You know that this is exactly what Apple did with the iPhone, right? The original iPhone was just a glorified iPod until Apple allowed 3rd party developers to start writing their own apps. I rarely use any of the software that originally shipped with the iPhone - the only exceptions being the texting app and the calendar app.

See Four for information about how the EMV transition will work. Basically there are two entities involved in determining whether to use chip and pin for each transaction. The card issuer has to issue a PIN for the card. The payment processor has to have hardware and infrastructure to verify the PIN in order for the chip and PIN portion to work. The payment processor works on behalf of the merchant accepting the transaction. Everyone wants to pass the financial responsibility of fraud up the chain from merchant to the card issuer. Eventually the US will transition to chip and PIN just to avoid liablity.

My understanding is that it is a two part process. The US is doing chip and signature for a few years and then will transition to chip and pin once the hardware all transitions. The purpose of the transition is due to a legislative change that puts the liability for transaction fraud on the weakest link in the card processing chain. If the card is EMV capable (chip and pin/signature) and the card reader is magnetic swipe, then the merchant bears the liability on accepting the swipe. If the merchant has EMV terminals and the card is magnetic swipe only, then the card issuer is liable. Most people in the US would not know their credit card PIN unless they routinely make cash advances. In a year or two the banks will start issuing or forcing people to reset their PIN somehow.

I would not be surprised if you were guessing incorrectly. The California DMV website makes no mention of auto renewal. Part of your registration fee is a "Vehicle License Fee", which is a tax on the vehicle's value. Since it is a tax (and deductible from your federal taxes), the California State Franchise Tax Board probably uses its authority to automatically take it's money from your bank account directly. I could be wrong, however.

Anyway, when I left the state of California I found that California gave me one of two options: A) Pay income tax for the year you give up your residency at the non-resident rate, even if you did not work a single day in the state of California. B) pay state income tax on my out of state income even for tax years where I was no longer living in the state until I forsake my residency. They'll do whatever they can to get as much money as possible from you.

burma shave?

Taylor Swift's current album is #4 for the week, according to billboard. It's been in the top 10 since November of 2014, when it was released. I highly suspect that, no matter what you or I think of her music, she will be very popular for years to come. She's been a success for 9 years now, topping the charts since she was 15 years old. In 5 years from now Neil Young will be getting less and less airplay as classic rock stations move more and more into the 90's. You can already hear Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, and other 90's groups on classic rock stations throughout the country. I would be surprised if Neil Young is getting more airplay than Taylor in 5 years.

Anyone else try to look up the documentary "My Country, My Country" on IMDB? You can quite literally put in the full movie title and the only auto-complete search it finds for you is "My Cousin, Vinny". I've never seen that with any other movie on IMDB, no matter how obscure. Even foreign films. But if you actually force it to execute the search, you'll see that the title is on IMDB. I wonder if I am on the watch list, now? :P

Hah. It may just have been me having a stressful day because I see the sarcasm in it this morning.

So what is a business owner going to disclaim all of their proclivities and hatreds in a profile so that I know I need to go to Bob's Bakery instead of Alice's Bakery to get handicap service? How am I supposed to know that a business doesn't support gay marriage? It's not like they usually advertise that information. And my guess is that they just didn't find a Muslim bakery that they wanted to make their cake. Even in cases where the business owner's views are well established (see Chick Fil A), I guarantee you a gay couple would still be served there.

Right. Or a KKK member baker from making a black person's wedding cake. Or for a eugenics supporter to not serve a handicapped person. And the list goes on and on. There's no reason to protect any of those people from discrimination. It's not like there has been a history of any of these groups of people being oppressed, or anything like that... oh wait.

But you're still missing the point of what was implied by her supposedly saying that. It wasn't suggesting that she was going to ensure that they were fed. In fact, the statement "Let them eat cake" is meant to show complete disregard and respect for the starving. But instead to imply that if they can't afford bread (cake being more expensive than bread), they may as well just starve.

Yes. But the plug did indicate that it was not for public use. Unless it was extremely urgent, you would expect a normal citizen to respect that request, I would hope.

So you think it is far more appropriate for them to have to develop a nonstandard plug rather than trust in the honesty and decency of the citizens of the UK? I mean, don't get me wrong, I think this is a silly reason to prosecute anyone, but the cost of a nonstandard plug is far in excess of a few pence. They have to have them manufactured, shipped and installed in all of their locations and then there is the conundrum of plugging the equipment in, too. Do they order vacuums with special plugs? Replace the plugs on COTS vacuums? Have adapters manufactured? And then what is to stop some conniving Brit from stealing an adapter or making their own adapter? It's just silly. Arresting someone for this is just silly. The officer should have just given him a warning, perhaps even a written warning so they can track repeat offenders. Life should have continued on. But the guy made a huge mistake if he really did become aggressive after they decided to arrest him, as that is a serious crime in most jurisdictions.

I live in a city. I can walk to almost everywhere I need to go, except work. I live about 10 miles from work. It takes me about 15 minutes to get work. If traffic is bad, it takes me 30. If I took the bus, it would take me at least 2 hours. I would love to ride a bicycle to work, but I live on an island and the only bridge I can legally ride a bicycle on is about 5 miles north of both my home and office - adding an extra 10 miles onto a bicycle ride. It's also incredibly busy during commute and has no bicycle lanes. There really is no viable option for me, either.