Mysterious as he is on “Mad Men,” James Wolk is just as full of surprises as his character Bob Benson.
Although he’s made quite a name for himself over the years — and this year especially as the guy who hit on Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) on “Mad Men” — Wolk insists he isn’t above the classic odd job.
This week Joerg busted out the deactivated M16A1 rifle (which he obviously has) and turned it into a slingshot. The launcher band mounts on the underside of the rifle barrel, and the weapon shoots two Cold Steel "Hide Out" neck knives aka really scary/sharp little suckers.
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US-based coffee giant Starbucks said on Sunday it had paid £5 million in British corporation tax and will pay another £15 million by next year after facing a backlash from lawmakers and customers over non-payment.
The moved comes despite Starbucks claiming that it remained unprofitable in Britain, and that it was looking at closing its struggling stores in the country.
Corporation tax is levied on a company’s profits and currently stands at a rate of 23 percent in Britain.
The announcement comes after leaders of the G8 major economies last week struck a deal to fight corporate tax avoidance, which while not illegal, robs government coffers of sizeable income at a time of deep cuts to public spending.
Sunday’s statement confirms an announcement by Starbucks last December that it intended to pay £10 million ($15.4 million, 11.8 million euros) in British corporation tax both this year and in 2014. The last time Starbucks paid such tax in Britain was in 2008.
“Six months ago, we felt that our customers should not have to wait for us to become profitable before we started paying UK corporation tax,” Starbucks said.
“We listened to our customers in December and so decided to forgo certain deductions which would make us liable to pay £10 million in corporation tax this year and a further £10 million in 2014. We have now paid £5 million and will pay the remaining £5 million later this year,” it said
“We are also undertaking measures to make Starbucks profitable in the UK, such as relocating unprofitable stores to more cost effective locations, closing them where that is not possible and placing greater reliance on franchised and licensed stores.”
Starbucks last year admitted it had not paid any corporation tax in Britain on sales worth £400 million between 2009 and 2012.
It was able to do so by paying fees to other areas of its business — such as “royalty payments” for the use of the brand — which resulted in the company posting a series of losses.
A dramatic meteor reportedly lit up the skies over the East Bay Saturday night, streaking over Alamo and crossing over the Las Trampas Regional Wilderness toward Moraga, according to one witness.
“It looked like a missile,” said a Walnut Creek Patch reader, who said it covered miles in a second in a fast, straight line, with a contrail. “We all jumped up.”
To understand the hidden costs of one of California’s sweetest public employee perks, feast your eyes on Exhibit A: Alameda County’s top-paid public official, Susan Muranishi.
Not only did the county administrator rack up $462,000 in gross pay last year, and not only did taxpayers contribute an additional $118,000 to her retirement plan, they also picked up the bill for something Muranishi was supposed to pay: the $43,000 “employee” contribution to her pension.
It’s called the “pension pickup” — and like a rich uncle picking up the tab at a big family dinner, Bay Area taxpayers footed the bill for more than $221 million last year for the employee share of 63,000 public workers’ pension contributions. The practice undermines retirement rules that were designed to force employees to share the burden for their pensions.
Anyone who watched “The Office” for any of its nine seasons was well aware of the awkwardness, love triangles and office boredom the characters experienced on a daily basis. But who knew they were making so many movie references along the way?
In the mashup above, Michael Scott (Steve Carrell) confidently brings up “that dwarf in ‘Lord Of The Rings,'” tells Kelly (Mindy Kaling) that she should be wearing cleats and holding a soccer ball as a nod to “Bend It Like Beckham,'” and says he’s “like Mr. Miyagi and Yoda rolled into one.”
Meanwhile, Ryan (B.J. Novak) tells a story about his family that closely resembles the plot of “The Lion King,” and Dwight says — after much prodding — that his favorite movie is “The Crow.”
MERIDIAN — On July 1, a new law giving Mississippi residents the right to openly carry firearms without the need of a gun permit will go into effect.
Next week, during a two-hour block of instruction and education on the Open Carry Law, area law enforcement officers will get guidance on how the new law will impact their jobs and how to deal with citizens walking around with firearms at their side.
“This new law will result in quite a few calls from the general public as they notice more guns being carried out in the open,” said Ward Calhoun, chief deputy of the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department. “But for the purpose of this session, it is all about the effect the law will have on us as law enforcement personnel.”
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Happy Superbowl ‘Supermoon’ Sunday! Tonight, the moon will appear bigger and brighter than usual, so grab your binoculars and head outside. We hope you’ll join in our live blog (see below) by sharing pictures and memories from this fun night for skywatching.
Please send us your supermoon photos!
You can tweet your photos with hashtag #HPsupermoon. Or, you can submit them directly to our “Supermoon 2013” slideshow at the bottom of this post.
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