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Home » Recreation And Sports Articles » Goblins

Goblins

Deep in a crevice in the rocky mountains that now border France and Spain, a swarthy, ugly race of fairies came into being. Undetected at first, the diminutive creatures spread throughout Europe, dwelling in the mossy cracks of rocks and tree roots. Finding humans, they ventured into villages. Hiding away on boats, they made their way to England. As people began to spot them, their reputation grew. Ill-mannered, poorly-behaved, with putrid breath, goblins began to populate stories and folklore.

Although the nature of goblins varies from menacing to malevolent, all goblins love chaos and trouble. A goblin may hide small objects or alter a signpost to trick a traveler. They weave nightmares out of cobwebs, which they insert into human ears. Some goblins have even stolen human babies, exchanging them for ugly goblin infants, called changelings. Even their laughter sours milk and causes fruit to fall from trees.

When humans began mining for metals and minerals, cave-dwelling goblins took their mischief to new levels. Blowing out the miners' dim lanterns and breaking their tools, these cave-goblins became known as "knockers" for the mysterious tapping noises they made to confuse the miners in the dark underground tunnels. (In other countries, knockers are known by other names: In Germany they are called kobolds and wichtlein, while they are called coblynau in Wales.) Offended by the miners' whistling or swearing, knockers showered the miners' heads with small stones. If it appeared a miner had lost his wits, heartless knockers would pop out from the rocks, pulling their already ugly faces into horrible grimaces to torment him further. With time, however, some miners found a way to calm, and even befriend their underground foes. By leaving a portion of their pastie-the miner's traditional meal-the miners could win a knocker's goodwill. In return, a knocker might lead the miner to a wealthy lode.

As miners tore away and destroyed the goblins' cavernous homes, the goblins returned the favor in like kind. Following the men into their villages, goblins took up living in farmhouses, taking their revenge upon the human households. It was found that many goblins favored children-especially naughty children! At first such children, attracted by the goblins' wicked sense of humor, agreed to their do goblin-friend's bidding. However, a goblin is never a loyal friend, as many children learned when deserted to receive severe punishments on their own. From their hiding spots, goblins rejoiced to watch adults lose their tempers and mete out severe punishments upon their children.

Like the miners, housewives soon found a way to chase off goblins who had taken up residence in their houses. By always remaining sweet-tempered, the ladies managed to bore the pests, sending him to look elsewhere for excitement. If that failed to work, the housewife could try spreading flax seed across her floors over night. Sometimes the goblin would feel compelled to pick up the seed by hand. Goblins, like gnomes, cannot endure the sunlight of day, and if their task could not be finished by dawn's light, the frustrated goblin-unable to cause any mischief for the night, would move elsewhere.

Goblins are known to mimic human actions. How they are perceived in the natural world must give humans pause to reflect-for the goblin nature may very well be nothing more than a mirror held up to mankind, showing us the very worst aspects of our culture!

Copyright (c) 2006 Rob Daniels

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Protecting the Tax Advantage of Your Deferred Compensation

The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 imposed strict new rules on non-qualified deferred compensation plans. Beginning in 2005, deferred compensation programs that are not in compliance with the new rules may be taxed as wages, slapped with a 20% excise tax, plus charged an interest penalty.

Given the potentially huge tax consequences for non-compliance with the rules, you should consult with your organization's benefit specialist and your tax professionals to figure how your compensation might be affected by these new rules.

Deferred compensation plans are often used to provide for the deferral of salary, incentive compensation (i.e., commissions or bonuses), or supplemental compensation for top executives, independent corporate directors, and individual board members. The new rules apply to nonqualified deferred compensation plans at taxable and tax-exempt organizations.

An option for independent corporate directors and individual board members who receive 1099 income for their services may consider is to freeze their nonqualified plan and adopt a qualified plan such as the "one person defined benefit plan", called the Solo-DB Plan. Qualified retirement plans are exempt from the requirements of the American Jobs Creation Act.

The Solo-DB plan allows the highest deductible contributions possible in a qualified retirement plan. For example in 2005 one can contribute up to $170,000 of compensation into a tax-deferred Solo-DB plan.

Defined benefits plans have been around for a long time. But, recent pension legislation has raised the contribution and deductibility limits as well as simplified plan fund requirements. Thus, defined benefit plans like Solo-DB have become much more attractive to upper-income individuals with self-employment income. The Solo-DB plan will allow you to aggressively fund your retirement while cutting your taxes significantly.

Individuals who qualify for the Solo-DB plan include sole proprietors, independent contractors, and small business owners age 45 or older who can contribute more than $41,000 annually to the plan for at least three years.

For more about Solo DB plans visit Lamaute Capital at: http://www.InvestSafe.com.