Hmm... That seems a rather strange and unusual definition. TCP, for example, had connection while IP was without a direct connection but the internet would still have been covered by other protocols even if you're being a stickler. I took the liberty of digging out this link for you:
I'm not entirely sure that everyone will agree with your definition. I'm not sure why the major version (v4) is relevant when certain networks standardized on TCP/IP as early as 1982. Hmm...
Thanks. I'll have to have someone comb through my mail for me back home. I've asked them to keep a look out for anything that's important and then just open it and read it and let me know if it is (they're already *in* my house while I'm away, I trust them completely) but nothing has come up so far. I hate crossing time zones. This waking up at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning is for the birds.:/ Hell, not even the birds are up at this hour.
I think the people who crow the most and have the most opinions to share are the same people who know the least. I wonder if they comprehend what it means when I inform them that I, personally, own two *thousand* Tesla shares. Note the comment about not being able to get Apple devices or go in the stores as they wish. Well, if they had enough shares they'd sure as hell be able to work some sort of deal out if they wanted. Major shareholders get some pretty decent influence *if* they want to exercise it.
That's for long-term investments. Short-term investments (periods less than one year) are taxed as regular income tax. I'd agree, they're too low but what should they be and why? Note, again, it's only long-term investments that are taxed at those rates. If you make it high enough that the risk isn't worth it then many will just take *less* profit (gains) and use a lending institution and get a regular interest rate instead of investing in the market. I'd suggest that neither one of us is able to accurately opine on the matter with anything greater than speculation and intuition.
As for your other post - I agree entirely. I've never seen anyone *ever* taken to court (but it supposedly happens "all the time") when CEOs don't maximize shareholder value. I have no idea where that rule came from but fiduciary duty doesn't work quite like that as far as I'm aware. One of these days, I'll see some non-AC user make that claim AND be bored at the same time and I'll actually go digging through a few more case files and see what I can come up with. It's bound to happen. Given that I'll have to use paid searches and then re-pay may lawyer for the access, well, I'm kind of miserly when it comes to ACs making such claims and I'm pretty lazy in general these days.;-)
I did not know that. It'd be nice if it didn't but I can see why they would - it is doing some work. I only mined a bunch of 'em, forgot about 'em, and then donated 'em.:D That's the entirety of my use of BTC.
Did you get that with snail mail or email? I know they had my data, I don't know if it was included in the hack. I've sent a couple of emails and had nary a single response.
A point, you have one! And it's a good one, thanks. I'd not thought of that but it makes me think it's also far more likely that a bad UI will make it into the public than a bad program. We also don't see the kludge under the hood that may be the programming but we do see the UI. That may also impact our views on the subject.
Hell, I'm kind of grouchy that Opera beta changed the menu button from Opera to Menu. *sighs* They did it to improve the UX. It's trivial, I know, and it's in the same exact spot where it has been for ages but I still look and expect to see Opera and not Menu. They'll probably change it back in six months and it will bug me again. They seem to be in a flounder stage and have been for a couple of months now.
I maintain that open source is not, generally, ugly. I use LXDE in most cases - maybe Cinnamon. I like plain. I like knowing where stuff is when I go to look for it. I do change some colors but that's easy. It was fine the way it was and not ugly. I even make my own dock - now that's ugly.
I like the older stuff. I don't need live tiles, I don't need fancy sliding things. I do like some transparency in a few things (like looking through the terminal to see the text behind it) but even my terminal is themed mostly like an old green screen TRS-80.
I don't find it ugly at all. I find it just right. If I didn't, I'd change it.
I don't have that answer. Sorry. I truly do not know. We don't need to raise the taxes on large businesses. We need to force them to pay the amounts due. How to do that, while keeping the economy healthy, is beyond me. Simply put, I do not know. How do you stop greedy assholes from being greedy assholes when the rules allow them to do it? If you change the rules you may end up harming yourself.
I shall quote the great bard and poet, Ozzy Osbourne...
Everyone goes through changes. Looking to find the truth. Don't look to me for answers. Don't ask me, I don't know!
I don't think the tax code properly handles this world-wide economy. I don't think even the IRS understands the tax code any more. I don't think it's actually possible for anyone to truly understand all of it. I've always been a huge fan of making laws and regulations simple enough for a common person to understand them and then sticking with the spirit of the law and not the letter. Maybe we can simplify the tax code, enforce it unilaterally, and remove 99% of the gibberish that's in the tax code? I really don't know.
I have not one but several limited liability corporations and, according to the paperwork, the audits were (I'm not sure if this is verbatim) because of, "Random and/or computer screening." I passed with flying colors - I have good documentation kept on my behalf. I'm not sure how much information you can get from this link but this link mentions the program:
As it's a Limited Liability Corporation (complete with president, vice president, and treasurer) it's considered a small business. I'm guessing it probably was the generation process. I'd just recently sold and had gone through a lot of work with lawyers and accountants and had ended up setting up three of them in a row plus a couple of trusts. It was probably flagged as suspicious by the computer? I don't really know and I don't think they ever were willing to divulge their reasons.
I've read about some really, really evil stuff that the IRS has done - like come stomping in and freezing your assets and whatnot, even without trial or due process. It was nothing like that. I went to two meetings each time. I spent maybe an hour at each one and my lawyer dealt with the rest. Rather than be an idiot, I went to a lawyer, finance manager, and accountant while the business was still in the process of selling. I had no idea what I was doing and it was rather overwhelming so I consulted people who knew what they were talking about and shut up and listened. I dare say, that policy has served me well over the years. It's a recurring theme.
I'd watched a documentary, not long before the first audit, where some guy had a restaurant business (small, a couple of them as I recall) and they came in and pretty much destroyed his life by freezing his assets which made him default, owe more money, and they cleared him at the end with not so much as an apology but leaving him in ruin. I was pretty damned scared. Fortunately, it was nothing like that and everything was accounted for and all the documentation was in order.
I'd not done anything different the second time around and don't recall doing anything that might have triggered something but, then again, they're not exactly open about what "random" or 'computer selected" means. Meh... Buggered if I know. If you do get to a position where you manage to accumulate some wealth quickly, hire a professional - several of them. There are some crazy rules and they don't exactly make them clear. An example is, part of the sale was stock in the now-parent company. I was unable to divest for either 60 days or 6 months (I forget which) or the SEC would have come in with things like arrest warrants and asset seizures.
Oh, no need. I have a personally owned LLC already. I'm quite familiar, if not entirely fluent, with it. I have an accountant and a lawyer who takes care of that sort of stuff for me. I know the basics and can probably explain it in detail but I can't cite all the particular regulations and I don't have the documentation to hand as I'm in Florida at the moment and my home is way up in Maine.
I can *easily* pay far fewer taxes than I do pay. I'm just kind of lazy and not really a dick. I don't even write off all charitable giving or keep enough receipts to bother with. (My accountant kind of hates me at times. She's good people but rather frugal.) I've been fortunate in life and I don't see any reason to change that fortune by starting to act like a dick now. Well, more of a dick. So, I pay my taxes in full and probably pay more than I am actually legally obligated to pay.
In another response, I mentioned how easy it would be for me to have my LLC lose money. I can hire some kid to write reviews of products that I buy and "sell" those (nobody will buy them - thankfully) and pay no taxes on those items as they're a business expense. I can then write off his salary. Hell, I can claim depreciation on my car and claim it all at once or amortize it over time. I don't 'cause I'm not a dick and, really, I might pay 23% (I don't do short-term investing, I made that mistake one year) in taxes which is far lower than it could be. I've got it pretty good, really. So, I don't really abuse it and I'd like to think that I make up for it by donating to worthy causes.
So, no, I'm not getting screwed - you might be but I'm not. I'm also not screwing you, I'm reasonably ethical but not entirely altruistic. I've got some accumulated wealth, not nearly as much as it sounds like on paper, and I know that I didn't get here on my own. My obligations are my taxes and I pay those. As an aside: I do get a bit pissed when people claim that I owe more. No, I don't. The social contract is taxes. I pay more because I *feel* obligated not because I *am* obligated.
Another fun way to avoid taxes is with trusts. You're going to donate anyhow, right? Well, put some money into a trust that donates to charitable organizations and structure it properly so the bylaws make it so that only tax-exempt charities are those that will get donations and now you can not only write-off the depreciation in value for the donations but you can pay yourself a stipend. At least that's how I understand it. The stipend, if properly done, is tax-free income. I've never actually even remotely considered being so sleazy but I'm told it's possible. It's a great way to give a tax-free income to your spouse... *sighs*
I really probably could find a way to pay almost no federal taxes at all, for the most part. There's a loophole for *everything* it seems. The worst part? They're legal. The only tax that I'll be working (and have worked) to really avoid is the death tax. I have my reasons. The money can go to charities and a little can go to my kids, pay for scholarships, etc... So, that's avoided easily enough as well. Well, the vast majority of it is avoided. It's quite surprising what I don't "own." Trusts and limited liability corporations are handy. When I die, I want to be able to keep giving to charities. The USG is not a charity. I want them to be able to gain in perpetuity. I don't want it wasted on a bomber.
I didn't say speeding. I said driving too fast for the conditions. If you were unable to stop in time, then you were driving too fast for the conditions - not necessarily speeding. If you're driving five miles per hour down a snowy lane and you slide into the ditch, you were driving too fast for the conditions. Sometimes, and in some vehicles, that speed is any speed greater than zero.
I do not do a whole lot of searching at search engines any more. I mostly know where everything I need is and how to find it without the aid of a search engine. I've got bookmarks, etc... If they ask me to not use their property then I'm not going to not follow their rules. I'd be right pissed if you didn't follow the rules when using my property. Obviously, I'd not have stupid rules like no ad blocking but you get the idea.
I was looking at another one of your comments. With micro-payments? Maybe that's an area for bitcoin?
Mix his other work, uMatrix in with it. uMatrix is like an old-school software firewall except for your browser. It is awesome. It's now available on Firefox as well as Opera and Chromium. There's also HTTP Switchboard which is a bit complicated for an average user but I imagine you'd be fine with it. Here's a list of his work for Opera:
I've offered to send him donations before and he refuses to accept donations.:/ I have no idea why. It's not like I was trying to buy influence and I was only going to send him a couple hundred bucks or something trivial. I just like his software and figured I'd reward him for the effort. I've been using uMatrix for years and I used ABP with it at the same time. I then used uBlock with it for a while but I've taken to not even letting that run as of late. It's installed but disabled. uMatrix seems to catch pretty much everything out there at the sites I visit - I've spent a long time curating my settings as I visit various sites over the years and I just export/import the settings so that I have them on all the computers.
Meh, it works well. There's a slight learning curve, but if you're a Slashdot user, you should be able to figure it out pretty quickly. Basically, anything not from the domain is blocked by default. Cookies are blocked, etc... I just whitelist certain things at certain sites as needed and then save the settings for future use. I've got quite a rule set now but it isn't hard to get started. It makes the web a much more enjoyable place. If a site asks me to disable my ad blocker then I just leave. It's their property, they've a right to make that request.
Define internet? We've been able to dial into a computer or a networked computer for a very long time - even using acoustic coupler cradle modems. If you had access then you could, perhaps, dial in to a university network from remote but a lot of the internet was dialing into some guy's computer across town and he had a BBS running. Long distance charges may apply. So, what you'd do is connect to one system that would enable you to connect to another system and then, with propagation, you could even do stuff like send emails to Australia. (It may take a day or two to get there.)
Internet vs. WWW? Well, WWW is pretty new and there was some overlap for a while but I don't know of any dial-in BBS systems any more. I do have an inbound call router at home and have thought about making one again. I used to run a BBS for a while but that was after I got over my loathing of a "damned useless" computer. (I was kind of old when I first got into them and they were not point and click.)
There's a whole ton of shit to share, the history and whatnot, but I only know a small part of it. I'm sure others here are more fluent and articulate than I. Suffice to say, the internet was available from home and with some difficulty prior to the early 1990s an the World Wide Web. Some folks even had a few networked computers that you could dial into. I had two, at one point, 40 MB drives and I was the cock of the walk! I had BACKUPS! Man, that'll save some time.
In retrospect, the blink element does, kind of, still amuse me. Blinking rainbow text is how I know that I'm on a site that's full of valuable information!
I realize that this may sound foreign or strange to some folks but one of the primary reasons that I retired to Maine is that Maine has a law that prohibits billboards. There are a couple of historical exceptions but those are finally removed when they fall into disrepair and most of those have faded away now except for a few. I know, that seems trivial and it may seem like a bizarre reason but it was really something that made it to my list of pros and cons - it was actually higher on the list than I'd expected. I really value not being bombarded with ads.
I've been on wanderlust since September. I really hate the billboards but they were kind of interesting at first. They've come a long ways.
Anyhow, I don't mind some ads but I have been blocking most of them since the 1990s. I used to use some strange software, I do not recall the name, that basically ran as a proxy that let you have definitions, domain names, wildcards, and that sort of thing. I then expanded and started using the hosts file (hello APK) and that was okay but not refined enough for my needs. Today? Well, I'll tolerate a few reasonable ads but I don't find many sites that do that. I'll even click on a nice text link that tells me what you're selling. I might even buy it.
We used to get ads to "Call in to this new and exciting BBS!" Then we got GIFs that took three minutes (or more) to download. Then they started putting them in the way. Then they started blinking. I was pretty pissed by then and I haven't really seen much in the way of ads ever since. It's the first thing I do with a computer - even if it's not mine (I get permission, obviously). Just put text ads. I'm fine with those and I might even click 'em. Don't put them in the way. Don't try to force me to pay attention to them.
On the other hand, if a site says that they don't want me to access it with an ad blocking utility installed then I hit the back button. It's their property, it's their rules.
I dunno what to make of it but I still block ads. I see a few of them at sites where the company is kind enough to just put up texts or host them themselves (some of those get through). Scripting is disabled by default so I don't really see much else. *shrugs* I use uMatrix and am pretty happy with it. I stopped using ABP not long ago and installed uBlock but that's actually disabled at the moment 'cause I don't appear to need it any more. Everyone's moved their ads to running some sort of script so I don't see 'em.
At any rate... I've no idea what to make of it but I thought I'd add a bit to the mix. I just don't like ads much. It's nice to drive out through the country and look at things other than billboards. It's nice to cruise the information superhighway (yeah, I just said that *puts on shades*) and not be bombarded with ads either. Maine's laws prevent certain sizes and you can only have ads for your own business and on your property and stuff like that, as I recall. It's kind of nice but it's a horrible place and you wouldn't want to live there. Nope... Don't even *think* of moving there. The natives have guns and the economy is even worse.
You're aware that long-term investments are taxed at a lower percentage, right? That's how I get the numbers that I do get - I don't do short-term investing, ever. Perhaps you did not understand what I wrote? Short-term investing is taxed at a much higher rate than long-term investments. Justifiably so.
Well, you can always force them to take their money out of the market if you want but it's gonna destroy your economy. I don't imagine you're going to get some sort of one time asset tax going on (nor would you want to pay one) so they'll just move it into something else or put it overseas and simply pay themselves a salary while the investments work for a different economy. Yeah, you're kind of fucked. 'Snot really much you can do about it, either.
I'd suggest raising capital gains taxes some but where that line is I don't know. I couldn't care less about taxes, really. Hell, I can write off more than I already do. I do care how they're spent. I'd not mind paying more in taxes if it went to giving universal health care, education, a social safety net, and not to the military industrial complex and bombing little brown men. You'd actually have to raise my taxes quite a bit before I, personally, gave a shit. Then I'd just avoid them, there's loads of fun ways to do that and they're all perfectly legal. You'd be surprised how much money I can make a LLC lose in a year while I pay myself a stipend. Hell, I'll just hire some minimum wage junkie to review the products that I buy and "sell" the reviews. I can lose money with the best of 'em - I've learned some interesting things since selling.
Not to worry, I am far too lazy for all that shit and will just pay my taxes. I also don't really have enough to go through all that effort, I don't think. I'm kind of lazy these days. I can't speak for others but there's probably a finite amount you can raise those taxes before doing severe harm to your economy. The wealthy might be assholes but they're greedy assholes so they'll keep investing so long as it is profitable. Take that away and, well... I guess you can make that choice - you are in the majority. I imagine that many have money overseas already and can just as easily bail, set up a company, and pay that company in a new country, and pay fewer taxes there. I've not looked into it but I imagine there's a finite number where I would look into it.
Don't get me wrong, I've said time and time again - I'm taxed too little. I know this, you know this, we all know this. I could pay even less in taxes than I do - I get bitched at regularly for not doing so 'cause my accountant is a smart lady. What you might be missing is that I keep three people employed directly and pay partial salaries to countless others including some investments in small businesses for friends and family. That's the kind of thing you want me to do. I invest in companies like Tesla (I've a couple thousand shares, thanks) and help keep all sorts of people able to pay their taxes.
So where that line is, we can discuss that. I'd agree, entirely, that my tax rate is kinda silly. I pay a lower percentage in taxes than my housekeeper. I pay far more in total but a much lower percentage. I know what she pays - I have my accountant do her taxes for her. However, it's a fine line and you need to be aware of what you're advocating and what the percentages "should be." I'd speculate that you're probably outraged by it all but don't actually have the expertise to make those sorts of judgment calls. Neither do I. How about we ask some smart people and have a discussion without frothing at the mouth and making a bunch of silly accusations that are far too broad to miss the finer details. Eh?
I don't know why you'd reach that conclusion. Just because they're idiots doesn't mean they'll have a collision every time they mess up. Keep in mind that almost every single vehicle accident, ever, can be attributed to *someone* driving too fast for the conditions. (Not all accidents, of course. Just almost all of them.) Don't let them lure you into a false sense of security. If you didn't notice 'em that means they were just being lucky while you watched. If you were able to watch longer, you'd find 'em doing something stupid. It doesn't always mean there's an accident.
Yeah, there's a whole slew of externalities to be taken into account. This even means with EVs and hybrids. Batteries are horrible for the environment and the process of getting those minerals isn't very nice either. Solar? Heh... Don't get me wrong - I love solar but, from what I've read, it's not exactly the most environmentally friendly thing to make.
I don't think I'll ever get all the data that I want. I don't think that I'll ever be able to make a truly informed purchase - while I'm certainly able to estimate some of it, it's not truly informed. That's not saying that I'd take the ideal choice every time. In fact, I doubt I'd do so at all. I'd probably look for a healthy balance and consider ways to offset my impact. As it stands, I can only make some vague estimates and go from there.
I guess it's okay, I own a whole lot of trees which are either preserved or on improvement lots which get "Timber Stand Improvement" done and don't even need replanting as they take care of that on their own. That and the paper companies replanted a whole bunch of it before I bought it.
You speak the truth. My accountant is a dear old lady who worked for the State's revenue department until retiring to open her own practice. She's, well, I'm not going to say that she's unethical or anything but she's really creative. I have no idea what witchcraft she does nor do I pretend to understand it. I'm just really grateful for her.
For my own amusement, I've done my own taxes and then brought them in for her to correct. Heh... She still bitches at me for donating anonymously. She tells me countless ways to save money. She's not devious, that's not the word. She's... Hmm... I'm just going to have to stick with "creative."
Like you said, it is indeed an art. I've been just fine after two audits after retiring. They are, I'm told, random audits in both cases but I'd like to know how they're defining random. I notice that both audits happened after I'd sold and retired.:/
I don't recall the exact details but I remember a study that concluded that if you bought a new vehicle and the new vehicle got twice as many miles per gallon than the old one that the energy used to produce the new vehicle, combined with the increase efficiency, would take something like 35 years to pay off. Taking into account the manufacturing, mining, and whatnot for these EVs would probably not be easy data to find - I've tried. There's environmental harm in anything and it's probably better to just keep an old vehicle well maintained than it is to buy a new one.
This is probably going to turn into a novella. Sometimes the things I have to say don't fit in a twitter sized post. Feel free to just ignore the rest.
People don't like taking into account the externalities. I think we're on the same page here. They call EV "emission free" or similar. No, probably not. At the tailpipe? Sure. But there are emissions associated with the production, mining of the rare minerals, generation of electricity, etc... (And no, saying that they got the energy from solar panels doesn't count - those didn't just magic themselves into existence.)
It's a bit misleading. The production process for solar and batteries is terrible, we just offload it to China so that we don't need to account for it here. We buy "renewable" power from the power company so that we feel better but, really, they're probably overselling the hell out of it and you're just getting your power from natural gas or coal. It's not like you can tell the difference and actually have a choice (in many cases). Once the energy is put into the wires, you don't just get to split off a chunk that says, "I'm from a renewable resource!" I believe the term is "green washing."
What I would like is an RV that is a hybrid like the electric trains that have an all electric drivetrain and use a diesel generator to provide electricity but I'd like to be able to plug it in and store energy that way. I am told that I can buy a custom rig but I've not looked into it and I do have to adhere to some budgeting standards. I am not, of course, an altruist. Not entirely. I'd like it because it'd make me feel good and I can give it a good charge from home and get started on my journeys that way. I'd like it because it's using fewer resources, as I use it, than I might otherwise use. I'm fully aware that there's a huge amount of resources and energy going into the creation of such.
That said, I've been pushing nearly 100% of the energy that's made at home into the grid since I've gone on my wanderlust. Well, it's much less wander now that I've managed to acquire a companion in my journey but I'm sticking with wanderlust anyhow. It's still a near certainty that I'll be buying a Tesla this year. I am an automobile aficionado, how can I not buy an EV? It will probably get the most use from the missus. I'm assuming she'd not operate it in ludicrous mode. I thought her to drive a standard and the power that my BMW has scares the hell out of her, I'm assuming she'll be not using sport or ludicrous modes. I, on the other hand, will likely make full use of said modes just to amuse myself and because I have the impulse control of a five year old.
So, it may actually be more harmful for us to just go out and replace our vehicles with EVs than it is to keep using what we have until they're no longer fit for use but I'll still be buying one. I don't generate power with solar and wind because it's cost effective - it isn't, at least for me. They'll likely never pay themselves off because I'll replace them with newer generations as they come online. (I can sell the older stuff back to the installer, he's more than happy to take the stuff back.) I'll not be buying an EV because it's "better" for the environment. I'll be buying it because it's reached the point where it is practical and valuable.
I'd like to have these numbers. I'd like to make informed choices. I may not make ideal choices but I may make more ideal choices. It's like the people who post that EVs have
I admit, I am no expert. However, I've yet to find any lawsuit that matches their claims. There are all sorts of claims about fiduciary duty and many lawsuits that purport to support their claims but I've not seen any evidence of any of those things. I hear tell that even the failure of absolute maximum profits makes the CEO, board, and company liable to the stakeholders. I'm told there are countless cases to prove this. I've asked for citations. So far, I've not found any that supported even bare minimal claims.
You don't actually understand why capital gains are taxed at the rate they're taxed, do you? The percentage can, arguably, be discussed but first you should understand the reason that the rates are as low as they are. The reason they're low is because you want me to keep my money invested and you want me to do so in the long-term area.
So, I do. I'm taxed at a very low rate (about 15% or so federally and maybe 8% at the State level) and I keep my money invested in the market instead of socked away in a bunch of smaller accounts in various savings institutions. I take more risks but I have a greater earnings potential. Also, it's actually kind of easy to avoid a lot of taxes if you want to be a dick about it. It's entirely lawful, tax avoidance is legal while tax evasion is illegal.
Slashdot Mirror
Hmm... That seems a rather strange and unusual definition. TCP, for example, had connection while IP was without a direct connection but the internet would still have been covered by other protocols even if you're being a stickler. I took the liberty of digging out this link for you:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
I'm not entirely sure that everyone will agree with your definition. I'm not sure why the major version (v4) is relevant when certain networks standardized on TCP/IP as early as 1982. Hmm...
Thanks. I'll have to have someone comb through my mail for me back home. I've asked them to keep a look out for anything that's important and then just open it and read it and let me know if it is (they're already *in* my house while I'm away, I trust them completely) but nothing has come up so far. I hate crossing time zones. This waking up at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning is for the birds. :/ Hell, not even the birds are up at this hour.
I think the people who crow the most and have the most opinions to share are the same people who know the least. I wonder if they comprehend what it means when I inform them that I, personally, own two *thousand* Tesla shares. Note the comment about not being able to get Apple devices or go in the stores as they wish. Well, if they had enough shares they'd sure as hell be able to work some sort of deal out if they wanted. Major shareholders get some pretty decent influence *if* they want to exercise it.
That's for long-term investments. Short-term investments (periods less than one year) are taxed as regular income tax. I'd agree, they're too low but what should they be and why? Note, again, it's only long-term investments that are taxed at those rates. If you make it high enough that the risk isn't worth it then many will just take *less* profit (gains) and use a lending institution and get a regular interest rate instead of investing in the market. I'd suggest that neither one of us is able to accurately opine on the matter with anything greater than speculation and intuition.
As for your other post - I agree entirely. I've never seen anyone *ever* taken to court (but it supposedly happens "all the time") when CEOs don't maximize shareholder value. I have no idea where that rule came from but fiduciary duty doesn't work quite like that as far as I'm aware. One of these days, I'll see some non-AC user make that claim AND be bored at the same time and I'll actually go digging through a few more case files and see what I can come up with. It's bound to happen. Given that I'll have to use paid searches and then re-pay may lawyer for the access, well, I'm kind of miserly when it comes to ACs making such claims and I'm pretty lazy in general these days. ;-)
I did not know that. It'd be nice if it didn't but I can see why they would - it is doing some work. I only mined a bunch of 'em, forgot about 'em, and then donated 'em. :D That's the entirety of my use of BTC.
Did you get that with snail mail or email? I know they had my data, I don't know if it was included in the hack. I've sent a couple of emails and had nary a single response.
A point, you have one! And it's a good one, thanks. I'd not thought of that but it makes me think it's also far more likely that a bad UI will make it into the public than a bad program. We also don't see the kludge under the hood that may be the programming but we do see the UI. That may also impact our views on the subject.
Hell, I'm kind of grouchy that Opera beta changed the menu button from Opera to Menu. *sighs* They did it to improve the UX. It's trivial, I know, and it's in the same exact spot where it has been for ages but I still look and expect to see Opera and not Menu. They'll probably change it back in six months and it will bug me again. They seem to be in a flounder stage and have been for a couple of months now.
I maintain that open source is not, generally, ugly. I use LXDE in most cases - maybe Cinnamon. I like plain. I like knowing where stuff is when I go to look for it. I do change some colors but that's easy. It was fine the way it was and not ugly. I even make my own dock - now that's ugly.
I like the older stuff. I don't need live tiles, I don't need fancy sliding things. I do like some transparency in a few things (like looking through the terminal to see the text behind it) but even my terminal is themed mostly like an old green screen TRS-80.
I don't find it ugly at all. I find it just right. If I didn't, I'd change it.
I don't have that answer. Sorry. I truly do not know. We don't need to raise the taxes on large businesses. We need to force them to pay the amounts due. How to do that, while keeping the economy healthy, is beyond me. Simply put, I do not know. How do you stop greedy assholes from being greedy assholes when the rules allow them to do it? If you change the rules you may end up harming yourself.
I shall quote the great bard and poet, Ozzy Osbourne...
Everyone goes through changes.
Looking to find the truth.
Don't look to me for answers.
Don't ask me, I don't know!
I don't think the tax code properly handles this world-wide economy. I don't think even the IRS understands the tax code any more. I don't think it's actually possible for anyone to truly understand all of it. I've always been a huge fan of making laws and regulations simple enough for a common person to understand them and then sticking with the spirit of the law and not the letter. Maybe we can simplify the tax code, enforce it unilaterally, and remove 99% of the gibberish that's in the tax code? I really don't know.
I have not one but several limited liability corporations and, according to the paperwork, the audits were (I'm not sure if this is verbatim) because of, "Random and/or computer screening." I passed with flying colors - I have good documentation kept on my behalf. I'm not sure how much information you can get from this link but this link mentions the program:
https://www.irs.gov/Businesses...
As it's a Limited Liability Corporation (complete with president, vice president, and treasurer) it's considered a small business. I'm guessing it probably was the generation process. I'd just recently sold and had gone through a lot of work with lawyers and accountants and had ended up setting up three of them in a row plus a couple of trusts. It was probably flagged as suspicious by the computer? I don't really know and I don't think they ever were willing to divulge their reasons.
I've read about some really, really evil stuff that the IRS has done - like come stomping in and freezing your assets and whatnot, even without trial or due process. It was nothing like that. I went to two meetings each time. I spent maybe an hour at each one and my lawyer dealt with the rest. Rather than be an idiot, I went to a lawyer, finance manager, and accountant while the business was still in the process of selling. I had no idea what I was doing and it was rather overwhelming so I consulted people who knew what they were talking about and shut up and listened. I dare say, that policy has served me well over the years. It's a recurring theme.
I'd watched a documentary, not long before the first audit, where some guy had a restaurant business (small, a couple of them as I recall) and they came in and pretty much destroyed his life by freezing his assets which made him default, owe more money, and they cleared him at the end with not so much as an apology but leaving him in ruin. I was pretty damned scared. Fortunately, it was nothing like that and everything was accounted for and all the documentation was in order.
I'd not done anything different the second time around and don't recall doing anything that might have triggered something but, then again, they're not exactly open about what "random" or 'computer selected" means. Meh... Buggered if I know. If you do get to a position where you manage to accumulate some wealth quickly, hire a professional - several of them. There are some crazy rules and they don't exactly make them clear. An example is, part of the sale was stock in the now-parent company. I was unable to divest for either 60 days or 6 months (I forget which) or the SEC would have come in with things like arrest warrants and asset seizures.
Oh, no need. I have a personally owned LLC already. I'm quite familiar, if not entirely fluent, with it. I have an accountant and a lawyer who takes care of that sort of stuff for me. I know the basics and can probably explain it in detail but I can't cite all the particular regulations and I don't have the documentation to hand as I'm in Florida at the moment and my home is way up in Maine.
I can *easily* pay far fewer taxes than I do pay. I'm just kind of lazy and not really a dick. I don't even write off all charitable giving or keep enough receipts to bother with. (My accountant kind of hates me at times. She's good people but rather frugal.) I've been fortunate in life and I don't see any reason to change that fortune by starting to act like a dick now. Well, more of a dick. So, I pay my taxes in full and probably pay more than I am actually legally obligated to pay.
In another response, I mentioned how easy it would be for me to have my LLC lose money. I can hire some kid to write reviews of products that I buy and "sell" those (nobody will buy them - thankfully) and pay no taxes on those items as they're a business expense. I can then write off his salary. Hell, I can claim depreciation on my car and claim it all at once or amortize it over time. I don't 'cause I'm not a dick and, really, I might pay 23% (I don't do short-term investing, I made that mistake one year) in taxes which is far lower than it could be. I've got it pretty good, really. So, I don't really abuse it and I'd like to think that I make up for it by donating to worthy causes.
So, no, I'm not getting screwed - you might be but I'm not. I'm also not screwing you, I'm reasonably ethical but not entirely altruistic. I've got some accumulated wealth, not nearly as much as it sounds like on paper, and I know that I didn't get here on my own. My obligations are my taxes and I pay those. As an aside: I do get a bit pissed when people claim that I owe more. No, I don't. The social contract is taxes. I pay more because I *feel* obligated not because I *am* obligated.
Another fun way to avoid taxes is with trusts. You're going to donate anyhow, right? Well, put some money into a trust that donates to charitable organizations and structure it properly so the bylaws make it so that only tax-exempt charities are those that will get donations and now you can not only write-off the depreciation in value for the donations but you can pay yourself a stipend. At least that's how I understand it. The stipend, if properly done, is tax-free income. I've never actually even remotely considered being so sleazy but I'm told it's possible. It's a great way to give a tax-free income to your spouse... *sighs*
I really probably could find a way to pay almost no federal taxes at all, for the most part. There's a loophole for *everything* it seems. The worst part? They're legal. The only tax that I'll be working (and have worked) to really avoid is the death tax. I have my reasons. The money can go to charities and a little can go to my kids, pay for scholarships, etc... So, that's avoided easily enough as well. Well, the vast majority of it is avoided. It's quite surprising what I don't "own." Trusts and limited liability corporations are handy. When I die, I want to be able to keep giving to charities. The USG is not a charity. I want them to be able to gain in perpetuity. I don't want it wasted on a bomber.
I didn't say speeding. I said driving too fast for the conditions. If you were unable to stop in time, then you were driving too fast for the conditions - not necessarily speeding. If you're driving five miles per hour down a snowy lane and you slide into the ditch, you were driving too fast for the conditions. Sometimes, and in some vehicles, that speed is any speed greater than zero.
I do not do a whole lot of searching at search engines any more. I mostly know where everything I need is and how to find it without the aid of a search engine. I've got bookmarks, etc... If they ask me to not use their property then I'm not going to not follow their rules. I'd be right pissed if you didn't follow the rules when using my property. Obviously, I'd not have stupid rules like no ad blocking but you get the idea.
I was looking at another one of your comments. With micro-payments? Maybe that's an area for bitcoin?
Mix his other work, uMatrix in with it. uMatrix is like an old-school software firewall except for your browser. It is awesome. It's now available on Firefox as well as Opera and Chromium. There's also HTTP Switchboard which is a bit complicated for an average user but I imagine you'd be fine with it. Here's a list of his work for Opera:
https://addons.opera.com/en/se...
I've offered to send him donations before and he refuses to accept donations. :/ I have no idea why. It's not like I was trying to buy influence and I was only going to send him a couple hundred bucks or something trivial. I just like his software and figured I'd reward him for the effort. I've been using uMatrix for years and I used ABP with it at the same time. I then used uBlock with it for a while but I've taken to not even letting that run as of late. It's installed but disabled. uMatrix seems to catch pretty much everything out there at the sites I visit - I've spent a long time curating my settings as I visit various sites over the years and I just export/import the settings so that I have them on all the computers.
Meh, it works well. There's a slight learning curve, but if you're a Slashdot user, you should be able to figure it out pretty quickly. Basically, anything not from the domain is blocked by default. Cookies are blocked, etc... I just whitelist certain things at certain sites as needed and then save the settings for future use. I've got quite a rule set now but it isn't hard to get started. It makes the web a much more enjoyable place. If a site asks me to disable my ad blocker then I just leave. It's their property, they've a right to make that request.
Define internet? We've been able to dial into a computer or a networked computer for a very long time - even using acoustic coupler cradle modems. If you had access then you could, perhaps, dial in to a university network from remote but a lot of the internet was dialing into some guy's computer across town and he had a BBS running. Long distance charges may apply. So, what you'd do is connect to one system that would enable you to connect to another system and then, with propagation, you could even do stuff like send emails to Australia. (It may take a day or two to get there.)
Internet vs. WWW? Well, WWW is pretty new and there was some overlap for a while but I don't know of any dial-in BBS systems any more. I do have an inbound call router at home and have thought about making one again. I used to run a BBS for a while but that was after I got over my loathing of a "damned useless" computer. (I was kind of old when I first got into them and they were not point and click.)
There's a whole ton of shit to share, the history and whatnot, but I only know a small part of it. I'm sure others here are more fluent and articulate than I. Suffice to say, the internet was available from home and with some difficulty prior to the early 1990s an the World Wide Web. Some folks even had a few networked computers that you could dial into. I had two, at one point, 40 MB drives and I was the cock of the walk! I had BACKUPS! Man, that'll save some time.
In retrospect, the blink element does, kind of, still amuse me. Blinking rainbow text is how I know that I'm on a site that's full of valuable information!
I realize that this may sound foreign or strange to some folks but one of the primary reasons that I retired to Maine is that Maine has a law that prohibits billboards. There are a couple of historical exceptions but those are finally removed when they fall into disrepair and most of those have faded away now except for a few. I know, that seems trivial and it may seem like a bizarre reason but it was really something that made it to my list of pros and cons - it was actually higher on the list than I'd expected. I really value not being bombarded with ads.
I've been on wanderlust since September. I really hate the billboards but they were kind of interesting at first. They've come a long ways.
Anyhow, I don't mind some ads but I have been blocking most of them since the 1990s. I used to use some strange software, I do not recall the name, that basically ran as a proxy that let you have definitions, domain names, wildcards, and that sort of thing. I then expanded and started using the hosts file (hello APK) and that was okay but not refined enough for my needs. Today? Well, I'll tolerate a few reasonable ads but I don't find many sites that do that. I'll even click on a nice text link that tells me what you're selling. I might even buy it.
We used to get ads to "Call in to this new and exciting BBS!" Then we got GIFs that took three minutes (or more) to download. Then they started putting them in the way. Then they started blinking. I was pretty pissed by then and I haven't really seen much in the way of ads ever since. It's the first thing I do with a computer - even if it's not mine (I get permission, obviously). Just put text ads. I'm fine with those and I might even click 'em. Don't put them in the way. Don't try to force me to pay attention to them.
On the other hand, if a site says that they don't want me to access it with an ad blocking utility installed then I hit the back button. It's their property, it's their rules.
I dunno what to make of it but I still block ads. I see a few of them at sites where the company is kind enough to just put up texts or host them themselves (some of those get through). Scripting is disabled by default so I don't really see much else. *shrugs* I use uMatrix and am pretty happy with it. I stopped using ABP not long ago and installed uBlock but that's actually disabled at the moment 'cause I don't appear to need it any more. Everyone's moved their ads to running some sort of script so I don't see 'em.
At any rate... I've no idea what to make of it but I thought I'd add a bit to the mix. I just don't like ads much. It's nice to drive out through the country and look at things other than billboards. It's nice to cruise the information superhighway (yeah, I just said that *puts on shades*) and not be bombarded with ads either. Maine's laws prevent certain sizes and you can only have ads for your own business and on your property and stuff like that, as I recall. It's kind of nice but it's a horrible place and you wouldn't want to live there. Nope... Don't even *think* of moving there. The natives have guns and the economy is even worse.
You're aware that long-term investments are taxed at a lower percentage, right? That's how I get the numbers that I do get - I don't do short-term investing, ever. Perhaps you did not understand what I wrote? Short-term investing is taxed at a much higher rate than long-term investments. Justifiably so.
Well, you can always force them to take their money out of the market if you want but it's gonna destroy your economy. I don't imagine you're going to get some sort of one time asset tax going on (nor would you want to pay one) so they'll just move it into something else or put it overseas and simply pay themselves a salary while the investments work for a different economy. Yeah, you're kind of fucked. 'Snot really much you can do about it, either.
I'd suggest raising capital gains taxes some but where that line is I don't know. I couldn't care less about taxes, really. Hell, I can write off more than I already do. I do care how they're spent. I'd not mind paying more in taxes if it went to giving universal health care, education, a social safety net, and not to the military industrial complex and bombing little brown men. You'd actually have to raise my taxes quite a bit before I, personally, gave a shit. Then I'd just avoid them, there's loads of fun ways to do that and they're all perfectly legal. You'd be surprised how much money I can make a LLC lose in a year while I pay myself a stipend. Hell, I'll just hire some minimum wage junkie to review the products that I buy and "sell" the reviews. I can lose money with the best of 'em - I've learned some interesting things since selling.
Not to worry, I am far too lazy for all that shit and will just pay my taxes. I also don't really have enough to go through all that effort, I don't think. I'm kind of lazy these days. I can't speak for others but there's probably a finite amount you can raise those taxes before doing severe harm to your economy. The wealthy might be assholes but they're greedy assholes so they'll keep investing so long as it is profitable. Take that away and, well... I guess you can make that choice - you are in the majority. I imagine that many have money overseas already and can just as easily bail, set up a company, and pay that company in a new country, and pay fewer taxes there. I've not looked into it but I imagine there's a finite number where I would look into it.
Don't get me wrong, I've said time and time again - I'm taxed too little. I know this, you know this, we all know this. I could pay even less in taxes than I do - I get bitched at regularly for not doing so 'cause my accountant is a smart lady. What you might be missing is that I keep three people employed directly and pay partial salaries to countless others including some investments in small businesses for friends and family. That's the kind of thing you want me to do. I invest in companies like Tesla (I've a couple thousand shares, thanks) and help keep all sorts of people able to pay their taxes.
So where that line is, we can discuss that. I'd agree, entirely, that my tax rate is kinda silly. I pay a lower percentage in taxes than my housekeeper. I pay far more in total but a much lower percentage. I know what she pays - I have my accountant do her taxes for her. However, it's a fine line and you need to be aware of what you're advocating and what the percentages "should be." I'd speculate that you're probably outraged by it all but don't actually have the expertise to make those sorts of judgment calls. Neither do I. How about we ask some smart people and have a discussion without frothing at the mouth and making a bunch of silly accusations that are far too broad to miss the finer details. Eh?
I don't know why you'd reach that conclusion. Just because they're idiots doesn't mean they'll have a collision every time they mess up. Keep in mind that almost every single vehicle accident, ever, can be attributed to *someone* driving too fast for the conditions. (Not all accidents, of course. Just almost all of them.) Don't let them lure you into a false sense of security. If you didn't notice 'em that means they were just being lucky while you watched. If you were able to watch longer, you'd find 'em doing something stupid. It doesn't always mean there's an accident.
Yeah, there's a whole slew of externalities to be taken into account. This even means with EVs and hybrids. Batteries are horrible for the environment and the process of getting those minerals isn't very nice either. Solar? Heh... Don't get me wrong - I love solar but, from what I've read, it's not exactly the most environmentally friendly thing to make.
I don't think I'll ever get all the data that I want. I don't think that I'll ever be able to make a truly informed purchase - while I'm certainly able to estimate some of it, it's not truly informed. That's not saying that I'd take the ideal choice every time. In fact, I doubt I'd do so at all. I'd probably look for a healthy balance and consider ways to offset my impact. As it stands, I can only make some vague estimates and go from there.
I guess it's okay, I own a whole lot of trees which are either preserved or on improvement lots which get "Timber Stand Improvement" done and don't even need replanting as they take care of that on their own. That and the paper companies replanted a whole bunch of it before I bought it.
You speak the truth. My accountant is a dear old lady who worked for the State's revenue department until retiring to open her own practice. She's, well, I'm not going to say that she's unethical or anything but she's really creative. I have no idea what witchcraft she does nor do I pretend to understand it. I'm just really grateful for her.
For my own amusement, I've done my own taxes and then brought them in for her to correct. Heh... She still bitches at me for donating anonymously. She tells me countless ways to save money. She's not devious, that's not the word. She's... Hmm... I'm just going to have to stick with "creative."
Like you said, it is indeed an art. I've been just fine after two audits after retiring. They are, I'm told, random audits in both cases but I'd like to know how they're defining random. I notice that both audits happened after I'd sold and retired. :/
I don't recall the exact details but I remember a study that concluded that if you bought a new vehicle and the new vehicle got twice as many miles per gallon than the old one that the energy used to produce the new vehicle, combined with the increase efficiency, would take something like 35 years to pay off. Taking into account the manufacturing, mining, and whatnot for these EVs would probably not be easy data to find - I've tried. There's environmental harm in anything and it's probably better to just keep an old vehicle well maintained than it is to buy a new one.
This is probably going to turn into a novella. Sometimes the things I have to say don't fit in a twitter sized post. Feel free to just ignore the rest.
People don't like taking into account the externalities. I think we're on the same page here. They call EV "emission free" or similar. No, probably not. At the tailpipe? Sure. But there are emissions associated with the production, mining of the rare minerals, generation of electricity, etc... (And no, saying that they got the energy from solar panels doesn't count - those didn't just magic themselves into existence.)
It's a bit misleading. The production process for solar and batteries is terrible, we just offload it to China so that we don't need to account for it here. We buy "renewable" power from the power company so that we feel better but, really, they're probably overselling the hell out of it and you're just getting your power from natural gas or coal. It's not like you can tell the difference and actually have a choice (in many cases). Once the energy is put into the wires, you don't just get to split off a chunk that says, "I'm from a renewable resource!" I believe the term is "green washing."
What I would like is an RV that is a hybrid like the electric trains that have an all electric drivetrain and use a diesel generator to provide electricity but I'd like to be able to plug it in and store energy that way. I am told that I can buy a custom rig but I've not looked into it and I do have to adhere to some budgeting standards. I am not, of course, an altruist. Not entirely. I'd like it because it'd make me feel good and I can give it a good charge from home and get started on my journeys that way. I'd like it because it's using fewer resources, as I use it, than I might otherwise use. I'm fully aware that there's a huge amount of resources and energy going into the creation of such.
That said, I've been pushing nearly 100% of the energy that's made at home into the grid since I've gone on my wanderlust. Well, it's much less wander now that I've managed to acquire a companion in my journey but I'm sticking with wanderlust anyhow. It's still a near certainty that I'll be buying a Tesla this year. I am an automobile aficionado, how can I not buy an EV? It will probably get the most use from the missus. I'm assuming she'd not operate it in ludicrous mode. I thought her to drive a standard and the power that my BMW has scares the hell out of her, I'm assuming she'll be not using sport or ludicrous modes. I, on the other hand, will likely make full use of said modes just to amuse myself and because I have the impulse control of a five year old.
So, it may actually be more harmful for us to just go out and replace our vehicles with EVs than it is to keep using what we have until they're no longer fit for use but I'll still be buying one. I don't generate power with solar and wind because it's cost effective - it isn't, at least for me. They'll likely never pay themselves off because I'll replace them with newer generations as they come online. (I can sell the older stuff back to the installer, he's more than happy to take the stuff back.) I'll not be buying an EV because it's "better" for the environment. I'll be buying it because it's reached the point where it is practical and valuable.
I'd like to have these numbers. I'd like to make informed choices. I may not make ideal choices but I may make more ideal choices. It's like the people who post that EVs have
I admit, I am no expert. However, I've yet to find any lawsuit that matches their claims. There are all sorts of claims about fiduciary duty and many lawsuits that purport to support their claims but I've not seen any evidence of any of those things. I hear tell that even the failure of absolute maximum profits makes the CEO, board, and company liable to the stakeholders. I'm told there are countless cases to prove this. I've asked for citations. So far, I've not found any that supported even bare minimal claims.
You don't actually understand why capital gains are taxed at the rate they're taxed, do you? The percentage can, arguably, be discussed but first you should understand the reason that the rates are as low as they are. The reason they're low is because you want me to keep my money invested and you want me to do so in the long-term area.
So, I do. I'm taxed at a very low rate (about 15% or so federally and maybe 8% at the State level) and I keep my money invested in the market instead of socked away in a bunch of smaller accounts in various savings institutions. I take more risks but I have a greater earnings potential. Also, it's actually kind of easy to avoid a lot of taxes if you want to be a dick about it. It's entirely lawful, tax avoidance is legal while tax evasion is illegal.