Favorite Christmas Cookies By State
It's fun to see what we have in common with our fellow Missourians. When it comes to Christmas cookies though, I think someone misunderstood the question. Google shared with USA TODAY a list of uniquely searched Christmas cookies by state. Some liked sugar cookies, some chose crinkle cookies, but Missouri had "Christmas Cookie Dip" as the result?! Sure, it sounds delicious but what's our favorite cookie, not cookie inspired dessert? Maybe we need another poll to be clear.
Tips To Avoid Holiday Scams
The holiday shopping season opens up opportunities for scams and the FBI is urging folks to follow a few tips to avoid becoming a victim. If you believe you’re the victim of a scam, contact your local police department as well as your bank or credit union.
The FBI offers the following tips:
- Secure all financial accounts with strong passwords or passphrases. The FBI recommends using different passwords for each financial account, as well as multifactor authentication, whenever available.
- Buy directly from secure and reputable websites. Steer clear of unfamiliar sites, especially if they’re offering unrealistic discounts on brand-name merchandise.
- As usual, if a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.
- Before making a purchase, verify the legitimacy of buyers or sellers. If you’re using an online marketplace or auction website, check those feedback ratings. Be wary of any buyers and sellers with lots of unfavorable ratings or no ratings at all.
- Credit cards provide several layers of security against fraud and are typically the safest way to conduct online shopping.
- Skip sellers and websites that demand payment solely through gift cards — that’s a major red flag for fraud.
- Also beware of sellers who insist shoppers pay with cryptocurrency or wire transfers, methods allowing them to quickly receive and bank the funds with little recourse for scammed shoppers.
- Check bank and credit card statements routinely, including after making online purchases and in the weeks following the holidays.
- Never give personal information like your date of birth or Social Security number to anyone you don’t know.
Holiday Burnout is Here
How is your endurance for holiday cheer, has it already came and went? A new study looked into when each US state gets burned out on holiday cheer. Results show people in all 50 states will be burned out by December 15th, which is this Wednesday!
For people in Delaware, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania, the burnout date is TODAY, December 13th. The state with the MOST endurance is New Hampshire and people there can still only make it until December 15th, which is this coming Wednesday. Some states got burned out on holiday cheer well over a week ago. People in Vermont and Montana needed a break by December 3rd, just seven days into the holidays.
Most Popular Dog and Cat Names of 2021
Rover.com just released the results of its data on the most popular dog and cat names of 2021. The top dog names were Bella and Max and the top cat names were Luna and Oliver.
Here are the Top Five for each:
Female dogs:
Bella
Luna
Lucy
Daisy
Lola
Male dogs:
Max
Charlie
Milo
Buddy
Rocky
Female cats:
Luna
Bella
Lily
Lucy
Nala
Male cats:
Oliver
Leo
Milo
Charlie
Max
Some people were creative though, for inspiration they looked to the pandemic. Dogs named "Dr. Fauci" were up 270%. The name "Covid" was up 35% and people are also naming their pets Pfizer and Zoom.
Happiness is Housework...?!
Generational groups love to take jabs at other ones but the Millennials have a very grown up at the way they look at doing chores around the house. In a new survey, 70% of Millennials, people between the ages of 25 and 40, admit they enjoy doing adult things like cooking and cleaning. So much for punishment being sweeping and dusting!
The Dangers of An At-Home Commute
If you work from home you might be glad to skip the drive to the office. However, you still technically "commute" even though it might be a walk from one room to another. If you get injured on that short route, you might be eligible for worker's comp. A man in Germany got out of bed and walked downstairs to start working at his desk. Then, he tripped on the stairs and broke his back. He decided to file an insurance claim though work that said he was technically "commuting" and the court AGREED.
There are already laws in the U.S. to allow for worker's comp if you're injured while working from home. The strange part about the court in Germany is how they ruled. It only applied because he was on his way to his desk for the first time that day. If he'd stopped at his desk but then gone to his kitchen to grab breakfast and fell while doing that, it might not have counted.
Party in the U.S.A.
Need to have a little fun and see something different? WalletHub.com released its annual list of the most fun cities in America and SIN CITY is #1 again. Las Vegas has remained the top place to have a blast every year since 2017.
Here are the top 10 most fun cities in America:
1. Las Vegas. It's first in nightlife, and third in entertainment options.
2. Orlando
3. Atlanta
4. Miami
5. New Orleans
6. San Francisco
7. Austin
8. Chicago
9. Honolulu. It's first in entertainment options.
10. New York City
Pearl City, Hawaii was named the least fun city again this year, but it's only 10 miles from Honolulu, which is #9. Of the 182 cities they considered this year, the five LEAST fun cities are: Pearl City, Hawaii; Brownsville, Texas; Oxnard, California; Ontario, California; and Moreno Valley, California.
Your Christmas Tree Might Be Slowing Down Your Internet Speed
Since your put up the tree and dripped it in tinsel, have you noticed your internet speed slowing down? If your tree is near your WiFi router it can mess with the signal. Putting anything that big in front of your router can cause issues by blocking the signal and wreck your internet speed. The lights and decorations can make it even worse. When the radio waves from your router hit ornaments and tinsel, they bounce off and scatter, which can slow your WiFi down. Plugging the lights and router into the same outlet also isn't a great idea, according to experts. Especially if the lights twinkle or flash. Having them in the same outlet raises the chances of your connection dropping out.
If any obstacle, like the tree, is blocking your line of sight to your router, it will help to move the router or the tree.
Zoom is Tattling on Your Attendance
Zoom is rolling out some new features and one of them is an Attendance Status. This is a notification that will let the host and co-host know if you arrive late to the meeting. It also lets them see if people have accepted or declined the invite. Another update is that Zoom is adding an automatic update feature for Windows and macOS that ensures everyone is running the latest version.