Grizzle

quote:Originally posted by Prez: Tax cuts for the rich is a liberal talking-head fallacy that has been disproven so many times that it is useless to even debate it. If that's what you wish to believe, fine, but don't expect anyone with a brain to agree with you. Tsk tsk Prez... That statement is patently false. When all is said and done the rich will receive a larger percentage decrease to their income tax rate than the rest of us. But what's even worse is that since investment income is taxed at a much lower rate than wage income (and is not subject to SS/medicare taxes), and since the rich receive investment income at a much larger percentage than the average Joe, they do in fact benefit more from Bush's tax cuts.

It would be cool though eh?

Ewwww.... There's only one thing worse than Norton AV and that's Apple's Quicktime...

It doesn't seem that the new line is much better than the 7800x. I may even go the nVidia route myself with my next upgrade. This is the second launch in a row tha ATI has failed to have sufficient supply in the retail channels. Not a good sign.

At first I thought this was a humor piece, I like the way it's written even if the guy does come off as a little too enthusiastic about his guns (and I don't mean in a healthy way.) Nevertheless I think it's a good law, but as soon as someone blows someone else away under questionable circumstances it'll come under fire (no pun intended.)

Spooky... Not 15 minutes after my last post I lost my internet connection... Ha...where's Wolferz and his government conspiracy theories when you need him?

Mind you, I don't agree with excessive taxation but the VAT tax is really no surprise, nor is the US internet commerce tax. It is interesting to note that the federal government DID decide to leave the issue up to individual states when they decided not to renew the moratorium on internet taxation in 2003. The problem with the US internet tax thing is, now that they've found ways to accommodate it for internet transactions, it will bleed into catalog/phone sales and all other forms of interstate commerce. As I said before, I don't think it'll be a big deal and when you think about it, it's amazing something like this didn't happen sooner. As for the main topic of discussion, I really couldn't care less, as long as the Internet continues to provide me with value at a reasonable cost there's nothing to complain about. Doesn't matter to me who shares what. As for privacy and control, I'm fairly sure our gov't is already monitoring internet traffic under the powers of the Patriot Act.

And so it begins...

quote:Originally posted by Prez: quote: You have so much energy and enthusiasm that you would probably be better served by focusing on the injustices occuring within our own borders. That wasn't the topic of the thread, now was it? ROFL, since when do these sorts of threads stay on topic? Actually, I'm just trying to show that no matter your country or political affiliation, when it comes right down to it, they're all pretty much the same. Governments tend to act in their own best interest instead of the public they are supposed to serve. Well... that and trying to stop Soback from giving himself an aneurism. I may disagree with the guy, but I wouldn't want him to burst a vein

Well Soback, maybe that will happen maybe not, but it wouldn't be the first time any gov't has had an ulterior motive. As for taxation being foisted upon the public when a gov't has clearly stated it wouldn't be, need I remind you of the now infamous quote "Read my lips, no new taxes." You have so much energy and enthusiasm that you would probably be better served by focusing on the injustices occuring within our own borders. Start with Jeb Bush, he's one of the largest proponents of instituting an internet interstate commerce tax. (What's that? A Republican promoting new taxes!!)

Soback, I think you might be reading a bit too much into the term Value Added. It's just another sales tax and only applies to transactions where money changes hands. If the product/service/patch is free then no tax can be collected. What monetary amount would the tax be based upon if this were not so? As for Garmin goes, that tax applies not because there is an electronic trail, but because the transaction for EU customers actually occurs in the UK (Garmin forwards EU transactions to their UK office for fulfillment/billing) That and the fact you must pay for the update, either in the form of a single fee, or service fee for the whole year. However, once they do find a way to track transactions and someone from the EU purchases a product/service from the US, they will be taxed at the time of the transaction. But still, it's only in the case where money changes hands and not because a non-fee transaction "adds value".

Thanks Soback. Although, since you have to pay for the update it is considered a commerce transaction. You pay for product, whether or not it's an update to a pre-existing product, you get taxed. If the downloads were free patches then I would agree with you that it is not justifiable. But I think for the time being it is clearly limited to pay for items only. In any event, it's only a matter of time before the same occurs in this country. States are finding ways around the interstate commerce tax laws so you and I will be paying taxes on internet purchases sooner or later. Which I don't really have an issue with since it's just another sales tax and I would really consider it just the price of convenience for doing business on the internet. Cool being a pilot btw, I've always had a desire to take lessons, but never got around to it. There's still time though.

Soback, I'm confused about your reference to the Garmin GPS VAT tax. I can't find a link to your reference in your posts. Can you provide it? From what I can tell on the Garmin website: A. New European Union (EU) regulations regarding the collection of Value-Added Taxes (VAT) on electronic commerce required Garmin to begin to collect VAT on purchases by customers residing in the EU beginning July 1, 2003. As orders from customers residing in the EU are concluded with GarminÔÇÖs UK subsidiary, Garmin Europe, VAT at the UK standard rate will be collected. This is clearly stated for purchases. Regarding the patch download, no such download tax statement could be found. But I did note that map updates are not free. They give the first one free then after that they charge a fee, or so it seems.

I intend to keep track of this too so if I can come up with some concrete evidence I'll create the new thread for it. Perhaps I can create a GBS script to help with testing it out.

How many numbers two's does that make now? I know we've gotten several of their number three's These kind of headlines always make me wonder if they don't have numbers tattooed on their heads so when we shoot them we can say, "Lookie here, we got us a number two!" I'll start celebrating when we get a few number ones.

FYI, when I ordered the Manual and keysheet from your order page it still included the $5 shipping for the UCAWA CD even though I removed the CD from the order. So I was charged $5 US Shipping $6 shipping for the manual/keysheet and $9.99 for the product. I know this is something to take up with BMT, but I thought I should mention it. Edit: Just got an email from them and they credited me for the $5

quote:Originally posted by Masefield: Got my manual and keyboard today. Now when can I get a t-shirt? I'd love one with a BCM/UC logo. quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: hehe, we're working on those Hmmm...ok, make a t-shirt similar to this: http://www.distantviews.com/stuff/front.png and you've got a buyer! EDIT: Put links to images, not the actual picture in the post. Thanks. [ 09-26-2005, 05:57 AM: Message edited by: DennyMala ]

Hmmm...me thinks a good business to get into right now is that of Digital Distributor. Buy or rent a server farm, sit back and watch the money roll in!

Ok, so in a moment of weakness I broke my own personal 5 year moratorium against Creative sound cards and bought the Soundblaster X-Fi card. I'm happy to announce that installing it did not require reactivation, which is good. Now in a month or two when I upgrade my mobo to PCI-Express and buy a new vid card, I'll be here asking for a new key.

Looks pretty good, but hey, where's your link to 3000ad? (lol..j/k)

Prez, I really don't think the Dems are trying to divide this country, indeed one of their most basic ideals is one of inclusion for everyone. I just think some people interpret them as meddling in the status quo that somehow is perceived as divisive. On the other hand I would point out that in some cases Republicans appear divisive even though I don't think it is their intent. But when you look at their stance regarding fair treatment of gay marriage for example, it's hard to classify that as an inclusive ideology based on unity and equality. Just my take on it.

I've experienced a similar issue that might be related to this. I've noticed that sometimes when switching to Perscan when there are intruders or prisoners on board that I get a CTD with an unhandled exception error. It *might* be related to the fact I run at 1280x1024 which sounds ridiculous but let me explain. I've noticed that unlike running at 1024x768 where the Perscan display gets split into two columns and you can see all intruders and their location, this never happens with 1280x1024. The display remains a single column and sometimes I can't see the intruder list, just a line indicating how many there are, but no locations. Usually I can see up to three or so intruders, but this isn't always the case. Recently I only had one intruder and I couldn't see their location. It's a minor problem and doesn't appear to cause the CTD. I also notice what appears to be up and down arrows as if I could scroll the intruder section, but they don't seem to do anything. On the last CTD when I went to check Perscan because I had intruders I caught a glimpse of the screen before it CTD'd and I noticed the intruder's were now prisoners, but because of the screen res the prisoner section was pushed below the normal viewing area. In other words I saw that there were prisoners, but the section that displayed it was outside the gold colored frame of the display. I only had a split second to see it, but that's definitely what it looked like. So I think the issue is more related to intruders being made prisoners and would only occur when trying to view Perscan at 1280x1024. Now I could play at 1024 and see if the issue continues if you'd like. I use 1280 since I run an LCD that uses that res as native, and it looks SO much better P.S. I sent an email about not being able to update my reg profile for UCAWA, but the info I have in the other product reg (for UC I think) is accurate except for the Vid card, I'm running Cat 5.8's.

Bah, just got back from the store, no one around here carries Turtle Beach cards (I refuse to go with Creative). I've still got my old Santa Cruz card laying around, but I think I'll mail order the Montego and just wait. Will let you know when I try it out.

quote:Originally posted by Prez: What offends me are the 'ideals' that run so counter to the ideals of America's Founding Fathers coupled with the fact that I am labeled an uncompassionate, racist, homophobic, Jesus-freak for NOT subscribing to them. I don't think you should have to defend your opinion so much, but I wanted to make a point based on this specific piece in your response. Is it any worse than being labeled a baby killing, anti-American, enemy-abetting, treasonous, commie liar? You see it's really all the same which is why it's so ridiculous to get overly upset about it. I know I am none of those things and you know you are none of the things you posted. Sticks and stones eh?

I understand why you're doing the activation thing SC. I have no problem with it and don't think you need to justify it to anyone. Anyhow, I'm going to bite the bullet and attempt the new sound card...if it fails I'll just have to wait for a new key.