With phones and other small devices that store electricity in milliamp hours the capacity of the grid inputs is not an issue. With cars it is the gating concern.

If a car can go 5 miles on a charge of one kilowatt hour, it will take a charge of 20 KWh to travel 100 mi. If you use a 240v 30 Amp.line which can transmit 7.2 KWh in one hour, a 20 KWh charge will take more than 3 hrs. (hint the charging process will not be 100% efficient).

To transmit 20 KWh in 10 min requires 120 KW of power. By way of comparison, the main panel of my house is fused at 240v -- 200A or 48,000 watts. Moving power at the rate of 120 KW is arc welding territory and it will involve safety precautions.

The question of whether or not meals furnished by an employer to an employee are a form of compensation that is taxable income to the employee is neither new, nor difficult.

The issue was determined by litigation before WWII and in 1954 the rule that had evolved was added to the Internal Revenue Code as Section 119:

"There shall be excluded from gross income of an employee the value of any meals ... furnished to him ... by ... his employer for the convenience of the employer, but only if -- ... the meals are furnished on the business premises of the employer ..."

The IRS issued a written interpretation of this provision with several examples almost 50 years ago.

Examples of tax free meals include those furnished a remote construction site camp and those furnished to hospital workers who need to stay on site in order to be available for emergency calls. The following example is not tax free:

"A manufacturing company provides a cafeteria on its premises at which its employees can purchase their lunch. There is no other eating facility located near the company's premises, but the employee can furnish his own meal by bringing his lunch. The amount of compensation which any employee is required to include in gross income is not reduced by the amount charged for the meals, and the meals are not considered to be furnished for the convenience of the employer."

Without more research into the facts and circumstances of Google and its employees, I think that the above example would control their situation, and that the meals would be taxable income to their employees.

BTW: The IRS does not consider coffee, donuts, and soft drinks served at meetings or in break rooms to be taxable income in most situations

These rules are derived from the basic interpretation by the Supreme Court and the IRS of the phrase "income from whatever source derived" used in Amendment XVI to the Constitution and in the Internal Revenue Code. These rules have been consistent during the century since Am. 16 and the Income Tax were adopted.

I have spent some time and effort in researching and reading ideas on tax reform over the years since I first began to study the income tax 40 years ago, and I have not seen anything that would result in a change to this rule that would make meals non-taxable in all circumstances.

Galley slaves.

It took me years of psychotherapy to get rid of my hangups. Why would I be sad about their demise?

"I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don't want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment."
Woddy Allen

Flavius Vegetius Renatus, "De re militari" (390 C.E.): "Qui desiderat pacem, bellum praeparat; nemo provocare ne offendere audet quem intelliget superiorem esse pugnaturem"

The standardization of the second took place 46 years ago. It is now the basis of SI, the international system of standards. The following is from NIST, the Federal Government agency in charge of standards:

"The unit of time, the second, was defined originally as the fraction 1/86 400 of the mean solar day. The exact definition of "mean solar day" was left to astronomical theories. However, measurement showed that irregularities in the rotation of the Earth could not be taken into account by the theory and have the effect that this definition does not allow the required accuracy to be achieved. ... Experimental work had, however, already shown that an atomic standard of time-interval, based on a transition between two energy levels of an atom or a molecule, could be realized and reproduced much more precisely. Considering that a very precise definition of the unit of time is indispensable for the International System, the 13th CGPM (1967) decided to replace the definition of the second by the following ...:

"The second is the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the cesium 133 atom."

Not only that but, length is now defined in terms of the second:

"In turn, to further reduce the uncertainty, in 1983 the CGPM replaced this latter definition by the following definition:

"The meter is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second.

"Note that the effect of this definition is to fix the speed of light in vacuum at exactly 299 792 458 mÂs-1. The original international prototype of the meter, which was sanctioned by the 1st CGPM in 1889, is still kept at the BIPM under the conditions specified in 1889."

Very Funny. Mod it up.

Because it comes out of your rectum.

Rectum?

Barium!

The problem with this entire debate and the petition is that it assumes that the US has not adopted the metric system.

Let me start by quoting the National Institute of Standards and Technology [NIST a division of the US Department of Commerce]. Appendix B "Units and Systems of Measurement Their Origin, Development, and Present Status" to their publication Handbook 44 "Specifications, Tolerances, and Other Technical Requirements for Weighing and Measuring Devices" [pdf] states:

2.2.5. Status of the Metric System in the United States.

The use of the metric system in this country was legalized by Act of Congress in 1866, but was not made obligatory then or since.

* * *

Since 1970, actions have been taken to encourage the use of metric units of measurement in the United States. A brief summary of actions by Congress is provided below as reported in the Federal Register Notice dated July 28, 1998.

Section 403 of ... the Education Amendment of 1974, states that it is the policy of the United States to encourage educational agencies and institutions to prepare students to use the metric system of measurement as part of the regular education program. Under both this act and the Metric Conversion Act of 1975, the “metric system of measurement” is defined as the International System of Units ... interpreted or modified for the United States by ... the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Section 5164 of ... the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, amends ... The Metric Conversion Act of 1975. ... read[s] as follows:

“Sec. 3. It is therefore the declared policy of the United States–

(1) to designate the metric system of measurement as the preferred system of weights and measures for United States trade and commerce;

(2) to require that each federal agency, by a date certain and to the extent economically feasible by the end of the fiscal year 1992, use the metric system of measurement in its procurements, grants, and other business-related activities, except to the extent that such use is impractical or is likely to cause significant inefficiencies or loss of markets to U.S. firms ... ;

(3) to seek ways to increase understanding of the metric system of measurement through educational information and guidance and in government publications; and

(4) to permit the continued use of traditional systems of weights and measures in nonbusiness activities.”

The Code of Federal Regulations makes the use of metric units mandatory for agencies of the federal government. (Federal Register, Vol. 56, No. 23, page 160, January 2, 1991.)

Perhaps the petitioners want non-metric units to be outlawed. That is not US policy (see above).

The title of the petition is also erroneous in that it refers to the "Imperial system".

The Imperial system was adopted by the UK in 1824. It was never used in the US. The differences between Imperial and US customary systems are described in Section 2.3 of Handbook 44. They chiefly relate to units of volume.

E.g., the UK Pint contains 20 ounces while the US Pint contains 16. The ounces are also different. 1 Imperial fluid ounce = 0.961 U.S. fluid ounce.

My apologies. The above comment is mine. I had forgotten to login. If a moderator can fix that error. I would appreciate it.

Suckers.

"You Can't Cheat an Honest Man" (1939) by W.C. Fields.

Fields plays "Larsen E. Whipsnade", the owner of a shady carnival that is constantly on the run from the law. The whimsical title comes from a line in an earlier film, in which he says that his grandfather's last words, "just before they sprung the trap", were "You can't cheat an honest man; never give a sucker an even break, or smarten up a chump."

For many years I used Koh-i-Noor Rapidograph Pens. They were great for drawing and writing, at least for me.

Link to the Koh-i-Noor Web Site

"Koh-I-Noor's Rapidograph Technical Pens are remarkably versatile pens that handle like a pencil, moving in all directions without snagging or digging into the drawing surface. Point sizes, ranging from very fine to very broad, are capable of achieving an engraver's perfection, a loose sketching style or a finely detailed pointillist technique. Rapidograph Technical pens are available in 13 different stainless steel nib sizes. Each pen is refillable and most are sold individually or in sets."

They are not horrible expensive. So you can try one and see if you like it.

YMMV

FTA:

Qualcomm started life in 1985 as a maker of cellular communications semiconductors, and it hasn't strayed far from that formula. It's pretty much the go-to company for CDMA chips and is now taking a lead in 4G LTE as well.

.

General purpose processors are a sideline for Qualcomm.

I have a friend who has multiple sclerosis. Then he developed a brain tumor, had a major operation, and months of radiation. Then he developed prostate cancer.

The amazing thing is that he is still alive and still smiling. It shows amazing strength of character.

Having more than one wife would be like being my friend. Most men would pray for death to free them.