If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go like this:

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. (Bush tax cuts) ‘Since you are all such good customers,’ he said, ‘I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.’  Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.  But what about the other six men – the paying customers?  How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:  Under the new cut,

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
The seventh now pays $5  instead of $7 (28%savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.  ‘I only got a dollar out of the $20,’declared the sixth man.  He pointed to the tenth man,’ but he got $10!’  ‘Yeah, that’s right,’ exclaimed the fifth man. ‘I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I got’. That’s true!!’ shouted the seventh man. ‘Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!’

‘Wait a minute,’ yelled the first four men in unison. ‘We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!’  The nine men surrounded the tenth and complained nonstop.

The next night, the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction.

Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore.  In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

(thanks, Aunt Joanne, for the updated version)

Who needs 2TB of space? Someone paranoid about constant backups like me, that’s who!

So, knowing that the deals have already started, I decided to browse around and found a great deal on a Seagate External 2TB hard drive. It’s even cheaper than some of the 1TB drives.

No, it’s not a portable drive, but I’ve got a few of those already, I need something to sit here on the desktop and keep my backups in order. (Time machine is a GOOD thing!)

This is what I’m getting:

Seagate ST320005EXA101 Expansion External Drive – 2TB, USB 2.0

I also run a backup program that backs up my data to a remote site as well. No point in taking risks with all my client files.

Roger and Shelley (Faircloth) Hobbs — keep those names in the back of your head… there’ll be a grammy in their future. (He’s already got an emmy.)

I’m on a mission to grow my fan base. It’s a great way to promote one’s business, and a fun way to share information.

The contest runs from April 1, 2010 to May 1st, 2010 12:00am. Winners will be drawn at random.

What’s in it for you?

For each 100 people that become a fan of Computer Design Graphics I will draw one lucky winner to win a custom fan page. Not some goofy thing with boxes (which are going away soon), but a real fan page in fbml (facebook markup language), with graphics and links back to your primary web site. I can even embed your YouTube video channel, if you have one and it makes sense.

Even more prizes! In addition to the fan pages:

• If Computer Design Graphics makes it to 500 fans, one lucky winner will get 1,000 FREE full-color, 2-sided business cards on 16pt stock, including the design!
• If Computer Design Graphics make it to 1,000 fans, I will also be doing a complete WordPress installation/blog makeover for one lucky winner. (If the winner is a current customer, they will have their choice of either a site makeover, development of a second WordPress-powered website, or a $200 Amazon gift card.)

Be sure to tell your friends!

I’m on a mission to grow my fan base. It’s a great way to promote one’s business, and a fun way to share information.

The contest runs from April 1, 2010 to May 1st, 2010 12:00am. Winners will be drawn at random.

What’s in it for you?

For each 100 people that become a fan of Computer Design Graphics I will be creating a custom fan page. Not some goofy thing with boxes (which are going away soon), but a real fan page in fbml (facebook markup language), with graphics and links back to your primary web site. I can even embed your YouTube video channel, if you have one and it makes sense.

Even more prizes! In addition to the fan pages:

• If Computer Design Graphics makes it to 500 fans, one lucky winner will get 1,000 FREE full-color, 2-sided business cards on 16pt stock, including the design!
• If Computer Design Graphics make it to 1,000 fans, I will also be doing a complete WordPress installation/blog makeover for one lucky winner. (If the winner is a current customer, they will have their choice of either a site makeover, development of a second WordPress-powered website, or a $200 Amazon gift card.)

Be sure to tell your friends!

[Deer in headlights look]

“Um… will it hurt?”

<smirk>

Ah, fond memories of learning the jargon of printers. Bleeding, in this case refers to the ink going  past the cut edge of the paper, so you have edge-to-edge ink coverage.

Whether you have a designer that handles your art and printing projects, or you work directly with printers yourself, there are some common printing terms you should be familiar with.