Where's My Toast?

Via my brother Mark:

A couple in their nineties are both having problems remembering things. During a check-up, the doctor tells them that they're physically okay, but they might want to start writing things down to help them remember.

Later that night, while watching TV, the old man gets up from his chair. 'Want anything while I'm in the kitchen?' he asks.

'Will you get me a bowl of ice cream?'

'Sure.'

'Don't you think you should write it down so you can remember it?' she asks.

'No, I can remember it.'

'Well, I'd like some strawberries on top, too. Maybe you should write it down, so as not to forget it?'

He says, 'I can remember that. You want a bowl of ice cream with strawberries.'

'I'd also like whipped cream. I'm certain you'll forget that, write it down?' she asks.

Irritated, he says, 'I don't need to write it down, I can remember it! Ice cream with strawberries and whipped cream - I got it, for goodness sake!'

Then he toddles into the kitchen. After about 20 minutes, the old man returns from the kitchen and hands his wife a plate of bacon and eggs. She stares at the plate for a moment.

'Where's my toast?'

Nineties? Hmmm...

Binary Instrumentation...

A software library published by Intel, free for non-commercial use, with lots of source code examples...

Thirty Meter Telescope...

It looks like it's really going to be built, on Mauna Kea in Hawai'i. 

Not so very long ago, the largest telescope in the world was the Hale Telescope, here in San Diego on Mt. Palomar.  That telescope is still in operation, 200" in diameter – a light-collecting area of about 20 square meters.  The Thirty Meter Telescope is 30 meters in diameter, giving it a light-collecting area of about 707 square meters – over 35 times bigger than the Hale Telescope.

Awesome!

Tax Day...

I'm angry.

You should be angry too, if you're an American.

If you've been even moderately successful in your career, today is the day when your federal government, and most state governments, forcibly steal a large fraction of your income.

Through the trick of employer withholding, the governments manage to fool most people most of the time; they scarcely notice the taxes they pay.  That's a real shame (though it was very clever politics).  I'm certain that if people had to write a check today for the entire amount of their taxes due, they'd be paying considerably more attention to this miserable day.

Then, too, if the politicians (being clever again, dang it!) had made Tax Day October 15th instead of April 15th (making it just before Election Day), I'm sure our taxes wouldn't be so high.

But here we are, handing over chunks of our income again.

You'll have to pardon me today, because I am having trouble seeing things straight.  My normally clear vision is being clouded by hallucinations of free-spending politicians being strung up like beans – and cheering crowds watching...

But the reality is...that I'll be avoiding jail by handing over way too much of my income to a bunch of incompetents in Washington and Sacremento. 

So I'm angry.

And you should be angry, too.