2/21    Quick question: For married couples, does filing jointly or filing
        separately yield lower tax?  Roughly how much difference?  Thx.
        \_ Yes, lots.
        \_ in general, if both people work and makes comperable amounts of
           money, filing separately is better.
        \_ It isn't called the Marriage Penalty Tax for nothing.  -married
           \_ Yeah, but the way it is now it encourages one person to stay
              home and take care of the kids.  It's only a penalty if both
              are working.

Tragic headlines from ABC news today:

        PERL GUNMAN SLAYS 2, HURTS 8 IN MALL RAMPAGE
        \_ Just think of how many innocent lives would have gone unscarred if
           he'd used awk, cat, and sed: he'd have wasted so much time trying
           to pipe the output of this into the output of that and worrying
           about whether or not he was using sh or csh that the authorities
           would have apprehended him before he'd done any damage.  Languages
           should only be in the hands of those who undergo regular
           psychiatric evaluation and who are properly licensed by the
           government to use them.  BAN PERL NOW!!!
           \_ I agree.  Most people I've met who are hardcore use Perl/use
              Linux/ride bike types are definitely in need of regular
              psychiatric evaluation.
                \_ Love my car, hate bikers, really hate linux fanatics, and
                   use perl everyday and loving it.  Am I suffering from
                   some sort of MPD?  Is there a 12 step program to turn me
                   into a full-on raving bike riding linux fanatic?  Thanks,
                   motd wisdom!    --seeking help
                   \_ i'm guessing the first step involves reading a man page,
                      and probably several other steps involve RTFMing.  just
                      a guess.
        \_ It is inevitable that something like this would happen
           sooner or later.  This is what happens when you give away
           software to anybody on the Internet. This open-source
           stuff has gotten out of hand.  There should be a
           3-day cooling-off period with in-depth background checks
           before letting anyone download Perl source code. I've
           known of young 12-year old kids downloading Perl and
           then going out and killing children and parent processes,
           breaking loops using 4 different types of commands, mixing
           scalars and other data types...
           Dont get me wrong -- when I was growing up, we consumed
           our fair share of stuff like sed/awk/grep/csh/sh. But
           things were more innocent back then -- sure, a few guys
           I know did C, but we never had this stronger, addictive
           scripting stuff like Perl -- and it was not as widespread.
           Now with the Internet, video games and Linux, anybody
           can get this stuff, and they dont know how to handle it.
           Sure, the naysayers will try to argue that they have a
           *right* to have Perl in their home and on their computers.
           Well, recent studies have shown that a (perl)loaded computer
           in the home gives you a 68% increased risk of shooting
           yourself in the foot.
           \_ You PC liberals are always trying to take away rights
              guaranteed by the US Constitution!!!!
              It is our right to bear Perl. (1st amendment)
              It is our 1st amendment right to bear Perl.
              \_ I dont just mean for PC's but even Macs and Sparcs.
                 And i think you mean the second amendment. The first
                 is for freedom of religion and expression.
                 is for freedom of religion and expression.
                 \_ Not 2nd! It is the 1st amendment: Freedom of
                 \_ Not 2nd! I said 1st amendment -- Freedom of
                    regular expressions.
        \_ You don't have the choice to file separately.
                \_ You don't have enough clue to hold 2 brain cells together.
                   Go read form 1040 and try again.
                   \_ hey!  that's mean!
                   \_ I read it every year.  And your point was...?
                        \_ Note the part where you choose "Married filing
                           jointly" or "Married filing separately"
                                \_ Yup.  And...?
                                   \_ Then you do have the choice to file
                                      separately.