I can't imagine that any variant on the recipe is going to be considered sufficiently novel unless you wanted to start putting, I dunno, motor oil or anchovies in it.
I don't know... I think my ex-girlfriend has you on that one. I don't know if she actually used motor oil and anchovies in her cooking, but it sure as hell tasted like she did!
if someone were to do a molecular analysis of chanel 5 and determine exactly what makes it smell the way it does they could easily release a new product indistinguishable from chanel 5, and sell it for $5/bottle
That's where branding becomes so important. Good companies work hard to build and protect their brands because customers will associate the brand with the product.
You could sell your knock-off product, but there will still be plenty of people who will pay more for the *real* Chanel. They *know* they are getting a good product that way.
For some reason, something in the human psyche reacts to branding. It's probably the basis for things like patriotism, racism, jingoism and esprit de corps.
If you keep enough of it around to use as fuel for a power plant then you have a chance of the magnetic containment field failing and your facility converted to component atoms.
At least it won't have all that nasty residual radiation. Sure, there will be one big-ass hole in the ground, but I suppose we could just make a lake out of it.
I wonder if they thought of "vivis"? Kind of sounds cool... most cultures can pronounce it, and it has no tricky syllable combinations. It's evolved from something related to project, and it's easy to remember and not mix up letters from memory.
Sure, there are lots of problems in the Mideast, and the governments there play a key role in those problems. But like most Americans, you're still only looking at it from your own point of view.
Bend your mind a bit and imagine that you're an Saudi citizen that is just barely getting by. You know the royal family is oppressive and corrupt. And it's very buddy-buddy with the US Government. And you know that you can't complain because the mutaween will at least beat you if not kill you.
You hear people like Osama who tell you that your government is corrupt and that the US is behind them. It rings true enough. He tells you that the US wants to keep the corrupt and oppressive government in your country because it guarantees them cheap oil. He says that the US wants to dominate the region and points to examples such as the Iraqi sanctions and the US bases in your own country. And he says that all that money coming from the Americans who buy the cheap oil is being squandered by that family, rather than being spent on social welfare and economic development.
Now from your point of view as a Saudi, you probably don't like the US very much. You'd even feel justified in hating them because you see how they play a role in your misery. Osama says he's fighting the good fight, trying to kick the US hard enough to get them out of the Middle East, and you might even feel justified in sending some money to his cause, or even sending your son to fight in it.
I know it can be hard to make the break and see things through others eyes. So, lets come back to the US. We've been attacked by a bunch of Muslims who seem to hate us. They bombed embassies abroad, attacked a ship, and then toppled the twin towers. "They hate us because we are free", we are told. And we're afraid and angry of what they did to us and by God, we're not going to let it happen again. Our leaders tell us we need to invade Afghanistan to get those terrorists. Then they tell us we need to invade Iraq because there are terrorists there too. And it makes sense. All these attacks have been carried out by Muslims from these Muslim countries. Maybe we're a bit skeptical, but the leaders tell us we're fighing the good fight and that God is on our side. We're convinced enough to spen our money on it, put the ribbons in our windows, and send our sons for the cause.
As an American, I feel that with our wealth and power, we should be an example and help those who are less fortunate. But, I don't think we can bomb and invade other countries into better economies, higher literacy rates, and improved human rights. Sadly, our government is not interested in these things. All it cares about is our energy security and it will work to keep the regimes in place that ensure that cheap flow of oil.
As an American, I'm ashamed of the fact that my government often choses to support tyranical dictators and monarchies for the expedient short-term return in cheap resources and the illusion of security. It is exactly these short-sighted policies that breed a hatred and distrust of my government.
The encouraging thing is that many Americans don't directly support these policies. In many cases we're simply not aware of what is done in our names. The sad part, though, is that too many Americans are content with being ignorant and resist the idea that our government does bad things to other people and countries. We're raised to believe we're the good guys, fighting for the good cause, and doing good works in the world.
The ingorance of the fact that this is often not the case is why so many Americans are surprised that people hate us. Not aware of what's done in our name, it's easy to then believe it when we're told, "they hate us because of our freedom." Clearly their governments (the very ones we support) don't support freedom, so it must be true.
I'm not saying anything of the kind. I AM saying that it's unwise to simply cast Osama a raving madman who just hates the US because of our freedom.
Too many people fly into hyperbole and make Osama out as a madman who hates the US because of our freedom. That's simply shortsighted and childish. Unfortunately, too many Americans are happy to believe jingoistic rants.
"They don't love their children like we do." "They hate us because we have freedom." "They're incapable of living in a democracy." "They'll never have peace because they love violence."
It's also blindly naive to go around thinking that our actions and our policies do not have any effect on other people in the world.
Osama's a great orator and he makes arguments that ring true with a lot of people in the region. Arabs are tired of the outside powers pushing their way in the region.
They hate the the way the US suports Israel, no matter how badly they treat the Palestinians.
They hated Saddam and they hated the sanctions. And while Saddam had the power to turn that around, they tend to blame the US for keeping the sanctions in place. Of course, before the invasion, Saddam was wiling to talk. Bush said that it didn't matter what Saddam said or did, we were going to invade. That doesn't win friends and influence people.
They don't like hearing Rumsfeld hinting that Syria and Iran will be next. Doesn't he realize that plays exactly into what Osama predicted the US would try to do?
They do not believe the lie that we went there to save the peopel of Iraq from Saddam. The fact that our first priority was to protect the oil fields rather protect power and water demonstrates that quite effectively.
Our actions in the middle east do have repercutions, and even here at home. The running failure in Iraq has served Osama tremoundously. It proved him right, and will probably provide lots more people and money to commit acts of terrorism.
Osama may be an opportunist and uses current events to push his cause. But is that any different than any other power monger? Look at how 9/11 was used in this country to push massive surveillance systems and the curtailment of liberties.
I dare say that Osama is not the only one that can be accused of hating our freedom.
Until we (Americans) can figure that we need to learn to see the world through they eyes of the people we impact, we're destined for more attacks at home, and more invasions abroad.
We live in a big neighborhood called the world. And right now, we're that neighbor that nobody likes. We park in front of the neighbor's house, dump our garbage in the lot behind us, and play our music loud until the wee hours of the morning. We're the mayor, so the police don't bother us when they call, and then we get indignant when our neighbors complain to us.
What were the WTC attacks genuine retaliation for? "Offences" against the Muslim people which Bin Laden never cared about until he needed justification for terrorist attacks
Actually, Bin Laden has been clear about this. He has 3 main grievances. (this is unlike the old Ayatollahs of Iran who considered the west "the great satan"). OBL is upset about:
1) Sanctions on Iraq, which he claims killed millions and caused starvation and malnourshment. 2) Near-unequivocal support of Israel and what he sees as oppression of the Palestinian people. 3) Placement of US troops and bases in Saudi Arabia and the US's support for what he says is a corrupt un-Islamic dictatorship.
Osama's a nasty SOB and deserves a shit-storm in hell, but let's not ignore that he has rational reasons for what he did. They were at least rational from his point of view, and his power grew because there were a lot of people who agreed with his issues.
Not liking him, or the fact that he committed heinous crimes, does not invalidate his initial complaints.
Re:The logistics of building the Death Star
on
Star Wars Minutiae
·
· Score: 3, Funny
I, on the other hand, am firmly convinced that slashdot is at least 1/4 populated with really advanced versions of ELIZA and the emacs psychologist.
Oh, that's just great. I can't get any friends in real life, and now you're telling me that maybe a 1/4 of my "friends" on slashdot aren't even real? Can't a geek get a break?
Re:The logistics of building the Death Star
on
Star Wars Minutiae
·
· Score: 1
The USA PATRIOT act only applies to the United States, its territories, and its embassies.
Even though the US is occupying Iraq, the Iraqis and others living there are not subject to US law. In fact, there are special exemption for many US contractors so that they are not subject to any law.
Why do you think the people captured in Afghanistan are being kept at Guantanimo Bay? Our laws are not in effect there and those detainees therefore do not get the protection of our constitution.
There's a big difference between this presentation and building a faulty bridge.
This presentation is simply sumarizing some crash statistics and showcasing features of "traffic calming" to be presented to DOT employees. I can think of no scenario where the choice of using Powerpoint over another product will result in harm or death to anyone. Even if powerpoint crashes, the presentation can be handled using the printed notes.
Now, I'm not a PE (in fact, I'm an MBA with a BA in Middle East Studies*), but I do have a strong sense of ethics and personal responsibility. If I were a PE, and were presented with your choice on the bridge, the answer for me is easy. 1) refuse to sign my name on the project, and 2) if they continue to go forward when I am confident others will be endangered, then I go to anyone who'll listen to expose what is going on.
For me, my economic welfare is trumped by the safety of others. There is always another way to put food in my mouth, but there are few ways to ease the guilt from harming someone else.
* but I did complete 2.5 years of an EE program and worked 5 years as a systems administrator in engineering school. That by no means makes me an engineer, but I do have a pretty good grasp of engineering problems and engineers.
Well, sadly yes. But, I'm paid as a contractor on this, and I used the tools required by the people who pay me. Seeing that at the moment I'm otherwise unemployed...
$40 bus fare? Damn, that would be worth cross-country plane fare and the TSA anti-terrorist rectal probe! It helps if you tell the agent, "come over here can give me some sugar"!
And that reminds me of the instructions from the shop manual for the Model T. For bolting the head back on, instead of giving a torque measurement, it said something like "tighten to just before the point of stripping".
If one part is not failing while others, it doesn't mean necissarily that you're over-spending on the non-failing point. You might be at the "just before the point of stripping."
In which case, the people providing the budget should be aware of the need to buy enough quality. If they don't buy enough, then they shouldn't be bothering with the project at all. No amount of engineering, no matter how galliant, will overcome a lacking the minimum resources to get the job done.
This is where good engineers are able to comminucate with the non-engineer policy makers. It becomes an ethical issue as well.
I definitely understand budgetary constraints, but there's a point where you have to say it can't be done safely for what's being spent. If you're tasked with designing/building a bridge or some other critical structure, what do you do when you know that you've not been assigned enough resources to get the job done safely and properly? A good PE would be willing to refuse the project and not sign his name on the plans, or demand more resources - as it's his ass on the line in the end.
(It's funny, I don't use the phrase "non-engineer" often, but I'm actually working right now on a presentation titled "traffic safety for non-engineers".)
The best solution is to educate the world. Educated people tend to have more options and fewer babies.
The last I heard, Italy has negative native population growth and its overall population growth is only positive when immigration is taken into account. And while the US has positive native population growth, a great deal of the overall growh is also from immigration.
It probably has to do with more guys getting educated and becoming computer geeks. Their chance of reproducing then drops precipitously because they spend all their time on slashdot.
Right, but even if you're a net-$0 customer, that power they buy from you is power they are selling to someone else (or not having to pay to produce). As long as they're able to sell it to others for more than they pay you (plus costs), then you're still profitable.
The economics change, of course, if a majority of the people employ systems like this. At that point, though the energy you sell back is worth less because so many more people are producing it as well.
Tax credits are available for the following categories: appliances fuel cells HVAC Solar Water Heaters Wind Vehicles
"The maximum amount of tax credits a resident may receive per year is $1,000 for appliances including heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment. The maximum amount of tax credits a resident may receive per year is $1,500 for renewable energy equipment such as solar and wind systems. "
If you're smart, you can probably plan part of yoru purchases in December of one year and the rest in Jan of the next. Or possibly spread your project over a few years to maximize the tax break.
Plus, these improvements amount to capital investments in your property which should reduce any taxes incurred from selling a house (though, I think the capital gains tax was eliminated for the owner's residence).
And, such investments done on rental properties will count as costs and will, while reducing your profit, will also reduce the tax on your profit, which could be as high as 40%.
It could be argued that it is a serial, published each month. Would that make it 12 seperate works?
Re:Files they've just taken and not bought or dele
on
The File Sharing Report
·
· Score: 5, Funny
You know, I accidentally hear music all the time. The radio plays, and my neighbors play their stereos loud. In the office, people play their cds and mp3s.
I also feel really bad for the RIAA. They are just losing so much money to my unauthorized listening. So I send them money. First, I tried to count the songs and send them $0.10 per listening, but it got overwhelming.
So, I started just sending my pay check directly to them. But then I got kicked out of my apartment and lost my job because I never washed my clothes.
But now I get an unemployment check and a welfare check, and I just send these directly to the RIAA. The poor guys, they're really hurting these days.
It's getting colder outside now, but I'm warmed on the inside knowing that the executives at the RIAA are getting their due and are no longer being harmed by my illicit listening activities.
And here's the cool part, we can all do it!
Here's the address to send the checks. I always include a note apologizing for taking out the cost of postage. I know I'm hurting an artists, but I can only do so much.
RIAA 1330 Connecticut Ave N.W., Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20036
Slashdot Mirror
Somebody once said, "If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."
I can't imagine that any variant on the recipe is going to be considered sufficiently novel unless you wanted to start putting, I dunno, motor oil or anchovies in it.
I don't know... I think my ex-girlfriend has you on that one. I don't know if she actually used motor oil and anchovies in her cooking, but it sure as hell tasted like she did!
if someone were to do a molecular analysis of chanel 5 and determine exactly what makes it smell the way it does they could easily release a new product indistinguishable from chanel 5, and sell it for $5/bottle
That's where branding becomes so important. Good companies work hard to build and protect their brands because customers will associate the brand with the product.
You could sell your knock-off product, but there will still be plenty of people who will pay more for the *real* Chanel. They *know* they are getting a good product that way.
For some reason, something in the human psyche reacts to branding. It's probably the basis for things like patriotism, racism, jingoism and esprit de corps.
If you keep enough of it around to use as fuel for a power plant then you have a chance of the magnetic containment field failing and your facility converted to component atoms.
At least it won't have all that nasty residual radiation. Sure, there will be one big-ass hole in the ground, but I suppose we could just make a lake out of it.
klusty just sounds like a disease.
I wonder if they thought of "vivis"? Kind of sounds cool... most cultures can pronounce it, and it has no tricky syllable combinations. It's evolved from something related to project, and it's easy to remember and not mix up letters from memory.
"Chairman Rosen, I should have expected you holding Holling's leash, I could smell your foul stench when I was brought on board."
Sure, there are lots of problems in the Mideast, and the governments there play a key role in those problems. But like most Americans, you're still only looking at it from your own point of view.
Bend your mind a bit and imagine that you're an Saudi citizen that is just barely getting by. You know the royal family is oppressive and corrupt. And it's very buddy-buddy with the US Government. And you know that you can't complain because the mutaween will at least beat you if not kill you.
You hear people like Osama who tell you that your government is corrupt and that the US is behind them. It rings true enough. He tells you that the US wants to keep the corrupt and oppressive government in your country because it guarantees them cheap oil. He says that the US wants to dominate the region and points to examples such as the Iraqi sanctions and the US bases in your own country. And he says that all that money coming from the Americans who buy the cheap oil is being squandered by that family, rather than being spent on social welfare and economic development.
Now from your point of view as a Saudi, you probably don't like the US very much. You'd even feel justified in hating them because you see how they play a role in your misery. Osama says he's fighting the good fight, trying to kick the US hard enough to get them out of the Middle East, and you might even feel justified in sending some money to his cause, or even sending your son to fight in it.
I know it can be hard to make the break and see things through others eyes. So, lets come back to the US. We've been attacked by a bunch of Muslims who seem to hate us. They bombed embassies abroad, attacked a ship, and then toppled the twin towers. "They hate us because we are free", we are told. And we're afraid and angry of what they did to us and by God, we're not going to let it happen again. Our leaders tell us we need to invade Afghanistan to get those terrorists. Then they tell us we need to invade Iraq because there are terrorists there too. And it makes sense. All these attacks have been carried out by Muslims from these Muslim countries. Maybe we're a bit skeptical, but the leaders tell us we're fighing the good fight and that God is on our side. We're convinced enough to spen our money on it, put the ribbons in our windows, and send our sons for the cause.
As an American, I feel that with our wealth and power, we should be an example and help those who are less fortunate. But, I don't think we can bomb and invade other countries into better economies, higher literacy rates, and improved human rights. Sadly, our government is not interested in these things. All it cares about is our energy security and it will work to keep the regimes in place that ensure that cheap flow of oil.
As an American, I'm ashamed of the fact that my government often choses to support tyranical dictators and monarchies for the expedient short-term return in cheap resources and the illusion of security. It is exactly these short-sighted policies that breed a hatred and distrust of my government.
The encouraging thing is that many Americans don't directly support these policies. In many cases we're simply not aware of what is done in our names. The sad part, though, is that too many Americans are content with being ignorant and resist the idea that our government does bad things to other people and countries. We're raised to believe we're the good guys, fighting for the good cause, and doing good works in the world.
The ingorance of the fact that this is often not the case is why so many Americans are surprised that people hate us. Not aware of what's done in our name, it's easy to then believe it when we're told, "they hate us because of our freedom." Clearly their governments (the very ones we support) don't support freedom, so it must be true.
I'm not saying anything of the kind. I AM saying that it's unwise to simply cast Osama a raving madman who just hates the US because of our freedom.
Too many people fly into hyperbole and make Osama out as a madman who hates the US because of our freedom. That's simply shortsighted and childish. Unfortunately, too many Americans are happy to believe jingoistic rants.
"They don't love their children like we do."
"They hate us because we have freedom."
"They're incapable of living in a democracy."
"They'll never have peace because they love violence."
It's also blindly naive to go around thinking that our actions and our policies do not have any effect on other people in the world.
Osama's a great orator and he makes arguments that ring true with a lot of people in the region. Arabs are tired of the outside powers pushing their way in the region.
They hate the the way the US suports Israel, no matter how badly they treat the Palestinians.
They hated Saddam and they hated the sanctions. And while Saddam had the power to turn that around, they tend to blame the US for keeping the sanctions in place. Of course, before the invasion, Saddam was wiling to talk. Bush said that it didn't matter what Saddam said or did, we were going to invade. That doesn't win friends and influence people.
They don't like hearing Rumsfeld hinting that Syria and Iran will be next. Doesn't he realize that plays exactly into what Osama predicted the US would try to do?
They do not believe the lie that we went there to save the peopel of Iraq from Saddam. The fact that our first priority was to protect the oil fields rather protect power and water demonstrates that quite effectively.
Our actions in the middle east do have repercutions, and even here at home. The running failure in Iraq has served Osama tremoundously. It proved him right, and will probably provide lots more people and money to commit acts of terrorism.
Osama may be an opportunist and uses current events to push his cause. But is that any different than any other power monger? Look at how 9/11 was used in this country to push massive surveillance systems and the curtailment of liberties.
I dare say that Osama is not the only one that can be accused of hating our freedom.
Until we (Americans) can figure that we need to learn to see the world through they eyes of the people we impact, we're destined for more attacks at home, and more invasions abroad.
We live in a big neighborhood called the world. And right now, we're that neighbor that nobody likes. We park in front of the neighbor's house, dump our garbage in the lot behind us, and play our music loud until the wee hours of the morning. We're the mayor, so the police don't bother us when they call, and then we get indignant when our neighbors complain to us.
What were the WTC attacks genuine retaliation for? "Offences" against the Muslim people which Bin Laden never cared about until he needed justification for terrorist attacks
Actually, Bin Laden has been clear about this. He has 3 main grievances. (this is unlike the old Ayatollahs of Iran who considered the west "the great satan"). OBL is upset about:
1) Sanctions on Iraq, which he claims killed millions and caused starvation and malnourshment.
2) Near-unequivocal support of Israel and what he sees as oppression of the Palestinian people.
3) Placement of US troops and bases in Saudi Arabia and the US's support for what he says is a corrupt un-Islamic dictatorship.
Osama's a nasty SOB and deserves a shit-storm in hell, but let's not ignore that he has rational reasons for what he did. They were at least rational from his point of view, and his power grew because there were a lot of people who agreed with his issues.
Not liking him, or the fact that he committed heinous crimes, does not invalidate his initial complaints.
I, on the other hand, am firmly convinced that slashdot is at least 1/4 populated with really advanced versions of ELIZA and the emacs psychologist.
Oh, that's just great. I can't get any friends in real life, and now you're telling me that maybe a 1/4 of my "friends" on slashdot aren't even real? Can't a geek get a break?
The USA PATRIOT act only applies to the United States, its territories, and its embassies.
Even though the US is occupying Iraq, the Iraqis and others living there are not subject to US law. In fact, there are special exemption for many US contractors so that they are not subject to any law.
Why do you think the people captured in Afghanistan are being kept at Guantanimo Bay? Our laws are not in effect there and those detainees therefore do not get the protection of our constitution.
There's a big difference between this presentation and building a faulty bridge.
This presentation is simply sumarizing some crash statistics and showcasing features of "traffic calming" to be presented to DOT employees. I can think of no scenario where the choice of using Powerpoint over another product will result in harm or death to anyone. Even if powerpoint crashes, the presentation can be handled using the printed notes.
Now, I'm not a PE (in fact, I'm an MBA with a BA in Middle East Studies*), but I do have a strong sense of ethics and personal responsibility. If I were a PE, and were presented with your choice on the bridge, the answer for me is easy. 1) refuse to sign my name on the project, and 2) if they continue to go forward when I am confident others will be endangered, then I go to anyone who'll listen to expose what is going on.
For me, my economic welfare is trumped by the safety of others. There is always another way to put food in my mouth, but there are few ways to ease the guilt from harming someone else.
* but I did complete 2.5 years of an EE program and worked 5 years as a systems administrator in engineering school. That by no means makes me an engineer, but I do have a pretty good grasp of engineering problems and engineers.
Well, sadly yes. But, I'm paid as a contractor on this, and I used the tools required by the people who pay me. Seeing that at the moment I'm otherwise unemployed...
$40 bus fare? Damn, that would be worth cross-country plane fare and the TSA anti-terrorist rectal probe! It helps if you tell the agent, "come over here can give me some sugar"!
And that reminds me of the instructions from the shop manual for the Model T. For bolting the head back on, instead of giving a torque measurement, it said something like "tighten to just before the point of stripping".
If one part is not failing while others, it doesn't mean necissarily that you're over-spending on the non-failing point. You might be at the "just before the point of stripping."
In which case, the people providing the budget should be aware of the need to buy enough quality. If they don't buy enough, then they shouldn't be bothering with the project at all. No amount of engineering, no matter how galliant, will overcome a lacking the minimum resources to get the job done.
This is where good engineers are able to comminucate with the non-engineer policy makers. It becomes an ethical issue as well.
I definitely understand budgetary constraints, but there's a point where you have to say it can't be done safely for what's being spent. If you're tasked with designing/building a bridge or some other critical structure, what do you do when you know that you've not been assigned enough resources to get the job done safely and properly? A good PE would be willing to refuse the project and not sign his name on the plans, or demand more resources - as it's his ass on the line in the end.
(It's funny, I don't use the phrase "non-engineer" often, but I'm actually working right now on a presentation titled "traffic safety for non-engineers".)
An engineering prof where I worked had a sign on his door that said something like:
The only regret you'll have from paying for too much quality is the money. You'll have everything to regret from spending on too little quality.
I wonder if you need to have a special meter to sell electricity back. Maybe it would give you a different rate on outgoing electricity than incoming?
Imagine if it was considered patriotic (instead of crazy/granola) to use fewer/alternate resources!
Yeah... that in a country, where after getting attacked, the President tells people to "go shopping".
The best solution is to educate the world. Educated people tend to have more options and fewer babies.
The last I heard, Italy has negative native population growth and its overall population growth is only positive when immigration is taken into account. And while the US has positive native population growth, a great deal of the overall growh is also from immigration.
It probably has to do with more guys getting educated and becoming computer geeks. Their chance of reproducing then drops precipitously because they spend all their time on slashdot.
This link from the DOE shows various incentives in different states:
Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy
That includes Federal Incentives
Right, but even if you're a net-$0 customer, that power they buy from you is power they are selling to someone else (or not having to pay to produce). As long as they're able to sell it to others for more than they pay you (plus costs), then you're still profitable.
The economics change, of course, if a majority of the people employ systems like this. At that point, though the energy you sell back is worth less because so many more people are producing it as well.
I realize this article is about Portland, but its state, Oregon, offers tax incentives for certain energy efficiency improvements:
Oregon Residential Energy Tax Credit Program
Tax credits are available for the following categories:
appliances
fuel cells
HVAC
Solar
Water Heaters
Wind
Vehicles
"The maximum amount of tax credits a resident may receive per year is $1,000 for appliances including heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment. The maximum amount of tax credits a resident may receive per year is $1,500 for renewable energy equipment such as solar and wind systems. "
If you're smart, you can probably plan part of yoru purchases in December of one year and the rest in Jan of the next. Or possibly spread your project over a few years to maximize the tax break.
Plus, these improvements amount to capital investments in your property which should reduce any taxes incurred from selling a house (though, I think the capital gains tax was eliminated for the owner's residence).
And, such investments done on rental properties will count as costs and will, while reducing your profit, will also reduce the tax on your profit, which could be as high as 40%.
It's because we Portlanders are so full of hot air... we'll make any flat surface we're standing on seem to take on 3 dimensions.
It could be argued that it is a serial, published each month. Would that make it 12 seperate works?
You know, I accidentally hear music all the time. The radio plays, and my neighbors play their stereos loud. In the office, people play their cds and mp3s.
I also feel really bad for the RIAA. They are just losing so much money to my unauthorized listening. So I send them money. First, I tried to count the songs and send them $0.10 per listening, but it got overwhelming.
So, I started just sending my pay check directly to them. But then I got kicked out of my apartment and lost my job because I never washed my clothes.
But now I get an unemployment check and a welfare check, and I just send these directly to the RIAA. The poor guys, they're really hurting these days.
It's getting colder outside now, but I'm warmed on the inside knowing that the executives at the RIAA are getting their due and are no longer being harmed by my illicit listening activities.
And here's the cool part, we can all do it!
Here's the address to send the checks. I always include a note apologizing for taking out the cost of postage. I know I'm hurting an artists, but I can only do so much.
RIAA
1330 Connecticut Ave N.W., Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20036
It's a pretty fucked up set of values that equates downloading an MP3 with raping a minor.
What the fuck happened to you?