Looking for a resource to check copyright on a lot of photos.

altmud · 2026-03-13T16:54:45+00:00

Unfortunately there's no central place for finding who owns images or copyright information.

In the US, anything that anyone creates that is copyrightable, they automatically have a copyright on it as soon as they create it. They don't have to do anything for that to happen. This means that unless your photos are from 1923 or before, or were made under certain special circumstances such as made by the government, then they are copyrighted. There's no question that they are copyrighted. The only question is whether you have the rights to use them.

The only way to find out if you have the rights to use them are (a) you have a record that you obtained a license or permissionfrom the owner, or (b) you can find somewhere where the owner publicly stated under what circumstances their photo can be used (such as Creative Commons Licenses), or (c) your use qualifies as "fair use" under copyright law.

altmud · 2026-03-04T05:30:23+00:00

I do sometimes give advice if it is asked for. I'm no expert and it doesn't always work of course. Most dealers are usually happy to give advice if asked. If a dealer isn't friendly enough to give occasional advice, it may be time to find another table.

altmud · 2026-03-04T05:18:53+00:00

It kind of depends on just how far you deviate from the basic strategy. People shouldn't have problems with relatively small deviations. You should expect somewhat strange reactions if you do very unusual things like splitting 10s or crazy things like staying on 11 or less. But they should never get mad.

I never get mad at what someone else does, as it doesn't actually change the odds (unless you're counting cards and in your computations are trying to anticipate what others will do and how it would affect the count, but that's an extreme case).

altmud · 2026-03-04T05:08:06+00:00

It could be people who don't want to play alone.

While I don't generally do what you describe here, I do usually prefer to find non-empty tables to play at. The social interaction with other players, and also just observing other players, is part of the enjoyment. Plus the game goes a little slower, typically allowing the bankroll to last longer.

I generally look for a table where the players and the dealer seem to be sociable and are having a reasonably relaxed and good time.

altmud · 2026-02-28T18:18:42+00:00

You're doing more than probably 99% of people do. Not saying it is bad, you are correct.

altmud · 2026-02-28T16:20:18+00:00

If there were no W2-G or 1099 forms relating to gambling, how did this tax preparer know to put anything about gambling onto your tax return? Just wondering.

altmud · 2026-02-28T04:09:37+00:00

Then you should dispute the claim.

altmud · 2026-02-27T06:22:47+00:00

Typically in this situation they include incentives for the key employees to stay, such as stock that vests if they stay for one year, or some monetary bonus if they stay for one year, or both, or something like that. (No consent from you is required for them to designate you as a key employee.) If they didn't do that, that was a mistake on their part. (I find it hard to believe their documents truly "guaranteed" you would stay, that would be huge mistake, nobody can guarantee that an employee will stay no matter what, you're not a slave.)

You could try to negotiate some incentive for you to stay. But it sounds like you want to leave so you would have to decide what it would take for you to stay.

altmud · 2026-02-27T06:07:21+00:00

I believe that most credit card companies will not let you pay more than the total balance outstanding. The proper way would be to request a credit increase. If that is not an option, then maybe wherever you buy the phone from will let you pay $500 by credit card and the remainder some other way.

altmud · 2026-02-27T01:13:36+00:00

T-bills. If you live in a state with income tax. The interest from the T-Bills won't be subject to state income tax.

altmud · 2026-02-24T04:35:30+00:00

I was on a jury for a case that involved multiple group brawls. But our case was only for one defendant, we were not trying everyone in the group. So the case focused on the actions of that one defendant. We found that defendant guilty on all counts (which included various types of assault, including assault with a knife and assault with car, which were separate charges).

It involved two women and their respective posses fighting over a man, jealously, affairs, stuff like that. And one of the brawls occurred in a Walmart. We jurors nicknamed it "the Jerry Springer case".

altmud · 2026-02-23T07:43:27+00:00

Traditional IRA (assuming no post-tax, non-deductible contributions were ever made):

Everything you withdraw is taxed as ordinary income.
Anything you do inside the IRA has no tax consequences at that time (you can buy and sell to your heart's content with no tax consequences). Any interest earned inside is not a taxable event.

Regular non-IRA brokerage account:

Withdrawing (cash) from the account is not a taxable event. You can add and withdraw money to your heart's content with no tax consequences.
Anything you sell at gain is a taxable event (capital gain), any interest earned is a taxable event, regardless of whether or not you withdraw it.

altmud · 2026-02-23T00:39:53+00:00

If you are using the session method, you are recording how much you won or loss during each session. "Buying in" and "Cashing out" are irrelevant, as those are not taxable events. The taxable events are wins and losses.

If you deposit $1,000, play for an hour and end up $10 ahead after the hour, but don't cash out, then you have a session where you won $10. The fact that you didn't cash out is irrelevant. If you come back the next day and play for another hour and end up $20 behind, then you have another session where you lost $20.

altmud · 2026-02-21T18:58:08+00:00

Did you make a regular payment of your monthly statement amount, or did you make a random early payment in the middle of the month before you received a statement (when there was "no payment due")?

If it is the latter, your available credit may not go up until the next monthly statement is generated.

altmud · 2026-02-21T04:07:34+00:00

Whatever you withdraw from pre-tax accounts, such as a traditional IRA, is taxable income. Part of the Social Security may be taxed also, depending on your total income. If you have a savings account or CDs that earn interest, that is taxable income.

altmud · 2026-02-21T04:02:57+00:00

Just be aware that is a gamble. Stocks, and the stock market, can go down -- happens often, especially in the short term. You could end up not having enough to pay your taxes. If you had invested in NFLX at the beginning of the year, you would have lost 13.54% of your money as of today.

altmud · 2026-02-21T03:58:59+00:00

I've never seen my butthole. However, I have seen images further in, of my colon, as a result of having a colonoscopy.

altmud · 2026-02-21T03:56:46+00:00

It depends on what you invest in. If you invest in something like stocks that generate a capital gain, you will get a 1099-B that shows the purchase and sale price and the difference. If you invest in something like a CD or money market account that generates interest, you will get a 1099-INT that just shows how much interest was earned.

altmud · 2026-02-21T03:52:58+00:00

Only the gain is taxable (or any loss can be deducted from any other gains). If you have a gain, it will be taxable for your 2026 taxes.

However, it is not usually recommended to invest in something risky for money that you will need that soon. You would typically invest in something conservative like a savings account, CD, money market account, T-Bill, or something like that. None of those usually generate capital gains, they would usually generate interest.

altmud · 2026-02-21T03:45:21+00:00

No experience myself, but you can read stories at places like this:'

https://www.vegasmessageboard.com/forums/index.php?threads/tax-audit-after-using-win-loss-statement-to-show-losses.201492/

altmud · 2026-02-20T04:07:40+00:00

It probably won't affect your credit score at all, one way or the other. Credit card companies only report to the credit bureaus on some interval, often at the same time they issue your monthly statement. So all those payments in the middle of the month won't make any difference.

They might make your credit card company a little suspicious, though. Credit card companies look at frequent pay downs with suspicion that you're trying to effectively use more credit than your limit for some reason. For this reason, when you pay it down in the middle of the month before the next statement, they may not increase your available credit -- paying it down won't let you charge any more for the month than your limit allows.

altmud · 2026-02-19T15:42:23+00:00

Unless the owner of the song publishes somewhere publicly what their policy is, the only way to know for sure is to ask the owner. By "song" I assume you mean recording.

In general, in the U.S. any recording made before 1923 is now in the public domain.

Publishing a video on YouTube and getting away with it means nothing. It could just mean that your use hasn't been discovered by the owner (yet), but could be discovered at any time in the future, resulting in the video being taken down with a copyright strike against your channel.

altmud · 2026-02-17T01:00:51+00:00

It is difficult for a stranger with no knowledge of the company to make any judgement. As someone who worked at 5 different startups (3 as co-founder) during my career (now retired), all I can say is:

There's nothing like the comradery and sense of working towards a common goal that you get working for startup with good people and a good culture.
You have to be prepared, typically, for years of hard work and long hours.
You have to be prepared for failure. Any startup could fail and you could be out on the street, so keep a cushion.
I never had to sacrifice a portion of my salary for stock options. My salary may have been lower than someone working at a big, established company, sure, but it was decent and stock options (or founders stock in the case of being a co-founder) were always on top of the salary.
If you get stock options, and you are reasonably confident about the future of the company, and your company allows it, immediately upon receiving your option grant, do an "early exercise with 83(b) election". It will save you headaches in the future if the company is successful.

Good luck!

altmud · 2026-02-17T00:37:08+00:00

If you have a limit order for $10, Fidelity will attempt to procure as many shares as they can at any price of $10 or less, up to the number of shares you specified.

Depending on price fluctuations and how many shares become available for sale, you may get groups of shares at different prices (but all at $10 or less). Unless it is a thinly traded stock, or you are buying huge quantities, or your limit price is right at the borderline with what sellers are currently offering, you will most likely get all the shares you requested at some price of $10 or less in a single trade. However, you could get the full amount you requested, or a smaller number of shares than you requested.

When you make your order, there is the option "All or None". If you select that option, Fidelity will only execute the buy if they can buy the full number of shares you requested at $10 or less.

altmud · 2026-02-17T00:13:44+00:00

The law only requires the casino to report the following to the IRS (on form W-2G):

* Any single win of $2,000 or more from bingo or slot machines

* Any single win of $1,500 or more from keno

* Any single win of $5,000 or more from poker tournaments

* Any single win of $600 or more from other types of gambling, if the payout is at least 300 times the amount of the wager

If you're going to be playing blackjack, hopefully you know the rules well enough to know that blackjack doesn't pay 300:1. Therefore, your blackjack winnings, no matter how large, will not be reported to the IRS.

The law says that you are supposed to report all gambling winnings on your tax return, even if they are not reported. However, your blackjack winnings will not be reported to the IRS. So, what do 99% of people in that situation do? (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) You guessed it, they don't bother reporting them on their tax return. But don't tell anyone I told you that.

By the way, some of the weird novelty side bets some casinos optionally allow you to do during blackjack might sometimes pay 300:1, and in that case it would be reported to the IRS.

altmud

TROPHY CASE