Yes, the single input queue. They added a watchdog of some sort, IIRC, but it never really worked all that well and a misbehaving app could still lock the desktop. Apparently there were some banking apps that relied on the behavior and they didn't feel they could change it. I always thought that if they restricted the model to a single input queue per PM child they would have had the best of both worlds.

The main problem with OS/2 was that it came out too soon, and so the muckety mucks decreed that it had to run on a 286, and so lots of it was 16-bit, and so when the 386 came out the move to 32-bit was painful. The second problem with OS/2 was the GUI's single-threaded model....

dunno how high they were, but the Taliban couldn't reach B52s.

He'll need a hotter furnace (Curie temperature for iron is over 700C)...

A 27 year old bringing home $600 a week after taxes, insurance, etc, all for what feels like dicking around on computers all day? Yes sir.

IBM was paying 27-year-old programmers just a little less than that in 1989...

Similarly, we can envision a calamity that wipes out trees (and paper), thereby making the dollar bill worth more than $1 (presumably in coin). We can also envision the price of gold collapsing, so that the value of the gold in a $50 Eagle is less than 50 $1 bills. In short, your proposed candidate fails the test, for the same reasons you find the $50 gold piece absurd.

By your argument, then, we must find something that is now worth $1, and will always be worth $1, to make our dollar bills out of. Got any candidates?

Was this directed to me?

For the purposes of the tax code, the value of anything received in payment is its market value.

It so happens that the market value of $20 bills (most of them, anyway) is $20. And it so happens that the market value of $25 American Eagle gold bullion coins (I note in passing that "bullion" is part of their official name) is whatever the market is currently paying for 1/2 troy ounce of 22kt gold (probably in the neighborhood of $500 these days, I shouldn't wonder).

The Gold Bullion Coin Act of 1985, which authorized the production of American Eagles, might perhaps have something to say regarding this issue. I'll see if I can find a copy...

The assumption you don't think exists is central to your argument...

While we're at it, care to cite a legal reference to back your assertion that the government has to value a $20 gold piece at $20?

Not from the bank. And unless they're fairly old pennies, not from the copper broker either.

US currency is valued at fair market value, just like everything else.

The value of the copper in the pennies.

This is not an appropriate model. You should be asking "if my employer pays me in pennies and one of those pennies has some rare quality making it worth $100 to a collector ... is that an extra $100 of income?" The tax law is fairly clear - yes, it is an extra $100 of income, whether you sell it or not.