13:24 – Have I mentioned that I hate Linux only slightly less than I hate Windows and OSX?
I spent quite a few hours over the long holiday weekend migrating from my ancient system, a Core2 Quad Q9650X running Ubuntu 9.04, to my new system, a Core i7 980X running Linux Mint 15. I thought I had all the important stuff, including mail and contacts, moved over successfully. That turned out not to be the case. Oh, the data is moved over, and I can even look at it in the new version of Kontact/Korganizer/Kmail. The problem is, the new version is unusable. For example, I was moving a bunch of mail around and it didn’t appear to be working properly. The mail I moved (as opposed to copied) ended up in the destination folder, but it seemed to remain in the original folder as well. So I finally moved just one message from the Inbox to a subfolder. It appeared in the destination folder and was no longer in the inbox. Then, as I sat there staring at the Inbox, the message magically reappeared. Geez. Kmail is a piece of crap.
I finally decided to bag all my old mail and contacts and just start using a fresh installation of Thunderbird. I left Kmail/Kontact installed, so if necessary I can go back and look at mail or contacts if I need to verify something later. Assuming Kmail hasn’t moved or deleted it, of course. So I’ve now spent an entire morning trying to get my mail functioning again. The real goal, of course, has nothing to do with the software. I just want to be able to process orders and ship kits, which I’m now doing with Thunderbird. Eight so far this morning.
Maybe I haven’t given T-bird enough of a chance here; I futzed around with it and wasn’t too thrilled; a lot of futzing around for not much in the end. Then I saw somewhere that the developers were stopping work on it anyway, so I lost interest. I don’t need a biz email, though; just personal, and to that end I have two gmail addresses and a yahoo one, all of which are a mix of serious and not-so-serious email stuff. Then I needed a secure email offshore, which I now have via 1-trust.com based out of Luxembourg, while my internet service bounces off sites in Germany and Switzerland.
And on the financial end of things, while we’re not doing so hot right now here, due to me still being “between engagements,” any appreciable sums we accumulate in the future will also be going offshore.
Mrs. OFD left for three days in Sarasota, FL this morning, to be followed by three weeks in Kalifornia, so we will not be seeing each other this month. Time to line up some of Bob’s leftover party grrls and lay in a supply of booze, dope and ciggies.
And on the financial end of things, while we’re not doing so hot right now here, due to me still being “between engagements,” any appreciable sums we accumulate in the future will also be going offshore.
Why? The IRS is laying in a super sized order of thumb screws for people with offshore accounts. I guess that you could keep your money in Singapore but they (the US gov) will go for it there also when the you know what hits the fan.
Me, I’m trying to put my money into land and buildings that I can rent out. Cash may be King but it is also easily grabbable. The problem is that anything that you want to do requires 25% to 40% down nowadays. And you must have positive cash flow.
Finished the second season of “Continuum” over the holiday and enjoyed it greatly.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1954347/
Started season four? of “Covert Affairs” on the DVR and it is taking off nicely.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1495708/
BTW, good luck on getting that job!
Looks like we’ll be “doing something” in Syria. I wonder what Obummer has in mind? I wonder if the MSM will report on the inevitable collateral damage? Nah, when Obummer does it, it’s justified. Boner will now go around and threaten the House to support a new war. I hope he gets his ass handed to him.
Well, this could be another case of who framed Roger Rabbit. Turned out that the French confirmed that the gas Saddam had supposedly used on his people was fingerprinted as being Iran’s, not Iraq’s. Now comes the charge that the Syrian gas attack was done by Al Queda, who clearly does not care about how many of their own people die for the cause.
“The IRS is laying in a super sized order of thumb screws for people with offshore accounts”
Nah. As long as OFD can show that he paid taxes on the money, and on any income he earns off of it, it’s shouldn’t really be a problem. FATCA pretty much just makes the foreign bank report his stuff to the IRS, the same as US banks already do.
FATCA screws over expats who have no direct ties to the US. We are not subject to US law, have legitimate objections to surrendering our rights under local law, and to allowing our local bank to report stuff directly to a foreign government.
But this is all irrelevant for OFD, because he is already subject to US law. The only effect he will likely see from FATCA is an increase in bank fees.
Oh, on the subject of Syria: the news here reports that Obama is no longer justifying an attack by claiming that the Syrian government employed chemical weapons. Instead, he is supposedly now saying that he wants to attack, simply because the Syrian government has chemical weapons.
Is that true? Does that make any sense at all?
They showed pictures of him surrounded by all the fossils (Cheney, etc.) who used to cluster around Bush. What a really weird picture that made. Cheney is so old now that it looked like the start of the Zombie Apocalypse.
Nah. As long as OFD can show that he paid taxes on the money, and on any income he earns off of it, it’s shouldn’t really be a problem. FATCA pretty much just makes the foreign bank report his stuff to the IRS, the same as US banks already do.
But will the foreign bank allow the USA to seize “excess” cash from citizen accounts as Cyprus just did?
Some countries have already stated they do not and will not cooperate with such demands from our criminal regime. We’ll see when push comes to shove and Fed drones start showing up overhead in those places.