“…When you say something that no one believes, you are not only wasting your time/money, you are undermining your credibility. And all the spurious “support points” in the world don’t make absurd claims any more believable…”

pendulum - slam

impossible to listen to this whilst walking and not develop a swagger.

also “is this bass(sic) really strong enough?”

“the only way to meet the apocalypse is hungover and sleep-deprived…

— tessa… via

I’m just learning a lot lately about how people get their validation… Some do with faux self-deprecation that demands the listener contradict them in a complimentary way. Some need lots of blog comments and a thousand “friends” on Facebook. I am a step and a half from being any one of those scenarios. I refuse.

via

tumblarity is a lie.

∞ The Road to a Balanced Budget Leads to Microsoft

vb:

“Microsoft’s Cumulative Tax Evasion Now Exceeds Washington State’s Biennial Deficit”

Some quick background: Microsoft bases their software licensing office in Reno, Nevada.  Microsoft does this because Nevada has no tax on software licensing.  Jeff estimates that Washington (state) has lost out on $700M in tax revenue.

It’s a good read and he makes some good points. However (and you knew there was one coming)…

It’s not really evasion if it’s legal.  You want it made evasion? Change the tax law so that what they’re doing is illegal.  Microsoft is a business, a publicly held business.  By that nature alone, they have a fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders to perform the best that it can within the constructs of the law.  Microsoft is doing that in this respect (perhaps not others, but that’s another arguement).

States compete with other states to gain businesses.  How do they do this you ask?  Through taxation.  If states want to attract certain industries, they will create tax breaks for those industries.  The state makes back its revenue from payroll taxes from the jobs that were created.  It also is just a good idea from the state’s perspective - the bigger number of employers that you have, the larger your tax base.

From a business perspective, taxation isn’t a moral thing.  It’s a cost to do business.  You’re going to go where there’s less taxation when it makes sense to.  Until that is illegal, Washington (and Jeff) have no leg to stand on.

are you for real?

the text posts in your tumblr read: “apple good. microsoft bad.”

the GFC is microsofts fault? look around, maybe read “no logo” or something like it, walmart killed main st, major clothing manufacturers hire contractors to produce clothes (so that no strings tie them to the sweat shops), sorry but the world isn’t all sunshine and macbooks.

every CEO will do anything to protect their margin and bottom line (think riaa). SHOCK HORROR. just so happens in this instance the deal is legal, so, i have no doubt, whoever came up with this idea would’ve gotten a nice bonus.

humans are greedy, selfish creatues.

perspective is neat huh.

sorry vb.

**unfollowed**

lol has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say”.

via

cankerbloxxom:

Interpol - Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down

I tend not to trust people who dislike the following things: dogs, magpies, the Beatles and this song.

right on

“hakuna matata is a lie