Delicious LiveJournal Links for 10-1-2009

[andrewducker]

• No, I Will Not Molest Your Kids
  A reaction to the extreme care some people now take.
  (tags: children Child_abuse society)
• Marmaduke meets Cthulhu!
  (tags: comics funny cthulhu)
• An Artificial Heart That Doesn't Beat
  "You put this in cattle and they stand up and moo and eat and wonder why everyone is looking at them so weird," says William Cohn, a collaborator on the research and director of minimally invasive surgical technology at the Texas Heart Institute. "You see a cow wagging his tail and you say, wow, this is the future of the artificial heart."
  (tags: future technology science biology heart)
• French drop Polanski release call
  A drop of common sense.
  (tags: rape politics France)
• Comics Review: Alan Moore & Bill Sienkiewicz, Big Numbers 3
  Oh, what I'd pay for a completed Big Numbers.
  (tags: comics alan_moore BillSienkiewicz review)
• RAF leaflet box kills Afghan girl
  Now _that_'s not going to be winning any hearts or minds
  (tags: Irony EpicFail afghanistan)
• A list of people who think that raping 13-year-olds is fine, if you make movies.
  (tags: polanski rape EpicFail)
• PC tune-up software: less effective than spending the cash on RAM
  (tags: software windows memory)
• Online advertising overtakes TV advertising in the UK
  Now that was unexpected.
  (tags: internet advertising tv)

Comments

[broin.livejournal.com]

Here we go:

"It ends a three-year investigation that brought Europe's most powerful bank to its knees, opening up a deep diplomatic rift between the United States and Switzerland."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/aug/19/tax-avoidance-ubs-us-economy

[andrewducker]

Wow. That's fantastic. Glad the blanket secrecy is finally being broken.

[broin.livejournal.com]

...

Yes, thank goodness for those heroic IRS agents.

[andrewducker]

You're coming out in favour of the multimillionaires avoiding paying tax?

I'm in favour of tax - and in favour of people who make sure that it gets paid.

[broin.livejournal.com]

Why are you also reducing this to a binary either/or? It makes conversation difficult.

[andrewducker]

You started off by indicating you were against IRS agents, in a sarcastic tone. Is that not taking a binary position?

And I don't see my (generally) being against secrecy and tax evasion as an immovable position. Having an opinion doesn't mean I can't discuss things or have my mind changed.

[broin.livejournal.com]

I'm not in favor of tax avoidance. But reducing that article to 'fantastic' seems naive. It's a political tool. It's for political reasons. Google up 'swiss' and 'irs' for more commentary if you're interested.

[andrewducker]

I think that the banks having to be open is fantastic. I'm generally against secrecy. Is there politics at work? Of course! Will there undoubtedly be negative effects? Of course! Is it still fantastic that one of the major bastions of secrecy is now forced to open up its books? Yes!

(All IMHO, of course).