Gov. Bob McDonnell has quietly declared April 2010 Confederate History Month, bringing back a designation in Virginia that his two Democratic predecessors—Mark Warner and Tim Kaine—refused to do.

I would like to propose that January 14^th hereby be recognized as a day of celebration of the birth of the great American general who bravely lead the colonial troops to victories in the battles of Ticonderoga and Saratoga, among others. Let all Americans tip their hats in honor of the legendary Colonial hero, Benedict Arnold.

We could dress up in period costumes and pretend to sell military secrets to enemy spies. West Point could hold a big annual pageant, celebrating his failed plot to hand the fort over to the British for £20,000. Don your tri-corners and enjoy some Treason Fries !

Who's with me ?

Tom Angove, inventor of box wine, dies at 92.

His son said:

"I do remember when I was about 15 and he brought home a prototype and I said to him: 'that's ridiculous, nobody is going to buy wine out of a cardboard box and a plastic bag'... But he persevered, didn't listen to me and he was determined."

Cheers.

A Picture Is Worth 1000mg of Vitamin C

Feh. If everybody's doing it, I feel obligated.

Not in order...

1. Rick Perlstein - Nixonland. I'm only about 300 pages into this monster, but already, this is a perception-changing book. Unsurprisingly, there's a lot of information about Nixon himself, but, as you can tell by the title, the focus is really on the political landscape of 1960's USA, and what that meant for Nixon: how he navigated it, responded to it, formed it. The author will go pages without even mentioning Nixon, while describing how Lyndon Johnson was handling some aspect of the Vietnam war, or how Bobby Kennedy was reacting to the riots, or how MLK was received in this or that city, etc.. And he has a dry and darkly funny writing style, so it's an entertaining read. Because of that, I've learned more about the 60's from the first half of this book than I have in my past 39.5 years. Since I didn't live through it all, my mental images of the mid-late 60's are those I've seen in countless musical retrospectives, Vietnam movies, footage of MLK speaking, and sit-coms. But none of those things really describe how violent and insane things got in cites all across America - riots, bombings, actual calls for revolution, the New Left, the string of assassinations - and how all that gave rise to the politics of resentment (and finally, how Nixon took advantage of it all). And, if a history lesson can be graded on how it helps you make sense of the present, this one is among the best: seeing how it was formed makes the apparently-insane politics of today's right wing much more understandable. Ex. why do they think "the left" is a bunch of seditious America-hating freaks? Because, in the late 60's, that wasn't too much of a stretch. Someone needs to tell them it's not 1967 anymore, however.
2. Matt Ridley - The Red Queen. It's an exploration of the state of evolutionary biology (circa 1994) with an emphasis on sex: why it exists, how it could have evolved, what it accomplishes, what are the alternatives, etc.. This one kicked off a multi-year period where I only read books on evolutionary biology.
3. Jerzy Kosinski - The Painted Bird. I read this one when I was 15 or so. It's the story of a boy wandering through eastern Europe during WWII... that's nearly all I remember. Nearly. I also remember one line: when people claim to know me, I can no longer act freely. (That's how I remember it, at least.) That line has resonated with me for decades. To me, it's about the cages we create for ourselves by unintentionally creating expectations in others. I'd explain it more thoroughly, but then, well, you'd know me better. And you know where that leads. I've already said too much.
4. City Of Saints And Madmen - Jeff VanderMeer - It's a collection of short stories, novellas, fictional travel brochures, fictional historical essays, fictional biography, etc. all revolving around a fictional city called "Ambergris". While most of the pieces were written separately as stand-alone fiction, and only later put together in book form, because of their shared location, they work as a single book (though an unconventional, non-linear book). And, right in the middle of it, VanderMeer executes a couple of nifty self-referential back flips which sends the narration into our world, and then into a second(?) Ambergris which is fictional to the characters in the first Ambergris. I think. I actually burst out a giddy "Holy Fuck!" when I hit that section.
5. James Gleick – Chaos - This got me into a multi-year exploration of fractals, which lead me to release my first public computer application (a fractal explorer), which taught me a lot about writing apps for other people, which came in handy when I started my own software company. Plus, you know, pretty pictures.
6. Edward Gorey – The Ghastlycrumb Tinies. Read it for yourself. It's short.
7. Jared Diamond – Guns, Germs and Steel. A thought-provoking, if largely speculative (and sometimes strained), attempt to explain why "western" civilization progressed so rapidly while others lagged. It's a nice history of the last ten thousand years or so, too.
8. R. Crumb - Genesis. I've tried to read the Bible before, but found it as interesting as trying to read the complete set of service manuals for an IBM 360. But, Crumb took just the one book, Genesis, illustrated it, and made it interesting - without mocking it or trying to spice it up in any way. It's just Genesis, but with pictures. Now I know the ultimate source of a few hundred references that had previously just gone over my head.
9. e e cummings - Complete. For many years, I tried to be a poet - as do many people of a certain age - and this book was my biggest inspiration. I tried hard to form typographic copies of whatever was in my head, and I got to a point where I could do that pretty reliably. But still, I sucked. The difference between me and e e was that Cummings wasn't just about spacing and clever punctuation. Cummings, unlike me and his zillions of other college-age imitators, was very musical, truly clever, and he was a pioneer - that cut-up, spaced-out, cleverly-formatted thing is his, so you can't do his tricks and not expect your readers to think "oh great, here's another fan of Cummings." And most importantly: Cummings wasn't a self-absorbed teenager. Yes, his style was as indulgent as could be, and some of his subject matter was silly, but he was a mature writer, not an adolescent wailing at the cruel injustices of his little world. He wasn't hung up on himself; he talked about the world around him as an observer, or a participant, and not as a confused victim. That's why he remains interesting, and I refuse to read the crap I wrote.
10. Tolkien - The Lord Of The Rings. It's hard to say I've been influenced by this - it's not a unique source of great themes to live by; I don't collect swords; I don't speak Elvish; I don't write fantasy novels. On the other hand, this is the only book I've read five times. And I still find new things in it, every time. Also, our cat Tricksey's name is from Gollum - so, maybe a little influence. I haven't re-read it since the movies came out, but I am nearly ready to.

I should probably add Carl Sagan's Cosmos to this list, since it was my favorite book for many years as a precocious tween. I still have my original copy, fading away on the bookshelf downstairs. I wonder if it's still as good as it was when I was 11...

The most egregious example is General Electric. Last year the conglomerate generated $10.3 billion in pretax income, but ended up owing nothing to Uncle Sam. In fact, it recorded a tax benefit of $1.1 billion.

Avoiding taxes is nothing new for General Electric. In 2008 its effective tax rate was 5.3%; in 2007 it was 15%. The marginal U.S. corporate rate is 35%.

How did this happen? It's complicated. GE's tax return is the largest the IRS deals with each year--some 24,000 pages if printed out. Its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission weighs in at more than 700 pages.

Inside you'll find that GE in effect consists of two divisions: General Electric Capital and everything else. The everything else--maker of engines, power plants, TV shows and the like--would have paid a 22% tax rate if it was a standalone company.

It's GE Capital that keeps the overall tax bill so low. Over the last two years, GE Capital has displayed an uncanny ability to lose lots of money in the U.S. (posting a $6.5 billion loss in 2009), and make lots of money overseas (a $4.3 billion gain). Not only do the U.S. losses balance out the overseas gains, but GE can defer taxes on that overseas income indefinitely. The timing of big deductions for depreciation in GE Capital's equipment leasing business also provides a tax benefit, as will loan losses left over from the credit crunch.

When I grow up, I'm going to be a multinational corporation.

We finally caught up to Lost. We watched five seasons on streaming Netflix, then I torrented the first 7 episodes from this season because I couldn't find them any other way. And I went to play episode 8 from this season...

And it's full of Pop-up Video-style plot hints to remind you of what happened when, and when was the last time Kate saw Sawyer, or Sun saw Jin and when was.... What The Fuck ?

Has it always been like that?

Fuck you ABC. I'm torrenting the rest of them, too.

The Song of the Skin Bag, also.

Why I won't buy an iPad

There isn't any traffic on the roads Friday AM.

Why ?

Does this happen anywhere else, or is it just some Raleigh/Cary/Durham thing ?

I know it's not the work schedule of a single large employer, because I've worked all over the area, and it happens no matter which direction I'm going. My lovely wife "works" at home on Fridays, but she's the only person I know who does that. Stores are open on Fridays, so I know the retail people have to go in. Schools are open on Fridays, so it can't be that kid-shuttle traffic isn't running.

What's going on?