3/30    Exact how much tax break do you get for owning a house?
        \_ Who here owns their own house and if you can afford that why can't
           you afford a CPA once a year to do your taxes?
        \_ None.  Your home mortgage interest is deductible...
        \-dont quote me but i think up to $1M of mortgage interest is
        deductable. but of course you consolidate all your other debts,
        and pay them off with an equity loan which ends up deductable.
        this number is supposed to be gradually reduced but i dont remember
        the schedule. --psb
        \Mortgage interest and state/local property taxes on a home
        are deductable.  The amount of the tax break depends upon how
        much interest you pay (in the early years of a 30 year mortgage,
        more than 90% of your payments are interest alone) and on your
        tax bracket.  If you paid $10,000 in interest over a year of
        mortgage payments and you're in the 28% bracket, your tax bill
        is reduced by $2,800.
          \_  So, extrapolating, does this mean that if you're in the 35%
              Tax bracket with a $10,000 in interest mortgage, you get
                to take a $3,500 deduction (i.e., is the formula as simple
                multiply the interest by the tax bracket)?
                \_Yes.  The $10,000 of interest is deductable and thus
                reduces your taxable income by $10,000.  Your tax bill
                is reduced by $3,500 if you are in the 35% bracket,
                $2,800 if you're in the 28% bracket, $1,500 in the 15%
                bracket, etc.  because the government exempts you from
                paying taxes on income that you used to pay mortgage
                interest. Great deal for homeowners. Bad deal for renters.
     \_ Can I deduct my mortgage for my two vacation homes?
        \_ Don't remember the exact rule, but I think you have to live in
           your "primary residence" more than half the year, and can only
           claim one such residence.
        \_ What's someone with 2 vacation homes doing posting on soda?
           shouldn't you be cowering behind your gated (firewalled)
           communities, trying to keep the proletariat rabble (d00dz)
           out of your pocketbook?

3/30    Change of seasons, time to sell my computer again.  3 months old
        computer with ALL the goods. $1950 or BEST offer, must sell to
        upgrade.  AMD K6, 83MHz bus, 64 SDRAM, 4.3 GB HD, Panasonic DVD
        Drive /w DECODER CARD, Toshiba 32X CD, Sound Blaster 64, ATI
        All-in-Wonder /w TV, etc., 33.6 f/v/m, CCD full motion camera .05
        lux /w built in mic and 60 feet cable.  15" digital control
        monitor, subwoofer speaker sys, softwares: office, graphics,
        Dragon NaturallySpeaking Deluxe, MP3 stuff, etc....and much more.
        offers?  -hitran
        \_ I suggest you try the newspapers or online in an auction or
           something.  The cpu is junk, the HD is small by current consumer
                                \_ Yeah, man.  I sure as hell wouldn't be
                                   caught dead using a computer w/ a K6 . . .
                                   Boy, oh boy, do they suck.  Uh-huh.
                                   \_ Yes, they do.  Anything else?  Other
                                      than being "cheap", is there anything
                                      else that can be said for this clunker?
           standards, the ATI is junk, 15" monitors are for kids who still
           have good vision but won't have $2k, SB64 is nothing to crow
           about, and you've overclocked the bus so this system may go anytime
           now.  DVD is overpriced and mostly useless technology this year.
        \_ Do you do door-to-door delivery out of the back of your white van?

3/30    Noooooo! My ISP got rid of alt.mag.playboy! Where do I get my fix now?
        \_ DejaNews, duh...

3/30    How do you get a doctor to prescribe Prozac for you? Thanks.
        \_ Just ask him/her. Generally, they'll be a little more agreeable
           if you're also seeing a therapist at the time. Just keep in mind
           that Paxil / Zoloft / Prozac / whatever are -not- "happy pills" --
           "take and your life will be wine and roses forevermore" -- but,
           if you know the various issues involved, meds can't hurt, and just
           might help.
           \_ Why the fuck would you seek medical advice on the MOTD?  The
              "meds can't hurt" statement could only come out of ignorance
              or a desire to do harm.  All medications have side effects.
              All medications have the potential for an allergic reaction.
              Prozac is especially bad because few people ever sucessfully
              get off of it.  Talk to a psychiatrist.  Get some therapy.
              There is a difference between getting rid of the symptoms
              and getting rid of the problem.   -Doogie Howser, MD
              \_ The REAL Doogie would never swear like that....
          \_ Also be careful.  Although selective seratonin uptake inhibitors
              do work fairly well for clinical monopolar depression, there
              can be some serious side effects, especially in the first
              few weeks of treatment.  There have been reports of potentially
              greater danger of suicides in serious depressed individuals
              during the first few weeks of treatment.  Also, I believe
              that these drugs are counterindicated in cases of bipolar
              (manic/depressive) disorder, which can be mistaken in some
              cases for unipolar depression if the manic phase is much
              less significant than the depressive phase.
              \_ Antidepressants are prescribed for bipolar disorder.  My
                 sister was given SSRIs for a diagnosed bipolar disorder.
                 Whether they were the best choice is another question, but
                 it's not unheard of.
           \_ my aunt died taking prozac. had some reaction to a drug
              she took some time before, like stored in her liver or
              something. be careful.
                \_ Well I don't care, I'm probably better off dead anyway
                 \_ you probably are.  I have a gun I can lend you
              \_ Well, she's not depressed anymore. Cured by death she was.
        \_ Sheesh.  How do you even know you _need_ Prozac?  Someone tell you
           it was cool?  Go to a real doctor and get real help.  Don't drown
           your misery with drugs.
        \_ Blow jobs are always a good method
           \_ Excuse me for being ignorant, but why is it called a *blow*job?
           \_ a good lay is a much better cure than Prozac anyway.
        \_ It's easy to get a doctor to prescribe Prozac for you if he/she
           has diagnosed you with depression and feels you need one.  If you
           haven't already seen a psychiatrist, go see one.  If you are
           are already seeing one and can't get him/her to prescribe it,
           then maybe you don't need it.  My opinion is that it's a last
           resort coping aid, rather than the first step.  --chris
                \_ thanks chris... my day is almost over (too tired)
                        and tomorrow's just another day to deal with
                  \_ It is one thing to be depressed, it is another thing
                     to wallow in it.  Shut the fuck up or go kill yourself
                     already.  -been there, done that
        \_ Picture yourself in a boat on a river, with tangerine trees
           and marmalade skies.  Somebody calls you, you answer quite
           slowly, a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.  Cellophane flowers
           of yellow and green, towering over your head.  Look for the
           girl with the sun in her eyes and you're gone.
           \_ Yeah, I've always considered halucinogenic psychosis inducing
              narcotics like LSD to be a good pick-me-up anti-depressant.
              There's also pot, crack, cocaine, and crystal meth easily
              available in Berkeley.  Shoot yourself first.  It's faster.
              \_ Hel-lo... that song is not about LSD, read up on your
                 Beatle lore
                \_ HAhahahhaha, the song is *exactly* about LSD.  Don't be
                   stupid.  It was written at a time when that was "k00l".
                   Now that it isn't they have to tell parents (the same
                   people who were frying in the 60s) of kiddies like you
                   that it was really all about good clean wholesome
                   non-druggy fun.  Again, don't be stupid.  At that time,
                   "(L)ucy/(S)ky/(D)iamonds" was known and accepted to be
                   about LSD.  If it wasn't why didn't they say so at the
                   time?  Got a nice clean pro-mommy-ex-LSD-hippy URL?
        \_ Having a bad day, week, month, life? PROZAC IS THE DRUG FOR YOU!!!
           AND IT'S INCREDIBLY EASY TO GET. 9 OUT OF 10 PSYCHOLOGISTS AGREE!
           Because only YOU know that the world is just and fair.
           Since the human condition should not be an unhappy one:
           >>> THE HUMAN CONDITION NEEDS TO BE TREATED WITH DRUGS! <<<
           (Just be sure to take some downers whenever you have a good
           day, week, month or life - as if THAT'll ever happen... HAH!)

3/30    Anyone using Stroustrup's The C++ Programming Language, 3rd ed?
        I can't get the example code to compile, p61, the one about
        iteraters. gcc doesn't even recognize #include <iostream> and
        I was able to get the code to almost compile under VC++ 5.0 with
        one final error, cannot convert parameter... for the vector line.
        any hints? Thanks a lot.
        \_ a)  gcc doesn't even really support a lot of Stroustrup 2nd ed
           features.  Come to think of it, most C++ compilers are broken
           in one way or another.
           b)  Try #include <iostream.h>
        \_ C++ is dying.  Anyone know of a hugely successful commercial app
           written entirely in C++?  Netscape is written in C.  IE is written
           in C.  All of Windows API are in C.  So are the X windows API.
           C++ zealots, drop dead and die.
                \_ iostream.h doesn't provide namespace, etc.
        \_ troll deleted
        \_ gcc does not support STL.  iostream.h != iostream, the latter
           is an STL thing - android
        \_ so which compiler did Stroustrup use??#@$
           \_ I'm not sure if one exists.  C++ is in such a B0rKen state
              semantically, and I'm not sure if the ANSIfication won't make
              the problem worse.  I doubt you will see compilers
              properly supporting the whole standard for at least a year
              after the "standard" is formalized.

3/30    Lame Overpriced Computer Add munched.

3/31    /csua/tmp/mozilla/mozilla-1998-03-31-unix.tar.gz
        \_ alanc, how come the mtime on this file is 9:00, if the source was
           released at 10:00?
           \_ alan actually reverse-engineered it from the binaries
               \_ alan actually wrote it in the first place
           \_ why do you care?
           \_ hey, he owns the file, he can set the mtime to whatever the
              fuck he wants.

3/31    Soda's irc client generates a random login causing lots of
        servers to reject.  Is there anyway to force it to generate
        valid login(no stupid "[" character), or do I have to compile
        my own client?!         - irc d00de
        \_ Maybe its soda's identd that is doing that. Its there to
           protect everyone here's identity, don't whine about it. Compiling
           your own irc, while a worthwhile project, won't solve this
           particular problem.  If youwant to irc from your home mahcine though
           you can put whatever ident server on it you want. -ERic
        \_ Maybe its soda's identd that is doing that. Its there to protect
           the identity of everyone here, while still maintaining some
           accountability, so don't whine about it. Compiling your own irc,
           while no doubt a worthwhile educational exercise, won't solve your
           particular problem.  If you want to irc from your home machine
           via a ISP dialup or HIP account, however, you can put whatever
           ident server on it you want. -ERic
        \_ It is soda's identd, read the manpage.  If you really want to,
           there exists a way to let you shoot yourself in the foot and
           let other easily forge identd tokens.  again, read the man page. Jon
           \_ oh no someone might be able to pretend they were me on IRC!
              the horror!
            \_ Well, uh, then, gee, they could uh, ruin your IRC rep!  Yeah!

3/31    I should have went to CSU Hayward instead of Berkeley. This way, I can
        get my bachelor of SCIENCE in computer science and get discount on my
        auto-insurance. Because Berkeley gives bachelor of ART in computer
        science, people (ie. insurance) tend to fuck me around more.
        \_ Try EECS option C then.  BTW, eventhough I have a B.S. degree,
           I still pay tons of insurance(2200/year!).  Insurance
           rips you off no matter what degree u have.
        \_ Ride bike, and try to enjoy life and be less bitter.
        \_ Can't take a chick out on a date on a bike. Oh, then you must
           mean motorcycle.
           \_ Use a tandem.  If she doesn't ride, she's not worth your
              time anyway.
        \_ How did a moron like you even get accepted, let alone graduate,
           from Berkeley? You're right, you should have gone to CSU
           Hayward. I'm amazed there are people like this at Cal. --dim
        \_ CSU Hayward doesn't have the UCB CS department.  If you want to go
           to college "just to get a degree", go ahead and go there.
        \_ Get a mail-order BS for just these occasions, then.

3/31    Am I the only one who thinks tom looks like Mr. Bean?
        \_ Yes.
        \_ Imagine a person, tall, tan, and cruel, high-shouldered, with a
           brow like Shakespeare and a penchant for your mom, a satanic skull,
           and long, curling fingers wrapped over the keyboard; invest him
           with a quick mouse click and fast typing, accumulated in one giant
           doosh machine...  Mr. Tom "Mojo Rising" Holub!
        \_ You insult me.  -Rowan Atkinson
          \_ someone should.  -tom