Sometimes the "version" is out of Amazon's control. Imagine all of the WiFi Router "versions" out in the field. Some will have firmware that's dreck (and complaints), and some will work well.... for a few weeks until the next crack emerges.

The biggest problem I see is that Amazon's search function is state of the art 2006. Once one finally get a user to the right product, people dash to the reviews, hoping they haven't been 'turfed, are somewhat sane, and knowledgeable, then give a user-voted credence (or not) to a product.

There are no standards to ratings, no commonality among them, and little in terms of a rational guideline to do the reviews. These changes impose a little bit of discipline, but IMHO, Amazon's search functions repel users more than the reviews attract them.

Narcissists aren't known for their ability to desire civility. It's all about *them*.

Please look beyond the trifling amount of facts within this article, and others cited with it. Yes, there's a lot of water going towards almond production. However, the citation of 1gal for 1nut is, yes, insane.

Do the math. Investigate reclamation. Look into the 11th dimension. Truly, this defies not only credulity, but physics itself.

Yes, they defy the laws of physics to cram a whole gallon of water into that single nut. None of that extra water is recovered, as it's sent into the 11th dimension, where it will join the left socks via the portal in every electric dryer I know of.

On one hand, it seems like an honorable request to establish a knowledge base that shares institutional and situational history with your successor.

For the organization, however, it represents a responsibility that they should somehow be shouldering. If indeed they sanction this, may I suggest considering transferable knowledge base software like Evernote, or the like, to feed docs, URLs, workflow information, and so forth. Email histories have legal status, and so you must be careful as to what's transferred, subject to the jurisdictions and audit/regulatory authorities involved-- in other words, a legal problem.

I'm not particularly in favor of fascism. I don't also care much for the current government. This said, Capone was a murderer, among many other uncivil traits. Some people can be heroes for defying the government. Capone was a nasty guy, and particularly evil among evil men.

Libertarians appear to me to be unable or willing to take responsibility for others, and in this specific measure often exhibit the same uncivil characteristics. Rules that are for other people are also often characteristics of narcissism, another lens to look at this behavior. Where is the balance? It is, and always will be tenuous.

Fill in the form, and you're innocent. Yes, sucks. It's part of civility. Civility is active participation. That's why I vote.

Um, no.

I've done the report. So have any # of slashdotters. No big deal. I have to deal with at least a hundred different kinds of government forms a year-- or my CPA does. Sucks.

Catches crooks, and money launderers, and the other leeches of a civil society. Still sucks. Still needed.

We must disagree on both points.

Here's the basics: we need taxes because we need government. We need to track money; all Hastert had to do was do the filing. That's all.

In a civil world, we're civil, which means there are places and reasons to cooperate with government. In an ideal world, everyone's honest, but it's not ideal or even close. So we agree on civil and criminal proceedings. Yes, they're unevenly applied. It sucks. But not in this case.

Your estimation that drugs fuel organized crime is woefully naive. It's a fraction on a good day. Hacking banks, credit card fraud, hijacking, counterfeiting, illegal gambling, let me count the ways-- and these are just the ones that are patently illegal, and not repurposed into seemingly legitimate enterprise.

Monitoring your finances doesn't need a warrant when you do transfers over 10K. Look it up. Do the report and there's not a problem. GPS? Yeah, SCOTUS scotched it. Tapping your phone? Tell your congressman. I don't like them either.

In a way, Hastert was involved in organize crime. Like Capone (etc) that's not what bagged him. He screwed up. A CPA or attorney would have warned him.

Hastert was a tool in many schemes, IMHO, the extortion being just one part of it.

I'm with you. It would be a massive effort. I would be happy to contribute to making that effort, and the analysis that would follow, year after year.

Why we don't have open government finance reporting at all levels is sheer chicanery.

You miss my point.

It's about openness in transactions. The situations are analogous, not congruent.

Private property can also be the context for untold and massive greed. Not all the time, but government costs money, and good government costs good money. The screws currently turned on state governments across the country have resulted in massive deficits, and only the bankers win, in that game.

I don't like crooked cops, either. Getting the "capo" was the way to dry up a huge supply of illegal talent. Beyond racketeering, murder, extortion, and the other multitudes of crimes, it also destabilized neighborhoods, families, and more.

All you have to do is the reporting. If you don't, there is a presumption that you're laundering money. Why do we have more CPAs in the US than you can shake a stick at? This very reason. Yeah, lots of fudging gets done. That's another thread.

We agree that equal enforcement is a good idea. It's not a witch hunt. Others have also been caught in this trap as well.

We must disagree.

We did indeed pass and have enforced, a lot of legislation that's helped reduce corruption. No, it's not stopped,and SuperPACs allow bribery on a huge scale. But the RICO Act, along with a long list of others, have helped keep things somewhat open and at least partially above board. They're not thoroughly successful. If Hastert had done the reporting, he wouldn't be in deep crap at this point, his secrets intact for better and worse. The reporting has a purpose: keep large transfers from skirting reporting in taxes.... like taking your annual profits to a tax haven, and so forth.

The man otherwise, appears to be a skunk for this and many other reasons.