…you can become a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis:
For $250,000, a foreigner can buy full rights as a citizen there. The transaction can take as few as three months and applicants need never visit the nation’s sandy shores.
The allure? St. Kitts citizens can travel without a visa to more than a hundred countries, including Canada and all of Europe. They pay no personal income taxes, and the island’s remote location in the West Indies serves as a safe haven, should the need for a quick move ever arise.
Demand for a second passport is “way up,” says David Lesperance, a Canadian immigration lawyer. Among his recent clients: an Egyptian pro-democracy activist who worries about instability in his country, and a Chicago businessman who is convinced that the Occupy movements will lead to riots.
Henley boasts that it can obtain passports for individuals and families in as few as three months. It also publishes a yearly Visa Restriction Index, which ranks a passport’s value based on number of countries one can visit without a visa.
Last year, St. Kitts was 28th. Dominica was 54th. A U.S. passport and an Irish passport tied for the 5th most valuable. Finland, Sweden and Denmark tied for first place, and Germany and Francesecond and third.
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Among many others:
ARBOR VITAE. A man’s penis.
ARSY YARSEY. To fall arsy varsey, i.e. head over heels.
BANBURY STORY OF A COCK AND A BULL. A roundabout,
nonsensical story.BOOK-KEEPER. One who never returns borrowed books.
MINOR CLERGY. Young chimney sweepers.
The Magnificent Map of Rap Names -
An update to the Grand Taxonomy of Rap Names, I believe.
Shadow art by Fred Eerdekens. I wonder if he makes it through a trial-and-error process, or if he has it all planned out before beginning. The latter would be incomprehensible.
1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.
3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
Via.
Man, that is brighter than I expected.
Norway, you cheeky country.
Kung Fu Monks, a photo essay.
A blog dedicated entirely to playgrounds?
Yes, please.
The jist:
Since back in the Eisenhower era, the federal government has maintained a Highway Trust Fund, paid for mostly by taxes on fuel, that helps cover the repair and construction of our country’s roads, bridges, and mass transit. The idea was that drivers themselves should bear some of the cost the roads they used. Unfortunately, Congress hasn’t raised the gas tax since 1993. Since then, inflation has eaten away at least a third of its value.
…
First, Americans started caring about the fuel efficiency again, as skyrocketing oil prices ended the era of gas-guzzling SUVs. Then the recession struck, and penny-pinching drivers logged fewer miles to save on gas. Today, Americans are still using less fuel than they did just a few years ago. As a result, they’re paying fewer gas taxes, and less money is flowing into the Highway Trust Fund, which is now facing potential insolvency in 2013, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The current House transportation bill would spend about$50 billion more than what the fund can pay for. A more modest Senate version would spend $12 billion more.
Insofar as these trends aren’t going away, [the tolls around Chicago seem to think so, at least] isn’t it a good time to invest in high-speed rail?
Long exposure photos of fireflies.