After you read this little ditty, you will no doubt shake your head and realize that absolutely nothing is safe anywhere. Criminals used an online service run by the IRS to access personal tax information from more than 100,000 taxpayers. The IRS fessed up to this breach of security today.
How did they do it? The thieves accessed a system called “Get Transcript,” where taxpayers can get tax returns and other filings from previous years. In order to access the information, the thieves cleared a security screen that required knowledge about the taxpayer, including Social Security number, date of birth, tax filing status and street address. Thieves can also use the information to claim fraudulent tax refunds in the future.
Authorities said that whoever breached the security are not amateurs. No kidding. We know who the amateurs are.
Guess what? People who use apps to track their steps per day or how much they exercise are not exercising at all. Quel surprise. California topped the United States in minutes exercised per week at 87, well below the recommended 150 minutes. Those wrist business things don’t encourage anyone to do anything. Now, if they shot a bolt of electricity every hour or so to remind the wearer to get moving, that might help.
We also heard that the wrist bands that track your heart rate, weight, steps and how many Oreo cookies you ate, are subject to hacking. Blanche, really. Why would anyone want to know what we weigh? They wouldn’t believe it anyway. Where is that fitness fairy anyway?
We have an app on our phone called Red Alert, downloaded last year during the Israeli war. A siren goes off every time a rocket is fired into Israel. For months it has been silent. Today it went off no less than 8 times as rockets again rained down near Ashdod and bordering towns. We sincerely hope that Israel will retaliate quickly and forcefully.
Texas is getting absolutely devastating floods that are washing away anything in their path including homes, cars and sadly people. In searching for reasons for extreme weather we came across a few plausible answers such as climate change (who’s the genius that thought of that?), volcanic ash and El Nino to name a few. What struck us however are the totally nutball comments at the end of the article. No shortage out there Blanche.
Finally we came to one sane person who lives in that area and knows it well. He said that perhaps this is not climate change but a weather event. G-d should help the people caught up in whatever it is.
So what’s in a name? Plenty. Your name tells lots about you, like what you do for a living. There was a study done of people in different occupations. Here’s a sampling of the names and you decide if they fit:
The rancher: Boyd and Leroy. The lawyer: Sanford and Marshall. The Farmer: Elwood and Dwayne. Car salesman: Larry and Clay and finally the Rabbis: Moshe and Chaim. No shocker there. The accountant is what got us: Mitzi and Maribel. Mitzi? Last time we looked accountants were named Arnold or Bernard.
Don’t say Blanche doesn’t give you practical information. We read a long, convoluted article that stated, with much research to go with it, that it’s much better to wash our clothes in cold water than warm water. Aside from the savings on your hot water bill, your clothes will come out just as clean. Who knew?
We’ll talk…