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User: codewarrior78411

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  1. Re:Blimey! on Journalist Test Drives The Pain Ray Gun · · Score: 1

    This 'non-lethal' weapon is insidious. If it's tuned to the frequency of nerve endings now, it's not too hard to re-tune it to the frequency of water and literally cook people in it's path for hundreds of yards.

    My Uncle who worked on radars and microwave equipment for the US Navy would tell me stories of dead birds and other animals that got too near the dish while it was transmitting. It would cook them from the inside out!

    This thing needs to be banned FAST! It's nothing less than a weapon of human mass destruction currently clothed as a non-lethal pacification device.

  2. You Cannot TAX a TAX!! on Uncle Sam Spoils Dream Trip To Space · · Score: 1

    Its obvious you computer nerds are paying WAY too much in taxes. Ya'll need to spend a hour with a good tax accountant and learn some of the ins and outs of our tax system.

    First of all, as the article impies, you can't tax a tax. It's in the Constitution. If the guy was gonna owe $25K in taxes for the space ride, ANYBODY ,including himself, can pay those taxes and it would not be considered a taxable gift. WHY? Because if you tax a tax it becomes a never ending loop of taxation. The IRS is not intersted in that. All they care about is what's due now and whether or not it was paid. They could care less who pays it. Corporations pay US Income Taxes for their execs all the time. That money paid to the IRS is not taxable.

    Secondly, whoever pays the tax can deduct it from their income! HOW? Because of the rule of NO double taxation. If I use my money to pay your taxes, I get a deduction from my income. Think about it. If I didn't then not only did the IRS get my money that I used to pay your taxes, they would also get taxes on that money... no double taxation... can't tax a tax.

    Finally, he had FOREVER to pay those taxes. HOW? Since a space ride is not a very liquid asset like a plane ticket, the IRS probably would have ruled that he didn't owe any taxes until the service was performed; if at all. It works like this. Lets say as a bonus last December, your company gave you two tickets to this March's St. Patty's day Parade in NYC. You'd owe taxes on the ticket for 2006 because that's when it was awarded and the ticket is a very liquid asset; almost like cash.

    However, if your company says "Bill, you're award is a flight on our jet for you and your wife to NYC for next year's St. Patty's day Parade in NYC, then you wouldn't owe the tax until the service was performed (2007). WHY? Because a ride on a corporate jet is not a liquid asset and its value is not realized until the service is performed. Also, you could argue that it's value is no more than a cut rate airline ticket since you have no control over the scheduling or seating arrangements; even if they are plush (again which the IRS could care less about).

    But I wonder... Any company I know of would have paid him the $25K for a side endorsement deal. Or, he might have been able to sell his ride. My guess is he chickened out and he's using the IRS as a scape goat.

  3. 5 1/2' lofted queen sized water bed on What's the Coolest Thing You've Ever Built? · · Score: 1

    When I was a junior in collage (Texas A&M Corpus Christi), I built a 5 1/2' lofted queen sized waterbed. I used 10 4"x4" posts to hold the bed tray up which was contructed of 2"x4"s layed sideways and spaced six inches apart. I had already done all the calculations as an assignment in a sophomore physics class and determined that the structure would handle upwards of 3500 static pounds; more than enough. I was so secure in my work I put my computer (i386) desk under it (after layering the tray 7 times). It stood for over 3 years as I graduated and got my masters. The bed tray only bowed in the middle 1/2 inch. It also stood up to plenty of 'random force vectors' caused by 'motion in the ocean'.