Comments by Chris ODonnell

Chris ODonnell — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:52:02 PDT

I was reading the biography of Daniel Boone a while back and in there is a rant about the problems of teenage pregnancies in the late 1700s.

Follow the money

Chris ODonnell — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 12:16:25 PDT

The companies that have a lot of revenue at stake with the Government (Microsoft and the telcos) are more likely to screw their users at government request?

This is shocking, said nobody ever.

Re: Re: Re: Targeting

Chris ODonnell — Wed, 5 Jun 2013 12:13:51 PDT

Non-profit usually means that 100% of the cost is spent on running costs in an organization that relies on donations of monetary or intrinsic value.

Yes, they have to spend 100% on operations. Salary is part of operations. I have done business with many big name national non-profits. They are generally not lean operations. They are top heavy with VPs and Directors making nice salaries for doing little to actually help the less fortunate, sick, whatever.

Re: Targeting

Chris ODonnell — Wed, 5 Jun 2013 11:02:36 PDT

Not just you. The idea that groups who advocate the idea of taxes being evil may be more likely to not pay what they owe is completely defensible. The execution on how they went about testing that hypothesis was a disaster though.

Anyway, why should non-profits get a tax break anyway? If your cause is only supportable as a tax break for the donator then it is not much of a cause in the first place.

Common in the horse world

Chris ODonnell — Wed, 1 May 2013 08:48:24 PDT

This sort of dispute is common in the horse world. You buy a farm, spend thousands each month feeding and caring for your horses, then try to write off your hobby by claiming you are a horse trainer or breeder. The IRS has clamped down. I don't know if there are hard standards, but I do know you can get the stink-eye from the IRS if they are not convinced you are making an honest effort to turn a profit with your horse business.

And I can't say I disagree entirely. Why should the taxpayer subsidize your business if in effect the only thing keeping you in business is the tax benefit?

Which reminds me of the joke, how do end up a millionaire in the horse business? Start with 2 million.

Chris ODonnell — Mon, 8 Apr 2013 10:42:07 PDT

My office is located one floor below Arnold & Porter. I wonder how they would react to somebody from the Internet showing up at their reception desk?

Chris ODonnell — Thu, 7 Mar 2013 14:34:38 PST

Eating a pop-tart knock-off is far more dangerous than pretending it is a gun.

Chris ODonnell — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 13:59:38 PST

The guy sounds like your garden variety conspiracy theorist. Whoever booked him for this event is either a complete failure, or an evil genius.

Chris ODonnell — Fri, 8 Feb 2013 10:06:32 PST

Can we pile on Monster a bit? The story of the beatdown on Monster delivered by Dr Dre.

http://gizmodo.com/5981823/

Chris ODonnell — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 17:09:20 PST

My son mentioned on FB that he made Dean's List with a 3.75. But he isn't at UVA Law School, he is a freshman at a public liberal arts school.

He got one comment. It was me grounding him for not getting a 4.0 :)

Given the quality of a lot of the crap I see on FB, somebody mentioning they killed it in school that semester seems like a non-issue. Hell, out local paper calls out local kids that make Dean's List or Honors or whatever it may be called at their school.

Chris ODonnell — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:13:28 PST

After reading the Jobs biography, and multiple stories like this, I have lost all respect for the guy.

Chris ODonnell — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 11:37:33 PST

The NRA has never let looking ridiculous stand in the way of their policy decisions. There constituents are not really the hunters and assorted gun nuts that join the organization. Their primary concern is to protect the profits of gun manufacturers. Everything else is window dressing.

Chris ODonnell — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 09:44:09 PST

//The obvious solution for record labels is to charge less for whole albums.//

The artists have already figured this out. Non RIAA Indie artists frequently can be found selling albums for $5 on their web site, or on Bandcamp, or wherever.

Chris ODonnell — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 06:22:45 PST

When somebody finally cures diabetes I'm sure they'll have to fend off a lawsuit from Medtronic before they can release the cure.

Re: Re:

Chris ODonnell — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 12:49:32 PST

Only if your Kevin Bacon number is <=3.

Re: Is any email sacred?

Chris ODonnell — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:40:10 PST

If your email is sacred shouldn't you be willing to pay for it?

Chris ODonnell — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:36:16 PST

You'd think the head of the CIA would be familiar with the acronym PGP.

Chris ODonnell — Fri, 2 Nov 2012 05:56:45 PDT

I've pointed out that I think the real breakthrough opportunity is in figuring out ways to get "students" to teach the subject matter themselves

2 million homeschoolers in the US have already figured this out. Make sure kids have the core skills they need to learn, reading, writing, and math up through about Algebra I and Geometry. Then get the hell out of their way and let them follow their interests. Both of my kids had advanced college level knowledge of the stuff that interested them while they were high school age, in subjects I know little about.

Chris ODonnell — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 12:37:01 PDT

I would expect anybody running for President to back off any promises related to civil liberty once elected. Once they get into office and see what they can do, why would they ever give that power up? The President would have to be completely selfless, and selfless people don't get elected President.

Chris ODonnell — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 10:00:26 PDT

Stripping the DRM from Kindle files is a trivial exercise. I buy Kindle books, clean the DRM, then load it onto my Kindle, and store a backup off site.