Luke.stirling

Everyone knows about these shenanigans, but nobody does anything about it. 

Pepsi, IKEA, FedEx and 340 other international companies have secured secret deals from Luxembourg, allowing many of them to slash their global tax bills while maintaining little presence in the tiny European duchy, leaked documents show.

These companies appear to have channeled hundreds of billions of dollars through Luxembourg and saved billions of dollars in taxes, according to a review of nearly 28,000 pages of confidential documents by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and a team of more than 80 journalists from 26 countries...

The leaked documents reviewed by ICIJ involve deals negotiated by PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the world’s largest accounting firms, on behalf of hundreds of corporate clients. To qualify the companies for tax relief, the records show, PwC tax advisers helped come up with financial strategies that feature loans among sister companies and other moves designed to shift profits from one part of a corporation to another to reduce or eliminate taxable income...

Luxembourg agreed to tax only one quarter of 1 percent of FedEx’s non-dividend income flowing through this arrangement - leaving the remaining 99.75 per cent tax-free.

The companies will argue publicly that this is all legal.  It's legal because tax laws have been created by the politicians they bought to make it legal.

Who really matters in our democracy — the general public, or wealthy elites? That's the topic of a new study by political scientists Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin Page of Northwestern. The study's been getting lots of attention, because the authors conclude, basically, that the US is a corrupt oligarchy where ordinary voters barely matter...

The Vox link discusses these conclusions in some detail.  This graph shows the probability of a policy being adopted by the U.S. vs the percentage of the general population that agrees with the policy:

And this one shows the approval probability vs the preferences of the economic elite and special interest groups:

The study is here.  This from their Abstract:

Multivariate analysis indicates that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while average citizens and mass-based interest groups have little or no independent influence. The results provide substantial support for theories of Economic-Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism.

Kale turns crisp, sweet, and nutty when exposed to the high heat of a pizza-ready oven. In this white pie, we pair it with two cheeses (for a mix of more nutty flavor and some creamy stretchiness), plenty of garlic, and a little heat. Read More

nevver:

Magnetic North

I know, it's hard to believe that this cake doesn't contain flour. I mean, it looks like a dense brownie, right? But I swear I'm not pulling a fast one on you guys. This cake is all about the chocolate.

With just four ingredients (the main ingredient being chocolate) I highly recommend you use good-quality chocolate if you make this recipe. It makes all the difference. 

During the past few months we've been collaborating (just for fun!) with our favorite local chocolate maker, Shawn Askinosie. He and his team have created this absolutely delicious toasted coconut and dark chocolate bar, and we feel so lucky to have been a part of the process. As you may already know, we are big fans of Askinosie chocolate. We've used their bars in recipes on the blog before, and we even took our readers on a tour of their factory (which is just down the street from the ABM studio). So when they asked us if we wanted to collaborate on their next chocolate bar we were delighted!

We'll be showing you a little more about our experience collaborating on a chocolate bar later this week. But first, let's bake a cake, shall we?

Flourless Chocolate (Coconut) Cake
Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cakes

6 tablespoons butter
9 ounces dark chocolate (I used 3 of our Toasted Coconut bars)
6 eggs
1/2 cup sugar

In a double boiler, or in the microwave, melt together the chocolate and butter. Allow to cool for a few minutes. In the meantime, separate the egg whites from the yolks. Add a small amount of the warm chocolate to the bowl with the yolks and stir to combine (this will temper the yolks). Then stir the yolks into the chocolate mixture.

Beat the egg whites until they become foamy. While the mixture is running, slowly add in the sugar. Beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture.

Generously butter the bottom and inside edges of a springform pan—or, as I like to call it, a cheesecake pan. :) Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 275°F for 45 minutes.

The cake should pull away from pan towards the end of baking. See? Allow to fully cool before you try to cut into the cake.

Serve with a little more toasted coconut, fresh whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream. Enjoy! xo. Emma

Credits // Author and Photography: Emma Chapman. Photos edited with A Beautiful Mess actions.

seriouslyamerica:

An important part of manhood has always been about having the competence to be effective in the world — having the breadth of skills, the savoir-faire, to handle any situation you find yourself in. With that in mind, each Sunday we’ll be republishing one of the illustrated guides from our archives, so you can hone your manly know-how week by week.

The omelet is really the star of the egg-centric breakfast dishes. And while it’s often the highlight of any good restaurant breakfast buffet, it can easily be made at home with a little practice; omelets are awesome for both the bachelor looking for a quick and healthy breakfast (or breakfast for dinner) and the dad making some Saturday morning goodness for his family.

What’s great about the omelet, is that you can make it your own: Keep it simple with just ham and cheddar or branch out and add various meats, cheeses, and vegetables. Whatever you add to yours, follow the step-by-step instructions above, and your omelet will turn out just as good as those made by the cooks who man the buffet line.

Like this illustrated guide? Then you’re going to love our book The Illustrated Art of Manliness! Pick up a copy on Amazon.

The post Skill of the Week: Make the Perfect Omelet appeared first on The Art of Manliness.

View a full-resolution version of the map.

The Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong was built gradually—building on top of building—over time. Without a single architect, the ungoverned and most densely populated district became a haven for drugs, crime and prostitution until it was demolished in 1993. Photo documentation of the site exists but for the most part much of the inner-workings of the city remained a mystery.

Perhaps due to its proximity, Japan, in particular, developed a keen interest towards Kowloon. Its demolition in 1993 was broadcast on national television. But watching the footage, what most spectators didn’t realize was that up until the night before demolition a team of Japanese researchers were taking precise measurements and documenting the vacated city. Their findings were compiled into a book that, among other things, featured this panoramic cross section of the city depicting what life was like inside. You can read more about the book on Spoon & Tamago, and if you look hard enough, a few rare copies of it are available online. (via deconcrete)

[fredo&pijin]

thot-thoughts:

styleite:

Jada Pinkett Smith’s awesome defense of Willow’s shaved head:

This is a world where women, girls are constantly reminded that they don’t belong to themselves; that their bodies are not their own, nor their power or self determination. I made a promise to endow my little girl with the power to always know that her body, spirit and her mind are HER domain. Willow cut her hair because her beauty, her value, her worth is not measured by the length of her hair. It’s also a statement that claims that even little girls have the RIGHT to own themselves and should not be a slave to even their mother’s deepest insecurities, hopes and desires.

Have you ever wondered what the International Space Station might look like from inside a floating ball of water? Your wish has been answered.

Read more...

old me: ah yes I remember the Great Skeleton War of 2014.
grandchildren: grandma that never happened.
old me: it was a long war.
grandchildren: grandma please stop we've talked about this.
old me: the only way to end it was to make a treaty with the skeletons.
grandchildren: grandma
old Me: and that's why humans have skeletons inside them.
grandchildren: gRANDMA PLEASE

POW!

We already know that drinking alcohol adds calories and affects our metabolism, but the extent that alcohol contributes to weight gain is pretty sobering.

This graphic, posted on personal trainer Lucas James' blog details the relationship between alcohol and gaining weight. The empty calories in alcohol add up fast when you consider alcohol has nearly as many calories per gram as pure fat. A frozen margarita is similar in calories to a cheeseburger and drinking a glass of wine is like eating a slice of cake, calories-wise.

Besides drinking in moderation, the graphic reminds us to use better mixers (e.g., tonic water) than the usual sugary drinks. That is, if you want to get drunk, not fat.

Here's the whole infographic:

Alcohol & Weight Gain | Lucas James via Infographic Journal

likehercoffee:

spoopysarcasm:

"What are you complaining about? We have to run the same distance as you, so it’s equal!"

i didnt notice the weight at first smh

Here's the deal: if a device has a camera, it will be used to shoot porn. No exceptions -- not even if that device is a drone. Brooklyn film company Ghost+Cow shot a project called, erm, Drone Boning, using only unmanned aerial vehicles. Despite the...

Laurie Greasely, Illustrations.

I’m currently loving the illustration work of Laurie Greasely.  See more below:

Laurie Greasely: Tumblr

In this hypnotic space video, NASA Astronaut Reid Wiseman takes us from the very back of the International Space Station to the front at 18,000 miles per hour. More cool video like this at the Inside ISS channel on YouTube. [HT: Glenn Mitchell Youts]

Uber for Birds.™ “Ride on a shoulder in the front seat instead of sitting in the back.”

Photographer Antonio La Grotta captures the lost decadence inside abandoned discotheques in Italy. Read the rest

As Millionmovieproject puts it: "Crew members threatened to quit and begged him not to do it, the cameraman looked away while rolling. A six ton prop, it brushes his arm as it comes down, and he doesn't even flinch." Read the rest

By modern standards, the inclusion of two women in this Dungeons and Dragons ad was a surprisingly bold move -- a kind of sad snapshot of our lost, pre-Reagan/Thatcher/Pinochet/Mulroney-era past.

(via Seanan McGuire)

Each pack weighs 15–18 g and contains about 36 Tic Tacs. New packs in Australia and Canada weigh 24 g and contain 50 Tic Tacs, and the Tic Tac "Big Box" weighs 49 g and contains 100 Tic Tacs. The "Big Pack" weighs 29 grams (1 ounce) and contains 60 pieces. The "Jumbo Pack" weighs 98 grams (3.4 ounce) and contains 200 pieces.

Each Tic Tac weighs just under 0.5 g. Since US federal regulations state that if a single serving contains less than 0.5 g of sugars it is allowable to express the amount of sugar in a serving as zero, and since a single serving of Tic Tacs is a single Tic Tac, Tic Tacs are labeled in the US as containing zero sugar.

Confirmed at the TicTac FAQs ("Tic Tac^® mints do contain sugar").

Visa's new Paywave chip-and-PIN credit-cards have a $1M limit on foreign-currency transactions that can be verified "in-card," meaning that someone who gets close enough to your UK wallet can simply wave a phone at it and charge a megabuck to it without raising any realtime security alerts. Read the rest

British photographer Russell Savory captured this amazing shot earlier this summer of an owl flying directly toward his camera. With its wings pulled back, it looks like a hovering two-eyed spaceship. Though don’t let the perspective fool you, Savory was shooting from a distance with a 600mm telephoto lens.

They are slathered in exposition, though.