T Minus 24 Hours

The $1 Million Challenge

Kudos to billionaire investor Warren Buffett for raising attention on the inequity in tax rates for the super-rich and the rest of us.

From a CNN report:

Buffett revealed his puzzlement that he was taxed at a lower rate than many of the lesser-paid individuals working for his company.

Buffett said he makes $46 million a year in income and is only taxed at a 17.7 percent rate on his federal income taxes. By contrast, those who work for him, and make considerably less, pay on average about 32.9 percent in taxes -- with the highest rate being 39.7 percent.

To emphasize his point, Buffett offered $1 million to the audience member who could show that one of the nation's wealthiest individuals pays a higher tax rate than one of their subordinates.

"I'm willing to bet anyone in this room $1 million that those rates are less than the secretary has to pay," said Buffett.

Only 99 hours to go... take no chances...

As of 2:45 PM Monday afternoon, two people were already in line at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store in New York City for the iPhone, which becomes available Friday at 6 PM...

Also, for some thoughts on the wait, check out a guest post on my cousin Walt's blog, Walt Now.

Little Borat

Long overdue posting... My nephew Willie from Easter:

5 more days...

From the Washington Post:

Amy, this one's for you.

See my friend Amy's blog postings here, here and here for more. And okay, they didn't quite leave hungry, but they certainly didn't leave happy.

Happy fathers

A flashback photo: My niece Jaime's 3rd birthday party from 1995, with a grandfather to each of her sides.

Darfur awareness and help

A lot of help is needed for people in Darfur, Sudan. Since 2003, 200,000-400,000 are murdered. 2-4 million are displaced to camps within Darfur and the neighboring country of Chad. Many of these people, including children, are malnourished and starving to death. Another 1 million Darfuris still live in their villages, under the constant threat of bombings, raids, murder, rape and torture. These are among the poorest people in Africa to begin with.

The United Nations and humanitarian groups like Amnesty International have a lot of relief workers on the grounds in Darfur and Chad offering help. But it is not enough.

As a small way to help, Yoko Ono has opened the songs in John Lennon's music catalog to be covered by a wide range of new and established artists. The resultant album is available for purchase on iTunes and in record stores. You'll find some outstanding covers and be offering help to others in the process.

The future of the country

The '08 elections will be here before we know it. Heading toward election season, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll indicates that Americans overwhelmingly think that the country is on the wrong track, disapproving of the performances of both Bush and the Congress. And the latest trends in this poll suggests that the '08 election could be between Hillary Clinton and either Rudy Giuliani or Fred Thompson. Clinton is increasing her lead over Barack Obama; Thompson (who is yet to officially step into the race!) is gaining on front runner Giuliani. Things are started to get interesting! We should know who our two candidates will be in about 8 months.

"Boom goes the dynamite!"

This is painfully funny to watch:

Snikk

It was six months ago today that Mark's dog Snikk passed away. Below is a picture of him taken on that last day. He was laying down in his front yard. Mark points out to me the tear coming from his eye. Snikk's health had been in serious decline, despite treatment, for about a week. Maybe he knew.
Other postings about Snikk are here. And more photos are here.

"She looked at me over her shoulder"

More about Amy from my friend Linda... a great story:

We got her from the Humane Society. My husband went in to look at the dogs as I can't do it because I will want them all. I waited in the visitor's room. He brought Amy in. I had told him I wanted a small dog. When I saw Amy (50+ lbs.), I told him that I really wanted a small dog. As he was taking her out of the room, she looked at me over her shoulder. That was it. She was my dog from that moment on. She had always been glued to me. If I went up and down the stairs 50 times a day, so would she. She was 1-1/2 years old when we got her. The Humane Society said she had been tied up outside all the time. I am just thankful that I was able to give her a better life than she had for the first year and a half of her life.

In memory of Amy

Amy is shown below, at left, with her surviving mom (my colleague and friend Linda) and sister (Jenny). Amy passed away on Tuesday. I never actually met Amy, but I knew that she was very loved -- and that she showed a lot of love back.

The joy of tech

Click for larger.
Source: The Joy of Tech

My newest fridge magnet