55Jay

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc400/tc409

Double check for any changes between now and next Spring.  If he uses Turbo Tax, they send out updates to the software, and they also have a Help/Info function to walk him through it. 

Yes.

Also, have your friend check out TaxAct pricing and capabilities vs. TurboTax. 

1 hour ago, douginbkk said:

This is an interesting debate on a physics forum about the effectiveness of using boat propellers to speed up the flow of a river https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/pushing-the-river-with-boats.541392/

 

Interesting read.  Saved this site/forum into Favorites for future perusal.  Thanks.

Oh gawd, here we go again.  Benghazi.  Russia.  With all their committees, sub-committees, special commissions, where do these political jobsworths find the time to do their real jobs.   

Quite often the simplest explanation is the correct one.  She's a compulsive liar. 

My wife is a good and honest soul, but she has fibbed in the past, usually when she's screwed something up and wants to avoid taking responsibility and/or confrontation over it.  Reminds me of a little kid who will deny having eaten the cake, despite the obvious. 

On 10/21/2017 at 4:35 PM, nisakiman said:

 

Ha! That's rich! Making accusations of propaganda and then quoting Bloomberg! :) Bloomberg the fanatical anti-smoker who just recently jumped on the anti-sugar bandwagon and spent millions of dollars pushing for sugar taxes all over the USA.

 

... but let's take a moment here to savour the defeat of that evil old fossil Michael Bloomberg who has been bankrolling soda tax campaigns all around America (and beyond). He's not short of money but even a billionaire must smart from pouring millions of dollars down the drain, as he has in Chicago.

In 2016, Bloomberg handed over $1 million for ads to build support for the tax, and then donated another $2 million in August 2017.

In September, Bloomberg funnelled in another $3 million to the pro-tax cause.

And two weeks ago, in an extraordinary act of hubris, he handed out a $2.5 million grant to some 'public health' researchers at the University of Illinois to study the effects of the tax.

 

Cook County, it should be noted, just threw the hated soda tax out after just two months.

 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/kass/ct-met-cook-county-soda-tax-kass-1011-story.html

This soda tax tickled my memory about the previous reduction in soda can serving sizes.    Bill and Hillary Clinton, and the Clinton Foundation, has their snout in the trough, taking big money from Big Soda while taking money to save the children from Big Soda.

Quote

The hacktivist website DC Leaks has released a set of emails that reveal how Hillary Clinton’s campaign seemed to backpedal from supporting a soda tax after an executive from Coca-Cola bristled.

https://www.vox.com/2016/10/26/13404648/leaked-emails-coca-cola-clinton-soda-tax

Bill ruffled a few feathers a couple months later at his Americana art festival where Coke prominently featured.  Ok, it's an American icon, but some were none too happy about the conflict of interests.  http://library.crossfit.com/free/pdf/CFJ_2015_11_Clinton_Berger.pdf

The Chief is a bit slouched himself, belly sticking out further than his chest. 

I don't understand the on-the-spot press up test.  Is there a periodic physical fitness test for police?  Looking at the investigator, doesn't appear to be any body fat benchmarks either. 

With respect to the opening salvo of the OP, late snow storms happen. 

I was passing through NE Pennsylvania in 2007, right on the cusp of Spring, on my way from middle east to California.  Freak snow storm dropped 3+ feet of snow in one night.  The locals couldn't believe the timing of it.  Neither could as I was due to fly out the next afternoon, and the local airport was shut down. 

9 minutes ago, bazza73 said:

Click bait for the anti-gun and pro-gun lobby. It's too late - taking guns away from Americans would be like asking them to submit to root canal therapy on every tooth in their mouths.

They've had Australia's  cause-effect example in front of them for 21 years now. If it wasn't going to happen after Sandy Hook, it won't happen now. A few centuries from now, there will be people submitting PhD theses on how an entire nation was brainwashed.

I wouldn't tar "All Americans" with the same brush.  If you exclude the two extremes, my sense is Joe Six Pack takes a reasonable view on this.  Problem is the sensible middle ground is drowned out by the extremes shouting through their respective, ideological megaphones. 

Scott may take this short vid down, and that's ok, but I was struck by Clinton's point with the "moon rock" when playing referee between deadlocked Repub and Dems squabbling about something in the Oval Office.    This issue could use one of these moon rock pause moments to break the dysfunction.

Pretty neat visual of the high pressure over China on Windy.com. 

5 hours ago, jaywalker said:

I am officially confused now.

 

Also, I LIKE to sip a cup of mercury in the mornings. Keeps my hair from getting gray(er).

 

What to do? What to do?

That's ok, the Thai Met office is frequently confused as well. 

For shats and grins, here's a quick animation of what they were on about. 

Religious nonsense sure does drag this out, in particular when compared to the typical adult human's reaction to death, and the normal grieving process. 

On another note, I'm sure the Junta is, or was, wrt to the OP, ok with this process as it also takes the public's mind off of the status quo. 

If you can, open the back panel (remove screws) and have a look at the round/circular power capacitors on the main board inside - they look like half size AA batteries sticking up from the board.      Do you see a protruded, swollen X shape on the bottom of one or more?  If so, that's a problem. 

  < Example. swollen capacitors. X.

I've had this problem with flat screen TVs here 2 times and once I figured out the problem via Youtube, each instance was only 50 Baht to have a new capacitor soldered on at a Mom and Pop TV repair shop.   TV is now 10+ years old, still works fine, no problems other than that^.

His mouth gets him in trouble.  Again.  He has a serious blurting problem.  He likely realized, after the fact, his gaff sets an expensive precedent.  2 months from now, when the family says they still haven't received the check, he'll deny ever say it.

Storm and weather predictions can change.  No problem. 

What confuses me is this guy seems to suggest the previous storm warning(s) weren't official and merely circulated via social media. 

No.... On Wednesday, the Thai Met Office said it was their prediction/forecast, and it was released on Thai PBS.  The Prime Minister reacted to it officially as well.   See below link. 

"The Meteorological Department forecasted that, during October 12-14, a storm which was shaping up in Vietnam would move through upper Thailand and this would cause heavy rain in the lower part of the North and upper Northeast."

https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/1006387-pm-prayut-orders-preparations-to-cope-with-anticipated-storm-during-oct-12-14/

2 hours ago, MaxYakov said:

Errrr ... no. It appears to  be either a cheap, disposable sobriety test, an example of some very fertile sub-road soil or a total failure of local road maintenance. Where was that, BTW?

Dunno, just a Google image.  Intended as a vague representation of the bushy tree branches folks shove into large potholes and open drains along the side of roads here. 

Somchai forgot to put out the ISO certified safety barriers.

Activists and SJWs require adult supervision, or things can get stupid very quickly. 

The "Don't feed the fish at the beach" events spring to mind. 

Not much, not that I remember much about them.  The last time I had a white/Caucasian GF was in high school.  My last long-term GF before I left the US was a Mexican from Guadalajara, and that was 19 years ago. 

3 hours ago, OMGImInPattaya said:

How did that work out for James Damore?

And Hayley Geftman-Gold, the CBS Vice Prez. 

Free speech can have consequences. 

5 minutes ago, OMGImInPattaya said:

I don't know why he went in the first place. Isn't it official Trump administration policy to boycott the NFL until they put in place measures to respect the flag at the start of the games?

I searched "WH Official policy on NFL kneeling" but only found refs to Trump's earlier suggestion that NFL fans boycott.  I would like to think WH Counsel was able to convince Trump the 1st Amendment deserves the same regard as the 2nd one.

Nationalistic patriotism enforced with threats and sanctions is a no-no, and a slippery slope.  In the extreme, I'm reminded of mandatory crying at King Jung Il's funeral procession.  

Horn is ok if used briefly as a preventive measure if you think another driver/motorbike rider doesn't see you.   But here, using it to tell someone they have been a moron after the fact, isn't a good idea, and could result in a lot worse than a dented car roof. 

20 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Good to know that returning Thailand to a free democracy is as important as 150,000 tons of coal.

You could always leave Thailand in protest and "take all your money with you". 

That'll show 'em, and you'll feel better about yourself.