Big Brother: You're Being Watched—Practically Everywhere

Think government spying is only for James Bond and his ilk? You might be surprised at where—and by whom—you're being monitored every day.

Casinos. Banks. Airports. We all know there are public places where we're being watched, ostensibly for crime-prevention purposes. But with the advancement of digital technologies, "Big Brother's" reach has gotten way wider, recording our movements—and our conversations—in a surprising amount of places.

"Big Brother is becoming more and more intrusive in our private lives and until something is done to scale it back or eliminate it, it's only going to get worse," says David Bakke, Money CrashersTech Expert.

License Plate Readers

For the most part, there's no such thing as being "under the radar" when you're driving your car. First off, many police cars and objects like road signs and bridge are outfitted with automatic license plate readers designed to track the movements of every vehicle that passes. At a rate of thousands per minute, these readers "capture and collect the license plate number, and the date, time, and location of every scan," according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

"Police departments are retaining data on people who aren't a threat," says Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst at the ACLU. "As this technology gets more densely deployed, the records of your movements will become richer and richer."

And this data collection carries the potential risk that a third party could get a hold of this information and use it for criminal, or at least personal gain, says a report by the International Association of Police Chiefs. Case in point: "It seems like anyone can buy your car location now for about $10," says Alok, founder of the Epic Privacy Browser, a free browser which protects your browsing & searching online. "So there's massive surveillance of license plates by the government, as well as the private sector."

Sidewalk & Public Space Cameras

You car isn't the only thing that's being monitored on the street, according to Bakke. "The Department of Homeland Security has spent millions of dollars on high-tech video cameras that can monitor you as you walk down the street," says Bakke.

For instance, an ACLU report from 2012 says the City of Chicago "has access to 10,000 publicly and privately owned cameras throughout the City…and in the downtown district, virtually every segment of the public way is under video surveillance." NPR also reports that there is a growing trend of medium- to small-sized cities are spending "hundreds of thousands of dollars" on surveillance cameras and software.

Is any of this street surveillance lowering crime rates? A 2011study by the Urban Institute's Justice Policy center found that with proper monitoring and community education, areas with security cameras saw reduced crime rates, so while it's potentially invasive, use of surveillance cameras does show public-safety benefits.

On Public Transportation

The Department of Homeland Security has funded installation of public bus video and audio surveillance in numerous U.S. cities. "Video cameras are permeating our public spaces," says Stanley. "We've even seen some moves on buses to put microphones on them. We don't think that's legal."

Cities that already have listen-in bus surveillance: San Francisco, Baltimore, Detroit, Hartford, CT, Concord, NH (Park & Ride system), Boston (high-def video only)

In Detroit, city officials and the police department insist that audio/visual surveillance on buses will deter crimes and allow the police to more easily prosecute offenders.

When You Use Credit and Loyalty Cards

While it's no secret that loyalty cards are intended to create repeat customers by offering exclusive benefits to the cardholder, did you know that the purchases you make on it are being tracked and analyzed, as well?

"What you buy with credit and loyalty cards, that data, is regularly sold and bundled with your online browsing data," says Alok. "[That way] an advertiser on Facebook can target only people who buy Cheerios and Metamucil, for example." And he suspects most card companies collect data about your personal shopping habits, citing Visa and Mastercard privacy policies that allow the company to "perform data analyses" unless you explicitly ask them not to.

On the Phone

While it's not legal for the government to listen to the content of private landline or cell phone conversations conducted entirely within the U.S., the National Security Agency is allowed to collect phone call metadata (i.e.: time, date, location, phone numbers of each party), and has been doing so since 2001, says Bakke. However, the NSA can legally listen in on your conversation if you're talking to someone who's out of the country.

"Cell phones reveal your location, and companies want to retain and use that information," says Stanley. "There's no reason they should be [allowed] to exploit that."

While You Watch TV

In the not-so-distant future, your couch-potato time may become a public experience. "There is technology that's built-in to so-called 'smart' TVs, which would allow the cable company (or potentially the government) to watch you through your television," says Bakke. "To date, however, it is not being used for that purpose."

On the slightly-less-creepy end of the spectrum, Nielson is currently permitted to (and does) sell TV-watching habit data from the households it monitors, says Alok. "[It can] be used to target ads to you." Nielson's web site promotes the company's wide-reaching data collection methods: "We measure more than 40 percent of the world’s viewing behavior—hundreds of channels, thousands of programs, and millions of viewers, …allowing clients to plan programming and advertising for their ideal audience."

Care to view the rest? http://www.grandparents.com/food-and-leisure/did-you-know/government-spying

10 Creative (But Legal) Tax Deductions

* Thoughts to carry throughout the year.

Politicians are always taking corporations and the super-rich to task for exploiting loopholes in the tax code. Don't you wish someone was yelling at you for paying too little in taxes? Where are the loopholes for the average American taxpayer? The best we can hope for is to take as many deductions as humanly (and legally) possible.

It's tax time again, which means it's time to get creative with those deductions. Can you convince the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that your pet iguana is a service animal? Can you deduct toilet paper as a business expense because you come up with some of your greatest ideas in the bathroom? Can you deduct your bar tab as a form of stress reduction therapy? No, but you'll give your auditor a good story to tell around the IRS water cooler.

Keep reading for our list of 10 creative tax deductions that won't land you in jail. Think of them as loopholes for the little guy.

If you move to another town for a new job, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will let you deduct a portion of those expenses from your taxable income. But did you know that you can even deduct moving expenses if you're self-employed? Or if you get fired from the job that you moved for in the first place? Yup, the IRS is uncharacteristically generous with this one, so take full advantage!

The IRS applies two basic "tests" to determine if you can deduct moving expenses: distance and time. First, the distance test: If you move for a new job -- or even to find a new job -- the new location must be at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) farther than the distance of your old commute [source: Internal Revenue Service]. So if you used to drive 30 miles (48 kilometers) to work, the new location must be at least 80 miles (129 kilometers) from your old home. If you're self-employed and work from home, then you only have to move 50 miles away, which can be as close as the neighboring city or town.

Now the time test: Once you move into your new location, you must be employed full time for at least 39 weeks of the next 12 months [source: Internal Revenue Service]. What's great about this is that you don't have to work for the same company that brought you out to the new location. Even if you quit that job or get canned, you can still deduct the moving expenses if you get another job in the same geographical area that keeps you employed for the minimum 39 weeks. Note that if you're self-employed, the time rule is more strict; you must remain employed full time for at least 78 weeks of the next 24 months after the move [source:SmartMoney].

What exactly does the IRS let you deduct as moving expenses?

• Packing and shipping costs (moving company, for example)
• Up to 30 days of storage
• Travel to the new home, including gas at $0.24 a mile
• Hotel rooms, but not meals
• Disconnecting utilities at the old home and connecting new ones [source:SmartMoney].

The cool thing about moving expense deductions is that they're an "above the line" deduction, meaning you don't have to itemize deductions to claim them [source:Smartmoney.com]. Now let's look at some ways to get creative with education expenses.

The U.S. tax code is designed to encourage certain purchases and activities that strengthen society. Home ownership is one of those, and so is higher education. That's why the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) lets you deduct the interest you pay on both home mortgage loans and student loans. But did you know that you can deduct the interest paid on student loans -- even if you aren't the person that's paying it? If you qualify, you can deduct up to $2,500 in student loan interest every year.

As the IRS sees it, the person who is legally obligated to pay back a student loan has the right to deduct the interest [source: TurboTax]. In most cases, that person is the student. So even if your parents are the ones writing the check each month, you can still deduct that interest on your tax return [source: Stanton].

With the IRS being the IRS, nothing is straightforward, so there are a few conditions that could potentially disqualify you from claiming the interest deduction on your tax return:

• If you're claimed as a dependent on someone else's tax return (your parents', for example), then you cannot claim the deduction.
• If your modified adjusted gross income is greater than $75,000 for a single filer or $155,000 for a married couple filing jointly, then you can't claim student loan interest as a deduction.
• If the loan is a Direct PLUS loan for parents or a similar loan in which your parents are legally obligated to repay it, then you can't deduct the interest from that loan [source: TurboTax].

Now let's look at some creative deductions you can take from contributing to a good cause.

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Zika virus spreading as weather warms

China's health authority warns about Zika virus spreading as weather warms.

China's health authority has warned about the spread of theZika virusas the weather warms up in mosquito-prone parts of the country.

State news agency Xinhua reported that National Health and Family Planning Commission spokesperson Xiong Huang told a press conference on Wednesday that China had confirmed five imported cases of the virus since its first case on February 9.

Zika has been blamed for a big spike in babies born in Latin America with microcephaly, a birth defect that causes the babies to have unusually small heads and is associated with developmental problems, after their mothers caught the virus while pregnant. The World Health Organization (WHO) has called the outbreak an international health emergency.

The virus has no vaccine or treatment, and in about 80 percent of people causes no symptoms.

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/24/chinese-authorities-issue-warning-about-zika-virus.html

The Chinese official said that the country's latest confirmed cases were a 38-year-old man and his eight-year-old son from Yiwu City in the Zhejiang Province, who were bitten by mosquitoes while visiting Fiji and Samoa. The other three people diagnosed with Zika were from the Jiangxi, Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces.

"We should be vigilant as the spread of the illness can not be ruled out in some regions where the mosquito population will increase as the weather warms," Zinhua quoted Xiong as saying. The official added that authorities would intensify efforts to quarantine infected people and reduce the number of mosquitoes.

The announcement came as the head of the WHO warned on Wednesday that the Zika outbreak would likely worsen before nations hit by the virus got any relief.

3 big things experts don’t yet know about Zika

Director-General Margaret Chan made the comments at the end of her two-day visit to Brazil, the country at the epicenter of the Zika crisis. So far the virus has mainly been found in the northeastern part of Brazil but Chan said, "Don't be surprised to see microcephaly reported in other parts of Brazil."

Brazil has confirmed more than 580 cases of the birth defect and is investigating more than 4,100 additional cases.

Chan underscored that scientists were still working to determine causality between the virus and microcephaly.

The WHO has said there is a "strongly suspected" relationship between Zika infection in pregnancy and microcephaly. Scientists are also studying a potential link between Zika infection and Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological disorder that can weaken the muscles and cause paralysis.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Tuesday that 14 more people had caught Zika virus in the U.S. without traveling to affected zones, which was seen as evidence the virus was relatively easily transmitted via sex.

And in Australia on Wednesday, authorities sprayed houses and businesses near a hotel in the state of Queensland, where a guest with Zika had stayed. The guest had caught the virus during a visit to South America.

7 Emerging Technologies IT Should Study Now

Staying on top of current technologies means anticipating future ones. Here, we look at seven technologies IT should be studying right now. One (or more) of these may well be the next big trend in the industry.

Staying on top of technology trends is serious business for those of us in the field. Skill sets come and go at a breakneck pace, and it's important to stay ahead of the curve in an attempt to anticipate the next hot trend to keep oneself relevant in an ever-changing world.

Here's a look at seven trending technologies that IT professionals should be studying right now. Where these technologies lead us, IT jobs are certain to follow in order to help design, implement, and support each one.

Our goal for this list was to identify not only hardware and software technologies, but also ideologies and legislative movements that can dramatically influence how and when a particular technology will reach a critical mass in terms of impact on our lives. You'll find that our list contains not only technologies that are attempting to solve problems we see today, but also ways to move beyond what we have today and push us into uncharted territories.

To help understand the importance of studying emerging technologies, simply look back at the past decade and contemplate the disruptive technologies that have revolutionized the way IT infrastructure works today. Topics such as server virtualization, big data, and cloud computing were once merely high-level concepts and ideas. Yet, those of us who investigated and learned about these technologies early on had a dramatic advantage over our peers in the workplace, once these technologies came to fruition.

As our technologies increase in complexity, it takes more and more time for technologists to start to comprehend new technologies, let alone learn how to implement and support them. So it's in our best interest to start our education as early as possible by first identifying the technology trends likely to shake up the IT landscape in the years ahead.

The proliferation of mobile computing around the world clearly indicates that a focus on future wireless technologies would make our list. The same goes for IT's hottest topic of the past few years -- IT security. Other technologies, such as three-dimensional imagery and robotics, will advance many areas of our lives that have remained stagnant for years.

Click on the following pages to see our top seven picks for technologies IT needs to watch and study now. Then, let us know what you think about the list and tell us about the technologies you think we're missing out on. Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Andrew has well over a decade of enterprise networking under his belt through his consulting practice, which specializes in enterprise network architectures and datacenter build-outs and prior experience at organizations such as State Farm Insurance, United Airlines and the ... View Full Bio

Full  > http://tinyurl.com/zbjqq7a

5 Difficult Steps To Get Out of Debt

Money. It tears families apart, ruins marriages, and keeps people from pursuing their dreams. Money troubles inject unnecessary stress, anxiety, and arguments into our daily lives, which keeps us in perpetual discontent. We never seem to have enough, and, living paycheck to paycheck, we can’t ever get ahead.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

We—Joshua & Ryan—know first hand. The road to financial freedom was a long trek for both us. Even though we had prestigious six-figure careers, we struggled with money back then; and we weren’t financially free for a long time. In fact, it wasn’t until we walked away from those career’s (after devising a plan, of course) that we discovered how to get out of debt, how to eliminate unnecessary expenses, how to plan for our future, how to master our finances.

While we all need to make money to live—and there’s certainly nothing wrong with earning a great salary—taking control of your financial life involves much more than adjusting your income upward. It involves making repeated good decisions with the resources you have, changing your financial habits, and living deliberately. None of which is inherently easy—especially under the tyranny of today’s instant-gratification culture—but fortunately, regaining control of your finances is simple.

A few years ago, overwhelmed by money’s rapacious tug on our lives, the two of us decided to change; we decided to take back control of our finances and our lives. These are the five steps we took, and they are the same principles we use today to ensure that we’ll never again struggle with money.

1. BUDGET

Most of us have no idea where our money is going. We think we know, but we don’t really know. This is doubly true for those of us who are married or live with a significant other. Ergo, the first step toward financial freedom is establishing a written monthly budget. Note the three key words here: written, monthly, and budget.

A few guidelines:

Categories. Identify what’s truly necessary by identifying all of your monthly expenses based on the past six months, and then divide your expenses into three categories: Need, Want, Like. Write down every expense (food, housing, utilities, insurance, cars, gas, transportation, clothes, credit cards, phones, Internet, pets, entertainment, etc.); triple-check the list with your significant other or a friend; and then use your Need, Want, Like categories to prioritize and cut wherever you can. The stricter you are, the sooner you’ll be free.

Boundaries. Give every dollar a destination at the beginning of the month. By establishing these boundaries, you won’t worry about what you can and can’t purchase because money that wasn’t assigned at the beginning of the month can’t be spent mid-month.

Teamwork. Everyone in your household—even your children—must have a say in the written budget. This is the only way to get every person’s buy-in. Working together means taking from one category to fund another (e.g., extracting money from, say, your clothing budget to fund your entertainment budget) until each person is on the same page. Once everybody is on board—once everyone is committed to financial freedom—it is much easier to gain the traction you need.

Adjust. You’ll have some slip-ups along the way. That’s all right, it’s part of the process. At first, you and your family should scrutinize your written budget daily, and then eventually weekly, adjusting accordingly until your whole family is comfortable with your set monthly allocations. The first month is the most difficult, but by the third month you’ll curse yourself for wasting so much money during your budget-less days.

Safety. Shit happens, so it’s best to create a Safety Net savings account with $500–$1000 for emergencies. Now listen: do not touch this money unless there is a true emergency (car repairs, medical bills, job loss, etc.). Your Safety Net will allow you to stay on budget even when life punches you in the face. Over time, once you’re out of debt (step 3 below), your Safety Net will grow to include several months of income. But for now, worry only about the first $500–$1000 to start, which you’ll want to keep in a separate Safety Net account to avoid temptation (more on that below).

2. PAY YOURSELF (INVEST)

Most of us hear the word invest and we panic. Investing seems so complicated, so abstruse, so not-something-I-can-wrap-my-head-around. Well, instead of thinking of it as investing money, think of it as paying your future self. And with today’s online tools, you needn’t be overwhelmed—investing is easier than ever. Anyone can (and must) do it.

As for Joshua & Ryan, we both use a wonderfully simple online-investment tool called Betterment as our personal savings, planning, and investing software. Using Betterment, which costs nothing to set-up and has no minimum-balance requirements, we’ve learned how to invest in our future selves by setting aside a percentage of our income without even noticing it’s gone.

We also keep our Safety Nets in our Betterment accounts. We do this for two reasons: 1) the money is liquid, which means we have instant access to our Safety Net if we need it, and 2) when the money is sitting in a separate account, it is less tempting to access than if it’s in our bank accounts (plus it earns a better interest rate in a safe, conservative way).

We invest our money into four separate buckets using Betterment’s online software: Safety Net, Retirement Fund, House Fund, and Wealth-Building Fund. (For complete details, see our Retirement Planning article, in which we we break down how we, as minimalists, plan for retirement and other financial objectives, using screenshots and real-world examples, including statistics and personal figures.)

Right now is the best time to start planning for your future. Whether you’re planning for retirement, wanting to start a business, saving for a home, building a larger Safety Net, or focusing on long-term wealth-building, now is the best time to begin. Not next week, not even tomorrow, today. Even if you have no money to invest, you must devise a plan to begin investing in your future self. The best way to do this is to automate your investments using an online service like Betterment, which takes the guesswork out of investing. The future won’t wait. Do it today. Even if that means 1% of your income, or even $20 a month, to start. Your future self will thank you.

3. DEBT FREE

Contrary to what some academics might tell you, there is no such thing as “good debt.” Let’s say that again (read it out loud): THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GOOD DEBT. True, some debt is worse than other debt, but it’s never “good.”

The truth is: you will not feel free until you are debt free. The debtor is always slave to the lender. Besides, it’s feels pretty amazing to have no car payments, no credit-card payments, and no student-loan payments looming in the shadows of your lifestyle.

Throughout our twenties we both had excessive piles of debt—more than six-figures each. It was a debilitating feeling—a complete loss of freedom.

Although there are no magic bullets, the strategy we’ve seen work best is Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover, a detailed, step-by-step formula that both of us used to create a detailed plan, cut-up our credit cards, and face our debts head-on. Also read: Debt Free: JFM’s Story of Overcoming Debt.

4. MINIMIZE

Of course minimalism was a key component in our own journeys toward financial freedom. By clearing the clutter from our lives, we were able to focus on eliminating debt, changing our habits, and making better decisions with fewer resources.

We also learned that by simplifying—by identifying which material possessions weren’t adding value to our lives—we were able to more quickly become debt free by selling more than half our stuff locally (yard sales, consignment shops, flea markets) and online (eBay, Craigslist, Autotrader).

No, minimalism is not about deprivation—we don’t want anyone to “live without” in the name of minimalism—but sometimes it makes sense to temporarily deprive ourselves of ephemeral satisfactions when we are attempting to move our lives in a better direction.

For example, as we were tackling our debts, Joshua sold his oversized house and moved into a tiny apartment. Ryan sold his fancy new car and purchased a decade-old vehicle without a monthly payment. We both jettisoned our cable subscriptions, satellite radio, and other superfluous bills that saved us hundreds of dollars each month. We also did “strange” things like deliver pizzas, work overtime, and find other ways to supplement our income in the short-term so we could pay off our debts faster. Plus, we sold hundreds of items—electronics, furniture, clothes, DVDs, books, collectibles, tools, yard equipment—that weren’t essential, and we used that money to further pay down our debts. Basically, anything that wasn’t nailed to the floor found it’s way to eBay. Now everything we own serves a purpose or brings us joy, and we don’t miss any of the trinkets of yesteryear.

Don’t know how to start minimizing? Consider our 30-Day Minimalism Game. Or if you’re feeling aggressive, have a Packing Party and a Scanning Party. You can also visit our Start Here page for more ideas.

5. CONTRIBUTE

The shortest path toward freedom is: appreciating what you already have. One of the best ways to find gratitude for the gifts you’ve already been given is to change your perspective.

To do so, donate your most precious asset: your time. Bring your family to a local soup kitchen, foodbank, or homeless shelter. Tutor less-privileged children in your city. Help the elderly with groceries or in-home care. Work on low-income houses with Habitat for Humanity. There are more resources than ever to help you contribute beyond yourself in a meaningful way; just do an Internet search for volunteer opportunities in your area.

Whatever you do to build your contribution muscle, it needn’t be grandiose; it need only contribute to someone else’s life. If you do this for a few weeks, you’ll realize that your financial problems are tiny compared to many of the problems in the world around you. By discovering the smallness of your financial woes, you’ll feel empowered to take massive action and beat the crap out of your relatively miniature problems.

In a short period of time—two or three years—your entire life can radically transform from what it is today. All it takes is a plan (which you now have), determination (i.e., turning your shoulds into musts), and consistent action in the right direction.

CONCLUSION: SIMPLE AIN’T EASY

Financial freedom isn’t easy, but you knew that before reading this essay. The exciting part about these five principles is that they apply to anyone, anywhere on the socioeconomic ladder. Whether you earn minimum wage or six-figures, whether you are single or have half-a-dozen children, we have seen these principles work for thousands of individuals—because it’s not about our income level; it’s about the decisions we make with the resources we have.

You are now equipped with a recipe to make outstanding financial changes. You are obviously welcome to add your own ingredients to taste, but when it comes to true financial freedom, these five ingredients—budget, invest, eliminate debt, minimize, contribute—are nonnegotiable. All five are necessary.

Yes, you still have a considerable amount of research and planning and hard work ahead of you; but most important, you have to take action today. Diligence is paramount.

Full > http://www.theminimalists.com/freedom/

Brain Teaser

APOPHTHEGMS AND INTERLUDES

63. He who is a thorough teacher takes things seriously--and even himself--only in relation to his pupils.

64. "Knowledge for its own sake"--that is the last snare laid by morality: we are thereby completely entangled in morals once more.

65. The charm of knowledge would be small, were it not so much shame has to be overcome on the way to it.

65A. We are most dishonourable towards our God: he is not PERMITTED to sin.

66. The tendency of a person to allow himself to be degraded, robbed, deceived, and exploited might be the diffidence of a God among men.

67. Love to one only is a barbarity, for it is exercised at the expense of all others. Love to God also!

68. "I did that," says my memory. "I could not have done that," says my pride, and remains inexorable. Eventually--the memory yields.

69. One has regarded life carelessly, if one has failed to see the hand that--kills with leniency.

70. If a man has character, he has also his typical experience, which always recurs.

Who is this?

Good night...