TorilMUD Forums

Lathander

God help us all if in a political thread we can't say a comment, not the author of that comment, is dumb. This is especially true of a comment about everyone getting exactly equal pay for a job creating better workers. It's laughable.

Lathander

Here you go

Lathander

These four paintings by Thomas Cole have always struck me. If you get to the National Gallery of Art in DC, make sure and see them.

The four paintings show the journey of a man along the River of Life.

Lathander

Kifle, you're pretty funny. "I think a strict socialist environment (equal pay across the board) would produce better quality workers in a given field but lower quantity." -Kifle That is one of the dumbest things I've ever read. Yes, one might choose to be a doctor and work as a volunteer ...

Lathander

I don't know Ragorn. The ant seems like a pretty smart ant. He had a lot of success and clearly, he would know injure would be a risk. Like most bright folks, he'd have disability insurance. The ant loses his legs, but receives the same income as before. Ant is in good shape, and the rest of us are ...

Lathander

Guess we can call off the global warming discussion for at least another ten years.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,353844,00.html

http://youtube.com/watch?v=XDI2NVTYRXU

Lathander

Two Different Versions! Two Different Morals! OLD VERSION: The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks the ant is a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and we...

Lathander

There are far too many entrenched interests to have our tiered income tax system go to a system such as flat tax, national sales tax, consumption tax, etc. The states have no interest in it because of municipal securities. Charities hate it because under a simplified tax system, the tax deduction wo...

Lathander

In regard to Buffet, it is misleading to say his tax rate could be less than his secretary. We talked about this a months ago in the office. Buffet claims his secretary makes 60K and pays 30% taxes. At the most, she would pay 25%. Personally, I think Buffet is just playing politics. If he feels he d...

Lathander

Let's try this because we can argue the concepts and where the Laffer curve is. What would be your income tax % at different levels of income? Also, keep in mind, higher incomes don't mean you are wealthy. I know lots of folks in Montgomery County, MD with high incomes but low networth. Also, while ...

Lathander

A flat tax assumes you get rid of income tax. Therefore, people have alot more money in their pockets that they can spend as they want. Personally, I'm not a fan a consumption or value added taxes as they to some degree slow down the velocity of money. What I mean is if you tax consumption, you get ...

Lathander

Middle class doesn't get tax breaks??? Come on Rags, you're just playing devil's advocate right? Most of the tax breaks out there are for the middle class. I'll list just a few: Nontaxable status of health insurance through your employer Mortgage interest deduction Retirement plan contribution deduc...

Lathander

Barack getting us out of Iraq? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yzy3lObigF0&feature=related Please, a Dem is less able to get us out of Iraq than a Republican. Each party has certain things they can and can't do. Dems can get things through for Stem Cell Research and Abortion. Republicans can get ...

Lathander

I guess we're all just bitter little people like Obama says?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNJAl8a3 ... re=related

It's so damn funny! Dems have managed to nominate a guy that is more out of touch than John Kerry was.

Lathander

Amen Adriorn! The Obama piece is nicely written, but extremely light on actual facts. No where does it talk about funding this welfare program other than some mythical cost savings from technology upgrades. On the cost savings front, it is also light with just talk about technology. On those, I sinc...

Lathander

Sure, Obama's health care plan would socialize the health care system. He would bring it under government control to lower costs within the system. This would mean a few things. First, health care workers would have to be forced to recieve lower wages. Doctors and nurses here in the States make more...

Lathander

I'd argue he used a socialist system to get something he wanted to make a buck. Calling Bush a socialist is a pretty big stretch.

Lathander

Let me explain what socialism is. Basically, property and wealth are distributed by collectives and/or the government. If you are a socialist, you believe that individual rights to property are subordinate to the collective. Venezuela is a good example of socialism being imposed on a country. The go...

Lathander

As a percentage of GDP, our debt is not that big. The GDP has done well because we have had lower taxes. It's amazing how people work harder when they get to keep more of their own money. The only reason Dem's want to raise taxes is to institute more socialism in our society. This just leads to a gr...

Lathander

I didn't know you were a socialist, ragorn?

Lathander

From Newsweek: "In 1980, households had half their financial assets in bank deposits and savings accounts; only 34 percent were in stocks and a meager 2 percent in mutual funds. Since then, Americans have diversified: in 2006, 25 percent of household assets were in mutual funds, 28 percent in s...

Lathander

One thing not mentioned is that starting this year, people in low income brackets actually pay 0 capital gains taxes. A good number of people get stock options and restricted stock in their companies which results in capital gains.

Lathander

Another 'fact' of global warming debunked by a global warming guy.

http://www.dailytech.com/Global+Warming ... e11471.htm

Lathander

Divorce by YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hx_WKxqQF2o

Lathander

Why do people not use the one with the pop up bubbles? Far better quality!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HrSN7176XI

Lathander

What's wrong with black suits? Best interview combo is black suit, white shirt and red tie.

Lathander

Now wait a minute. Calling someone on the current staff "Kiaransalee" is really below the belt. I was around in the old days, and no one on the admin staff is like the old crew. I know it's fun to be wacky and stuff, but Calladuran is simply doing his part to help the mud. Listen, I chuckl...

Lathander

Where's the bunny with a pancake on its head??? Seriously, I want the time back I wasted reading this thread. Please send your remittance to my paypal account. Things are being done on the mud. Eili removed a major annoyance to low lvl players with taking fumble away. As he said, this is a piece of ...

Lathander

It isn't really deleted, but it's over in the staff section so it is still seen.

Lathander

http://www.southparkstudios.com/

Full Episodes!

Lathander

Hey, my 16 month old loved it!

Lathander

Casters aren't hitters. They lack the skills to be able to hit as well as hitters for the code. At the lowest levels, they hit fairly evenly. Makes sense to me.

Lathander

You weren't engaged but it became agro. I imagine the code checked that it was agro and not engaged so it backstabbed you.

If it didn't have a cast time, it would be too powerful.

Lathander

I really appreciate the feedback on the zone. I think it is great to have the lines of communication open. For those that played HL, it is pretty similar to how it was there. I've added some mobs, but none of them are really hard. If you see the Dust Wraith, I'd recommend silencing it. It's a fairly...

Lathander

Sorry, I only look at the political threads in this forum.

Lathander

Folks, I'm trying to bring stuff over that is fun and is useful. Part of that though is saying, "Can we improve on this?" For CC, Shia and I added about 50% more rooms. Also, almost all of the room desc's are new. I'm not going to bring in zones that a vast majority of the rooms have the e...

Lathander

Anyway, here's an update. Delimbyr Crescent project suffered due to real life intruding in the fall. A number of things are left to do. Shiallia, Sehaine and Twinshadow have made big contributions to making this possible. We're talking about 2,700 new rooms between all the zones for this project, so...

Lathander

I swear I didn't plant this question with Dartan!

More later tonight, hopefully.

Lathander

OH GOD, this is funny!

Lathander

Ack, a new ranger is born! Congrats!

Lathander

See the big GOP win in the LA governor race?

Lathander

Yes, China is pegged to a basket of currencies while it used to be just to the dollar. More or less, it isn't much different. The result though is that China's economy is artifically ballooning up. The problem with pegs is the problem of the dislocation goes on too long until you are where China now...

Lathander

The question really is not wealth unless you are keeping score. The real issue is liquidity. Currencies' value is reflected in their demand for use whether to hold them as reserve as dollars were under Bretton Wood or to turn around and invest dollars back into the US. Where demand and supply meet d...

Lathander

We have moved beyond a pegged system that was needed after WW2. Today, markets determine the value of the currencies in relation to each other. This allows countries that build up big deficits from a high value currency to devalue to address that deficit. Allowing currencies to float gives each coun...

Lathander

I tend to agree with Corth that the real risk is deflation not inflation. In regard to buying a house now or not, it depends on your time horizon. If you plan to sell in six months, it doesn't make sense, but if someone is looking at 20 to 30 years, it doesn't make a big difference. This is especial...

Lathander

It's called margin investing. Ron Paul is wrong. If anything, the Federal Reserve acts to smooth out the ups and downs of the business cycle. By lowering and raising the risk free rate, the Fed encourages and discourages investing and lending to particular areas of the economy. Every four to six yea...

Lathander

I posted this story a few weeks ago in another thread. In a nutshell, the coins that were given to the employees were legal tender. That means that the US government has assigned a value to them in exchange. The value of the material of the coins can not be considered because the governement has alr...

Lathander

Being quasi-private is what allows the Fed to do it's work with limited political pressure. If it was a government agency, that would scare the hell out of me. I don't know where you get the foreign owned stuff. The member banks are the owners of the Federal Reserve System. Basically, they have a se...

Lathander

Ron Paul seems to be popular with some especially C-SPAN. I looked at him, but he seems to be a gold standard supporter. He wants to get rid of the Federal Reserve, and on economics, he is way off from what I've seen.

Lathander

Part of the reason I made these posts was to see what folks are thinking. When I talk to a lot of people, most do not have someone they really support yet. I think a good discussion will get that process going. I have not yet chosen myself, but I've considered some of the candidates. For me, the cho...

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Re: An Inconvenient Truth

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Re: Art appreciation and discussion

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The Ant and the Grasshopper

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New Global Warming Thread

Watch before you get married!

Re: Perhaps the end of rickrolling

Re: Job Interview Protips ITT

South Park Unlimited!