Weird World News

[monster_gardener]

This Thread is For Weird News....... Events Weird Enough to Make the Cover of the National Enquirer in the Old Days.......

Weird Al's Midnight Star Gives an Idea of things perfect for this thread....

9gW2vVM2WAc

[monster_gardener]

Thank You Very Much for Maintaining the Forum, Admins......


http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories ... l-29m.html

What is the fair market value of an object that cannot be sold?

The question may sound like a Zen koan, or verbal puzzle, but it is one that lawyers for the heirs of the New York art dealer Ileana Sonnabend and the Internal Revenue Service are set to debate when they meet in Washington next month.

The object under discussion is Canyon, a masterwork of 20th-century art created by Robert Rauschenberg that Sonnabend’s children inherited when she died in 2007.

Because the work, a sculptural combine, includes a stuffed bald eagle, a bird under federal protection, the heirs would be committing a felony if they ever tried to sell it. So their appraisers have valued the work at zero.

But the IRS takes a different view. It has appraised Canyon at $65 million and is demanding that the owners pay $29.2 million in taxes.

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At the moment, tax experts note that the IRS’ stance puts the heirs in a bind: If they don’t pay, they would be guilty of violating federal tax laws, but if they try to sell Canyon to zero-out their bill, they could go to jail for violating eagle-protection laws.

Because the children assert the Rauschenberg has no dollar value for estate purposes, they could not claim a charitable deduction by donating Canyon to a museum, according to their lawyer, Ralph E. Lerner.

If the IRS were to prevail in its $65 million valuation, he said the heirs would still have to pay the $40.9 million in taxes and penalties regardless of a donation. Then, given their income and the limits on deductions, he said, they could deduct a small part of the work’s value each year.

Perhaps another name for the IRS should be Infernal Robbery Service ..............






If I was going to get billed ~$41 Million for an unsaleable artwork like this, I might be tempted to burn or otherwise legally destroy it in front of the IRS Office that assessed it............

Obviously per the above video, the heirs need to read the Midnight Star and learn how to Beat the IRS

[monster_gardener]

Thank you Very Much for maintaining the Forum, Typhoon & YMix

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/1 ... 79768.html

The family and friends of Val Patterson, it turns out, had a thief with bogus academic credentials on their hands.
................

"As it turns out," Patterson wrote, "I AM the guy who stole the safe from View Drive Inn back in June, 1971."

That's not the only secret Patterson had to share. He revealed that his Ph.D. from the University of Utah was not legitimate. An office worker allegedly made a filing error that resulted in Patterson mistakenly receiving a diploma in the mail.

In reality, Patterson had not completed enough school to obtain an undergraduate degree, and "never did even learn what the letters 'PhD' even stood for."............

Patterson pointed out that his lack of schooling never got in the way of his success, however. "For all the Electronic Engineers I have worked with," he wrote, "I'm sorry, but you have to admit my designs always worked very well."


Mary Jane, Patterson's wife of 33 years, told KSL that everything her husband said was true.

Patterson's obituary is more than just a confessional, however. He wrote at length on his "inseparable" bond with Mary Jane, and on the satisfaction of living a full life.

"I enjoyed one good life," Patterson wrote, " traveled to every place on earth that I ever wanted to go. Had every job that I wanted to have. Learned all that I wanted to learn. Fixed everything I wanted to fix. Eaten everything I wanted to eat."

Lots more hijinks and........

detailing Patterson's passion for science and love for his wife

Even so, To Live is to Suffer.....

"My pain is enormous," he wrote, "but it pales in comparison to watching my wife feel my pain as she lovingly cares for and comforts me."