Useless Conversation

[Rasix]

We need a facepalm smilie.

 

[RhyssaFireheart]

Bleh, wonder why I couldn't find it before?

[Der Helm]

We need a facepalm smilie.

 

edit: Oh... hello there last page of the thread....

[Rasix]

We need a facepalm smilie.

 

edit: Oh... hello there last page of the thread....

 

[Der Helm]

[Sky]

I'm watching the guy behind my place kill himself trying to shovel his garmonstrous roof. Actually, it's probably one of his employees. Using the wrong shovel with shit technique...I'm tempted to go buzz off my whole roof with the Avalanche rake in the time it takes him to do two rows. He's going to be up there past dark at this rate.

[Strazos]

Has anyone ever made anything or thought of a way to heat a roof? Shoveling a roof just seems...wrong, somehow.

[Sky]

You can get low voltage wire, usually run along the edge to avoid ice dams.

You don't want to heat a roof, you want to keep it frozen, to avoid ice dams where ice can creep back up under the shingles and get into the house. The other reason is getting the weight of the snow off the roof, once enough builds up.

Doesn't take long with an avalanche rake, and almost no effort, the snow just slides off.

[IainC]

Where I live (edge of the Alps), rooves have hooks and low railings to keep the snow on them. Then again roof pitches are much steeper here so more of the load is supported by the walls. Also because a chunk of snow and ice falling from four or five storeys is going to cause a problem for anyone underneath it.

[Nebu]

Snow is a decent insulator if the roof can bear the load.  When I lived in MN, we always considered icicle formation a sign of poor insulation. 

[Bzalthek]

sex is bad!

[ghost]

Lady Gaga is a complete freako.   

[Sky]

Where I live (edge of the Alps), rooves have hooks and low railings to keep the snow on them. Then again roof pitches are much steeper here so more of the load is supported by the walls. Also because a chunk of snow and ice falling from four or five storeys is going to cause a problem for anyone underneath it.

I don't understand why architects and engineers are so retarded. We get a lot of snow, why don't we use alpine tech? Some of the older victorian styles have proper pitch, but I  every time I see an italianate or goddamned mid-century modern flat roof.

[Salamok]

Having had to work on an insanely pitched roof I can thoroughly understand the desire to not want that whenever you can get away with it.

[IainC]

This is the view out of my window last winter. The roof is pitched at about 50º and youcan see the tops of the snow hooks above the covering there (they stand about 8" proud). You can't see it because it's covered already but there's also a 6" high railing along the bottom edge of the roof just above the gutter to keep the snow in place and to prevent it from falling off until it melts.

[Murgos]

I don't understand why architects and engineers are so retarded. We get a lot of snow, why don't we use alpine tech? Some of the older victorian styles have proper pitch, but I  every time I see an italianate or goddamned mid-century modern flat roof.

It's pretty cute that you think an engineer did more for your house design than say, "Yep, them walls'll hold up that roof.  Gimme my 50 bux."  The reason you don't have an alpine roof is that the market (cost, style, whatever) wasn't buying alpine roofs when your house was built.

[Merusk]

Where I live (edge of the Alps), rooves have hooks and low railings to keep the snow on them. Then again roof pitches are much steeper here so more of the load is supported by the walls. Also because a chunk of snow and ice falling from four or five storeys is going to cause a problem for anyone underneath it.

I don't understand why architects and engineers are so retarded. We get a lot of snow, why don't we use alpine tech? Some of the older victorian styles have proper pitch, but I  every time I see an italianate or goddamned mid-century modern flat roof.

It's not the architects and engineers fault, it's the owners.  Steep-pitch roofs are expensive, not just in additional roofing material, but 10:12 trusses are 2-3 times more than a 6:12 pitch and Victorians liked 12:12 or steeper.  A-frame houses don't sell well because they look "odd" (aka different.)

As for Italianate or "Modern" style houses, those are an aesthetic choice.  Italianate caught on in the last few years, no idea why, but in 90 years someone will be bitching that there aren't more italianate houses instead of all these goddamn Victorian revivals (or some other style.)  The Modernists were just following a style developed in Europe and brought over here by the designers fleeing the war.  So; blame Europe for those white flat-roofed boxes.

Also: We use snow hooks and eave lips on more modern buildings, because snow falling on an entrance is a path to a lawsuit.  Around here you only see it on metal roofs, but farther north you'll see it more often.  I'm surprised you don't see it on the commercial buildings in your area, Sky.

[Paelos]

Has anyone ever made anything or thought of a way to heat a roof? Shoveling a roof just seems...wrong, somehow.

Yes, and they are all over Colorado developments.

[Strazos]

Darn, you have dashed my chance to obtain moneyhats!

[Merusk]

Doing your taxes sucks when you have to save the nice, fat return you weren't expecting to get so you can live instead of blowing it on a vacation with the family.

[Yegolev]

Or without them.

[Sky]

Doing your taxes suck when you pony up for the e-file through H&R Block, pay the $35 state e-file robbery fee and they send you an email saying there was a problem with the state return. Instructions say visit the website, which simply says it was rejected (without giving a REASON) and that you can't e-file again once it was rejected, so print out and mail in the return. Then the printout is covered in watermarks saying it's a COPY DO NOT FILE.

 

And of course no reply to the support email I sent them bitching about it, asking for some kind of guidance (since they trumpet that on their site when you're signing up), and of course, a refund for the state e-file they fucked up.

I won't get started on the 2008 first-time homebuyer credit that starts getting deducted this year, $380 less in federal refund every year for the next FIFTEEN YEARS. When people in 2009/10 got more money and don't have to repay a penny. Rage.

[ghost]

I've found that using a good, old fashioned CPA is not a bad idea, if you can find someone that has a decent reputation.  It may cost you a little more, but they've always gotten me bigger returns in the past. 

[Sand]

Yeah ours was $1,500 this past year. Lord knows what he is going to hit me with this year.

[Rasix]

We get to pay this year.  My wife tried to adjust our withholdings so we didn't have a return, and shot a little too far in that direction.  Ohh well.

[ghost]

This article is pretty cool.  It has a list of the countries drunkest cities, from 1-100.  Austin plays out at #5 and San Antonio at #7.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

[Rasix]

Go Tucson.   

[ghost]

I'm surprised Las Vegas, Denver and Phoenix weren't higher. 

[Chimpy]

Not sure how their metrics work, but it smells funny to me. Cities in places with Blue laws still on the books have a more drunken ranking than Chicago which has some of the loosest alchohol buying laws around!

[ghost]

Well, you do have to drive to get alcohol if you live in those areas.  Why not have a few on the way back? 

[Paelos]

I've found that using a good, old fashioned CPA is not a bad idea, if you can find someone that has a decent reputation.  It may cost you a little more, but they've always gotten me bigger returns in the past.  

I agree. Mostly because I am a good, ole fashioned CPA who works on taxes.  

For those of you who need your taxes done we file everything online these days paperless, so there's no excuse for you having to deal with an efile rejection.

I'll also take the time to pimp myself out if y'all need help on your taxes. Just send me a PM to discuss.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Fucking deer.  At least the brakes work.

[IainC]

Fucking deer.

Did you mean to post this in the Falconeer thread?

[JWIV]

I've found that using a good, old fashioned CPA is not a bad idea, if you can find someone that has a decent reputation.  It may cost you a little more, but they've always gotten me bigger returns in the past.  

I agree. Mostly because I am a good, ole fashioned CPA who works on taxes.  

For those of you who need your taxes done we file everything online these days paperless, so there's no excuse for you having to deal with an efile rejection.

I'll also take the time to pimp myself out if y'all need help on your taxes. Just send me a PM to discuss.

I absolutely love my accountant.   Been using her for almost a decade and have never regretted it.   All I do is throw all my various tax forms/printouts into a folder, show up on the day of my appointment and walk out a happy man.  

Speaking of fixing withholding, I _really_ need to do that soon.  I was already pulling in a larger than I should have been refund (Thanks Federal!), and adding a second kid to that is just going to push it into something even more ridiculous.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Fucking deer.

Did you mean to post this in the Falconeer thread?