Leaderboard

From Kim Commando Here are three subject lines of convincing scam emails that are going around right now. If you see these in your inbox, delete them immediately. "YouTube Service has sent you a message: Your video on the TOP of YouTube" "Google Support has sent you a message: You are on the Top" "You have 4 pending messages on LinkedIn" If that's not bad enough, there is also a scam email claiming to be from Amazon that is starting to make the rounds. So watch out for that as well. If you receive an email from any of these companies, don't click on any links or open any attachments! Instead, open your browser and visit the company's site manually. If you really want to play it safe, call the company's customer service. Be sure you get the number from the company's site, not the email! Scammers love putting fake customer service numbers in scam emails and then tricking you when you call. Go to Kim's site for more saftey tips: http://www.komando.com/tips/index.aspx?id=13484

: A cabbie picked up a fare in Bowie, Md., and took him to a business area of town. Once arrived at the destination, the passenger demanded money in an apparent robbery attempt, and "struck the driver in the head and then threw some kind of liquid on him," said Bowie Police Chief Chuck Nesky. Not wanting to see what would happen next, the driver dove out of the taxi. The liquid was flammable: the passenger apparently ignited it just as the driver escaped with minor burns. The robber, however, did not escape: firefighters found his charred body in the back of the cab. (RC/Washington Post) ...Sometimes it really pays to think things through before you start.

Are you sure you were not my math teacher too? You sure do sound like her!!

See, this is why John got a A. Grouping symbols are inserted to CHANGE the order of operations. Rules are in place to tell you what the crap to do in the absence of grouping symbols. Sorry to speak in an manner unbecoming of a true school marm, but c'mon, people. If you need to brush up, and still don't believe the links that have been posted, here are some activities from "Math is fun". Now get in there and experience the %^&* joy. http://www.mathsisfu...der-pemdas.html

I've gotten a bunch with a new twist lately -- always from people on my email list. Subject line is "Hey Catherine" and the message is a link with nothing else. The tip-off (other than that my daughters would use a subject line of "Hey Mom") is that - while it LOOKS like it's from someone on my list, the "reply-to" line shows something like (using KC, who started this thread) "KC Jenkins" <[email protected]>. The first one of these, a couple weeks ago, might have caught me except I have a firm rule of never clicking any link that doesn't have a recognizable note in an appropriate style from the person (and sometimes even then I email back, asking "did you send me this?").

I think that was the point of the exercise.

Stay safe, girlfriend!

The really bad english composition usually tips me off. I got a ton of the YouTube ones.

Just west of Boston. We just got power back a while ago; it was out for a couple of hours. Lots of wind; the gusts kept making me look out the window as they sounded like big trucks rumbling by. Rain has been relatively light (but driven by the wind) except for a heavy patch mid-afternoon. Rain is picking up now. I would not be at all surprised to lose power again this evening or overnight. Lots of small branches down but nothing big in this area; maybe most of the likely culprits got taken out last year (when there was _lots_ of tree damage from the surprise snowstorm). Flashlights and oil lanterns and candles at the ready. Was able to make some serious headway on replacing a zipper on a winter coat with the power out; old zipper is out and new one pinned in place. It was nice to have an un-escapable excuse not to do any client work!

Reporting in from Rockville Centre, N Y, south shore of Nassau County at 5:45 PM. The winds are very strong and a large part of a tall oak tree in my backyard just fell on my neighbors garage and another neighbors backyard. Thank god noone was injured! Little rain but extremely high water levels on the shore whre they evecuated everyone. To put into prospective, I reside about 1 mile north of the mandatory evacuation areas. Let's hope that this is the worst of it as the tracking models seem to be downplaying the potential for Long Island. Ironic that we just encountered an electrical surge, didn't lose power for long. I will keep you all posted. Mike Dubin CPA

Perhaps you don't need calculus, trigonometry and geometry, specifically, but you sure do need to know the rules of ordering, and of basic math and algebra!!!! While we all rely on our computers to do most of our calculations, we have to know enough to recognize when there is an error in our spreadsheet formulas. Just think of how often we look at a number on a tax return, recognize from our base of tax knowledge that this number is wrong, go back and check and find that we did not check a box that should have been checked, or we had checked one that should not have been checked or left out some critical info? Those who use Turbo Tax and screw up are a perfect example of the truth that no tax program [and no spreadsheet] can give you the right result if the person using it does not have a good understanding of the rules that govern the forms. We all tend to rely on our tools to "do it for us", but unless you have the knowledge to recognize an error, based on your knowledge of the subject behind the form, you are not a professional. Sorry if that sounds harsh, but while I think it is highly appropriate to let advanced students use calculators, for example they should not be allowed until after the student has a solid grounding in mathematics. Just as before you touch a tax program, you should study tax law, or else you do not even understand some of the questions you must answer on that tax program.

I must be really popular. I have gotten those messages, plus the one from Amazon, ones from PayPal, Ebay, UPS, the IRS, etc. The only one that even came close to getting me to bite appeared to be from Intuit. Since I use QuickBooks,, I almost clicked the link. Scary how realistic some of these look.