Posts by Rampant Spaniel

Health pros: Alcohol is EVIL – raise its price, ban its ads

Re: In the real world ..

Mostly true re Italy, there is significantly less of a drinking problem because (like France) they do drink from a young age and learn how to do so responsibly in the home. They do however have a bit of an issue with football violence and other forms of more organised violence but I would suggest that this mostly isn't to do with the price of alcohol.

Increasing the price of alcohol won't have a significant impact on the drinking culture, especially with it being so easy to buy one of those brew sacks you just add water to and leave it a week or two. If you make booze expensive enough to have an impact people will just make their own. It's piss easy to make, I could make a decent wine from 13. Cider is pretty easy to make and you will create a market for moonshine and that will cause problems for the NHS (not to mention the fire brigade!).

In typical political fashion they are after treating the symptoms and not the disease which is the culture.

Why the hell should I pay more for an occasional bottle of wine or rum (which mostly gets used in baking) or cognac (for soup, honestly) because a bunch of halfwits can't control themselves? How about they deal with the problem of scum who won't behave rather than punishing the rest of us who aren't a problem.

Flexy 'iWatch' glass said to be three years away

@ DougS

Perhaps Wales, or worse, Yorkshire :) (I'm officially allowed that one).

Being born inthe early 80's I can concur that cell phones, wintel\apple computers, the interwebs etc were all around, just not really with the same penetration as they do now. I had vic20's, spectrums ect from the mid to late 80's but most kids had consoles if they had anything. We spent way more time with a rugby ball then in front of a mac or dos. I think I remember our school having maybe 2 computers if that until the late 90's. Secondary school had a lab of bbc micros which it replaced with 386's. I think I got my first pc (286) sometime around '90. I recall a few families having amiga's.

My perception (and I could be wrong) was that they were far more common in the US earlier than in the UK. Yorkshire jokes aside, there just wasn't a huge amount of families able to drop 1500 on a pc etc, even the doctors kid had a used apple. Darn sarf it may have been different, but it wouldn't shock me that someone born in the early 80's wasn't exposed to much technology for the first decade of their life. Just depends where you grew up and what your parents were like (both money and attitude).

VMware execs shake fists at Amazon Web Services cloud

Re: i feel the same way!

I realise there are situations where 20% may be true but it is far from always the case.

The hote in question has more solar than they can use but I will give you power as a cost, but maybe 1.2kw under full load. Cooling is handled by the room ac, it's not a significant deployment and the first thing I suggested was they bump the tep from 18 to 24 as it just didn't need to be so low. Support is a big variable, if they had the option to downsize support then maybe but they are already at 1 person plus me helping now and again in return for wine and ahi.

Their model may not be ideal, but they keep servers until they die, their 'new' servers run win 2k3. They have pentium pro's and original xeons in the mix. Their 2k3 servers apparently 'have another 5+ years in them'. So honestly the cloud probably is not for them. The next move is probably 1-2 low power xeons with a decent wallop of ram and migrate to vm's using hyper v. I half considered suggesting they grab a dell c6100 but something similar could work for them.

Yes it's derogatory but I saw it as a backhanded compliment. VMWare and their customers are being schooled on their core mission by someone who should be a client of theirs or their customers. That has to hurt!

Re: i feel the same way!

The 'cloud' works really well in certain situations, usually ones that require short term, scale-able services or for testing. Azure works really well for just messing about with a few relatively fast servers for a well. As a full deployment over 3 years you would have to be on the special mushrooms to do it. If you are running an ad campaign for something and need resources for 2-3 months amazon etc makes perfect sense. A friend is the sys admin for a hotel, they were looking at shifting all their servers into the cloud (specifically azure) because you know , the cloud is cool and it must be better in all those unquantifiable but important ways.

We ran the sums, given they are tighter than a ducks arse and try and keep their servers for 10-15 years, azure had them raped 10 ways from Sunday on cost. It's way too easy to look at an hourly cost and believe it must be better because the cloud is better (because its new and cool and just awesomeness with a fricking cherry on top) but even allowing for a 7 year lifespan on the servers.

If we went out tomorrow and replaced all the servers it would run 18-24k (there aren't really many :) ) but azure would cost over 50k for 7 years. Admittedly there are concerns like electricity costs over that time but the whole cloud must be better voodoo is just marketing. It's great for some folks but not for everyone.

SpaceX: 'We have control, it's just a glitch' Musk tells world+dog

pressure hammered = turned off and on again repeatedly until it works. I think I found the IT angle :-)

Moscow's speed cameras 'knackered' by MYSTERY malware

Re: Ahh, there's good news tonight!

which states have the speed cameras? Just out of curiosity you understand! We are lucky enough not to have any, not least because the roads are too crap to speed on.

Groupon CEO Mason sent packing as shares continue to plummet

Re: I have to admire his honesty

Couldn't have said it better myself, he didn't go to the same BS classes as your average ceo.

Chinese Army: US hacks us so much, I'm amazed you can read this

Got to love that video animation! It's like someone crossed Fox news election coverage with the truth. We need more of that over here!

SHIELD Act proposed to make patent trolls pay

Not to mention, these are lawyers, they will find a way round anything. So their 'shell' company starts making things, or licensing out the patents to someone else who makes it and they claim its made under contract.

I agree with the principal that innovation should be protected (by IP law) but also that the whole patent troll thing is way over the top and needs to stop, but this seems like a token gesture that won't have the desired effect. So pretty much politics as normal then.

Larry Ellison buys airline

@jake

That was actually what we all thought initially, but he borrowed a lot to buy the island, he stands to lose a hell of a lot of money if the tourism business collapses. As much as I dislike him, he has invested a lot so far and is investing more. Yes he is basing his toy boat here but his deeds so far seem to suggest that whilst he wants a seriously large estate, he wants people living there to do well (I presume so he can make more money). I'm not saying I trust him, but so far it's been pretty decent.

Erm yeah I do have a pretty good idea what he is up to and I wasn't suggesting he was making it easier for him to fly there (although if you know of a private jet that can put down on 500m strip that has a 2400 mile range do share). The airline isn't for his personal use. He owns the land, he has a vested interest in the prosperity of the hotels and other businesses there. Buying the airline and providing capital to increase the service makes sense as he sees the benefit from the tourism increasing the land value and the rent revenue. He may be an arse but he isn't grossly incompetant. I don't like the guy, but I understand what he is up to. He is making it easier for tourists to visit, better schedules, more seats etc so he can make more money. He's investing in the chain, whats the mba bs for it? vertical integration?

Re: 600m (was: "Throw in the fact that at 1500m Lanai's runway may be too short for Ellison's ..."

ah, so just a bit short. Theres a road just behind the stables he could probably use just fine. Given the way he works he would likely just extend the runway. Not sure I would want to fly migs that close to pearl, especially not with all the nocturnal non civil air traffic around these parts.

Re: "Throw in the fact that at 1500m Lanai's runway may be too short for Ellison's corporate jets"

iirc the mig29 can land on dirty roads so he probably could get it on and off the island using the pineapple roads. I think the runway requirement is 600m? He could only use it for island hopping even with external tanks it would be unlikely to reach the mainland (should be a couple of hundred miles short) :) I guess he could buy a refueling tanker?

These days most of the islands are limited at many times of years by the number of inbound seats, their price and the routing. Perhaps Ellison is thinking more along the lines of boosting tourism by increasing seats or making it cheaper \ more convenient to fly in. Sure is a hell of a lot nicer than the ferry over which has a distinct hint of vomit comet!

It's the Peer 2.0: Martha Lane Fox now a crossbench baroness

Er no, it's that people who say they want to help people rather undermine their credibility when they refer to the people they want to help as bad citizens living on horrible council estates. It's nothing to do with 'poshos' in general and very much to do with one specific halfwit proving to the entire world she believes herself to be superior to other people because she went to a 'proper school' and lucked out on being born into a relatively affluent family.

Re: It's not really relevant, but...

Let's hope they don't sit her next to Mark Thatcher. Even if they could manage to make it back from lunch uninjured and without requiring the might of the entire Algerian Military to find them I shudder at what they would come up given his history of booking flights, lastminutecoup.com ?

Re: @rampant spaniel

@Ribosome, you are correct, but I don't think the two things are mutually exclusive. My grandfather never had any interest in the internet but my gran can skype with the best of them. I don't think there's anything stopping the elderly from surfing, but I think it's beyond the pale to suggest they are bad citizens if they don't. Some people just aren't interested in the internet and I cannot see any way that makes them any less of a decent person than anyone else. Now some halfwit who lucked out on an idea once milking the public purse and being given political power, that's not good.

Just please tell me she hasn't bred!

It shows what a pathetically self centered perspective on life she has, like many others on el reg I have grand parents and great grandparents who fought in ww1&2, who is the disrespectful little shit to say they aren't proper citizens if they don't use the internet? What has she contributed to society? A website for booking flights and a karaoke bar? Well excuse me! Somebody needs to use some silicone sealand on the lords chamber and leave the taps on.

As for horrible council estates, I wonder if there are any stereotypes about her alma mater Oxford we could employ here?

Re: It's not really relevant, but...

Unfortunately she also seems to be totally out of touch with reality and a pretentious cow. So right at home in the sleeping chamber then. Should give her honorary membership to the Tories.

So much noise on WinMob, but Microsoft's silent on lovely WinPhone

sniff* I thought winmob was actually pretty decent if you were a bit geeky. It was pretty powerful, you could shoot, process raws and email them all from a phone strapped to your leg. At the time there wasn't anything else that could do it, even umpc's were hamstrung by poor battery life and the need for additional connectivity.

WinPho, seems like they rushed it out and are running to catch up. I like it, its far more consumer orientated than winmob (which was always a nerdy geek business toy) which is a good call. It has a great interface (until you stick it on a desktop) and some decent hardware. They probably need to work on adopting higher screen resolutions but otherwise they have a chance at it working out long term. Good luck to them, they should keep Google and Apple more honest than they are.

Apple, Facebook, Google: Same-sex marriage 'a business imperative'

Re: About Investing, not Investors

'opening up the definition of marriage' - heres my problem with the holy hand grenade crew, the Christian church did not invent marriage. People were getting married (men to men, men to women, women to women) before Jesus was a twinkle in poppa's eye. Many religions and societies have had a wider definition of marriage for a very long time.

When you remove the firewall between religion and government (or don't have one to begin with) you run the risk of being outbred, out voted and marginalised by another religion. Keep the church out of the state, the state out of the church and everyones way of life is protected for themselves. Start enforcing your narrow view on other people and you run the risk of finding the tables turned in time.

Re: Gays getting married isn't the issue in gay marriage...

A religious institution co-opted by law? Sure the other way around no? Marriage was a legal institution to do with retaining and accumulating property and money that was co-opted by religions?

Re: Equality?

It basically comes down to the fact that marriage is defined along very strict lines by a certain group of religions who have applied their criteria to marriage. This was less of an issue in the past when cultures were separated more, these days you are likely to live among a lot of different cultures with different ideas and values.

The state (in both the federal and local sense) and many other countries governments provide real fiscal benefits to people whose lifestyle falls within a specific religious definition. Some people are born with attributes that preclude them from from qualifying for these benefits. However, they may be from a culture which acknowledges and doesn't discriminate against them but live in a culture which does.

Marriage equality isn't about not having the same rules apply, it is about having the rules changed to acknowledge a wider range of circumstances.

Polygamy is widespread in the world, many religions formally accept and acknowledge it, some even cope with polyandry. There are plenty of cultures (and even religions) which accept same sex marriages and cope fine with transgender relationships. However, Christianity seems to view it as the greatest threat to their existence since Satan. The cynic in me wonders if it isn't just a rallying cry to bandy the troops together and stop them becoming complacent about their devotion.

Re: nothing like trading in rights you could get yourself

The armed militia clause is all but an excuse for the vast majority of people. There are a few loony toons out there who think they actually need arms for that and who also believe they could make a difference. For the vast majority of people it for person protection (in the home and outside the home) and for sport. Personally I agree with protection within the home and sport, outside the home it should be the police's job to keep the law, if they can't they are either under funded or incapable, or both.

The problem is politicians win on extremes, the shouts are ban all guns or arm to the teeth. What we end up with is usually something useless and inappropriate, but the battle cries are usually from the extremes which makes the other extreme even more extreme. Gun owners fear 'crazy liberals' taking away their home protection, which it would seem they do need to an extent, and their sport. Non gun owners just see 'crazy rednecks' firing 50cal aws into the air and hollering as they fly around in replica general lees hopped up on moonshine. The truth is both are wrong, there's a huge number of normal folks with genuine concerns on both sides, but they get lost in the media hype and the extreme views.

Gay marriage is a given, it needs to happen, Christianity has no ownership over the term marriage and many societies have existed just fine whilst giving equal recognition to same sex and other 'less western' partnerships. Trading one right for another is not the way to go. Two sensible solutions are needed.

1- Allow equal protection and entitlement to less conventional partnerships whilst protecting a religions right not to have to perform the ceremonies (and strip their tax breaks if they make that decision).

2- Allow reasonable gun ownership for home defense and sport with enforced controls over storage and types of weapon. Outside of the home and sport empower and require the police to do their damn job. In the short term it should be the polices job to ensure the vast majority of people do not feel the need to carry a gun outside their home and until we reach that point it's not fair to ask people to give up their weapons on the street. If you trade your right to individual protection (irrespective of whether it is safer or not) for civil protection, civil protection needs to deliver.

The problem being, very few people like or would admit to liking those kind of solutions.

German boffins turn ALCOHOL into hydrogen at low temp

Re: 24 litres per second?

I thought so, but the bmw listed has a 45 gallon tank at 700 bar 153 psi. I'm thinking the 24L ps is at 1 bar and the 50l/100km is at 700 baror something else is amiss like it being a typo :) . Just thinking out loud.

Re: 24 litres per second?

It's been along time since I had physics inflicted on me, but wouldn't the pressure the gas was under affect the volume? i.e. 24L at low pressure could contain less hydrogen than 24L at high pressure?

Stop saying 'Cyber Pearl Harbor,' RSA boss pleads

Innocent in some ways, not in others. If a state is actively sheltering terrorists who attack other countries then sure they are fair game but I do respect your point. Two sides of the same coin and just as bad. Personally I felt Afghanistan was justified (I wouldn't have gone about it in quite the same manner but it was more justified than Iraq). You are correct, but two wrongs don't make a right.

The media, especially in certain countries, is incredibly disrespectful just for the purpose of being sensationalist due to a dire lack of talent for actually reporting news. This is aided significantly by a notable percentage of the country swallowing any jingoistic crap thrown their way by thinly veiled political party news channels.

How about we don't use it because it's disrespectful to those who died in the original attack? I get the whole *gate thing, but seriously, many people died in a surprise attack from a country we were not at war with.

Sometimes we need to just be a little more respectful. Seriously, we have to change the name of the dog in the remake of dambusters because we all have to pretend nobody ever used the N word to make us feel better about being absolute c***s to an entire continent of people for hundreds of years but we are free to disrespect people who died in an attack that fell way outside the scope of the rules of war just because some people think it sounds catchy?

Elon Musk: 'Fudged' NYT article cost Tesla $100m

@Stevie

I agree with need diverse energy supplies for the main grid, I think we will always have a mix of sources between natural (wind, wave, geothermal, solar) and nuclear (fission and fusion) hopefully with fossil fuels declining over time. Fission can be relatively clean (and I think it needs to form part of our short to medium term energy plan), fusion is looking more promising and as I mentioned in another post the ideal solution for vehicles may be using bacteria in tanks in deserts to photosynthesis a fuel. This has the benefit of being pretty clean, it uses a distribution network that is already in place, can be done domestically and should be a relatively cheap system to roll out and critically, it is sustainable.

There is a lot of time spent on unrealistic solutions (like electrifying all the roads, the cost would be insane) or solutions which don't actually fix the problem (like batteries) or just aren't practical (it shouldn't take longer than 15 minutes to fill up enough to go 250 miles, we need an elegant answer using technologies we already have (we already have engines that can run on alcohol, nature already did a decent job at the whole photosynthesis thing, we already have a network for liquid fuel) but as usual political and industrial interests compounded by misguided dogooders and mouth breathers will see us waste time and money and screw up the planet further with half arsed solutions that are expensive, impractical and fail to actually address the underlying problem.

@James M

Actually diesel \ petrol stores energy 63 times more densely than liion batteries, rather than 10 times. Raw figures are in my post above, although your point is valid, the difference isn't as wide as it would initally appear but only if you have a pure electric car AND use expensive liion cells. Otherwise it's 2 motors annd heavier nimh cells.

A 15 gallon tank would have approx 105lbs of fuel, the same energy in a liion cell (assuming 40vs100% efficency) would require 2646lbs of battery, which is a little heavier than my engine :-)

Re: can't deal with the idea of a motor vehicle not using gasoline

ok you get an upvote but the point I was making was that moving the pollution from the exhaust pipe to somewhere out of sight does not make it better.

Petrol \ Gasoline engines run about 25-30% thermal efficency, diesel about 40-50% but you have to factory in energy density of the fuel as well. Gasoline runs at 46MJ/KG whereas a Liion battery runs .072 MJ \ KG, thats 63 times higher density. Yes the batteries will get better, but it still won't affect the damage done during the mining, refining, production, reconditioning and disposal stages.

The reasons for moving away from gasoline pretty much are

1- Environmental sustainability.

2- Gas prices rising.

3- Domestic control (less of a factor now with the shale oil boom).

Batteries get slayed on all 3 (there are probably more). We import them, they're hideously expensive and wreck the environment.

To give you an idea of the alternative I was suggesting, and this is just spitballing, I would suggest the following.

The US has large tracts of desert, setup farms using algae to convert co2, sunlight and water to a biofuel. Running this in something similar to a diesel engine would satisfy all 3 points I mentioned plus it wouldn't require a huge investment in a national distribution infrastructure. It would get the benefit of the energy density of chemical fuels, the environmental benefits of being carbon neutral and be under domestic control. It shouldn't impact food pricing like ethanol in gas, it just makes more sense all round no? This is something we already have the technology to do, it's a far better start point than batteries and would be cheaper allowing for wider adoption.

Just out of curiosity, how heavy would the battery need to be on an 18 wheeler! :) rough math for a 475hp 350kw power plant, assuming 6mpg, 7.15 lbs per gallon diesel, 300 gallon tank, 100% efficiency for the battery, 40% for the diesel. That would put it at something like 974KG of diesel vs 24545KG of battery (although this will obviously improve over time). I would not want to be buying that battery pack!! :)

@ Snake

Seriously, you think a Tesla is remotely environmentally friendly? Do you have any idea at all about how insanely destructive to the environment cars like that are? Sure if you adopt the broccoli munching, don't look behind the curtain approach and believe they are made of toe lint and run off bunny farts then sure, they're amazing. The reality is the batteries are very destructive to make, need replacing every 5-10 years depending on use, and they still need power. In the US that power comes 45% from coal. Yes if you can charge them with solar (if you are prepared to drop even more money) and if you have a relatively short range requirement (until there is a larger and faster charging network) you can exist with one but cars like the Tesla are not the solution, they detract from a serious solution.

We need a solution that involves relatively clean and sustainable power generation (fusion \ solar \ hydrothermal etc) AND a method of transporting that energy that is also sustainable (far more likely to be chemical rather than electrical). Right now cars like the Tesla fulfill neither of these criteria fully, the latter not even partially. But sure, go on thinking that shit like this is great for the environment, I bet all those folks in South America just love all those strip mines and the polluted groundwater and the Asians just adore all the chemical run off from the processing plants, but it's all good in Cali with your 0.3% reduction in smog and a 2000% increase in smug. People buying these cars are stunting development of a real solution. Money invested in research and a fueling network for these vehicles would be far better being invested in a technology that actually addresses the problems rather than shifting them out of sight.

North Korean citizens told: Socialist haircuts are a thing... go get some

Re: I'll have a bloke's number 6 please

My old barbers used to have 12x17 inch b&w pictures or 'hair styles' around the top of the wall and you just pointed at the one you want. Much simpler. You still had to wait an hour every time you went in, and talk endless bollocks about football but it was a fair trade for a three quid haircut. Eventually moved away and couldn't find anywhere that satisfied the no appointments and no more than five quid rules on mens haircuts so just bought a hair trimmer.

Re: Daily Mail

well it is about foreigners, and the DM has a lot to say about them! Not that quantity is an indicator of quality.

Exactly, and why is the leadership focusing on haircuts and nuclear weapons when there is a slightly larger problem of most of the populous starving to death. I hate this kind of BS, I can understand them feeling the need for security and even leaving aside any disputes over the validity of communism, haircuts should not be something their government is wasting time on. When you can feed your people, maybe then you can consider mandating haircuts, but to be fair there's still a hell of a lot of things higher up the list.

Danny was right

"All hairdressers are in the employment of the government. Hairs are your aerials. They pick up signals from the cosmos, and transmit them directly into the brain. This is the reason bald-headed men are uptight."

I guess Withnail finally got released in NK!

Success for Einhorn: Judge blocks vote on Apple's Proposal 2

Re: The theory

A significant amount of that large profit is held overseas and is unlikely to be repatriated due to the taxes it would attract.

Shareholders do receive some value from a companies cash reserve, the share price should rise (assuming all other factors remain the same, which they won't) as the slosh fund increases, which is value for the shareholders as the value of their holding will increase.

It might not be the best use of a pile of cash, but it is legitimate. Apple could have decided that there were no decent opportunities to spend it, looking at recent big IT acquisitions there is some sense there (how much value have HP | MS written down lately?).

Apple is sitting sweet, if they need to buy something big they can do so, it shouldn't affect their share price much for those who are long on apple. They were probably banking on a repub win in 2012 and a repatriation holiday for their slush fund. They can keep using portions of it to invest in the supply chain or they can outright buy a supplier if things become grim like the whole samsung situation. Whilst they may be having a legal fight with samsung, apple has the cash to buy somewhere in the region of 70% of samsung if it wanted to, it probably wouldn't have an issue finding the remainder. They could easily buy Sony or LG if they wanted to.

If shareholders as a whole want to do something about it they can, up until now they haven't done anything significant beyond a few whines. Apple has a plan in place for spending some of their US based stockpile.

This is just a few people who were betting on Apple continuing to rise being upset because they got caught with their pants down when the bubble burst.

BBC's new bosses - the lawyers - strike out Savile probe testimony

Re: 1970's tech, too

remember the mclaren ferrari mole f1 screwup where the hearing transcript was released and you could read all the redacted text by copying it to notepad. I assume they decided to cover their arses. Props to them for getting it right.

Re: Spoken like a true raving nutter

Having left Blighty in the footsteps of Columbus I can confirm that the BBC is sodding marvelous. Yes it has a slight left bias and there are areas of management that should be drowned, given CPR and drowned again, but it has a singular advantage which it occasionally brings to bear.

Due to how it is funded the BBC does not have to focus solely on whatever tat tv the dribbling, bargain madness bingo crowd are fixated with. Yes it pays attention to ratings to it will have some dross, but now and again they can sneak some decent TV under the radar that would never be given airtime on commercial stations, at least prior to cable \ sat TV made 1000 channels a reality and then quality suffers. The Life series and Wildlife on One spring immediately to mind. Take a moment to watch 'Africa', now compare it to some of the other wildlife TV. Africa sent a camera crew to the middle of god knows where for 6 weeks just to capture 1 minute of footage of two giraffes fighting. Rather than sticking together stock footage and making do, they make the effort to get whatever footage they need to tell the tale, be it giraffes fighting or whales giving birth and a huge pile of guano in a cave somewhere. Plenty of people will want to sit and watch a fly onthe wall doco about the green room on a dancing show for chefs, and theres shyte aplenty on the other channels for them, but for the love of god keep the beeb!

Another area where it mostly shines (there are glaring exceptions I admit) is news. The BBC's screwups stand out because they mostly get things right. What counts as a BBC screwup is SOP at FOX \ MSNBC etc, at the BBC it's incompetence, at FOX it's what they aim for.

The BBC is a popular target because people see it as funded by a 'tax' and we all hate taxes etc etc, and I agree the BBC needs to clean shop and stop screwing up with proto-simian management hires, but seriously cherish your BBC. Life could be a hell of a lot worse! I know it's hard to see unless you live with the alternatives, but they really are one of the best broadcasters out there, not perfect but easily one of the best.

Baby-boulder bowling burglar breaks Boulder Apple Store's $100k glass door

I thought Apple used gorilla glass! That is a pretty fair price for a normal sized door. A friends restaurant just replaced a ~50ft series of sliding glass doors, ~7 ft tall for less than that.

Higgs data shows alternate reality will SWALLOW UNIVERSE

Will the bubble have rounded corners? Only Apple's lawyers can save us!

Barclays: So sorry about LIBOR... How about some free Wi-Fi?

Re: 'What's the point?'

Haven't heard that on before, truly excellent!

Facebook turns billion-dollar profit into tax refund

Re: 42% of wage in direct federal and state tax

Thank you for the advice. I had been considering something similar but decided not to just yet for a couple of reasons, 1 being that frankly its hard to say others should stop avoiding tax when I would be doing something similar and 2 I like to keep things relatively simple. My work grew significantly over time and I guess I got stuck in my current situation although it is possibly the least 'efficient' method for tax.

I am ok with paying tax, I use the services it pays for so its fair I pay tax. The problem is with companies and people who are selfish and would be happy to reap the benefits without paying anything. To be fair the tax doesn't leave my kids starving, I can afford it and I don't believe people should be asked to pay more than they can afford to pay. I do think we have a big decision to make in our close future about education and healthcare. There is no point paying for it to be done badly. Either tax the amount of tax needed to do it properly or don't take anything. Personally I would love for a great state education system like I grew up with but that isn't happening here. I would be ok with paying an extra couple of percent state tax for better policing and education. Paying for a system that doesn't work is worse than no system at all.

Couldn't agree more with your last paragraph. The fault ultimately lies with voters. We are getting what we deserve, just like those folks expecting cheap ass lasagna not to be made or horse (hell they were lucky it was horse, I expected rat, and not the nice bits of rat).

Re: 42% of wage in direct federal and state tax

Federal, state, social security, sui \ sdi, property and medicare (and additional medicare, can't forget that). I didn't include the sales tax, gas tax etc. I didn't add the total top brackets together, just looked at total projected payment for 2013. I could be out by a percent or two but I sure ain't getting no huge ass refund! If you are doing the maths figure in self employed as well, go see what that does to 12.?% for the first 110k ish alone.

As for the 7.5%, I wish :) but no, remember that its the difference between the 7.5 and the amount paid against the 'free' itemisation, not the whole lot and school fees you get no allowance for.

I don't mind the concept of paying tax nor paying my fair share. I just dislike it either being wasted or other people getting out of paying their share by using bistromath.

Australia cuts Microsoft bill by AU$100m

Re: Free Is Good

Theres always

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=lotus+smartsuite&_sacat=0&_from=R40

$10 a shot is decent!

Re: Free Is Good @The Dim View

LO\OO are alright, but not really fully fledged alternatives yet (although they can be ok depending on your needs and I hope they continue to get better) but seriously these folks need to get on fleabay and buy a shed load of office 2007 or 2003 and just use them forever. MS haven't really added much by way of features that you seriously need since then.

I also don't like on principal the new idea of forcing people onto subscriptions by making normal licences as restrictive as possible. If you are finding that a cashcow isn't as attractive anymore (like office) then forcing people onto subscriptions is an admission you don't have new ideas that people want. Maybe it would bring in more money overall if they simply dropped the price to the point where it was less of an issue for people and make it back in overall volume.

Obama says patent trolls 'extort money', pledges reform

Re: Promises

Obama is the only politician who can say what he wants, he doesn't have to seek reelection so doesn't need any more coin. However, anything he wants to do has to get past over 500 career politicians all with an eye on keeping donations for future elections and over half of whom are fundamentally opposed to absolutely anything he says, mostly on the grounds that he said it and that's enough. Unfortunately it's all just words.