talbotlucas.org: a word to the wise is sufficient

wallace's second birthday

Today is Wallace's second birthday, and while he's no longer a puppy, he hasn't lost all of his mischievous ways. He still eats as ravenously as he did as a pup--you'd think by now he'd realize we're a pretty reliable source of food--but he's more content to relax with us, and he's become a little less concerned about playing for an hour at a time.

The photo at the top is one we took during his first two weeks with us; the photo on the bottom is one that was taken a few weeks ago, while he perched in his lookout position on the steps leading up to the second floor. Although he's definitely grown longer and wider, and now has the barrel chest of an adult corgi, I notice his maturity mostly in his face. And I think he's one handsome guy.

Wallace's birthday treats will include some salmon jerky and some fresh ground beef, and lots of tummy rubs and a few extra long walks this afternoon and evening. And maybe a trip to Will Rogers State Park this weekend, where he can chase after the small lizards and sniff the air of Pacific Palisades.

Happy Birthday!

the 1,500-pound rodent, and monkeys on strike

This is a hoot: paleontologists have excavated the skeleton of what may have been a 1,500-pound...guinea pig. Or something that's somewhere in between a beaver and a hippopotamus. Think about that: a cross between those two animals, with the name "Patterson's fearful mouse." If only Edward Gorey were alive to provide the illustrations...

I'm going to let that sink in, but if you're curious, James Gorman's article in the New York Times will give you more details. Also not to be missed, the article on the SFGate site gives more details (9 feet in length!) and an artist's rendering.

In other animal news, it appears that a capuchin monkey will go on strike if it notices that another monkey is getting a better reward. On the monkey scale, grapes are much more desirable than cucumbers.

Not to be forgotten is today's tax quote, which also deals with animals: Section 1031(e) of the Tax Code notes that "For purposes of this section [exchange of property held for productive use or investment], livestock of different sexes are not property of a like kind." I'm so glad we cleared that up.

Animal news can be the highlight of the day, especially when compared to what else is going on in the world. I heard a good quote about boy snails and girl snails, too, but I'll save that for another post...

sometimes the memory works

On last comment before I hit the incommunicado switch: the House of Cards series is just as good as I remembered it. Terrence and I watched the first of the three series, and have just started the second ("To Play the King"). We're rationing the episodes, and it's been a pleasure to find that the series have aged well and that the zippy dialogue and plots twists are just as enjoyable as I remembered them.

If you're wondering what I'm talking about, check out my first post, which is here in the archives.

Back to taxation. The tax quote for the day (taken entirely out of context) is this:

We see no reason why the Court should depart from this well-settled interpretation merely because it results in an advantage or disadvantage to a taxpayer.

Watered-down summary: A fellow was mistakenly given a double bonus by his company. He paid taxes on the full amount of the bonus. Later, he had to return half of the money to his employer, and he sought to recalculate his taxes. The IRS disagreed in the "what's done is done" spirit, and the Supreme Court agreed. In his dissent, Justice Douglas noted that the government should "not be permitted to maintain the unconscionable position that it can keep the tax after it is shown that payment was made on money which was not income to the taxpayer." Douglas may have lost the battle, but not the war, since Congress later enacted a provision (§ 1341) to address these types of issues, and to provide relief in some cases.

Miss Remarkable and Her Career

For those of you reading this who have a habit of setting unrealistically high standards for yourself (and you know who you are), you may find this amusing: a new graphic novel by Joanna Rubin Dranger, Miss Remarkable and Her Career. I had to stop at UCLA's main bookstore this afternoon (well, I had to stop at the cash station, and one way to get there is through the bookstore...) and came across this. Honestly, I wasn't wasting time browsing. It was on one of those table displays in the aisle. Really. Stop pursing your lips in doubt like that.

Miss Remarkable doesn't feel so remarkable, particularly when her career goals are frustrated and she watches everyone around her finding fame and fortune. In the end, she realizes that she has to follow her own advice, not what's hurled at her by others. Perhaps it's not a coincidence that I came across this during the on-campus interviewing season?? The older I get, the less I believe in coincidence.

opus returns!

I had to emerge from my self-imposed cloister to shout this exciting news from our electronic rooftop: Opus is returning! Cartoonist Berkeley Breathed has an announcement on his site; and the SF Chronicle's Mark Morford heralded the news today in his online column.

For those of you who don't remember Bloom County or don't have any special affection for Opus this may not mean much. But for those of us who still have the clippings of those cartoon strips that made us laugh so hard we cried, choked, and generally alarmed those around us, this is happy news indeed.

(I highly recommend the "favorite strips" section of Breathed's site. Had me in tears as I sit here on the mezzanine of the Law Library--luckily it's one of the lesser-traveled areas of the library.)

a new kind of acronym hell

Learning the language of the law is one thing, but taking accounting and financial analysis exposes one to a whole new circle of acronym hell. FIFO and LIFO and GAAP, oh my! To bring a little levity to my studies in this area I'm trying to make the acronyms more entertaining: for example, I've now got this picture in my head of a hive of little black-and-yellow striped FASBs (say it with me--fazbees) humming like mad and s-l-o-w-l-y making the honey (i.e., statements and interpretations) that feeds the accounting profession. Given what we've learned thus far I think honeybees work much faster at producing honey than the real FASB works at producing its statements of accounting principles, but that's another matter, and one on which others are much better able to comment.

Back to my calculator and T-accounts...the day is still young, and there's a lot to do...