Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

They're pretty cool goofy, but I also like the one with the strap better.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

[ QUOTE ]
lolol! Check out my country, ssnl.

[/ QUOTE ]

wow, that's crazy. it's hard to wrap my American mind around how that would ever work. I just did a bit of research but couldn't find an easy enough answer so I'll just ask you... how do taxes work in Norway?

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

I can't really say I have deeper knowledge of the entire system, but generally there are a lot of taxes and fees in Norway. On general income there is standard 28% tax, and if you make more than ca. $75k a year there is an additional tax (@75k added 9%, @110k added 12%) plus a welfare fee of about 8-10%. You also pay tax according to your assets - kind of complicated, but the normal range is from 0-1%. We also have taxes on merchandise, of 25% - except groceries at 15% and transportation/tickets (bus fare/cinema etc) at 8%. There is also a 28% tax on stock profits (don't know the jargon), which is calculated after the companies profit tax (28%). On heritage, you pay nothing for the first $50k, 8% on the surplus up to $130k (10% if not child/parent), and 20% above that (30% if not child/parent). There are also a lot of deductions etc making this very hard to sum up. As a student, I can earn up to $8k a year tax free, and all tax payers can deduct $6k from their income before calculating the income tax. For a company it gets so incredibly complicated, but you can deduct for everything. In general the idea is that the more you earn, the more you should pay in taxes - ie. Robin hood style, but still the filthy rich manage to write it off on their companies or pay taxes to Andorra (tax free) or some [censored].

Still, poker is in a legal gray area here, so there aren't any set rules for tax of poker winnings. This comes from the fact that Poker is not recognized as a "skill game" but as a "luck game", and is therefore taxed as lottery winnings. Some law professors claim that Poker is illegal in Norway, and some claim that Poker is illegal if it is your main source of income - it's a mess really. Live poker is prohibited by law, so there aren't any casinos, and you could be punished for having a home game. The only guide lines for taxing poker winnings claims that you should pay tax if

a) single win over $2k
b) it is your main source of income (income tax)

The problem with this is that playing poker for a living might be illegal, and the single win rule majorly favours cash games over tournaments (since 1 pot = 1 win), and multitabling low stakes would be more profitable than single tabling mid stakes. This results in a lot of poker players not paying tax at all, even though many of them would like to. There are also no deduction for losses, so in theory, you could lose money and have to pay taxes, as your winnings are taxed and not your profits - so [censored] up.

Anyways back to the issue at hand. I think the main difference lies in the merchandise tax and numerous other fees on just about everything. A beer in a grocery store costs more than $4, gas is over $2 per liter, cars are incredibly expensive ($40k+ for a decent new car, $80k+ for a nice car with big engine, $120k+ for a baller ride). Of course, the jobs pay more as well, since everything is that much more expensive - a teacher gets something like $60k a year, a lawyer starts at about $120k a year. Very rough estimates, though. On top of all this we have the oil = $$$

Sorry for the long and incomprehensible post...

PS
Online poker may be banned within a few years, resulting in making bank transfers illegal. Problem is there aren't any poker sites in norway (illegal), so we are really dependant upon Neteller/Moneybookers etc not banning us, in a scenario like that. Lot of hypocrisy, though, as there is a monopoly on sports betting/lotteries etc. called "Norsk Tipping". I think they didn't dare to challenge the laws against poker, by proposing to host a Norwegian online poker client, but instead they have fronted an Anti-poker campaign because the greedy bastards fear we will spend our money elsewhere.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

Can somebody teach me not to dread every minute of the essay writing process? I seriously hate it and it ruins my week every time I have to think about writing an essay.

Here's my next topic, which I will write rather well on but my teacher won't care and will tear me down:

6. Facebook and myspace anyone? What satiric fun might you have with them in evaluating what they mean and why to contemporary youth culture?

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

[x] Fake Alarm
[x] Fake Tee time w/ father
[x] Girl out the house by 10:00 am FTW

Brag: She was pretty smokin
Beat: Too drunk to find more hats for 2nds
Variance: I haven't been this hammered after waking up for quite some time.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

[ QUOTE ]
lol, icing the kicker on a kickoff? Whats that all about? Anyway, orange - shoulda listened to you earlier about CFL, great fun to watch.

[/ QUOTE ]
how'd you end up watching it?

anyways, i agree. i didn't get to catch all the game (doh), my friends were too pissed off KU lost (i wasn't, i don't like them and have always thought them to be overrated) and we played the game 'rock star' on 360 instead (pretty fun game, i got raped on expert mode on gimme shelter).

while i wouldnt say that KU is a bad team, they had alot of unlucky breaks. (missing 2 FGs, a few picks, etc). things just didnt go their way...we'll see if they get an at large bid still despite their loss.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

stone,
The general income taxes and stuff don't sound that unreasonable at all, and not really much different from US taxes, especially when you consider all the sweet government stuff you get (although I don't know a ton about US taxes either so someone might correct me).

The merchandise taxes do sound pretty rough (like $4 for every beer is kinda crazy, and the poker stuff is obv bad). anyway, that was an interesting vid. I've been thinking a lot about how much America sucks lately and I'm definitely jealous. Is Norway really as much of a utopia as Michael Moore makes it sound? do people complain about taxes a lot or do they appreciate that the government seems to spend them well?

That prison stuff is just so crazy. Like it just would not work here to give murderers a 24 year "jail" period where they're free to come and go. Your people as a whole must be 10 times more progressive than people here I think.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

[ QUOTE ]
Can somebody teach me not to dread every minute of the essay writing process? I seriously hate it and it ruins my week every time I have to think about writing an essay.

[/ QUOTE ]
I dunno... tell a story. Try to have fun with it. Decide what point you're gonna make and outline how you want to make it? That topic sounds like fun and you could crank out something pretty easily.

Or you could just pay some speed freak to do it for you.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

yeah, that's a really fun topic, will. Did you see this OOT thread about some adults causing a teen to kill herself b/c of myspace drama? http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showfl...e=1&fpart=1

You should probably avoid writing about that since there's way more fun stuff to talk about though.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

Seriously, why did I choose to be a fan of a team with Eli Manning at QB? First 3 quarters - 35% completion, 4 picks (3 returned for TDs - lol), 0 TDs. Oh yeah, vs the worst pass defense in the NFL - awesome.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

[ QUOTE ]
[censored] me. Governments should really just shoot anyone with IQ <120 all the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah i'm thinking you'd be one of the first shot, because you obv have no idea what the outcome of this policy would be.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

Keyser, just to avoid any confusion - the beer tax is not $4, but the total price for the cheapest 0.5l in a grocery store. In a club you'd have to pay $10+ for a beer. Alcohol and tobacco are however the most heavily taxed items, afaik, and have the highest price compared to other merchandise.

About the prison, there are only a few prisoners that are allowed to go there, after behaving really well for many years in other prisons. Still, i think the prison standard is pretty high overall, albeit not as "free". Don't really think the norwegian people are any different genetically [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] but I do think the community we live in is more healthy.

Norway isn't quite the utopia Michael Moore presents, in that he of course only shows the most flattering cases, but compared to the US, it's a pretty sweet deal IMO. Also, people do complain about taxes, but that's mostly the less educated/intelligent or filthy rich and self centered.

People also complain about expensive gas, alcohol and tobacco, and there are some politicians milking that cow dry, promising lower taxes, cheaper alcohol etc, without really having any realistic propositions - "FRP" is one such party. Unfortunately a lot of people fall for it, it's kind of like the norwegian version of bush supporters, but fortunately they're not in the Government - no other political parties want to cooperate to make a coalition. Also I think our media is somewhat less corrupt and biased then my impression of the US media.

The social democrats are still in control, and I hope it stays that way, among other reasons because they value and subside culture - which I hope will be my trade.

However, on the negative side, the schools in Norway aren't that great. There are tons of money in the national oil fund, and I truly believe that spending money on educating the people will pay off in the long run. We are very lucky to have free education - anyone can get a university degree, as long as they can pay for the books and pass the classes, but we have the opportunity to have the best school in the world imo, and we're just too greedy. Teachers are underpaid, school budgets are cut etc. etc.
I guess I can't complain when my university degree is free of charge, but still, we could have so much more.

/end rambling

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

Will,

My neighbor had her engagement broken over myspace. There is a good story for that.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

[ QUOTE ]
Will,

My neighbor had her engagement broken over myspace. There is a good story for that.

[/ QUOTE ]

omg lolololol

maybe i should ask my gf over facebook instead of doing it in hawaii

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

don't even ask her, just change your relationship status to "engaged" and see if she confirms it.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

Warning: Beowulf is beyond terrible (but has its hilariously bad moments). Avoid like the plague.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

[ QUOTE ]
don't even ask her, just change your relationship status to "engaged" and see if she confirms it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Lol that would be [censored] hilarious. Please do this.
Also, I'm not a bad person for thinking this monologue is funny am I? Cuz I crack up everytime I watch it, it's especially funny when he keeps cracking up:

Video

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

[ QUOTE ]
Warning: Beowulf is beyond terrible (but has its hilariously bad moments). Avoid like the plague.

[/ QUOTE ]

second that. Awful [censored] movie.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

lol unforgivable is great

BOVICE ftw

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

Anyone seen the new version of Sleuth? Any good? I loved the first one, think its awesome to have Caine playing the Olivier role this time around, will prob go see it tomorrow.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

Ah, on the topic of movies, I saw no country for old men, i thought it was decent. the end sortve drags a bit but anton is a [censored] badass.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

Has anyone else seen previews for Untraceable? Looks awesome, but I'm sure it won't be.

Edit http://youtube.com/watch?v=OLYo5tMylQM

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

Still waiting for I Am Legend

Gonna be the biggest blockbuster of the christmas season imo

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

AVP-Requiem out soon!!!! ZOMFG I CANNOT W8!?!1!!11 GNA PW00000N!111!

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

I'm having a discussion on AIM with a friend. This is the question we are discussing:

If you bring a girl back to your room and hook up with her, is it ok to videotape it without her knowing if you never show it to anyone else and you are the only one that sees it or knows about it?

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

[ QUOTE ]
I'm having a discussion on AIM with a friend. This is the question we are discussing:

If you bring a girl back to your room and hook up with her, is it ok to videotape it without her knowing if you never show it to anyone else and you are the only one that sees it or knows about it?

[/ QUOTE ]

Absolutely.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

I forgot a password to an old e-mail account, but it's stored in Opera and I'm considering trying a program to retrieve the password. Is a program like "Multi password recovery" safe to use? I mean, I can imagine these programs have the potential to expose my pc to all kinds of hackers out there and send all my passwords away etc. I just don't want to install a trojan on my pc or anything like that - am I being overly cautious here, or should I avoid these programs?

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

lol, I can't imagine anyone saying it's okay.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

Corollary question: If the girl never finds out about it, is it ever okay to not show this to your friends/post on the internet/etc?

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

[ QUOTE ]
Corollary question: If the girl never finds out about it, is it ever okay to not show this to your friends/post on the internet/etc?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think we all know the answer to this

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

[ QUOTE ]
lol, I can't imagine anyone saying it's okay.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah this was sort of my first impression. My friend made a good point though that obviously the girl is ok with you seeing her naked / you seeing the two of you having sex etc. So if you're the only one that ever sees it, then it's tough to argue how one could say it's wrong.

I agree that it just seems really wrong, but assuming no one else ever sees it, have you really done anything wrong? I feel like the answer is yes but can't really justify it.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

She might have agreed to letting you see her naked while you both are in your lustful/horny state, but she didn't agree to having that moment preserved on camera for you to get off to whenever you want. also the mere possibility of the tape getting leaked (happens allll the time) is enough to just say it's wrong.

btw, not that I like... wouldn't do it or something lol. But I would know full well that what I'm doing isn't exactly right.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

It's not like I've ever done this or would ever, just thought it was an interesting question.

Thinking about it more I'd be kind of uncomfortable with a chick having a video of us having sex and her watching it whenever she wanted. That thought is kind of cool but ultimately I'd rather she not have that tape, so I guess I understand what you're saying keyser.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

also the depending on the angle of the camera and stuff, the view on film could potentially be much less flattering and more embarrassing than what you would see in person.

Like to use an extreme, if you had somehow arranged the camera to have a close up shot of ass while you're pounding it... it would look pretty nasty compared to what you're seeing at the moment, and she didn't really consent to that.

it is an interesting question though, since I also thought at first that there's no way it's okay, but am struggling a little to really find grounds for why it's wrong. Actually I think I'll ask a few girls and get their opinions. TR to follow

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV*** *DELETED*
 

Post deleted by nath

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

wtf do you mean wtf is wrong with us?

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

i mean i'm not anti-videotaping but the chances of that never getting shared are slim, and there's like no way it should ever be

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

[ QUOTE ]
wtf do you mean wtf is wrong with us?

[/ QUOTE ]

i had a knee jerk reaction to this

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Corollary question: If the girl never finds out about it, is it ever okay to not show this to your friends/post on the internet/etc?

[/ QUOTE ]

I think we all know the answer to this

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

I used Multi Password Recovery btw, as it was "guaranteed" by softpedia.com to be 100% clean of malicious content. Found my passwords so fast and easy, I'm almost scared of storing passwords ever again, but I'm obv lazy so I'll still do it.

Re: ***SSNL LIFE THREAD NOV***
 

I knew nath would be an awesome addition to the SSNL life thread