That presumes a state court has jurisdiction over the office of the president of the united states... which is very unlikely to be proven out should one actually try it.
And if that did somehow come to pass, I expect the (many) lawyers would argue the crime should be a federal matter anyway, push it into federal court, and then it becomes pardonable.
But in a practical sense (and that's to say self-preservation for politicians) no state court is going to start charging presidents (or senators etc.) in their court rooms. Why? Because then any lowly court could, in theory, take any trumped (lol) up charge and hold any politician as a criminal for the duration of the trial. Basically... you could have a pissed off DA and judge from the other party pulling senators and house reps into jail in their states.
Never. Going. To. Happen. It's mutually assured destruction among people broadly insulated from any such worries.
or d, whatsapp will say they don't give af and continue their merry way because they don't book any profits in AU so don't really care?
Oh, they sold out to FB who does make money there.
Oh, and they need the app store to allow people to download their app (well, mandatory for iOS, not so for android)
But really, I don't see this working out well if they manage to pass said law. Forcing companies to build something for them? Are they being paid? I know the aussies are a bit weird but i don't believe they allow slave labor.
Sorry, you seem to have forgotten that the perspective of our corporate overlords (and their trillion dollar values) are far more important than your pesky viewpoint. Please report to the department of mental health for perspective adjustment.
Samsung continues to revise their Dex dock. It's... not bad.
I'm also not about to replace my computer with it just yet either. Oddly, the phone screen runs at a higher resolution than my external monitor but it still seems to struggle more filling the external.
Unlike Apple, Samsung absolutely DOES have a line of low-cost smartphones. You don't see them marketed much (or at all) in the US but they're there. They're super common in 3rd world/developing countries too.
I hear so much fussing about removable batteries but it seems no one realizes that it's not just a planned obsolescence mechanic. Making a phone rigid enough to be the sizes we have today is vastly helped by having a solid front and back. Depending exclusively on the internal structure (and then making most of that void-space for a battery) is going to require a fair amount of bracing that could otherwise be dedicated to...yah, more battery.
If you can't do it yourself, plenty of fix-it stores will swap your battery in the time it takes you to go have a cup of coffee for a very reasonable price. Doing that every 1.5-2 years isn't unreasonable.
I felt the same way about my 6 until it fell in the lake. Not that I was eager to go diving for it in all the algae and pollution but it it had waterproofing I just might have.
It's no different than the PC world. Software keeps moving "forward" adding tons of stupid features that endlessly bog down the system. So you need more CPU, more RAM, more storage to keep things moving along at a usable speed.
I don't want a new phone, but I DO want my existing one not to slow to a crawl trying to run the same apps (but pointlessly newer versions that are 'required') as a year or two ago.
When they build a phone with large sheets of glass on both sides, the majority of people need a case to avoid breaking it. Your anecdotal experience and obnoxious judgmental comment is not the norm. Nor is the idea that cases don't offer protection - maybe some don't but the large majority offer at least some protection.
I went from an SE, to an XS Max, and it was worth it for the massive screen size increase,
Unless you are built like your average NBA player, when putting it to your ear you will look like a complete dork. But then again, who uses a smartphone for phone calls?
What I find ironic is that Dell Streak 5 (back when a 5" screen was a "phablet") was constantly made fun of for being too large and yet now we're walking around with 6.5" screens glued to our faces or, worse, the tools using a full size ipad to take pictures. I guess Dell was almost a decade ahead of it's time:) Sorry fanbois
They could try listening to customers that don't need an extra CPU to support some esoteric AI function but instead want a larger and/or removable battery, the return of their headphones jack, a phone that doesn't shatter in 5 seconds if you don't have a case, and (for some) USB-C connectivity.
The minor incremental improvements to the camera are no longer worth buying a $1000 device. The cutesy changes to face-ID and in-screen fingerprint reading are...cutesy.
Price creep the last few years has been out of hand while the actual feature changes have slowed to a crawl or even gone backwards (looking for you headphones jack). Especially with "certain" greedy manufacturers who were recently charging $100 for 16 or 32GB of flash. Even now, $150 to go from 64 to 256 is a ripoff.
People simply don't need the new phones because there's nothing to differentiate them. It's not even sexy or shiny when you can't tell the difference...especially when you're force to stuff them in a case that doubles the size.
I'm still waiting for someone to take the chance on a thicker phone with a real battery. Apple did actually go a bit thicker on some of their latest phones but i don't think they actually added significant battery capacity.
Oh yes, and let's get the glass to the very edge...no wait! Let's make the WHOLE case out of glass. And special glass that's over 9000% more transmissive of visible light...never mind equally more brittle.
This isn't about helping the drivers. It is about limiting competition with the taxi racket.
Exactly this. People outside of NYC don't realize what power the TLC used to hold over the city...it's withered greatly since the advent of Uber but they still wield enormous power and are trying to retain back some of their former glory. Today, a taxi strike is not nearly the crippling threat it was 20 years ago.
$35k/yr definitely isn't livable in NYC, but at the same time is totally is. It takes a different approach and many people in NYC accept that (or get NYCHA housing and live for almost free).
The $17/hr minimum is considerably (+24%) higher than the NYC minimum wage of $13/hr set about a year ago.Guaranteeing that wage to someone working a highly flexible, self-directed job with effectively no boss is actually... strange. Well, until you realize the taxi commission is working to destroy uber in NYC and get their control back.
What should the hourly rate of a paperboy who works 14 hours/week be? Or a wedding photographer? Or a drummer who only plays on weekends?
Actually, this is relatively straightforward to look up. The concept of the gig economy is based on small increments of committed work (e.g. single ride) vs. larger, and typically time-based, commitments of a normal job (e.g. 2 hour shift). Gigs are also typically infrequent, irregular work.
There's a grey area when gigs aren't gigs anymore...such as when you're driving 40+ hours a week. Uber wants to keep considering it a gig because that benefits them immensely, but the reality of the situation requires time-based commitments (being on the clock) so you can get rides. I'm not a fan of uber's horribly abusive policies nor the NYC taxi medallion game (similar game, different name). At least ubers don't put you behind a plexiglass partition like you're a criminal. For that alone I'd ride an uber over a taxi even if it wasn't cheaper.
Oh AC...you so silly. But let's work out the math here.
Even just taking the start of what you wrote: You drove for 1 hour, grossed $40, netted ~$20 and are ahead of the $17 minimum in TFA.
But also, that's the write-off which typically is higher than actual cost and DOES INCLUDE the vehicle cost/depreciation/fuel/etc. The whole point of that rate per mile is the actual, total cost to be driving the vehicle. Lets break that down a bit:
For 12k miles it's $545/month. For 24k miles it's ~$1100 For 48K miles (typical for a full time uber/lyft driver) that's $2200 Now, $2200 is your IRS approved cost write-off. If your actual costs are lower, it's more money in your pocket. Working backwards from there:
4k miles / 25mpg * $3/gal fuel = $600. This depends on your vehicle and gas prices but uses current fuel and 2016 MPG numbers. A prius will be less. $20k - average price for a 3 year old car or ~$400/month over 5 years - actual depreciation will be *less* than this of course $200/month insurance - varies significantly by location, but even doubled this is easily viable. That leaves a full $1000 a month for maintenance which is overkill so your tax deductions will net you ~30% back on whatever of this you don't spend. Conservatively, that's at least a few grand in your pocket per year.
So after working all that out, you're still making $40k per year including full depreciation of the vehicle in 5 years and all maintenance/fuel.
It's kind of... insane that uber is bleeding so much money. Well until you consider what they're spending on politics because of how corrupt the system is.
Especially give the rather larger % of all the billing they do that goes directly in their pocket for having a relatively (well, comparatively) simple app. Granted, it did cause some massive changes to the taxi industry which has now found a good strategy to fight back. After all, who can argue about minimum pay for drivers? That's good, right? Oh, but it doesn't apply to actual TAXI drivers in NYC. Right, because that big scam has far too much ingrained political power (even today) to allow it...instead i'm pretty sure this is their idea (along with the recent additional surcharges for uber/lyft) to push them back out of business and (dirty, obnoxious) taxi's back into prevalence.
Oddly enough, $17/hr is a pretty reasonable wage...and given the risk/need to procure a vehicle that's about aligned with the $15 minimum wage movement.
well starbucks now won't kick anyone out... even dirty and smelly homeless people who haven't bought anything, move their shopping-cart condo in with them and sleep there all day.
I'm sure a bit of porn editing wouldn't be an issue.
Also, VPN. Why does no one understand the concept of VPN on/.?
I haven't subscribed to cable TV myself in... at least 15 years. I've had it in the house occasionally due to roommates and the like but never bothered to hook it up for myself.
I do laugh at people who still spend endless hours watching whatever shows. On the odd chance one interests me, i'll download the whole series and watch it at my leisure - usually on a long flight or while commuting.
Otherwise netflix and amazon prime serve their purpose well enough, tho NF is only around because it's more annoying to cancel than the $10 is worth. They've removed too much content to be of good value anymore.
Slashdot Mirror
That presumes a state court has jurisdiction over the office of the president of the united states ... which is very unlikely to be proven out should one actually try it.
And if that did somehow come to pass, I expect the (many) lawyers would argue the crime should be a federal matter anyway, push it into federal court, and then it becomes pardonable.
But in a practical sense (and that's to say self-preservation for politicians) no state court is going to start charging presidents (or senators etc.) in their court rooms. Why? Because then any lowly court could, in theory, take any trumped (lol) up charge and hold any politician as a criminal for the duration of the trial. Basically ... you could have a pissed off DA and judge from the other party pulling senators and house reps into jail in their states.
Never. Going. To. Happen. It's mutually assured destruction among people broadly insulated from any such worries.
or d, whatsapp will say they don't give af and continue their merry way because they don't book any profits in AU so don't really care?
Oh, they sold out to FB who does make money there.
Oh, and they need the app store to allow people to download their app (well, mandatory for iOS, not so for android)
But really, I don't see this working out well if they manage to pass said law. Forcing companies to build something for them? Are they being paid? I know the aussies are a bit weird but i don't believe they allow slave labor.
Sorry, you seem to have forgotten that the perspective of our corporate overlords (and their trillion dollar values) are far more important than your pesky viewpoint. Please report to the department of mental health for perspective adjustment.
Blackberry does still technically have a line of phones in existence. It runs a modified android of course...but oddly they aren't dead yet.
But really, you want windows mobile back? Be careful what you ask for. MS is developing yet another lower-power version of Win10.
Samsung continues to revise their Dex dock. It's ... not bad.
I'm also not about to replace my computer with it just yet either. Oddly, the phone screen runs at a higher resolution than my external monitor but it still seems to struggle more filling the external.
Unlike Apple, Samsung absolutely DOES have a line of low-cost smartphones. You don't see them marketed much (or at all) in the US but they're there. They're super common in 3rd world/developing countries too.
You don't have kids or know many millennials do you?
Actually with the random research and learning I can do on my phone it's definitely made me more educated, not less.
I hear so much fussing about removable batteries but it seems no one realizes that it's not just a planned obsolescence mechanic. Making a phone rigid enough to be the sizes we have today is vastly helped by having a solid front and back. Depending exclusively on the internal structure (and then making most of that void-space for a battery) is going to require a fair amount of bracing that could otherwise be dedicated to...yah, more battery.
If you can't do it yourself, plenty of fix-it stores will swap your battery in the time it takes you to go have a cup of coffee for a very reasonable price. Doing that every 1.5-2 years isn't unreasonable.
I felt the same way about my 6 until it fell in the lake. Not that I was eager to go diving for it in all the algae and pollution but it it had waterproofing I just might have.
It's no different than the PC world. Software keeps moving "forward" adding tons of stupid features that endlessly bog down the system. So you need more CPU, more RAM, more storage to keep things moving along at a usable speed.
I don't want a new phone, but I DO want my existing one not to slow to a crawl trying to run the same apps (but pointlessly newer versions that are 'required') as a year or two ago.
When they build a phone with large sheets of glass on both sides, the majority of people need a case to avoid breaking it. Your anecdotal experience and obnoxious judgmental comment is not the norm. Nor is the idea that cases don't offer protection - maybe some don't but the large majority offer at least some protection.
I went from an SE, to an XS Max, and it was worth it for the massive screen size increase,
Unless you are built like your average NBA player, when putting it to your ear you will look like a complete dork. But then again, who uses a smartphone for phone calls?
What I find ironic is that Dell Streak 5 (back when a 5" screen was a "phablet") was constantly made fun of for being too large and yet now we're walking around with 6.5" screens glued to our faces or, worse, the tools using a full size ipad to take pictures. I guess Dell was almost a decade ahead of it's time :) Sorry fanbois
They could try listening to customers that don't need an extra CPU to support some esoteric AI function but instead want a larger and/or removable battery, the return of their headphones jack, a phone that doesn't shatter in 5 seconds if you don't have a case, and (for some) USB-C connectivity.
The minor incremental improvements to the camera are no longer worth buying a $1000 device. The cutesy changes to face-ID and in-screen fingerprint reading are...cutesy.
Price creep the last few years has been out of hand while the actual feature changes have slowed to a crawl or even gone backwards (looking for you headphones jack). Especially with "certain" greedy manufacturers who were recently charging $100 for 16 or 32GB of flash. Even now, $150 to go from 64 to 256 is a ripoff.
People simply don't need the new phones because there's nothing to differentiate them. It's not even sexy or shiny when you can't tell the difference...especially when you're force to stuff them in a case that doubles the size.
I'm still waiting for someone to take the chance on a thicker phone with a real battery. Apple did actually go a bit thicker on some of their latest phones but i don't think they actually added significant battery capacity.
Oh yes, and let's get the glass to the very edge...no wait! Let's make the WHOLE case out of glass. And special glass that's over 9000% more transmissive of visible light...never mind equally more brittle.
Yah, because stringing wires up everywhere was not an option. They weren't EVs in the modern sense using internal batteries.
This isn't about helping the drivers. It is about limiting competition with the taxi racket.
Exactly this. People outside of NYC don't realize what power the TLC used to hold over the city...it's withered greatly since the advent of Uber but they still wield enormous power and are trying to retain back some of their former glory. Today, a taxi strike is not nearly the crippling threat it was 20 years ago.
I don't think you live in NYC...
$35k/yr definitely isn't livable in NYC, but at the same time is totally is. It takes a different approach and many people in NYC accept that (or get NYCHA housing and live for almost free).
The $17/hr minimum is considerably (+24%) higher than the NYC minimum wage of $13/hr set about a year ago.Guaranteeing that wage to someone working a highly flexible, self-directed job with effectively no boss is actually ... strange. Well, until you realize the taxi commission is working to destroy uber in NYC and get their control back.
What should the hourly rate of a paperboy who works 14 hours/week be? Or a wedding photographer? Or a drummer who only plays on weekends?
Actually, this is relatively straightforward to look up. The concept of the gig economy is based on small increments of committed work (e.g. single ride) vs. larger, and typically time-based, commitments of a normal job (e.g. 2 hour shift). Gigs are also typically infrequent, irregular work.
There's a grey area when gigs aren't gigs anymore...such as when you're driving 40+ hours a week. Uber wants to keep considering it a gig because that benefits them immensely, but the reality of the situation requires time-based commitments (being on the clock) so you can get rides. I'm not a fan of uber's horribly abusive policies nor the NYC taxi medallion game (similar game, different name). At least ubers don't put you behind a plexiglass partition like you're a criminal. For that alone I'd ride an uber over a taxi even if it wasn't cheaper.
Oh AC...you so silly. But let's work out the math here.
Even just taking the start of what you wrote: You drove for 1 hour, grossed $40, netted ~$20 and are ahead of the $17 minimum in TFA.
But also, that's the write-off which typically is higher than actual cost and DOES INCLUDE the vehicle cost/depreciation/fuel/etc. The whole point of that rate per mile is the actual, total cost to be driving the vehicle. Lets break that down a bit:
For 12k miles it's $545/month.
For 24k miles it's ~$1100
For 48K miles (typical for a full time uber/lyft driver) that's $2200
Now, $2200 is your IRS approved cost write-off. If your actual costs are lower, it's more money in your pocket. Working backwards from there:
4k miles / 25mpg * $3/gal fuel = $600. This depends on your vehicle and gas prices but uses current fuel and 2016 MPG numbers. A prius will be less.
$20k - average price for a 3 year old car or ~$400/month over 5 years - actual depreciation will be *less* than this of course
$200/month insurance - varies significantly by location, but even doubled this is easily viable.
That leaves a full $1000 a month for maintenance which is overkill so your tax deductions will net you ~30% back on whatever of this you don't spend. Conservatively, that's at least a few grand in your pocket per year.
So after working all that out, you're still making $40k per year including full depreciation of the vehicle in 5 years and all maintenance/fuel.
It's kind of ... insane that uber is bleeding so much money. Well until you consider what they're spending on politics because of how corrupt the system is.
Especially give the rather larger % of all the billing they do that goes directly in their pocket for having a relatively (well, comparatively) simple app. Granted, it did cause some massive changes to the taxi industry which has now found a good strategy to fight back. After all, who can argue about minimum pay for drivers? That's good, right? Oh, but it doesn't apply to actual TAXI drivers in NYC. Right, because that big scam has far too much ingrained political power (even today) to allow it...instead i'm pretty sure this is their idea (along with the recent additional surcharges for uber/lyft) to push them back out of business and (dirty, obnoxious) taxi's back into prevalence.
Oddly enough, $17/hr is a pretty reasonable wage...and given the risk/need to procure a vehicle that's about aligned with the $15 minimum wage movement.
There's a venn diagram in this somewhere to both make you look smart while equally making you look really, really stupid.
well starbucks now won't kick anyone out ... even dirty and smelly homeless people who haven't bought anything, move their shopping-cart condo in with them and sleep there all day.
I'm sure a bit of porn editing wouldn't be an issue.
Also, VPN. Why does no one understand the concept of VPN on /.?
I haven't subscribed to cable TV myself in ... at least 15 years. I've had it in the house occasionally due to roommates and the like but never bothered to hook it up for myself.
I do laugh at people who still spend endless hours watching whatever shows. On the odd chance one interests me, i'll download the whole series and watch it at my leisure - usually on a long flight or while commuting.
Otherwise netflix and amazon prime serve their purpose well enough, tho NF is only around because it's more annoying to cancel than the $10 is worth. They've removed too much content to be of good value anymore.