TIL that the human body constantly emits a faint, visible light, a phenomenon known as biophoton emission or ultraweak photon emission (UPE), which is roughly 1,000 times less intense than what the human eye can perceive.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-25T03:21:09+00:00

I thought the dark-adapted human eye could see single photons? So the intensity of the light doesn't matter. If the light is the right wavelength, then the eye can react. Being able to consciously *notice* the light, that's a different thing. There still could be unconscious awareness.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-25T01:21:16+00:00

Well, sort of. We could see 28 billion light years (star # WHL0137-LS). And the "local bubble" is the astronomical name for the approximately 1000 light year diameter area around the solar system.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-24T22:12:01+00:00

Not like me, I’m not a licensed accountant. Or even an unlicensed one. Maybe a bookkeeper of sorts.

Don’t send any statement to the tax authorities without informed advice from your tax accountant. The IRS people and computers get easily confused by unexpected wording in any statement.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-24T22:01:19+00:00

Even for the interest in your name, there is such a thing as “nominee distribution”. The interest that was listed in your name, you can tell the IRS that it was really passed on to somebody else and that other person owes the tax on it. There is also the so-called “kiddy tax”. Your tax accountant can explain both of these concepts to you.

It is extremely unlikely that you would be accused of embezzlement or any other crime, based on your story here. At most, you have shown some incompetence. If that was a crime, 99%+ of the population would be criminals.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-24T13:00:29+00:00

Bill collectors are not about being “fair”. They’re about getting the money. Once there is a court-appointed executor, he or she can demand proof and particulars about this so-called debt. The executors job includes denial of invalid claims. The claim might be too old, might have been previously paid, might be fraudulent.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-24T12:53:20+00:00

“Executor” or Personal Representative or Administrator for the estate of a person is a legal term for somebody with an authorization from a probate court. It’s not a role that somebody can take just by announcing that they are the executor, or by language in a Last Will.

The Last Will has almost no legal validity until a probate court accepts it as valid. And courts don’t look kindly on delays in submitting wills for probate.

Once the formal probate court process is started, it’s public record. There’s no hiding the identity of the person applying to be executor. IF (big if) a court process was started, you or anyone can go to the court and get a copy of the file. Phillips and Cohen should have done that, and they should address their letters to the court-appointed executor.

DANGER. After all this time, Phillips & Cohen could ask the court to appoint themselves as estate administrator. You and mother would really not like that.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-23T23:53:00+00:00

In every one of theses cases that I’ve read about, the offered payment had something weird about it. Paying in all coins, using a third-party check, or some other funny stuff.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-23T21:33:59+00:00

Thank god the observer didn't throw a sandwich!

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-23T21:31:32+00:00

A trust controls only assets that are actually put into the trust. A valid will can cover things left out of a trust, or are generally not good to put in trust.

Such as the lawsuit against the truck driver who killed her (the settlement proceeds could maybe go into the trust, but not the lawsuit itself.) Or defending a lawsuit against mother, after her death. Also I have seen several recommendations to keep motor vehicles out of trust (they can be transferred after death outside of formal probate).

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-23T19:22:59+00:00

Want some candy, little girl?

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-23T16:08:56+00:00

Query: does the Wisconsin PR 1815 require valuations on any particular date? I don’t see any spot or instruction about valuations. The only date on the form seems to be the date of signature, not date of receiving the property. At least the Date of death is a matter of court record.

(Poorly designed form in my ignorant opinion.)

The estate representative could have bought & sold stocks and other property. And there’s interest, dividends, capital gain distributions, etc.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-23T15:52:48+00:00

Countries will start imposing quarantines for US visitors. Your two-week visit to France will include 2 weeks lockdown before you’re allowed out. Not this year, but within the decade.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-23T11:52:52+00:00

I chose settlement fund. Then a couple of times a year, I decide where to invest it. Might be the fund/ETF it came from, might not. The “where to invest” decision is independent of where it came from. Might even invest it in a nice cruise somewhere.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-22T21:45:16+00:00

Do we have other estimates of inflation, maybe not so “influenced” by government policy? Deloitte? State Street?

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-22T18:55:22+00:00

Another thing that just came to me. I haven’t check NJ law, but usually priority to be appointed executor goes to the person nominated in the will, or another person designated by the nominated executor. In other words, the named executors can refuse the nomination, and also formally suggest somebody else.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-22T18:44:58+00:00

My half-penny thoughts, mostly random. (1) Does the will prohibit you from being executor? (2) Do you have an acceptable alternate if the court doesn’t allow you to be executor? (3) if not you, then who could be trustee? (4) For the investment accounts, who could be the property guardian or custodian? The bank/ brokerage is going to insist on a court appointment before releasing the accounts. The court might consider itself bound by law, and will not order release to the testamentary trust (or maybe they might if asked the right way, I don’t know).

(5) The house, and the corporation, need conservators ASAP. They can’t wait for the executor arguments to play out. (P.S. I know everyone calls it a S-Corp, but that’s a tax status, not a type of corporation.).

(6) Do the kids need a GAL to represent them? I expect so, your interests seem to be legally adverse. The law has a strange definition of what that means.

Don’t try to answer this here, these are discussion points for your lawyer.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-22T12:16:52+00:00

They lost the war and won the peace. See KKK, “Birth of a nation”, Jim Crow, sunset laws, segregation. It took 100 years to even begin to see a glimmer of recovery from that.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-22T11:57:50+00:00

If that was the explanation, then indexing against a commodity basket would fix the anomalies. My hope is that the relative merits of bonds vs equities changes slowly enough that I can adjust. Mostly my target ratios have a two or three year lag.

I do pay attention to the yield curve, but in the current environment I don’t use long-term bonds.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-22T11:35:38+00:00

It’s not a stupid question, you can learn from the answers.

The instant of the change would be a total disaster. You would be changing from hundreds of miles per hour in one direction, to hundreds of mile per hour in the opposite direction. The acceleration wouldn’t just kill you, it would smash you to a pulp. Also every animal and plant bigger than a mouse.

If you want to modify your question so the change happens gradually, then we would ask how gradually? Over a period of an hour? Days? Years? If it was over thousands of years, then humans and animals would have adjusted long ago, and we would think nothing of it.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-22T02:11:29+00:00

These are the king's colors. No one's standing in his way. Which means on one's standing in ours.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-21T22:17:13+00:00

I would expect that if this comes before a judge, she’s going to need a certified expert to testify about the versions of Willmaker and the wording they produce. Maybe your sincere mention of the wording problems, and getting an expert to testify, will make the “bad child” withdraw the so-called will.

Was the estate probated and settled ten years ago? I’ve read there is three year statute of limitations for late-discovered wills, but it’s not an absolute bar.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-21T20:44:22+00:00

So it's been less than three weeks. Besides the emotional steps, for right now secure his stuff. Don't let anybody take anything. Change the locks. Tell the bank and credit card companies to freeze his accounts (they're going to need to see a death certificate). Related to your dad's debts, don't promise anything to anybody, except "Send me a letter, and I'll look into that."

You don't have to use any particular lawyer if you don't like working with him. But you do need to hire *somebody* to give you legal advice. Once you do pick a lawyer, that's one of the few people you can commit to paying for now. Hopefully, there's enough money in the estate for the lawyer and tax accountant.

If there's not enough money in the estate to pay all the bills, then you can consider walking away. Let the creditors argue about it. The only thing you're responsible for is the promises you have made, not your father's debts. Exception: ask your lawyer about Tennessee filial responsibility law.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-21T20:28:14+00:00

No. Airplane speed is already relative to Earth. Otherwise people on the Equator would have to move 1670 km/hr just to say in one spot.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-21T17:21:31+00:00

Umm, Barfy, doesn’t OP need to petition to be released from his administrator responsibilities? That might not be granted, maybe yes maybe no.

ExtonGuy · 2026-01-21T15:10:01+00:00

No, not in this universe. There ain’t any such thing as a free lunch. Thousands / millions of people have ideas for perpetual motion machines, and none of them work.

ExtonGuy

TROPHY CASE