8/1     Suppose your house is already paid off and you retire at 65.
        How much expense does one expect to spend a year, in the Bay
        Area? Property tax will be about $10K/year for a modest $850K
        home. What about other stuff?
        \_ I think at age 65, health insurance is the next biggest expense.
        \_ I am thinking that we can have a nice middle class
	...

6/3     Why are "real estate" and "real property" called so?  Does the part
        "real" mean something like "not fake"?
        \- without going into a long discourse into common law,
           it is to distinguish land/fixed property from intangible
           property [like a patent] and movable, personal property,
           like your car. Real property has historically had special
	...

3/10    I'm trying to help my parents, in their mortgage there's an
        "escrow" amount. What exactly is this? From reading Google,
        the loan company uses the escrow account to pay for home
        insurance, but they've been paying home insurance themselves.
        I'm really confused on what this fee is.
        \_ Without an escrow account, you write checks to your insurance
	...

3/1     So much for George Bush's http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ownership_society
        http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/business/homes-arent-selling-but-its-an-apartment-landlords-market.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
	...

12/15   Does anyone have experience investing in apartment buildings
        I'm not really looking to invest, but I want an apartment
        to live in, and I'm not happy with the leases I'm encountering
        for instance one requires 2 years of tax returns with the
        application. I'm in a position to buy a building, but I've
        got no experience with this, and I don't want to learn that
	...

10/10   My property tax breakdown is this in the LA county, how about yours?
        General tax levy all agencies: 1.000000
        City-Los Angeles                .038895
        Metro water dist:               .003700
        Commnty college:                .040310
        Unified schools:                .186954
	...

7/21    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Cold_War_pilot_defections
        This week's food for thought, brought to you by People's
        Republic of Berkeley: Did you know that many US pilots defected to
        communist Cuba?  South Korea pilots defected to communist
        North Korea? Iran<->Iraq pilots defected to each other?
        W Germany pilots defected to E Germany? Taiwan/ROC pilots
	...

5/26    "Photo of US soldier in pink boxers turns iconic"
        http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090522/ap_on_re_us/us_media_pink_boxers
        Not a single mention about wearing a red shirt in a battlefield screams
        "Shoot me!" and endangers one's comrades.  He should have covered it up
        or taken it off at the first opportunity.
        \_ And how much war experiance do you have?  Hint, playing Red Alert
	...

1/26    The Google logo on http://www.google.com doesn't honor Lunar New Year.  Hmm.
        \_ Isn't that tomorrow?
           \_ It's today 1/26.
        \_ it's Chinese New Year.   The New Year is not a pure Lunar for almost
           400 years.  While is not very politically "sensitive," it is
           more accurate description, as the calendar was commissioned,
	...

12/5    asians are bad bad bad
        http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/04/BA8D14II0B.DTL
        \_ Don't give your Myspace info to shady Vietnamese dudes
           \_ Gee is a Cantonese last name. Are you racist or something?
              \_ all look same
                 http://tinyurl.com/6bd32k
	...

8/26    Gary Glitter spent months in a Vietnamese prison cell.  Can I vote
        for him too?
        \_ that's a fit punishment for writing "Rock and Roll Part II".  -tom
        \_ What are you talking about?
           \_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Glitter
              \_ I know who Glitter is--I didn't ask *who* the op was talking
	...

8/11    Analysis: roots of conflict between Georgia and Russia
        http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article4498709.ece
        \_ This is an excellent insight. Thank you.
        \_ this is pretty straightforward actually:
           - s. ossetia is de facto independent and allied with Russia
           - georgia takes s. ossetia by force, pokes Russian Bear in eye
	...

8/8     Edwards admits affair, doesn't admit for being incredible
        stupid dumbass who apparently thought having an affair and having
        his life withstand the scrutiny of being a viablepres. candidate
        were sustainable
        \_ He's a Democrat. This is expected. No big deal. Suck dick,
           fuck pussy, whatever. Just don't do anything stupid like
	...