Meanwhile Bug

Pidgin, formerly GAIM, is a decent universal IM client. Part of its attractiveness its support for Sametime, a Lotus software application. The Meanwhile plug-in for Pidgin provides access to the Sametime protocol. However, in newer versions of the Sametime server, Meanwhile users were unable to see some people on their lists as being logged in, even though they were. This is a known bug. Oddly enough, even after I upgraded to Pidgin 2.3.1, the bad library remained, so I went looking for another fix.

SPAS-12

I stumbled upon a site dedicated to the Franchi SPAS-12. There are some classified ads on there. $1400-1500 is what the classifieds seem to ask. That's a lot more expensive than a Remington 870! I suppose I shouldn't be partial to collecting odd items, since I'm more concerned with practicality, but still, it'd be cool to have. An 870 with a pistol grip, folding stock, and rail for a red dot could be a fun shooter as well. It just doesn't have the cool factor of being banned from further importation!

Atchisson Assault Shotgun

My manager actually sent me a link to a video on YouTube of a full-auto shotgun. Naturally, I was intrigued. Of course civilians can't get them, but it's still cool. My dad had mentioned the Atchisson to me, but I never looked it up because he didn't really explain what it was! Wikipedia has an article that has a bunch of links, and there's a post on Digg. The manufacturer, Action Manufacturing Company, has a press release on the AA-12 as well.

Machine Gun Price Guide

On the HKPro forums someone posted a link to a site tracking the prices of machineguns. It's very informative. That and it's a bit depressing that it costs tens of thousands of dollars to buy machineguns that are all made before 1986.

Mini Trucks

My dad sent me these links. Makes me wish I had a ranch.

Ulmer Farm Service sells Japanese light trucks. They're right-hand drive, though, so aren't legal on public roads.
Bulldog Offroad has rebuilt vehicles, but they aren't street legal either.

Now if a company in the U.S. made a hybrid mini-truck, that'd be sweet!

Partnership Taxes

Goddamn taxes.

I found a definition online that helped decode the difference between adjusted basis, basis in assets, and capital accounts:

—Partner’s Adjusted Basis (Outside Basis): This is the partner’s investment in the partnership. Outside basis is determined without considering any amount shown in the partnership books as capital, equity, or similar account. When a partner disposes of an interest in a partnership, the difference between the sale price and the partner’s adjusted basis is the taxable gain or loss. Each partner is responsible for keeping track of his/her adjusted basis.

—Partnership’s Basis in Assets (Inside Basis): This represents the tax basis in assets held by the partnership. The inside basis is used by the partnership in computing depreciation, gain or loss on sale of assets, etc. The partnership keeps track of the inside basis of assets.

—Capital Accounts: This represents the partners’ share of partnership equity (partnership assets minus partnership liabilities). There is a separate capital account for each partner. The capital account generally represents the partner’s distributive share of the partnership’s net worth as shown on the balance sheet. The partnership keeps track of each partner’s capital account, and presents an analysis of the capital account on Schedule K-1. The capital account is different than the partner’s adjusted basis. The capital account does not include a partner’s share of partnership liabilities.