3:50 and we are home. We had a quick ride home on College Avenue east on the scooter.
The crowd for the game was pitiful - maybe 45000 in an 85000 seat stadium. It was easily down to 25000 in the third quarter.
The Seminole rolled up a massive 600 yards. All three quarterbacks played flawlessly.
The defense was the star - along with the kicking game which pinned Wake Forest back the whole game.
Although the Deacons beat us 4 out of the last 6 times - this game was never in doubt.
Today's game tickets were $45 - although there were plenty of tickets for $5 and $10. When a guy offered us two on the 50 yard line in the shade - I gave him a $20 and he was happy.
Next week Clemson is here. We have guest coming - John and Bonnie. Ticket prices shoot up to $75 each. I hope it is an easy ticket to get.
I will post more pictures later.
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Half. Fsu 38. Wake 0
Noles got a slow start.
Defense only got 70 yards although they 18 of the 30 minutes. Kicking game has been flawless. Hopkins kicked off from the 20 and reached goal line.
Crowd is pitiful maybe 45000. We were in sun first quarter. Now in shade and it is partly cloudy.
Scooter parked for a straight shot home on Pensacola street.
Flyover was 4 A-10 warthogs.
Harry's iPhone
Defense only got 70 yards although they 18 of the 30 minutes. Kicking game has been flawless. Hopkins kicked off from the 20 and reached goal line.
Crowd is pitiful maybe 45000. We were in sun first quarter. Now in shade and it is partly cloudy.
Scooter parked for a straight shot home on Pensacola street.
Flyover was 4 A-10 warthogs.
Harry's iPhone
50 Yard Line - $10. FSU Versus Wake
Friday, September 14, 2012
motorheads - MARK HOHMEISTER Races His Mustang
Here is Mark Hohmeister - "high master" of having fun.
Last night was the charter meeting of "motorheads." It is an informal group of 4 middle aged car nuts. We met through our wives and have a lot of common interests.
We met at our house - and for 2 hours we ate and discussed cars. No girls allowed - Lulu took her former professor Phyllis out to supper.
Nothing was decided about what we will do next.
SEE VIDEO on next page.
MICHELLE OBAMA - Lulu Just Got 2 Tickets
The Civic Center is less than 2 miles from our house. Lulu just sent this picture from her iphone. She picked up tickets on the way to work this morning.
At 4 PM Monday - Michelle Obama will be speaking at the Tallahassee Civic Center. Tickets are free - general admission only - so we will have to show up early to be close. The Civic Center seats about 12,000 people.
Number One FSU Soccer Beats Number Two Duke
From the Tallahassee Democrat
In the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup on the Florida State campus in more than four years, the top-ranked FSU women’s soccer team knocked off Duke 1-0 on Thursday night in front of an overflowing crowd at the Seminole Soccer Complex.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
NOTRE DAME Joins the ACC - Will Play the Seminoles
Notre Dame is joining the Atlantic Coast Conference for all sports except football. But the Irish are giving the ACC a bail-out of sorts, playing five games a year against league teams, a move expected to lead to an enhanced television contract for the league.
“This is indeed a monumental day in the history of our league,” ACC commissioner John Swofford said during a press conference in Chapel Hill, N.C., to announce the move.
We're Number 42! We're Number 92! - US News Ranks Colleges
The Westcott Building at the gate to FSU
Florida State is ranked Number 42 among all public universities. It ranks goes down to Number 92 when you include all USA colleges. What is worse than being ranked Number 42 - not being ranked at all :-)
Many colleges refuse to give the magazine information because they do not like where they were ranked before by the magazine.
Duke (8) and Georgetown (21) did pretty well too. Check them out here -
US News Ranking of Colleges
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Whistle-Blower Gets $104 Million Award From I.R.S.
From the NY Times today -
By DAVID KOCIENIEWSKI
Sometimes, crime does pay.
Bradley Birkenfeld, a former banker at UBS, recently completed a 2 1/2-year prison sentence for conspiring with a wealthy California developer to evade United States income taxes.
But Mr. Birkenfeld, 47, has a lot to show for his time and effort: The Internal Revenue Service acknowledged Tuesday that information he had provided was so helpful he would receive a $104 million whistle-blower award for revealing the secrets of the Swiss banking system.
By divulging the schemes that UBS used to encourage American citizens to dodge their taxes, Mr. Birkenfeld led to an investigation that has greatly diminished Switzerland’s status as a secret haven for American tax cheats and allowed the Treasury to recover billions in unpaid taxes.
In addition to paying $780 million in 2008 to avoid criminal prosecution, the bank turned over account information regarding 4,700 American clients.
The disclosure of Swiss banking information — which caused a fierce political debate in Switzerland before winning approval from the country’s Parliament — set off such a panic among wealthy Americans that more than 14,000 of them joined a tax amnesty program. I.R.S. officials say the amnesty program has helped recover more than $5 billion in unpaid taxes.
Mr. Birkenfeld’s award, the largest ever paid by the I.R.S., is also a milestone for the agency’s whistle-blower program, which offers informants rewards of up to 30 percent of any fines and unpaid taxes recouped by the government.
The program was revamped in 2006, offering higher rewards and more incentives for citizens to report tax dodges, in an effort to help recover more of the estimated $100 billion a year in underpaid taxes. But the program has been dogged by bureaucratic delays and institutional resistance within the I.R.S., causing some members of Congress to complain that it was being undermined.
Though Mr. Birkenfeld’s $104 million award is far less than the billions he sought, its sheer size — more than $4,600 for every hour he spent in prison — could spur a surge in new whistle-blower complaints.
“The I.R.S. sent 104 million messages to whistle-blowers around the world — that there is now a safe and secure way to report tax fraud,” said his lawyers, Dean Zerbe and Stephen Kohn, in a written statement.
Mr. Birkenfeld is an unlikely crusader for tax fairness. A native of Massachusetts who studied banking at the American Graduate School of Business in Switzerland, he spent five years recruiting American clients for UBS – which managed some $20 billion in assets for Americans — before reporting the bank’s schemes to the Treasury Department. Mr. Birkenfeld also admitted in court that he once smuggled diamonds for a client in a tube of toothpaste.
He said that he learned in 2005 that the bank’s advice to clients was illegal, and that after reporting it to the UBS compliance office, to no avail, he decided to become a government informant.
During the investigation Mr. Birkenfeld was charged with fraud for withholding crucial information from federal investigators, including details about his top client, the property developer Igor Olenicoff. He was sentenced to 40 months in prison, and was released early on Aug. 1.
While the program allows the I.R.S. to grant whistle-blowers as much as 30 percent of the money they recover, some federal officials urged the agency to invoke a rule allowing them to deny an award to informants who withhold information or engage in illegal activity. But Mr. Birkenfeld, whose exploits landed him on “60 Minutes” and the front pages of newspapers around the world, cut such a high profile that many lawyers worried that the I.R.S. might scare off potential whistle-blowers if he ended up empty-handed, with nothing more to show for his efforts than a criminal record.
Michael Sullivan, a lawyer at Finch McCranie in Atlanta, applauded the agency’s decision.
“It heartens those who deal with whistle-blowers daily to see the I.R.S. simply follow the law and reward a whistle-blower who meets the law’s requirements,” he said.
Since the law was strengthened in 2006, it has spawned a cottage industry of whistle-blower lawyers and private investigators. They have generated hundreds of claims amounting to tens of billions of dollars in alleged tax evasion. In a few cases, hedge funds have actually invested in the cases, paying whistle-blowers cash up front in exchange for a percentage of any award they ultimately collect.
Michelle Eldridge, an spokeswoman the tax department, said that the I.R.S. believes that the whistle-blower statute provides a valuable tool to combat tax noncompliance, and that “this award reflects our commitment to the law.”
But others say that delays are costing taxpayers billions. With lengthy delays in processing cases, the whistle-blower program had a decline in both new cases reported and tax dollars collected in 2011.
Senator Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who helped write the law, said Mr. Birkenfeld’s award was an important step, but urged the I.R.S. to build on the momentum it had generated.
"If the I.R.S. is serious about encouraging future whistle-blowers, it needs to continue to honor the spirit and intent of the law and issue awards in a timely manner," Senator Grassley said.
Mr. Birkenfeld’s lawyers declined to say how much of the award they will collect. But his $104 million payout is fully taxable as regular income.
Maude Allen Died - My Old Schoolmate
Maude was a schoolmate of mine from 1st to 12th grade. She lived on Board Street a few doors form the North Ward School we both attended for 6 years. She was a bright - pretty - and funny lady.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Monday Is Van Painting Day
This is the van at the paint shop getting an estimate. $1000 if they remove the stripes - $500 if I remove the stripes.
This is the van after 5 hours of removing all 32 stripes.
You may recall that we bought a 1994 Dodge Van before we went to London this summer. The van has 109,000 miles on it and only had one owner the whole 18 years.
It has a V6 engine and gets 18 MPG. The 3 speed automatic transmission is very smooth. The AC blows cold.
The van is in great shape - inside and out - but the paint is pretty worn and faded. I went to my favorite paint shop (Maaco) to see how much they would charge to paint it. This is the 5th paint job they have done for me and I have been pleased with the results. They wanted $1000 to paint it all one color - white. Much of the work was remove the 32 stripes that were on the body. Steve - the owner of the shop - said that if I removed the stripes - the price would come down to $500. I thought he was nuts.
FSU Seminoles Are Number 5 Now - It Pays to Play Cupcakes
After drubbing Savannah State in a weather shortened slaughter on Saturday night - the Coaches' Poll moved the Seminoles to Number 5. The whole plan of running up the score on weak sisters works. Noles were number 7 - a slaughter of Murray State made them number 6 - and two days after the Savannah State embarrassment - "we" are number 5.
This Saturday - world power Wake Forest comes to town.
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