Why I said I would...

be willing to go to a doctor's appointment at 8 a.m. tomorrow morning is now weighing heavily on me.  It was a bad decision.  Or was it?  If I'd turned it down, I'd have had to wait two more weeks.  So I guess this is one of those suck it up things.  But that's why I'm working on this now, since I will probably have fifteen minutes at most in the morning for morning computer stuff.

Thanks to a FB post from someone yesterday, I'm pondering stuff again.  In this case, while we call it French kissing, what do the French call it?  Do they have another name over there for French fries?  Don't get me started on "freedom fries".

I'm pondering these traffic sensors embedded in the street.  Why is it that when there is no traffic, it seems to make you wait forever, and when there is a lot of traffic, it will sometimes cause the light to change almost immediately.  The intersection closest to my front door has one and the light on the street is always green for North/South travel, unless someone exiting the studio across the street or my complex trips the sensor.  The other night when there wasn't a car in sight, it seemed like I waited forever.  This morning, traffic was heavy and it changed right away.

I'm pondering people who don't do math.  Right now there's a fast food chain that is advertising a special where you get any size drink for $1.00.  So if you order a combo meal and "super-size" it, you're paying more than if you ordered the meal, fries and drink separately.  But people waste money.  29 cents each or four for a dollar is good.  23 cents each or four for a dollar is bad.  I bet if you put up a sign for the latter, some people would say "oh buy four, it's a bargain."  I think I've said that before, if so, apologies for repeating myself.

We went over the rules on how California taxes military pay.  If you're in the military and you're a California resident, but you're stationed outside California, you pay no state tax on your military pay.  But if you're stationed within the state, you pay state tax if you're a resident.  However, if you're a non-resident of CA, but stationed within the state, you still don't pay CA tax.  I'm not even going to get into the rules on taxation of CA pay of non-military spouses of military personnel stationed within the state.

I'm pondering how to explain to someone that they need to read things carefully.  We had a graded review today and she couldn't find a line number on the California return.  She said three times "that line doesn't exist".  It was right there in front of her, but I wouldn't help her.  Finally I got tired and said, "just go line by line and you'll find it."  She did.  I try to be patient, but she insists on understanding every single minor detail of why things work the way they work, but she can't read carefully enough to find a line number.  Okay, okay, enough venting.

50 years ago today, the Soviet Union began dismantling their missiles in Cuba, in response to the U.S. blockage, as the tension of the Cuban Missile Crisis began to wane.

40 years ago today, "That Certain Summer" aired on network television, with Hal Holbrook and Martin Sheen portraying an adult gay couple.  Ezra Pound died.

39 years ago today, Acting Attorney General Robert Bork appointed Leon Jaworski as the new Watergate Special Prosecutor after the famous "Saturday Night Massacre" a few weeks earlier.

37 years ago today, President Gerald Ford gave a deposition in the case against Lynnette "Squeaky" Fromme in the case involving her attempt to shoot him.  The deposition was never released to the media or the public.

33 years ago today, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini urged the people of Iran to demonstrate on November 4th, the day the U.S. Embassy was seized.

26 years ago today, the Sandoz Chemical spill took place in Switzerland, polluting the Rhine.

Enough history.  Maybe I'll do that again tomorrow.  November is a month filled with significant historical events.

Rates of sexually transmitted diseases among prostitutes in Nevada are actually lower than those of L.A. area porn stars.  But some people still oppose a proposed ordinance on the ballot for L.A. residents concerning the mandatory use of condoms in production of porn films.  Why?  Is it worth putting lives at risk to make films look better?

The 535 elected representatives of the American people need to get together.  Seems that we're about to hit the limit on the public debt credit card and they need to vote to give themselves more credit.  Better do it soon.  It looks really bad when the Federal goverment's Visa gets declined for being over the limit.

Oliver Stone has a new conspiracy theory.  Hurricane Sandy is punishment for Obama and Romney failing to tackle climate change in their debates.  Someone needs to test that dude for exposure to Agent Orange.