Golf meets these requirements handily. I try to play and run up against these pesky requirements all the time!

Golf *is* different from other sports like long-distance running, etc. And golf is being included in the next Olympics. I would say it compares with biathlon in the Winter Olympics.

The US sets the rules under which a citizen can renounce citizenship. Those rules include an "exit tax" and continuing tax liability on earnings made on assets which remain in the US.

The exit tax seems to consist of "marking to market" all of the renouncer's assets in the US and taxing the resulting amount including "deemed" gains as of the date of renunciation. For folks sitting on long-term IRAs and 401Ks, this "exit tax" would be brutal.

A quick Google search led me to this source of information: http://m.klgates.com/files/Pub...

I can't imagine why it would make a difference whether one is overseas or not. The efile process is overseen by Intuit in all cases when you use TurboTax.

In my 8 years of filing US returns from overseas, I have not found it particularly difficult. I use TurboTax. Starting with the 2012 tax year, they started allowing e-File even if your address is outside the US.

You do have to be a bit careful about deductions, as donations to foreign charities are not deductible to the same rules as for US charities, and you have to be clear about taxes you paid in your country of residence. Some may not be deductible.

Nothing you say says that Mr Saverin has gotten away from his US tax liability. Only by renouncing citizenship can one end the tax liability, and even that continues for some years (10 I think) after the renouncement.

I am a US citizen living in a foreign country, and I do indeed file two tax returns every year. I have no intent ever to renounce US citizenship. Even with all its bumps and warts, US citizenship is still my birthright, and something I cherish.

The US tax rules allow for lots of deductions, exemptions, credits, etc - so sometimes my tax bill is zero. My country of residence taxes pretty much anything it can see. What I especially don't like is that it taxes the UNREALIZED gain on my US retirement funds each year. It does not tax US Social Security retirement benefits, however.

My grandfather had amoebic dysentery for years. It left him a debilitated husk when he died in 1956.

Apparently he acquired the infection when drinking stream water while hunting for food for his family sometime during the 1920s. There was no effective treatment back then, so he just suffered.

Not particularly something to have fun with.

... and not to have to be concerned with any of this. Was always a struggle during the time, but now I can do what I want when I want, and that is lovely. Off on a 2-month holiday next week. Yay!

I moved from the US to NZ 7 years ago, and also had the need for a mail forwarder. I chose an outfit named "USA2ME", and that worked out pretty well. They charged a monthly fee and forwarded all kinds of mail, envelopes and packages. When the volume of mail dropped to only about 1 envelope a month, I dropped the service as not economical. Now I use my step-daughter's address and she sends things on to me by regular post.

I also use the NZPost's YouShop service when doing online retail shopping in the US. Most places will not ship internationally, you know. YouShop provides a shipping address in Oregon from which they onship to NZ -- for a price.

After moving to NZ, I found the retail scene to be lacking in choice. Eventually, I got over it.

Actually, the typical American does NOT know what "socialism" is -- only that it something bad, to be feared

I know this was a fan effort, and I enjoyed the whole episode. The feel of TOS was really there for me. But, let's face it, the actors (fans) were a bit beyond the expected age demographic one would expect in a spaceship crew. Too many were a bit old to be serving in quasi-military roles. The guy playing Bones was particularly off-putting. But the youngish lady doctor certainly lit up the screen.

What is socialistic about this? To me, it sounds like a really good thing to have, as bus service in the US is generally really crappy to begin with.

When I read the summary of the article, the first thing that occurred to me is that it sounded really similar to the transportation system that prevails on the island of Efate in Vanauatu (but in Vanuatu there is no cellphone app for it. You just stand by the road and wait for the bus to come by), and when I was there I found it to be more convenient and more effective than any public transportation system that I had encountered before, first or third world.

Results of such experiments sometimes take days to be known and verified to the point of publication. The news reported in early October may well be as early as possible. Who knows why the US press did not get it out first?

When I first saw:
What if you could build a computer that works just like the human brain?

My first reaction was: And what if you wound up with the brain of a Hitler?

The one I see most often is in downtown Nelson, right beside the entrance to the parking lot that I use most often when I am in town. It is very noticeable, a tall glass and aluminum box with a big Telecom logo on the glass and a sign saying "Free WiFi Hotspot". Hard to miss that one. I also see a free Telecom WiFi network available on my phone when I am in Richmond, though I could not tell you if there is a phone box anywhere near. I never set out to look for any.

As someone who lives in NZ, I assure you there are Telecom phonebooths in lots of places. You may have not been looking carefully enough to see them.

And, also, they would be mainly in urban centers. Arrowtown is not an urban center, though it is a popular holiday spot. Much of NZ is very rural with small communities and they may have never had a booth.

It has been my thought that Telecom embarked on this program to cater to the tourists who come every summer.