Stuff & Nonsense
In the Alabama Senate race Doug Jones drops ‘Mr Nice Guy’ and lays into Roy Moore.
Spelunking through the Senate Tax Bill it appears there are no more corporate deductions. The corporate tax rate was lowered to 20% and the Alternative Minimum Tax was retained and is also 20%. Essentially, you can declare all the deductions in the tax code, but you still have to pay 20%, just as you would with no deductions.
Eric Schneiderman, the Attorney General of the State of New York is investigating fake comments sent to the FCC during the Net Neutrality comment period. He has established a web site that allows you to see if your name was used.
The BBC has an interesting perception test. They have a silent GIF that causes some people [me included] to hear sounds: Can you hear it?
10 comments
This tax “cut” bill will raise my taxes by approximately $1700/year. Yay. Some “cut”. In bizarro backwards universe, somewhere.
As for the corporate deductions fiasco, this is what happens when you have a tax bill written in crayon at the last minute by conflicting lobbyists.
On the GIF I “hear” a thud, but I don’t actually hear it. My brain says “there should be a thud here,” and I wince as if hearing a thud here, but then a few milliseconds my brain says “wait, what?”.
This is the Reagan Tax ‘Cuts’ all over again. I was getting promotions during that period, but my take home went down. Not what you want to see after working for a new position. I’m beginning to think that there is no way of reconciling the two bills to produce a bill that Republicans can pass in both houses. If Doug Jones wins the special election you might be spared the tax increase.
I can’t believe that they have no one who can use a word processor.
Pretty much my reaction, because I turned off the sound on my box and went back to check. My brain told me I was ‘hearing’ something that I knew didn’t exist. Another version of auto-complete.
Re: the Noisy GIF:
The first time I saw this, I didn’t hear anything, but I was thinking “boing, boing, boing.” When I read that I was suppose to be “hearing” thuds, I was thinking “thud, thud, thud.”
I guess I’m just no fun.
I think it has a lot to do with experience. The brain is filling in the blanks, but if you have never experienced something loud and ground shaking, you don’t have anything for your brain to work with. BTW, this process is behind the low confidence that experienced investigators have with eye witness testimony. The brain paints in a lot of details that don’t necessarily exist.
Lest I forget – С Рождеством Христовым!
I honestly didn’t hear anything.
I’ve done similar visual & audio tests before. I’ve done a few Rorschach tests in the 70’s & 80’s. I listed several possible representations of the blot. The first was always “Reality: An ink stain.” Then: “Fantasy: butterfly, angel, enraged demon, an enticing lady on a beach, clouds… I could go on if you like.” They’ll say: “Yes. But what was the first image that came to mind?” Me: “All of them.” They usually just put them away. Most shrinks hate me. 😉 😆
We have a lot of training that emphasizes reality. I ‘heard’ it but knew it wasn’t real. I’ve run into the problem of my brain trying to fill in the background while I’m trying to get an accurate picture of what is going on. I always checked available sources to ensure that I was remembering reality.
Your training went beyond mine because you were making decisions that couldn’t be edited later – they were final. It means you would have a hard time getting employment as an actor, but no one would ever convince you that an inkblot was anything other than an inkblot. I was the same with clouds, i.e. I didn’t see anything other than the type of cloud and whether to expect turbulence.
Psych docs have a real problem with people who insist on reality 😈
True. Though, I was always very good at patterns, visual & the invisible threads of logic (oft called gut instinct), even before the enhanced training. I also do enjoy fantasy. But yes, I know that’s what it is. I did figure out a way (with mom’s help) to allow myself to get *lost* in a fantasy, such as when reading a good novel, but reach a point where it just become too ridiculous to me & I stop. I found SciFi worked best for me. I suspect because they were partially fantasy and partially possibility. Much of the works of SciFi have proven prescient, if only in general ways. But some have been eerily close to reality. I like that. 🙂
I also enjoyed laying on a beach listening to the waves & watching clouds flow past… I’d sometimes imagine images in them. I got good after awhile. But I had to force myself to do that. Otherwise, they were just clouds.
Sometimes, I’ll have a dream whilst sleeping. I always reach a point where I’ll wake up and think “Nope! That’s just totally ridiculous!” Get a drink & go back to bed. I used to dream, or should say, I remembered dreams, mostly when I was younger. I hardly ever do now. Probably my mind deciding “I’ll keep this buried down here. No point in the consciousness.” or something. 😆 Our minds are pretty devious, especially @ self-preservation.
Funny you mentioning acting. I love a great movie/show/performance, & admire a good actor’s talents! Even envy a little sometimes. I have several professional actors following me on Twitter. Recently the cast of Lucifer, which I’d not heard about! I d/l from Amazon & I’m loving the irony!! It’s brilliant! 😆
I could also be because I’ve recently been diagnosed with Tinnitus in my left ear. I hear constant white noise there. It’s not too bad yet, but is annoying! I use headphones a lot now. Luckily I have a really good pair of Sennheiser HD598’s for music & video’s. And Gigabyte Force H3X for gaming/general.
*shrug* Getting older sux! 🙄 😆
Oooh! Speaking of Lucifer… This was posted on Twitter!
Awsome! You kitty lovers will love this! 😀
This dog was shaking in fear until a black cat neared his cage
Science fiction and fantasy get past the defenses because they are obviously, unlike Faux News, not pretending to be real. When Trump et al. expect ‘willing suspension of disbelief’ for climate change and tax policy, it’s a bridge too far.
Yeah, old and cold are no fun at all, especially in Florida. I could turn up the heat but in a house as old as this one it only makes the gas company happy. I’m working on an apartment in the cold. It’s concrete block, built in the mid 1950s. I really can’t see it being too attractive at these temperatures.