Tickets: UF students can get one free ticket per student ID today, with a maximum of four IDs shown, at the University Box Office from noon to 5 p.m. Any tickets that are unclaimed by students will be distributed to the public starting at 6 p.m. on the night of the show at the Phillips Center Box Office.
So how many Facebook friends do you have? Admit it, you like to get as many friends as possible on Facebook :)! But a new study out, yes there was a study on this subject, says the most Facebook friends you nee is 354. In a study presented at the recent Society for Personality and Social Psychology meeting, researchers asked a sample group of Facebook users between the ages of 18 and 65 to read some of their friends' status updates. Afterward, those Facebook users rated their lives as much less satisfying than people who didn't check their news feed first. Among the group who read updates, the study revealed that having 354 Facebook friends seemed to be the tipping point after which people were increasingly less happy with their lives. The reason: Much of how we judge our success in life is based on how we stack up against our peers. "The problem is that Facebook gives us a limited view of our friends' lives, and that view tends to be unrealistically positive," says study author Dilney Goncalves, Ph.D., a marketing professor at IE Business School in Madrid. The more friends you have, he adds, the more likely you are to spend your day enviously reading about someone's paradise vacation, new girlfriend, or job promotion. Goncalves recommends unsubscribing from your most prolific braggarts and fine-tuning your news feed. You can choose to read all updates from a friend, downgrade to a smaller portion of their updates. Another option: Cut ties with excess acquaintances to reduce your stream to best buds only. That means your dentist, your freshman year hall-mate, and your overbearing ex can all get the axe. When you've reached a comfortable count, "learning about the success of your closest friends can actually make you happier," Goncalves says.
My fellow co-workers find it funny that I bring my junk mail to the radio station to use our shredder. I've found it easier to dispose of the shreddings in the paper recycle bin here than at home. I mean have you ever accidently had shredded paper drop on the floor? You can be spending hours trying to pick it all up. Anyways here are some other items that should be immediatly shredded:
OLD TAX RETURNS
As a general rule, you should save your tax returns on the chance you get audited. But after six or seven years, you're pretty much in the clear. The IRS website says that it generally only goes back three years for an audit, but that "Additional years can be added if a substantial error is identified," with the potential to go back as far as six years. "Keep three to four years of tax returns in a firebox," says Brent Neiser, senior director of the nonprofit National Endowment for Financial Education.
The biggest concern here is Social Security numbers. Yes, that's numbers, plural. "Your dependents' Social Security numbers are on those, too," points out Gabby Beltran of the nonprofit Identity Theft Resource Center.
BANK STATEMENTS
Anything with bank account numbers should be shredded, and that obviously includes your paper bank statements. That's especially true for that box of old bank statements you just found in your attic that you don't know why you kept in the first place. "There was a time when Social Security numbers were printed on brokerage and bank statements," says Neiser, who adds that he just went through and shredded all of his old statements. To avoid having to shred your statements every month, some experts recommend just making the switch to online statements. "We recommend people turn off bank statements and get as many as you can via email," says Phil Blank, managing director of security, risk and fraud for Javelin. "The most commonly perpetrated means of defrauding people is to steal things out of their mailbox."
CREDIT CARD OFFERS
Unless you're going to actually take the bank up on its offer and open an account, you should destroy these mailed offers right away. "A lot if identity theft happens within families, so don't leave them lying around," warns Neiser. "Somebody in the house who knows your basic information could fill it out." Whether you need to shred or simply rip up the offer is a matter of disagreement among advisers though. The priority is making sure someone doesn't open a card in your name, but since there shouldn't be any information like your Social Security number on these offers, you probably don't need to obliterate them into tiny pieces.
Still, tearing it up may not be enough to stop someone from opening up a credit card and shredding your credit rating. So be safe and shred 'em!
OLD PHOTO ID'S
Maybe you like to save your old ID and security badges from previous employers for sentimental reasons. But if you want to dispose of them, consider using a shredder. While a photo ID alone isn't enough to steal your identity, keep in mind that the ID – and the information it contains – could be used as part of a larger identity theft scheme to bypass fraud prevention measures.
A driver's license has height, weight and date of birth; information that can be use to verify an account.
PAY STUBS
It might not seem like it at first glance, but your pay stub is rife with information that can be used by a skilled identity thief. "Absolutely shred your pay stubs," says Blank. "Some [financial] institutions will ask you as validation the amount of your last deposit; if they have that pay stub, they can give the bank that information."
CREDIT CARD CONVENIENCE CHECKS
Credit card companies often send so-called "convenience checks" to cardholders, which are basically checks you can use to borrow against your line of credit for quick cash. Needless to say, you don't want these to end up in the wrong hands.
"The worst thing people get in the mail are these convenience checks," says Neiser. "It looks like a credit card bill, but if you open it up, there are checks in there that are live loans… that to me is very dangerous." If you don't plan on using these, shred them immediately.
CANCELED & OLD CREDIT CARDS
Sometimes you need to cancel a debit or credit card – maybe you want to rein in your spending, or you're leaving your bank, or you get a new one in the mail. So do you need to shred the old one?
"Theoretically it's not supposed to be problem, but we recommend that people cut through the magnetic stripe, as there's encoded information on there," says Blank. "Also, you don't want people to know where you bank."
If your shredder can't handle plastic, Blank recommends cutting it into four pieces, and then throwing the parts into at least two different trash bags.
The predictions of flying cars by the year 2000 left me disappointed to say the least. After I'd pulled my life savings out of the ATM in preparation for Y2K (and quickly put it back in my account the following day), I wondered if there would every be a day in my life where we could enjoy personal travel on a personal schedule without driving. Well the dream is getting so close to reality that you may own the last car you drive right now.
Google, the company that made a searching the Internet easy filed a parent for "Transitioning a Mixed-mode Vehicle to Autonomous Mode" in May of last year and only made it public two months ago. The technology uses marks on the road and GPS technology that allows you to switch on the auto pilot and take your hands off the wheel. It's already been tested the technology on a fleet of Google cars.
General Motors says the technology is already here! Radar-based cruise control, motion sensors, lane-change warning devices, electronic stability control and satellite-based digital mapping are already in place as options in current cars. The only thing left is to add an inexpensive computer chip and an antenna to link vehicles equipped with driverless technologies. GM plans to test driverless car technology by 2015 and have cars on the road around 2018.
This means I could have bought my last car that requires me to drive! Finally a flying car safely on the ground and allowing me to truly relax on a trip. The next few years will be exciting to say the least!
The yellow pollen is glazing our sidewalks, mailboxes and cars. It's a signal that tax time is here and nothing causes the blood pressure to go up than trying to decipher the tax code. It is true that the U.S. Tax Code has more pages than The Bible and navigating through the yearly changes, brackets and deductions can leave you a super-size headache. So leave it to the tax professionals. Just make sure your tax prepper is right for you? Here are some tips:
Have you registered with the IRS and do you have a Preparer Tax Identification Number?
This is the first, and most important, question to ask. Only someone who has registered with the IRS and received a PTIN is allowed by law to prepare federal income tax returns for a fee. Regardless of any other initials a tax preparer may possess, he or she must have a valid PTIN or the preparer cannot legally accept a fee to prepare your tax return. Paid tax return preparers are also required by law to sign all returns they prepare and to enter their PTIN on the returns. If you engage a paid preparer who does not have a PTIN, or who does not sign your finished return, you will open yourself up for potential IRS penalties. The IRS promises to aggressively seek out individuals who use unregistered, and therefore illegal, preparers.
What are your credentials?
When choosing a tax preparer, you can choose to have an enrolled agent, a Certified Public Accountant, an attorney or an "unenrolled" (but not unregistered) tax professional prepare your returns. Tax preparers who register with the IRS and pass a test are designated as Registered Tax Return Preparers. These preparers must log a minimum of 15 hours of continuing professional education in federal taxation each year to maintain the designation. Currently registered preparers have until 2013 to pass the test. An enrolled agent is not an employee or representative of the IRS; he or she is an independent tax preparer who is "enrolled" to act as a taxpayer's "agent" in dealing with the IRS. EAs must pass a very difficult test on federal tax topics and maintain an average of 16 hours of continuing education in federal taxation each year. When regulation is fully phased in, only the RTRP and EA preparers will have proved their competence and currency in federal tax law. Do not assume a CPA is a Form 1040 expert. While a CPA or an attorney may be knowledgeable and competent in preparing a 1040, you cannot tell this by his initials alone if he is thoroughly trained, even if he has a PTIN.
Can you give me an idea of what it will cost?
It is important to know how your fee will be determined; some tax pros charge based on the number of forms and schedules included in the returns, while others bill at an hourly rate, and some use a combination of those approaches. A survey of almost 8,000 tax preparers conducted by the National Society of Accountants showed the average fee for preparing a 2010 Form 1040 with Schedule A and a state tax return was $233. The more forms, schedules and worksheets prepared, the higher the fee. The average cost to prepare a 2010 Form 1040 and state return without itemized deductions was $128. Fees vary by region, too. They are higher on the West Coast and in the mid-Atlantic states, and lower in the central regions. Also, as you might expect, CPAs charge more for a 1040 preparation than non-CPAs. As a general rule, the more organized you are, the lower the fee. If the preparer has to spend time wading through a shoe box full of receipts, it will be reflected in your bill. Don't assume a commercial tax preparation chain will charge a lower fee than an independent professional. You may be surprised at what the chains cost. And never use a preparer who tells you the fee will be based on a percentage of your refund.
What types of returns do you prepare?
Are you a police officer, firefighter or a construction worker? Are you a self-employed over-the-road truck driver? Do you have rental property? Do you trade in "puts and calls"? If so, you need a preparer familiar with the unique tax benefits and deductions available to your trade, profession or business, and to any special activity, situation or circumstance that applies to you. Many tax professionals specialize in returns for niches like active investors, gamblers, renters, the self-employed or members of a specific profession. When seeking referrals, be sure to check with co-workers or colleagues in the same field.
Do you belong to a professional membership organization?
Members of organizations like the National Association of Tax Professionals, the National Society of Accountants, and the National Association of Enrolled Agents have access to high-quality continuing professional education, as well as those organizations' research departments. Members are also held to the organizations' ethics codes.
What if I am audited?
What is the preparer's policy if the return he or she prepared for you is questioned or audited? Will the preparer respond to letters of inquiry from the IRS or state tax agencies? Will the preparer attend the audit with you or in your place as your representative? If the IRS or state discovers an error on the return that was the preparer's fault, will he or she pay any penalty assessment? You should know that if the preparer has to correspond with the IRS or state or attend an audit, the effort will typically trigger additional fees.
Are you available during the year if I need help?
Does the tax preparer pack up and disappear during the "normal" year, remaining incommunicado until the next tax season, or will he or she be around to answer any tax questions or provide tax planning advice and assistance on a financial transaction you are considering? Your preparer certainly does not need to be on 24-hour call, but he should be available to answer questions or provide information as needed throughout the year via telephone or email.
It seems like every couple of weeks there is a new diet plan on the market. I had a personal trainer once tell me the key to losing weight is simple. Reduce your caloric intake and exercise. But starving yourself, is that a good thing? Not starve like an Anorexic; more like short fasts. A new study is suggesting that we can live healthier and longer lives by starving ourselves every other day! The National Institutes for Aging said their research was based on giving animals the bare minimum of calories required to keep them alive and results showed they lived up to twice as long. The diet has since been tested on humans and appears to protect the heart, circulatory system and brain against age-related diseases like Alzheimer's.
Previous research has found that starving yourself for a few days can help in the fight against cancer. Scientists found that depriving healthy cells of the food they need sends them into a survival mode, making them highly resistant to stress and damage caused from chemotherapy.So if it works to fight cancer, why not use the same technique to battle weight?
Well some are at the eve of a 3 days weekend honoring our Nation's President's but I wonder how many companies and businesses still take the day off. Our company, Entercom, still observes President's Day as a holiday which is the only company in my working career to do so and I think it's pretty neat. Our Presidents are a symbol of our country and people who make us proud…plus there is generally some big sale happening! Although our company takes the day off, I'll still be here doing what I do best! :)
One of the things I love to do is cook; although I never really do it anymore (but I'll save that for another blog post). Cooking relaxes me and it's neat to mix all those bland ingredients into something delicious…or at least you hope! Since we all enjoy food, there's little doubt you've heard of at least one of these food myths. So I thought we'd take a look at a few and separate the tales from the truth.
BREAD GETS STALE BECAUSE IT LOSES MOISTURE
We love our bread soft and moist which is why we keep it in a plastic bad and twist the tie on super tight to keep it from drying out and becoming stale right? Not so much! When your loaf becomes stale, it's not because it's dried out; the opposite is actually true. When bread gets too much moisture, the starches in the bread start to crystallize, making the bread tough and crumbly. And don't event think of keeping bread in the fridge. Low temperatures actually help to speed up the crystallization process.
LOBSTERS SCREAM WHEN THEY ARE BOILED
The noble Lobster; the bugs of the sea! Drenched in butter it is one of the favorites of the dinner table. Some feel guilty eating Lobster because they scream when dropped into a ot of boiling water. OUCH! Come to find out that "screaming" isn't a reaction of feeling pain. That sound you hear is actually steam escaping the lobster's shell. When you toss a lobster into a pot of boiling water, steam builds up in the recesses of its shell and it has nowhere to go but out, much like a tea kettle.
Not only is it not screaming, your lobster isn't even mad at all, because its nervous system isn't very complex, so it's feeling little to no pain.
SEARING MEAT SEALS IN THE JUICES
OK, I've been a believer of this one since my first BBQ. Sear each side of the meat you are cooking to seal in the juices and prevent it from drying out. To my dismay, it isn't true; according to scientists. When you sear your steak, you're actually creating a tougher crust on the outside of the cut, which just makes the inside seem juicier by comparison. Renowned chef Alton Brown of Food Network did an experiment and he found that searing meat causes it to lose more moisture than meat that hasn't been seared. So the next time you want your steak to be juicy, don't get rough with it. Show it some love and cook it ever so gently.
ALCOHOL COMPLETELY BURNS OFF WHEN COOKED
Many recipes call for adding wine, bourbon, vodka and even beer to get the perfect flavor. We've been told that the heat used to cook food evaporates all the alcohol...well.... Depending on the method of cooking, the heat and the time the food is left sitting, up to 85 percent of the alcohol can remain. Even if the alcohol is put into boiling water, it can still retain its intoxicating qualities. For alcohol to completely cook out of food, it needs to be cooked/baked for upward of three hours.
PORK NEEDS TO BE COOKED WELL DONE
Until recently pork, other than bacon, was not one of my favorites because it was cooked so well that I found it dry and tasteless. My mom said it was because you have to kill the parasites that reside in pork meat. Well mom, science puts this rumor to bed. The fear of trichinosis (a parasitic disease caused by eating raw or undercooked pork), has kept people cooking pork much longer than needed.The thing is, that fear was legit many, many years ago. Today, due to modern pork processing standards, cases of trichinosis in the U.S. have been reduced to about 11 each year, and most of those cases weren't even from pork -- they were from the consumption of wild game. You could go to a restaurant and order pork chops medium rare and eat them and totally not die. You wouldn't just be safe from worms, you'd be entering some brand new pork territory, as most people have only ever had pork after it's been thoroughly cooked, thus robbing it of all its flavor. Imagine it. Juicy, warm, moist pork chops sitting on your plate, melting in your mouth, and no worms to be found for miles and miles.
COOKING VEGETABLES MAKES THEM LESS NUTRITIOUS
Finally this rumor is addressed. Eating raw gives you better nutrition. It's better for your body and health than cooking them. WRONG! It turns out that when you eat raw vegetables, even though their enzymes are intact, they dissolve and get washed away in your digestive acids. Just like a body in a vat of hydrofluoric acid. And the thing is, the enzymes in plants are what helps them grow; they're not needed by humans because we have digestive enzymes of our own, rendering plant enzymes pretty useless. Certain vitamins do break down in the cooking process, but it opens the door for proper absorption of carotenoids such as beta-carotene and other nutrients into the body.
So there is some food for thought (couldn't resist the pun) for this Friday!
-Chris Malone
The public will have a chance to watch the private funeral of Whitney Houston live thanks to the Internet. Her publicist, Kristen Foster, announced that The Associated Press will be allowed a camera at the Saturday ceremony in Newark, N.J. The AP will stream the service.
Either click the above link or cut and paste it to your web browser. The funeral is scheduled to begin Saturday (2/18) at 12 noon eastern standard time.
Happy Thursday. Today I will be welcoming Cub Scout Pack 202 to the KTK studios for a tour and I hpe they enjoy the inner working of a radio station. Talking to kids about radio is always fun just because of the questions they ask. I explain how radio works, show the equipment we use and the job behind the scenes. I hope they have a good time!
When it comes to signing a contract I'm usually really good about reading the small print. But when it comes to those user agreements that you have to "agree" to online before you can sign in, I rapidly click "agree". Well it is interesting and scary to see what you agree to as the devil's in the pages of legalize details.
YOUR PICTURES MAY END UP AS A MARKETING TOOL So you just had a great weekend with your friends, and you decide to upload the pictures to your Flickr, Twitpic, Instagram and other sites that allow instantaneous uploading and incessant Internet exhibitionism. Did you know pretty much every social network has a clause written into their user agreements that allows them to use your pictures for commercial purposes? They do!Specifically, the stipulations you agreed to state that you're granting these companies "worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce or distribute" your private photos. But they do make it a point to clarify that you still own anything you upload. You just will not be asked for permission or see any compensation for a photo used in an online ad. So be careful what you post! Even if the picture is removed, you still agree by posting that the rights to use are still binding.
BUYING APPS, GAMES AND MUSIC DOESN'T MEAN YOU OWN IT
You hear the new Adele song on 98.5 KTK and decide to go online to purchase the song for $.99. Or you decide to buy Angry Birds Rio to pass the time sitting at the traffic light. Not so fast, you are paying money to buy the song but you do not own that copy. Makes sense right? You should probably do a little more reading when that user agreement at your favorite online store pops up. In a nutshell, a lot of these sites have a section in their terms that says they reserve the right to change, suspend or fully remove any product or content that they choose. And they don't mean remove it from their site so nobody else can buy it; they mean remove it from the device you downloaded the file to, never to be seen again. What many people don't realize about buying digital files online is that you aren't really buying the file; you're just buying a license to use it.
BIG BROTHER IS SPYING ON YOU WITH YOUR PERMISSION
Conspiracy theorists rejoice, you are right that technology is being used to spy on you; and it's with your permission. We've all heard of OnStar and how it can sense when you've been in an accident which can be a godsend. But that's not all it does. OnStar recently updated their terms of use contract to include two new points. First off, a new agreement forces you to allow OnStar to sell your driving data to whomever they want. We're talking stuff like vehicle speed and location, current odometer reading, driver seat-belt use and air-bag deployment. If that doesn't sound too bad, wait until they sell it to your insurance company. So this upsets you, well too bad because the second updatebasically states that, even if you cancel your OnStar service, they'll still probably go ahead and keep watching you.
YOU GIVE UP YOUR RIGHT TO SUE
To me this has always been a given. Why else would a company make you agree to terms before using their services other than to say you can not sue them? Well my hunch is right. Nearly every user agreement now includes a clause about arbitration. In short, this means that in exchange for using any given service, you agree not to sue should a dispute arise. Instead, your case will be taken in front of an arbitrator who will listen to both sides, one of which will include a team of high-powered lawyers. The other side, of course, will just include you. No one is saying these companies are going to screw you. They've just made sure that, legally, they can if they ever feel like it.
To be fair and to my knowledge there hasn't been any major abuses of these agreements by companies. It's just a reminder that anything we post, download or tracks your location is being documented. Maybe this is a good thing?
Whitney Houston's funeral will be held in private Saturday (2/18/12) at noon at Newark, New Jersey's New Hope Baptist Church, which seats up to 1,500. It's the church where she first showcased her singing talents as a child, her family choosing to remember her in a private service rather than in a large event at an arena.
The family said no public memorial service is planned at this time. Officials had discussed the possibility of holding a memorial at the Prudential Center, a major sports and entertainment venue that can seat about 18,000 people, but the funeral home said it had been ruled out. Funeral home owner Carolyn Whigham said the church service will be by invitation only, reflecting the family's decision to keep the memorial more personal.
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