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Tax-free online purchases could be a thing of the past

Amazon Affiliate linkSo you know how you don't have to pay sales tax on stuff you buy online unless you're buying it from a company that has a physical presence in your home state? Yeah, that could all be over soon.

New York Governor Elliot Spitzer has pledged not to raise taxes. But he's got a budget deficit to deal with, so he's trying to find new ways to collect taxes. And his administration believes they've found a loophole in that whole bricks and mortar thing.

Here's how it works. Sure, Amazon doesn't have a warehouse in New York. But lots of New York-based web sites have Amazon affiliate links. And Spitzer argues that effectively makes the New Yorkers who run those websites into Amazon salespeople, thus allowing the state to collect taxes from Amazon.

If Spitzer's plan holds up in court, it could open the floodgates and other states would likely be quick to follow. Either that or Amazon and other online retailers would stop offering affiliate programs. The plan is set to take effect in New York in December. So get your shopping done now.

Update: It looks like Spitzer has dropped this plan. For now.

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Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

CiviballsI have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

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