Thank you. I will switch in Firefox immediately. What should I use for Crome (which doesn't have Adblock Edge)?

Are there seriously any Slashdot readers who see ads on the internet? By a combination of hosts files, AdBlock Plus, Keep MORE Opt Outs, Ghostery and some other tools I can't remember the last time I saw an ad on the internet.

Still though I strongly support your tip. I use that feature myself and it still helps with, for instance, auto-play videos and other annoying things.

"use Windows. You'll have far less issues and less headaches"

Obvious troll!

I do complain about exactly that. All taxpaying entities should be taxed the same way -- same rates, same deductions. I prefer no deductions at all and when I say that I specifically mean the business expense deduction should be the first to go.

If I earn forty billion dollars, and if Apple earns forty billion dollars, then our tax bills should be the same.

It's easy. Just tax gross, like we do with human beings. Why would we allow the business expense deduction? It's ridiculous.

I always hear "BUT COMANIES WOULD DIE THEY CAN'T PAY TAX ON GROSS!1!!!1!" and that is nonsense. Humans pay on gross, we just shift around the earnings and payouts to make it work. If we tax businesses on gross two things would happen. First, we'd be taxing much more of the economy than we do today, so overall rates would be much lower, so companies wouldn't be paying today's 26% on every dollar they receive. Second, prices and wages would shift around to make sense under the new scheme.

We should do this not all at once, but phased in over 20 years. Every year, 5% more of gross proceeds would be taxable. The transition would be expected and smooth and the market would take care of it.

Without the B.E.D., rich people would not have the ability to hide money using legal fictions ("companies").

No need to do that. They just need to revert to the iTunes from -- gosh when was it -- like 2008 or 2009. It was a while ago now but there was a period of time when iTunes was pretty good. Now it's a shitshow. I can't believe how bad it's gotten and STAYED bad for years and years now.

I abandoned iTunes for podcasts, now I use Feedly+BeyondPod on my phone for podcasts. I use an Android app for syncing music and another one for playing music on my phone. When I sit in front of my old Mac, though, I still use iTunes, and it hurts. In fact a lot of things about the Mac hurts these days.

"Too few of them have any auto-correct features either."

Let me give a plug for Humanism which I don't personally consider a religion (because it makes no supernatural claims) but it is legally registered as a religious organization and explicitly states that moral truths evolve over time and can be 'discovered' in the same way that scientific facts can be discovered.

I think it would go to the definition of vote. My dictionary actually includes a "choice between two or more options" in the definition. Other definitions might not be so specific, but when Iraq went to the polls and "elected" Hussein, the only person on the ballot, I don't consider that to be "voting". It wouldn't count under what I meant but if you think that form of 'voting' is the same as 'voting' in places that you agree are real democracies, that is okay but I wonder how you manage to categorize anything in your mind.

Yeah me neither so I'm not going to respond to him anymore. I don't have any idea what the rejoinder "it's a republic not a democracy!" means. It's nonsense. Republics are democracies. When challenged on that point he retorts "but the country has problems!" as if that is germane. I have no idea what he's talking about.

"Also, the watchmen don't like being watched? Tough shit."

Exactly. Google should word it more politically but I hope "No, fuck you" is an accurate paraphrase of their response.

We vote, we count votes, and the person who gets the most votes takes office (with rare exceptions like Gore in 2000 when Gore got more votes in Florida). That's democracy. Other critiques might be valid but they don't change the validity of our democracy.

Right. The United States is a constitutional republic, which is a form of democracy, and the Soviet Union and Baathist Iraq were "constitutional republics" which we both put in quotes because they were fake democracies.

Oh shit! Because I was led astray by poor googling.

I stand by my statement. I'll bet that guy a hundred dollars that Californians don't get tickets for putting groceries in their pickup trucks. That is total nonsense.

Yes, and constitutional republics are democracies, which makes your reply true but unnecessary.

Wow do you think so? That's an interesting claim, one I've never considered. Tell me more.