SOB! Today *IS* Tax Day

Well, we all got a reprieve, but today is Tax Day. Tax forms must be eFiled or mailed today in order to avoid penalties (or you must apply for an automatic extension). But the good news is plenty of experts have tips to help you get the most back from the tax man. And even if you are filing last-minute, there are always online options to avoid the lines at the post office.

Dee Leicht E.A. preparer at H & R Block at 4530 Lemay Ferry Road suggests:

- If you are preparing your own taxes, make sure that you file Schedule M, Making Work Pay, to receive up to a $400 credit.
- Check your deductions for education. They are very good this year and include books and supplies.
- Make sure you take exemptions for any persons (earning less than $3600) that you supported in 2010.

And remember, even if you do file for the automatic extension, you still have to pay what you EXPECT to owe to avoid paying interest and penalties.

Should parents of young children tip more?

Here is a hard question for you. Should parents of young children tip MORE at restaurants? On the one hand, when a family has young children, that tends to be the time of life when they have the least disposable income. On the other hand, it also tends to be the time of life when children are the least controlled and most disruptive. One waiter argues that if you ask the restaurant staff to deal with your children's misbehavior, you should compensate them for their trouble.

What do Mod-Bloggers think? We have a number of young parents reading this blog, so this single, childless guy is interested to know what they think.

Some simple ways to cut fat

Over the last two years, I have been on a quest to lose weight and maintain my weight loss. Some of the keys to weight loss are complex - setting up a calorie and nutritionally-balanced diet, setting up regular exercise. But some of the keys are finding little tricks that work for you. Mens Health has up a good collection of tips that may be useful to anyone looking to lose a few pounds or keep them off.

Slice Fat from Pizza
Always order your pizza with double tomato sauce and light cheese. Men who eat a lot of tomato products tend to have less prostate cancer—probably because tomatoes are a rich source of lycopene. Reducing the mozzarella by just one-third (you won't miss it) will save you 20 grams (g) of fat per pie. That's as much as in a McDonald's Quarter Pounder.

Order the Steak Fries
If you love french fries, always order the steak fries. Large-cut fries don't absorb as much oil as shoestring or curly fries, which lowers the fat count.

Lawyer's Advice for a Bike Crash

Everyone hopes that they'll never be in a crash.  But as with most things, you have to prepare most for the things you most hope will never happen.  So, as cyclists, we wear helmets, we carry cell phones, we wear Road IDs, and (when possible) we ride in groups.  But what do you do if you are in an accident involving another vehicle, especially a motor vehicle?  How do you take care of yourself, while also protecting your rights?  A lawyer  in Ohio who is also a cyclist has some good tips.

• Don’t Move. 
• Call the POLICE at 911. 
• Seek medical attention. 
• Take Photos.  
• Keep a Journal. 
• Don’t fix your bike right away. 
• Stay Organized.

Fair warning, the site is also an advertisement for the lawyer's services.  But the advice is still sound.

Posted via email from The Bike Nomad

First-Aid Mythbusting

Urban legends are generally harmless, if annoying. But there are some bits of "common wisdom" that can be extremely dangerous. Take all of the anecdotal "cures" that you see on television? It is important to know the facts so that a minor injury doesn't become something worse.

A child pulls a pot of boiling water off the stove or sticks their hand on a hot burner

Do you put butter or mayonnaise on the burn? Hurriedly remove the child’s clothing because it is stuck to the burn? Get out the ice?

Those are the common reactions in the case of a burn, but all of them are myths.

Butter, mayo or other types of grease may cause even more damage to tender skin and pulling clothing or other materials stuck to the burn could damage the tissue or pull the skin off completely.

The correct action is to rinse gently with cool water and coat the burn with antibiotic ointment.

I know we have nurses, mothers, and outdoorsmen who read this blog. What other tips do you have for the RIGHT ways to treat injuries that are counter-cultural?

Blocking Text Message SPAM

CNET has done us all a great service by putting together a summary of the ways to block text message spam for all of the major cell phone providers. Text message spam is worse than e-mail spam because most users are paying for each one in and out. And advertisers know the value of text message spam because it is hard to ignore. Click on thru to see how to deal with this plague on your provider of choice.

Understanding Bank Fees

Working for a bank, I am amazed every day to see how many fees our customers pay. To some, this may seem like a criticism of the bank, but overall I am amazed by how many customers are paying fees that there is no reason for them to pay. For example, millions of people every day are paying transaction fees to take money out of ATMs, when they could save $5 and simply walk across the street or down the block to an ATM at their own bank. I am sure some of this is laziness, but some of it is also ignorance. This article is a good summary of the main kinds of fees that banks charge, and how you can reduce the impact to your bottom line. In this current economy, consumers need ever extra dollar they can find, and these simple tips can help you save big bucks.

10 great demo tips

This is a great post about how to give a demo of a startup product, but I think that a lot of the tips can be used in other fields - even if you just have to present something.

7. PowerPoint bullet slides are death
——————————————-
Do not make slide after slide explaining your business in bullet points, because it’s really, really boring. Powerpoint/Keynote slides that are not boring include charts, product shots, feature set tables and the like. Things that explain big concepts with ease and grace are great, but bullet points of obvious facts show that:

a) you don’t have the ability to create a compelling story with data
b) you don’t think that much of the person being presented the information

If you ever have to do a presentation, it's well worth the read.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Scanning membership cards into your camera-phone

This is a great idea. I am always losing those "frequent buyer cards, but my iPhone is always with me.

http://www.tisgoud.nl/blog/2008/05/11/WalletCardsOnMyIPhone.aspx

Sometimes e-mail is all you need to surf the Web

I have always loved Flickr's e-mail upload process for photos, as it is the way I can upload my gas prices pictures from the road. This article reminds us that Flickr is not the only one who provides an e-mail tool to eliminate the need for web access.

10. pdf@koolwire.com - You have an Office document or a picture on your computer or mobile phone that you wish to convert into a PDF file. Just email that file an email attachment to the above address and it will soon return to your Inbox as a PDF file.
...
1. wsmith@wordsmith.org - Get the dictionary definition and synonyms of any word by sending a blank email to this email address. Make the subject line as: define myword

Click on thru for the full set. You can be sure a number of these will be added to MY iPhone address book!

NEVER use your ATM Pin Code in front of a stranger

Working at a bank, I am always amazed at how far criminals will go for a quick buck. This story reminds us to NEVER use your ATM Pin Code in front of a stranger, no matter how helpful they may appear to be. Remember, if a thief has your card and your PIN, as far as the bank is concerned, they ARE you. And there is suprisingly little legal protection for PIN-based transactions. Only signature transactions with a DEBIT card recieve VISA's protection against theft.

10 Common Photographic MIstakes

Here at Mod-Blog we have a number of shutter-bugs (Sean - a real pro, Me - a wanna-be), so I thought this article on common photographic mistakes might be useful. Some of them are fairly common sense, and some gave me "AH HA!" moments. The biggest one from my experience is "Be patient!" Digital is great for grabbing a million shots, but somethings you are best waiting for that perfect one.

Safe Driving Tips the Police Use

This article is a nice summary of safe driving tips recommended to police officers which are VERY applicable to the average non-police driver. Some are common sense, some are not so much.

Airbags save lives, but many a police officer has been unnecessarily injured because their hands were over the airbag when it went off. At the school for law enforcement driving instructors I recently attended, the story was told of an officer who was driving with his wrist draped over the top of the steering wheel. His attention was diverted by the in-car computer and he smashed into a car that suddenly pulled in front of him: the deploying airbag broke his lower arm and caused his own hand to break out his front teeth. While driving straight, police instructors say that your hands should be at 3 and 9 o'clock on the steering wheel.

Another tip offered is to always drive with your windows all the up, or all the way down. They say that many accidents become lethal when a partially-opened window hits the drivers head sideways and cuts deep into the skull.

Common Sense Tips for the Office Worker

This article has a good set of tips for maintaining your reputation and your job if you are an office worker. Honestly, most of them apply widely in life, anyway, so all of our readers may find it interesting.

7. Get it in writing.

Email is one of the single greatest inventions ever in corporate accountability.

If there is ever a doubt in your mind about what you’ve been tasked to do, get it in writing. Sometimes people make judgement calls on the fly when they’re pressed for time. More often than not, when they are proven to have made the incorrect call, they will turn to you and ask you why you did that (idiot!). So having their instructions in black and white will save your ### a hundred times over the course of your career.

Be aware there are a few non-family-friendly words in the article, but they are mostly in context.