An online friend of mine was doing book editing work for a "customer from hell", who kept demanding change after change after change, and when they finally told the CFH that they could no longer work with/for them, the CFH did chargebacks on all the payments they had done through PayPal.
PayPal was of no help whatsoever in the situation.
I have to say, I'm not a gun nut by any possible stretch of the imagination, and I'm glad the bill that would restrict firearms purchases for people on the no-fly list got blocked.
It would have been declared unconstitutional so fast, it wouldn't even be funny. Mind you, the fact that a bill is clearly unconstitutional on it's face has never really stopped a fair number of Congresscritters (or state legislators) from trying to pass bills.
This concerns taxing individuals, not corporations. There are already plenty of tax loopholes for corporations anyway. See the nonsense where GE paid $0 in income tax.
Furthermore, if your business is only pulling in $151K a year, and your employee expenses are $150K, not counting things like rent/lease, utilities, equipment, and so forth, you're probably screwed anyway. But you're not clear on whether that $151K is gross or profit.
Actually, it depends on how they earn that money. Capital gains are taxed much lower than income from a salary. And deductions can be abused in all kinds of ways. Just look at some of the shit the Walton family (owners of Wal-mart) do. Not strictly speaking, illegal, but they use a bunch of foundations to avoid paying estate taxes and gift taxes.
As for welfare, a lot less of the federal budget is spent on it than most people think. A far higher percentage is used for military spending, which leads to things like the F-35 boondoggle (over 1.5 TRILLION spent thus far on the program).
If you want to be on certain committees, you have to pass a test of some sort, so we can get rid of the thundering idiots who think science is of the devil, yet sit on one of the science-based committees. Or if you want to be on one of the finance committees, you have to at least show basic understanding of economics.
Yeah, where's Tailgunner Joe when we need him? Oh wait, he's dead, and he was pretty much a clinical study of paranoia, seeing Communists behind everything.
Let's go back to those days, I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong that didn't already go wrong.
Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what Assange is thinking here. I mean, maybe he's still thinking "Information wants to be free", or some similar credo, but he clearly hasn't thought this through.
Trump is not the kind of person who is likely to be grateful for this sort of thing, because Wikileaks is just the type of organization that would look at Trump as an equally valid target. Furthermore, Trump's incendiary rhetoric on "making America great again", isn't conducive to giving a Assange a pat on the back for the black eye or two that Wikileaks has already given the U.S.
I won't say you're wrong... because you're not. In the Engineering program at the university I went to, EE 221 was required for _ALL_ Engineering majors.
At the main campus (this was a university with 'satellite' campuses), it was taught in a huge lecture hall, 200+ students in there per class session, and if you fell behind, you were left behind. Roughly 15% of the class dropped it by the final drop/add day (either to take it next semester, or they would outright change majors), and roughly another 15% failed the class.
I got lucky enough to take it at one of the satellite campuses, with (at the time) the only Engineering professor at this university system who wasn't at the main campus. (Not kidding. If you were taking an Engineering class at any of the satellite campuses, it was a remote learning/professor on tape/whatever class.)
Instead of 200+ students in a lecture hall, we had 30 or so students. A third of the class got A's, and we were using the harder version of the textbook.
You may be missing the point. Congress' requirements for the USPS pensions require that the pensions are supposed to be funded for employees who haven't even been hired yet.
I believe the longest employment length requirement to get a pension from the USPS (not the only one, just the longest) is 30 years. That means that someone who won't be hired by the USPS until the year 2061, in theory, already has their pension funded.
Yes, from a certain point of view, it is admirable in forethought. But to look at it another way, it's an asinine requirement that is designed to break the USPS.
IANAL, but I would assume that it would have to be sent via registered mail (or similar mechanism). Otherwise, how can you possibly prove that they got it and then ignored it?
If he gets ruled as a vexatious litigant, they basically have to get a judge to sign off on every lawsuit they bring before it can go court. Which can end up making more work for whatever judge or judges get saddled with reading through that sort of nonsense....
Well, that assumes that Kim Jong Un is fairly stable, now doesn't it? I mean, okay, just because he is "Dear Leader" (or whatever the hell they call him) and has this cult of personality built up around himself and his family (well, his father and grandfather) doesn't mean he's as crazy as a shithouse rat, but let's consider something.
He's probably not used to being told "We can't do that." or "No." or anything like that. I mean, yeah, he has no problem having relations executed for getting in his way, but given how little information actually gets out of NK, we have no idea if he's foolish enough to execute scientists and engineers who fail to meet unrealistic/impossible expectations.
Yeah, there are almost certainly people in the NK leadership feeding him the rosy version of events concerning these failed missile launches, but they can only sugarcoat it so many times before he's going to realize something is up, if he hasn't already.
Or hell, maybe he's too busy enjoying the big fish in his little pond to really care.
If we don't pay attention to politics (and oftentimes, even if we do), thundering idiots who don't have the slightest understanding of science, technology and so forth get elected. And proceed to use that lack of understanding like it was something to be proud of when they pass laws.
You get idiots in Congress who don't know the difference between weather and climate, or claim that we don't have to worry about rising sea levels in coastal areas because "God promised he would never flood the earth again".
We get politicians who want "small government", unless it involves regulations on your genitals, which they seem inordinately fond of passing.
We get ones who can't even understand email regulating the Internet, ones who aren't doctors regulating medical procedures, and so on. People passing laws based on their religious beliefs and then getting a case of chapped ass if anyone dares compare it to Sharia law.
If we don't pay attention to it, it just gets worse.
We don't know that yet. Yes, someone who stays on Mars for a substantial amount of time will have physiological changes in response to the lower gravity, similar to what the astronauts who are on the ISS go through in micro-gravity.
But those ISS personnel are up there for months at a stretch, and it didn't automatically kill them. (To note, Scott Kelly was up there for almost a full year, and he's been back on Earth since March 1st. We're still studying the effects on his health.
Are there physiological changes due to differences in gravity? Yes. Can they be ameliorated? To an extent. Can they be ignored. No. Are they automatically fatal? No.
Now, clearly, if someone lives on Mars (or the Moon) for years, well, they longer they live there, the less likely they're going to be able to return to Earth due to those changes.
No, it's not a solved set of problems yet. But that's a far cry from just flat out saying they're an unsolvable set of problems.
Motor voter laws don't mandate that you vote. They either offer the opportunity to register to vote when you apply for/renew your DL, or (in some states) automatically register people to vote. They don't require that you actually vote, and normal restrictions on voter registration still apply. (If you're too young, or have lost the right to vote.)
Mars is inherently inimical to human life. We get it. However, it is not outside the realm of possibility that we could develop technologies that would allow us to live on Mars.
Is it going to happen in ten years? No, frankly, I think Musk is selling a bit of a bill of goods on this one. But assuming we don't kill ourselves off through war or climate change or whatever, I believe we will colonize Mars at some point.
Frankly, I think it would be better to set up a colony on the Moon first. While conditions are very different from Mars, it would be a good starting point, and it would be far easier to deal with, say, supply problems for a permanent moonbase.
Well, yeah. That's pretty much a given. I mean, a stopwatch app shouldn't need access to my location data and whatnot, but it does. I use stopwatch as an example, because that's about the only app besides a timecard app that I've installed on my phone. I have thus far, resisted putting any games on my phone.
I'm not a millennial, but certain types of apps that don't ship with the phone, honestly should be free.
I mean, unless it's some serious extra functionality, who the hell is going to pay for a stopwatch/timer app? Or a calendar reminder? (Again, assuming they don't ship with the phone to begin with.)
There is money to be made in micro-payment/freemium apps and games, and that seems to be, if not a growing market, at least a stable one.
Slashdot Mirror
An online friend of mine was doing book editing work for a "customer from hell", who kept demanding change after change after change, and when they finally told the CFH that they could no longer work with/for them, the CFH did chargebacks on all the payments they had done through PayPal.
PayPal was of no help whatsoever in the situation.
I have to say, I'm not a gun nut by any possible stretch of the imagination, and I'm glad the bill that would restrict firearms purchases for people on the no-fly list got blocked.
It would have been declared unconstitutional so fast, it wouldn't even be funny. Mind you, the fact that a bill is clearly unconstitutional on it's face has never really stopped a fair number of Congresscritters (or state legislators) from trying to pass bills.
What? You mean politicians are trying to pass/block laws that wouldn't really affect anything? Merely for soundbites? DURING AN ELECTION YEAR?
OH. MY. GOD.
You might not have noticed, but all four gun control bills that came up yesterday in the Senate were blocked.
And we all know that the authorities would never abuse civil forfeiture laws at all, except for all the times that they have.
This concerns taxing individuals, not corporations. There are already plenty of tax loopholes for corporations anyway. See the nonsense where GE paid $0 in income tax.
Furthermore, if your business is only pulling in $151K a year, and your employee expenses are $150K, not counting things like rent/lease, utilities, equipment, and so forth, you're probably screwed anyway. But you're not clear on whether that $151K is gross or profit.
Actually, it depends on how they earn that money. Capital gains are taxed much lower than income from a salary. And deductions can be abused in all kinds of ways. Just look at some of the shit the Walton family (owners of Wal-mart) do. Not strictly speaking, illegal, but they use a bunch of foundations to avoid paying estate taxes and gift taxes.
As for welfare, a lot less of the federal budget is spent on it than most people think. A far higher percentage is used for military spending, which leads to things like the F-35 boondoggle (over 1.5 TRILLION spent thus far on the program).
I'm all for this.
But why stop at drug testing?
If you want to be on certain committees, you have to pass a test of some sort, so we can get rid of the thundering idiots who think science is of the devil, yet sit on one of the science-based committees. Or if you want to be on one of the finance committees, you have to at least show basic understanding of economics.
So, you missed the part where it would only kick in if you had itemized deductions over $150,000?
If they don't want to be drug tested, don't claim the deductions.
Trump is a big fan of Putin, that's why.
Also, he's expressed admiration towards Kim Jong-Un.
Kind of wacky how a guy who wants to be "the leader of the free world" loves him some authoritarian dictators....
Yeah, where's Tailgunner Joe when we need him? Oh wait, he's dead, and he was pretty much a clinical study of paranoia, seeing Communists behind everything.
Let's go back to those days, I'm sure nothing could possibly go wrong that didn't already go wrong.
Yeah, I'm not exactly sure what Assange is thinking here. I mean, maybe he's still thinking "Information wants to be free", or some similar credo, but he clearly hasn't thought this through.
Trump is not the kind of person who is likely to be grateful for this sort of thing, because Wikileaks is just the type of organization that would look at Trump as an equally valid target. Furthermore, Trump's incendiary rhetoric on "making America great again", isn't conducive to giving a Assange a pat on the back for the black eye or two that Wikileaks has already given the U.S.
I won't say you're wrong... because you're not. In the Engineering program at the university I went to, EE 221 was required for _ALL_ Engineering majors.
At the main campus (this was a university with 'satellite' campuses), it was taught in a huge lecture hall, 200+ students in there per class session, and if you fell behind, you were left behind. Roughly 15% of the class dropped it by the final drop/add day (either to take it next semester, or they would outright change majors), and roughly another 15% failed the class.
I got lucky enough to take it at one of the satellite campuses, with (at the time) the only Engineering professor at this university system who wasn't at the main campus. (Not kidding. If you were taking an Engineering class at any of the satellite campuses, it was a remote learning/professor on tape/whatever class.)
Instead of 200+ students in a lecture hall, we had 30 or so students. A third of the class got A's, and we were using the harder version of the textbook.
You may be missing the point. Congress' requirements for the USPS pensions require that the pensions are supposed to be funded for employees who haven't even been hired yet.
I believe the longest employment length requirement to get a pension from the USPS (not the only one, just the longest) is 30 years. That means that someone who won't be hired by the USPS until the year 2061, in theory, already has their pension funded.
Yes, from a certain point of view, it is admirable in forethought. But to look at it another way, it's an asinine requirement that is designed to break the USPS.
IANAL, but I would assume that it would have to be sent via registered mail (or similar mechanism). Otherwise, how can you possibly prove that they got it and then ignored it?
If he gets ruled as a vexatious litigant, they basically have to get a judge to sign off on every lawsuit they bring before it can go court. Which can end up making more work for whatever judge or judges get saddled with reading through that sort of nonsense....
Well, that assumes that Kim Jong Un is fairly stable, now doesn't it? I mean, okay, just because he is "Dear Leader" (or whatever the hell they call him) and has this cult of personality built up around himself and his family (well, his father and grandfather) doesn't mean he's as crazy as a shithouse rat, but let's consider something.
He's probably not used to being told "We can't do that." or "No." or anything like that. I mean, yeah, he has no problem having relations executed for getting in his way, but given how little information actually gets out of NK, we have no idea if he's foolish enough to execute scientists and engineers who fail to meet unrealistic/impossible expectations.
Yeah, there are almost certainly people in the NK leadership feeding him the rosy version of events concerning these failed missile launches, but they can only sugarcoat it so many times before he's going to realize something is up, if he hasn't already.
Or hell, maybe he's too busy enjoying the big fish in his little pond to really care.
If we don't pay attention to politics (and oftentimes, even if we do), thundering idiots who don't have the slightest understanding of science, technology and so forth get elected. And proceed to use that lack of understanding like it was something to be proud of when they pass laws.
You get idiots in Congress who don't know the difference between weather and climate, or claim that we don't have to worry about rising sea levels in coastal areas because "God promised he would never flood the earth again".
We get politicians who want "small government", unless it involves regulations on your genitals, which they seem inordinately fond of passing.
We get ones who can't even understand email regulating the Internet, ones who aren't doctors regulating medical procedures, and so on. People passing laws based on their religious beliefs and then getting a case of chapped ass if anyone dares compare it to Sharia law.
If we don't pay attention to it, it just gets worse.
Please. He's clearly the Fabricator-General of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
We don't know that yet. Yes, someone who stays on Mars for a substantial amount of time will have physiological changes in response to the lower gravity, similar to what the astronauts who are on the ISS go through in micro-gravity.
But those ISS personnel are up there for months at a stretch, and it didn't automatically kill them. (To note, Scott Kelly was up there for almost a full year, and he's been back on Earth since March 1st. We're still studying the effects on his health.
Are there physiological changes due to differences in gravity? Yes. Can they be ameliorated? To an extent. Can they be ignored. No. Are they automatically fatal? No.
Now, clearly, if someone lives on Mars (or the Moon) for years, well, they longer they live there, the less likely they're going to be able to return to Earth due to those changes.
No, it's not a solved set of problems yet. But that's a far cry from just flat out saying they're an unsolvable set of problems.
Motor voter laws don't mandate that you vote. They either offer the opportunity to register to vote when you apply for/renew your DL, or (in some states) automatically register people to vote. They don't require that you actually vote, and normal restrictions on voter registration still apply. (If you're too young, or have lost the right to vote.)
Mars is inherently inimical to human life. We get it. However, it is not outside the realm of possibility that we could develop technologies that would allow us to live on Mars.
Is it going to happen in ten years? No, frankly, I think Musk is selling a bit of a bill of goods on this one. But assuming we don't kill ourselves off through war or climate change or whatever, I believe we will colonize Mars at some point.
Frankly, I think it would be better to set up a colony on the Moon first. While conditions are very different from Mars, it would be a good starting point, and it would be far easier to deal with, say, supply problems for a permanent moonbase.
So.... we should only send evangelical Christians?
Well, yeah. That's pretty much a given. I mean, a stopwatch app shouldn't need access to my location data and whatnot, but it does. I use stopwatch as an example, because that's about the only app besides a timecard app that I've installed on my phone. I have thus far, resisted putting any games on my phone.
I'm not a millennial, but certain types of apps that don't ship with the phone, honestly should be free.
I mean, unless it's some serious extra functionality, who the hell is going to pay for a stopwatch/timer app? Or a calendar reminder? (Again, assuming they don't ship with the phone to begin with.)
There is money to be made in micro-payment/freemium apps and games, and that seems to be, if not a growing market, at least a stable one.