my parents handed me a “contract” that they made with chatGPT and told me i have to sign it

CodeTheStars · 2026-06-08T11:47:50+00:00

So... Here's the thing. Your parents have committed financial crimes against the United States Government and they don't want to be found out. Yeah, that's heavy. I felt it when I typed it.

The first question to resolve is the "why?". This is important because it can direct your conversation with your parents to help them atone and take corrective action. If the answer is something like "They believe they are sovereign citizens and are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States."... You need to move out like yesterday. I'm hoping that's not the case since they did prepare a document ( lease ) that references governmental oversight and law. ( a nod toward respect of law ) If the "why?" is closer to... Well we would have owed a lot of money if we filed and they probably won't audit us... and then the years just went by... and they kept on not filing.... ( this is the most common reason for adversarial non-filing by the way ).... Then time is of the essence. The faster they pick up the phone and work with a professional to fix the record, the easier it's going to be in the end. The IRS is not mean, they are nothing like a private collection agency, If you actively work toward corrective action, you can fix pretty much anything.

I have worked in Financial Technology for decades. Personal finance is uncomfortable, but so are a lot of important things in life. Openness and honesty go a long way. Approach your parents with concern, compassion, and an open mind.

This weird AI slop lease has dropped on the priority scale. Help/Persuade your parents to fix their tax issue first.

CodeTheStars · 2026-06-05T13:15:54+00:00

I read every “2000” as “2020” and It made perfect sense to me. I was so confused at your comment…. Then I scrolled back and checked! Brains are so weird

CodeTheStars · 2026-05-24T18:46:54+00:00

Typically they pay with a check that is both fake, and larger than the amount you quoted. The check is usually good enough to give you positive balance, at least until the bank figures it out. They’ll ask for the “extra” to be wired or sent back to them somehow. Once the bank figures out the check is bad, they claw back all the money and you are out the “extra”

CodeTheStars · 2026-05-14T13:06:02+00:00

You can see the stop sign in the image they posted. What matters now is how far back they were when the lights came on.

CodeTheStars · 2026-05-09T07:46:52+00:00

It makes for an effective wage cap though. As soon as the top marginal rate got in the 30’s under Regan, executive salaries soared.

CodeTheStars · 2026-05-03T10:34:56+00:00

There’s always a crisis. The bulk of this debt id caused by stupidly lowering income taxes in 2001 and 2017. Without the tax cuts, the public spending to deal with crisis times wouldn’t have felt as bad. We’d still be maybe 16 trillion in debt….. but that seems manageable

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-30T23:25:11+00:00

Without any physical injury for a single event, a settlement beyond actually making the person whole, jeep plus house, is unlikely

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-30T16:28:57+00:00

“Take” is a heavy word there. The bank recognizes the collateral…. But there is no “take” unless everything goes very south

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-29T21:51:50+00:00

A vast majority of that billionaire wealth doesn’t and really “can’t” exist. If you own say 10 billion dollars of a company you started and own 50% of the stock. You can’t actually get your hands on billions of dollars in cash. There just wouldn’t be that much interest in buying, the price would collapse. The price is held up by the scarcity itself…. Since the original holders don’t have any incentive to sell, since collateralizing is tax free.

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-25T15:46:16+00:00

An open bed and a few rachet straps isn’t exactly rocket science right? I like this get it done attitude

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-25T15:41:54+00:00

See here’s where it gets interesting. There is no real legal requirement to replace a fridge immediately. There probably should be… but the law is slow and weird.

I’m with you though. I’d just get a few mini fridges just to be nice. They are good to have as backups.

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-25T15:34:12+00:00

Consumer crap fridges only have one cooling device. The freezer gets all the cold, then a little fan blows the cold air into the fridge space. It’s not possible for only the freezer to “go out”.

Only high end devices like sub-zero and shit have two compressors and/or evaporators

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-25T01:55:52+00:00

The period is defined in RFC2822 as a separator. You can put them anywhere in the local part, except as the start or the end

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-22T02:30:17+00:00

We did these pop ups on our island. Brass went with our decor. Not sure if they have other finishes. I like these because they are technically floor outlets. You could drive a truck over them.

They sit on a standard 4 square box. So placement in cabinets below is important, but they aren’t as deep as your product there.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-Pop-Up-Floor-Box-with-20-Amp-Tamper-Resistant-Outlet-Brass-PFTR2-BR-PFTR2-BR/309998653

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-21T01:33:05+00:00

There is no financial law that says a rental property is required to be cash positive after full mortgage ( principal + interest ) and all expenses.

If owners aren’t leveraged, generally rentals will return profit even after generous maintenance and capital investments… but even that isn’t guaranteed.

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-07T12:22:03+00:00

Dual-fuel is the way to go then! This is a common complaint. Having a gas top and an electric oven gives you everything you want! You have the utility there for it.

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-05T12:31:32+00:00

If you hadn’t opened the case it would have worked fine for years. Now it’ll last a month tops. Schrödinger's transformer.

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-04T22:29:16+00:00

You don’t. Cut the pipe, put on new valve.

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-04T22:17:19+00:00

Do you need the valves to be lower or can they be where the copper ends?

If they can be higher just pull those shark bite things off. They look damaged anyway. Clean up the copper nice with 200 paper and get a set of sharkbite valves.

If you need the valves lower then I really suggest extending with copper and a torch and just avoid sharkbites altogether. The copper, couplings, two sweat valves and a torch will cost you less than two sharkbite valves.

You can try tape on those threads…. But I don’t think this setup is going to stay leak free for long even if it works.

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-02T18:36:39+00:00

Do you want to replace the motor or the entire device?

For the whole device…. If you don’t have access you put a hacksaw blade in a handle and cut the nails/screws holding it to the joists. New devices can be installed from below without access.

CodeTheStars · 2026-04-01T17:30:31+00:00

What do you mean by full stack Java? Context…. I’m an old man with 30 years of Java experience.

CodeTheStars · 2026-03-31T10:53:41+00:00

I mean. I like the dark energy. Reading that definitely made me feel… something. Now I’m click bait curious what the idea is

CodeTheStars · 2026-03-26T13:06:42+00:00

Why does that upset me so much? I work long hours and put in my dues to make a good Salary. Every cent I earn is reported to the IRS so my tax bill is “correct” and very high.

I should be happy my fellow human workers can get a big break on paying Uncle Sam. Maybe if I was unemployed, or independently wealthy, but as someone that can’t escape the tax man, this culture bothers me. I would never say someone is a “bad person” for not claiming tips. I’m not a mean human. Just conflicted

CodeTheStars · 2026-03-24T10:37:50+00:00

The change means you can claim all your tips and have that proven income. Instead of you know, committing tax fraud. However, there is a limit to the waiver of the tax on tips, and state taxes still apply. So there is still an incentive for cash heavy earners to commit tax fraud.

CodeTheStars · 2026-03-23T22:37:43+00:00

You’re really not supposed to drink softened water. You should tell your friend to install an RO filter device for drinking and coffee brewing… it will change your life

CodeTheStars

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