Recent content by Ruth Harris

Big, big loss in the music world. The Moody Blues is probably my favorite all time band, and John Lodge was a big part of the reason. I still love listening to "Days of Future Passed". Ruth

Excellent analysis! Do you mind if I share this with the members of the other board I mentioned? Ruth

This is what I shared on a board which is invite only and run by my bank: So yes, you are right that this is very discriminatory. It is also going to be a nightmare for accounting purposes when employers have to report "qualified" overtime pay on W-2 forms. Ruth

According to the IRS Newswire I get, this is an "above the line" deduction (like personal IRA contributions) and itemizing is not required. This is the information included in this newsletter: So the IRS will be determining what occupations are eligible to deduct their tips. And...

Good for you! And yes, this is correct; those servers only get what is called a "tip wage". In most places that is $2.13 per hour. Employers are supposed to make up any shortfalls to the usual minimum wage if they don't get enough tips to do it, but honestly most places don't. They are never...

You have a valid point here given your location, but I thought maybe someone would have a friend or family member who does that. There are a lot of people here from varying walks of life. Ruth

Maybe I am an outlier here. I tip for many things that most people don't. I tipped my HVAC people for fixing my furnace in the middle of winter when the roads and everything around were ice covered and they took care of me promptly with no complaints. I tipped my lawn service people who went...

Or if you are friends with someone who does DoorDash driving and can ask them that is fine too. I have a restaurant that I order from on DoorDash. It is about 15 miles from my home, and the drive is on a major divided highway for most of the trip. The driving time is under 20 minutes. There are...

Well, what you mention about Dylan is just his preferred singing style – but singers are trained to always minimize the “s” sound to smooth out the sound no matter where that sound lies in the lyrics. This sound is referred to as “sibilance” and it makes the music seem harsh. It is particularly...

I am not informed enough to make intelligent decisions on how to change our immigration law, but there are some good ideas in this thread in my opinion. My basic thoughts still hold; I can't bring myself to condemn people who have risked everything just to escape the horrors in their home...

Recently I have been reading some things that made me stop and think about immigrants. Like most people, I never really considered what would impel someone to try to come to this country. Sure, I read all the news stories about gang violence, drug wars, dictators that only cared about having...

Not a separate issue at all. Classified documents are never "returned" to anyone; they are viewed by authorized people in secure locations. They do not belong to any individual, but to the government. According to the article, this is what Trump said: It is entirely possible that what was...

Not by any major financial institution that I am aware of. The only places that offer loans backed by crypto are fintechs with no regulations or crypto based firms. I belong to an invitation only group of several hundred people providing feedback that is run by a major US bank where I have an...

In the proper locations, where security is assured. Mar-A-Lago is not such a place. Ruth

Yep, with one proviso: I don't know that crypto was ever really a substitute currency, other than its purported use by criminals to avoid tracking their crimes for prosecution. But even in that case, it was converted to the currency of choice as quickly as possible for use in the real world...