Actually, we just decided to legal online gambling in many states. Before, we would just go onto websites that operated out of different countries. Bovada was a one such site. You could even use bitcoin there, which was a way to attempt to hide your activities from the US government. I never got into it, but it was a big enough deal that more states decided they'd rather make it legal so they could tax it then watch people send money out of the country instead.

While I'm sure most folks like Meta's Instagram and Facebook, Google's YouTube, Snapchat and TikTok, I personally wouldn't mind seeing it all disappear or otherwise under go radical changes. Of the ones mentioned, YouTube could just cut out the forums on the video section and it would just be a video streaming platform and not social media.

The only way to keep teens off the platform is to demand government ID to create an account or otherwise get a third party to do the same thing. I think the majority of adults are so addicted they'll turn their information over to keep their accounts. The ones that don't, well, they probably were not the target audience anyway.

At the end of the day, governments don't want people to be online with knowing who everyone is. That's the direction this is all going and will probably end up. Sad Sad Sad.

The tax will be paid by the business and of course passed on to the consumer. That's precisely how sales taxes work in the USA. Isn't that how VAT works in Europe? Collected by the business and passed along to government?

Besides, ALL taxes are paid by consumers. Businesses don't pay taxes, their customers do.

Hmm, sales tax isn't charged twice. Europe, it's rolled into the sticker price and paid by the business. USA, it's a line item on the end of the transaction, collected by the business and paid to the government.

A tax on a streaming service would essentially be a sales tax.

I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner, but then there was a moratorium on this that did just expire, so now is the time to tax the people more. It's the fever dream of every government everywhere.

Don't worry, soon everyone that doesn't produce anything for themselves will be doing their best to tax US streaming corporations. All it will do is drive up costs for everyone, as our government will probably see the Europeans do it and say, hey, why leave money on the table, and start taxing us state side as well.

Just another reason to not bother with streaming any more then I have to.

Baby steps. We first need to get space mining and space manufacturing going before we can start on our Dyson sphere. Without those precursors, I doubt we even have enough raw materials on Earth to build such a thing.

The robot is considered capital and comes with a depreciation schedule, just like any other equipment does. If it reduces how many humans are required to setup these solar panel installations, then it will likely pay itself off quickly enough and then be "free" after that, since it's still working while not being paid like a human would require.

Obviously it would help if we knew what the average wage for a human in this job makes and what the cost of the robot is, but I'm sure they know and it's very likely a net gain for the company.

These were my thoughts on the matter as well. Besides that, we've got stuff from ancient times that we still can't decipher. Sure, it's readable but we don't understand what it's trying to convey.

hahaha, I needed a laugh. That was rich.

Your are 100% correct, but I don't think that was REALLY their intentions. Selling ads is. Sadly.

Exactly! I live in Southern California and HEAR them at night. That's why you don't let your pets outside.

And that's why I'll keep getting pets from CR or when they just show up on my doorstep. You folks will be the ones chipping kids in the future, for their own good. You deserve the dystopia you are creating.

Ha, I found two of my pets off craigslist that were probably to young and infested with flees.They cost $10 each and then I got them shots and fixed. Probably saved their lives. The other cat I have just showed up one day out of the blue. The CDS (Cat Distribution System) doesn't work like it does in the dog world. I've never bought a pet from a store either.

Before the Internet was so prevalent, we use to just ask friends and family if they knew anyone that was having kittens. Someone always was or would be soon.

Once this batch of cats passes (ages 18, 12, 11), I'll probably get a rescue cat to give one that needs a second lease on life a good home. We'll see when we get there.

P.S. None of them are chipped and the vet hasn't ratted me out to California yet. I can see chipping a dog, but my cats don't go places. They stay indoors, at home or at the vet. Not safe to let them free roam anyway and they would definitely kill other creatures and get who knows what diseases. Best to keep them in doors or at most, let them use their catio that they can access via an partially open window. Balconies are good too, as they can be screened in easily to keep everyone safe.

Chipping sounds like rent-seeking behavior, at least in the USA. Next, you'll require pet insurance as well. Screw you nanny state folks.

Just wait until they make you chip your kids. It will start out as voluntary and then eventually get made mandatory.

I think you are over-estimating what the 99% know about networking. VLAN management? Their eyes will gloss over. It's not that you couldn't explain it to them and teach them, but they just don't know about these things because they aren't computer and network nerds.

I disagree completely. I have plenty of friends and family that like shit like this but don't really understand how it works or the dangers it could open their home networks to. They just see it as "magic" and neat future technology. The word geeky doesn't apply to them, they just like gadgets.

The only people I know that have home labs and special setups are actual nerds that do understand the stuff. The sort that actually know what a raspberry pi is. This does not mean the people that like gadgets are dumb, they just don't have domain knowledge in computers beyond basic operation.

I have one friend that fits this to a T. The man is brilliant at fixing pretty much anything mechanical. The sort that could fix anything in the house, isn't afraid to do car repairs, etc. He'd be the first person I'd ask for advice on those things. What he doesn't know is really how networks work or the nitty gritty of computers or operating system. Sure, he's fine to install software, do the updates, but beyond that it just isn't his domain.