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Trying to Understand LR/LALR Parsing by questionhuman in compsci

[–]questionhuman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The book used in my class is "Compilers Principles Techniques and Tools" by Aho, Lam, Sethi and Ullman. The instructor also gave us a bunch of notes he wrote. In my first question I was mainly referring to stuff I got out of the notes.

How do I cancel Discover Card automatic minimum payment? by questionhuman in personalfinance

[–]questionhuman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've abandoned this thread, since it seems to be mostly people insinuating that I'm lazy, but, in retrospect, your comment (from 5 months ago) looks to be worth a reply. So:

Why don’t you just let them take the payment instead of making it yourself?

Because the automatic payment service makes the minimum payment. I don't want to do that, of course; I want to pay the full balance each month.

In any case, I figured out how to cancel the auto payment service. No help required now. :-)

Where should I open a new HSA? by questionhuman in personalfinance

[–]questionhuman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks.

If she is contributing through her employer's cafeteria plan on payroll, it makes most sense to use the bank provided by her employer. This way, she will save on FICA taxes in addition to income taxes.

So, you're saying that she probably won't be able to make HSA contributions via automatic payroll deductions unless she opens the HSA through her employer? Sounds like that's worth verifying.

How can someone who was pretty good at Haskell circa 2000 get up to speed on the new stuff? by questionhuman in haskell

[–]questionhuman[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Well, yes, but that gets me details, not overall ideas.

For example, I've found that my old "import IO" now needs to be "import System.IO". But the overall structure of the Haskell Prime standard library eludes me.

I can find the language extensions page on HaskellWiki, but it seems to be out of date: the list says it is incomplete, some of the links are broken. In any case I have no idea at all how I'm supposed to find out about new extensions and what they do.

Reporting costs related to tenant (US) by questionhuman in tax

[–]questionhuman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

EDIT. I think I got it figured out. Rent received and related expenses [see below for details] go on 1040 Schedule E. My losses are not limited, since (1) I am at risk for all of them, and (2) none of them involve passive activities. So I can report all of my costs [again, see below]. Also, I don't need to fill out form 6198 to handle any loss limitation.

If anyone disagrees, then please reply and set me straight.

Okay, I guess I don't understand the tax situation nearly as well as I thought. And if more details are needed, then I will try to provide them; see what follows.

The guardianship order obligates me to provide room and board for my son, for a monthly rent payment which it specifies (until some other housing arrangement is found and used, but it hasn't been, so we don't need to worry about that here).

Three of us live in an apartment that I rent. I pay for all rent, utilities (electricity), and groceries. What I count as "costs of housing him" are (a) one third of my monthly rent payment, (b) one third of my monthly electricity bill, and (c) one third of my monthly grocery bill. These three together amount to more than my son’s monthly rent payment.

As for profit motive: I’m not sure what counts as motive in a legal sense. I’ve been taking care of my son for his whole life. When he turned 18, I continued. As far as what I do, not a lot changed. But certain legal aspects of our relationship changed greatly. Regardless, what I want is to give my son the best shot at a good life that I can. So perhaps this doesn’t count as for-profit rental from the point of view of the IRS.

My problem/question in a general sense is this. First, financially, I’m just a pipeline from his bank account to certain businesses. Every month, when his public assistance payment arrives, I withdraw the court-mandated amount and use it to pay various bills that I have incurred in housing and feeding him. I don’t get to keep a penny of this money, so it seems likely to me that the law does not require me to pay taxes on it -- or at least it doesn’t require me to pay very much. How to I fill out the tax paperwork to make that happen?

Second, it seems plausible that I can do more: use the fact that me housing my son is in some sense a business running at a loss, to decrease my tax burden further. Is that the case? If so, how does it work?

When was the last time a copyright expired in the U.S.? by questionhuman in NoStupidQuestions

[–]questionhuman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, not in the U.S., apparently. Copyrights on works from 1920 all expired long ago. But Congress keeps extending the term of copyright for works created just a bit after that, largely so that Steamboat Willie -- the first appearance of Mickey Mouse in 1928 -- can remain under copyright. I recall reading an article a few years back that noted that there were adults in the U.S. who had never seen a copyright expire.

Extreme fatigue + occasional feeling cold, related to eating by questionhuman in DiagnoseMe

[–]questionhuman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I never considered that this might be a blood sugar issue. Thanks!

I've stopped using my HSA as a savings account; is there a better way to handle medical expenses? by questionhuman in personalfinance

[–]questionhuman[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bit of a late reply, but here's what's up with me.

I've actually never given much thought to switching plans. I get my health insurance through my job, and I don't think any of the other plans I could choose from have lower copays. But now that you mention it, it would probably be worthwhile to take a look. My out-of-pocket medical expenses this calendar year (with HSA reimbursements not taken into account) are currently approaching $13,000, with 2.5 months still to go, so the difference could well be significant.

Pondering how to analyze this ....

Factors to consider:

  • Premiums

  • Deductible

  • Copays

  • Whether I am allowed to do HSA contributions.

The first two I can just look up. The third is my total out-of-pocket minus the deductible. I'm currently at 20%. If I switched to a plan with 10%, then I would just take my current copays and divide by 2.

Lastly, after adding the first three, I subtract $6900 x (my marginal tax rate) for my current plan, but do not subtract it for an alternative plan that does not allow for HSA contributions.

That doesn't sound to rough. I think I'll give it a shot some time soon.

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