Truth is stranger than You would Guess - Part 1

The next time you are washing your hands and complain
because the water temperature isn't just how you like it,
think about how things used to be.
Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their
yearly bath in May, and still smelled pretty good by June.
However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a
bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom
today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water.
The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water,
then all the other sons and men, then the women
and finally the children. Last of all the babies.
By then the water was so dirty you could actually
lose someone in it. Hence the saying, Don't throw the
baby out with the bath water.

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath.
It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all
the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof.
When it rained it became slippery and sometimes
the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Hence the saying .
It's raining cats and dogs.

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.
This posed a real problem in the bedroom
where bugs and other droppings could mess up
your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a
sheet hung over the top afforded some protection.
That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.
Hence the saying, Dirt poor. The wealthy had slate floors that
would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw)
on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on,
they added more thresh until, when you opened the door,
it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway.
Hence the saying a thresh hold.

Quote for the Day :

"Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first, the lessons afterward."

Baby Boomers Realism

Awhile ago, one of our friends was faced with a realism that most baby boomers will have to face sometime in their life - caregiver to aging parents.
There are some things a person can do to make the "new" role easier.
Perhaps one of the important things is gaining access to personal, medical, legal, and financial information. The following tips can be used as a guideline to relieve some of the stress tthat comes with the territory:

1. Gather personal, medical, legal and financial information and keep it in one location.
2. Give copies to all individuals who may participate as a caregiver.
3. For confidential information, simply write in the contact person and phone number who has the information, such as will/last testament or banking information.
4. Inform your parents how you will safe guard their confidential information to protect them from identity theft.
5. Explain to your aging parent that participation in gathering this vital information while they are healthy is a gift to you (as the adult child) since you will be the one to handle an emergency when it arrives.

If you can begin on some of the things above, sooner rather than later your "new" role will that much easier. Good Luck.

Quote of the Day:

"If you don't look out for others, who's gonna look out for you?"

Whoopi Goldberg

Victim of Idenity Theft

First of all, you should report to the police that you are a victim of identity theft.
Second, take action to undo the damage. Remember to take notes of all you do to clear your name.
Third, remember to cancel all your credit cards. If you wish, you can get new ones as well.
Fourth, if necessary, close all your bank accounts. Your bank manger can assist you at this stage.
Fifth, contact utilities such as your telephone and cable companies that you are a victim of identity theft.
Last, contact your postal service that you are a victim of identity theft.
Hopefully you will never have to do the above. However to be forewarn is to be prepared.
Good luck!

Quote of the Day:

"There is nothing wrong with making mistakes. Just don't respond with encores."--Anonymous

Identity Theft - Part 3

How to Avoid Identity Theft

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) have the following suggestions:

1. Be very careful of sharing personal information.
2. When asked about personal information, ask how it will be used,
why it is being collected,and how it will be shared. You will be
surprised at the answers you get in return.
3. Give out no more information than is required and carry minimal ID with you.
4. Be careful of your Social Security Number (SIN) . Companies use this in
their credit reports.
5. Never keep important ID such as PIN numbers, SIN, and passwords for your
computer on your person.
6. Avoid at all cost giving your credit card etc. information over the phone
or computer unless you have initated the communication.
7. Insure your computer is protected when you use the Internet. All computers
should have a Firewall and a virus protector on their computer.
8. Be careful what you throw in the garbage. Shred or burn personal papers
and financial information.
9. As best you can, hide you personal PIN when using terminals.
10. Access your credit report from a credit reporting agency once a year
to ensure it's accurate.

Quote for the Day:

"Do not look where you fell, but where you slipped. " --African Proverb

Identity Theft - Part 2

Canadian Broadcast Company (CBC-March, 2007) had the following to say about Identity Theft:

A poll, conducted in 2006 by the Strategic Counsel for the Competition Bureau of Canada, suggests that 17 per cent of Canadians aged 18 or older have either been victimized themselves or had an incident affect someone in their homes.
Even more people have been hit by marketing fraud, according to the survey: 31 per cent or about one in three adults.

Yet Canadians are not likely to complain to the authorities when they are victimized in marketing frauds, according to the survey.
"It remains the case that few people make a significant effort to report or resolve an incident of marketing fraud," the report said, with 43 per cent saying that they "did nothing."

Only eight per cent went to the local police, and even smaller numbers to the Competition Bureau, business groups or the fraud hotline PhoneBusters. For example, PhoneBusters got calls from about 7,800 people complaining of identity theft in 2006, with losses amounting to more than $16 million.

Many respondents said it would be just too much trouble to report the incident, or not worth it.
More often, people took matters into their own hands, contacting the company involved, stopping payment, changing their banking information or trying to get a refund.

Quote of the Day:

"No experiment is ever a complete failure. It can always be used as a bad example."

Identity Theft - Part 1

Identity theft has become an increasingly popular crime in Canada as well as in the rest of the world. It has been estimated that identity theft has hit one out of every six adult Canadians - more than 4.2 million people - either directly or within their immediate households, a survey suggests.
Identity theft involves stealing or misrepresenting the identity of another person or business.
Information such as your name, address, date of birth, social insurance number(social security number in the USA) and mother's maiden name need to be acquired in order to complete the impersonation.
Once the thief has this information, they can open new bank accounts, transfer bank balances, apply for loans, credit cards and other services, purchase vehicles, take vacations .......

"Contrary to popular belief, fraud does not affect only the vulnerable in our society. Everyone is at risk of becoming a victim, regardless of age, education or income," Competition Bureau commissioner Sheridan Scott said.

Quote of the Day:

"Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first, the lessons afterward."

Dialing " 9 "

Better Business Bureaus and police are warning people about a telephone scam where an automated caller promises the recipient a free vacation if they dial "9".

When the resident picks up the phone, a recorded message claims they have won a trip and asks them to dial"9" to claim it or "8" to be removed from the market list. By pressing "9" someone comes on the line and attempts to obtain personal information from them, likely for the use in IDENTITY THEFT.

Even pressing "8", which the recorded message says will remove you from their distribution list, confirms your phone number and that you are susceptible to this type of marketing, resulting in your name being added to other marketing lists.
If the call comes into a business with a commercial switchboard requiring employees to dial "9" to get an outside line, going along with the request would give the caller an outside line they can use to make expensive overseas phone calls.

Calls like this come from outside the country, using an automatic dialer to push out thousands of calls a day.
The simple solution to all this is to HANG UP the phone. Good Luck.

Quote of the Day:

"The fish does not go after the hook, but after the bait." --Czech Proverb