Muni is retarded

Um, why can't the SF transit authorites get their shit together? Why
don't bart tickets work on muni? Why do you have to pay in quarters to
get thru muni turnstiles in bart stations? Why doesn't bart actually
CONNECT to the Oakland airport? Want people out of cars? Make the
system convenient!

itunes for iphone sucks

Why does Apple make it impossible to search for DRM-free music from the iphone's implementation of the itunes store?  I will not buy music with BS strings attached, so the itunes store is next-to-useless for me.  Come on Apple, fix it and I'll buy stuff from you!

Meanwhile, the iphone still has egregious feature lackings, such as (hello!) multiple SMS recipients, etc.  Still the greatest phone in the world, but seriously Apple, get the priorities straight.

-Roy

Flat tax now!

The US tax code is SIXTY THOUSAND PAGES.  Anyone who itemizes taxes spends an AVERAGE of 28 hours figuring this all out.  That's 3 days worth of work that's not used to contribute to the nation's economy.  Isn't it incredibly obvious that we need a flat tax?

The argument by "progressive" tax advocates is completely ludicrous.  If you make more money, YOU PAY MORE under a flat tax!  Let's do an example:

Bob makes $100,000 a year.  The tax rate is 20% flat.  He pays $20,000 in tax.

Sally makes $500,000 a year.  The tax rate is 20% flat.  She is very smart and has worked harder than Bob all her life.  She pays $100,000 in tax.  That's as much as Bob makes total.  That sure seems to me like it punishes Sally plenty for making more.  But that's not good enough for "progressive" tax people.  They say Sally should pay 35% or more.  35% of Sally's $500k is $175,000!  That's insane!  We should not punish people for being successful any more than we are.

Time to KILL THE IRS and institute a flat tax.  Our current system is the very definition of insanity.

Samsung Blackjack has Lame Issues

Have had the blackjack for a month or so now, and it's pretty ok in
general, but the battery life sucks. Lasts about a day and a half,
then quickly enters the spiral of death -- complains bitterly about
being low on juice, then SHUTS OFF THE PHONE without telling you it's
off, so you get no calls and can't place them. Then it
unceremoniously shuts down completely. No wonder they give you two
battery packs... but who wants to lug them around? And the "holder"
for the spare battery is a hilarious hack of an afterthought -- a
plastic box that the (lame, incompatible with anything else) plug
goes in. The box could hold 2 batteries, but charge only one. Lame.