Finally after 108 years a tax imposed to help found the Spanish-American war has been eliminated. According to this article on ZDNet “as of Tuesday, all phone companies selling long-distance phone service are legally required to eliminate the 3 percent federal excise tax on long-distance service, which had been established in 1898 as a luxury tax on wealthy Americans who owned telephones.”

After a long legal battle and strong urging from Congress, the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of the Treasury decided in May to discontinue the federal 3 percent excise tax on long-distance telephone service effective Aug. 1.

It also decided not to apply the tax to wireless, voice over Internet Protocol service, prepaid telephone cards and other bundled services. The IRS also said it would allow taxpayers to claim a refund in 2007 for taxes collected on those services retroactive to February 2003.

The last portion of the tax, pertaining only to local telephone service, remains in effect. But Verizon and other telecom companies are urging Congress to repeal the tax in total this year.

I have always wanted to learn either Japanese or Chinese and to someday travel abroad to one of those countries as well. For the most part I have always focused on learning Japanese as it seemed easier because of the lack of the multitude of dialects. However I recently came across this article about China launching a web site to help people learn Chinese. Although I have not had a chance to fully explore the web site or to look into any of the tutorials, I am looking forward to having the time and opportunity to do so.

Thanks to this article, I found out tonight that The Field Museum in Chicago is holding an exhibit containing nearly 120 items from the tomb of King Tutankhamun entitled Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs from May 26, 2006 through January 1, 2007. I am not sure as to why I am just now hearing about this, but man I wish I could go! I have always been interested in ancient Egyptian information, especially about the Pharaohs. I always watch all the shows on the history channel about them, even if I have already seen them. This would be so cool to go and see, it would be nice to make an extended weekend out of it and see Chicago too, but the museum would be the main focus for me. Perhaps I will be able to catch it when it goes to Philadelphia. *shrug*

National Geographic news is reporting that a “Time Capsule” has been found in the Brooklyn Bridge that was evidently built in preparation for the Cold War. It is not known if this was intended to be used as a fallout shelter, but it was full of previsions.

In a dank and dingy vault underneath the Brooklyn Bridge, a routine structural inspection last week unearthed a veritable Cold War time capsule, city officials announced this week.

The New York City bunker is stockpiled with decades-old provisions that were meant to be used after a nuclear attack.

City inspectors were astonished to find water containers, medical supplies, and hundreds of thousands of calorie-packed crackers.

The article is an interesting read and the find is a grim reminder of a bleak period in our not so distant past. In fact some of the items are even dated:

Two of the dates stamped on many of the boxes 1957 and 1962 hold particular significance. In 1957 the Soviets launched the Sputnik satellite. 1962 was the year of the Cuban missile crisis.

It is amazing to think that back then people even thought that shelters such as these would have aided in survival. Shelters were built to help keep out fallout, but never would have sustained in an actual blast. I am not sure if most people understood this back then as it is estimated “that there may have been 200,000 shelters created [in backyards].” Yet

In 1959 a federal report concluded that two hydrogen bombs dropped near the Brooklyn Bridge would kill at least 6.1 million people, the New York Times reported.

But at least back then we knew who are enemies were, not like now where terrorists strike while hiding behind innocent civilians including woman and children, my how times have changed.

Read the full story here

The Internet is a wonderful repository of information that spans such a wide array of topics that one could literally browse it for hours upon hours discovering new information, including apparently, information on CIA agents. The Chicago Tribune has an article on how the Tribune found some rather delicate information.

When the Tribune searched a commercial online data service, the result was a virtual directory of more than 2,600 CIA employees, 50 internal agency telephone numbers and the locations of some two dozen secret CIA facilities around the United States.

Only recently has the CIA recognized that in the Internet age its traditional system of providing cover for clandestine employees working overseas is fraught with holes, a discovery that is said to have “horrified” CIA Director Porter Goss.

Now call me crazy but shouldn’t the Director of the CIA have better knowledge of something like this? I mean to have been “horrified” at learning that this type of information is available out there through readily available sources such as Google, LexisNexis, and other information sites both public and commercial is a little disconcerting when it comes from the Director of the CIA!

Then to further read that when

Asked how so many personal details of CIA employees had found their way into the public domain, the senior U.S. intelligence official replied that “I don’t have a great explanation, quite frankly.”

The official noted, however, that the CIA’s credo has always been that “individuals are the first person responsible for their cover. If they can’t keep their cover, then it’s hard for anyone else to keep it. If someone filled out a credit report and put that down, that’s just stupid.”

So basically the CIA is saying that when it comes down to it they are not responsible in any way for an agent’s safety because it is the agent’s responsibility? I understand that to a certain extent it is the agent’s responsibility but when the information that is available is so broad, how can the agency not be partially to blame?

I don’t know, perhaps I am missing something here, but in this day and age where there are so many terrorists attacks something like this has me a more than a little concerned.

A few years ago I received my first debit card, and I remember thinking “I’ll never use this thing” when I got it. Now a day rarely passes when I don’t use it. As such this article about debit card thieves circumventing the need for a PIN number to used debit cards at ATM machines really concerns me. The article speculates that thieves aren’t actually circumventing the PIN requirement, but are obtaining the PIN through other means. It also explains that some retailers store PIN numbers even though they are not supposed to, stating that it is not necessarily the retailers fault, it is due to software in use. The article does suggest that one way to help protect yourself from having your PIN stolen is to use your debit card as a credit card and not use you PIN in that way, but to only use your PIN when dealing with an ATM, which has much stricter security measures. No matter what your decision, the article is an interesting read.

Kirby Puckett died today at the age of 45 after suffering a stroke yesterday in his Arizona home.

Puckett died at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. He had been in intensive care since having surgery at another hospital following his stroke Sunday morning.

This is just one of many articles to be found detailing some of the Hall of Fame outfielder’s life. Kirby Puckett had an impressive 15 year career with the Minnesota Twins.

A company called Force Protection headquartered near Charleston, South Carolina has been contracted with supplying the military with the next generation of armored trop transport vehicles.

The Cougar is a family of medium mine-protected vehicles which can be supplied in 4X4 or 6X6 layout. It can be configured for a wide range of tasks including troop carrying (up to 14 in the 6X6), EOD (4 troops and a large EOD robot in the 4X4), command and control, artillery prime mover, recovery and ambulance duty. Cougar is in production.

The Buffalo is the most advanced mine resistant vehicle in the world. It can be configured for multiple missions and is specifically designed to be repaired in the field. Cutting-edge technology combined with the best American automotive components give this vehicle the maximum visibility, load carrying capacity, interior space and parts availability of any vehicle in its class.

Both of these vehicles dwarf the Humvee in both size and protection and are both designed with advanced ballistic- and mine-protection as a key component. It’s nice to see some new armor being developed and implemented to help protect out fighting men and woman in our armed forces!