Many states in the US provide tax breaks for adding insulation to your home, and will give subsidies for solar installations. In Oregon, the cost of a solar-powered water heater is $6K, but with rebates and tax breaks, that cost is quickly whittled down to $1500, and the state does have a loan program to offset the initial capital outlay. Both solar water heaters and heat will increase value of a house. The federal government also offers a tax break for the purchase of a hybrid.
Both options are deductible on next year's return. So even your H&R monkey fee will come back to you, and a flesh-based accountant is more likely to get you a better return, since they know the loopholes.
oliver nelson: blues and the abstract truth art blakey: at the jazz corner of the world The Quintet: live at Massey Hall duke ellington: money jungle Bill Evans: live at the village vanguard Blue Mitchell: Blue's Moods
See the world! Get away from your computer.
Most of us, in the working world, rarely continue on the path we started in university.
My major was 'Rural Sociology', which , aside from being the source of endless cow jokes, was not very useful, unless I continued to the phd level.
These days I write code for a non-profit... the only real link between my major and my career is a general social bend.
What you learn best in undergraduate, aside from the importance of regular sex, is how to sharpen your mind. Your brain is a lot more critical, and analytical, after 4 years of CS - and if you end up as a playwright, your esoteric kernal hacking skills may still come in handy.
I would suggest to finish up, go backpacking in Europe, and find some other job for a while. Preferably a grunt job. Working in a cafe for 6 months would certainly get you psyched to write some code, after seeing the horribly designed UI's for cash registers.
Practical apps, too, are a lot more fun than the
standard textbook world.
At the Fund for the City of New York, we train quite a few at risk youth, both in rebuilding computers, HTML/graphics, and building useful sites.
I've seen a lot of cynicism and joking on these posts, but what these kids get is empowerment.
No, they will probably not become overpaid web lackeys. But this might be the first legitimate skill on a resume.
Most kids who get involved in gangs do so because of economic desperation and a failed public school system. They understand the risks of their careers far better than any of us, and the majority of them will leave a life of crime if something better comes along.
If you came from some neighborhoods in Northern Manhattan, where our students come from, you would actually get some sense that learning HTML would provide an enormous sense of accomplishment. Which for people with an 8th grade education, it is.
Slashdot Mirror
Many states in the US provide tax breaks for adding insulation to your home, and will give subsidies for solar installations. In Oregon, the cost of a solar-powered water heater is $6K, but with rebates and tax breaks, that cost is quickly whittled down to $1500, and the state does have a loan program to offset the initial capital outlay. Both solar water heaters and heat will increase value of a house. The federal government also offers a tax break for the purchase of a hybrid.
And there's no payback?
Both options are deductible on next year's return. So even your H&R monkey fee will come back to you, and a flesh-based accountant is more likely to get you a better return, since they know the loopholes.
oliver nelson: blues and the abstract truth
art blakey: at the jazz corner of the world
The Quintet: live at Massey Hall
duke ellington: money jungle
Bill Evans: live at the village vanguard
Blue Mitchell: Blue's Moods
ought to keep one busy
Two public schools in Manhattan use linux.
The Beacon School and http://www.beaconschool.org, as well as Stuyvesant, http://www.stuy.edu
Both have developed simple software tools using open source licenses.
See the world! Get away from your computer.
Most of us, in the working world, rarely continue on the path we started in university.
My major was 'Rural Sociology', which , aside from being the source of endless cow jokes, was not very useful, unless I continued to the phd level.
These days I write code for a non-profit... the only real link between my major and my career is a general social bend.
What you learn best in undergraduate, aside from the importance of regular sex, is how to sharpen your mind. Your brain is a lot more critical, and analytical, after 4 years of CS - and if you end up as a playwright, your esoteric kernal hacking skills may still come in handy.
I would suggest to finish up, go backpacking in Europe, and find some other job for a while. Preferably a grunt job. Working in a cafe for 6 months would certainly get you psyched to write some code, after seeing the horribly designed UI's for cash registers.
Practical apps, too, are a lot more fun than the
standard textbook world.
At the Fund for the City of New York, we train quite a few at risk youth, both in rebuilding computers, HTML/graphics, and building useful sites.
I've seen a lot of cynicism and joking on these posts, but what these kids get is empowerment.
No, they will probably not become overpaid web lackeys. But this might be the first legitimate skill on a resume.
Most kids who get involved in gangs do so because of economic desperation and a failed public school system. They understand the risks of their careers far better than any of us, and the majority of them will leave a life of crime if something better comes along.
If you came from some neighborhoods in Northern Manhattan, where our students come from, you would actually get some sense that learning HTML would provide an enormous sense of accomplishment. Which for people with an 8th grade education, it is.