"Cheryl's mind turned like the vanes of a wind-powered turbine, chopping her sparrow-like thoughts into bloody pieces that fell onto a growing pile of forgotten memories."
Like that sentence? Think it should have won a contest for writing? Check out other winners here:
http://news.yahoo.com/wisconsin-professor-wins-2011-bad-writing-contest-231133666.html
Now that we learned how to write poorly, let's move on to which states have the highest state and local taxes and which states have the lowest. Residents of New York city really take it on the chin because they pay a state income tax and a city income tax. Still New York wasn't the highest taxed state, New Jersey was. The lowest was Alaska. South Carolina made the top ten list for the lowest taxes, California made the top ten list for highest taxes, and Oregon didn't show up on either list. Check out the lists here:
http://247wallst.com/2011/07/21/108558/2/
Are you a little sad because you paid to much state and local taxes? I have the cure for you. You can learn to always be happy. Just think of how many people you can annoy by always being happy. Here's how:
http://www.everydayhealth.com/depression-pictures/8-mood-lifting-tricks-to-learn-from-happy-people.aspx#/slide-1
Now that you are happy, comment away.
QUOTE
Pocahontas also known as Rebecca Rolfe authored yesterday's quote. "Drama is very important in life: You have to come on with a bang. You never want to go out with a whimper." The author of this quote really cooks, well or used to. She was born in 1912 and died in 2004. The was an author, a television hostess, and if famous for introducing French cuisine to America. At six feet, two inches tall, she played tennis, golf, and basketball as a child and continued to play sports while attending Smith College, from which she graduated in 1934 with a major in English. She joined the Office of Strategic Services after finding that she was too tall to enlist in the Women's Army Corps (WACs) or in the U.S. Navy's WAVES. She was later posted to China, where she received the Emblem of Meritorious Civilian Service as head of the Registry of the OSS Secretariat. Her first TV show was also the first show captioned for the deaf. In 1981 she founded The American Institute of Wine & Food. In 1966 she was featured on the cover of Time with the heading, "Our Lady of the Ladle." Meryl Streep knows who authored today's quote, do you?
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4 comments:
Love the Bulwer-Lytton contest! They are always so fun. My fave of the ones they quote in the article is the purple prose one.
Interesting about the taxes. They have us in CA at 8.25% sales tax, but when you add city, county, and whatever else they manage to tack on, I think where I live we're now at 9.75%. But I lose track, it could be .25% higher or lower now. Our property taxes are up there, too.
Okay, I'll work on being happier. So here's my middle of the road comment, happy about Bulwer-Lytton, not so happy about taxes.
I always look forward to the Bulwer Lytton contest postings. The sad part is, I often edit sentences that closely resemble many of the winners. Hey, it pays the rent!
Didn't realize we were in the top ten for lowest taxes, although I knew we were fairly reasonable, despite having a state income tax. One only has to cross the border of any neighboring state to see gas taxes jump, for instance.
Liked the happiness article. They raised some good points, many of which I had to address when in therapy for panic disorder. Learning to say "no," accepting a compliment positively, not trying to please everyone ("What others think of you is none of your business.") Also the negativity and negative thinking, which one sometimes has to watch carefully, if often exposed to negative people - it's contagious. There's a reason for old axioms, such as "You are what you think" and "You get what you expect" or draw to you what you expect. I practice all the recommendations BUT emphasize the word "practice," as it's easy to fall into some of the negative aspects for me, especially the ones mentioned above.
Hi Pat
I also loved the purpe prose one but what does it say about me that I thought the winning line was creative and good writing?
The were only going for state taxes if they did city taxes New York would have come out number one because of a very high city income tax. So they took the average of all the cities in California. Oregon didn't make the high list because we don't have a sales tax and we didn't make the low list because we have high income and property taxes.
I'm not happy about taxe either but am pretty happy about everything else.
Bill
Hi DR
I think whatis sad is I think some of the bad writing is good writing. It must be really hard to edit some of those sentences.
South Carolina actually must be one of the lowest taxed states on the east coast.
I liked the happiness article the one that I need to work on is saying no. I'm fine with compliments! I am probably a positive thinker most of the time but I do think it is easy to turn negative if you care for someone.
It is easier to fall into bad habits then it is to practice good habits. I think if you improve a little every day you are doing fine.
Bill
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