The Inimitable Tiff

Zuckerberg’s Big Tax Bill May Benefit Facebook - NYT

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:24:05 -0500

Zuckerberg’s Big Tax Bill May Benefit Facebook - NYT:

When company options are exercised, they are generally treated as ordinary compensation, and the federal tax rate on such income tops out at 35 percent. The exercise of Mr. Zuckerberg’s options would therefore mean more than $1.5 billion in estimated federal income taxes and $500 million more in California income taxes.

The taxes Mr. Zuckerberg and other Facebook shareholders pay on exercised stock options will translate into a big tax benefit for the company. The I.R.S. allows companies to take a mirror deduction for the employees’ option compensation. Facebook anticipates that the deduction will eliminate the tax bill on its $1 billion in 2011 profits, according to its regulatory filings. The company also expects the break to generate as much as $500 million in additional deductions, which can be used for refunds for 2009 and 2010 and for reductions in future years. Facebook declined to comment further on Mr. Zuckerberg’s tax plans.

Cassoulet Brings Honor to Chef Philippe Bertineau -...

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:50:05 -0500

Cassoulet Brings Honor to Chef Philippe Bertineau - NYTimes.com

Note to self: visit and judge. Wait, visit when dad or uncle (or both) is in town and judge.

Waiting in the Wings, a Survivor of Three Decades of Syrian Politics - NYT

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 15:13:06 -0500

Waiting in the Wings, a Survivor of Three Decades of Syrian Politics - NYT

Boeing worker run over by 787 in Everett Dozens of paramedics...

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:54:54 -0500

Boeing worker run over by 787 in Everett

Dozens of paramedics and firefighters rushed to Paine Field after 6:00 p.m., working quickly to free the person from under right wing landing gear.

The victim was eventually extricated and immediately airlifted to Harborview Medical Center. He is in serious condition.

McSweeney’s Lists: NFL Players Whose Names Sound Vaguely Dickensian, and the Characters They Would Be in an Actual Dickens Novel (2007–2008 Regular Season Edition).

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:36:05 -0500

McSweeney’s Lists: NFL Players Whose Names Sound Vaguely Dickensian, and the Characters They Would Be in an Actual Dickens Novel (2007–2008 Regular Season Edition).:

Via @omniverse.

discoverynews: Your state sucks at science This map suggests...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:15:05 -0500

discoverynews:

Your state sucks at science

This map suggests that unless you live in California, a smattering of states out East, or a small handfull of other states sprinkled across the country, you’re looking at a very grave problem when it comes to scientific illiteracy in your community’s youth (and, presumably, its population in general). Come to think of it, this map should really concern you, no matter where you live.

from io9.com

david-noel: fiN | Once In a Lifetime (Orig. by The Talking...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:24:05 -0500

david-noel:

fiN | Once In a Lifetime (Orig. by The Talking Heads)

What he said!

gcn:

fiN - Once In a Lifetime (Orig. by The Talking Heads)

Happy cover friday!

Wow, quite good. Thanks for sharing.

"The next CEO is a big roll of the dice, as the gaming table shrinks. There’s little room for error...."

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:36:05 -0500

“The next CEO is a big roll of the dice, as the gaming table shrinks. There’s little room for error. Pick the right new leader and the Times has improved its chances for survival; pick wrong and these key years of 2012-2014, as news crosses over into a mainly digital business, will be cited in the obit. AP faces a similar tension as it seeks a successor for long-time CEO Tom Curley. Dow Jones, cushioned by parent News Corp.’s better-lined pockets, too, is finalizing its CEO search. Put them together, and it’s a signal moment for American news media, as three top positions open themselves up to possibility, and imagination, simultaneously.”

- The newsonomics of the next New York Times CEO » Nieman Journalism Lab

This is now less of a spectator sport for me.

"Many people are just waiting to be told they can fight back"

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 20:14:05 -0500

“Many people are just waiting to be told they can fight back”

- A young professional from Homs sums up the mood on Syria’s streets. As the country’s civil unrest looks ever more like civil war, imams preaching non-violence may be the last barrier holding back a surge to arms. (via theeconomist)

CBO Director’s Blog: How Would Some Changes to Current Law...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:54:34 -0500

CBO Director’s Blog: How Would Some Changes to Current Law Affect the Economy over the Next Decade?

How Would the Alternative Fiscal Scenario Affect the Economy?

As shown in the table below, CBO estimates indicate that real GDP would be higher in the first few years of the projection period than in CBO’s baseline economic forecast, primarily as a result of increased aggregate demand:

Real GDP would be greater than projected under current law by between 0.2 percent and 0.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012 and by between 0.5 percent and 3.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2013.

Higher GDP would result in a lower unemployment rate and somewhat higher interest rates over the next few years.

But ultimately, economic growth would be dampened:

Although the lower marginal tax rates under those alternative assumptions would increase people’s incentives to work and save, the larger budget deficits would reduce (or “crowd out”) private investment in productive capital.

By the end of 2022, real GDP would be between 2.1 percent smaller and 0.2 percent larger than it would be under current law, CBO estimates, depending on the particular assumptions employed.

In years beyond 2022, the impact on GDP would tend to become more negative, as the projected impact of the alternative fiscal scenario on deficits, and therefore investment, rose.

Fatbear Productions Blog · Best Thing Ever!!! This is just plain...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 17:24:06 -0500

Fatbear Productions Blog · Best Thing Ever!!!

This is just plain awesome…and tortuous in such a lousy winter for snow. If its possible, I clocked negative days on the hill this year, earned by handing over my sets of ski gear to my parents’ care in Utah. Next year I’ll make up for it…somehow.

Prestigious college desperately plays down shameful manipulation...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:30:05 -0500

Prestigious college desperately plays down shameful manipulation of statistics - Numbers Rule Your World

Ali’s Legendary Trainer Angelo Dundee Dies At 90 :...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:53:52 -0500

Ali’s Legendary Trainer Angelo Dundee Dies At 90 : NPR

Shucks. As his obit says, “he was a figure of integrity in a sport that often lacked it.”

“To me, he was the greatest ambassador for boxing, the greatest goodwill ambassador in a sport where there’s so much animosity and enemies,” said Bruce Trampler, the longtime matchmaker who first went to work for Dundee in 1971. “The guy didn’t have an enemy in the world.”

How could he, when his favorite line was, “It doesn’t cost anything more to be nice.”

kateoplis: The Only Remaining Online Copy of Vogue’s Asma...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:34:05 -0500

kateoplis:

The Only Remaining Online Copy of Vogue’s Asma al-Assad Profile

Max Fisher for the Atlantic:

In February, Vogue magazine published, for the benefit of its 11.7 million readers, an article titled “A Rose in the Desert” about the first lady of Syria. Asma al-Assad has British roots, wears designer fashion, worked for years in banking, and is married to the dictator Bashar al-Assad, whose regime has killed over 5,000 civilians and hundreds of children this year. The glowing article praised the Assads as a “wildly democratic” family-focused couple who vacation in Europe, foster Christianity, are at ease with American celebrities, made theirs the “safest country in the Middle East,” and want to give Syria a “brand essence.”Vogue’s editors defended the controversial article as “a way of opening a window into this world a little bit,” conceding only that Assad’s Syria is “not as secular as we might like.” A senior editor responsible for the story told me the magazine stood by it. A few weeks later, the article and all references to it were removed from Vogue’s website without explanation. In August, The Hill reported that U.S. lobbying firm Brown Lloyd James had been paid $5,000 per month by the Syrian government to arrange for and manage the Vogue article. […]

Sadly, Vogue’s piece of the Syrian puzzle has been almost entirely scrubbed from the internet. But, somehow, the text can still be found at a website called PresidentAssad.net, a gif-filled but meticulously updated fan page to the Syrian dictator. The site is registered to a Syrian man living in Rome named Mohamed Abdo al-Ibrahim. A personal site for Ibrahim lists him as an employee of the Syrian state-run news agency.

The Onion Was First | Crossing Wall Street

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:00:05 -0500

The Onion Was First | Crossing Wall Street:

That’s not a particularly risky call on behalf of the Onion, really. But it’s still fun to see contrasted.

Fatbear Productions Blog · I Want An BCA Float 18 Airbag! Wow,...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:30:06 -0500

Fatbear Productions Blog · I Want An BCA Float 18 Airbag!

Wow, effective. I predict a dumb new sport.

PALAEOBLOG: Published This Day: Darwin’s Other Book

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:30:06 -0500

PALAEOBLOG: Published This Day: Darwin’s Other Book

Jaime Danehey › School of Femininity

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:00:06 -0500

Jaime Danehey › School of Femininity:

Awesome.

producermatthew: Fist-Bumper-In-Chief: Talking Points Memo has...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:30:05 -0500

producermatthew:

Fist-Bumper-In-Chief: Talking Points Memo has a collection of the best President Obama fist-bump photos.

[Photo: Pete Souza/White House]

futurejournalismproject: A group calling itself the Syrian...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:54:11 -0500

futurejournalismproject:

A group calling itself the Syrian Electronic Army hacked the Al Jazeera English Web site yesterday with messages supporting president Bashar al-Assad

Via Ars Technica:

Targeting the news organization’s “Syria Live Blog,” which has been providing ongoing coverage of the Arab League’s observer mission to Syria and developments in the ongoing unrest in the country, the hacker group calling itself the Syrian Electronic Army posted pro-Assad and pro-Syrian government images to the site…

…On their own site, the Syrian Electronic Army announced the “code re-penetration” of the site by a “professional Syrian battalion” of hackers, denouncing Al Jazeera for broadcasting “false and fabricated news” to “ignite sedition” among the people of Syria and achieve the goals of “Washington and Tel Aviv.”

Image: Pro Assad image posted to Al Jazeera English’s Syria Live Blog. Via Ars Technica.