OK, great. This info was freely available on their web site 8 years ago. So?
You know what, if you'd wanted this 15 years ago, you would have phoned them up, given them the EXACT SAME INFO THEY'RE ASKING FOR on their web site, and they would have mailed it to you.
And a sales-person might have called to see if you wanted to buy some chips.
Theo's "50 questions" is email, name, company name, title, address, phone number, and "what is your project? What is your role? When do you want to buy some chips?" How about a little reality here. Theo does some great stuff, but that doesn't mean he gets to bend how the world works to his will.
Just like the "I don't get any donations" rant from him a bit ago, he just doesn't seem to be well grounded in business realities. If you want donations, you need a tax-exempt foundation, not "make checks out to Theo." If you want data sheets, you might have to tell the company who you are and why you want them.
The company is manufacturing a drug (which they want classified as a "medical food" for FDA purposes) by tweaking the genes of a rice plant. The rice is ground up to make the "medical food."
The big controversy here (per the article) is growing this stuff out in the open where it could potentially cross-polinate or otherwise impact rice crops intended for food.
The rice itself isn't to be used as food. It's just a big open-air drug factory.
As someone said in another Slashdot article about this same topic, step 2 isn't needed.
Instead, do two things:
Pass a law that says that, by serving your porn from a.xxx domain, you have met any and all requirements regarding keeping the content from minors. This indemnification should be attractive to most pornographers.
Give the corresponding.xxx domain to every registered.com domain.
People who don't know what they're talking about tend to call the computer the "CPU."
As far as I know, in their retail stores, WalMart only sells bundles that include monitor, computer, keyboard, and mouse.
I don't believe they're selling parts or building systems in store - they're just letting the customer buy the monitor, keyboard, and mouse separately (or not at all.) The whole point is probably to let them advertise a $150 computer.
The summary is bogus. As far as I can tell from the article, all they're doing is unbundling the monitors (and possibly keyboards and mice) from the computer.
I'm guessing you aren't a trumpet player, either. The "button things" are valves. When pressed in various combinations, the length of the pipe varies, allowing more variation in pitch. But even without pressing any of the valves, you can play a variety of notes.
I played trombone in high school, and "Taps" is easily played without any valving (or slide, in the case of the trombone) changes. If the mouthpieces are the same, a bugle is just a simple trumpet.
I read somewhere that prior to the invention of the trumpet valves, similar versatility would be achieved by owning multiple bugles or having multiple bugle players, each with a different bugle. Different length of tubing = different notes you can play.
It's my guess that there isn't a shortage of competent players in the country (any high school with a band program should have several) but a shortage of MILITARY bugle players. You don't send the 16-year-old kid with long hair to play taps at the funeral; you want the adult, with short hair and military uniform. This device lets any military-type person play taps.
All the "civil rights" article you linked to really says is that the protester was charged with some stuff, which I believe are all misdemeanors, and that the charges weren't immediately dismissed by the judge.
She wasn't even locked up, she's been released pending further court actions.
Do you think China lets their protesters wander around free while their judicial system considers their rights? I somehow doubt it.
I don't really know what it means, "an organization the size of openbsd" or "that operates like openbsd." As far as I can tell, it's a benign dictatorship with Theo running the show.
I ran a company with 15 employees and 1.25 million in annual sales for around 5 years.
I currently work for a 20-billion dollar company as part of a team that deploys software routinely to 13,000 remote locations in the course of a few months. I think I know a little about organizations.
I've seen my mother run a NPO in her spare time (which isn't very spare) with a little help from some undermotivated volunteers.
WTF is the big deal? If Theo wants $100,000 Theo is going to have to jump thru some hoops. It's either IRS hoops or DARPA hoops or someone else's hoops, but there's going to be hoops, because I seriously doubt he's going to make it a geek at a time.
Either that or someone else needs to jump thru the hoops for him. Are there any volunteers here to set up a US-based OpenBSD Foundation?
It's been a joke around my department that we should just buy SCO rather than keep buying licenses from them, especially once they lose the IBM lawsuit.
As I recall, our total revenue was around $20,000,000,000 last year.
I said US-based because I assumed that would make it easier (possible?) to achieve 501(c)(3) status, which means the donation is tax deductible in the US, and there are probably more US companies than Canadian companies that would/could/should donate.
In a company of any size, there are a million checks and balances before money gets sent out.
To donate to OpenBSD you write a check to Theo. There's no OpenBSD foundation, no non-profit, nothing. So I'm supposed to go to my boss, who has to explain it to his, who has to explain it to his, to get a check cut to some guy in Canada because he does good stuff? I might be able to get a CD on the corporate AmEx, but a donation of any real size? No way!
If Theo wants money, Theo needs to set up a non-profit, preferably US-based, get tax exempt status, and see what happens. It isn't nearly as hard, complicated, or expensive as he thinks.
I doubt this is intended as an everyday fashion accessory. This is probably more suited for warehouse workers doing inventory, people interacting with customers on the go (like the rental car return guys at most airports,) hospital employees and so forth.
There are a lot of markets that use (or could use) something like this. Something that is very hard to drop would be good in that market segment.
Heck, even McDonald's (in USA at least) has a handheld device for inventory-taking purposes and another one for standing out in the drive thru taking orders.
If the cat wants to come in and watch, you let the cat come in and watch.
The noise of the cat throwing its body against the door trying to get in is much more disruptive than the cat sitting quietly in the bedroom, possibly purring.
I think it's probably an acquirer-processor who was compromised rather than a retailer. I think this because:
It can't possibly be difficult to spot the common retailer or processor for the compromised cards. The investigators know what company was compromised by now.
The company that was compromised hasn't been announced. If a retailer, all the banks and A/P's would be throwing that retailer out for sacrifice. The A/P has a lot more to lose - probably go out of business entirely.
At least at the retailer I work for, we don't even HAVE the key to decode the encrypted PIN block. In our POS, the PIN is encrypted in the card reader, in a module of the card reader that I understand to be seperate from the parts that can be easily programmed. The key is managed with the DUKPT standard (Derived Unique Key Per Transfer) based on a super-secret seed that's only known to the card reader manufacturer and the AP. That key is used for either DES or DES3 encryption (I'm not sure which) of the PIN, into the "encrypted PIN block" which is transmitted thru our system intact to the AP, who passes it (or the decrypted PIN, I'm not sure) to the issuing bank for validation. Even if you try to take the card reader apart to extract the DUKPT seed it's unlikely you can - removing a case screw, or even dropping the unit too hard, will wipe the seed.
Never mind wiring the home, I want nice big conduit reserved for low voltage wiring (and suitable for fiber, so appropriately gentle bends) to every wall of every room. If there's a door in the wall, I want conduit on both sides of the door. I'll get the wires pulled when I know what I need where.
At least under my insurance, prescriptions aren't free to me. As I understand it, if I were to get a script for percocet, go and get them, and sell them for $100, the difference between my copay (what it cost me) and the $100 (what I sold them for) would be taxable income.
The people who buy the drug and take it don't have a taxable event, because there is no gain, there is only expense.
The e-gold situation being taxable can be argued pretty much like this: If I'm a painter and have a plumber fix my bathroom in exchange for a painting, I have income based on the fair market value of the plumbing work, and the plumber has income based on the fair market value of the painting. Does the same rule apply if I give WoW $X per month and do some clicking and typing for them, in exchange for which they give me some e-gold?
I honestly don't know but it seems like an argument that our friends at the IRS could make.
The only reason the e-gold would be taxable is because it has real world value due to the market in it.
And tell me how you produced the e-gold. Did you knit the bits together yourself? I think it could be argued that you "won" the e-gold in the game you are playing.
I think it's all absurd, and could be extremely scary, but I think that a good case could be made.
Last I checked, the IRS doesn't scare easily. If they decide to go for this as income, I wouldn't be surprised (but IANAL) if it required review before a fairly high court before a firm decision was reached.
If I buy a bunch of metal and build a car, that isn't taxable income. There may be a capital gain, but that occurs when you sell the car you made.
But you don't build e-gold. You acquire it. For "work." If e-gold has any value in real world dollars then it is arguably taxable income. (I think it would be absurd, but it is a viable argument that could be made.)
My quilting example was a poor one in general, but it went to the idea of income generated by a hobby (quiting, gaming, etc) being taxable.
In another way, the e-gold is like winning the Cadillac playing slots at the casino - you spent some money (playing the slots, the monthly game fee) and got something of value (new car, e-gold.) The car is taxable income in the year you receive it, whether you sell it or not. So is the e-gold.
I would guess that it would be taxable income under the same theory, based on the real-world value of the Monopoly money, if the game play of Monopoly were such that players kept their Monopoly winnings essentially forever (or as long as they chose to keep it) and there were an active market (on eBay or the like) for Monopoly money.
Maybe you should ask Al Capone about that. As I recall (and Wikipedia agrees) he ultimately went to prison for tax evasion based on income from illegal gambling.
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You know what, if you'd wanted this 15 years ago, you would have phoned them up, given them the EXACT SAME INFO THEY'RE ASKING FOR on their web site, and they would have mailed it to you.
And a sales-person might have called to see if you wanted to buy some chips.
Theo's "50 questions" is email, name, company name, title, address, phone number, and "what is your project? What is your role? When do you want to buy some chips?" How about a little reality here. Theo does some great stuff, but that doesn't mean he gets to bend how the world works to his will.
Just like the "I don't get any donations" rant from him a bit ago, he just doesn't seem to be well grounded in business realities. If you want donations, you need a tax-exempt foundation, not "make checks out to Theo." If you want data sheets, you might have to tell the company who you are and why you want them.
The company is manufacturing a drug (which they want classified as a "medical food" for FDA purposes) by tweaking the genes of a rice plant. The rice is ground up to make the "medical food."
The big controversy here (per the article) is growing this stuff out in the open where it could potentially cross-polinate or otherwise impact rice crops intended for food.
The rice itself isn't to be used as food. It's just a big open-air drug factory.
Instead, do two things:
Problem solved.
As far as I know, in their retail stores, WalMart only sells bundles that include monitor, computer, keyboard, and mouse.
I don't believe they're selling parts or building systems in store - they're just letting the customer buy the monitor, keyboard, and mouse separately (or not at all.) The whole point is probably to let them advertise a $150 computer.
The summary is bogus. As far as I can tell from the article, all they're doing is unbundling the monitors (and possibly keyboards and mice) from the computer.
I played trombone in high school, and "Taps" is easily played without any valving (or slide, in the case of the trombone) changes. If the mouthpieces are the same, a bugle is just a simple trumpet.
I read somewhere that prior to the invention of the trumpet valves, similar versatility would be achieved by owning multiple bugles or having multiple bugle players, each with a different bugle. Different length of tubing = different notes you can play.
It's my guess that there isn't a shortage of competent players in the country (any high school with a band program should have several) but a shortage of MILITARY bugle players. You don't send the 16-year-old kid with long hair to play taps at the funeral; you want the adult, with short hair and military uniform. This device lets any military-type person play taps.
She wasn't even locked up, she's been released pending further court actions.
Do you think China lets their protesters wander around free while their judicial system considers their rights? I somehow doubt it.
I'll socialize it at the next team meeting. Hopefully we can achieve some good learnings.
I ran a company with 15 employees and 1.25 million in annual sales for around 5 years.
I currently work for a 20-billion dollar company as part of a team that deploys software routinely to 13,000 remote locations in the course of a few months. I think I know a little about organizations.
I've seen my mother run a NPO in her spare time (which isn't very spare) with a little help from some undermotivated volunteers.
WTF is the big deal? If Theo wants $100,000 Theo is going to have to jump thru some hoops. It's either IRS hoops or DARPA hoops or someone else's hoops, but there's going to be hoops, because I seriously doubt he's going to make it a geek at a time.
Either that or someone else needs to jump thru the hoops for him. Are there any volunteers here to set up a US-based OpenBSD Foundation?
It's been a joke around my department that we should just buy SCO rather than keep buying licenses from them, especially once they lose the IBM lawsuit.
As I recall, our total revenue was around $20,000,000,000 last year.
I said US-based because I assumed that would make it easier (possible?) to achieve 501(c)(3) status, which means the donation is tax deductible in the US, and there are probably more US companies than Canadian companies that would/could/should donate.
Companies don't just give money to people because they do good things. That isn't how it works most places.
To donate to OpenBSD you write a check to Theo. There's no OpenBSD foundation, no non-profit, nothing. So I'm supposed to go to my boss, who has to explain it to his, who has to explain it to his, to get a check cut to some guy in Canada because he does good stuff? I might be able to get a CD on the corporate AmEx, but a donation of any real size? No way!
If Theo wants money, Theo needs to set up a non-profit, preferably US-based, get tax exempt status, and see what happens. It isn't nearly as hard, complicated, or expensive as he thinks.
There are a lot of markets that use (or could use) something like this. Something that is very hard to drop would be good in that market segment.
Heck, even McDonald's (in USA at least) has a handheld device for inventory-taking purposes and another one for standing out in the drive thru taking orders.
The noise of the cat throwing its body against the door trying to get in is much more disruptive than the cat sitting quietly in the bedroom, possibly purring.
Never mind wiring the home, I want nice big conduit reserved for low voltage wiring (and suitable for fiber, so appropriately gentle bends) to every wall of every room. If there's a door in the wall, I want conduit on both sides of the door. I'll get the wires pulled when I know what I need where.
The people who buy the drug and take it don't have a taxable event, because there is no gain, there is only expense.
The e-gold situation being taxable can be argued pretty much like this: If I'm a painter and have a plumber fix my bathroom in exchange for a painting, I have income based on the fair market value of the plumbing work, and the plumber has income based on the fair market value of the painting. Does the same rule apply if I give WoW $X per month and do some clicking and typing for them, in exchange for which they give me some e-gold?
I honestly don't know but it seems like an argument that our friends at the IRS could make.
How is this useful? Can't you just use the styrene oil (I think that's what TFA called it) to make more polystyrene?
And if most polystyrene isn't recycled, how are you going to gather it up to feed it to the bacteria?
Or are we going to light the landfill on fire, then spray it with the bacteria?
I just feel like I'm missing something here....
And tell me how you produced the e-gold. Did you knit the bits together yourself? I think it could be argued that you "won" the e-gold in the game you are playing.
I think it's all absurd, and could be extremely scary, but I think that a good case could be made.
Last I checked, the IRS doesn't scare easily. If they decide to go for this as income, I wouldn't be surprised (but IANAL) if it required review before a fairly high court before a firm decision was reached.
But you don't build e-gold. You acquire it. For "work." If e-gold has any value in real world dollars then it is arguably taxable income. (I think it would be absurd, but it is a viable argument that could be made.)
In another way, the e-gold is like winning the Cadillac playing slots at the casino - you spent some money (playing the slots, the monthly game fee) and got something of value (new car, e-gold.) The car is taxable income in the year you receive it, whether you sell it or not. So is the e-gold.
No, because this isn't a purchase. This is like winning a new car in the church raffle - the value of the car is taxable income, even if you keep it.
I would guess that it would be taxable income under the same theory, based on the real-world value of the Monopoly money, if the game play of Monopoly were such that players kept their Monopoly winnings essentially forever (or as long as they chose to keep it) and there were an active market (on eBay or the like) for Monopoly money.
Maybe you should ask Al Capone about that. As I recall (and Wikipedia agrees) he ultimately went to prison for tax evasion based on income from illegal gambling.