Jump to content

smokebomb

Certifiably Surly
  • Posts

    285
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by smokebomb

  1. No aliens but they found building blocks for life: https://www.npr.org/2018/06/07/617235884/nasas-curiosity-rover-finds-chemical-building-blocks-for-life-on-mars
  2. smokebomb

    SpaceX

    Block 5 successfully launched: they say that this new version will have a 24 hour turnaround, with only refueling needed.
  3. Simulation of the newly proposed construction at the Y at Oak Hill:
  4. smokebomb

    SpaceX

    Not SpaceX but figured putting this weekend’s Blue Origin’s successful launch & landing here is better than starting a separate thread:
  5. From the Daily Texan: http://dailytexanonline.com/2018/04/25/residents-of-goodall-wooten-dormitory-told-they-must-leave-by-may-16
  6. He posted on his new blog today about his upcoming book on the history of the Targaryen kings of Westeros, Fire & Blood, Volume 1: http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2018/04/25/fire-blood-on-the-way/ His very first comment is about TSOIAF: He is never going to finish the series...
  7. smokebomb

    Hair Metal

    Only because they were mentioned earlier, but Steel Panther is playing Austin at Emo's in July: https://www.c3concerts.com/events/steel-panther-emos-austin-20180712-7165/
  8. Spoiler tagging in case people don’t want to know.
  9. There’s an old Washington joke that goes: “Every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president.”
  10. Because he has created an overly, complicated story-line and he has absolutely zero clue on how to tie it all into the ending he wants.
  11. I’ve heard of something similar with an employee who worked at a company before I did. My understanding is that he completely believed the IRS didn’t have the authority to collect taxes and even got the company to not withhold income taxes (how he managed that, I have no idea). Now this guy also owed the government millions of dollars due to the lucrative acquisition of a previous company but he still hadn’t paid any taxes. Eventually the g-men came & arrested him. He tried the same defense or similar your buddy is using and even said the court didn’t have the authority to try him. He was found guilty and when he was non-conciliatory with the federal judge, he was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison & his property was confiscated to pay the back taxes. My guess is that your buddy hasn’t warranted the full attention of the government because the amount he owes isn’t worth their time. Yet. Once he gains their attention, and eventually he will, they will come after him. It’s important to note that there is no statue of limitations on tax evasion - so even if he gets away with it for 30 years, they can eventually bust him for the entire period he wasn’t paying. Messing with the government’s cash flow is a fool’s errand and one day it will catch up to him.
  12. From Wiki https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Darrell_K_Royal-Texas_Memorial_Stadium_at_Night.jpg: It is 3,264 × 2,448 pixels.
  13. Ouch - it’s been down since last nite: http://www.businessinsider.com/is-fortnite-down-status-xbox-ps4-pc-ios-iphone-2018-4
  14. Info about one of the battle scenes: https://www.gamespot.com/articles/a-game-of-thrones-season-8-battle-took-55-nights-t/1100-6458066/
  15. I still don't think Austin will get HQ2 but the Robinson ranch is the most likely candidate if it did: https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2018/04/06/robinson-ranch-owners-court-developers-for-7-000.html
  16. They’ve done this across the board since it’s harder to protest land value than it is to protest the structure’s value.
  17. Quite the Riot
  18. Not really old but some pics I took downtown during the early to mid 2000s:
  19. Yea, when driverless cars take off, people in cities will no longer need to own a car. Rich people will simply pick up the BMW or Mercedes app and call whatever car they want while middle class and low income people will use car pools. I still think that rural areas will dictate owning a car since the service availability of car shares in low population areas will be an issue. And although I agree that driverless cars will help reduce traffic a bit, i think one fact that is overlooked is that people using driverless cars won't care as much about traffic. If you aren't driving and you can sleep/work/zone-out, you are less likely to care how long the commute takes than compared to when you are driving yourself. Cities with public transit now are a perfect example of this.
  20. From my freshman year in '96:
  21. Like Bluto said, the first year after you buy, they will re-adjust the value and they usually do this by looking up how big of a mortgage you took out on the property. If that isn't available, they look at comps in the area. But the 10% Homestead exemption is just the cap of how much you have to pay in taxes each year, not the appraised value. So if they raise your appraised value 20%, your first year's tax payment will be capped at 10% over your previous year's taxes. The kicker is that in the 2nd year, the 10% cap only covers the previous year, so you tax bill will again increase to finish covering the 20% appraised value. And that is assuming they don't re-adjust the appraised value the 2nd year, which is a poor assumption.
  22. Hence the road named “Speedway” as it was how one got to the racetrack That and the clear cutting of any trees. Interesting fact: Some say the lack of grass plus the ability to better manage wild fires lead to the explosion of cedar/juniper trees in central Texas. My understanding is that although cedar/juniper is native, it wasn’t nearly as prevalent around Austin until after the area was settled.
  23. Serious question - what do you do if you believe TCAD made a serious mistake in their appraisal? I live in Clarksville and everyone’s appraisals went up 50% in our condo group. The last comp we have was from December 2016 and it was inline with last year’s appraisals. Do we all have to go through the protest process? If I felt I could get the new appraised value, I’d sell tomorrow.
  24. Looks like it starts a April 22nd:
×
×
  • Create New...