disparate.info

Since switching this site to the Intense Debate (ID) commenting system, one function I missed was the ability to integrate reCAPTCHA¹ into my comment forms. While I understand some are not fans of the system that adds nearly inscrutable text to a form that then must be typed in to the accompanying box to continue, the mechanism does significantly reduce the volume of comment spam.

reCAPTCHA challenge - the obscured text must be entered into the box below it before a form is submitted

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Having recently passed the six-months-on-unemployment mark, I’ve been thinking a lot about what this experience has meant for me. Overwhelmingly, my thoughts turned to whether or not I’m using my unintentional freedom to identify and further my career goals, improve my mental health, and expand my social network. Even though I still find myself without a job, I believe the answer to all three inquiries is yes.

After taking a rather circuitous route to becoming an accountant, I never identified the role I saw the degree playing in my career path. I assumed that at some point I would become a CPA, but beyond that, I had no plan. My intentions were always focused on the near future, on matters such as where I would live and how I would pay the bills. For some months after losing my job, my nearsightedness continued. I was content to travel, put off studying for the CPA exam, and tinker with WordPress.

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To better showcase my web development work, I’ve relocated the pages related to my WordPress plugins to http://www.ethitter.com/plugins/. Any future announcements concerning plugin updates and new offerings will be hosted at ethitter.com.

As part of the move, my plugin development feed is now http://feeds.ldmh.us/ETHPluginDev. FeedBurner does not automatically redirect renamed feeds, so please update your reader accordingly. Anyone subscribed by email, however, should continue to receive updates.

As the Journal of Accountancy reported yesterday, a Swiss court blocked the release of confidential information identifying the owners of 26 Swiss bank accounts sought in the IRS’ ongoing tax-fraud investigation. Considering that the earlier settlement entitled the IRS to information on 4,450 accounts, this is an almost imperceptible victory for proponents of Swiss bank secrecy. Nonetheless, for the owners of those accounts, the decision is certainly more than welcome.

The ruling, delivered by a Swiss administrative tribunal, determined that simply failing to file an informational form identifying the account owner as a U.S. citizen (IRS From W-9) does not constitute tax fraud. Since the tribunal ruled that its decision could not be appealed, the owners of the 26 accounts in question are, at least for now, safe from further scrutiny, and ultimately, penalties and interest on unreported earnings. As the settlement reached earlier this year between the IRS and Swiss government called for the release of roughly 10,000 names, the IRS will likely let the 26 accounts covered by the Bundesverwaltungsgericht’s¹ ruling in U.S. Taxpayers v. Swiss Federal Tax Administration forgo further investigation. It is unclear, however, whether more of the 10,000 names to be released will benefit from this ruling.

I was laid off in June 2009, and a typical response to what I planned to do with my newfound free time was, “I’ll study and sit for the CPA exam.” It’s now the end of January, and I’ve done neither.

To be honest, money was always a problem. The exam isn’t exactly inexpensive to take, comprising of four parts that each cost roughly $200 to register for. Then there’s the initial registration fee exacted simply to find out whether my education qualifies me. That second part always made me nervous, since my Bachelors degree is in Audio Engineering Technology. But, earlier this month, I finally sent my application and a check equivalent to my monthly car payment to the processing center in Tennessee.

On Saturday, I received an email from NTS Notification Service¹ that I was too afraid to open. After all, as an organizer for WordCamp Boston, I was too preoccupied to concern myself with the notice, and if the message was a rejection, I didn’t want to distract myself with that nightmare.

Thankfully, when I finally opened the email this morning, my apprehension was met with the following relief:

CPA Examination Candidate:

Your state board has found you eligible to take the Uniform CPA Examination.

So, having received my Notice to Schedule, I now have until late July to sit for the first section of the exam. That gives me 18 months from now to complete all four parts. Clearly, my procrastination (a skill that could likely earn me a doctorate, at least an honorary one) must end.

How ironic that the notice comes just as I’ve involved myself in myriad other engagements ranging from freelance web design and programming to audio engineering.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit another four National Wildlife Refuges. On Saturday, I traveled to Virginia for an Eddie from Ohio show at The Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, VA, and, as part of my trip, planned enough time to visit a few refuges along the way.

My first stop took me to Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge in Basking Ridge, NJ. This location features numerous boardwalks and viewing blinds, permitting visitors access to areas deep within the refuge while simultaneously providing protection to view wildlife without disturbance. After four hours on the road, the opportunity to walk around for a bit was welcome, and I found myself amidst numerous white-tailed deer. Unfortunately, my shoes on the composite deck material of the boardwalks made enough noise to alert the deer and I was unable to photograph any. After wandering around Great Swamp for an hour in the relative warmth of 45° sunshine under a bright blue sky, I continued south towards Philadelphia.

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The now-infamous Fail Whale isn’t Twitter’s only creative way of responding to problems with its service. As I discovered last week while creating a Twitter list of everyone involved with WordCamp Boston, the folks behind the service have some other, equally creative, graphics to inform users that something has gone wrong.

Twitter's error indicating something has substantially gone awry.

For the past few months, I’ve helped organize the inaugural WordCamp Boston, happening this weekend in Cambridge. For the uninitiated, WordCamps are community-organized events for users of the WordPress platform of all experience levels (WordPress just so happens to power this site).

Having never organized a conference before, the experience has been enlightening, to say the least. Luckily for our attendees, my fellow organizers have much more experience with these types of things, ensuring this weekend’s event will be one of the coolest, most unique WordCamps thus far.

If you can’t make it or couldn’t get a ticket, be sure to keep an eye on wordcampboston.com throughout the day Saturday for a glimpse into what the camp holds. In the weeks following the event, videos of the sessions will be available online, likely at WordPress.tv.

Browsing Twitter today, I noticed that the copyright notice in the footer still displays the year as 2009.

It’s not a big deal, but it may show that the folks running the site are busy with more important things, like preventing updates regarding the earthquake in Haiti from overloading its servers.

On the other hand, why not automatically render the year and present the copyright notice as © Twitter 2006 – XXXX?

Finding myself with some time to kill this afternoon, I stopped at the two units that comprise the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. Both units are located near Boston, one in Sudbury surrounding the river of the same name, the second in Concord, also near a river with which the unit shares its name.

While the weather wasn’t optimal for either hiking or taking pictures, it was still a worthwhile diversion. I certainly intend to return with my hiking boots and warmer clothing to wander the many miles of trails throughout the refuge.

Below are a few of the better images I captured.

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