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1

Off-Topic / DrP Gives Tax Advice

« on: January 17, 2015, 02:30:19 AM »

DISCLAIMER: Do not post personal data protected by HIPAA or Social Security Numbers. I may be bound by Federal and State law to protect this information, but others may not.

Since tax season is coming up and a lot of you have jobs, I can provide some helpful tips and hints to avoid paying tax when you don't have to.

For example if you make/plan to make less than $6,300 and still are dependent on your parents for financial support, you can claim an exemption from federal and state income taxes. This means you don't have to give the government an interest-free loan so you have to file some papers and get money back a year later.

Let me know if you have questions! I am here to help (and because I LOVE talking about this).

Advice #1: Withholding - If you get more than a $100 refund before any special deductions, then you should change your withholding allowances
Advice #2: Education Credit - You can get up to $1,000 back from the federal government just for paying college tuition. Some states also have credits.
Advice #3: The Earned Income Credit - COMING SOON
Advice #4: Student Loan Interest - COMING SOON
Advice #5:

2

Art / DrP Can Photo!

« on: December 01, 2014, 05:52:42 AM »

So I've started (well not really) to focus on honing on my photography skills. Well, now that I have an actual nice camera and I have better photoshop skills, I guess let's see how it goes!

3

Off-Topic / 2014 Holiday Postcards

« on: November 15, 2014, 05:20:43 AM »

2014 Holiday Postcards

It's that time of the year again with the holiday season upon us!! We've done this a few years back with great success and I think it might be fun to do it again!!

So this is how it works.
1) You sign up on this thread.
2) You PM your address to me and I will PM a list out to those participating.
3) Mail postcards to other participants by the dates below.
4) Check your mailbox daily for postcards
4) Be Happy and get filled with Joy

DEADLINES:

Signup End: by 9:00 PM PST on November 28th. (12 AM New York, 8 AM London, 2 PM Tokyo, 4 PM Sydney)
Mail Internationally: by December 5th
Mail Domestically: by December 12th

Participants:
1) DrP
2) Maelstrom.
3) Olimar12345
4) zoroark1264
5) SlowPokemon
6) JaMaHa
7) FierceDiety
Ruto

You can also find the original topic here

4

Off-Topic / Bitcoin.

« on: December 01, 2013, 09:25:35 AM »

It's the currency that is all the rage these days, blowing up all over the internet in news stories and other places. Merchants are beginning to accept bitcoin and it is becoming mainstream...

BUT IT ISNT ENTIRELY MAINSTREAM YET.

Here is what a Bitcoin is:

Now you might be intrigued. It is a currency that is not governed by any laws and is entirely secure because of the permissions you have to give whenever bitcoins are transferred and every transaction can be reviewed by other peers. It is essentially a P2P Currency or "Cryptocurrency"-- basically across between a currency and a commodity.

There are various ways to acquire Bitcoins, but there are 2 main ways: You can Mine them or purchase them. Since Bitcoin is worth about $1100 now, purchasing them might be out of the question.

So we are going to stick with mining! It is a great thing to do and your computer does all the work, all you have to do is set stuff up and voila! You are making money from your computer.

Now, I would ONLY suggest doing mining if you DO NOT PAY for electricity! If not, then you should do a calculation here to see if it is profitable.

Bitcoin Terms
Mining - When your computer solves equations to figure out complex problems. These problems "chip away" at a block of bitcoins and when the Block is solved, the winner receives 25 bitcoins, and will halve as difficulty increases. This prize of 25 bitcoins will be divided according to the work you complete in the block.
hps - Hashes per second - this is the rate at which your computer mines bitcoins. You will be seeing Mhps (Megahashes) most likely
Address - And address looks like this: 1HKAyTTwTBWyipSDvvhpmXxzd99nCdA7Wp -- this is basically your account number and is encrypted for your personal use only

Bitcoin Wallets
So what is the easiest way to start getting bitcoins??? Download a Wallet. All the wallet can do is store bitcoins and you can send and receive them from other users. However, you want to get money from these right??? So here are some sites that you can register with to chage Bitcoin to your local currency

US Residents: Use Coinbase
Europe/Asia/Australia Residents: Use Mt. Gox
Canada Residents: Use VirtEx

Sign up and get everything in order. The great thing with bitcoin, you don't have to give much personal information. You do have to get "verified" if you want to buy and sell higher quantities of bitcoins.

OK!!!! So now you have a Wallet and an address to send and receive bitcoins, lets get to mining.

Bitcoin Mining
The miner I am going to be introducing today will work for PC and Mac. It is Java based so make sure you have the latest Java update!

1. Head over to BitMinter
2. Click Register

3. Sign up using whatever account you have
4. Create a username!! THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. It will identify you in the mining client and will allocate bitcoins to you.
5. Copy your Address from your wallet into the "Auto cash out" section at the bottom of account settings

6. Download the client (v1.4.2)

7. Install the client
8. Open the client
9. Log in using your user name
10. START MINING!


FINALLY
Let me know if you have questions.

This has been created for general knowledge and to introduce people to the world of Bitcoin. Please do not invest without all the facts and with a general understanding. That's what this is supposed to help with
This has also been created to help those try and start mining!

5

Forum Games / Pokémon to Hurt and Heal -- Über Brawl (17)

« on: August 13, 2012, 05:31:01 PM »

Let's start a new one with the most epicest roar! This one is sure to be loads of fun!

So the rules of this game:
You can only play once per calendar day (so you can play in less than a 24 hour period if they are in separate days)
You can only hurt one and heal one Pokémon per calendar day
You can hurt up to a max of 2 Points (Yes, you can hurt 0, 1, or 2 points)
You can heal up to a max of 1 Point (Yes, you can heal 0 or 1 points)
You cannot randomly insert new Pokémon or other objects/people/places (any noun for that matter). That is subject to disqualification

And since I'm being nice, all disqualifications have been lifted.

This is going to be a shorter one... or will it?

1. Dragonite -- 18
2. Tyranitar -- 18
3. Metagross -- 18
4. Salmance -- 18
5. Garchomp -- 18
6. Haxorus -- 18


Let's GOGOGO!

6

Off-Topic / The NSM Transportation Thread

« on: August 01, 2012, 02:03:22 AM »

So a lot of us have shown our faces, our food... and some of us have, on occasion shown off their EPIC mode of transport.

Whether it be a car, or a bike or even one's own two feet.

So... let's show off our epic rides!

(I'll add later).

7

Forum Games / Pokémon to Hurt and Heal -- Dark Shadows (16)

« on: May 25, 2012, 08:39:56 AM »

It's time to get back to normalcy after the failure of the Eeveelutions one.

We are going to Dark alleyways and kill whoever is lurking in the shadows

Rules: The same as normal games
You can heal up to 1
You can hurt up to 2

1. Mightyena -- 15
2. Absol -- 15
3. Liepard -- 15
4. Honchkrow -- 15
5. Houndoom -- 15
6. Sableye -- 15
7. Weavile -- 15
8. Hydreigon -- 15
9. Mandibuzz -- 15
10. Umbreon -- 15

GOGOGO!

8

Forum Games / Pokémon to Hurt and Heal -- Eeveelutions! (15)

« on: May 15, 2012, 09:14:38 AM »

So the rules of this game:
You can only play once per calendar day (so you can play in less than a 24 hour period if they are in separate days)
You can only hurt one Pokémon per calendar day
You can hurt up to a max of 1 Points (Yes, you can hurt 0 or 1 point)
You cannot randomly insert new Pokémon or other objects/people/places (any noun for that matter). That is subject to disqualification

1. Eevee -- 20
2. Flareon -- 20
3. Vaporeon -- 20
4. Jolteon -- 20
5. Umbreon -- 20
6. Espeon -- 20
7. Leafeon -- 20
8. Glaceon -- 20

--

1. Eevee -- 20
2. Flareon -- 20
3. Vaporeon -- 20
4. Jolteon -- 19
5. Umbreon -- 20
6. Espeon -- 20
7. Leafeon -- 20
8. Glaceon -- 20

9

Nintendo / Pokémon Black and White 2 News

« on: May 12, 2012, 07:25:01 PM »

Here's the new stuff from the latest CoroCoro Scans

Here’s the breakdown:

Alder shows up early in the game and wants you to follow him.

Cheren is now the Normal-type Gym Leader

As a favor to Professor Juniper, Bianca gives you your starter Pokemon.

No one knows N’s location.

Professor Burnett is new to the game, researching AR Searchers.

Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus: Old Forms are called Incarnation Forme, New forms are called Sacred Beast Forme. These forms are # 198, 199, and 200 in the Pokedex, and their types remain the same.

Sacred Beast Formes are obtained by capturing the Pokemon in the Pokemon AR Searcher and sending them to Black/White 2.

Tornadus’ Sacred Beast Form focuses on Defense, Speed, and Special Defense.

Thundurus’ Sacred Beast Form has increased Special Attack.

Landorus’ Sacred Beast Form has increased Attack.

Pokewood: New area where you can choose a scenario and make a movie, various battles appear; Replacing Musicals; Mecha Tyranitar is involved; Icirrus City Gym Leader Brycen has confrontation with Homika’s father, who wants to be a movie star.

Meloetta: Special giveaway Pokemon for upcoming movie; Level 15; Form Change occurs in Castelia City; Moves are Quick Attack, Confusion, and Round; Hold item is a PP Max.

Pokemon World Tournament allows you to battle many of the old Gym Leaders and Champions, including Lance, Volkner, Blue, Misty, Steven, Janine, and Blaine.

10

Story Telling / Café Crossroads (Episodes 5&6 - 07.12.12)

« on: May 02, 2012, 08:21:32 AM »

PLEASE DO NOT POST HERE!
Keeping in line with other NSM stories, discussions about the story can be found on this thread

A few key points to make:
1. Any languages other than English (and there will be stuff... and it won't just be French) will be translated at the end of each Episode (in the PDF)
2. At the end of each episode, a PDF will be available for download, so you can keep your own copy of the story.
3. Do not reveal which character in the story who corresponds to a person on NSM. Let's leave this up to our imaginations, but I feel you'll all get it eventually. (I may run polls after the 5th or 6th episode)


The Release Date for the Next Episode: Episode 7 - Whenever


Main Cast:
Colin -- DrP
Dylan
Alex
Parker
Willa
Kat
Colette -- Roz

Supporting Cast:
(To be filled in as supporting cast appears)
Katie

11

Forum Games / Pokémon to Hurt and Heal -- Spooky Thrills (14)

« on: April 26, 2012, 04:11:32 AM »

So the rules of this game:
You can only play once per calendar day (so you can play in less than a 24 hour period if they are in separate days)
You can only hurt one and heal one Pokémon per calendar day
You can hurt up to a max of 3 Points (Yes, you can hurt 0, 1, 2, or 3 points)
You can heal up to a max of 2 Points (Yes, you can heal 0 or 1 or 2 points)
You cannot randomly insert new Pokémon or other objects/people/places (any noun for that matter). That is subject to disqualification

We will be going to do Ghost Types this time. (Next time will NOT be elementals)

1. Gengar -- 15
2. Mismagius -- 15
3. Dusclops -- 15
4. Banette -- 15
5. Chandelure -- 15
6. Spiritomb -- 15
7. Confagrigus -- 15
8. Shedinja -- 15
9. Froslass -- 15
10. Drifblim -- 15

12

Story Telling / Café Crossroads - A Great NSM Story (Discussion)

« on: April 25, 2012, 07:02:27 AM »

So, I am in the process of creating a "new" Great NSM story. (It will be posted on another thread later as this becomes a discussion thread).

I'm looking for people who want in, besides the people who I've already contacted/added to the list.

It is a story that takes place mainly at a café in Seattle, Washington. (That's all I will reveal about the main story line)

ALSO, people in the story will be given fake names to be put into the story. It's up to you to guess who the person is.
The Story has been posted to THIS THREAD
Current NSMers:
Me (DrP)
Nebbles
Roz~
ETF
SFK
Spitllama
Slow
Ruto
Winter
Dude
Wry
K-NiGhT
Olimar
Jub3r7
Mashi
JaMaHa
Concerto
Kefka
Shadowkirby
Blueflower
Maestro

Main Character Bios: Please don't spoil yourself if you think you know who you are. Let's wait until the story comes out.
Colin - Owner of Café Crossroads. Born and raised on Long Island, Colin wanted to move elsewhere, away from the rural land. After graduating from the UCSD with a degree in Accounting, Colin departed to France to work for an accounting firm. He decided to take cooking classes in the morning before work and fell in love with making pastries. After spending 4 years in public accounting, he quit his job, moved to Seattle and opened Café Crossroads, with his new recipes and his creativity. After a vacation to China with Parker, Colin added a tea oriented menu and created Seattle's first tea house inside a café

Willa - Regular customer of Café Crossroads. A professor at the University of Washington, Willa is often found reading novels and grading papers (much to her chagrin), usually sipping many cups of tea and the occasional cup of coffee. She always her spot in the café and generally has small conversations with other regulars. She enjoys helping Colin in the kitchen from time to time because she loves to bake. She enjoys helping others, too and gives her time helping get people to give blood and various causes that help the environment.

Katherine - Katherine, who goes by Kat, is the new girl on the block. She feels comfortable by Colin’s happy attitude and the amazing eclairs (Café Crossroads’ specialty). She takes a while to warm up to everyone, but enjoys everyone’s company in the café. Her goal is to make a NPO in Idaho where animals from abusive homes can go to live happily on a large piece of land, a true sanctuary for them to live.

Parker - Parker is one of the newer regulars. He is generally sticks to himself or sometimes has a conversation with Willa. Parker lives out in Redmond, in a large, modern house on 25 acres of land (with a lake included). He enjoys being out in nature, and enjoys hiking around his property, fishing in his lake, producing wine on his vineyard and growing his own fruits and vegetables. He prefers to support local enterprises rather than going to many grocery stores (though he can be found in a Trader Joes constantly). He is the chief botanist for King County, so he is involved with making sure the plant life in the county remains undisturbed. He also sits on the Washington State LEED Board. 

Jack - Jack is an employee of Colin, enjoying his work because of the laid-back atmosphere and the fact that Colin often imparts wisdom on him (even though Colin is only four years older than him). Colin has taught him lots of things about making drinks and making food to impress those around him. He is a graduate student at the University of Washington. He often spends his free time reading, going to symphony and opera performances and going on "shopping trips" to the Public Market down the street. Though he claims it's to "get out and about", but he really performs music there with friends from school. He is of the awkward type, not really knowing what to do in social situations. He is generally friendly and cares about your well-being, if he knows you.

Dylan - Dylan is Colin’s best friend. They went to UCSD together in California and were in the same major. 

Colette - Though born in San Francisco, her family moved to Montreal for six years before returning back. She went to the University of Oregon and got a degree in Finance and then went to grad school and got her LLM. (rest of bio would get rid of plot in story)
Side Character Bios: Updated as story is released to "la publique"
Katie - Colin's girlfriend starting in Episode 4. Note, her character's "essence" is not based on a person currently on NSM. She is generally a great person, just "good". She is tall (5'11") and has brown hair and deep blue eyes. She works from home for REI, the outdoor sporting goods company. Her role is to find new equipment for their skiing and running sporting lines.

*DISCLAIMER* These characters use elements from the bios I was given and I made new characters based on people.

13

Forum Games / Pokémon to Hurt and Heal -- Psycho Killer (13)

« on: April 14, 2012, 01:37:56 AM »

So after a nice refreshment from Spitllama, we are returning to regularly scheduled programming... but with a twist.

And I will be mixing it up from here on out, so it won't be constant elementals after

So the rules of this game:
You can only play once per calendar day (so you can play in less than a 24 hour period if they are in separate days)
You can only hurt one and heal one Pokémon per calendar day
You can hurt up to a max of 3 Points (Yes, you can hurt 0, 1, 2, or 3 points)
You can heal up to a max of 1 Point (Yes, you can heal 0 or 1 points)
You cannot randomly insert new Pokémon or other objects/people/places (any noun for that matter). That is subject to disqualification

Go!

Pokémon:

1. Alakazam -- 15
2. Xatu -- 15
3. Gardevoir -- 15
4. Musharna -- 15
5. Gothitelle -- 15
6. Chimecho -- 15
7. Mr. Mime -- 15
8. Hypno -- 15
9. Reuniclus -- 15
10. Wobbuffet -- 15

14

Story Telling / Le Nouveau Order - Something New.

« on: March 07, 2012, 06:05:08 AM »

I've started something new. Seem Interesting??? The characters are completely new and not to be confused with persons living or dead.


The Beginning
     Roz Valois was walking out of an elevator into her office. No one dared approach her when she wasn’t in a room where she would be the one to talk first. However, an urgent matter in the Controller’s office found Drew Laval up on her floor.

“Roz, we have an urgent situation,” Drew said intercepting Roz on her way to her office.

“What is it Drew, I really don’t have all day,” Roz answered, still looking straight ahead at her office.

“It is Collette,” Drew responded. “She finds something wrong with one of the asset accounts. It seems that it is majorly understated.” We made it to Roz’s office and she shut the door behind us.

“I can’t see what the problem is,” Roz said quickly as she shut the door. “Ok, the real problem is that the Chancellor-Minister DuPont is declaring that all our business practices need to be audited.”

“So why did one of the departments completely vanish?” Drew inquired.

“The Chancellor-Minister can’t know that one of our departments in closely tied with China,” Roz explained. “You know the law. Ever since the Confederation formed, Chinese goods and services were banned and punishable by the full extent of the law.”

“This means that we will be suffering a major loss at the end of the year,” Drew replied. “What exactly was this dealing with China?”

“Well, in the Department of Research, there was a secret partnership with Premier Wong in production of energy from coffee beans,” Roz clarified. “Coffee beans have a mysterious power that our Department of Research has discovered, and the Chinese possess a technology far greater than us.”

“So what is going to happen now?” Drew asked, worried about Roz’s ties to the Chancellor-Minister himself.

“Nothing,” Roz said assuring him. “We delay reporting of some expenses and accrue our revenues early. I have a way of keeping my business out of meetings with the Chancellor Minister”

“That’s illegal,” Drew said irked. “What about the shareholders?”
 
Roz stood up and looked at Drew intensely. “In a few months, we’ll be lucky we have shareholders.” Roz turned around a looked out into the city of Paris. The sun was setting slowly in the east over the city. “Paris has seen better days,” Roz continued. “But I fear what Chancellor-Minister DuPont has in store for Europe.” 

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

   Drew Laval was born in France in 2002. Growing up, he had a fascination for finance and an inquisitive mind toward anything involving money. Drew was a precocious child, learning many aspects of the financial market at an early age. By age 10, he had a diverse portfolio of securities and commodities and was regarded as the smartest financial mind of the century, but he had a passion for financial reporting as it just came natural to him. He graduated from the University of Paris at age 20 and was hired as tax accountant at Alpine Corporation, where he has been for the past five years, now as the Controller. He works closely with Collette Marceaux, the CFO and with Roz Valois, the CEO.

   Collette Marceaux was a smart woman. Best friends with Drew since the University of Paris, she works quite well with him whilst at work. She has a photographic memory and remembers almost everything she learns. She is generally quiet and shy, usually hiding behind one of her many stacks of novels. However, she is quite loquacious with friends and never afraid to crack a joke. She can easily be noticed with her black wayfarer glasses and her auburn hair tightly packed into a bun. She often visits Roz after hours to go over her findings each day.

   Roz Valois moved to Paris from her native Montreal after graduating from Columbia University in New York. After working as the Undersecretary to the Finance Minister of the European Confederation for a year, she became the CEO of Alpine Corporation after it was rebranded from Starbucks following the economic collapse of the United States. She is quite ruthless in business practice, but laid back and sarcastic in social situations. Drew and Roz share a relationship that allows her brutality to be set aside when discussing business, as the same with Collette. She currently sits on the Council of Ministers as a Finance Advisor to Chancellor-Minister Albert DuPont and has been rated the second most powerful woman in the world behind Chinese Premier Li Wong.

   Albert DuPont was elected to be the first Chancellor-Minister of the European Confederation, a culmination of the European Union as one large country, in 2020. He turned a profit by using liberal policies to stimulate economic growth, reduce corruption and worked with all parties to establish a common rapport. However, when he was reelected in 2026, winds of change began to blow as he and the European National Assembly began writing a constitution. The public would let CM DuPont do whatever he wants and basically had theoretical authoritarian power, though soon it would change. 

15

Forum Games / Pokémon to Hurt and Heal -- v 11.0

« on: March 07, 2012, 04:47:26 AM »

In continuing on our list of elementals,

We will be continuing with ELECTRIC Pokémon! Let's conjure up a storm and zap those who disagree!

1. Pikachu -- 15
2. Ampheros -- 15
3. Electabuzz -- 15
4. Luxio -- 15
5. Zebstrika -- 15
6. Elektross -- 15
7. Pachirisu -- 15
8. Manectric -- 15
9. Emolga -- 15
10. Magneton --15

(I probably know the first ones to go...)

Rules for those new:
You can play once per day, meaning once during the normal hours of your day and time zone you exist in.
You can hurt one Pokémon by subtracting two points, You heal a different Pokémon one point, per turn. You can split the points when hurting a Pokémon IF AND ONLY IF there is one point remaining for said Pokémon.
You may not insert or change the list of Pokémon. The list was hand selected to be free of bias equally represented of all five generations. Pokémon who make it to the list must have the element type as their PRIMARY element.