Everybody has to make devices that use the same spectrum, meaning everybody wants to make devices that utilize that spectrum for the sake of cross-compatibility. This would be a non-issue were it not for 99% of home wireless networking hardware supporting b/g exclusively.
I'm looking forward to the IEEE finalizing 802.11n if for no other reason than because I'll finally be able to get 5 GHz access points without paying through the nose for office equipment.
"One of my housemates has a Vista laptop, but doesn't own a printer. "
Instead of just repeating the "It's not Vista, it's Acrobat" that you're getting bombarded with, I'll just ask why you didn't just share your printer over the network.
All Texans are responsible for paying occasional use tax when they buy taxable goods and services for use in Texas and the seller does not charge Texas sales tax, or does not charge the correct amount of Texas sales tax. Use tax is reported and paid directly to the Texas Comptroller's office.
"Last I paid attention, the rules were the same as mail order,"
Exactly.
"that is if they had a physical presence in the state, the purchase was taxable,"
If they have a physical presence in the state, they are obliged to collect the tax from you at purchase. Absent that, you as the purchaser are obligated to pay it to the state.
"Perhaps you live in one of the places with a "use tax.""
Unless you live in a state that doesn't have sales tax, you also are obliged to pay use tax.
"Well, banking by mail usually includes use of ATMs for cash."
Cash deposits at ATMs are only possible if your bank operates the ATM.
"As such, the deposits would be handled by electronic deposits you mention and withdrawls would be at ATMs."
It is possible to receive both an electronic paycheck as well as cash, e. g. tips.
"And you are arguing that buying points for a game system is not entertainment?"
It's not a monthly subscription. Read what you quoted. But even then, prepaid cards for Xbox Live Gold subscriptions are also available.
"What does being paid in cash have to do with anything?"
It means that online purchases made with it require that I deposit it into my bank first.
"If you'd stop committing tax fraud, your problems would be fewer."
The ability to buy a prepaid card allows sales tax to be collected on the purchase, rather than burdening an honest person with the paperwork of paying the use tax required for online purchases.
"the only reason you would think that is beacause you are averse to having any relationship with a regulated financial institution."
Never heard of banking by mail? In order to deposit cash with my financial institution, I'd have to purchase a money order. Instead, I use the electronic deposits into my checking account almost exclusively to pay bills, while the cash I earn is used for discretionary spending on toys and such. Keeping the two funds segregated like that helps keep me budgeted and prevents me from racking up debt on my credit card. About the only time I use plastic to pay for entertainment is for subscription-based services.
Of course, this is all moot because I have yet to see anything on the PlayStation Store I'd like to purchase anyway; the possible exception is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but I already have that on my Xbox 360, paid for with a prepaid card that I bought with cash.
This is a problem I've never had with either the Xbox 360 or the Wii: I buy prepaid points cards. No such personal information required to begin with.
I'm disappointed that I still can't do something similar with the PlayStation 3. Sony seems incapable of understanding that some of us are still paid in cash.
"Ask your postal worker what they deliver more of, First-Class mail, or "bulk mail"... "
How often do you get first class mail? How often do you send it? Without standard mail, would said letter carrier have a reason to even be out there on a daily basis? What about weekly?
People sending standard mail have financial incentives to automate the heck out of their mail (presortation, address verification, barcoding, etc.). Single-piece first class mail doesn't even require a ZIP code while carrying a greater legal obligation to deliver. Which is more expensive to implement, barcode scanners or OCR? Is OCR as accurate as barcode scanners, especially with handwriting?
So what's subsidizing what now? If you were to specify presorted first class, then yes, I'd agree the USPS is making a killing delivering your bills to you. But without standard mail, I doubt anybody would have curbside service at all, at least not without paying Express Mail rates.
"you will see in their expressions the real answer to why we see the frequent postage rate hikes. "
A letter from Miami to Anchorage (or San Juan to Pago Pago, for that matter) costs $0.41 to send. The same letter from Halifax to Vancouver is $0.52. $0.69 for Aberdeen to Plymouth. $0.72 in Japan, $0.73 in France, $0.80 in Germany, $0.88 in Italy.
I can't really complain.
"Shape and size of mail DOES have much to do with the *costs* and efficiencies in the delivering of the US Mail. I only wish the prices for mailing were adjusted accordingly"
For first class, they have been since May, which is where the non-machinable surcharge in TFA came from.
"i knew people would start giving their very exaggerated, very uninformed, superficial analysis of his beliefs."
As opposed to his supporters very exaggerated, very uninformed, superficial analysis of reality?
"i don't see why it should matter to anyone that he doesn't have as many supporters as other candidates."
They don't call it an election for nothing.
"can anyone provide a more in-depth analysis of his beliefs?"
Take Article I, rip out the General Welfare Clause, and pretend that Section 10 applies to the federal government as well as (if not "instead of") the states.
"This has cost the USPS an extra 42 million dollars over the last two years and they're just complaining about the floppy edges now?"
No, they compensated by adjusting their postage rates to include the new $0.17 non-machinable surcharge on 1 oz first class envelopes back in the last rate hike. Bumping the price of a stamp up to $0.41 wasn't all they did, just all that most people noticed.
"It seems odd that this wasn't brought up a long time ago considering Netflix relies on the USPS for distribution and not keeping them happy means not keeping their customers happy."
Each empty envelope sent by Netflix with (newly) insufficient postage will eventually be filled and sent back, with all the extra fees for added weight and reply mail associated with it. The Postal Service could afford to rest on their laurels for a time.
"Most rational people wouldn't elect someone to public office who openly claims to psychically commune with an imaginary friend when he needs guidance on making a decision."
A truly rational person would vote for the candidate best able to bring about their desired results regardless, more interested in the candidate's deeds and policies than their personal beliefs. Anything less would be to exclude a candidate based on your personal emotional comfort rather than logic.
The important thing isn't whether a candidate has an imaginary friend, but whether you agree with the imaginary friend.
"[There] is no place for religion in modern society."
So anybody who does not adhere to the One True Belief should be set upon? Or does your fervent belief excuse you to use the same rhetoric and tactics that cause you to cry foul when used against you?
I'm beginning to think the proof that atheism is a sort of religious belief lies in the similarity of the fervent believers, for whom a religious zeal for irreligion isn't an oxymoron.
"It's the Atheists (...) suffered horribly down the ages at the hands of the True Believers"
Uh... not really. Atheists, being atheists, don't have a divine proscription against going through the motions. There's no divine retribution waiting for you if you attend a religious service in spite of your atheistic beliefs, nor are they required to proselytize about their beliefs to others. To be punished as such, you had to not only be an atheist, but also insist on speaking out about the subject, and if you're knowingly risking unmentionable badness by doing so, that would seem to fail your intelligence test as well.
Jews can't pretend to be Christian (or vice versa), in spite of torture, because God said so. Protestants can't pretend to be Catholic (or vice versa), in spite of torture, because God said so. What's pushing an atheist to not keep their head down and their mouth shut?
Or are you not a true believer of atheism unless you've been properly tested, and are required by atheism to get into everybody's face and insist they believe as you do? Proselytizing and martyrdom... hmmm, sounds familiar...
If the average person cared about religious beliefs (or fervent lack thereof) in themselves and in those around them as much as you seem to believe, if there were really so many "True Believers," then all those things that religions proscribe (e. g. fornication) would have been eliminated entirely long ago, until re-introduced by godlesss heathens in the 1960's or so. This means that evangelical atheists would be playing right into the hands of evangelical Christians and their ilk, who insist that "things were better before."
If you're going to be using the rationale of "Treat our prisoners well so that our soldiers are treated well if captured," you have to look at what really happens to US soldiers when captured, and who it is the US is fighting against and most likely to capture US soldiers. As it stands, those captured alive are tortured and paraded around before and during their eventual execution, well beyond what happens to those in Guantanamo.
If you want to argue that the US should not use such tactics in absolute terms, go for it. But as soon as someone makes the relative argument that "We need to treat prisoners well so they will too" (as the parent poster did), you have to look at the real world "they," and not some hypothetical.
"This also applies to torture and other interogation techniques like "water boarding" for captured soldiers. In the future our military personal should expect to have the same treatment that we are giving others with water boarding, etc."
As opposed to being videotaped as they get their head sawed off?
"What is relevant is how it was handled by the authoritative figures and in this case it was handled poorly."
I know, they released them back onto the street where they can continue to buy my personal information, jam my telephone, clog my mailbox, and harass me with dancing aliens to try to sell me life insurance/mortgages/penis pills I don't want. A pity.
"Nuclear power plants cost ridiculous amounts to construct and operate. Lifetime cost per kwh, including amortized construction, fuel, maintenance, etc, for nuclear is approximately double that of a fossil fuel plant (coal or natural gas)."
Because you don't have to deal with paying for waste processing if you just dump all your waste up the stack, which is how we've gotten into our current predicament to begin with.
Really, that's all I could possibly want. I've got a Vista, an XP and a 2k box, and I have to say that that also happens to be the order that they give me headaches in, from most to least. In fact, it had been a while since I touched my 2k box, and upon recently turning it on I was surprised at how fast and smoothly it worked compared to XP; I had gotten used to the crippling XP bloat in the meantime and had forgotten the advantages.
Vista, on the other hand, actually introduces driver problems when I try to install it on the XP box, whether as a clean install or an upgrade. USB ports that worked fine stop functioning, and two television tuners magically turn into one.
Forget the bells and whistles. For a brief, brilliant instant, everything fell into place and worked as it was supposed to. But then XP and new versions of WMP came out and it seems to have gone downhill since. Heck, I'm finding myself wondering of NT4 gave me as many issues, was as finicky as Vista.
"Whenever the government does something, it will be more expensive, less efficient, and less effective than if the same thing were done by private citizens or business."
And how, praytell, do you think an up-and-coming cable company is going to get into the business without eminent domain? You don't just need your customer's permission to dig up their property and lay their cable, but also each and every property owner between your customer and your distribution center. All it takes is for one to say "no" or at least charge the company more than the customer is willing to bear for the right to cross that property for the whole thing to fall through.
Slashdot Mirror
Everybody has to make devices that use the same spectrum, meaning everybody wants to make devices that utilize that spectrum for the sake of cross-compatibility. This would be a non-issue were it not for 99% of home wireless networking hardware supporting b/g exclusively.
I'm looking forward to the IEEE finalizing 802.11n if for no other reason than because I'll finally be able to get 5 GHz access points without paying through the nose for office equipment.
"One of my housemates has a Vista laptop, but doesn't own a printer. "
Instead of just repeating the "It's not Vista, it's Acrobat" that you're getting bombarded with, I'll just ask why you didn't just share your printer over the network.
Try again.
"You are required to pay taxes for online purchases?"
Yes.
"Last I paid attention, the rules were the same as mail order,"
Exactly.
"that is if they had a physical presence in the state, the purchase was taxable,"
If they have a physical presence in the state, they are obliged to collect the tax from you at purchase. Absent that, you as the purchaser are obligated to pay it to the state.
"Perhaps you live in one of the places with a "use tax.""
Unless you live in a state that doesn't have sales tax, you also are obliged to pay use tax.
"Well, banking by mail usually includes use of ATMs for cash."
Cash deposits at ATMs are only possible if your bank operates the ATM.
"As such, the deposits would be handled by electronic deposits you mention and withdrawls would be at ATMs."
It is possible to receive both an electronic paycheck as well as cash, e. g. tips.
"And you are arguing that buying points for a game system is not entertainment?"
It's not a monthly subscription. Read what you quoted. But even then, prepaid cards for Xbox Live Gold subscriptions are also available.
"What does being paid in cash have to do with anything?"
It means that online purchases made with it require that I deposit it into my bank first.
"If you'd stop committing tax fraud, your problems would be fewer."
The ability to buy a prepaid card allows sales tax to be collected on the purchase, rather than burdening an honest person with the paperwork of paying the use tax required for online purchases.
"the only reason you would think that is beacause you are averse to having any relationship with a regulated financial institution."
Never heard of banking by mail? In order to deposit cash with my financial institution, I'd have to purchase a money order. Instead, I use the electronic deposits into my checking account almost exclusively to pay bills, while the cash I earn is used for discretionary spending on toys and such. Keeping the two funds segregated like that helps keep me budgeted and prevents me from racking up debt on my credit card. About the only time I use plastic to pay for entertainment is for subscription-based services.
Of course, this is all moot because I have yet to see anything on the PlayStation Store I'd like to purchase anyway; the possible exception is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, but I already have that on my Xbox 360, paid for with a prepaid card that I bought with cash.
This is a problem I've never had with either the Xbox 360 or the Wii: I buy prepaid points cards. No such personal information required to begin with.
I'm disappointed that I still can't do something similar with the PlayStation 3. Sony seems incapable of understanding that some of us are still paid in cash.
"Ask your postal worker what they deliver more of, First-Class mail, or "bulk mail"... "
How often do you get first class mail? How often do you send it? Without standard mail, would said letter carrier have a reason to even be out there on a daily basis? What about weekly?
People sending standard mail have financial incentives to automate the heck out of their mail (presortation, address verification, barcoding, etc.). Single-piece first class mail doesn't even require a ZIP code while carrying a greater legal obligation to deliver. Which is more expensive to implement, barcode scanners or OCR? Is OCR as accurate as barcode scanners, especially with handwriting?
So what's subsidizing what now? If you were to specify presorted first class, then yes, I'd agree the USPS is making a killing delivering your bills to you. But without standard mail, I doubt anybody would have curbside service at all, at least not without paying Express Mail rates.
"you will see in their expressions the real answer to why we see the frequent postage rate hikes. "
A letter from Miami to Anchorage (or San Juan to Pago Pago, for that matter) costs $0.41 to send. The same letter from Halifax to Vancouver is $0.52. $0.69 for Aberdeen to Plymouth. $0.72 in Japan, $0.73 in France, $0.80 in Germany, $0.88 in Italy.
I can't really complain.
"Shape and size of mail DOES have much to do with the *costs* and efficiencies in the delivering of the US Mail. I only wish the prices for mailing were adjusted accordingly"
For first class, they have been since May, which is where the non-machinable surcharge in TFA came from.
"i knew people would start giving their very exaggerated, very uninformed, superficial analysis of his beliefs."
As opposed to his supporters very exaggerated, very uninformed, superficial analysis of reality?
"i don't see why it should matter to anyone that he doesn't have as many supporters as other candidates."
They don't call it an election for nothing.
"can anyone provide a more in-depth analysis of his beliefs?"
Take Article I, rip out the General Welfare Clause, and pretend that Section 10 applies to the federal government as well as (if not "instead of") the states.
Remove Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment.
That's really about it.
"This has cost the USPS an extra 42 million dollars over the last two years and they're just complaining about the floppy edges now?"
No, they compensated by adjusting their postage rates to include the new $0.17 non-machinable surcharge on 1 oz first class envelopes back in the last rate hike. Bumping the price of a stamp up to $0.41 wasn't all they did, just all that most people noticed.
"It seems odd that this wasn't brought up a long time ago considering Netflix relies on the USPS for distribution and not keeping them happy means not keeping their customers happy."
Each empty envelope sent by Netflix with (newly) insufficient postage will eventually be filled and sent back, with all the extra fees for added weight and reply mail associated with it. The Postal Service could afford to rest on their laurels for a time.
So you choose to quibble over esoteric issues of language rather than comment on your hardline stance against those who do not share your views?
"I hate people that think you must be religious to have morals,"
What do morals have to do with it?
"Most rational people wouldn't elect someone to public office who openly claims to psychically commune with an imaginary friend when he needs guidance on making a decision."
A truly rational person would vote for the candidate best able to bring about their desired results regardless, more interested in the candidate's deeds and policies than their personal beliefs. Anything less would be to exclude a candidate based on your personal emotional comfort rather than logic.
The important thing isn't whether a candidate has an imaginary friend, but whether you agree with the imaginary friend.
"[There] is no place for religion in modern society."
So anybody who does not adhere to the One True Belief should be set upon? Or does your fervent belief excuse you to use the same rhetoric and tactics that cause you to cry foul when used against you?
I'm beginning to think the proof that atheism is a sort of religious belief lies in the similarity of the fervent believers, for whom a religious zeal for irreligion isn't an oxymoron.
"as much sense as believing in centimetres but not believing in kilometres."
My Korean car requires sockets measured in millimeters but the odometer measures miles! Kilometers are a dirty lie perpetrated by godless communists!
"It's the Atheists (...) suffered horribly down the ages at the hands of the True Believers"
Uh... not really. Atheists, being atheists, don't have a divine proscription against going through the motions. There's no divine retribution waiting for you if you attend a religious service in spite of your atheistic beliefs, nor are they required to proselytize about their beliefs to others. To be punished as such, you had to not only be an atheist, but also insist on speaking out about the subject, and if you're knowingly risking unmentionable badness by doing so, that would seem to fail your intelligence test as well.
Jews can't pretend to be Christian (or vice versa), in spite of torture, because God said so. Protestants can't pretend to be Catholic (or vice versa), in spite of torture, because God said so. What's pushing an atheist to not keep their head down and their mouth shut?
Or are you not a true believer of atheism unless you've been properly tested, and are required by atheism to get into everybody's face and insist they believe as you do? Proselytizing and martyrdom... hmmm, sounds familiar...
If the average person cared about religious beliefs (or fervent lack thereof) in themselves and in those around them as much as you seem to believe, if there were really so many "True Believers," then all those things that religions proscribe (e. g. fornication) would have been eliminated entirely long ago, until re-introduced by godlesss heathens in the 1960's or so. This means that evangelical atheists would be playing right into the hands of evangelical Christians and their ilk, who insist that "things were better before."
"I admire his intentions, but he needs to partner with a like-minded lawyer,"
I don't know about Washington, but some states disallow lawyers in small claims court.
"You're comparing an unaffiliated lone terrorist"
If you're going to be using the rationale of "Treat our prisoners well so that our soldiers are treated well if captured," you have to look at what really happens to US soldiers when captured, and who it is the US is fighting against and most likely to capture US soldiers. As it stands, those captured alive are tortured and paraded around before and during their eventual execution, well beyond what happens to those in Guantanamo.
If you want to argue that the US should not use such tactics in absolute terms, go for it. But as soon as someone makes the relative argument that "We need to treat prisoners well so they will too" (as the parent poster did), you have to look at the real world "they," and not some hypothetical.
"This also applies to torture and other interogation techniques like "water boarding" for captured soldiers. In the future our military personal should expect to have the same treatment that we are giving others with water boarding, etc."
As opposed to being videotaped as they get their head sawed off?
"What is relevant is how it was handled by the authoritative figures and in this case it was handled poorly."
I know, they released them back onto the street where they can continue to buy my personal information, jam my telephone, clog my mailbox, and harass me with dancing aliens to try to sell me life insurance/mortgages/penis pills I don't want. A pity.
On the one hand, the police went overboard. On the other, I'm not going to shed a tear for an advertiser.
Dear aunt, let's so double the killer delete select all.
"Nuclear power plants cost ridiculous amounts to construct and operate. Lifetime cost per kwh, including amortized construction, fuel, maintenance, etc, for nuclear is approximately double that of a fossil fuel plant (coal or natural gas)."
Because you don't have to deal with paying for waste processing if you just dump all your waste up the stack, which is how we've gotten into our current predicament to begin with.
More service packs for Windows 2000.
Really, that's all I could possibly want. I've got a Vista, an XP and a 2k box, and I have to say that that also happens to be the order that they give me headaches in, from most to least. In fact, it had been a while since I touched my 2k box, and upon recently turning it on I was surprised at how fast and smoothly it worked compared to XP; I had gotten used to the crippling XP bloat in the meantime and had forgotten the advantages.
Vista, on the other hand, actually introduces driver problems when I try to install it on the XP box, whether as a clean install or an upgrade. USB ports that worked fine stop functioning, and two television tuners magically turn into one.
Forget the bells and whistles. For a brief, brilliant instant, everything fell into place and worked as it was supposed to. But then XP and new versions of WMP came out and it seems to have gone downhill since. Heck, I'm finding myself wondering of NT4 gave me as many issues, was as finicky as Vista.
"Whenever the government does something, it will be more expensive, less efficient, and less effective than if the same thing were done by private citizens or business."
And how, praytell, do you think an up-and-coming cable company is going to get into the business without eminent domain? You don't just need your customer's permission to dig up their property and lay their cable, but also each and every property owner between your customer and your distribution center. All it takes is for one to say "no" or at least charge the company more than the customer is willing to bear for the right to cross that property for the whole thing to fall through.
If Microsoft is the defendant, then the plaintiff is standing up to defend against "embrace and extend," but if it's Google, they're patent trolls!