Live data from Hacker News

Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills

web.archive.org

1–10 of 553 posts

Re: Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills

#3
> [The Secret Service agent] asked my for some picture ID. I have some fake photo ID's that a friend made for me years before, when we could make realistic photo ID's from our computers. Almost nobody else could do this because printers weren't good enough. But I had an expensive early generation dye sublimation printer and made some fake ID's for fun. I had one favorite fake ID that I'd used for almost every airplane flight, domestic and international, that I'd taken for many years. It says "Laser Safety Officer" and has a photo of me with an eyepatch. It also says "Department of Defiance" in an arc, in a font that looks like "Department of Defense" to the casual glance.

> As I opened my wallet, I considered whether I should risk using this fake ID on the Secret Service. It probably amounted to a real crime. I had my driver's license as well. But you only live once and only a few of us even get a chance like this once in our lives. So I handed him the fake ID. He noted and returned it. The Secret Service took an ID that said "Laser Safety Officer" with a photo of myself wearing an eyepatch.

Woz plays life like an RPG.

Re: Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills

#6
> I'd already transferred the maximum yearly tax free gift of $10,000 to each of my kids.

If I'm not mistaken, one tip I've heard is that one can transfer more than that in gifts yearly, and although that requires filing a gift tax return with the IRS, it doesn't mean necessarily mean paying any tax. There's a lifetime maximum that has to be hit, and it's extremely high. (I'm not a lawyer nor an accountant, and this is not legal or tax advice, yada yada)

Re: Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills

#9
post #2

You can still buy uncut sheets https://catalog.usmint.gov/paper-currency/uncut-currency/

I mean, it’s a neat idea, but … what do you do with them?

Framing one as a picture would seem to invite a burglary, and as a source of individual notes it’s much cheaper to go to a bank.

Edit: Not intended as a critical question, btw - I was just wondering how you’d use them.

Re: Steve Wozniak used to tip from printed sheets of $2 bills

#10
Was Wozniak already “the Woz” of Apple fame when this story took place? In which case I assume he could afford the best lawyers on the planet if necessary, plus the President calling to get him out of trouble.

An ordinary civilian might fall down that hole never to come out again. Just showing a fake ID to a fed could be met with serious retribution.

Post reply on HN