Mike and Mike Roast Webcast?

Since today is my usual work from home day (although breaking my future wife's nose canceled my business travel this week), I have had ESPN on for most of the day.

I can only take First Take and Outside the Lines for so long, because they tend to repeat themselves. But, watching the Best of Mike and Mike is usually a good bet (2 PM EPSN2HD).

Today, they broadcasted live from Atlantic City in preparation for being roasted tonight. Here's the announcement: LINK

What I want to know is, how do I watch it? Will it be on TV? HBO? Radio (seems appropriate for the format of their show)? Web cast?

Then, clicking on a link, I came to this page:
http://www.kodigital.com/espnroast08/

It has a box for a video that is currently blank. When I googled "Mike and Mike Roast Webcast" and other such similar queries, I came up with nothing.

Is this the page to watch it live over the web?

Here is the timeline for tonight. The roasting starts at 10:30PM EST.

I don't care if some people expect lame jokes.

I just want to know if I've stumbled on a secret webcast to the event...

UPDATE: Here is a link for a short recap of the event -
Small White Ball: Mike and Mike Roast Recap (or why Dana Jacobson slept in until 3 pm on Saturday)

Human Nature and Staring Contests on Foreign Soil...

Last week, my family (present and future) went to the Dominican Republic for vacation and relaxation.

Last Thursday, the whole clan went out in Sea Kayaks to brave the choppy ocean. After my parents were thrown off their kayak by a big wave, I should have gotten a clue. But, while going over the crest of another big wave, I happened to hit my future wife in the face with my paddle. Obviously, it was an accident. Needless to say, I broke her nose. Because of a protein deficiency in her blood, a few extra steps were taken to ensure she didn't continue to bleed (like during our flight home). So, she ended up walking around the resort with gauze up her nostrils for the last 3 days of the vacation. Not so fun for her.

Here's where the staring comes into play....

While walking around with a broken nose, gauze up her nose and a bandage over her stitches, I was surprised at the number of people who would just blatantly stare. I'm talking about turn the head as you walk by type of staring, not just a glance or two. Maybe it was because the clientèle were more European and Latin American and less North American.

So, because I got sick of people staring, I started staring back. I figured this would deter them from continuing their rude tractor beam eyes.

I was wrong.

My staring was very obvious and most of the time, people didn't even notice me looking. Sometimes, they would notice me and then stare right back at me. Only occasionally would someone realize they been caught slippin' and look away in shame.

It was just a broken nose and some bandages. I'm sure everyone has seen a broken nose before. I saw ACOM's nose broken on the rugby field (watched it happen 4 feet in front of me) and it was quite messed up. Reconstructive surgery style breakage...


As a side note, while engaged in a game of volleyball with my future brother in law, someone from the land of Canadia happened to sit down next to me. I had just rotated out (we had 8 people on each team). He wanted to join, even though we were only a few points from the end of the game. After explaining to him that I did not approve of him just jumping right in the game, he said, "You must be from the US." I acknowledged that fact and inquired as to why he asked.

"We don't talk like that in Canada."

Apparently, Canadians aren't direct when they speak and won't tell someone like it is. My response was "The truth is hard sometimes."

Unfortunately, for my bride to be, there will be beauty from pain...

Turntable Hero update....

This Engadget article features a DIYer who created a portable turntable controller for Guitar Hero 3.

I recently posted about how Rock Band has paved the way for Turntable Hero.

This may just fuel the fire for the creation of Turntable/DJ/Hip-Hop Hero. Hopefully, Harmonix is paying attention.

Video of the portable turntable in action:



Although it isn't exactly hip-hop/rap music or the same concept as DJ-ing, Harmonix should hire this guy to help develop Hip-Hop Hero.

I will give the guy his propers for his creativity and ingenuity.

Here's the link to the original blog post: LINK

UPDATE:
Taking the Guitar Hero series in the WRONG direction: Air Guitar Rocker

Flat Tax Retort

It is basically a huge scam. Strangely, it's only virtue (simplicity) makes it even easier to identify as a scam.

Situation 1: You make $25,000 per year. Your effective income tax is about 10%. You lose another 10% to other withholding (state taxes, medicare, Social Security etc). So, you save ~$2,500 per year. Because you are a poor scum bag, effectively all this money is spent buying things.

• Old way: $25k - $2.5k in taxes - $2.5k in other witholding - $5k in rent/mortgage = $15k buying power for the year.
• New way: $25k - $0 in taxes - $2.5k in other witholding - $5k in rent/mortgage = $17.5k buying power. However, everything you buy now costs your 30% more. So your $17.5k only buys $13.4k of pre-flat tax goods.
  

Situation 2: You make $75,000 per year. Your effective income tax is about 20%. You lose another 10% to other witholding. You're a not-so-poor working stiff so maybe you save 10% of your income.

• Old way: $75k - $15k in taxes - $7.5k in other witholding - $15k in rent/mortgage - 7.5k in savings = $30k buying power.
• New way: $75k - $0 in taxes - $7.5k in other witholding - $15k in rent/mortgage - 7.5k in savings = $45k buying power ($34.6k adjusted)
  

Situation 3: You make $225,000 per year. Your effective income tax is about 27%. You lose another 10% to other witholding. You're doing rather well and can put away 20% of your income.

• Old way: $225k - $60k in taxes - $25k in other witholding - $25k in rent/mortgage - $45k in savings = $75k buying power.
• New way: $225k - $0 in taxes - $25k in other witholding - $25k in rent/mortgage - $45k in savings = $130k buying power ($100k adjusted).
  

These are clearly estimated numbers and they may have some fundamental problems. However, the things I've ignored make the flat tax an even dumber idea for low- and middle-class humps. For example, deductions for children, mortage interest, or higher education can greatly reduce income tax on the middle class and virtually eliminate it for the lower class.

I've also ignored the fact that if I'm making $225,000 per year, I'm going to buy my Porsche/racing sloop/walk-in humidor in another country or online. So there are plenty of ways of avoiding the new tax burden.

So, at a glance we see that the poor guy gets rogered (10% less buying power), the middle class guy does OK if he's smart enough to save some money (15% more power), and the rich guy makes out like a bandit (33% more buying power). 'Twas ever thus.

Fortunately for the proponents of this plan, poor people can't do teh maths, so they'll probably jump in with both feet.

What else did I miss?

*Updated to correct typos/errors.

What Does the "Make My Profile Private" Button Do?

Though reluctant to link to anything on Fox News, a high-school stundent co-ed young professional woman small-town mayor drawing ire for risque photos on her MySpace page is too good to resist:

"It's a picture of her [Mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist] in bra and panties on a rural protection fire truck in a rural protection fire hall," Woods said. "This isn't the way we want our city to be portrayed."

I'm holding out for the Ruth Bader Ginsburg swimsuit calendar.

Link

Pros and Cons of Huckabee's "Fair Tax"

As Mike Huckabee's campaign gains momentum, people have started look more closely at perhaps his most radical idea: the Fair Tax . This idea was not developed by Huckabee but by a group called Americans for Fair Taxation.

If implemented, this new tax system would nearly eliminate the IRS. The income tax would not exist and neither would those horrible forms we fill out every year. Instead, the tax would be shifted on everyday purchases that we make. Prices would increase 30%. Seems a bit unfair to poor but apparently they receive a government rebate check every month to offset the increase. In other words, they will pay only a fraction of the 30% increase or none at all depending on how little they make.

PROS
1.No more IRS and nasty forms to fill out every year

2.Encourages savings and investment. Two ingredients necessary for economic growth

3.Appears to distribute the tax burden 'fairly' based on what you make and consume

4.Single handily eliminates tax loop holes that lobbyists love and would prevent tax breaks to favored groups

CONS
1."Fair" is a very subjective term and there may be many people that do not find this as a favorable move.

2.Potential to create a HUGE underground black market. Just think, if you are not paying income tax, you would have an incentive to try and find products that aren't taxed with the new 30% increase. This mimics the black market for cigarettes that grew from the heavy taxation of cigarettes. If enough people avoided paying this tax, it could cripple the government.

3.Would everything be taxed? Baby food is an example cited. If you continue not to tax baby food then you open the door to many other products and you would need to move the loss on these products onto other products.

4.Lets say that in general everything appears fair. Poor people get a break and wealthy people get taxed a lot. Seems fair but in reality that is not the case. For example, say you won the lottery or received a huge 10 million dollar bonus. Under current conditions, all 10 million will be taxed. But now with the fair tax, you choose to save 9 million and only spend 1 million. Now your tax rate expressed as a % using 10 million as the denominator is incredibly small. Critics cite that the rich will actually become filthy rich if the Fair Tax is implemented.

I'm sure there are other pros and cons that I am forgetting. Common sense tells me this idea will probably never reach fruition but it is still an interesting idea. One aspect that i find intriguing is how a 30% increase in everyday prices would affect my spending habits. Theoretically, I guess it should have no effect but I think I would have a hard time pay 30% more for a bunch of the crap I buy. My guess is that I would save even more money and pay far less in taxes than the government intended.