​With hurricane season underway, the Internal Revenue Service is reminding taxpayers that criminals and scammers often try to take advantage of the generosity of taxpayers who want to help victims of major disasters.

Hurricane season runs June 1 to Nov. 30, and taxpayers need to be vigilant of scams that will undoubtedly pop up when and if a hurricane occurs during that time.

Fraudulent schemes normally start with unsolicited contact by telephone, social media, e-mail or in-person using a variety of tactics.

• Some impersonate charities to get money or private information from well-intentioned taxpayers.
• Bogus websites use names similar to legitimate charities to trick people to send money or provide personal financial information.
• They even claim to be working for or on behalf of the IRS to help victims file casualty loss claims and get tax refunds.
• Others operate bogus charities and solicit money or financial information by telephone or email.

Help for disaster victimsDisaster victims can call the IRS toll-free disaster assistance telephone number (866-562-5227). Phone assistors will answer questions about tax relief or disaster-related tax issues. Details on available relief can be found on the disaster relief page on IRS.gov.
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Donate to real charitiesTo help taxpayers donate to legitimate charities, the IRS website, IRS.gov, has a search feature, Tax Exempt Organization Search, that helps users find or verify qualified charities. Donations to these charities may be tax-deductible.

• Contribute by check or credit card, never give or send cash, to have a record of the tax-deductible donation.
• Don’t give out personal financial information — such as Social Security numbers or credit card and bank account numbers and passwords — to anyone who solicits a contribution.

Taxpayers suspecting fraud by email should visit IRS.gov and search for the keywords “Report Phishing.” More information about tax scams and schemes may be found at IRS.gov using the keywords “scams and schemes.”

Thirty eight years ago, the moon passed through several U.S. states and a few Canadian provinces. Fast forward to 2017 and the earth, sun and moon are aligning once again. The real reason to get even more excited this round is that the U.S. will experience its first coast-to-coast total solar eclipse in 99 years.​

This solar eclipse is a big deal!

* Photo and more info found at http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/06/total-solar-eclipse-august-how-watch-science/

Are we witnessing the death of the web?

It’s a subject that’s been causing debate in technology circles for quite a while now. In fact, as long ago as 2011 Forrester CEO George Colony gave a speech where he proclaimed the death of the web and the emergence of the “App Internet.”
 
To bring home the logic of Colony’s claim, let’s look at your own habits and see whether the foundation for this change is Apparent from your behavior.  Do you own an iPad or tablet? Have you ever downloaded an App? Perhaps the eBay App? Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter? Then chances are that you already have a number of Apps on your iPhone or tablet. They are easy to use, aren’t they? And you don’t have to fiddle around with a browser and search for the website. One click on the App and you’re in.

Have you ever had a friend stop by unexpectedly? You probably immediately stressed out that your home was a wreck and likely over-explained why your house looked that way. You start wondering how it happened and what the quickest way to clean it up is going to be – major anxiety overload!

Don’t misunderstand, no one expects to keep a perfect home in case of unexpected visitors, but a generally clean home managed by the ease of daily pick up makes a world of difference on our family life and our health.

Kalyn Brooke and Romana D'Souza, lifestyle bloggers, give us Eight reasons keeping a clean home keeps you happy and healthy.

We all love, or love to hate, social media. Even our new President is a fan and avid user; empowering him to voice his opinions and initiate worldwide debate in a  moment's notice. Whichever way you swing, this online communication is here to stay so what are the "experts" foreseeing for the future use of social media?

If you're from Chicago, a baseball fan, or even just a lover of random superstitions and legends chances are you know about the Cubs Billy Goat Curse. The short version of the longstanding legend is that in 1945 local businessman William Sianis cursed the Cubs franchise for not letting him bring his petty Billy Goat into game four of the World Series. In 1984 new owners of the Cubs had a change of heart and let in the goat but the curse remained until now. November 2, 2016 is the day the Cubs finally won the World Series!

Whether you believe in the legend or not it makes a great story and so do some of these other superstitions...