Erase? Of Course!

commenting on the Malaysian pilot's computer files:

"If the the computer has been intentionally wiped, then you know there is something that the owner of the computer wants to conceal from someone"

- Christopher Voss
former FBI Special Agent
one of the lead agents in the TWA 800 crash investigation 

You bet.  I use the open-source program Eraser to erase every file I intentionally erase.  You mean you don't?

I even erase innocuous files.  If I only erased files with private data, then someone hacking in would have an easier time figuring out what to try to unerase.  By erasing everything, I hope to add to a hacker's confusion.

And yes, I guess I'd have to confess that I erase my files because I own the computer and I want to conceal the files from pretty much everyone.  If I could figure out how to do it while still accessing the files for myself, I'd erase my current files.   Frankly it's none of their (whoever they are) business.

I also shred pretty much every piece of paper with my name on it or any information about me on it.

                                                                 

Paperwork Reduction

Happy Tax Day Everyone!

Hope everyone is done and relaxed for the rest of the year now.

I was looking at some of the forms and was struck by the prevalence of the paperwork reduction act notices.  Yes, they've been there for years, but I guess I have too much time on my hands now.

But I was curious so I counted the pieces of paper that are my 2012 returns. 
A whopping 26 pages.

That is both federal and state and to be fair, that 1 page return was when NJ didn't have an income tax. 

How much paper to produce those 26 pages?  88 pieces of paper.  W-2, 1099, charitable donation receipts, etc. etc. 

Whew.  Glad we've reduced all that paper.

Back in the 60s my tax return was a single piece of paper.  True I have investments I didn't have back then and I didn't own a house etc.  This is my 1967 tax return.

That's it.  Eleven pieces of information.  Address is item 1 and my refund is line 11.  Now that's paperwork reduction.

All Fools Day at the White House

Came early this year when the President declared April as National Financial Capability Month on March 29.

I call upon all Americans to observe this month with programs and activities to improve their understanding of financial principles and practices

Obama is lecturing me on financial responsibility?  Perhaps he'll teach me how to make and adhere to a budget?

So what's next?

Is John Boehner going to teach me how to use sun block?

Is Debbie Wasserman Schultz going to teach me how to comb my hair?

This is the second year of National Financial Capability Month.  We also had  National Financial Literacy Month in 2010 & 2011.

If you do not have a life, you can read all four:

April 2, 2010	-	2010 National Financial Literacy Month
March 31, 2011	-	2011 National Financial Literacy Month
April 2, 2012	-	2012 National Financial Capability Month
March 29, 2013	-	2013 National Financial Capability Month

So here is what I learned:

The debt at the end of March when each of these proclamations were made:

Year	Total Debt
2010	12,773,123,000,000
2011	14,270,115,000,000
2012	15,582,079,000,000
2013	16,687,289,000,000

So given we had a debt of 11,126,941 000,000 on  March 31 2009, the president called on us to become financially literate while the federal government was racking this sort of debt each year:

Year	Debt Increase	Debt Incr per Person *
2010	1,646,182,000,000	5487.27
2011	1,496,992,000,000	4989.97
2012	1,311,964,000,000	4373.21
2013	1,105,210,000,000	3684.03

* using a rough number of 300,000,000 people

So the federal government has increased the debt for each person in the U.S. by 18534.49.  Yep.  That's almost $20,000 even for your child sleeping in her cradle.

Here it is only 2-April.  I think my financial acumen has really grown.

Big Government Gone Wild

This one should make a libertarian out of everyone.

Florida has a law requiring vending machine owners to post a notice with no purpose other than to display the notice:

Operators must post the following statement on each machine:

NOTICE TO CUSTOMER: 

FLORIDA LAW REQUIRES THIS NOTICE TO BE POSTED ON ALL FOOD AND BEVERAGE VENDING MACHINES. Report any machine without a notice to 1-800-352-9273. You may be eligible for a cash reward. DO NOT USE THIS NUMBER TO REPORT PROBLEMS WITH THE VENDING MACHINE SUCH AS LOST MONEY OR OUT-OF-DATE PRODUCTS. 

http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/tips/tip10a01-05.html

Notice there is no real notice. No contact the police if you are being mugged.  Nor perhaps the health department if say mold is oozing from the machine or anything OTHER than if the notice is absent, then you might be eligible for a reward.

In case you missed it, the real humor comes if the notice is missing.  If the notice is missing, you are supposed to report the violation.  But of course if the notice is missing, you won't see the telephone number to use for reporting the violation.

I think Kurt Vonnegut wrote a story about this.

Fortunately churches, etc are exempt:

(5)?The provisions of this section do not apply to vending machines owned and operated by churches, synagogues, or nonprofit or charitable organizations exempt pursuant to s. 212.08(7)(z).

If you still think this is a prank, check the Florida legislative site:  Legislative Text