Random thoughts

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

So this is the time of year tax documents get sent out.

You'd think giant banks could take one week off from sending their predatory scam spam out when you're trying to collect and organize your tax docs. ("Durrrrr it's the best week for them because people open them!" -- banks)

[Casual Observer]

Do companies actually send the tax docs in the mail anymore? I think at least my last 3 jobs just emailed them or a link to them.

[Tdarcos]

You'd think giant banks could take one week off from sending their predatory scam spam out when you're trying to collect and organize your tax docs.

I find this a bit surprising, that they would put anything else in with tax documents. The few times I'd gotten tax documents, that was all I got.

Do companies actually send the tax docs in the mail anymore? I think at least my last 3 jobs just emailed them or a link to them.

Your employer is going to have better contact means for you and unless your bank has an e-mail address for you, and permission to send information electronically, then the only way available to contact you is via paper.

Your employer probably sent you a notice with either the remittance receipt (if you have 100% direct deposit) or your paycheck (if you don't) at that pay period telling you the address to download a PDF of the W-2 along with a note to contact HR if you need a paper copy. Those might be the only paper copies made, because larger employers must file W-2s electronically (smaller filers may file manually, but if they use a payroll service they will offer them electronic filing.)

The only people needing paper W-2s are those who do not have a printer and file manually. People who use an electronic filing service only need the numbers, they do not need the actual printed form.

[Billy Mays]

Is this thread still about random thoughts or is it now the tax documents thread?

[Billy Mays]

Ok, I'm gonna go ahead and move forward with the random thoughts then...

The other day I was eating some meatloaf I had baked up and thought to myself how when you buy a packet of ground beef that the beef inside came from multiple cows all mashed up together. I don't know why but I had always just took it for granted, incorrectly mind you, that a packet of ground beef was just a small percentage of a single cow.

I used to game with a guy online who worked at one of the biggest slaughterhouses in the United States and he said he needed to get stoned and drunk almost to the point of blacking out when he gets off work just to cope with the horror of his job. The constant screaming and having to kill cows all day really got to him.

I'd like to give up eating beef entirely just because of how cool an animal cows are. I had an opportunity to visit a farm once and the farmer raised cattle and you could, well I could...get to that in a minute, go right up to them and let out a moooo (it doesn't sound like that but I'm at a loss to spell out how cows sound right now) and extend out a handful of grass and they will eat it right out of your hand and give you this look of "hey, thanks buddy". But the only problem is a diet of poultry, pork, and seafood would probably end up giving me the runs really bad plus without people eating cows there would be a lot fewer of them so a lot of cows would never get born to do fun cow stuff until my online friend from back in the day eventually has to slaughter them. So it's a trade off I guess?

Anywho, I was a guest of the farmer and farmers tend to own a lot of land and employ a lot of people so they're essentially like a King of whatever area they operate in and people really roll out the red carpet for you when words gets out that you know so and so. I got extra large slices of pie at the local diner and none of the locals gave me any sort of guff whatsoever. And you get to feed cows. Kind of like having the key to a city, only cooler because of the large pie slices.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

The phrase"and it's not close" or "and it's not particularly close"is everywhere now and used by morons.

[loafergirl]

I'd like to give up eating beef entirely just because of how cool an animal cows are.

Red meat has the most environmental impact... but cows are delicious, and leather is great, and durable and biodegradable. So.... responsible use and all that. It is disconcerting that a package of ground beef is multiple cows though.

[Jizaboz]

As a 9% or more Native American, I vote more Bison farms! Also, why the hell don't we have deer meat at stores?! Even little mom and pop butcher stores. It's like you have to know a drug dealer or shoot your own to eat a deer around here. They are everywhere, taste wonderful, and would probably rather be quickly slaughtered than hit and bled out on the side of I-40.

Also, cool story Mays about yr friend. When I was about 20 and doing "restoration" work I really wanted to get into cleaning up suicide and murder scenes because that's where the money was at and it just seemed like really humble and fulfilling work.

[Billy Mays]

why the hell don't we have deer meat at stores?!

Push back from the other meat industries not wanting any additional competition.

Also, I don't think deer are suitable for animal husbandry. Cows are content chewing on grass all day in a field or chewing on grass all day in a barn. Deer on the other hand require a more complex diet such as berries and acorns which, besides being more expensive, would require additional markets to open up to fill that demand. And deer in a big open field or confined in a building would become stressed to the point of dying.

[ChainGangGuy]

Push back from the other meat industries not wanting any additional competition.

I think it's high time we told Big Beef to get their greasy mitts off of our deer chow.

A coworker goes deer and boar hunting, and, from time to time, brings in canned deer meat, deer jerky and venisausage. At least that's what he claims it to be. He has never managed to bag a boar, however.

[Flack]

My favorite part was the idea that if we didn't eat them, cows would lead some sort of fulfilling life. Cows will stand in their own drinking water and shit and piss in it before taking a drink. I don't think they're going to put their heads together and build a theme park or anything.

[ChainGangGuy]

Quite right. Any gifted copies of NoLimits 2 would remain unopened, only to lie soiled and trodden in the farmer's fields.

[Billy Mays]

A coworker goes deer and boar hunting, and, from time to time, brings in canned deer meat, deer jerky and venisausage.

I used to know a guy who sold avon products for his wife and when he dropped off the order he would give me a couple pounds of ground venison or bags of deer smokies because he knew how much I enjoyed deer. Long story short, he had some sort of official capacity that granted him access to an almost limitless supply of venison. I still own a lifetime supply of avon lotion, it's ok, not the best stuff but I don't get dry skin enough to justify throwing it all out and buying something better.

[Billy Mays]

My favorite part was the idea that if we didn't eat them, cows would lead some sort of fulfilling life.

Yes, fulfilling relative to a cow which is all that matters to the cow.

[AArdvark]

Insert Gary Larson cartoon here

[Tdarcos]

deer around here... would probably rather be quickly slaughtered than hit and bled out on the side of I-40.

Given a choice, I think they'd take a third option: NOT BEING KILLED AT ALL.

why the hell don't we have deer meat at stores?! Even little mom and pop butcher stores. It's like you have to know a drug dealer or shoot your own to eat a deer around here.

Jiz, in Robert A. Heinlein's To Sail Beyond the Sunset a charcter asks the protagonist Maureen a question. "Mom, the [video telephones] here in Kansas City are all [standard definition] while the ones in Dallas are all [high definition]. Why do they have them and why don't they have them here?"
"Donald, whenever someone asks 'why do they' or 'why don't they' the answer is almost always 'money'."

Dear hunting will require a hunting license and probably an additional deer permit where you are issued tags, which depending on the state would be 2 or 3. You're required to carry a tag with you when hunting and when you kill a deer the tag has to be affixed to the carcass immediately. Then you may have to report it (so that tag is invalidated from future use.) Thus a hunter is limited to 2 (or maybe 3) baggings per season. Woe to you if you get caught with an untagged deer. It will be confiscated, you will be subject to a stiff fine (Like $200), invalidation of any unused tags, cancellation of your hunting license and a ban on getting another license for a year.

The capacity to harvest deer in sufficient quantities in amounts sufficient to supply, say, even a single butcher, let alone even a small 10-outlet regional grocery chain is impossible.

It's also probably likely there is no provision to allow inspection of slaughterhouses handling deer meat, or ranching deer is not permitted. It's like horse meat, you can't buy it, and not because it isn't available - you can order horse meat in restaurants in Canada - but because Congress has intentionally zeroed the USDA budget every year for horse meat inspectors. If there are no federal inspectors, you can't sell it.

[AArdvark]

Commander never knows whats going on

[Jizaboz]

Good points. I have a fishing license I must renew each year for saltwater but freshwater and shooting (ducks, deer, hogs) both have their own additional licenses you have to pay extra for in NC. Just a few years ago you did not even need one to fish but they say out of town people messed that up.

It’s different on your own private property. If you have your own pond then of course you can fish for free. If a deer comes in your yard and you don’t live in a city district then you can shoot it.. so long as it is a buck and it’s hunting season.

And man oh man do not get caught doing any of the above unless you want to pay stupid fees and never fish again.

As far as cleaning the meat well.. you can make yourself extremely sick not harvesting seafood correctly.

[Ice Cream Jonsey]

It drives me crazy that the page served up by lastpass.com doesn't have the fucking login box on it, and you have to click on something to bring it up.

[loafergirl]

NYS is encouraging women hunters as there has been a steep decline in hunting in the last 10-15 years or so... I have been considering, but then I would likely need to own a firearm and that's a whole other thing...