Comment Re:x86 (Score 1) 258
Oops. Replying to undo accidental down mod
Comment Re:That's a an interesting point (Score 1) 330
I wonder if you also have to pay tax on Prime? It's main function is to cover shipping & handling for all orders, I cannot see why it would not count. But since it's not part of any one order, perhaps it does not..
Yes, you pay sales tax on Prime subscription (I subscribed just after my state's "agreement" with Amazon kicked in and was charged). It is an order in itself.
Comment Re:Buy Amazon Prime. (Score 1) 330
Problem solved.
Except you end up paying sales tax on the prime subscription. OTOH you probably would be expected to pay 'use tax' if sales tax isn't charged so the only difference (assuming your tax return is a true statement) is whether you pay when you order or pay in April.
Either way, the state gets its cut.
Comment Re:really? (Score 1) 67
Replying to undo accidental moderation (sticky trackpad)
Sadly I see way too many corporate 'documents' that subscribe to the putative logic 'if it has numbers, it must be a spreadsheet; if it has pictures, it goes into powerpoint'. Where's the 'Ironic' moderation option
Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, Protein ... and Now Fat
210
ral writes "The human tongue can taste more than sweet, sour, salty, bitter and protein. Researchers have added fat to that list. Dr. Russell Keast, an exercise and nutrition sciences professor at Deakin University in Melbourne, told Slashfood, 'This makes logical sense. We have sweet to identify carbohydrate/sugars, and umami to identify protein/amino acids, so we could expect a taste to identify the other macronutrient: fat.' In the Deakin study, which appears in the latest issue of the British Journal of Nutrition, Dr. Keast and his team gave a group of 33 people fatty acids found in common foods, mixed in with nonfat milk to disguise the telltale fat texture. All 33 could detect the fatty acids to at least a small degree."
Police Called Over 11-Year-Old's Science Project 687
garg0yle writes "Police in San Diego were called to investigate an 11-year-old's science project, consisting of 'a motion detector made out of an empty Gatorade bottle and some electronics,' after the vice-principal came to the conclusion that it was a bomb. Charges aren't being laid against the youth, but it's being recommended that he and his family 'get counseling.' Apparently, the student violated school policies — I'm assuming these are policies against having any kind of independent thought?"
The Myths of Security 216
brothke writes "The Myths of Security: What the Computer Security Industry Doesn't Want You to Know is an interesting and thought-provoking book. Ultimately, the state of information security can be summed up in the book's final three sentences, in which John Viega writes that 'real, timely improvement is possible, but it requires people to care a lot more [about security] than they do. I'm not sure that's going to happen anytime soon. But I hope it does.'" Read on for the rest of Ben's review.
London Stock Exchange To Abandon Windows 438
BBCWatcher writes "Computerworld's Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols reports that the London Stock Exchange is abandoning its Microsoft Windows-based trading platform: 'Anyone who was ever fool enough to believe that Microsoft software was good enough to be used for a mission-critical operation had their face slapped this September when the LSE's Windows-based TradElect system brought the market to a standstill for almost an entire day .... Sources at the LSE tell me to this day that the problem was with TradElect ...'"
Artist Wins £20,000 Grant To Study Women's Butts 202
Sue Williams has been awarded a £20,000 grant by the Arts Council of Wales, to "explore cultural attitudes towards female buttocks." Sue plans to examine racial attitudes towards bottoms in Europe and Africa and create plaster casts of women's behinds to try to understand their place in contemporary culture. And here I've been studying the issue all these years for free like a sucker!
Spirit Stuck In Soft Soil On Mars 160
cheros writes "NASA reports that the Spirit Mars lander is presently stuck in soft soil. The lander's wheels are halfway sunk into the soil and they are planning simulation tests to see if they can get it out again. I hope they can get it out of there because it's picking up enough new energy to operate; however, it only has 5 wheels left to get around on — one of the wheels hasn't been working for years. Fingers crossed."
Churches Use Twitter To Reach a Wider Audience 169
In an attempt to reverse declining attendance figures, many American churches are starting to ask WWJD in 140 or fewer characters. Pastors at Westwinds Community Church in Michigan spent two weeks teaching their 900-member congregation how to use Twitter. 150 of them are now tweeting. Seattle's Mars Hill Church encourages its members to Twitter messages during services. The tweets appear on the church's official Twitter page. Kyle Firstenberg, the church's administrator, said,"It's a good way for them to tell their friends what church is about without their friends even coming in the building."
Ballmer, IBM Surprised By Oracle-Sun Deal 324
Geon Lasli writes "Reporters caught up with Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in Moscow to get his take on Oracle's deal to buy Sun Microsystems for US$7.4 billion. Ballmer was at a loss for words: 'I need to think about it. I am very surprised.'
According to a source, IBM hadn't given up on purchasing Sun and was blindsided by Oracle's move. I guess IBM must be regretting playing tough 2 weeks ago. Unknown to outsiders, Sun had probably found the Oracle lifeboat before they decided to pull the plug on the deal."
Cutting Steel With Flaming Bacon Weapons 73
Ed Pegg writes "Theo Gray demonstrates the Bacon Lance, a flaming meatsword that can cut through steel. Yes, with some ordinary bacon, and some pure oxygen, it's possible to cut through security doors. Form the article, 'I recently committed myself to the goal, before the weekend was out, of creating a device entirely from bacon and using it to cut a steel pan in half. My initial attempts were failures, but I knew success was within reach when I was able to ignite and melt the pan using seven beef sticks and a cucumber.' This comes out right after his profusely illustrated book of science experiments, Mad Science."
Submission + - Internet Inventor Becomes Web Scam Victim
The Narrative Fallacy writes: "Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the worldwide web, has revealed that he fell victim to online fraudsters while trying to buy a gift over the internet admitting that he bought a present from an online shop and when the present didn't arrive that he realized he had been conned. "The worst thing that has happened to me was when I tried to buy a Christmas present from a company that looked like a bona fide company on the internet and then actually they were a completely fake company," said Berners-Lee. "The moment I called the 0800 number listed on the website, there was a very polite message saying this number is available if you would like to use it, so a little bit of due diligence on my part would have revealed it wasn't what it was set up to be." Berners-Lee says that online crime needs to be enforced as rigorously as crime in the real world, within international agreements to help prevent internet criminals escaping prosecution by hiding in countries outside the jurisdiction of the law where their victims live. "We need to tackle issues of enforcement instead, as the laws on fraud, for example, already exist but is hard to find and catch the people responsible.""
Submission + - Cassini's Best Images (ciclops.org)
CheshireCatCO writes: The winners of the best images from the Cassini spacecraft (taken since Cassini images of Saturn were first acquired in February 2004) have been announced. The winner of best color image is In Saturn's Shadow, the stunning, high-phase portrait of Saturn from opposite the Sun. Winners of best black-and-white and best movie (both categories resulted in ties) are also available.
