Posted on 01/17/2012 1:03:02 PM PST by DogByte6RER
Another BIGGIE use for urine was in the making of salt petre for manufacturing gunpowder.
http://www.wisegeek.com/can-you-really-make-gunpowder-from-urine.htm
Urine can in fact be used in the manufacture of gunpowder, and it has historically been a very important source of one of the crucial ingredients in gunpowder, saltpeter, also known as niter. This nitrate compound is what allows gunpowder to rapidly oxidize and catch fire, generating an explosion which can be used to fire munitions. In the modern era, there are less smelly ways to get saltpeter, typically through an industrial process which uses ammonia as a base.
While you cannot literally make gunpowder from urine, as you need several other ingredients to produce gunpowder, urine can certainly be used to produce one necessary element. In addition to saltpeter, however, people also need charcoal and sulfur. These ingredients are both readily available, unlike saltpeter, so the popular stories about making gunpowder from urine do have a rational basis. Until the First World War, before people learned to reliably synthetically produce niter, urine, guano, and manure were all collected to produce gunpowder.
In the movie “1776” there is a musical scene where John Adams, in Philadelphia for deliberations during the Revolution, is communicating with Abigail back in Massachusetts, urging her and the ladies back home to make and send salt petre to Philadelphia for producing gunpowder....to which Abigail replies that the ladies in Massachusetts need PINS. Send PINS! No pins - no salt petre!
P.S. The ladies GOT their pins! ;o)
Personal opinion: throw the state a bone if you are running a business. Look for a few credit card charges for online stuff; calculate the tax & mail it in. Doesn’t have to be for a whole lot. They won’t bother coming after you if you appear to have “complied.”
Actually, that was a double entendre. He was telling her that he missed her, and the saltpetre was a reference to reducing the sex drive. She was saying no, you don't need saltpetre, you need to come home (pin=phallus...)because she had urges the same as him.
I have... The Jewish Community Center in Kansas City had a vending machine in the men's locker room (I can't say about the women's) that sold little tins of orange or apple juice, apples, oranges, and brownies.
That was back in the 1970s though.
Mark
Maybe they can order you to obtain another copy online.
They look at the items you have written off as business expenses and the purchases will show up there.
We have no sales tax in Oregon. However, there are special taxes on certain things, like hotel rooms.
Recently, there were billboards decrying the amount of sugar in soft drinks. I didn’t understand why state government was concerning itself with this, until quite recently.
The reason is that Multnomah County (and, presumably, other counties or the state) wants to tax soda/pop, and so the government was using tax dollars to preemptively demonize it.
Say you go to buy the new Iphone for $499.
However, find that you get the phone for $99, if you sign a one year contract for cellular and data services.
California still charges you sales tax on the $499.
I think that you are right. If you are an individual, there’s not much chance that they will come after you. If they did, the ‘return’ would be low. OTOH, if you’re a business owner with a paper trail because you’re writing-off business expenses — GOTCHA!
I play the game.
Wow.......I must REALLY be dense. All you say may be 100% correct......All I know is that the ladies of Massachusetts got the pins they wanted, and Philadelpia got its salt petre for gunpowder. And if John & Abigail got laid somewhere in the process, that’s all the better! ;o)
Indiana has that asinine tax...buy something on the internet, pay no sales tax. However, on your annual state tax form, you are to declare those purchases and pay the 7% state sales tax....the revenues are so large that they probably had to set up a separate bank account just to handle the overflow......or not
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