Lizamoon and the Final Step in Securing Your Computer

Lizamoon is named after the web site that it was first noticed on. However once experts knew what to look for earlier infections have been found. However in less than four months there are now over one and a half million web sites that have been infected with the Lizamoon virus!

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It’s Good to be Under 40…

Here is the picture that Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City (photo provided by Resorts) provides for what they expect of their cocktail waitresses.  Unless you look like this, don’t bother applying for their cocktail server position.  And, unless, you look like this, you might not be able to keep the cocktail waitress job that you already have.  Consequently, the Resorts Casino Hotel …

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Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/04/its-good-to-be-under-40/

House votes to reduce GRATs – Act before the effective date

A grantor retained annuity trust (GRAT) can be a tax-efficient technique for transferring to children property that the transferor expects to appreciate in value. The transferor (the “grantor” of the trust) creates an irrevocable trust, places property into the trust as a gift, and retains the right to a fixed payment each year until the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/03/house-votes-to-reduce-grats-act-before-the-effective-date/

Hollywood Accounting: Another good reason to read (and audit) your contracts.

Hollywood accounting (or Hollywood bookkeeping) is the term used to describe how studios report profits on movies and television series. It often carries a derogatory connotation because of various common practices which don’t follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) or necessarily reflect market realities.  These contractually-based practices often serve to reduce revenues, inflate costs, and eliminate …

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Large IRS Whistleblower Payoff Encourages Others

The Internal Revenue Service paid a $1.1 million reward to an anonymous whistleblower for information that exposed a tax fraud by Enron, Bankers Trust and others before the company collapsed.  The whistleblower, a Wall Street banker who has chosen to remain anonymous to protect his job and career, received the maximum reward of 15 percent. …

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Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/03/large-irs-whistleblower-payoff-encourages-others/

Ninth Circuit Supports Lone Pine Orders Without Restrictions

A Lone Pine order is a case management device in which the judge requires the plaintiff to make a prima facie showing of injury, causation, and/or damages. Its purpose is to simplify or eliminate cases to lessen the burdens on the courts and defendants. In a Lone Star order, plaintiffs are required to show an …

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Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/03/ninth-circuit-supports-lone-pine-orders-without-restrictions/

The IRS may get over a billion dollar windfall because taxpayers failed to ask for it.

There is no time limit for the IRS to pursue a taxpayer for failing to file a prior year’s return when money is owed to the government. The same is not true from the taxpayer’s perspective. Time is ticking for those who failed to file a 2007 tax return upon which the government owes a …

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Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/03/the-irs-may-get-over-a-billion-dollar-windfall-because-taxpayers-failed-to-ask-for-it/

Judging a Horse Race Without Any Horses

Gallup recently announced the results of a survey that is interesting not so much for the results but the implied thinking about how people choose among a large list of possibilities with limited information.  Specifically the survey dealt with the Republican candidates for president in 2012, of which there are currently none. By comparison the …

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A Primer On Creating & Using Surveys

Opinion polls (surveys) are used extensively to understand almost everything that cannot be looked up as a scientific fact.  But, poll results are only as good as the sampling technique, survey instrument, and interpretation process that underlie the reported conclusions.  Lots of things can and do go wrong in this regard. This article provides the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/03/a-primer-on-creating-using-surveys-2/

A Primer On Creating & Using Surveys

Opinion polls (surveys) are used extensively to understand almost everything that cannot be looked up as a scientific fact.  But, poll results are only as good as the sampling technique, survey instrument, and interpretation process that underlie the reported conclusions.  Lots of things can and do go wrong in this regard. This article provides the …

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Permanent link to this article: https://betweenthenumbers.net/2011/03/a-primer-on-creating-using-surveys/