February 8, 2021

Bitcoin is taxable. Trouble is no one mentions that

"... make no mistake: you are required to report gains and losses on each transaction or when you earn cryptocurrency, even if the gain or loss is not material. The IRS holds you responsible for reporting all income and transactions whether you receive a tax form from a crypto exchange or not. ..."

"Buying and selling crypto is taxable because the IRS identifies crypto as property, not currency. As a result, tax rules that apply to property (but not real estate tax rules) transactions, like selling collectible coins or vintage cars that can appreciate in value, also apply to bitcoin, ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies.

"The IRS isn’t kidding around. Failure to report income, including income from the sale of crypto, could result in IRS levying penalties. Starting with 2019 tax returns, the IRS requires you to answer “yes” or “no” to a question about whether you had any crypto transactions during the year."

All transactions, meaning you buy a candy bar, you must keep track of that transaction. It's insane.

I worked for H&R Block last year (luckily had to leave in early March) and this was a giant PITA. Imagine the horror when people discover their Bitcoin isn't so awesome as they were lead to believe. For one it is not anonymous -- they can and will find you if you think you can lie to the IRS.

Crypto and Bitcoin Taxes

Edited to fix sentence I didn't finish

July 31, 2020

How long after exposure before you will test positive? What say you Harvard Medical School?

Harvard Medical School - If you've been exposed to the virus

*snip*
What are the chances that a coronavirus test will tell me I am not infected when I actually am?

The chances that a coronavirus test will give you a false negative (indicating that you are not infected when you actually are infected) depend upon the type of test you have and when in the course of your infection the test is performed. There are two main types of tests:

nasal/throat swab tests and saliva tests, both of which detect the virus itself
blood tests that detect antibodies that your immune system produces in response to the infection.
If you get the nasal/throat swab or saliva test, you will get a false negative test result:

100% of the time on the day you are exposed to the virus. (There are so few viral particles in your nose or saliva so soon after infection that the test cannot detect them.)
About 40% of the time if you are tested four days after exposure to the virus.
About 20% of the time if you develop symptoms and are tested three days after those symptoms started.

This possibility of a false negative test result is why anyone who has symptoms that could be due to COVID-19, or has been exposed to someone known to be infected, must isolate even if they test negative for coronavirus.

The blood antibody test does not become positive (or might never be positive in some people) until many days after exposure, and is therefore not the primary test used for diagnosis. It is very useful for research and public health decision making.

*snip*

So, is Barr self-isolating? Asking for a friend.

June 23, 2020

Apparently even the virus hates tRump's guts since he does everything he can to try to catch it

I wouldn't be caught dead in an enclosed space right now but he's flying all over; meeting, hand shaking, never acting like it matters. Hot spot here I come! Pence also is equally indifferent to his own safety. It's weird.

March 25, 2020

Trump is setting up Governors for the fall

Since they are unlikely to simply comply and "reopen" their states, when the economy goes to pot, which it will in either scenario, he can claim that HE wanted them to go back to work. HE was working for them, etc. barf, etc.

Typical Trump set-up. If we do not do all we can to mitigate this, tens of thousands (they even say up to 2 million) people will die. If he doesn't think that will mess up the economy, he's dumber than he looks

March 17, 2020

Moth traps have unexpected benefit for house spiders

I bought some and put them here and there. Don't seem to be terribly effective but yesterday I noticed a nice house spider, waiting patiently by one. Like a restaurant! This morn he is still there, so apparently it's worth his time.

March 11, 2020

Bernie has signaled his intention to support Biden

by telling him in advance the questions he wants answered at the debate. He wants his followers to be reassured Biden will at least work on "some" of his policies. Why Biden won't just say that obviously the US would be better off with a Universal Health Care system, and that obviously that won't happen overnight but we will work towards it. If he'd say anything along those lines it would go a long way

I know he's still "old-school" and will probably never agree that health insurance as it exists needs to go but he needs to understand there is a fundamental problem with health insurance. Mine is $12,000/yr in premiums (for myself), and then a nearly $3000 deductible. Meaning, if I don't even see a doctor I still have to pay $12,000 but what am I getting for that? Nothing, nothing at all. It's catastrophic insurance at this point.

Last year I did have an event that put me in intensive care for a week, so I ended up with my deductible and max out-of-pocket being paid by May. The shock the first time I filled a prescription and was told "no cost" I was floored. Took me awhile to figure out why.