Since the New Years holiday is here, and you may be attending festivities tonight where alcohol might be served, I would like to share an experience with you about drinking and driving. Years ago, I was making the rounds with some friends and had a few too many drinks. Knowing full well I might be over the limit, I did something I've never done before -- I took a bus home. I arrived back home safely and without incident, which was a real surprise since I had never driven a bus before and am not sure where I got that one.

May you find peace.

May you find grace.

May you love and be loved.

-Ed Rovera

There is an old axiom in the software industry: Hell looks like a garden spot when the devil is running the demo.

Take a look at http://www.barackobama.com/tax-calculator. Looks simple enough, right? Married or Single? Input your income(s) and see if Obama's plan will help or hurt you.

I ran a few numbers through the calculator using the “Married” branch to see what would come up. I did not test the “Single” branch. Below are the numbers I got.

I'm no tax accountant but something looks fishy here.The legend says that passing Obama’s plan means continuing the 2% tax cut and adding an additional + 1.2% cut, but is that really what’s being represented? Does this mean that once you go over the $200K mark in income your tax break -- and tax bite -- remains constant? Hmmmm.... I think the "devil" is running this demo, folks, but if it were being run on Romney's web site would the numbers be different? Probably. Would either be telling us the truth? Probably not.

The top-tier talent argument is always being brought up, but people forget that it was "top-tier talent" that got us into this mess in the first place. Personally, I don't see any corporate executive volunteering to take a salary in the five-figure range when there are companies paying the "top-tier" far more than that.

So what do we do about the issue of the over-compensation of executives? How do we force the government to rein in the greed? How do we convince corporations to be more responsible in how they compensate their management?

Should we all gather in a public park, set up tents, and become a public nuisance that costs whatever city we happen to be in to spend millions of dollars either fighting us or paying to protect us? Or should we use our heads and determine which organizations are hurting us (I realize the list is long!) then make sure that any politician who takes money from an organization on that list is voted out of office? If being supported by the "top-tier" becomes a political death sentence I suspect we would see changes in our legislatures and possibly changes in corporate management as well.

Should we look at executive compensation as a yardstick not of quality, but of greed, and divest ourselves of any holdings or dealings with companies that overpay their executives? Should we all look seriously at our 401-Ks and start making certain that we are investing in companies that are honest and not just profitable?

What do you think?

Just one example of the value of the Public Broadcasting System is the five-part series on the rise of computing technology called "The Machine that Changed the World." First released in 1992, TMTCTW recounts the history of computing up to that point. In the last segment, the producers attempt to offer predictions on where the technology may lead in the future, but we are now living in that future so we can see which of their guesses have come to fruition -- at least up to the present day.

I still enjoy watching the series and recommend it to anyone with an interest in history, technology, and science. A very good blog was written about TMTCTW and you can watch all five segments there by pointing your computer to Waxy.org (http://waxy.org/2008/06/the_machine_that_changed_the_world/). Watch it with an open and wondrous mind.

PS to Garry Tan: Thank you for pointing me to Waxy.org. And, yes, I love Segment 3 the best, too!

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."