american-ism

Entries Tagged as 'american-ism'

Homeward boundJune 26th, 2010, 2 Comments

At a birthday party I saw a guy drinking my favorite beer, a Sassy Red. I pointed and gave him an encouraging and approving nod of the head, and he said, “I know, right? It’s a great beer.”

“It’s one of my favorites,” I said.

“I know, right? Can you believe a girl saw it tonight and called it a sissy red?”

“She did? Why’d she do that?”

“Because she’s a bitch.”

I met an American from Chicago this week, and we talked about the city and the experiences of moving to New Zealand. She said, “After telling someone I’m from Chicago, I hate when they say ‘from one windy city to another’ or something else about the wind.”

20 minutes later we were standing in a circle, with strangers. Someone asks her, “So where in the states are you from?”

“Chicago,” she said.

“From one windy city to another, eh?”

If you’re moving to Wellington from Chicago, expect a lot of wind talk. Whether you like it or not, it’s where our cultures try to connect.

Next Friday I’m flying to Chicago for a seven week holiday. If any of my kiwi friends want something from America, let me know. I have a large suitcase.

Hawai’i 2009April 5th, 2009, 4 Comments

For the past few weeks I’ve been in Hawai’i, on the beach, usually watching surfers. Tough life.

North shore surfers

I could only watch the surfers because I’m just a beginner. Those waves look small but they’re easily 12 feet high. I saw a man’s surfboard snap it half.

Some other remarkable memories from my three week vacation:

a street peddler attempted to sell me tickets to a shooting range where I could fire “real guns”
a customs official asked if I brought marmite. I asked if it was illegal, and she said, “No, I just don’t like the stuff. Yuck.”
some Hawaiians are fat. Bigger than midwestern fat. I think their island genes compound the fatty foods
a stranger gave me a lift, and I asked him what to see in O’ahu. He said, “I don’t know. I usually drink with my friends. It’s safer that way.” I didn’t ask
my parents and I saw lava flow into the ocean at Volcano National Park

I mostly slept in the sun. It was so warm…

Thanksgiving dinner 2008November 16th, 2008, 3 Comments

This year I was invited to Thanksgiving dinner at Craig and Catherine’s home. This was the menu, taken from Catherine’s blog:

Thanksgiving Dinner 2008

Toasted Le Moulin baguette with:
Cream cheese & caramelised onions

Roast turkey with wild rice & cranberry stuffing
Kumara & orange gratin
Coleslaw

Apple pie & cream
Christmas fruit mince pie

Catherine made everything from scratch, even the coleslaw! Here’s a photo of my adopted family in Wellington. Catherine (the chef) and Craig (the sous-chef) are on the right:

The start of dinner

And here we are at the end of dinner, waiting for dessert:

Look at those pies

So good! It reminded me of dutch apple pie, without the cinnamon.

Thank you so much C & C, it was superb!

How my taxes are spent in the United States vs. New ZealandJune 8th, 2008, 9 Comments

Rowan published a New Zealand tax statement of how the government might spend the tax collected from the average household income ($67,973 NZD).

Fascinating!¹ After seeing this I wanted to know how New Zealand compared to the United States. For example, how would the same salary be taxed in Illinois and how would those taxes be spent?

Based on the United States federal budget of 2008² and the net pay calculator for the state of Illinois during the 2008 tax year, here’s the American tax statement:³

Taxable Income in Illinois	$67,973.00
USA Federal Tax Paid	$18,017	26.51%⁴
Social Security	3,774	21.0%
D.O. Defense	2,988	16.6%
Medicare	2,396	13.3%
Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending	2,011	11.2%
Interest on National Debt	1,620	9.0%
Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)	1,297	7.2%
War on Terror	901	5.0%
Health & Human Services	430	2.4%
D.O. Education	347	1.9%
Other On-budget Discretionary Spending	321	1.8%
D.O. Veterans Affairs	244	1.4%
Other Off-budget Discretionary Spending	242	1.3%
D.O. Housing & Urban Development	218	1.2%
State and Other International Programs	217	1.2%
D.O. Homeland Security	212	1.2%
D.O. Energy	150	0.8%
D.O. Justice	125	0.7%
D.O. Agriculture	125	0.7%
National Aeronautics & Space Administration	107	0.6%
D.O. Transportation	75	0.4%
D.O. Treasury	75	0.4%
D.O. the Interior	65	0.4%
D.O. Labor	65	0.4%

Let’s compare any amount over $500 between America and New Zealand:

Taxable Income	$67,973.00
USA Federal Tax Paid	$18,017	26.51%⁴
Social Security	3,774	21.0%
D.O. Defense	2,988	16.6%
Medicare	2,396	13.3%
Unemployment/Welfare/Other mandatory spending	2,011	11.2%
Interest on National Debt	1,620	9.0%
Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP)	1,297	7.2%
War on Terror	901	5.0%
New Zealand Tax Paid	$17,779	26.16%
Ministry of Transport	4,393	24.7%
Ministry of Social Development	3,414	19.2%
Ministry of Health	2,317	13.0%
Ministry of Education	2,040	11.4%
Inland Revenue Department (IRD)	1,331	7.4%
The Treasury	1,238	6.9%
New Zealand Defence Force	499	2.8%

So what sticks out? America: social security, defense, unemployment, debt and war. New Zealand: transport, social development, health, education and defense.

That’s a cynical and dangerous look at the tax breakdowns, but even so, the War on Terror would proportionately receive almost twice as much tax as the Ministry of Defence.⁵

And what’s that? Interest on National Debt?

Is New Zealand even in debt?

Surprisingly, I would pay more tax in Illinois than in New Zealand (over $2,000 more). And Americans don’t even have the same benefits as Kiwis, like public health care or financial support for accidental injuries. Plus, I don’t need to file a tax return in New Zealand (which is a service I would pay for, and apparently do). Why does the IRD receive so much money?

Which makes me wonder, if you could allocate your tax dollars to specific departments, would you? For example if you don’t want to finance “proactive war,” would you give that money to your favorite department, like the National Aeronautics & Space Administration?⁶

Decades ago this wouldn’t have been possible (logistical nightmare) but this type of government seems feasible today.

Although, it scares me to think about the nutters who would give their tax to the Department of Defense.

But it could be a way to clearly see where the people want their money spent.

_{1. This year I started tracking my personal finances. I concluded after two months I am an alcoholic, and if I didn’t drink my wages I would be a millionaire.}
_{2. The budgets from 1996 to 2009 are available online. View the budgets here.}
_{3. The calculated proportions of the budget does not distinguish between income tax, payroll taxes, corporate tax, excise tax, customs, estate and gift taxes. It’s all lumped together, so the figures are at best estimates of how the government spends income tax.}
_{4. Illinois state tax is an additional 3 percent, totalling $2039.16. This brings the total taxed to 29.51%.}
_{5. Spelling defense with a “c,” blasphemy!}
_{6. I did go to space camp, after all.}

Form design for designers and developersJune 5th, 2008, 2 Comments

Last Wednesday I gave a presentation to the .NET user group. The presentation was about form design and it was based on research by Luke Wroblewski and Matteo Penzo

Designers (sometimes me) are different than developers (almost everyone at the presentation).¹

For example, before the presentation began, Kirk had an announcement:

“After the presentation we’ll give out a keyboard as a prize, so stick around,” Kirk said.

I said, “A keyboard? Excellent! Is anyone in the audience musical? Can anyone play a song?”

…

“No, it’s not that type of keyboard,” Kirk said. “It’s a Microsoft keyboard.”

…

I was the only person in the room who thought it was a musical keyboard.

The presentation went well, and it was fun to meet new people in the IT community. If you went to the presentation, thanks for coming!

Update: the presentation has been posted to Slideshare.

_{1. Although the title of the presentation made some girls bite the bait! Design can do that.}

jeffrey

i like butter, don’t you?