Back in college I worked at a restaraunt. The dishwasher there was a nice guy, and a good worker. Not a rocket scientist. He'd been working there a very long time. He'd been turning down raises for a decade, not because he wanted less money, but because it would put him above some arbitrary line that allowed him to have low rent housing. That's the kind of sillyness that 'step' based systems encourage, whether they be in assistance programs or part of the tax code.

One thing that never seems to get much mention is that you can have a "simple" progressive tax. I think people very much like the idea of a flat tax because it seems simple and fair. I also think the "skin in the game" argument has merit. There is no reason we can't do something reasonable like say 5% of income at the bottom, XX% at the top, and a nice smooth line between those two whose equation calculates your taxes. Screw deductions. You pay on your real income. No loop holes, the super rich don't get off, everyone has stake (and a reason to pay attention to gov't efficienty), and it's simple. If people can't afford to pay 5% in taxes, then jack the mimimum wage to a reasonable level. The money comes from somewhere anyway, paid to the government or paid to workers. The mechanisms for the payments are very important even of the dollars in your pocket remains the same.

It seems absurd to me that with capital gains you are taxed less than someone who actually had to earn that money. It seems equally absurd that 50% of americans don't pay any taxes at all, and a good chunk of those actually get money back.

When you have to depend on the goverment just to make ends meet, that is a very, very bad thing. And that is what 50%+ of us do.

Of course that assumes Verizon will even let you active a smartphone without a data plan... which they normally will not. Some of the MVNOs like page plus will let you, but I'm pretty sure verizon won't. I'm sure ATT would love to block that route too, if it could. It boggles my mind why non-contract plans aren't more popular. Looking at Page Plus (verizon mvno) you get unlimited, plus 2gb data for $55. If you can get by with wifi and 100mb mobile data that drops to $39. If you can live with 1200min on the voice plan and 100mb that drops to $29. Those are without contract. I'm pretty sure they also include the taxes, where as the contract plan prices usually don't. Simple mobile is $40 for "unlimited" (1gb data) using Tmo's network. The voice only prepaids get even cheaper (4c a min is the lowest I found at page plus) if you can get by with wifi only.

Aside from the absurd patents, like software that need to go away completely, the fees and the total number of patents held by an organization should be linked to the number of full time, non-contract employees. The implementation would need appropriate loop holes checks, and heavy fines for trying to subvert the system.

A huge company with many workers should be allowed an appropriately large number of patents. They should also have to pay top dollar to keep them, with the price per patent going up considerably each with each new patent. A smaller company can only hold a few (bye-bye patent holding troll companies), but the fees should be in line with what a smaller company that actually -needs- patent protection to get off the ground can actually afford.

I'd also like to see published licensing rate formulas required in the patent where everyone pays using the same rate formulates when utilizing the holders patent, and the holder may not refuse to license a patent at those rates. The rate formula is part of the submitted patent application, and can be grounds for refusal of the patent.

Now decrease protection time to something reasonable like 5 years I think things might get better.

The other difference is that you have only ONE government, so it damn well better get things right. Atleast I can opt out of supporting google and apple if I choose. Not so much with the government. Of course the flip side of all this is that the megacorps and elite, with the purchased support of our lovely elected officials are working hard to make it impossible for the little guys to 'vote with our dollars'. You have the freedom to choose option A, or option B citizen.

You can ALT-F4 the "Oh no screen". It's silly that you can't close it any other way, but it is just a window.

My grandmothers eye doc was "Dr Blinder". Not kididng. Good doctor despite the name.

Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
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How shall we handle nominations? I've got a few people in mind.

Gnome shell does work great... if you install all the user extensions to actually make use bearable. With a few silly warts it's the best desktop experience I've had on linux in the last decade or so. Unfortunately out of the box it is a lot like opening a new toy on christmas and not having any batteries for it. It looks nice, and you can see the potential... but it's useless without the batteries.

Batteries to make gnome3 useful;:
install gnome-tweak-tools to get user extension support
install applications menu extension
install shutdown menu extension
install native window placement extension
install bottom panel extension for taskbar (to taste, I prefer the alt-tab)
add back the minimize/maximize buttons via obsure gconf settings

After all that, it starts looking pretty good. The multi monitor support could be better (Why don't new windows open on the screen with the mouse?, Why virtual desktop only works on one screen?)

It may not be possible. At the home where my grandmother is (just had her 105th b-day) there is no wifi access for residents. A few years/decades ago I would have loved to have had access to an ipad for her, but unfortunately it would be beyond her at this point. On the other hand I know a lady in her nineties who spends many hours a day playing online bridge/poker and would probably wilt away without the net.

Nothing wrong with a comfortable chair, it's the extremes either way that get you. My 'super-comfortable' chair was essentially build like a fluffy recliner. Sitting in it felt like perching on a cloud. Did you ever see the Tick episode with the most comfortable chair, built as a super weapon my the Ottoman empire trying to take over the world? This was that chair. I could spend 4-5 hours at a time in that chair working and not even realize it until my stomach started growling.

Some cheap office chair is equally bad for the reasons you describe. You want something with good support and reasonable comfort.... just not so damn good you forget to move and exercise 5-10 minutes out of every hour.

Seriously. I had the most comfortable chair in the world I think, and after several years I find it partially to blame for several years of back problems. Long hours in relatively the same position == BAD, no matter how painless it feels at the time. I've been adjusting my work-style and recovering.

I think it's best to get a chair that encourages motion of any kind. Swivel, moving back, etc. Comfortable enough that you can focus, but uncomfortable enough to remind you to shift and move around frequently. A little self-disciple would work too, but I find myself getting focused and forgetting easily. Two different types of chairs is also handy.

Good habits will really help. I find that 'thinking' time is best spend walking/pacing and working on a wall mounted whiteboard as much as possible. Your body really thrives on variety.

I also suggest a raising/standing desk. I found a hydraulic hospital table (the kind they put by hospital beds that raise and extend over the bed). Using that as my computer desk has been great. It's simple to lower it and use from a chair, or raise it and use standing. They also make real standing desks, but they are fairly expensive (the used hospital table was $20).

Other things I've found helpful:

Ergo keyboards. Not the common kind, but those that you can split and have several inches between the two halves. I use a goldtouch, which has been partially disassembed to allow for more separation. I miss my model M, but the goldtouch is easier on the wrists

Alternate mouse, or switching right/left sides occasionally. Personally I have a trackball on the right and an apple touchpad on the left for scrolling and gestures. Adding the touchpad solved some ulnar nerve pain I had been fighting in my right hand/wrist.

The last thing isn't ergo specifically, but multiple monitors are a big plus for development work.

Django. I'm pretty sure there is more documention than code. There are a lot of open source projects with excellent documentation. Not all or even most, but a lot.

Everyone should pay taxes. If they can't make enough money to live on and still afford to pay those taxes, then we need to fix the root problem of "can't make enough money". Increase the minimum wage, get rid of the subsidies. And to those CEOs who cry about increasing the minimum wage while 10x, 100x or even 1000x more per year than their lowest paid employee... sorry, you aren't getting any sympathy from me. If you are making that kind of money you've exploited someone somewhere... customers, employees.

The typical democrat crys about disproportionate weath, corporate tax breaks, and how the common man is being exploited by the weathly. And they are right. The typical republican crys about taxes, excess regulations, and how jobs are created by businesses and not government. And they are right. The solution needs to come from common sense and self control on both ends of the spectrum, before those stuck in the middle wake up and decide we don't need either end of the spectrum any more.

That is true for me as well. I gave the trial an attempt once and canceled when I found out it wouldn't work on linux. Then a friend reminded me the ps3 was an option... and I subscribed for a month only to fire up the ps3 and find out they'd been hacked and I couldn't install netflix so I cancelled again. It's just not worth a third time, especially after the recent changes.