A lawyer for a suspended Catholic priest charged in Connecticut with laundering drug money has filed a notice that his client intends to change his plea.
I’m thinking there may be a bit of a kerfuffle over this.
Massachusetts could be readying to level a state tax on cloud-computing providers.
Governor Deval Patrick is proposing a sales levy on “computer and data processing services,” a broad categorization that includes everything from building Websites to backing up data in the cloud—in fact, according to his budget for fiscal year 2014, the only exemptions are “(1) downloaded books, music, videos or ringtones, or (2) computer facilities management services.”
[…]
“I think the best way to say it is we need our tax code to catch up with the way that technology is affecting everyone in their daily lives,” David Sullivan, legal counsel for the Executive Office for Administration and Finance, told the radio station. “Our tax agency is no different from the rest of the world. We’re not living in the 19th century any more.”The station also quoted Paul Davis, CEO of local data-analytics firm Intelligent Integration Systems, as saying the proposed tax was “untenable.”
[…]
The question now is whether those entities potentially affected by the Massachusetts tax will push back—if enough firms threaten to leave the state, it could compel the governor to adjust his plan.
And it doesn’t stop there:
The tax would cover custom-designed software and services based in the cloud. “Custom” software includes the design of Web sites, so the cost to local businesses of a new Web site would increase by 4.5% on contracts to design the site, write Java, PHP or other custom code. The cost of site hosting and bandwidth would also be taxed.
A 22-year-old man recreating what has become a popular stunt was killed after apparently leaving too much slack in the rope he was using to swing through a sandstone arch in Utah, police said Monday.
Kyle Lee Stocking, of West Jordan, and five friends hiked to the Corona Arch in southeastern Utah on Sunday to attempt the stunt made famous on YouTube.
But Stocking miscalculated the length of the rope he used to swing from the 140-foot sandstone arch and struck the ground when he jumped, according to the Grand County Sheriff’s Office.
County deputies, search and rescue personnel, and paramedics all responded to the accident, but Stocking was pronounced dead at the scene.
Some of you may remember the phrase: “If all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?”
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When the Senate passed a budget resolution Wednesday that appears to prevent some of the potential damage from sequestration, the Continuing Resolution included several food- and agriculture-related earmarks.
But one inclusion in particular is especially controversial. The “biotech rider” would require the USDA to approve the harvest and sale of crops from genetically modified seed even if a court has ruled the environmental studies on the crop were inadequate. This aspect of the bill infuriated many sustainable food and agriculture groups, who nicknamed the bill the “Monsanto Protection Act.”
If signed into law by President Obama, here’s what the rider would do: It will allow farmers to plant, harvest and sell genetically engineered plants even if the crops have been ruled upon unfavorably in court. A Center for Food Safety statement called the rider “an unprecedented attack on U.S. judicial review of agency actions” and “ a major violation of the separation of powers.” But perhaps more frightening, other critics say, is that the rider threatens the health and wellbeing of the public by undermining the federal courts’ ability to protect farmers and the environment from potentially hazardous genetically engineered (GE) crops.
The rider was slipped into the bill while it sat in the Senate Appropriations Committee, chaired by Maryland Democrat Barbara Mikulski.
Today in horrible advertising ideas, Ford India plugs the cavernous trunk space of its Figo hatchback by depicting captive women stuffed inside. That’s Silvio Berlusconi in the first image, leering at a troika of half-dressed model types. As Autoblog points out, the campaign—which also features racecar driver Michael Schumacher with bound-and-gagged competitors—is being unveiled just a few days after the Indian parliament passed a major anti-rape law.
In other news, rape is now against the law in India. Waaay overdue methinks.
Another German automaker has rejected the air conditioning refrigerant that’s scheduled to be adopted by global automakers in 2017. Earlier this month, Volkswagen lined up with Daimler and BMW to support Daimler’s findings from last year that the new refrigerant, called HFO-1234yf, can become flammable.
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Also known as “How to raise a serial killer”. A pox on Maury Povich, what a creep.
Nobody’s going to win an Emmy for a parody of the TV show “Star Trek” filmed by Internal Revenue Service employees at an agency studio in Maryland.
Instead, the IRS got a rebuke from Congress for wasting taxpayer dollars.
The agency says the video, along with a training video that parodied the TV show “Gilligan’s Island,” cost about $60,000. The “Star Trek” video accounted for most of the money, the agency said.
Like the boss who wants to hang out with you on a Saturday, corporate Facebook brand pages can get a little weird. What’s with all the personal questions? And please stop asking me if I like you.
Would you use an Origami condom?
We are looking for a Next Generation Condom that significantly preserves or enhances pleasure, in order to improve uptake and regular use. Additional concepts that might increase uptake include attributes that increase ease-of-use for male and female condoms, for example better packaging or designs that are easier to properly apply. In addition, attributes that address and overcome cultural barriers are also desired. Proposals must (i) have a testable hypothesis, (ii) include an associated plan for how the idea would be tested or validated, and (iii) yield interpretable and unambiguous data in Phase I, in order to be considered for Phase II funding.
A few examples of work that would be considered for funding:
– Application of safe new materials that may preserve or enhance sensation;
– Development and testing of new condom shapes/designs that may provide an improved user experience;
– Application of knowledge from other fields (e.g. neurobiology, vascular biology) to new strategies for improving condom desirability.We will not consider funding for:
– Exclusively non-technological, social, or educational interventions;
– Testing of existing commercially available products;
– Proposals without a clearly articulated hypothesis or plan for testing the proposed product’s value in overcoming adherence issues;
– Concepts that are inherently too expensive for a developing world setting;
– Concepts that would sacrifice the value of condoms for prevention of either unplanned pregnancy or HIV infection.
I am putting together a new ETF that consists entirely of companies that have become so large and systemically important that they are guaranteed survival regardless of their own incompetency.
For Kindle and with free ePub version. Only $9.49 Great reading.
Here is what Gary Shapiro CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) said: Dvorak's writing sings with insight and clarity. Whether or not you agree with John's views, he will get you thinking and is never boring. These essays are worth the read!
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