Sun. Dec. 3, 2023 – feeling poorly. Not a lot of work will be getting done.

Cool and supposed to be clear for the next couple of days. It did get pretty overcast with some very heavy mist – almost drizzle yesterday.

Did my main errand yesterday which was mailing an ebay sale. That led to an interesting and very unusual for me encounter which I noted in comments yesterday.

I hit a couple of yard sales on the way home, but other than two 1TB Western Digital external drives, $4 each, didn’t find much. It’s the season, even if the weather was bad for it.

Watched a couple of auctions closing as I was “brain barely turning over” for most of the afternoon and evening. I have the luxury of being sick and sorta letting that take over.

I did do a little auction sorting. Very little.

Today will likely be very similar, with some more activity but only close to home. Low intensity, low thought activity, with a Kleenex box handy. I hate being sick.

Well, I had grand plans. But it’s always something. I think it’s better to recover than to push through and extend the period of low performance, if one has the time to do so. And I mostly do.

Stack something this week, even if it’s just rest and recuperation.

nick

52 Comments and discussion on "Sun. Dec. 3, 2023 – feeling poorly. Not a lot of work will be getting done."

  1. Greg Norton says:

    FlipperZero – just shows how completely insecure radio controls and NFC really are. I mean, it’s great that your key fob is tied to your car, but if it always broadcasts the same signal, it’s easy for some other device to copy it. If you make the signal vary, for example, by time → that would be a lot more secure, but also introduces new failure modes.

    The big problem in the US is that the whiz bang stuff in vehicles isn’t limited to luxury cars.

    Americans are obsessed with gadgetry and proper security gets into patents which increases the price tag.

  2. Ray Thompson says:

    It will be “interesting” to see how that works out for me, being outside the US.

    If your employment information is never reported to the SS administration, how would they know? I am hoping you’re not being required to still file US income tax. Will getting SS from the U.S. change that?

  3. Greg Norton says:

    Amazon BANS $169 FlipperZero gadget which has triggered new TikTok prank wave because it can switch off phones, TVs, hack game machines and clone credit cards

    – just when the thing was gaining traction…

    I haven’t looked recently at what is available in SDR tech for the hobbyist, but I imagine Moore’s law has been at work there since I played with the tech in Vantucky using $1000 Ettus Research boxes.

    Ettus is now a subsidiary of NI and high end, but other manufacturers probably stepped up.

    The Feds get real touchy about anyone mucking about in the cell phone spectrum so even experiments in that bandwidth without a Faraday cage are a quick way to get Federal attention.

    Looking at OpenBTS hardware would be a place to start, but I’d consider any GSM phone approved for sale in the US since the system’s introduction here via T-Mobile/AT&T to be a suspect piece of equipment in terms of Big Brother being able to monitor you.

  4. SteveF says:

    I’d consider any GSM phone approved for sale in the US since the system’s introduction here via T-Mobile/AT&T to be a suspect piece of equipment in terms of Big Brother being able to monitor you.

    Yes. Further deponent sayeth not.

  5. Greg Norton says:

    The tolling company has been a revolving door of talent since they fired me. If you need to park Junior Senior developer someplace, the office is a straight shot down I-10/SR 71 from Katy.

    Yup, he is the big decision.  I have found him two jobs in the Houston area and he has turned down both of them.  He may regret that.  One of the jobs is still hiring though.  And, pays better than me with better benefits.

    In the end, I regretted leaving CGI and the predictable environment with lots of internal HR controls. The tolling company presented an intense technical challenge, but the management thought with their d*cks, even the women – and by ‘women’ I mean genetic females, not wussified Y chromosomes — something I knew from the first phone interview wouldn’t end well for me. YMMV, however.

    The “Jan the Man” personality type on “Silicon Valley” is a thing.

    Where I currently work, what I do to enable “the most important thing in the world” is really mundane, but, assuming the monkey trick continues to impress, it is stable employment.

    Some days, I’m amazed that no one else in the group looks at the feature I provide and says, “Oh, that’s nothing. Why are we paying him to do … that?!?”

  6. MrAtoz says:

    Amazon BANS $169 FlipperZero gadget which has triggered new TikTok prank wave because it can switch off phones, TVs, hack game machines and clone credit cards

    – just when the thing was gaining traction…

    I posted some time back, I was able to clone our condo complex entry fob with my FZ. Not so successful with a hotel key, but I’m learning about that tech. I didn’t take it to Trinidad since coming back through Customs might have been a problem.

    BTW, Customs in Miami was a breeze with Global Entry. You let a kiosk take your picture, and when it turns green, a thug waves you through. Took about 15s. The last time I went through Customs there, you had to pre-fill out a form, take a picture, get a paper ticket, and then go to a desk for review.

  7. Greg Norton says:

    Yup, he is the big decision.  I have found him two jobs in the Houston area and he has turned down both of them.  He may regret that.  One of the jobs is still hiring though.  And, pays better than me with better benefits.

    If the company is not a competitor, the management not psycho, and their legal department clears the moonlighting to continue work on your software in his off time, what’s the issue?

  8. brad says:

    If your employment information is never reported to the SS administration, how would they know? I am hoping you’re not being required to still file US income tax. Will getting SS from the U.S. change that?

    @Ray: I don’t currently file returns, because (a) I’m not a citizen anymore and (b) the little income I have falls under the minimum even for non-citizens. Once I apply for SS, I have no idea what will happen. As far as I’m concerned: I worked the years in the US, and paid into the system. They owe me the payout. Still a couple of years away…

  9. SteveF says:

    They owe me the payout.

    Oh, my sweet Summer child! The federal government doesn’t owe you social security payments! Numerous court cases going all the way back to about a year after the dictator put the program in place have held that the voluntary contributions program is a one-way street. Ignore all the statements about the “retirement insurance program” and such. It’s all just marketing literature intended to get the rubes’ support. No legal weight.

    In fact, the federal government doesn’t owe you anything. Not even federal pension payments, though there may be some wiggle room there because there are a number of pension programs with different terms and I don’t know if each has been specifically examined and ruled on.

  10. Ray Thompson says:

    @Brad: I think any money received or earned in the U.S. must be reported and income tax filed on that amount. I could be incorrect. My opinion is based on one other person that was working abroad, was not a U.S. citizen, but came to the U.S. for three months on a consulting assignment. He had to file an income tax form to get the money withheld for U.S. taxes. I think. My memory is not real good on the exact situation as it was many solar journeys ago.

    I do think it sucks that the U.S. continues to go after U.S. citizens for money earned overseas. In some ways I can understand because if the U.S. did not do this, many companies would relocate overseas and the employees would move overseas but still want the benefits of the U.S. system. On the other hand if the person is overseas, earning overseas, they are not receiving any benefits from the U.S. infrastructure.

    I do know the U.S. and the IRS are greedy rectum orifices. The IRS in particular. They will make mistakes, make the tax payer prove innocence rather than the IRS proving guilt. The IRS just assumes. That attitude has cost people money, time, and legal fees. I have been involved in three cases where the IRS was wrong, I proved them wrong, but never any admission of being wrong by the IRS. Instead I was met with remarks along the lines of “we can revisit the situation and cause you more grief”.

    I get pissed off every time I do my taxes. I have to pay money. Yet the person living three houses away, has two vehicles, a boat and an RV, gets money back each year from the IRS. Money they never paid into the system. They think it is great. They paid $0.10 in taxes during the year and get $8K back in a refund. It is not a refund, it is a handout. The leaches live better than I do, pay no taxes, and get money back. Yeh, it pisses me off.

  11. Greg Norton says:

    I’d consider any GSM phone approved for sale in the US since the system’s introduction here via T-Mobile/AT&T to be a suspect piece of equipment in terms of Big Brother being able to monitor you.

    Yes. Further deponent sayeth not.

    I didn’t finish the thought properly, but anyone looking at OpenBTS as a prep thing should keep in mind that the GSM system is suspect both in terms of general security and surveilance vulnerability from a state level actor.

  12. SteveF says:

    anyone looking at OpenBTS as a prep thing should keep in mind that the GSM system is suspect both in terms of general security and surveilance vulnerability from a state level actor.

    Yes. Further deponent sayeth not.

  13. Greg Norton says:

    Oh, my sweet Summer child! The federal government doesn’t owe you social security payments! Numerous court cases going all the way back to about a year after the dictator put the program in place have held that the voluntary contributions program is a one-way street. Ignore all the statements about the “retirement insurance program” and such. It’s all just marketing literature intended to get the rubes’ support. No legal weight.

    In fact, the federal government doesn’t owe you anything. Not even federal pension payments, though there may be some wiggle room there because there are a number of pension programs with different terms and I don’t know if each has been specifically examined and ruled on.

    Military pensions and the VA are generally considered as part of the “provide for the common defense” portion of the Constitution and would have priority on payment from incoming tax revenue even in the event of a “default” scenario.

    Social Security payouts, however, are totally at the discretion of Congress per Fleming v. Nestor. In Helvering v. Davis, the program was reclassified as “general welfare” from  being an insurance/trust program, which many people interpret as meaning Constitutionally mandated, but that decision predated Fleming and was covered in the later decision’s opinion.

    Helvering eliminated the concept that you are owed anything from SS. Fleming made payout numbers, even zero, a simple majority vote in Congress.

    Fleming has stood for 63 years without challenge.

    Both cases were fairly obscure “Cato Institute” policy wonk trivia until Florida Dems, trying to derail the rise of Jeb! in 1994 with their political dominance fading in the state, used the old case opinions along with musty Prescott! quotes to scare the h*ll out of WWII era oldster (then) young retirees that the Bush family had a secret agenda to eliminate Social Security. 

    The tactic worked since old He Coon, Lawton Chiles, “rose and walked before the light of day”. Ultimately, however, the reelection of Chiles just delayed the inevitable in Florida.

  14. drwilliams says:

    Pro-Terrorist Mobs Run Wild in New York City

    https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/12/pro-terrorist-mobs-run-wild-in-new-york-city/

    “Mostly peaceful.”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5lSeYd_riw

    In the twentieth century the rare White Polyester was nearly hunted to extinction before disco finally died.

  15. drwilliams says:

    whoops! posted this on last night’s thread:

    Places I’ve Never Been

    I have been in many places, but I’ve never been in Cahoots.
    Apparently, you can’t go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.

    I’ve also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.

    I have, however, been in Sane. They don’t have an airport; you have to be driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my friends, family and co-workers.

    I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I’m not too much on physical activity anymore.

    I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.

    I’ve been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

    Sometimes I’m in Capable, and I go there more often as I’m getting older.

    One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!

    And, sometimes I thought I was in Vincible but it turns out I wasn’t.

    People keep telling me I’m in Denial but I’m positive I’ve never been there before!

    I’m hoping to avoid Continence…

    And more and more I think of the Hereafter — several times a day, in fact. I enter a room and think “What am I here after?”

    http://blog.writeathome.com/index.php/2012/08/places-ive-never-been/

    h/t to the Ace Of Spades Saturday Night Joke, which published a slightly different version.

  16. Ken Mitchell says:

    Brad says:

    (a) I’m not a citizen anymore

    If you’ve renounced your citizenship, the Federal government doesn’t owe you anything. About 20 years ago, a retired American sailor moved to the Philippines and settled there with his military pension. He became a citizen of the Philippines, and when he wrote to the Navy to stop withholding taxes from his pension, they stopped paying it; said that if you’re no longer a citizen, you no longer deserve a military pension. 

    IANAL, so don’t rely on my understanding of the situation, but you might want to consult with a lawyer who knows that stuff. 

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  17. drwilliams says:

    and this…

    “I hope that the karma will f*** up Mike Love’s meditation forever.” –Dennis Wilson

    https://ultimateclassicrock.com/worst-rock-lyrics

  18. drwilliams says:

    FYI

    After @Nick’s post last night, I signed up on the site.

    Received an email this morning offering the toy for $239 after rebate.

  19. Nick Flandrey says:

    60F and clear today.  Great day to be out in the yard working on stuff, if my nose would stop draining for 10 whole minutes…

    Been up for a while, but now the coffee has kicked in.

    Some random thoughts–

    would anyone care about the book if it wasn’t written by a weird looking guy called Scoobie Doo?

    is there any sane person who WOULDN’T wonder about the skin color of a mixed race baby?

    ———

    your garden isn’t enough.   Stack.

    http://comeandmakeit.blogspot.com/2023/12/if-you-planning-for-shtf-no-food-thing.html and many of his previous posts.  I consider him and his location to be a bellwether for what’s coming.   Also love his continuing fight to make a living by making stuff.

    ————

    Lots of people I’ve been reading for a long time are now talking about how tight things are getting.  Lots of people I talk to IRL are talking about how tight things are getting.    Inflation is probably 30% annually.   How long will your cash in the bank continue to be worth anything?   In Venezuela it was about 2 years after inflation got to that point.  We’re not Venezuela, but neither is our currency what it was, nor is the SWIFT settlement the only game in town, nor is the agreement to only trade oil in dollars what it was either.  At some point the switch away from SWIFT and petro dollars will be the norm and not the exception.  At some point, our history as the cleanest dirty shirt will be overwhelmed by the amount of dollar printing we’ve been doing.  Public sentiment changes VERY quickly.  The traditional way out of these straits is war.

    ———-

    Love him or hate him, if he’s alive, DJT will be running for President.  He has no choice if he wants to stay alive and out of prison.  The gentleman’s agreement not to prosecute losing political rivals doesn’t apply to the hated Trump.  His family is trying to distance themselves and have it both ways, but I don’t think that will work.  If the donald goes down, they will follow.  

    ———-

    it’s very clear that people will do and say anything to avoid becoming the DOJ’s next victim.    Internalize that.

    ———

    the frog is boiled into soup in our major cities.   Think back just 20 years and compare to today.  Then 40.   Humans adjust, that’s just fact, but take a good look around and see how far things have fallen.  It’s not just “other people” and “other places.”

    The decline accelerates.   Improvements must be fought for tooth and nail.  Internalize what that means too.

    ———-

    We’re not prepping for a future disaster any more.  We are living in the ongoing disaster, and prepping for it to get worse.   Don’t think it will get worse?  What forces are working to make it better?  What forces are at work making it worse?  Which is more likely to prevail?

    ———————————————————–

    History rhymes.    This should look very familiar to anyone who knows their history.

    The Pentagon says an American warship and multiple commercial vessels have come under attack in the Red Sea

    • The attack on US maritime vessels potentially marks a major escalation in a series of attacks in the Middle East, linked to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war 
    • The Pentagon said on Sunday: ‘We´re aware of reports regarding attacks on the USS Carney and commercial vessels in the Red Sea’

    By Claudia Aoraha, Senior Reporter For Dailymail.Com

    Published: 11:12 EST, 3 December 2023 | Updated: 11:48 EST, 3 December 2023 

    An American warship and multiple commercial ships came under attack in the Red Sea on Sunday, the Pentagon confirmed.

    The attack on US maritime vessels potentially marks a major escalation in a series of attacks in the Middle East, linked to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

    The Pentagon confirmed that Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Carney – stationed in the waters between Africa and Asia – was under attack. 

    We will practice restraint until TPTB decide to use the excuse given to engage further.  Their goals are not your goals.

    n

  20. Nick Flandrey says:

    We’ll see how well this article holds up…

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/article-12811365/2024-predictions-stocks-house-prices-rates.html 

    n

    Fed hikes are designed to curb consumer spending to bring down inflation. The rate of annual inflation fell to 3.2 percent in October – down from its peak of 9.1 percent in June 2022 – but remains well above the Fed’s 2 percent target.

    — except that it’s not “consumer spending” that is driving price inflation, it’s government money printing that is driving monetary inflation. That’s a pretty big misstatement or misunderstanding, but I guess it could be me that’s wrong.
    n

  21. Nick Flandrey says:

    Top author says Donald Trump will be DICTATOR like Julius Caesar if he wins in 2024 – and could use his enormous power to refuse to stand down in 2028 

     

    Robert Kagan makes a case for the potency of Trump’s power and what could happen if he finds himself back in the White House.

    battlespace prep

    n

  22. Greg Norton says:

    We’ll see how well this article holds up…

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/article-12811365/2024-predictions-stocks-house-prices-rates.html 

    Mortgage rates are not going back to 6.5% unless the Fed resumes buying the mortgage paper. The 30 year Treasury is at 4.3% is at that rate only because of the printing press, and anyone buying the mortgages knows this.

    The US fooled the world once selling mortgages on our garbage real estate. That’s not happening again.

    Even if the rates did go to that point, the $350k cr*p shack in Texas @Lynn posted recently still requires a $10k/month take home and $70k down payment to qualify for that rate, and those numbers are out of reach for a lot of households who would be even remotely interested in that house.

    The only reason the real estate market hasn’t cratered in this state is the passage of the property tax “reform” at the beginning of the month. It will be a couple of years before homeowners realize that spending the surplus hid the big increases passed by a lot of counties/school districts on the same friggin’ ballot.

    Yes, the majority of voters are stupid.

  23. Brad says:

    @Ken: Denying that guy his retirement sounds very illegal. He served, he earned it. What happens after he retires is not relevant.

  24. drwilliams says:

    @Nick

    it’s not “consumer spending” that is driving price inflation, it’s government money printing that is driving monetary inflation. That’s a pretty big misstatement or misunderstanding, but I guess it could be me that’s wrong.

    Not wrong.

    Had the tv on his morning. my rough calculation is that over 1,000 seniors in the U.S. die every year during Medicare insurance commercials.

  25. Nick Flandrey says:

    Misleading headline and scattered writing but a few facts and interesting tidbits nonetheless.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/housing-market/article-12811423/selling-homes-rural-america-return-city.html 

    Three percent of all homes sold in the US between May and July returned less than the owners purchased them for, separate Redfin data showed, thanks to high interest rates and an exodus of workers returning to the office.

    San Francisco topped the charts by a country mile for the area where sellers were worst-hit – with 12.3 percent of homeowners passing on their properties at a loss, costing them a whopping $100,000 on average. 

    – translation – some home sellers bought high, but have to sell now, one of the dangers of buying a long term investment, on a  short term timeline.    

    Also, people are willing to lose almost TWICE the average US annual income to get out of San Fran…

    n

  26. Nick Flandrey says:

    On the plus side of the column–

    Tokarev TAR 12P 12 Gauge AR Style Shotgun 18.5″ Semi-Auto – TAR 12P

    $499 marked down to $199 at Palmetto State Armory. com

    https://palmettostatearmory.com/tokarev-tar-12p-12-gauge-ar-style-shotgun-18-5-semi-auto-tar-12p.html 

    n

  27. Nick Flandrey says:

    And at $259 their glock inspired Dagger is hard to beat.   Commander Zero had good things to say about it, among other reviewers.

    PSA Dagger Compact 9mm Pistol With SW3 DR Slide & Non Threaded Barrel, Black

    $359.99 $254.99 

    or 4 interest-free payments of $63.75 with 

    https://palmettostatearmory.com/psa-dagger-compact-9mm-pistol-with-sw3-dr-slide-non-threaded-barrel-dlc.html 

    n

  28. Greg Norton says:

    @Ken: Denying that guy his retirement sounds very illegal. He served, he earned it. What happens after he retires is not relevant.

    Flemming v. Nestor concerned an individual, Ephram Nestor, a legal alien who had been deported over his involvement in the Communist party and lost his SS benefits as a result. Despite having paid into the system for 19 years, the court ruled that a contractual right to receive benefits didn’t exist – the big precedent– and that, in the individual case of Nestor, due process/equal protection did not apply to him because the purpose of Social Security had been to increase the spending power of the elderly within the US, not overseas.

    Again, the ruling has stood for 63 years.

  29. Greg Norton says:

    – translation – some home sellers bought high, but have to sell now, one of the dangers of buying a long term investment, on a  short term timeline.    

    Also, people are willing to lose almost TWICE the average US annual income to get out of San Fran…

    Go back three years, and home prices factored in campaign promises from Biden and the Dems of at least $10k in first time home buyer credit, possibly more, as well as repeal of the SALT deduction limit. Neither of those changes happened, however, despite Dem control of both chambers of Congress and the White House for two years.

    Nothing supports house prices right now beyond the belief that the real estate market will turn around and the $240k floor put under any detached single family house within an hour of a major metro under the last first time home buyer credit signed by Corn Pop’s former (current?) boss in 2009.

    If the Dems have to put up a new nominee before next Fall, I wouldn’t be surprised if they promised a $20k credit which would effectively make most homeowner families’ net worth close to $1 million in a lot of markets before debts are considered.

    A replacement for Biden would be the last Dem Jesus Candidate. Nothing will be off of the table.

  30. Ken Mitchell says:

    Brad says:

    @Ken: Denying that guy his retirement sounds very illegal. He served, he earned it. What happens after he retires is not relevant.

    I’m not going to argue the point, but technically a military retirement at the 20-year mark is “reduced compensation for reduced service” – a man can still be recalled to active duty. If he’s no longer an American citizen, he cannot be. In the Navy, at least, “retirement” is being transferred to the Fleet Reserve, and most Navy bases have Fleet Reserve clubs to keep people somewhat engaged. 

  31. Ray Thompson says:

    rough calculation is that over 1,000 seniors in the U.S. die every year watching Medicare insurance commercials.

    Fixed it for you.

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  32. Nick Flandrey says:

    Pentagon Confirms US Warship, Commercial Ships Under Attack In Red Sea

    “Gulf of Tonkin” is trending on X in the US. 

    – guess I’m not the only one with eyes to see

    n

    (not that I ever thought I was…)

  33. Nick Flandrey says:

    This tells us two things.   They are concerned that he might win.    This is what they’re going with until they find something better.

    Former Rep. Liz Cheney warns in new book that if Donald Trump is reelected it could spell the ‘end of the US Republic’ and Chris Christie says ex-president wants to be a dictator 

    “He’ll be a dictator!  Skreeeeeeee!!1111!!”

    n

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  34. paul says:

    They paid $0.10 in taxes during the year and get $8K back in a refund.

    If they are like several around here, they don’t have bank accounts for some reason.  So they come to the HEB to cash their check.  HEB has a sliding scale.  Prices may have changed since I quit.  Up to $600 is $3.  Up to $1500 was 1.5%.  Up to $7,000 or $9,000 (I forget, when you saw one that big you went and checked if there was enough cash in the safe) was 3%.  

    Hoo boy!  Talk about folks going ballistic.  “Hey, I just work here, I don’t set the fees.”

    It all sort of went away when H&R Block started issuing debit cards.  So instead of waiting a month for the IRS to mail a check you could get your refund right away.  And no, not for less than paying HEB a 3% check cashing fee.  About double the best I could figure.

    Fine with us.  Most of them took a bath maybe on Sunday and here it is Friday.  Smell like a damp ashtray full of butts with lots of Eau d’ B.O.  Blech.

  35. Ray Thompson says:

    It all sort of went away when H&R Block started issuing debit cards.  So instead of waiting a month for the IRS to mail a check you could get your refund right away.  And no, not for less than paying HEB a 3% check cashing fee.  About double the best I could figure.

    H&R Block charges about $300.00 to do a simple tax return. This could easily be done with one of the many free tax services. 1040 EZ. A couple of incomes, no interest, no tax deductions (medical was at no charge, renting). However, H&R Block does immediate debit cards, which is essentially a very expensive loan. The tax refund is signed over to H&R Block, who gets the money in less than seven days, and enjoys probably a $100.00 fee for providing the debit card. None of the free tax services offer the debit card and a tax refund would take a couple of weeks.

    Those expensive hair extensions, gold tooth, new top of the line fingernails, bikini wax (big area to cover) and SPA Day, etc. just cannot wait.

    I once went to H&R Block out of curiosity. I had done my taxes with TurboTax which I did not inform H&R Block. A reasonably complicated return with about 20 pages required to be sent to the IRS. Actual pages for my records were almost 80. H&R Block wanted to charge me almost $600.00 to do my taxes and would miss several substantial items. I was informed of the fee after he looked at my tax documents. Investments really confused the clod behind the desk. I got up to walk out the door. The guy asked about his fee. I said you have done nothing and incompetence does not deserve to get paid and walked out.

    The poor stay poor because they are very bad at managing money. They cannot see beyond midnight to the next day. They have no understanding of interest rates, charges, and other fees that attack their money. Firms such as H&R Block prey on that weakness. As do Check-Into-Cash and other such lowlife businesses practices. These people are probably losing 20-25% of their money to the scum businesses.

  36. SteveF says:

    “He’ll be a dictator!  Skreeeeeeee!!1111!!”

    They told me that if I voted for Trump in 2020, we’d have a tyrant in office, a wrecked economy, and war by 2024.

    And they were right!

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  37. SteveF says:

    I continue to pay a tax preparer every year, and yes it’s about $300. I do this because of my wife’s creative attempts to reduce taxes and her frequent carelessness when it comes to reporting everything and handing over all paperwork. The paid preparer gives us a level of insulation between auditors and us.

    It doesn’t help that my business was repeatedly audited and investigated some years ago, thanks again to clever little tricks that my wife pulled.

  38. paul says:

    The poor stay poor because they are very bad at managing money. They cannot see beyond midnight to the next day. They have no understanding of interest rates, charges, and other fees that attack their money. Firms such as H&R Block prey on that weakness.

    Truth.

    For taxes I used Turbo Tax.  One year it decreed it needed to install a lot of other stuff and I’m like, nope.

    Then TaxACT.  It dropped one of my W-2s one year.  That was an unpleasant fine from the IRS.  The next year I tried TaxAct again and it did it again but I caught the error.  I’m done with that.  I was tired of the constant nagging to upgrade anyway.  

    I looked at the IRS site.  I found https://www.olt.com and it does a good job.  Nags a bit to upgrade so you can file state taxes but not too much. 

    I see no reason to go to H&R.

  39. paul says:

    Taxes this year promise to be interesting.  Because I sold Mom’s/My house.  Netted a bit over 50 grand after Title Company and paying the property taxes for the buyer (wtf) and the RE guy.  It came out to a little bit more in my pocket than the county appraised it for so I’m cool.

    From what I’ve read I don’t have to worry, it’s not enough money.  I’ll find out soon enough. 

  40. paul says:

    I bought a used DVD from Big River on Nov. 30.  They say delivery on Friday Dec. 8.  USPS says Thursday.

    I just looked and it has come from PA to Dallas, TX and left Dallas at 3:30 this fine Sunday afternoon.  So, figure max time to Austin is six hours.  Say, it gets to Austin at 9PM.

    I’m going to flip a coin and say I get the DVD tomorrow.   Tuesday for sure.

    The Post Office amazes me.  Sometimes real fast, sometimes “what?”.  Always entertaining. 

  41. Nick Flandrey says:

    I’ve been using a CPA who is also an Enrolled Agent, for about 30 years.   Same one for most of that.   She knows what we’ve done in the past, what is on a schedule, what got charged, what  is depreciating, etc.   The finished paperwork is about an inch thick when printed out.  IIRC I started out paying a couple hundred, then 600, and it’s probably more now.   

    My wife wanted to use someone local so we tried.   First, no one was taking new clients.   Then we found a guy, but he had an assistant doing all the work, and she missed stuff my wife had seen.    So we went back to my accountant.    It’s still a bunch of work with quicken to get everything in a form that is easy for the accountant to use, mileage has to be figured, K1s have to come in…   

    Our taxes are complicated.  I have a business.   Wife is commission based, and a partner with a distribution, on top of a base salary.  We have rental income and expenses.  Kids.  I’m happy to pay the accountant her fee.

    n

  42. Robert "Bob" Sprowl says:

    Before tax software existed, I wrote my one using Multiplan.  My taxes were not very complicated, but I made passing values to the next year  easy.  Used it a couple of years and then moved to QuattroPro, and later to Excel.  Created a version to handle my mother’s 1041 after her death in 1999.  Doing estimates for the next year was a piece of cake.

    Now my taxes are so simple doing them is trival. One retirement income, interest totaling almost nothing  and SS.  No deductions.  

  43. Nick Flandrey says:

    Well, I won another ebay auction.   All I can think is that for vintage tobacco pipes, no one is using a sniper program, or even waiting to manually attempt sniping.   Perhaps demand isn’t as high as I think.    I have won several auctions now.  Used to be I couldn’t win any auctions on ebay.

     I’m getting better at refurbing the pipes too, and getting ready to put some up on ebay for sale.  It’s not complicated, I can do most of it at my desk while doing other things at night, and in the end I’m fixing stuff too, which I enjoy.   It’s a miniature woodworking project that only takes a couple of hours.

    n

  44. Ray Thompson says:

    For taxes I used Turbo Tax.  One year it decreed it needed to install a lot of other stuff and I’m like, nope.

    Hmmm, I have never had TT attempt to install any extra stuff. There may have been offers for McAfee or some such stuff. That was common years ago for a lot of software. I was always able to decline. I have been using TT since the DOS days, probably 25 years.

    My taxes get complicated because of investments, dividends and interest. There is also the wife’s medicine which is $7K a year, with insurance. I don’t have enough deductions this year due to property tax. I only pay every other year and pay two years in the same tax year. Doubles up the deduction.

    Our taxes are complicated.  I have a business.

    For your needs an accountant would be mandatory. And it is a business expense.

    I see people with one income, renting, nowhere near enough deductions to itemize, going to H&R, or in Walmart. Paying two to three hundred dollars for simple taxes. Why? Because they are afraid of the IRS. The IRS is one of the most feared government agencies. Maybe rightly so as the IRS has destroyed some lives, some of them because the IRS is wrong and will never admit fault. By the time the IRS is proven wrong, the damage has been done with no repercussions to the IRS.

  45. Nick Flandrey says:

    Ha Ha!!

    Fury as COP28 head and UAE energy tsar Sultan Al Jaber says there is ‘no science’ to suggest phasing out fossil fuels will limit global warming to 1.5C – and doing so would ‘take us back to caves’ 

     

    The president of the Dubai climate change summit, Sultan al Jaber, made the comments during an online question and answer session at a She Changes Climate event.

    n

  46. Lynn says:

    Over The Hedge: Hot Tub Rules

       https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2023/12/02

    There is only one rule in the Hot Tub: No peeing in the hot tub.

  47. drwilliams says:

    “There is only one rule in the Hot Tub: No peeing in the hot tub.”

    There are three rules before entering the hot tub:

    If you smell chlorine, don’t go in. (The chlorine smell isn’t chlorine, it’s chloramines, indicating that not enough chlorine is present to break down contaminants, especially urea from pee.) If they’re using a different chemistry such as bromination, ask for the testing record.  If it’s a public pool , ask for the testing record if it is not posted.

    If you can’t see the bottom, don’t go in. Cloudy water is never good.

    If you’re at a hotel and there is a large convention, don’t use the hot tub after the first night. If it’s a science fiction or SCA convention, don’t use it after noon the first day (too many people drove overnight to get there, checked in, and headed for the hot tub without bathing. 

  48. Nick Flandrey says:

    Headed to bed, so don’t wreck the place…

    n

  49. Lynn says:

    BC: Why BC Has Dinosaurs

       https://www.gocomics.com/bc/2023/12/03

    Yup, we get taken out by our recreated dinosaurs.  Jurassic World all over the world.

    I have to admit, getting taken out by recreated dinosaurs is not on my top ten apocalyptic list.

  50. Bob Sprowl says:

    I just spent two hours with keepass.  Wrote down my master key (password).  Loaded a half dozen entries and saved them. Closed keepass.  

    Restarted keepass.  It refuses to recognize my master key. Oh well, I have 12 pages of passwords and entered 6 in twenty minutes.  Saves me from loading the remainder.

  51. Lynn says:

    “Inflation and hard times: we’re all in this together”

        https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/12/inflation-and-hard-times-were-all-in.html

    “If you want to get a very cold, uncomfortable look at where this might end up, read “The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047” by Lionel Shriver.”

    “I don’t know why the cover-cited Wall Street Journal review of the book found it “a provocative and very funny page-turner”.  It’s anything but that to me.  The book is sometimes heavy-handed in its treatment of economic issues (Ayn Rand would probably have loved it), but its analysis of where we might find ourselves in five to ten years’ time is absolutely in line with historical cases such as Weimar Republic hyperinflation, of which we’ve spoken extensively in these pages.  I don’t like the book.  It makes me feel very uncomfortable, even threatened . . . but it’s far more likely to be accurate in its predictions than many of the feel-good everything’s-going-to-be-fine newspaper reports and opinion columns we see all around us today.”

    Peter “liked” my book suggestion.  I totally agree, the book is not funny at all.  It is a long look at a possible 18 year apocalyptic disaster. YMMV.

  52. brad says:

    Unmotivated today, and I have a pile (actually two piles) of projects to grade. I have taught first-semester programming for too many – way too many – years. I’m good at it, but now that the end is in sight, I am ready to be done. Next Fall will be the absolute last time. Anyone who was in the military will probably know the phrase “feeling short”? Or was that only an Air Force thing?

    On the positive side, the new advanced course (writing back-ends for web services) has gone well. It has been nice doing a new course again. Three more weeks in the semester, then exams…

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