My wife expressed an interest in reading this book by Martin Dugard to get a sample of his writing beyond the “Killing” books with Bill O’Reilly. She decided she would be good with me reading it and her reading a review. The subtitle of the book is, “Being the Epic Tale of the Great Captain’s Fourth Expedition, Including Accounts of Swordfight, Mutiny, Shipwreck, Gold, War, Hurricane, and Discovery.” I’m glad I read the book. It is filled with history and facts about Columbus, the New World, and the natives who should have chased Columbus off the instant he and his ships landed. Continue reading
Lucky Dog
I searched for the origin of this term and found that it was the title of first Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy movie. Stan is homeless in the street and is befriended by a stray dog. There are a series of events including the dog making friends with a poodle, a dog show, a jealous boyfriend, etc. Wikipedia says Laurel and Hardy play independently of one another and are “…not the comedic team they would later become.” Of course calling someone a “lucky dog” means that you believe they are very fortunate.
Don’t Be a Jerk
I recently attended a lecture by Dr. Benjamin Cline at Western New Mexico University: How to Talk About Religion and Politics Without Being a Jerk. The world would be a better place, even without listening to the lecture, if we all wanted to try.
Cline discussed why our passions run so high on these topics: religion and politics are at the core of what makes life worth living for each of us. Our ideology is tied to what we see as the meaning of life. It is how we decide what’s valuable and what sources of information are valid. These topics are important and underlie much of what we do. Cline asks us to forget the old etiquette advice to avoid these subjects. He says we need to talk about them. Continue reading
The 2% Solution
I nearly did not read this book by Matthew Miller after reading the introduction. I reacted that the author was saying the problems of the country would be solved if we just spent more on government. The subtitle “Fixing American’s Problems in Ways Liberals and Conservatives Can Love” made me decide to give it a try. The start of the book made me wonder whether I had made a bad decision. The book was published in 2003, and the first issue taken on was health care. That outdated chapter wasn’t encouraging, but I tried to plow ahead. I eventually ran into thoughtful discussions of the problems about failure to educate our children and the huge problems created by refusing to do something about the unfunded obligations for Social Security and Medicare. There are also interesting discussions of the failure of politicians to address problems because of unyielding ideologies that continue to get them reelected and the failure of the press to provide news that might actually educate readers about the problems. Continue reading
Luck and Lucifer
There are apparently stories that the word “luck” was derived from “Lucifer.” Randomhouse dispels that by explaining that the two words come from different origins. “The word luck was borrowed from Middle Dutch or Low German…It seems to have been first popularized as a gambling term.” Lucifer is Old English derived from Latin “lux” or light and ferre “to bear; carry.” The use of Lucifer as an epithet for Satan comes a passage in Isaiah 14:12, which refers to a king of Babylon who was compared to the morning star. The passage has been interpreted to refer to the fall of the archangel hurled from heaven because of wickedness.
Turbo Tax Hint: Removing Problematic Forms
I’ve been using Turbo Tax to file my taxes for years. I have become more comfortable with using the package and particularly enjoy letting the computer download capital gains and losses, dividends, and interest directly from financial institutions.
I learned something this year while talking to the help center looking for assistance to correct an error. The error was associated with the information on a 1099-R form received on my withdrawal of funds from a retirement account. However, the hint applies to any form that has an error.
I don’t know whether the errors on both federal and state taxes were from a glitch in the software or, more likely, I had made an error in entering the information. I tried going back and retyping the information, but the error persisted. The call center (and it took some work to find the number to call) told me deleting and retyping information often does not correct errors. They had me click on the “Forms” icon that is the third icon to the left on the top right side of the page. (Warning: I understand that the Mac version might show the forms icon in a different location. Look for the icon that represents a stack of papers and is labeled “Forms.”)
Clicking on the “Forms” icon opens the entire menu of forms for both federal and state taxes to on the left side of the page (federal forms first followed by state forms). I scrolled down to find the federal form that had an error, opened, deleted it, and filled out the information again. (I understand the Mac version uses the term “Remove” instead of “Delete.”) I was told that “delete or remove,” depending on whether you are using Windows or Mac, is the only way to correct a form that has an error.
The next step was to once again to click on the “Forms” icon to locate the erroneous state form generated from the previously incorrect federal data. I was instructed to delete that form. The program immediately completed a new and correct form.
The “Forms” icon was replaced by “Step-By-Step” after I fixed my problematic forms. The error check after clicking the new icon gave me clearance that the mistakes had been corrected and I was able to file my return. Good luck with completing the increasingly complex tax filing process!