Here in MN, if you're paying 50% taxes, you're making $150,000 per year (and we have high income taxes).
Here in Belgium, if you're paying 50% taxes, you're making EUR 29,260 ($33,420 today) per year (and I'm not even going to comment on the meaning of "high income taxes").
The idea is not that lie detectors tell the truth. The idea is that you tell the truth if you are connected to a lie detector. It doesn't matter what that thing does at that time, it doesn't even need to be connected to any power source.
(I've NEVER had to pay duty or VAT on any imports)
Lucky you - last time I bought something from the states I got hit with Import Duty, Import Tax, and an additional fee from the shipping company for paying it on my behalf. The effective price of the item was doubled, and I've never ordered anything from America since.
Import duties, taxes, and other sundry charges suck.
Oh - and note from the article:
On July 1, the 15-nation EU will begin collecting the VAT, or value-added tax, on sales of digital goods and other electronic transactions from U.S.
So it's only digital goods and electronic transactions that are covered by this policy, things like subscriptions to sites (Slashdot subscriptions?) and electronic services if I understand it correctly. So physical goods will still be VAT taxed on import.
Please explain how this problem would have been averted by allowing the divers that use these devices to look at the embedded software.
Well I think that when the managers first raised the issue that there was a problem with the device it could have been checked and verified by a neutral party. Instead the company just said they were making up stories to drag the company down after they were fired...
If the problem could have been proven to exist then the company may have been forced to recall the product earlier, and less people would have needed to have their lives put at risk.
Any dick-sucking mouth-breathing fag-feltching loser can come in here and talk shit as an AC - either fucking contribute to the discussion or shut your face you choad swallowing pile of intestinal feces or I'll rip your bowels out and feast on them, then I'll impregnate your girlfriend and wait 7 months then unwravel her belly button and suck out all the vaginal discharge and feast upon the baby. I will fornicate your liver, then make you guzzle gallon after gallon of putrid diarrhea. You will gag on my green logs of asshole mud butter.
There should be a Flamebait +1 moderation - I am impressed. That was done with style sir...
-- Pete.
Re:The ./ obsession with a cashless society?
on
The Future of Money
·
· Score: 1
Tell me about it - the day pubs, bars, and clubs start accepting proton is the day I totally stop needing to carry cash...
It sounds like the poster was hoping for some clever (and free) technical fix from the nice open source people.
IANANOSP.
"News for Nerds. Stuff that matters."
Nope - no mention there about Slashdot being entirely composed of Open Source fanatics... I think it was a valid question, and I am intrigued as to why you bothered clicking on the story if you had this little interest in the content?!
Often a story may seem like a cut and dried "ask a lawyer" question, but I often check the comments, just in case there's something exceptionally insightful, or to see if someone else has experienced such a situation, and has useful information to share before the lawyer route is taken.
I'm assuming your post was intended as a troll. Odd that you buried it so deep in the comments...
What is the obsession some people have with the dry day-to-day process of film making?
Well I think it's very interesting, it's the equivalent of a copy of 1984 that I saw (and would have bought if I had the cash at the time), which was basically a copy of the original manuscripts, with the author's and editor's comments scribbled all over them.
When there's really a work of art that fascinates you, don't you feel an urge to know what went into putting it together?
This is something that I immediately though of to be honest. I'm pretty "normal", but I have a slightly weak tendon in one of my little fingers (after breaking it at school when I was a kid) which means I am unable to totally straighten it. Normally in day-to-day life this wouldn't make a difference, but if hardware started coming out that assumes that you have a perfect standard body with perfect standard fingers then I'd be unable to use it.
It's already bad enough that it put me off learning to touch-type, simple because I couldn't stretch that finger out to the top row... Not that I don't achive a reasonable typing speed with my "random" finger positions anyway...:)
From my experience you can get very good news from the BBC.
They have a very international focus, as opposed to many news shows that are heavily-biased towards their country of origin.
I always knew the BBC were competent, but I was pretty impressed when I recently stumbled on some of the really serious side of the business - http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk/
It makes me realise just how much the BBC is one hell of a news machine, and it seems to be without most of the bias that I notice on other news sites...
Drifting a little off-topic I know, but someone out there might find the link interesting...:)
Office work requires more than you'd think. Sure, you can quit outlook, start excel and four different accounting packages which you need for reference, go to lunch, come back and hope they're done loading, but one might just install a little more ram, too.
Now this is insightful - I'm a manager, I don't code, I don't do graphics and things, I do need a more powerful PC. I have a PII 350 with 128MB RAM running Win2K, all well and good until I find that I have to have 3 or 4 IE windows, 2 spreadsheets, a word document, a hefty reporting tool, an incident reporting tool, and of course outlook open at the same time. Ouch.
I actually think that the developers have the lowest requirements in the company - all their development is being done on servers rather than on their local workstations which act as glorified terminals that happen to run Outlook and a couple of other trivial programs as well. They need a decent monitor far more than a top of the range PC.
has any one tried those 'e-book' readers? are they easy on the eyes? is there enough material for it yet?
I dunno - is this enough material? Over 7500 free ebooks, and that's just one site. There are plenty of more modern pay e-books out there as well if you look...
Anwyay, before we try to make 3D representations of objects in the air we should try to make them in 2D reliably. We had to learn to walk before we ran, now didn't we?
I think you could call a device to create a 2D image in the air reliably a "projector"?;)
-- Pete.
Re:currency tracking hardly needs rfids
on
Greenbacks No More
·
· Score: 2
Well the technology isn't yet being used for the net, but I should think they're planning on it, it seems like the perfect alternative to stuff like Pay Pal.
There is no real security to actually use the cards, when a payment is made, the card is put into a reader, the shopkeeper types in the amount, and then the card-owner just presses "OK" to confirm. The transactions are usually so small, that any authentication process would cost far more than it's worth, so the card really is like cash. Generally people only keep as much cash on the card as they feel they are likely to need - I can't be bothered to charge it, and I trust myself not to lose it, so I usually just charge it to the maximum (125 Euros), and spend until I'm down to my last 10 Euros or so before recharging.
As for not leaving tracks, I don't know exactly how bad it is, but I have heard that it is possible to recover the cash from the bank if the chip gets damaged etc, but it's a long process. If this is true, then it means that all transactions must be tracable for the bank to be able to find exactly how much was left on the damaged card.
I personally don't have a problem with this, as I very much doubt there are any agencies out there that are really all that curious about how much I spent for lunch - or whether I've dropped by the newsagent today. I really don't think it's the kind of technology that people will be making any types of suspicious transactions with, due to the low amounts involved.
-- Pete.
Re:currency tracking hardly needs rfids
on
Greenbacks No More
·
· Score: 2
It's definitely time for a good smart-card based cash system. We need a good incentive for people to get smart card readers on their computers and then someone can start up a Paypal-esque system to use them...
I live in Brussels, and we have "Proton" (PDF link) here. It's electronic cash, and I can charge it at my bank, and if I get an appropriate telephone terminal, then I can charge the card with money at home!
As a result, I can leave home in the morning, buy a newspaper, go to work, buy a Coke from a vending machine, buy my lunch, and then do my grocery shopping on the way home, all without handling even a single cent of physical cash.
Electronic cash is the true way forward - I'm just waiting for bars and cafes to adopt Proton, then I'll almost never need to carry real metal or paper money around at all.
I have two phones, and between them they are everything I need. When I'm working, I carry a Nokia 9210, and when I'm out chilling with friends or clubbing, I carry a Sony Ericsson T66.
The 9210 is a real powerhouse of a phone, with a word processor, spreadsheet, internet access, excellent messaging facilities, massive contact database, etc - but it's a bit much to carry around. The T66 is tiny, and yet fully functional as a phone - it weighs in at around 60g (2oz).
I have all but given up on finding the perfect phone for all occasions, I listed what I thought might be my perfect PDA on slashdot a while back, but I can't see it happening any time soon. The only solution to me is to vary my device depending on the circumstances - each device does what it's designed for very well indeed, but one device trying to do everything invariably fails completely.
Erm - why not just carry a spare key in your wallet instead?
(assuming of course you don't have a bunch of doors you're responsible for instead of just the one...)
...Doh - just as I was typing this, I had a bit of an idea...you lose your wallet, someone finds it, and knows who you are - and probably where you live without too much additional difficulty...and now they have a key. A lockpick would make things ever so slightly more difficult for them, so it might be a valid alternative.
I just tried it, and the standard reply kept breaking up on me - I cannot beleive we've just slashdotted the auto-response for this telephone number!:)
Slashdot Mirror
Almost. (400 MHz for the new Palm T3)
-- Pete.
Here in Belgium, if you're paying 50% taxes, you're making EUR 29,260 ($33,420 today) per year (and I'm not even going to comment on the meaning of "high income taxes").
-- Pete.
As seen in this urban legend? :)
-- Pete.
I was thinking more along the lines of an uptime joke myself...
-- Pete.
Well - wouldn't YOU sleep badly under these conditions?!
-- Pete.
Lucky you - last time I bought something from the states I got hit with Import Duty, Import Tax, and an additional fee from the shipping company for paying it on my behalf. The effective price of the item was doubled, and I've never ordered anything from America since.
Import duties, taxes, and other sundry charges suck.
Oh - and note from the article:
So it's only digital goods and electronic transactions that are covered by this policy, things like subscriptions to sites (Slashdot subscriptions?) and electronic services if I understand it correctly. So physical goods will still be VAT taxed on import.
-- Pete.
Well I think that when the managers first raised the issue that there was a problem with the device it could have been checked and verified by a neutral party. Instead the company just said they were making up stories to drag the company down after they were fired...
If the problem could have been proven to exist then the company may have been forced to recall the product earlier, and less people would have needed to have their lives put at risk.
-- Pete.
Because it's at http://games.slashdot.org/ and not on the main page?
To see all stories on the main front page, select "Collapse Sections" from the Homepage tab of your Preferences.
-- Pete.
Nah, it would suck - trust me.
My parallel self actually paid to watch it in the cinema, and he warned me off...
Worse movie...ever.
-- Pete.
There should be a Flamebait +1 moderation - I am impressed. That was done with style sir...
-- Pete.
Tell me about it - the day pubs, bars, and clubs start accepting proton is the day I totally stop needing to carry cash...
-- Pete.
IANANOSP.
"News for Nerds. Stuff that matters."
Nope - no mention there about Slashdot being entirely composed of Open Source fanatics... I think it was a valid question, and I am intrigued as to why you bothered clicking on the story if you had this little interest in the content?!
Often a story may seem like a cut and dried "ask a lawyer" question, but I often check the comments, just in case there's something exceptionally insightful, or to see if someone else has experienced such a situation, and has useful information to share before the lawyer route is taken.
I'm assuming your post was intended as a troll. Odd that you buried it so deep in the comments...
-- Pete.
Also in the news, George W Bush proposes another new protocol:
VOICBM
-- Pete.
Well I think it's very interesting, it's the equivalent of a copy of 1984 that I saw (and would have bought if I had the cash at the time), which was basically a copy of the original manuscripts, with the author's and editor's comments scribbled all over them.
When there's really a work of art that fascinates you, don't you feel an urge to know what went into putting it together?
-- Pete.
This is something that I immediately though of to be honest. I'm pretty "normal", but I have a slightly weak tendon in one of my little fingers (after breaking it at school when I was a kid) which means I am unable to totally straighten it. Normally in day-to-day life this wouldn't make a difference, but if hardware started coming out that assumes that you have a perfect standard body with perfect standard fingers then I'd be unable to use it.
It's already bad enough that it put me off learning to touch-type, simple because I couldn't stretch that finger out to the top row... Not that I don't achive a reasonable typing speed with my "random" finger positions anyway... :)
-- Pete.
Yup - I couldn't agree more, as I said in this recent comment.
-- Pete.
I always knew the BBC were competent, but I was pretty impressed when I recently stumbled on some of the really serious side of the business - http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk/
It makes me realise just how much the BBC is one hell of a news machine, and it seems to be without most of the bias that I notice on other news sites...
Drifting a little off-topic I know, but someone out there might find the link interesting... :)
-- Pete.
Now this is insightful - I'm a manager, I don't code, I don't do graphics and things, I do need a more powerful PC. I have a PII 350 with 128MB RAM running Win2K, all well and good until I find that I have to have 3 or 4 IE windows, 2 spreadsheets, a word document, a hefty reporting tool, an incident reporting tool, and of course outlook open at the same time. Ouch.
I actually think that the developers have the lowest requirements in the company - all their development is being done on servers rather than on their local workstations which act as glorified terminals that happen to run Outlook and a couple of other trivial programs as well. They need a decent monitor far more than a top of the range PC.
-- Pete.
I dunno - is this enough material? Over 7500 free ebooks, and that's just one site. There are plenty of more modern pay e-books out there as well if you look...
-- Pete.
I think you could call a device to create a 2D image in the air reliably a "projector"? ;)
-- Pete.
Well the technology isn't yet being used for the net, but I should think they're planning on it, it seems like the perfect alternative to stuff like Pay Pal.
There is no real security to actually use the cards, when a payment is made, the card is put into a reader, the shopkeeper types in the amount, and then the card-owner just presses "OK" to confirm. The transactions are usually so small, that any authentication process would cost far more than it's worth, so the card really is like cash. Generally people only keep as much cash on the card as they feel they are likely to need - I can't be bothered to charge it, and I trust myself not to lose it, so I usually just charge it to the maximum (125 Euros), and spend until I'm down to my last 10 Euros or so before recharging.
As for not leaving tracks, I don't know exactly how bad it is, but I have heard that it is possible to recover the cash from the bank if the chip gets damaged etc, but it's a long process. If this is true, then it means that all transactions must be tracable for the bank to be able to find exactly how much was left on the damaged card.
I personally don't have a problem with this, as I very much doubt there are any agencies out there that are really all that curious about how much I spent for lunch - or whether I've dropped by the newsagent today. I really don't think it's the kind of technology that people will be making any types of suspicious transactions with, due to the low amounts involved.
-- Pete.
Such as these for example?
I live in Brussels, and we have "Proton" (PDF link) here. It's electronic cash, and I can charge it at my bank, and if I get an appropriate telephone terminal, then I can charge the card with money at home!
As a result, I can leave home in the morning, buy a newspaper, go to work, buy a Coke from a vending machine, buy my lunch, and then do my grocery shopping on the way home, all without handling even a single cent of physical cash.
Electronic cash is the true way forward - I'm just waiting for bars and cafes to adopt Proton, then I'll almost never need to carry real metal or paper money around at all.
-- Pete.
I have two phones, and between them they are everything I need. When I'm working, I carry a Nokia 9210, and when I'm out chilling with friends or clubbing, I carry a Sony Ericsson T66.
The 9210 is a real powerhouse of a phone, with a word processor, spreadsheet, internet access, excellent messaging facilities, massive contact database, etc - but it's a bit much to carry around. The T66 is tiny, and yet fully functional as a phone - it weighs in at around 60g (2oz).
I have all but given up on finding the perfect phone for all occasions, I listed what I thought might be my perfect PDA on slashdot a while back, but I can't see it happening any time soon. The only solution to me is to vary my device depending on the circumstances - each device does what it's designed for very well indeed, but one device trying to do everything invariably fails completely.
-- Pete.
Erm - why not just carry a spare key in your wallet instead?
(assuming of course you don't have a bunch of doors you're responsible for instead of just the one...)
Ho hum - gonna post this anyway... :)
-- Pete.
Damn!
I just tried it, and the standard reply kept breaking up on me - I cannot beleive we've just slashdotted the auto-response for this telephone number! :)
-- Pete.