Is It True That You're a Witch?

Today a group of friends and I were sitting at a Panera tonight discussing paganism (what with Halloween/Samhain coming Friday). A random patron walked up and asked one of our members if she was Wiccan. She paused, wondering if she was about to be "saved." I jumped in sensing her discomfort and said "right idea, wrong religion" and she told the guy she was a Druid instead. The young man reached over the partition and handed her a piece of paper that looked very much like a religious tract. Turns out it was a folded over piece of paper with a hand-written note to read a book on Asatru. (early Norse religion) It was such a random moment but it was very interesting. I wish the guy had included his name on the piece of paper. I'd love to talk to him about the book after I get it.

Witchdom of the True (A Study of the Van-Troth and the Practice of Seidr)

Title Reference:

Bar Stool Economics

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten
comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would
go something 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. "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 sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his 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:

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 paid $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!"

"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 beat him up.

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 the bill!

And that, boys and girls, 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.

David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University of Georgia


For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.

Winter is Coming

I love Fall. Back to School time, cooling weather, scrunchy leaves, knowing family is coming "soon," all those chores that mean "we're going to be busy at least until the mundane new year."

And Samhain is right in the middle of it all. I've long used Samhain as a void-day, not part of either year. I don't read emails or the news or use the phone on that day if I can help it. I try to step out of the world for that day, to be someone else, or just be more contemplative.

Each year I try to clear my inbox of projects, of bills, of piled up correspondence by October 30th. It's amazingly refreshing to feel that there is a day with no "duties" waiting in the inbox. This year I wanted to finish my house remodel but I know that's overly optomistic so instead, I'm expanding my clean out process. I'm preparing for my void-day by clearing out a couple closets of stuff that doesn't need to live with me any more. I expect to experience the same satisfaction of emptying my inbox and waiting to see what new thing will come to use that new space. There's something hopefull about that blank slate waiting to be filled. It's that same expectation that Back to School time has for me. I've got shiny new notebooks for information, and shiny new pixels waiting to make emails for me. I can't wait to see what will fill the space in my notebooks. I can't wait to see what fills the shiny new space in my Life.

[Interestingly, while I was writing this I came across this article on Witchvox which is about the same kind of thing from the Pagan perspective.]

Time for a Change

I went to work for one of the Presidential campaigns tonight. I just did data entry tasks but I processed a lot of papers. I was intrigued by the amount of voter registration forms I processed tonight that were for Republicans that were flagged as likely to vote for Obama. It was intriguing to watch the kinds of data that the campaign people were looking at.
But I'll definitely be back tomorrow. I enjoyed the group of people I worked with and the camaraderie was great. And the young man that mentored me was gorgeous so that was even better. It's definitely time for a change for me. Time to get out of the house and meet some interesting folks and use our brains together.
Now if David is as interesting as he seems, this'll be great!