The United States federal tax system, with its complex forms, massive bureaucracy, and army of auditors, could be dramatically simplified through a revolutionary yet practical approach: eliminating direct federal tax collection in favor of a state-based system. This isn’t just a pipe dream – the framework for such a system largely exists in current state tax operations.
Continue reading “Revolutionizing US Tax: A State-Based Approach”Casting AIs in Person of Interest: Who Fits?
I have been a fan of the TV program “Person of Interest”, which has two fictional AIs in the cast. Lately a new AI has come on the market, “Deepseek”, so for fun I had the following conversation with it.
Are you familiar with the tv program “person of interest”
Yes, I’m familiar with Person of Interest! It’s a science fiction crime drama television series that aired from 2011 to 2016. The show was created by Jonathan Nolan and produced by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions.
Continue reading “Casting AIs in Person of Interest: Who Fits?”My Experience with a Romance Scam on Facebook and WhatsApp
Read about my experience with a typical romance scam. This started with a Facebook message, moved to WhatsApp, and then to crypto currency using an “app” named HTX-Web3 (HTXWeb3). I was smart and limited my losses to a level I was willing to lose. You can read about it on “I was scammed“.
Using gThumb in ubuntu
I use gThumb for organizing and viewing my photos. One feature I wish it had (version 3.8) was the ability to list un-tagged images. I recently figured out a way to do that. I search for all images, then tag them all with the tag “temporary”. Then using the find (search) dialog I search for those images that only have the tag “temporary”. The first step of tagging all images takes a while but after that it makes it easy to find “un-tagged images.” Those are the images with only a “temporary” tag.
Up-scaling images.
I keep getting ads for Topaz up-scaling software, and have wondered if it is any good. Not that it matters, since I am running on Linux computers, and Topaz is Windows. But recently I found an open source up-scaler program names Upscayl, which runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac. So I installed it to do some testing. First thing I discovered is that my built in graphics card wasn’t powerful enough to run the software. So I had to buy a Nvidia GPU. I bought the least expensive one I could find, and it runs the software just fine.
Continue reading “Up-scaling images.”Faro Simulator as a stand-alone Windows executable
Someone asked me if I could code the faro simulator as a stand-alone windows app, so they could use it without being on-line. So I did 🙂
You can download a zip file containing the file faroSetup.exe at http://robertjwallace.com/faro/faroSetup.zip
Download the zip and unzip the file to get the installer. Run the installer. It should work, but use it at your own risk. It doesn’t access anything on your computer or track anything. Note that when you run the installer you may get a “Windows protected your PC” message. That is just telling you that Microsoft sees me as an unknown publisher. If you get the message, click the more info link and then click the run anyway button.
In the hands four Ace control
Years ago I came up with a method for cutting the aces into a deck and controlling them to the top. (see https://robertjwallace.com/ace-control/ and https://robertjwallace.com/ace-control-notes/.) That control used cuts to the table to “lose” the aces. I recently decided to modify the principle so it could be done without a table.
Effect: Hand the spectator four aces. Take the aces one at a time, insert each into the center of the deck, followed by several in-the-hands swing cuts. After the second ace you can show the top and bottom cards. After inserting and cutting the fourth ace, you split the deck in half and give it one riffle shuffle. The aces are then shown on top. (That is a bare bones presentation, once you have the aces on top you could do anything you want. For example you could do an in-the-hands Triumph.)
Continue reading “In the hands four Ace control”Condon, Oregon. Photos taken at the White Elephant Ranch.
Barred Owl at Tualitin Hills Nature Park, Beaverton, Oregon
Barred Owl
Multiple Player Faro Game
This is an update to the Faro Game that I wrote. It allows for up to eight players to play the game. The basic gameplay is similar to the single-player mode with the following exceptions/additions. The instructions for the single-player game are here.
Continue reading “Multiple Player Faro Game”