Mother of All Tax Bills

It would change the tax rules regarding foreign income for U.S. companies. The Rangel plan would require companies to defer deductions on certain overseas business expenses until the money is repatriated to the U.S. That would raise $106 billion over 10 years.

Books to Buy and perhaps read!

Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students

Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works, Second Edition

The Worldly Philosophers: The Lives, Times And Ideas Of The Great Economic Thinkers

The Art of UNIX Programming

The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary

Head First Design Patterns

How Linux Is Testing The Limits Of Open Source Development

As the latest release of the Linux kernel emerged this month, it reflected a dizzying number of changes. Kernel 2.6.23, coming just three months after the last update, incorporated business-friendly features, including better virtualization support and an update to the all-important scheduler, as well as the usual new device drivers and bug fixes.

The sheer number of changes coming every two to three months from Linus Torvalds' "code tree" is a sign of accelerating kernel development.

Some think the kernel, clocked at 86 lines of new code per hour, is exceeding the software development speed limit. A key maintainer, Alan Cox, has warned that some device driver changes should get more testing before being incorporated into the kernel. Andrew Morton, a skilled programmer dubbed "the colonel of the kernel" after Torvalds tapped him as a general manager, has been outspoken on the problem of unfixed bugs in Linux. "I would like to see people spending more time fixing bugs and less time on new features," Morton says. "That's my personal opinion."

The Press Will Be Outsourced Before Stopped

First, we frequently see much larger dollar amounts printed in the business sections of newspapers ('Murdoch Buys Dow Jones for $5 billion', etc.), making us somewhat inurred to smaller financial figures such as $330 million or $1 million per week. However, the San Francisco Chronicle's latest weekday circulation figure is 386,564, so if that newspaper has lost $330 million during the past six years, it's lost approximately $853.67 per reader during that time or $142.28 per reader per year! Now does its amount of loss impress you? It does me. The Chronicle would lose less money if it just bought each reader a fine meal each year at San Francisco's best restaurant instead of delivering a newspaper each day.

Don't Pay Sales Tax!

You'd think that ordering from a catalog or the Internet would work the same way, but it doesn't. The reasons are complicated, but they boil down to the fact that the tax laws put an inordinate amount of value on physical presence. So if I live in Massachusetts and buy something from a mail-order store located in Vermont, Vermont can't charge me sales tax, because I'm not there. Similarly, Massachusetts can't collect sales tax from the store because it's in Vermont.

Configuring WebDAV for cross-platform file sharing

Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) is an often-overlooked protocol that can provide cross-platform file sharing with minimal client-side configuration. This article explains how to configure WebDAV servers on Windows with IIS, on Mac OS X and Linux with Apache, and how to connect using built-in WebDAV clients on all three OSes.

The right to criticize programming languages

Python's third win is simplicity. Most of the complex things about Ruby - syntactic, semantic, or whatever - are exceedingly important. Still, Python by being much simpler would be far better language for teaching peolpe to code. Sure, I know all the arguments for using Scheme or Java for it, and by legal overlook starting with C or C++ isn't in the Criminal Code yet, but if you love kids, you surely agree that Python is simply The Right First Language.

I Can Get Your Kid into an Ivy

As I listened to my 8th period English teacher drone on for the third time about how Finny, a character in A Separate Peace, was indeed the main character although he was not the narrator, it finally dawned on me that this was not the exciting world of high school that I had hoped for.

This is how Andrew Garza began an essay in his application to Haverford College. It was a 1,200-word piece that established him as an intellectually curious young man. It was crafted to appeal specifically to the admissions officers at the small liberal arts school. And it was the idea of his high-priced college admissions coach, Michele A. Hernandez. Garza attended a private school in Switzerland, and that worried Hernandez: She thought he might appear to be a privileged teenager without much substance. So she advised him to write about why he had left his public high school in suburban New Jersey. "We had to make it seem like he didn't want to be around so many rich kids. We spun a whole story about him taking the initiative to leave in order to broaden his experience," Hernandez says. "It was his initiative. But he wouldn't have written about it."

Today Andrew is a senior at Haverford, studying sociology and economics. His father, John, paid Hernandez $18,000 for 18 months' worth of advice. "It is a lot of money," says Garza, a manager at Abitibi-Consolidated (ABY ) in New York. "But if you look at it as an investment, it's not a bad one."

Learning Linux, Perl, Python

Linux

Linux Newbie Administrator Guide - Google for LNAG.pdf

Aileen Frisch's Essential System Administrator - Multi Platform

http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/19/1920221

http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/

http://tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Filesystem-Hierarchy/html/

http://tldp.org/LDP/Linux-Filesystem-Hierarchy/html/

http://nostarch.com/frameset.php?startat=vmware

Unix Power Tools

Perl

Robert's Perl Tutorials

Python

Dive into python

Our patent system is broken.

I've come to realize that this is a misconception. The patent system isn't broken, corrupt, or overwhelmed. Unfortunately, it is working exactly as it was designed.

From an early age we are taught idealist interpretations of patent law and how it is a wonderful tool to spur innovation, research, business, etc. and provide a level playing field for the little entrepreneur. However, when confronted with the reality of what patent law is, a forced impedement on human nature to invent and create which turns out to be contradictory to the idealistic intent, it is assumed it must be because it is broken.

43 Exceptionally Useful AJAX Applications

Usability on websites is exploding right now. AJAX has enabled web developers everywhere to add functionality to their sites like never before. I’ve gathered 43 extremely useful (but still easy to implement) AJAX applications for use on any website. Keep your users coming back and increase your website’s functionality.

5 Cool Google Tools You Should Know About

Probably, Google itself doesn't know where it's headed, and its leadership believes that this "throw stuff against the wall and see what sticks" model is a far better way to pick winners and losers than to make bets internally. They're probably correct about this.

I guess I shouldn't complain. Google has so much stuff going, that there's always something to peer into. Plus, its model of releasing anything and everything provides us all with universal, and usually free, access to the fruits of its research.

Here are the latest five:

Rock Your Presentation with the Right Tools and Apps

At some point in your career as a student or professional, you're going to have to give a presentation—and when you do, you want to be prepared with the right content and applications. Whether your demo'ing software or explicating Melville, a computer hooked up to a projector can either give an audience a great audio/visual experience, or a bullet-studded snoozer. Whether you're using a Mac or Windows, PowerPoint or Keynote, or simply presenting straight from your web browser, there are a few power tips, apps, and tools that can make your slideshow or demonstration smooth, entertaining and memorable.

Lawyers/attorneys in New Jersey/New York Area

Alice Yao

8 Bridge St, Metuchen NJ 08840
(732) 548-9595

Alice is very helpful.

Kamal Rastogi.

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING
350 5th. AVENUE, SUITE 5014
NEW YORK NY 10118

Tel: (212) 279-4403
Fax: (212) 563-4534

Email: krastogi@rastogilaw.com

New Jersey Contact:-
Tel: (908) 764-9161

Very prompt and professional.

Cupid Can Be Stupid

"We don't know why eHarmony has rejected over a million people looking for love," goes the tag line. "At Chemistry.com, come as you are."

Companies like Match, eHarmony, and Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) rely on serial daters to keep their premium services going. If all these lengthy registration forms are bunk, why should folks looking for love bother with the tollbooth-anchored dating sites?

It's free to post an ad on Craigslist to reach others within your town. PlentyOfFish.com is another free website that claims responsibility for 500,000 relationships last year alone. Don't forget the folks who are hooking up on free social networking sites like Facebook, News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) MySpace, and United Online's (Nasdaq: UNTD) Classmates.

Why would eHarmony rock a boat that is already taking on plenty of water from free matchmaking sites out there? I just don't see why eHarmony rejects a premium-paying model.

Stupid cupid. It shot itself with its own arrow.

Ten Health Trends You Can't Ignore

"The biggest health and wellness issue out there right now is stress," says Barbara Katz, president of Florida-based consulting company HealthFocus International. "It's impacting people across the board. That's one of the reasons everybody is interested in antioxidants."

Accordion

http://stickmanlabs.com/accordion/

Livable places in US: Huntsville, AL

You can laugh about Alabama. I did, until I came down for a job interview. Huntsville, AL is a great place. Because of the research park, there are people from all over the country. NASA and the Army's Redstone Arsenal have need for 30K to 50K high tech jobs.
Huntsville is a very high tech city, it has the 2nd largest research center in the US.

Brick houses (new) for under $100 a square foot. A brand new 4 bedroom, 3 bath 2500 square foot brick rambler on 1/3 of an acre in a new neighborhood for $240K. And it's not ramshackle construction.

Overall, AL has the lowest taxes in the US. Good schools, thanks to NASA and the rocket scientists at the Redstone Arsenal.

Insurance is a fraction of what I used to pay. Property taxes are less than 1/2 what I used to pay in a top 10 city for a house half that size. Electricity is cheap, thanks to the Tennessee Valley Authority. Gas is about the same as anywhere else, but there's no commute! No traffic! No crime! Do you know why there's no crime? Most of these people go to church! They have morals! It's not like NY City or Chicago, where you have to have Police on every street corner to keep the peace.

On top of all this, I'm making more than I was in the big city! It is 3 hours to Atlanta, 5 hours to the Gulf Coast. 90 minutes to Nashville, Birmingham, or Chattanooga. 3 hours to Memphis. It's 4 hours to the Smoky Mountains.

Winters are really mild, summers can get hot, but aren't as bad as Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, or Florida. It's not as humid as Florida or the other neighboring states. It's not as dry, or as hot, or as polluted as Southern California or Phoenix.

Huntsville is a northern city transplanted in the south.

Read what the AC said in this post. I'd write everything he said but I'm lazy. I'm an engineer, I work on Redstone Arsenal here in Huntsville, AL. Housing is cheap. Taxes are cheap. Utilities are cheap. While I was in college (I went to UAH [uah.edu]) I was paying $350 a month for a 1-bedroom apartment. My wife and I just purchased a brand new brick home for $80 a square foot. Other homes in town, new, brick are going for $51 by reputable builders. My utilities bill is averaging $150 a month, including getting the lawn started (lots of water) and kids. Summers are freaking hot, being from Wisconsin, but the air conditioning is good and the house is well-insulated. Get a DirecTV so you can watch "real" sports

:)

Huntsville has more PhD's per square mile than anywhere in the world, except Silcon Valley. Second biggest research park in the US, fourth in the world. Tons of R&D goes on here, both NASA and all aspects of Defense, biotech, etc. Benefits for most companies that I've seen are exceptional and educations (masters, PhD's) are admired. Most companies will put you through school if you want them.

Alternative Medicine: Homeopathy, Acupuncture, etc

Something few people seem to recognize is there are two separable elements to most of homeopathy. The first is the treatment itself, and the second is the explanation for how it works. For whatever reason people aren't satisfied to know that something works, they also need to know why it works. And unfortunately if there isn't a self-evident explanation one will be invented. And it doesn't end there, the invented rationale is then usually extended to develop other treatments (which don't work of course because what they are based on isn't true).

Take acupuncture. Twirling small needles in the top layer of the skin has a variety of benefits. But why? Traditions tell the story that it balances the energy flows, etc etc. A recent study examined three groups, one with no acupuncture, one with acupuncture in the traditionally prescribed locations, and one with acupuncture in random locations. Both of the latter two groups were better than the first (no treatment), but interestingly they weren't different from each other.

So yes acupuncture has some effect, but the traditional explanation has nothing to do with why it works.

Arstechnica article

James Randi

QuackWatch.org

NTP Sues Verizon, AT&T, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile

I think that if you live by the sword, you die by the sword. RIM had been walking around suing companies for having a miniature keyboard on their mobile devices. If you believe NTP, it was this blatant patent trolling that led NTP to file its own suit. (How would NTP explain this one?) Furthermore, RIM refused to settle for $10 million, and its courtroom behavior was horribly bad. However, once it was obvious that NTP could get injunctive relief and shut down all Blackberry service in the United States, RIM had no leverage at all and had to pay an extortionate amount to settle before they went bankrupt.

There is a huge difference: RIM is a Canadian company. This simple fact limited them in three very important aspects:

(1) Many US Courts are biased in favor of US litigants.
(2) As a foreign company, RIM is severely limited in the amount of campaign contributions to US politicians.
(3) As a Canadian company, RIM does not have a home town congressman and senator.

All of these limitations are not unique to the US, they largely apply to US companies suing or getting sued overseas. See the different treatment Microsoft got in the US and the EU cases.

It's potentially different in another aspect. IBM was not just trying to win the case against SCO: they could have done that any number of times. What they were trying to was make an example of SCO, crushing them slowly and draining all the legal juice out, setting sufficient precedent that no-one in their right minds would ever do anything like that again. I don't see another SCO happening for a long, long time.

I wouldn't mind seeing someone take the same road with NTP. IBM's executives correctly understood that appeasement rarely works. If you have the resources, winning a head-on battle is better in the long run than a buy-off, because you won't be a target when it's over.