In setting up my RSS feeds for this thing, I neglected a comments feed. Wopsydoodles. Ah well, problem solved. I love modern easy to write and easy to screw up technology.
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I just realised.
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As I suspected, the dads lose.
Yesterday I made mention to an ongoing court case involving child support payments and the dads who do not pay. Now, a decision’s been handed down that I rather like. Retroactive support payments are the in thing. To throw my own interpretation of the ruling at it, because I just can’t resist trying to decode a little law here and there, to me, it sounds a lot like exactly what I said in that entry yesterday. That being, if you’re told you’re paying 15% of your anual income for child support, then that’s what you’re paying. And if you don’t, the courts can make you cough it up at once. I don’t *think* this changes support laws in the sense that you’re not absolutely forced to pay child support–I think a lot of that can still be decided upon between the divorcing couple. But, if child support is in the cards, then the agreed upon amount for support can now be proactively enforced at the court level. Like I said, something I can finally agree with.
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What’s in a promise?
Well, that was a short 48 hours. Israel’s back in the US mindset. They’ve managed to piss off a good majority of the world now, resuming their bombing runs and whatnot… but they don’t seem to give two shits. And the US still won’t back a ceasefire… an *immediate* ceasefire. Not that it’s surprising, or anything. Some people’s definition of “peace in the middle east” are just fucked up, methinks. In US terms, it means “as long as Israel gets to blow the hell out of someone every couple years”.
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And again, Murphy’s law.
Not quite in the same screwing with me as it’s famous for, but… considering how well *cough, cough* my first attempt to screw with the database went, you’d think I’d know better than to try again. Well, I didn’t, and this time, the database got a face lift. Significant enough back-end upgrades anyone reading this site probably wouldn’t notice if I didn’t have to make a post specificly to brag about it, but… eh. And this time, I didn’t even *need* the backup plan so cleverly devised after my first ever blog oopsy. There is something just wrong about that, I’m telling you. Just… absolutely 100% wrong.
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Israel has become another bloody US.
As if bombing the hell out of a country isn’t bad enough, now they hit a civilion refuge. And neither the US nor Canada, nor anyone else who isn’t directly affected by the bombings, is calling for a ceasefire. Yeah, okay, I can see the US not wanting a ceasefire–everyone knows “the war on terror” is just an excuse for the Bush administration to flex some muscle, so of course they’ll back anyone else who wants to flex, too. As long as it makes them look good to the rest of the world’s politicians. And it must, because no one else is bothering to oppose the idea, either. Oh, everyone’s all kinds of full of “it has to stop”, but that doesn’t do a damn thing to *make* it stop. Well, at least Israel has the good sense to agree to a 48 hour ceasefire. I’m sure everyon you’ve managed to scare the hell out of will appreciate it, too. Thanks for doing us a frickin’ favour.
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Now there’s a way to get your kids to take their medicine.
Who’d of thunk it. Apparently, sticking Pepto Bismol in ice cream makes it go down easier. Gee, if they got ideas like that when I was growing up I might not have learned to prefer to wait out whatever it was that was making me sick. What am I saying.. yes I would. =) They recommend vanilla, but it would *probably* work just as well with chocolate… something sweet, anyway, to counteract the god aweful taste of it. And just think, all it took was a hangover.
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The stuff you by on Ebay amazes me.
And now, thanks to one particularly creative individual, Ebay is becoming the auction center for selling access to a DIGG account. I dunno why people won’t just create their own accounts, but apparently, someone would rather sell one. $5 says that account won’t work when it’s bought. But someone gets money, anyway!
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Finally, something I can agree with.
Child support has always been a kind of oxymoron. In Canada, at least. Fathers more often than not either didn’t pay, or didn’t pay as much as they should, all on account of no one had a clue they could afford to pay more, or anything at all. It wasn’t uncommon for fathers, and some mothers in those rare cases, to have a support payment rendered against them based on the income they had *at the time*, and then when they find themselves a better job that pays more, the amount they pay out for support doesn’t increase with their income. Finally, though in my honest opinion hellishly too late for some families, the Supreme Court of Canada wants to fix that. An idea I find myself very much liking, if only for this reason. Yeah, there may be a fair few dads out there who’re seperated from their families solely because the marriage just plain wasn’t working out. But there’s a god aweful lot of deadbeats out there, too, who just up and decide they want absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the kid(s), or the mother. No visitation, no help whatsoever, just make a baby and split. Then, they get told their paying $$$ in child support, and they go either get fired so they *can’t* pay anything, or they find themselves a better job so the $$$ they got told they’re paying doesn’t take away a thing from their own personal income–think an extra bill payment or two. Well, if the SCC has its way, thanks in large part to a couple cases going before them in Alberta, deadbeat dad isn’t gonna get off that easy. If the court decides you’re paying 15% of your anual income for child support, then you pay that damn 15% of your anual income, period. Whether you make $10000/year or $100000/year. You helped put that family together, so if you’re not gonna at the least stick around and actually be a decent father and husband, fine. But don’t go cheaping out on supporting that family. Take some goddamn responsibility for what you didn’t seem to have a problem participating in already. I’m just glad for the sake of the kids involved the supreme court agrees with me.
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It isn’t even that day yet…
… and I’m nervous as hell. I dunno if it’s the prospect of the job, or of possibly moving out, but… yeah, I’m a little bit jittery. And the job I’m being interviewed for hasn’t even gotten to the “you might be hired” phase yet. I dunno what’s more pronounced, the nerves or the excitement about the possibility of actually having my own space again. I did it for a year in college, and I like to think that went fairly well, save the fact you can’t stay in school very well on $930/month when you’re paying $5000/year for residence fees on top of tuition. But, yeah, I liked it… I’d still be doing it if it wasn’t for that small roadblock. Now, with this job, I not only get a chance to have my own place assuming I get hired, but I’m not going to school, and I’ll be making more with this job than I was in college, so I’ll both be able to put more money towards, and have more money to put towards, important things.. like rent, hydro, and all the fun stuff that all goes with. I think it’ll be nice, once the initial.. um, awkwardness(?) gets out of the way and I actually get used to the idea. Of course, I could end up not being hired and everything I’ve written here will be moot–but I’m not thinking about that right now. Get past the interview first, then I’ll do the “what if I don’t get hired” panic dance.
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Now this is surprising.
I usually don’t like posting things from sites like Slashdot, but in this case, I’ll make an acception or few because it gives me an excuse to bash Microsoft. Not that they need me to add to the pile of MS bashers, but you know… and people wouldn’t be looking to bash them senseless if they didn’t do something incredibly stupid, like slam the door on antivirus software manufacturers. I dunno just how reliable what’s been referenced here is, but it sounds like a Microsoft thing to do. Kind of like charging $1.50 per download of the new Microsoft Office beta products.