Bar Card #3: Giveafuck

I've discussed dontgiveafuck before. It's inspired my latest card. Good luck with the final push!

Movie Review: The Awakening

I try to watch all the haunting movies I can find.   Many of them follow a very similar story arc and I am rarely surprised by them.  Not that this is a bad thing,  I love ghost stories and I enjoy them in all their permutations.  However, it is nice to find a haunting tale that is a little surprising.  I found the awakening to be surprising.  

The Awakening is a mystery set at the height of the spiritualist movement in England.   It is just after World War I and the Spanish Flu and charlatans claiming to speak to the dead are prolific.  The heroine of this tale travels the country debunking fraudulent spiritualists and proving hauntings to be the machinations of man rather than manifestations of the dead.   Of course,  all this changes for our heroine when she is invited to investigate a haunting in a boys' boarding school.  Initially,  it seems that she will be able to quickly debunk the ghost story behind the boys boarding school, but as the haunting escalates, our heroine's wits begin to unravel and we often wonder if perhaps she is more haunted than the school itself.  

The Awakening does an amazing job of mixing the psychological hauntings of those who had survived World War I with the physical haunting of the school.  The ghosts of the soul are just as terrifying as the ones that wander the school and the combination of both creates a beautiful tension in all the characters.  I loved this movie in all its haunting beauty. 

Bar Exam Cards....Second Card

As promised, here is card #2 for all of you studying for the bar (or even considering it, because it's truly preemptive). 

Kentucky Fried Chicken Rat Tail

Fast-food chains, like Jollibee and McDonalds, have been subject to urban legends. These stories only focus on the foods they serve to their customers. All of them tell that, These restaurants are filthy, serving their gross meals to their loyal buyers.

Actually, one of my readers contributed one urban legend about Kentucky Fried Chicken (more commonly known as KFC). Thanks to him.

Finger Lickin' Myth A famous fast-food chain whose specialty are fried chicken has an urban legend too. In a certain branch of the mentioned fast-food store, a customer ordered one piece of their world renowned fried chicken. When the patron was about to eat the meal, he/she noticed that it had a string-like object attached to the meat. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a tail... of a rat, a FRIED RAT! The customer complained the tainted meat to the manager who speculated that a rat might have slipped and fell into the frier. The management offered a certain amount of cash to this person and also a brand new car to keep his/her mouth shut. I think it was a failed attempt to silence the person as the story got out.

The above story is similar to some stories in USA: (I got this from Snopes.com)

[Collected by Fine, 1976] An old lady ordered out for Kentucky Fried Chicken. She was eating along when she noticed teeth; she pulled back the crust and discovered she was eating a rat. She had a heart attack and died, and her relatives sued Kentucky Fried Chicken for a lot of money.   [Collected by Fine, 1977] There was a wife who didn't have anything ready for supper for her husband. So she quick got a basket of chicken and tried to make her dinner look fancy with the pre-pared chicken. Thus, she fixed a candle-light dinner, etc. When her and her husband started eating the chicken, they thought it tasted funny. Soon to find out it was a fried rat.

According to Snopes.com:

... The choice of a rat as a contaminant is easy: rats have turned up in food products before; they're the right size and shape to be mistaken for pieces of chicken (especially when fried in batter); and rats are vermin, symbols of filth and decay. The fact that the rat-chicken is usually eaten in the dark is a plot device to prevent premature discovery of the "secret," although some might consider it an important symbolic aspect of the legend.

Well, perhaps the only reason why these stories rise because of customer loyalty competition. I remember the story of the Cat - As the Main Ingredient of Siopao. I wrote there:

... (This is just) a kind of business technique on winning customers' favor over the said restaurant, thus they told false stories circulated in the city.

.

Source:
Contributed by: Jan Erik Bernal
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/food/friedrat.asp

Cards in anticipation of the bar exam

As my fuse grows shorter the closer I get to the Bar Exam, I find myself having to excuse or apologize for my behavior more than I'm comfortable admitting. 

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like Hallmark makes cards that concern the bar exam. 

So I made my own.

This is Card #1. More to follow. May God have mercy on our souls. 

What you need to know about Debt Cancellation during Tax Time

Question: Madam Money, I settled a debt with a creditor and they sent me a 1099-C. What is a 1099-C and how does this affect my credit?

Answer:  Good question.  A settlement is the acceptance of a partial payment of the amount of debt owed. The remaining amount of the debt is known as the deficiency balance.  The deficiency balance, not collected, is essentially forgiven. Debt cancellation is the forgiveness of the entire amount owed. 

The creditor can file a 1099-C, which is a cancellation of debt form, with the IRS if the creditor has either 1) reached a settlement with a debtor for less than was originally owed, or has 2) forgiven the entire debt, concluding it will never be able to collect the debt.  If the creditor files a 1099-C for the amount forgiven to the IRS, that amount will have to be claimed as income on the person's personal tax return.

If and when a creditor issues a 1099-C in your name to the IRS, the amount included on the form is considered income that you must claim and pay taxes on.

Creditors must file a 1099-C with both the IRS and with the debtor for all debts of $600 or more under the following circumstances:

1. Cancellation or extinguishment making the debt unenforceable in a receivership, foreclosure, or similar federal or state court proceeding.
   
   
2. Cancellation or extinguishment when the statute of limitations for collecting the debt expires, or when the statutory period for filing a claim or beginning a deficiency judgment proceeding expires. Expiration of the statute of limitations is an identifiable event only when a debtor's affirmative statute of limitations defense is upheld in a final judgment or decision of a court and the appeal period has expired.
   
   
3. Cancellation or extinguishment when the creditor elects foreclosure remedies that by law end or bar the creditor's right to collect the debt.
   
   
4. Discharge of indebtedness by agreement between the creditor and the debtor to cancel the debt at less than full consideration.
   
   
5. Discharge of indebtedness because of a decision or a defined policy of the creditor to discontinue collection activity and cancel the debt. A creditor's defined policy can be in writing or an established business practice of the creditor. A creditor's practice to stop collection activity and abandon a debt when a particular nonpayment period expires is a defined policy.
   
   
6. The expiration of nonpayment testing period. This event occurs when the creditor has not received a payment on the debt for a 36 month period beginning on December 31st. (this 36 month period is rebuttable by creditor based on facts and circumstances)

 
If you settle with a creditor or if they agree to forgive the debt, be sure to ask the credit if they file a 1099-C with the IRS.  A settlement or cancellation of debt may help you with your budget and credit on the front end but it may cost you during tax time if you have to claim that amount on your taxes as income.

Some creditors may settle a debt with the debtor without filing a 1099-C and just report the debt as a debt "settled for lessor amount" on the credit report. The affect on the credit report will relatively both be the same. These accounts will eventually have less of a negative affect on the credit report the older they get. Time heals all credit report wounds.

If you received a 1099-C, make sure to give this to our tax accountant for further guidance and assistance.

Tarra Jackson
Madam Money
www.MadamMoney.com
FB.com/tarrajacksonenterprises
Twitter: @MsMadamMoney

Thanks for your responds...

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Please forward us engagement letter to sign and furnish us with estimate for legal fees if you have no conflict.

Best Regard

Itsuki Hiroyuk

Kodansha Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

12-21 Otowa 2-chome Bunkyo-ku

Tokyo, Japan 112-8001

Telephone: +81 (0)3/53 95 35 71