Because "GMO" is not a scientifically meaningful category of food. It's like labeling food for whether it was at one point stored in containers with the number "13" printed on them, or whether it was ever touched by a Mennonite priest.
How about this. Label foods GMO, if they have had genes from another species spliced into their genome (like something from a jellyfish into corn).
What is gained through product labeling when consumers don't have anywhere near the background or understanding to interpret the labels?
I'm all for people being able to make well-informed and rational decisions about what they put into their bodies, but avoiding GM foods because of perceived health risks is NOT making a well-informed and rational decision.
Well, so far, we're not too stupid to have labels required for ingredients, for % of nutrients...
We're not too stupid to have labels required on things like fish, to know what their country of origin is....
So, what's the deal with giving us a label to know if it is GMO or not? I'd dare say, most people too stupid to study this and make an "informed decision" are likely not ever going to bother looking at the labels.
But for those that do want to know..what's the harm? When is having information about your food ever a bad thing?
how the heck are you a 50 year old man nearing retirement? In US you'd be halfway through your working life.
Well, you see...some of us save a respectable portion of our income over our work lifetime, and don't spend every fscking penny we earn buying crap.
Do a reasonable savings, invest, and yes...get a little lucky here and there from time to time, and at age 50yrs, you should be able to see retirement in the reasonable near future.
Some debit cards offer a guarantee of loss prevention. Chase issues such cards. Since I got used to using a debit card I rarely handle any cash at all. Most months I have less than $5. in cash for the entire month. It is rare that I go anywhere that won't accept my Chase Visa debit card.
See, now I'm the opposite...I refuse to have a debit card. They've tried sending me ATM/Debit cards, and I sent them back asking for ATM only cards.
Maybe things are getting better, but last year, I heard one of the horror stories. A lady had gotten her Visa debit card compromised and cash was withdrawn (a good bit of it too) from her checking account. In this case, like many others I've heard, it was basically "guilty until proven innocent".
Her funds were gone for over a month...which of course, meant she had trouble paying a couple of bills, etc.
With a credit card, I've lost none of my cash and don't have a risk of losing cash via direct access to my main deposit account.
Again, maybe things are better now..and at different banks, but I'd sure be cautious about using them, or at least verifying the exact terms of that debit card agreement.
I don't mind carrying cash, or periodically stopping by an ATM for some cash if I'm going shopping locally. I prefer the anonymity of shopping with cash too.
It isn't like I'm going to lose any money if I get a CC stolen. I just call it in (in this case Target did it for me)...and they and the banks take the hit, doesn't affect me.
Why don't they just go back to having to have the physical card, take an imprint of it at the register manually, and help track the usage at the stores that way?
Not to mention...I'm sure the NSA is already figuring a way to suck up all the data from Glass type video recorders, store it and run some nifty face recognition to really help track down the populace....err....terrorists.
How about...not sending pics out on the internet or over phone lines/cell towers, that you'd not want the majority of people to see??
How hard is that? When did people lose common sense???
If you value your privacy at all...don't join up to FB and other "social networks". And if you actually MUST join them...don't share personal shit you don't want getting out to the general public. It is a simple litmus test...
Actually not - from what I've heard the research suggests that as a rule guys tend to have a pretty good idea what we're looking for before we ever get involved with a woman. If we're looking to get laid, the relationship probably won't develop any further than that. If we're looking for something more, then we'll tend to stick around at least until it becomes clear she's not the one.
Yeah, but after the usual period, if she's not giving you any...you're not gonna hang around much longer to find out anything else.
Then again, I imagine the number of people who want to run it with the lid closed are quite few and far between.
I have my macbook pro for doing video and photograph editing. When at home at my desk, I have it plugged in with lid down, hooked to a nice Dell U2711 monitor, buckling (sp?) key keyboard, wireless mouse...etc.
I basically use it as a desktop when at home in the office, but disconnect and take it with me when traveling.
I have to imagine I'm not the only one that does this with a laptop....so, when at home, it does spend a fair amount of time with the lid down.
The men who have figured out that game know how to spot the women with low self esteem. Women with low self esteem need the sex to feel desired to feel good about themselves.
Of course, low esteem women definitely present a "target rich environment", but I'm not talking just about that...if you know how to come off as confident in yourself, have a bit of a sense of humor, and KNOW how to get in a womans head, you have a very good chance of getting her into bed, and more if you want it.
It isn't all about getting laid and sex, but that initially is the audition for a guy looking for women in his life. If you know how to fearlessly approach women, and get them to talk (hell, has there EVER been a woman that complained after a date that all she got to do was talk about herself too much??)....you listen to what they say to get clues as to interest and feeling she has about things. If she mentions family things...then you know that when your turn to talk, to work in some things with pleasant memories and feelings in a story in your life (real or made up)...and use that to push her buttons.
Learn a bit about body language, you can often read a woman on how they're feeling about you and whatever is being talked about from their body language, and you can do things like compliment their body language, etc....things like that help you to establish connection and keep their interests.
It isn't rocket science....
And too...as a guy, you can NOT let rejection stop you or lower your self esteem. It is also a numbers game...there's a TON of women out there, keep trying on all of them you find attractive, you'll get bites and land many of them.
But it isn't just low esteem women. Sure, they're easy to get laid with, but eventually most guys want a bit more...and you want a woman that has it together. These same methods work on them too.
I make it a point to try to speak with at least 1-2 VERY attractive women every time I am out and about in public. I'll approach, if for nothing else, to ask the time, or directions to somewhere around...anything to make contact. It is good practice even if you aren't on the hunt...just to keep your approach and verbal skills up and honed. It hurts you NONE at all if you get blown off or rejected, but it does give you constant practice and chances to learn more female behavior...and who knows, maybe even a date or more.
Its a big world, you never know who you're gonna run into next...
This happens often enough that I figure that simple "looks" is far less important to women than it is to men, and that many women are either willing to overlook some aspects of appearance or simply don't care.
I call this the "Billy Joel Syndrome"...remember how he, as a short, kinda ugly dude, was banging (and later married for awhile) Christie Brinkley?
So, thankfully for us guys, women aren't as visually hung up as we are about our prospective mates. I mean, you DO need to be somewhat presentable....but if you are confident in yourself and at least look fearless when talking to women, that gives you a huge leg up on all the other potential mates.
Over and over...women polled say that the top things they look for in men are confidence, and sense of humor, those two consistently rank in the top traits they are attracted to....
You are talking about criteria for an one-night-stand, not for a relationship or for founding a family. Maybe that is the reason so few relationships keep these days: Wrong selection criteria.
Err....that's how relationships start....a guy looks to get laid, goes through a number of women till one he finds is a "keeper".
No kidding. I've known a few people who aren't exactly the best catches who refuse to date anybody who looks anything less than a supermodel.
If you're 80 pounds overweight, or a raging nerd, or whatever, and you refuse to date someone who isn't perfect... you're going to be single and lonely for a long time.
I've known way too many people with their own defects (and who among us doesn't have them, especially here) who looked at potential partners and turned up their nose for stupid reasons -- a little overweight, wears glasses, curly hair.
Depends. If you're a guy who knows how to talk to women, and has a pretty good 'game', you can definitely date and bed women that most would think were "outside of your league", and no, you don't have to be wealthy.
You see it all the time, large guys, not that ugly...with hot women. I even occasionally see and have known, some really good looking guys, that were almost model like on the outside, but were too shy and didn't know how to talk to women.
Thankfully...women aren't quite as visually oriented as we guys are, but you do have to be able to speak to them in a confident manner, and be able to read their signs and push the right buttons, and talk about things THEY will respond to. Sure, most of the time it is bullshit, but you say what they want/need to hear, and you can bag them. If you like them for more than a bit of sex a few times, you can dig into a deeper relationship, but even then, you need to learn, know and use a bit of knowledge on human female behavior.
Some guys have the gift naturally, but most of us don't...self included.
But it can be learned and it isn't that hard. First thing, get over being afraid to talk to women...ANY woman. Go try to hit on the best looking woman, but know how to do it. And hey, sometime it doesn't work...play the numbers, women are a dime a dozen and go after the next one, etc.
Practice, practice, practice...any time I'm out during the day and I see an attractive young lady...I will at bare minimum strike up some sort of casual conversation, you never know where it will end up...her or maybe a friend of hers...etc.
Looks are pretty much unimportant, or rather if you are halfway sane you do not want to date anybody looking like a "supermodel". It either comes with neuroses or a huge ego not justified by anything. One the other hand, people dating on looks may just get what they deserve.
Err, I dunno. Like the old saying goes:
Beauty is skin deep
Ugly is to the bone
Beauty always fades away
But ugly holds it own....
:)
But on a serious note...attractions begins, especially with men...visually.
You never walk into a bar and look around and say "Wow, I gotta meet that woman over there, I'll bet she has the best personality!!".
No, you look around and see the ones that are good looking and fit your image of a good looking chick, and go chat her up.
Sure, if you want something to be a longer lasting relationship, you do have to get to know them and be compatible, but that's not the first thing you look at when hunting a mate.
And also, if you're in it for the long term...are you going to be happy fucking someone that isn't attractive to you? Are you going to be happy being naked with her for long term...and not be wanting to stray outside that relationship for someone better looking?
Looks does matter. It isn't everything, but it is a LARGE thing in a relationship.
Would they be interested in H-1B workers here in the US being sub-contracted to work at Fukushima?
Quite possibly, BUT...you're going to have to have very precisely written, step-by-step instructions on what exactly you want to do!!
Don't leave anything to them using "imagination" or coming up with a unique solution, otherwise, your going to just spend more money having natives come in and re-do everything correctly.
Standard corporations can take a TON more exemptions than you can personally so any "pass-thru" is just false savings and you're leaving money on the table.
Honest questions here: I hear that a lot, but I don't see any difference in contract rates vs. permanent rates in positions I hear about. But I also have to say that I'm not actively seeking contracts with these high bill rates, and indeed, am pretty much completely ignorant of the world of being a contractor. Are your bill rates really that much better?
Back on some older gigs, I was bouncing between W2 and then 1099 corp to corp.
W2 was making about $80K/yr. 1099 was billing about $65/hr.
Others can get MUCH better than that, and these numbers that were directly comparable for pretty much the same work was true about 8 years ago maybe?
Bill rates for IT in my part of the US start about $65/hr and go to about $100/hr. This is based on doing some federal contracting and being basically a sub or a sub to a sub on these federal contracts, so these are the numbers after the prime's take their cut off the top.
A good sysadmin on a federal contract is billed to the govt at least $115-125/hr in many cases.
I don't think that in my locality, at least, I would be gaining any benefit as a single contractor over simply operating as a Sole Proprietorship, drawing a salary from assets accumulated.
Please DO look into this more. From my understanding, a Sole Proprietorship does NOT give you the legal protection that a corporation does, your personal assets may be in jeopardy if anyone sues you....!!
I'd like to hear from anybody who's opted for S-corp tax status as a self employed IT contractor with no income beyond his/her labor rate. Because my understanding is that the IRS takes a pretty dim view of writing part of your labor rate as 'profit' because presumably whatever you are charging for your labor IS a reasonable salary. My understanding is that S-corp status only makes sense (IE isn't likely to result in an audit) if you operate a business that generates legitimate profits; IE you sell products/services at a markup, which pretty much excludes any one-man IT shop. Maybe if you contract in some crazy niche market where you can command $400/hr then you can get away with this but if you are charging normal market rates for your normal work then it seems like an invitation for an audit and penalties.
I do the S-Corp thing and know many others that do too, as one man band things.
It works this way, let's say you bill out for $100K. You pay yourself a "reasonable salary" as president of the company of $40K.
You only pay employment taxes (SS and medicare) on that $40K.
The remaining $60K, you deduct for expenses, etc....and out of what's left falls through to your personal taxes which you pay normal federal (and state taxes if you live in such a state) on that, but no employment taxes.
It is perfectly legitimate and legal. The trick is to not be too greedy with what you propose a "reasonable" salary is. There is no guideline, but if you figure about 40% of your bill rate, that seems to be reasonable for myself and others I've known that do this.
Again, get a good CPA to help advise you.
But many folks in the IT contracting market do just this type of setup because it is legal and works. Just keep good records, be legal and don't get greedy and you'll be just fine.
I personally have had a number of years experience with this.
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Well, maybe if you weren't driving so freakin' slow in the left hand lane when people were obviously wanting to pass your slow ass...
How about this. Label foods GMO, if they have had genes from another species spliced into their genome (like something from a jellyfish into corn).
That's pretty straightforward, no?
I would however, really appreciate it if I could readily know what foods were GMO and which were notâ¦
I'd rather not eat them, I have my reasons, and many do..but it has fuck all to do with what some company's bottom line is, successful or not.
Well, so far, we're not too stupid to have labels required for ingredients, for % of nutrients...
We're not too stupid to have labels required on things like fish, to know what their country of origin is....
So, what's the deal with giving us a label to know if it is GMO or not? I'd dare say, most people too stupid to study this and make an "informed decision" are likely not ever going to bother looking at the labels.
But for those that do want to know..what's the harm? When is having information about your food ever a bad thing?
Well, you see...some of us save a respectable portion of our income over our work lifetime, and don't spend every fscking penny we earn buying crap.
Do a reasonable savings, invest, and yes...get a little lucky here and there from time to time, and at age 50yrs, you should be able to see retirement in the reasonable near future.
See, now I'm the opposite...I refuse to have a debit card. They've tried sending me ATM/Debit cards, and I sent them back asking for ATM only cards.
Maybe things are getting better, but last year, I heard one of the horror stories. A lady had gotten her Visa debit card compromised and cash was withdrawn (a good bit of it too) from her checking account. In this case, like many others I've heard, it was basically "guilty until proven innocent".
Her funds were gone for over a month...which of course, meant she had trouble paying a couple of bills, etc.
With a credit card, I've lost none of my cash and don't have a risk of losing cash via direct access to my main deposit account.
Again, maybe things are better now..and at different banks, but I'd sure be cautious about using them, or at least verifying the exact terms of that debit card agreement.
I don't mind carrying cash, or periodically stopping by an ATM for some cash if I'm going shopping locally. I prefer the anonymity of shopping with cash too.
I know...like I said, my eyes are REALLY bad. My lenses alone are like $300-$350+ each normally.
Why don't they just go back to having to have the physical card, take an imprint of it at the register manually, and help track the usage at the stores that way?
Not to mention...I'm sure the NSA is already figuring a way to suck up all the data from Glass type video recorders, store it and run some nifty face recognition to really help track down the populace....err....terrorists.
My eyesight is so poor, my lenses are quite $$$ and take month or more to get them made any time I buy glasses.
Even with the Glass fee, these may turn out to be comparable to my normal glasses with decent designer frames cost wise.
How hard is that? When did people lose common sense???
If you value your privacy at all...don't join up to FB and other "social networks". And if you actually MUST join them...don't share personal shit you don't want getting out to the general public. It is a simple litmus test...
"I'd like to teach the world to ping...in perfect harmony...."
Yeah, but after the usual period, if she's not giving you any...you're not gonna hang around much longer to find out anything else.
I have my macbook pro for doing video and photograph editing. When at home at my desk, I have it plugged in with lid down, hooked to a nice Dell U2711 monitor, buckling (sp?) key keyboard, wireless mouse...etc.
I basically use it as a desktop when at home in the office, but disconnect and take it with me when traveling.
I have to imagine I'm not the only one that does this with a laptop....so, when at home, it does spend a fair amount of time with the lid down.
Of course, low esteem women definitely present a "target rich environment", but I'm not talking just about that...if you know how to come off as confident in yourself, have a bit of a sense of humor, and KNOW how to get in a womans head, you have a very good chance of getting her into bed, and more if you want it.
It isn't all about getting laid and sex, but that initially is the audition for a guy looking for women in his life. If you know how to fearlessly approach women, and get them to talk (hell, has there EVER been a woman that complained after a date that all she got to do was talk about herself too much??)....you listen to what they say to get clues as to interest and feeling she has about things. If she mentions family things...then you know that when your turn to talk, to work in some things with pleasant memories and feelings in a story in your life (real or made up)...and use that to push her buttons.
Learn a bit about body language, you can often read a woman on how they're feeling about you and whatever is being talked about from their body language, and you can do things like compliment their body language, etc....things like that help you to establish connection and keep their interests.
It isn't rocket science....
And too...as a guy, you can NOT let rejection stop you or lower your self esteem. It is also a numbers game...there's a TON of women out there, keep trying on all of them you find attractive, you'll get bites and land many of them.
But it isn't just low esteem women. Sure, they're easy to get laid with, but eventually most guys want a bit more...and you want a woman that has it together. These same methods work on them too.
I make it a point to try to speak with at least 1-2 VERY attractive women every time I am out and about in public. I'll approach, if for nothing else, to ask the time, or directions to somewhere around...anything to make contact. It is good practice even if you aren't on the hunt...just to keep your approach and verbal skills up and honed. It hurts you NONE at all if you get blown off or rejected, but it does give you constant practice and chances to learn more female behavior...and who knows, maybe even a date or more.
Its a big world, you never know who you're gonna run into next...
I call this the "Billy Joel Syndrome"...remember how he, as a short, kinda ugly dude, was banging (and later married for awhile) Christie Brinkley?
So, thankfully for us guys, women aren't as visually hung up as we are about our prospective mates. I mean, you DO need to be somewhat presentable....but if you are confident in yourself and at least look fearless when talking to women, that gives you a huge leg up on all the other potential mates.
Over and over...women polled say that the top things they look for in men are confidence, and sense of humor, those two consistently rank in the top traits they are attracted to....
Err....that's how relationships start....a guy looks to get laid, goes through a number of women till one he finds is a "keeper".
One night stands/dating, is the audition....
Depends. If you're a guy who knows how to talk to women, and has a pretty good 'game', you can definitely date and bed women that most would think were "outside of your league", and no, you don't have to be wealthy.
You see it all the time, large guys, not that ugly...with hot women. I even occasionally see and have known, some really good looking guys, that were almost model like on the outside, but were too shy and didn't know how to talk to women.
Thankfully...women aren't quite as visually oriented as we guys are, but you do have to be able to speak to them in a confident manner, and be able to read their signs and push the right buttons, and talk about things THEY will respond to. Sure, most of the time it is bullshit, but you say what they want/need to hear, and you can bag them. If you like them for more than a bit of sex a few times, you can dig into a deeper relationship, but even then, you need to learn, know and use a bit of knowledge on human female behavior.
Some guys have the gift naturally, but most of us don't...self included.
But it can be learned and it isn't that hard. First thing, get over being afraid to talk to women...ANY woman. Go try to hit on the best looking woman, but know how to do it. And hey, sometime it doesn't work...play the numbers, women are a dime a dozen and go after the next one, etc.
Practice, practice, practice...any time I'm out during the day and I see an attractive young lady...I will at bare minimum strike up some sort of casual conversation, you never know where it will end up...her or maybe a friend of hers...etc.
Err, I dunno. Like the old saying goes:
Beauty is skin deep
Ugly is to the bone
Beauty always fades away
But ugly holds it own....
But on a serious note...attractions begins, especially with men...visually.
You never walk into a bar and look around and say "Wow, I gotta meet that woman over there, I'll bet she has the best personality!!".
No, you look around and see the ones that are good looking and fit your image of a good looking chick, and go chat her up.
Sure, if you want something to be a longer lasting relationship, you do have to get to know them and be compatible, but that's not the first thing you look at when hunting a mate.
And also, if you're in it for the long term...are you going to be happy fucking someone that isn't attractive to you? Are you going to be happy being naked with her for long term...and not be wanting to stray outside that relationship for someone better looking?
Looks does matter. It isn't everything, but it is a LARGE thing in a relationship.
Quite possibly, BUT...you're going to have to have very precisely written, step-by-step instructions on what exactly you want to do!!
Don't leave anything to them using "imagination" or coming up with a unique solution, otherwise, your going to just spend more money having natives come in and re-do everything correctly.
"PULL"!!!
Can you list any examples of extra exemptions?
Back on some older gigs, I was bouncing between W2 and then 1099 corp to corp.
W2 was making about $80K/yr. 1099 was billing about $65/hr.
Others can get MUCH better than that, and these numbers that were directly comparable for pretty much the same work was true about 8 years ago maybe?
Bill rates for IT in my part of the US start about $65/hr and go to about $100/hr. This is based on doing some federal contracting and being basically a sub or a sub to a sub on these federal contracts, so these are the numbers after the prime's take their cut off the top.
A good sysadmin on a federal contract is billed to the govt at least $115-125/hr in many cases.
Please DO look into this more. From my understanding, a Sole Proprietorship does NOT give you the legal protection that a corporation does, your personal assets may be in jeopardy if anyone sues you....!!
I do the S-Corp thing and know many others that do too, as one man band things.
It works this way, let's say you bill out for $100K. You pay yourself a "reasonable salary" as president of the company of $40K.
You only pay employment taxes (SS and medicare) on that $40K.
The remaining $60K, you deduct for expenses, etc....and out of what's left falls through to your personal taxes which you pay normal federal (and state taxes if you live in such a state) on that, but no employment taxes.
It is perfectly legitimate and legal. The trick is to not be too greedy with what you propose a "reasonable" salary is. There is no guideline, but if you figure about 40% of your bill rate, that seems to be reasonable for myself and others I've known that do this.
Again, get a good CPA to help advise you.
But many folks in the IT contracting market do just this type of setup because it is legal and works. Just keep good records, be legal and don't get greedy and you'll be just fine.
I personally have had a number of years experience with this.