Crazy Sounding Tax Deductions That IRS (Or The Tax Court) Says Are Legit | Forbes

February 22, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Are you searching high and low for tax deductions? In the run up to April 15, you aren’t the only one. Unfortunately, it is too late to date checks December 31, 2015! Since taxes are annual, you must think about last year, 2015. Still, if your facts are right and you feel adventurous, here are some unusual deductions taxpayers managed to get approved. Admittedly, some had to take the IRS to court to get their deduction approved.

Cosmetic surgery costs are usually non-deductible, but an exotic dancer named Chesty Love tested this rule. If you want bigger tips, you go bigger, she reasoned. So she decided to go way bigger, shelling out for breast implants that would bloat her bra size to 56-FF. When she wrote off the bill, the IRS said it was nondeductible cosmetic surgery. But in Hess v. Commissioner,the Tax Court allowed tax benefits, allowing her to claim the implants as depreciable assets, a type of stage prop.

‘I can’t afford to buy groceries’: Yelp employee fired for public letter to the CEO | Mashable

February 22, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

One of the perks of Silicon Valley work culture is a stocked kitchen. But as convenient as free cereal and peaches may be, they are no substitute for getting paid enough to buy groceries.

At least, that’s how former Yelp employee Talia Jane felt. On Friday, she wrote a blog post on Medium addressed to CEO Jeremy Stoppelman that detailed her low pay and struggle to afford both her rent and groceries in the pricey San Francisco Bay Area. A few hours later, she was fired.

How This Startup Trading Venue Deals With Criticism From Heavyweight Competitors | Inc

February 19, 2016February 19, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Incumbent companies don’t take kindly to upstarts threatening to change the way an industry works. Whether you’re Uber or Lyft undercutting taxi companies or Airbnb pulling guests away from hotels, someone is going to be upset about having to compete with an idea that seemed to come out of left field.

The situation is no different for private “dark pool” trading venue IEX, which expects to find out March 21 whether the Securities and Exchange Commission will grant it approval to become a public stock exchange. Billing itself as the good guy stock market where high-frequency traders don’t have an unfair advantage, IEX has predictably caught more than a little flak from heavyweight competitors Nasdaq, NYSE and BATS.

Excruciating New Credit Cards Finally Give Apple Pay a Problem to Solve | WIRED

February 19, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

IF YOU WANT high comedy, try buying something at my local drugstore.

As you wait in line with your razor blades and Softsoap, some other poor soul will swipe their credit card through the reader on the counter—and nothing will happen, because it’s one of those new chip cards designed for better security. Then, a (slightly exasperated) cashier will tell this poor soul to push the card into a slot at the front of the reader. The poor soul will do this—and nothing will happen again, because the new chip tech is horribly slow.

Just when it looks like the reader is about to die—strange pixelations appearing on the screen—a legible message will finally appear, asking the poor soul to approve the transaction—and nothing will happen yet again, because the new chip tech is even slower than anyone remembers. Then the reader will start honking like an air-raid siren, as if something has gone horribly wrong. But eventually, the poor soul realizes the siren is trying to tell her it’s time to remove the card.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport warned the TSA | Business Insider

February 19, 2016February 19, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world’s busiest, has issued a warning to the US Transportation Safety Administration to get its act together or be replaced.

According to a letter from Hartsfield-Jackson general manager Miguel Southwell to TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger, the airport’s security screening checkpoints are woefully understaffed with no sign of significant improvement in sight.

This House Costs Just $20,000—But It’s Nicer Than Yours | Co.Exist

February 18, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

For over a decade, architecture students at Rural Studio, Auburn University’s design-build program in a tiny town in West Alabama, have worked on a nearly impossible problem. How do you design a home that someone living below the poverty line can afford, but that anyone would want—while also providing a living wage for the local construction team that builds it?

In January, after years of building prototypes, the team finished their first pilot project in the real world. Partnering with a commercial developer outside Atlanta, in a tiny community called Serenbe, they built two one-bedroom houses, with materials that cost just $14,000 each.

New Ford Fusion skips over potholes | Money CNN

February 18, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Ford’s new 2017 Fusion Sport sedan will have a high-tech feature that will allow the car’s wheels to essentially skip over potholes.

Aside from being uncomfortable and jarring for drivers and vehicle occupants, potholes can destroy tires and seriously damage expensive rims and suspension components.

Pothole damage can also be costly, with urban drivers spending more than $500 a year, according to Ford (F), citing research by transportation group TRIP.

The new Fusion V6 Sport sedan will come equipped with a computer controlled shock absorber system that will automatically stiffen when sensors detect that a wheel is rolling into a pothole.

The giant heads of US presidents sit crumbling in a field in Virginia | BBC Newsbeat

February 17, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In a small field in the US, the giant effigies of 43 presidents sit crumbling.

The 18 to 20ft (5.5m-6m) busts are all that remain of Virginia’s Presidential Park, which were inspired by Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

They cost about $10m (£6.9m) to create. Image caption The park was inspired by the iconic faces of Mount Rushmore

But it went bust (pardon the pun) in 2010 due to lack of visitors.

Despite being asked to destroy the concrete heads, a local farm owner called Howard Hankins rescued them.

He moved them to his 400 acre farm where they stand today. The busts weighed up to 9,000kg each so it wasn’t an easy task.

10 Reasons New York Is ‘Greener’ Than California | Live Science

February 17, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Frank Sinatra, the epitome of cool, said that if you can make it in New York City, you can make it anywhere. But what if you can’t make it there? Well, then, you’ll probably run away to California, like so many others before you.

With its ample sunshine and eco-friendly reputation, California does provide New York with some stiff competition when it comes to doing what’s right for the environment. But while Cali may have the, like, totally organic-free-range-vegan-gluten-free reputation, New York has done more to lead the way to a cleaner future. With its no-nonsense attitude and nose-to-the-grindstone work ethic, New York has been turning the Golden State green (with envy) by making serious greenbacks and by doing a great job of going green.