On the lighter (and windier) side for this Sensible Saturday post (my thanks to Linda Younts for sending me this):
Archive for January 13, 2018
I’m Suffering Whiplash
I just watched Letterman’s new Netflix show, “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.” He interviewed an unemployed man who is positive, human, warm, humorous, appreciative, humble, logical, hopeful, thoughtful, intelligent, and who believes in unity, brotherhood, and equal justice. Former President Barack Obama.
I now realize that my discontent and uneasiness is a severe case of whiplash.
School Taxes & the Childless
Today’s Thursday Thought responds to tax-weary people who don’t have kids but have to pay school taxes.
Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children
The average age of commercially sexually exploited children is 14. Juvenile victims of sexual exploitation face a life continually threatened by torture, rape, broken bones, fractures, and extreme psychological manipulation to such an extent that most victims develop symptoms of Stockholm Syndrome as a result of having been trafficked. According to the International Labor Organization, 4.5 million illegally trafficked individuals are forcibly sexually exploited, and 21% of those individuals are estimated to be less than 18 years of age.
Here’s a worthwhile idea for every state: [PA] Senate Bill No. 554, the Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Children Fund, which proposes to provide special relief for juvenile victims of sexual exploitation in order to restore dignity, provide necessary services, ensure safety, and provide a safe harbor for sexually exploited children.
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New Phone Scams…Sneaky Ones
The Jan/Feb 2018 AARP Bulletin has some good info on phone scams that I hadn’t heard of. These are sneakier. I’ll just quote the article directly here, since they laid it out so well
The neighborhood ploy Your area code and prefix are displayed, so the call appears to be from a neighbor or nearby business. “Fewer people are comfortable blocking local numbers, increasing scammers’ success rates,” notes Jonathan Nelson of Hiya. And the fake number makes it hard for law enforcement to track.
The “Hey, there’s a call from my own phone number” scam It’s hard to resist answering a call from your own number, which scammers can simulate. And they are able to get around any call blocking that you’ve set up.
The one-ring rip-off Criminals sometimes program auto-dialers to make repeated calls to you, each disconnecting after just one ring. They know this might spur you into calling back the displayed number to complain. There’s double trouble if you call area codes such as 268, 664, and 876. These are for Caribbean countries and other places that have high per-minute phone charges. One scam involves getting you to call one of those numbers, then getting you to hold through transfers that rack up your bill until a scammer gets on the line and starts a fraudulent pitch.
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SOOOOOO, be careful!
Today: A Great Holiday to Observe
This morning I observed a holiday that occurs the second Monday in January. Okay, okay. So it isn’t official, but the fact that somebody obviously made it up is reason enough to observe National Clean Off Your Desk Day. And the treasures I found!!!!!
I discovered 14 paperclips, 2 dried-out pens, the Christmas cookie I hid from a visiting child, rusty scissors, an expired Lowe’s credit card, a note to myself about a person who hasn’t yet paid me for an editing job I did for him, 5 pictures I meant to put into the family album I’m creating for my son, several books I’ve been meaning to read (how could I NOT have read Don’t Think of an Elephant, by George Lakoff?), an actual cassette tape, and, of course, a batch of papers I need to file. Fascinating!
You may want to celebrate this day, too. No telling how much your life will be enriched (past the three pennies I found).
Ah, Those Beautiful Christmas Cards….
Recycle those Christmas cards: make postcards out of the fronts; use them in arts and crafts projects; make a collage to form a photo-album cover; use clear sides for notes; put them into the recycle bin.
[For more easy, money-saving, Earth-friendly tips, download a FREE copy of Green Riches: Help the Earth & Your Budget. Go to www.Smashwords.com/books/view/7000 or your favorite e-book seller and download to your computer or e-book device. Totally free, with no strings attached.]
Tax Cut Question” A Simple Explanation
I’m really, really trying to evaluate both sides of the tax cuts. I’m so hopeful that they really WILL help struggling families without dragging our country into an impossible-to-climb-out-of debt hole. Of all the experts I’ve “consulted” (read, listened to), Tom Steyer (billionaire business leader/investor) crystallizes it for me in 3 short minutes. Take a listen.
Strangers ands Smiles
I don’t know who said this Thursday Thought quote, but it makes a lot of sense.
“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles.
It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.”
I Never Thought of That!
Sometimes simple logic can be, if not earth-shaking, at least entertaining. Consider these logicalities. [Thanks to Linda Younts for sending me these.]
- If you attempt to rob a bank you won’t have any trouble with rent/food bills for the next 10 years, whether or not you are successful.
- Every time you clean something, you just make something else dirty.
- The word “swims” upside-down is still “swims.”
- Intentionally losing a game of rock, paper, scissors is just as hard as trying to win.
- 100 years ago everyone owned a horse and only the rich had cars. Today everyone has cars and only the rich own horses.
- The doctors that told Stephen Hawking he had two years to live in 1953 are probably dead.
- If you replace “W” with “T” in “What, Where and When” you get the answer to each of them.
- If you rip a hole in a net, there are actually fewer holes in it than there were before.
