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Comment Re:Administrators (Score 4, Insightful) 538

I beg to disagree.

The largest collection of human knowledge ever assembled is right here on your desktop, and mine. I live in a rural area, and I can immediately look up pretty much anything that I'm interested in finding out, and get more information about it in more formats than were ever available to ANYONE in the 20th century or before, regardless of whether they were at a university or not.

There is absolutely no need to run to a library or purchase a book that may already be out of date.

Earlier today I watched a video demonstrating how a synchro-mesh transmission works. Never knew that before; never knew how a transmission worked at all, in fact. Now I do. Does that change my world view? Is it an earth-shattering accomplishment? No.

However, what I learn by reading and viewing thing online do enrich my life to a huge extent. How to write a computer program. How to waterproof a basement. When I'm reading a book (ebook) and come across a reference to Hadrian's Wall, I can immediately look it up and read more about that if I'm interested. And so on.

When provided with this huge pool of available knowledge, some folks use it to read about Brittany Spears. But that's not the only thing it's good for.

It's never been easier, cheaper and simpler to be an autodidact than it is today. You don't have to walk past your front door, unless you want to.

Comment Re:Taxpayer subsidized? (Score 1) 85

The benefit to the public is that you and I should (would) have the same right to use the results of that research for commercial enterprise (or anything else) too.

Note that I didn't ask if this is a public or a private university; that's irrelevant to the issue at hand. I asked if it's being taxpayer subsidized. I suspect that you would be hard pressed to find a "significant" university in the USA (or anywhere else) that isn't taxpayer subsidized, frankly. Therefore, their research should be placed in the public domain.

That's my opinion; you're free to disagree, of course.

Submission + - Got your flying car right here! (dailymail.co.uk)

innocent_white_lamb writes: Well, it's actually a flying truck, But close enough.

The Black Knight Transformer is a supply truck that's capable of carrying a 4000 pound payload and can be flown like a helicopter or driven over rough terrain. You can remove the drive train and replace it with an amphibious boat hull if you happen to need a flying boat instead of a flying truck.

Either way, it's a cool gadget that's currently under development for the US military.

Comment Re:Over 18 (Score 2) 632

I don't think your link has the complete story. You can find lots of information about this issue with a google search for facta (the name of a new US law that's trying to pull more people into the IRS dragnet) but here is one article that lays it out fairly succinctly:

U.S. citizens on the other hand, have an ongoing obligation to declare and report their worldwide income to the U.S.A., regardless of where they reside. U.S. citizens who have permanently departed the U.S.A. and have become full-time permanent residents of Canada are still required to file U.S. income taxes on an annual basis with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The only way for U.S. citizens to avoid this would be to go through a process to renounce their U.S. citizenship, which is not practical or desirable for most people. Therefore, a U.S. citizen who resides in Canada is essentially subject to the same U.S. filing requirements as they would if they continued to reside in the U.S.A. This means filing U.S. Form 1040 every year, and reporting worldwide income.

The bottom line for U.S. citizen residents of Canada is that they must file two returns each year â" a Canadian income tax return because they reside in Canada, and a U.S. return based on being a U.S. citizen. The Tax Treaty between Canada and U.S.A. has several mechanisms available know as foreign tax credits, to make sure the person does not have to pay duplicate taxes to both countries.

Original article here

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