exact acela care este atat de usor de mutat peste hotare.
In al doilea rand nivelul acestei taxe trebuie sa fie rezonabil, adica atat de mic incat sa nu-i vina SI lui ‘Titi” sa-si ia cuibul in carca si sa o roiasca. Chiar daca aparent ‘stalpii’ sunt captivi asta nu inseamna ca ii putem taxa oricat de mult. In momentul in care contribuabilul se simte nedreptatit sau agresat intra intr-o stare de ‘furie’ care ii modifica intr-o masura considerabila judecata. Nu avem nici un interes ca acest lucru sa se intample.
“The owners “didn’t know what they were doing” “?!?
Who prevented them from researching the matter before proceeding?
Somehow I feel this makes a powerful case against “forcing ideologies” on anybody, not just on pets.
Since when is anything around us ‘chemical free’?
Water is itself a chemical substance while vinegar is nothing but a solution of acetic acid dissolved in water so washing produce in vinegary water is bathing them in chemical substances.
‘No artificial chemical substances’ ?!?
OK, water is probably ‘natural’, even though some tiny amounts of it were indeed produced by us.
You don’t believe me?…But you know that we all burn things, right? And if we don’t burn it ourselves we have others burning it for us. A considerable part of the electricity we use is produced by burning things. Locomotion is mostly ‘produced’ by burning things. Oh, you weren’t aware that by burning a gallon of gas you produce 1.52 gallons of water. Well, now you know. For natural gas the ratio is even higher – more hydrogen – so it’s 2.2 pounds of water for one pound of natural gas. Don’t worry too much about the coal burning power plants, they don’t produce too much ‘artificial water’ because coal contains almost no hydrogen so… sorry, only CO2 in this case.
And how much water do we produce? I don’t know, if you’re interested you may use these figures: 90 million barrels a day of oil/day/world in 2011 (approx 32 billion barrels/year) and 3 427 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas in 2012 (some 5000 billion pounds per year). And since all of this water first goes up in the air and then rains down on us there is more than a slight chance that a few molecules of it end up in your sink.
And this goes both for the tap water and for the one already in the vinegar.
As for the acetic acid it doesn’t really matter if it came from vine – usually the case for balsamic vinegar – or from ‘industrial’ Ethyl alcohol, the kind brewed and distilled from starch (potatoes, corn, etc) and used to make vodka among other things. It’s the same chemical substance. Oh, by the way, alcohol, caffeine and THC are also chemical substances.
And for those of you who are really interested in where it makes any sense to wash anything using vinegar, yes, it seems that it can be useful in some instances. Check out here for more information.
Am primit fotografia asta pe mail, ca parte a unui PPS despre bulevardele din Bucuresti.
Mi-a adus aminte de bancul ala despre sapatorii de la metrou:
La sfarsitul unei conventii a constructorilor de tunele pentru metrou se aduna baietii la o bere.
Dupa bere o dau pe whiskey si apoi incep sa se laude.
Englezul: cand am sapat tunelul ala nou catre …am gasit un cablu telefonic din 1892. Va dati seama de cand aveam noi telefonie la Londra?
Francezul: cand am facut extinderea de la statia din … am gasit un cablu de telegraf din 1870!
Neamtul: Noi tocmai am gasit o bucata de cablu optic care avea deja 4o ani.
Romanul, care asteptase linistit sa-i vina randul dar care nu prea avea saracul ce sa spuna, are la un moment dat o sclipire de geniu:
Bai, noi am sapat nu stiu cate tunele prin Bucuresti, atat pentru metrou cat si ca sa aiba Ceausescu pe unde sa fuga, da’ n-am gasit nici un fel de cablu. Nici de telefon, nici de telegraf si nici macar vre-unul de date. Noi am avut wireless din-totdeauna.
Tot asa cum am avut ambulante auto in razboiul de independenta.
I received a message containing this picture in my mail, accompanied by some text extolling Truman’s actions after he left the White House. Whenever I want to check something found in the Internet I use Snopes.com. This was one of those rare occasions when the verdict was ‘mostly true’.
What happened to us in such a short period of time?
Have we lost the good habit of telling bedtime stories to our children and this has already changed us?
“”Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.” — Harry S. Truman
After President Truman retired from office in 1952, he was left with an income consisting of basically just a U.S. Army pension, reported to have been only $13,507.72 a year. Congress, noting that he was paying for his stamps and personally licking them, granted him an “allowance” and, later, a retroactive pension of $25,000 per year. When offered corporate positions at large salaries, he declined, stating, “You don’t want me. You want the office of the president, and that doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to the American people and it’s not for sale.”
Even later, on May 6, 1971, when Congress was preparing to award him the Medal of Honor on his 87th birthday, he refused to accept it, writing, “I don’t consider that I have done anything which should be the reason for any award, Congressional or otherwise.”
We now see that other past presidents, have found a new level of success in cashing in on the presidency, resulting in untold wealth. Today, many in Congress also have found a way to become quite wealthy while enjoying the fruits of their offices. Obviously, political offices are now for sale.
Good old Harry Truman could have been correct when he observed, “My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician. And to tell the truth, there’s hardly any difference. I, for one, believe the piano player job to be much more honorable than current politicians.” “
Read more at http://www.snopes.com/quotes/truman/truman.asp#QXuDo347lVhWWO1F.99
A couple of days ago I stumbled upon a link from Upworthy about an al Jazeera interview with a legislator who is pushing an antiabortion bill. Since the story was nicely packaged I followed the link.
Rachel Maddow/MSNBC resuming what happened in the interview before the question that started all this:
“He tells al Jazeera that what he really wants is for there to be no legal abortion at all in Ohio except to save a woman’s life.”
And now we get to see an excerpt from that interview:
“- Reporter: What do you think makes a woman want to have an abortion?
– State Rep. Jim Buchy: Well, there’s probably a lot of… I’m not a woman, so I… I’m thinking, if I’m a woman, why would I want to get a… Some of it has to do with economics. A lot of it has to do with economics. I don’t know, it’s a question I’ve never even thought about.”
As an ethnic Romanian who lived for 20 years in a country were women were sometimes left to die at the orders of the secret police if they had tried to induce abortions on themselves and doctors were regularly sent to prison if they dared perform one outside the extremely narrow limits of the (communist) law I shared the link on my FB wall.
I received this very pertinent and absolutely logical comment:
“Somebody proposes we have a law that prohibits individuals killing other individuals… unless in self-defense. Someone asks somebody – Why would someone want to kill somebody? I never thought about why someone would want to kill somebody… he just forgot to add that that has little to do with the proposed ordinance … which seeks to protect life! Now why would one want to protect life… the answer is self evident!”
And this was my answer:
“(Dear friend) from the point of view that ‘life has to be preserved, no matter what’ you are, of course, right. All that is left for us to do is to settle among ourselves the exact moment when an embryo becomes life.
I’m afraid though that all this is about something different. Not more important than (individual) human life, just different.
About how others get to determine what happens to/with US based on THEIR convictions.
‘I don’t really care about what makes a woman wish to have an abortion, I just say she shouldn’t have any opportunity to do such a thing’.”
The world is turning on its head and he’s spinning fairy tales…
Besides that, what on Earth does Putin have to do with anything?
Bear with me and your curiosity will be satisfied.
Most of us believe that bed time stories come from the ancient past, that they were passed on across generations by the regular folks, from the ancient equivalent of you and me to our nephews.
Lets give this idea a second thought.
First of all there weren’t so many ‘you and me’-s readily available until recently. No more than 50 years ago very few people had enough free time, or energy, to spend on such frivolous topics. In those times most people worked/fought hard to make a living and a small minority was rich/powerful enough to live somewhat insulated from the daily worries of the commoners – ‘what will I be eating/feeding my kids tomorrow’. The rich and powerful had their own set of worries, even if of a different kind: how to rule efficiently enough as to maintain/enhance their power and how to pass on to their heirs the skills they needed in order to ‘keep the show in working order’.
In those times the commoners, and their children, worked so hard that they usually fell asleep while eating ‘dinner’, thus having no use for any bed time stories.
Meanwhile the rich and powerful were so busy with their daily business/routine that they didn’t have time to spend with their children so they hired teachers and helpers to raise their offspring. Oftentimes this entire ‘nursery crew’ was under the authority of a spinster aunt or something similar but regardless of that almost none of them had the guts to contradict and chastise the ‘young princes’ directly. The deadlock was at least partially solved through the use of bed-time stories and fables.
Seems far-fetched? I must remind you of two things. Not so long ago, Europe, and the Arab world, were choke full of story tellers. Remember the minstrels who spread out the story about Tristan and Isolde or Scheherazade, the world’s first spin doctor? So there were plenty of stories waiting to be reshaped into learning materiel for the offspring of the ruling class. And the second thing was that the ruling class had enough means to hire the best teachers available. So sharp minds plus plenty of raw material equals a lot of excellent ‘bed time’ stories that actually started as lessons for future rulers.
And when did all this come to an end?
When the rulers had became careless and/or unable to maintain the entire kingdom in working order?
When the entire situation had became complicated enough so no individual ruler, no matter how capable, was no longer able to remain on top of things?
When the commoners, enticed by the incessant humming of the minstrels who kept distributing to the general public the same stories which were originally meant to the future rulers and somewhat empowered by the technological advances which had made even their humble lives a little easier and a little safer, became emboldened in their natural quest for autonomy? When all these three conditions/developments ‘merged’ into the explosive situation commonly known as pre-Revolutionary France or, in other circles, as the Enlightenment?
The point I’m trying to make here is that ‘bedtime stories’ are extremely important.
The next generation needs to be initiated in the mores of the old one.
Each new generation needs to understand and keep alive the traditions which have helped to build the society which had borne and educated its members.
Simultaneously, the young must maintain enough independence to understand that traditions are only guidelines and that they can be fine-tuned in order to fit each particular situation
If, for no matter what reason, the flow of information that needs to run from one generation to another is perturbed in any way the ‘train’ is in great danger. If the flow is too strong and the manner in which the information is presented becomes too imposing the ‘education process’ becomes a ‘training session’, the next generation looses it’s ability to think for itself and to solve by its own the smallest of crises, The whole thing eventually ends up in a catastrophe.
If the flow is too weak, either because the ‘teachers’ have lost heart or ‘the pupils’ were allowed to become too cocky – or both – the situation starts to resemble a railway with no rails: the train simply has no clue as to where ‘the way’ is and either grinds to a halt or ends up in a ravine.
OK but …”what on Earth does Putin have to do with anything?”
Well, my favorite story is the one about the emperor who, at the advice of two of his courtiers (his ‘esteemed couturiers’ actually) started to walk naked through the main square of his capital city.
Do you remember that story?
http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheEmperorsNewClothes_e.html
“Tu ce planuri ai vara asta? Venim cu tine :)”
Am gasit mesajul asta in mail. Ma uit sa vad de la cine si hopa surpriza:
“eMAG.ro <oferte@newsletter.emag.ro> Unsubscribe”
N-am ce face, deschid mesajul si ma trezesc cu astia 4 in casa:
Pe bune ma? Nu ca tipii n-ar fi simpatici, dar parca nici chiar asa…
In orice caz solutia e simpla.
Daca nu v-ati prins inca uitati-va la paragraful urmator:
““eMAG.ro <oferte@newsletter.emag.ro> Unsubscribe“
Eh?!? Se poate spune ca si-au facut-o cu mana lor, nu?
(A, nu ca au pus ‘butonul’ de unsubscribe ci pentru ca trimit reclame din astea extrem de agresive!)
nicichiarasa 