Tax Freedom Day 2015

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Today is National Tax Freedom Day for 2015.  Fortunately for those of us in Indiana, ours was back around the 18th of April, so this week’s paycheck is ours!

When I was reading this, I ran across this article talking about how poorly Americans did on understanding the U.S. Tax code.  I think I got 80%, but I’m going to agree with the article in saying some of the questions were a bit tricky.  I knew what they were talking about at least, though maybe not the specifics.

If you choose to read the article, check out some of the comments as well.  There was an interesting argument thread between the Taxed Too Much crowd and the Taxes Pay For Benefits group.  I tend to lean toward the former, but the latter made a few good points.

Happy Tax Freedom Day!

Image Source:  Tax Foundation

Marshall County Entry Level Housing Meeting

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I sit on the Affordable Housing Task Force for Culver and as part of that as well as wearing my MCEDC hat, I sat in on a meeting at the Culver Library with Darin Edwards, Underwriting and Closing Manager for IHCDA.  The meeting was arranged by Jerry Chavez, MCEDC Executive Director, and included representatives from the Marshall County communities of Culver, Argos, Plymouth and Bremen.

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Kathy & Will Peason’s Retirement Party

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Will & Kathy Pearson with over 60 combined years at ECC

We had a retirement party for Will & Kathy Pearson on Saturday night.  Kathy was with Easterday Construction for over 38 years and Will was here somewhere around 25 years. As discussed in a previous post here, they will be missed.

Almost everyone in the crew was able to come out for the party.  We shared a lot of memories and everyone had a good time.

Solar Roadways

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Artist’s rendition of downtown Sandpoint, Idaho – Home of Solar Roadways Graphic design by Sam Cornett

I ran across this site for Solar Roadways the other day.  This is a pretty cool concept if they can get it off the ground.  The basic concept is to “pave” roads and sidewalks with durable solar panels.  Not only would they generate electricity, theoretically paying for themselves, but also have benefits:

  1. Lighted Pavement Markings, which would be below the surface.  They would never need to be “restriped” and would be visible at night.
  2. They would have internal heating elements to melt snow in the winter time.
  3. Power street lights, stop lights, etc.
  4. They could post emergency messages or warnings.
  5. Include sensors that could alert motorists to problems down the road.

It seems like there are lots of possibilities if this works out.  It’s conceivable that every home could have a driveway from this material as supplemental power.

The company is generating funds from a Federal Highway Grant as well as crowdfunding.  (Linked at their site.)  Check them out.  They have a lot of cool pictures… some conceptual and some actual prototypes.

Image Source:  Solar Roadways

Clip that Makes Me Laugh

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In the world of text messages and 140 character Tweets, I find the use of LOL (Laugh Out Loud) and the more definitive LMAO (Look it up yourself!) or the entirely unlikely ROFLMAO (again, you look it up) to be way over used.  I have a pretty good sense of humor, but it takes a lot to make me laugh out loud and I have to say, ROFLMAO has never happened…  I’m more of a smirker at heart.

That said, Becky had I started watching Ridiculousness on MTV a while back and we’ve both been inspired to laugh out loud.  Occasionally there was alcohol contributing to that, but still we’ve found some pretty funny things on there.  People can be idiots and people apparently don’t mind publicizing their idiocy for their Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame.  The clip to the right is of a brother sneaking up on his napping sister and waking her with a vacuum cleaner.  Seeing it the first time was a Laugh Out Loud moment that I had to run back and forth several times with the DVR.  I still smile looking at it as it see it here!  While the show revels in people doing physical harm to themselves, there are lots of moments like this too.

And who knew that bulldogs had such a propensity for skateboarding? (If you need a smile and have some time to kill, Google “Skateboarding Bulldogs” and look at the images or do the same at YouTube for some hilarious videos.

Anyway, here you go with a post of very little redeeming value, but when I ran across the clip, I had to share.  One final warning – if you decide to check out Ridiculousness, be prepared for Chanel’s laugh.  It’s something right out of a Chip ‘n Dale cartoon!

Vacuum Image Source

Bulldog 1 Image Source

Bulldog 2 Image Source