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[Ron Pulliam]

Do you remember that episode of "Friends" where Chandler was trapped in the ATM lobby with a beautiful woman?

Why, yes, I do!  It was "perfection"!

[Ron Pulliam]

In this episode, the supermodel asked Chandler if he would like some gum.  He was so flummoxed, all he could do was come up with what he thought to be a perfect, suave comeback:

"Why, yes. A piece of gum would be 'perfection'."

[Jrand74]

I seem to recall an episode of friends where Joey was trapped at an ATM with a supermodel.....but I could be wrong.

[Jrand74]

I am missing two video tapes that I want to transfer to DVD.....I may have to go out to the storage closet and look for them.....if I do not return....remember, I am doing this for posterity.

[JMK]

Ron, what taxes need to be repaid?  The "Obama tax cut" was simply a continuation of a reduction in FICA withholding, none of which needs to be repaid that I'm aware of.  Or did I miss something?

[Jrand74]

No luck finding my videos.....they must be gone down the river of no return.

[JMK]

I am missing two video tapes that I want to transfer to DVD.....I may have to go out to the storage closet and look for them.....if I do not return....remember, I am doing this for posterity.

Posterity is already busy in my quote below. 

[JMK]

I have been listening nonstop to Artie Butler's rather Bacharach-esque score to THE LOVE MACHINE for the past few days.  I love, love, love the single version of Amanda, one of the most evocative pieces Dionne did in her late Scepter career (I think this was in fact her last Scepter single before moving to WB).  Beautiful minor 9/major 7 chords and quasi-Bacharach trumpet arrangement (Burt & Hal produced the singles from the film, though they didn't write them).  I can't be sure, but I think the lyricist for Amanda is Paul Revere's Mark Lindsay.

[bk]

I, on the other hand, am up.  I got up at quarter to nine to do some research.  Last night before falling asleep I Googled "word doc turning to asterisks" - I saw that this was a major problem and a bug in the new Office software.  The complaints had begun last summer.  People had already figured out several tiresome workarounds or protections, like saving every two seconds or backing up to Time Machine every fifteen minutes or, if the problem happened, quitting out of Word immediately without saving, because once Word auto-saved it would auto-save the asterisks.  The one thing that was so sadly typical was that Microsoft was trying to blame everything but themselves.  Behind the scenes, though, they could not get the bug to happen so they couldn't trace it.

At some point in the last month or so, they found it and apparently fixed it.  It's more than a little peculiar that the people I talked to didn't ask if I'd done any updates since getting this computer.  I hadn't and they don't show up in auto-update for the Mac stuff - you have to do them separately, although there is a way in Word preferences to do it automatically, although posters on the forums I visited said it wasn't reliable.  I installed all the updates including a very current one and hopefully this problem is now gone forever and I can write in comfort and with a feeling of safety.

[JMK]

I, on the other hand, am up.  I got up at quarter to nine to do some research.  Last night before falling asleep I Googled "word doc turning to asterisks" - I saw that this was a major problem and a bug in the new Office software.  The complaints had begun last summer.  People had already figured out several tiresome workarounds or protections, like saving every two seconds or backing up to Time Machine every fifteen minutes or, if the problem happened, quitting out of Word immediately without saving, because once Word auto-saved it would auto-save the asterisks.  The one thing that was so sadly typical was that Microsoft was trying to blame everything but themselves.  Behind the scenes, though, they could not get the bug to happen so they couldn't trace it.

At some point in the last month or so, they found it and apparently fixed it.  It's more than a little peculiar that the people I talked to didn't ask if I'd done any updates since getting this computer.  I hadn't and they don't show up in auto-update for the Mac stuff - you have to do them separately, although there is a way in Word preferences to do it automatically, although posters on the forums I visited said it wasn't reliable.  I installed all the updates including a very current one and hopefully this problem is now gone forever and I can write in comfort and with a feeling of safety.

**********************
**********************
**********************

[JMK]

Nooooooooo.

[Dan (the Man)]

As Robert Osbourne reminded me last night, it was only three years between THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT and HENRY, SWEET HENRY.  What other musical adaptions had as short or shorter time spans from their source movie/play/etc.?

[John G.]

From Jackie Demaline's review of the BILLY ELLIOT tour now playing at Cincinnati's Aronoff Center:

"...when the music stopped the show felt calculated.  Yes, one can argue that all musicals are calculated, but the greatness is in not letting the audience know it."

In the words of one of my favorite college professors, "To what extent to you agree?"

Interesting comment. My least favorite part of the show, at least on Broadway, was the music. -I still can't listen to the OCR in isolation - mainly since it sounds very tinny to my ears. However, I thought the way the book worked with the songs was very well done.

I remember Jackie Demaline when she was the lead critic at the Albany Times Union. Not a very good critic, as I recall, and hated by many in the business. So, that's where she ended up.

[Ron Pulliam]

Ron, what taxes need to be repaid?  The "Obama tax cut" was simply a continuation of a reduction in FICA withholding, none of which needs to be repaid that I'm aware of.  Or did I miss something?

In 2010, less tax was withheld from paychecks...but the tax was still "owed" at the end of the year.  Had nothing to do with FICA, that I know of. 

[Ron Pulliam]

I seem to recall an episode of friends where Joey was trapped at an ATM with a supermodel.....but I could be wrong.

LOL!  Joey was involved in the episode to which I referred.  Chandler was so excited, he called Ross (in Monica's appartment with Rachel and Joey and Pheebs, natcherly).  Because he didn't want to be overheard, he muttered some guttural phrases Ross couldn't understand.  Frustrated, Chanlder demanded Ross put Joey on the phone.  Joey understand every grunt perfectly and translated for the rest of the gang.

[JMK]

Ron, what taxes need to be repaid?  The "Obama tax cut" was simply a continuation of a reduction in FICA withholding, none of which needs to be repaid that I'm aware of.  Or did I miss something?

In 2010, less tax was withheld from paychecks...but the tax was still "owed" at the end of the year.  Had nothing to do with FICA, that I know of. 

Did you talk with someone at the IRS?  I have never heard of this.  FICA withholding was reduced at the end of the Bush administration, which is something Obama continued (and which was just the subject of our seemingly daily Congressional infighting, in terms of continuing it).  Because our taxes are so complex with my combo salary-self employment income, we always have a CPA (who's a former IRS agent) do ours, and he never mentioned anything like this.

Maybe FJL can chime in?

[Jane]

DR Jane, I've seen all of the episodes of UNFORGETTABLE. But it was a repeat this week. Was she on last week? I don't remember a character by the name you listed. What was her role?

The episode is Brotherhood which aired here on Jan. 12th.

This is the actress.http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2325775/
I've known her mother since she was around ten.  I met her uncle in 10th grade on the same day I met Keith.

[Jane]

And DR Jane i'm sure you can watch the show online (check cbs.com).

Thanks.  I'll check it out.  I don't care if I see the entire show so I won't mind watching some of it.  We have met her a couple of times and she is very nice.

[Jane]

Wonder if DR JMK's boys will be in school today - or if DR GEORGE will close his office?

The big blizzard landed further north--we're just soggy under torrential rains at this point.

Exactly the same here.

[Laura]

Sunny and beautiful here.

[Jane]

I mentioned the last episode of "Sherlock" yesterday. One aspect of it which was particularly interesting was the appearance of Douglas Wilmer, who at the age of 92, portrayed a member of the Diogenes Club. Wilmer has been in numerous films (he was memorable as an Emir in "El Cid") and was the first actor to portray Sherlock Holmes for the BBC in 1964/65. Good to see him still acting.

  

I wish we didn't have to wait for the DVD to watch season 2.

[Jane]

Betsy has been rescued by a co-worker.  She slid her debit card through the crack between the door and the jamb and the co-worker slid it in the reader outside and the door unlocked.

[Dan (the Man)]

I never really got Asterix myself.

[Jrand74]

I have been listening nonstop to Artie Butler's rather Bacharach-esque score to THE LOVE MACHINE for the past few days.  I love, love, love the single version of Amanda, one of the most evocative pieces Dionne did in her late Scepter career (I think this was in fact her last Scepter single before moving to WB).  Beautiful minor 9/major 7 chords and quasi-Bacharach trumpet arrangement (Burt & Hal produced the singles from the film, though they didn't write them).  I can't be sure, but I think the lyricist for Amanda is Paul Revere's Mark Lindsay.

I believe that is correct.  I bought several copies of that LP for twenty five cents each....still sealed, though they had a cutout hole drilled in the covers.   Very nice open-up type of album with drawings....   And yes a very nice score and songs.  I also particularly like the "Christy Lane" show cue - a very accurate sounding 70's variety show theme.

[Ginny]

And, we're back!  We've been offline for a couple of hours while Time Warner worked on the cable TV and internet in our area.

[Jrand74]

I hope they were making improvements DR GINNY.

[Ron Pulliam]

I wish TCB would stop hogging all the precipitation and send some down south to California.

Seattle...can it be seen at all during flyovers or is it just a field of white?

[Ron Pulliam]

Ron, what taxes need to be repaid?  The "Obama tax cut" was simply a continuation of a reduction in FICA withholding, none of which needs to be repaid that I'm aware of.  Or did I miss something?

In 2010, less tax was withheld from paychecks...but the tax was still "owed" at the end of the year.  Had nothing to do with FICA, that I know of. 

Did you talk with someone at the IRS?  I have never heard of this.  FICA withholding was reduced at the end of the Bush administration, which is something Obama continued (and which was just the subject of our seemingly daily Congressional infighting, in terms of continuing it).  Because our taxes are so complex with my combo salary-self employment income, we always have a CPA (who's a former IRS agent) do ours, and he never mentioned anything like this.

Maybe FJL can chime in?

Check out this article on Obama's stimulus tax cuts for 2009.   

To stimulate the economy, LESS tax was taken out of each paycheck the entire year.  BUT...everyone was still obligated to pay the FULL tax on the tax returns.   If you could avoid paying the taxes, that's fine.  But if you couldn't, you had to pay back all they didn't take out.

[JMK]

Ron, what taxes need to be repaid?  The "Obama tax cut" was simply a continuation of a reduction in FICA withholding, none of which needs to be repaid that I'm aware of.  Or did I miss something?

In 2010, less tax was withheld from paychecks...but the tax was still "owed" at the end of the year.  Had nothing to do with FICA, that I know of. 

Did you talk with someone at the IRS?  I have never heard of this.  FICA withholding was reduced at the end of the Bush administration, which is something Obama continued (and which was just the subject of our seemingly daily Congressional infighting, in terms of continuing it).  Because our taxes are so complex with my combo salary-self employment income, we always have a CPA (who's a former IRS agent) do ours, and he never mentioned anything like this.

Maybe FJL can chime in?

Check out this article on Obama's stimulus tax cuts for 2009.   

To stimulate the economy, LESS tax was taken out of each paycheck the entire year.  BUT...everyone was still obligated to pay the FULL tax on the tax returns.   If you could avoid paying the taxes, that's fine.  But if you couldn't, you had to pay back all they didn't take out.

I guess maybe we were exempted due to all my expensing, that's all I can think of.

[Laura]

So you got less of a refund and a few dollars more in each paycheck? Seems to me the economy would have been stimulated more with bigger refunds.