magicbird

I've earned a lot of points here on Yahoo Q and A over the years, and I"d like to keep them as part of my profile. However, I had to change my email address a few months ago after my email was hacked into (you know, the kind of 'hack' where all your friends get emails claiming that you were mugged in London and all your credit cards were stolen, so would they kindly send $2500 via Western Union...). But I can't seem to transfer my Yahoo profile and info. over to my new email address, even though I did that once in the past. Why can't I make it happen? How do I make it happen?

My father had a Full Military Honors burial. The FMH ceremony, if you've ever seen one, lasts 40 minutes and is deeply moving given all its 'moving parts'--the 76 soldiers, military band, folding of the flag, horse-drawn caisson, Riderless Horse, etc.--so I, like many other children of military officers, had it professionally filmed. In my case the videographer also includes an artfully-done introductory piece about the military cemetery involved.

I know that since my father's FMH ceremony was videotaped by a paid professional that the resulting DVD is under copyright law, which means that I can't legally make copies of it myself--I have to purchase any extra copies from the videographer.

But I want to pass down this DVD--this moving record-- of my father's FMH burial in my FAMILY TREE as well--I don't want it just for now for us children to view. I want my descendants to be able to watch their great-g-g-g-g-grandfather's honorable ceremony, too. I think that they will want to see it (I know that I would).

So my question is this: Is there a time limit for copyrighted material, as there is to patents (which I believe is 17 years)? When, if ever, will I legally be able to make copies of my father's FMH burial to pass along to my future descendants without being in violation of the law?

My daughter called me early this AM to let me know my computer has been hacked into. Ie., all my contacts are getting emails from in my name saying something like, 'It's me! Help! I'm in London on vacation, only I got mugged and they stole all my cash and credit cards, and the hotel won't let me go until I pay my bill so would you please send me $2500 via Western Union so I can pay my bills and come home?'

Now my friends and family are too smart to fall for this, and I'm currently in the process of changing my passwords and getting things straightened out with my email carriers, but my question is this:

What else do I need to worry about besides changing my password? I checked my bank accounts online and they haven't been touched (plus my bank login information is different). Any unforeseen problems that might occur as a result of the hacking? Is it enough to change my password?

Thanks.

I tried out my friend's wii plus game at her house, and I want one for myself. However, I've never owned a TV game system before and Wii's bundles and packages and software-sold-separately online have me totally confused. I see prices ranging from $19.99 to $350.00. Also, I just read an article dated 3 days ago that said Nintendo is dropping the price of their Wii game (Wii Fit? Wii Plus? Not sure) to $175 because it's losing popularity.

Someone told me that I need to buy the Wii Fit no matter what in order to get the game console because the Wii Fit Plus doesn't come with a game console. However, someone else posted a comment online saying that the down side to purchasing the newer Wii Fit Plus was that it rendered her Wii Fit worthless, or worth only what she could sell it for used.

So what's what with the Wii Fit and the Wii Fit Plus? How much should I expect to pay for the Wii Fit Plus WITH the needed console, balance board, hand device(s), and anything else I might need to make the game plug into my TV and work?

I'm considering signing up with Lumosity (for about $6.00/month/one year), which is a mind-improving game that is supposed to improve memory, focus, etc., but are there games out there that any of you think are better than Lumosity?

From 1900 to 1907 'Typhoid Mary' Mallon worked as a cook for various families in the NYC area, spreading typhoid to each of the families she worked for. She did not believe that she was a 'typhoid carrier' and was convinced that the NYC Health Department was only persecuting her when she had in fact done nothing wrong. However, the NYC Health Dept. determined her to be a carrier [the first identified 'carrier' in US history, by the way, which made it even harder for Typhoid Mary to believe], and police took her into custody against her will. Under sections 1169 and 1170 of the Greater NY Charter, Mary was held in isolation for 3 years at a clinic on a remote NY island.

Eventually the NY State Commissioner of Health decided that disease carriers would no longer be held in isolation. Mallon could be freed as long as she agreed never to work again as a cook and to follow certain hygienic precautions. She agreed to this, and was returned to the mainland to work as a laundress. However, it didn't pay as well as being a cook, so Mary took on the pseudonym 'Mary Brown' and resumed working as a cook, at a hospital this time, where she infected 25 people and one died. Authorities found her again, arrested her again, and she was returned to quarantine on the island for the rest of her life (1915 to 1938, another 23 years). So she spent 26 years of her life in isolation.

My question is this: What would authorities do with a 'Typhoid Mary'-like carrier in the US today--ie., another known, identified LIFE-LONG carrier of a specific disease (ie., Mary wasn't just temporarily contagious to others, she was contagious to others from 1900 to 1938, when she died; an autopsy revealed that she did in fact have live typhoid living inside her) who refused to voluntarily isolate themselves--should another deadly, contagious disease similar to typhoid suddenly sweep the nation? Would today's laws allow authorities to force such individuals to live in isolation? If not, how do you think society, especially the people in the community she lived in, would deal with a "Typhoid Mary" living among them--a disease-carrier who refused to believe she was a carrier and thus went out and about in her community to shop, go to the movies, play Bingo, or whatever?

We've been getting 10 phone calls a day from this one particular telemarketer. We don't pick up the phone any more (there's usually just a recording if we do).

Can we block this caller? How? Does the phone company charge for doing that?

If you ask the hotel person assigned to you not to charge your guests, shouldn't she see to that in advance?

Okay, my 96 yo career army officer father passed away and was going to be (and ultimately was) buried with Full Military Honors at Arlington National Cemetery in VA three days ago. That means that everyone in the family who could attend would have to come in from out of town since none of us live in Arlington. It was a Very Important Ceremony to us children, more important than a wedding really.

I found a hotel in Arlington in advance and was given the name, phone no. and email address of Betsy J., the employee at the hotel who was responsible for taking care of our 17-person party. I made clear to Betsy that I was picking up the tab for all of my adult children and my 3 cousins who would be attending. I made it clear to Betsy that I didn't want any embarrassment caused by one of my guests being charged for their hotel room when, in my invitations to my guests, I explicitly stated that their rooms would be paid for, as a gift in Dad's memory.

...and I didn't tell the hotel people this just once. I brought it up 3 times, that I did NOT want any of my guests asked for their credit cards when they checked in. Betsy J. and her assistant said that they would see to that.

But it didn't happen. I found out after the fact that ALL of my cousins had to pay for their rooms when they walked in the door. Not only that but my adult children, who apparently made it clear when they checked in that I, their mother, was paying their bill (something my cousins were too polite to do, tell the hotel to put the charges on my card) were not allowed to check out of the hotel without paying the desk first! Fortunately I was still there---but the hotel wouldn't let my children check out until I made a special trip down to the front desk to pay for their stay, even though I had GIVEN the hotel MY CREDIT CARD INFORMATION and all the instructions two weeks in advance!

Not only that but, had my one son not been able to reach me by phone at the time--he didn't even have enough money in his bank account to cover the cost of the bill at the time, so God knows how long he would have been stuck there waiting for me to show up!

I was able to undo the charges to my cousins and pay for their stay. However, I'm embarrassed that the hotel made my cousins pay upfront in the first place, and it bothers me to think that my cousins spent the entire weekend of my father's burial, which I wanted to be a peaceful, loving, reunion time for my family, thinking that I hadn't kept my word. I haven't even SEEN these cousins since we were little children, so it's not like we knew each other well; for the hotel to ask them for their credit cards made me come across to them like a liar and a bad hostess.

Shouldn't the hotel person in charge of our party had seen to these details in advance? I had asked her to, she assured me that she would, and I trusted that she would. Was I expecting too much?

PS: I had given Betsy J., the hotel person responsible for overseeing my 17-person party:

1. A complete list of names, first names and last names, of each and every couple or individual family member for whom I would be paying.

2. The kind of room each couple or individual needed (one king or 2 doubles).

3. My credit card no. so that the hotel could put my guest's charges on MY card right away, rather than ask my guests to pay, so that my guests would know that I CARED ENOUGH to make arrangements for them in advance! [And I THOUGHT that I had!]

0 seconds ago - 4 days left to answer.

I saw my friend's Wii game, and what I liked best about it is that you stood on a platform and could see how good your balance was. Do the other games, like ps and others, do that?

I just saw a Wii gaming system today for the first time at a friend's house. I thought it was great, and was thinking about getting one for myself (for exercise, balance, etc.). Is Wii the best game out there for exercise and balance of the body, or are there better systems out there? What's best?

I just learned yesterday that PA has established a partnership program with long-term health care, meaning that if you buy their long-term health care insurance you won't lose any of your personal assets because of your long-term care needs. I know that most states (according to Suze Orman at least) are moving in this direction too. Does your state have this partnership with long-term health care yet? If it does, have you purchased it or are you going to purchase it?

I joined an MLM in 2010 because I liked its products. I'm officially a distributor. But its products are very expensive, and I haven't sold any of the MLMs products to anyone else to date. We itemize our taxes. Can I declare the MLM products I purchased as business expenses?

...because mine doesn't. It was an expensive raincoat, about $150. I've had it for about 8 months, but never had to wear it in heavy rain until today. I was only outside in the rain today for less than 4 minutes total--but my coat got soaked through!

So does that happen to other people too? If so, do you use those waterproofing sprays on your outerwear?

I was born to an American military serviceman while he was serving in Germany. Although I was (I think, I'm not sure) born on a US Army base, my original birth certificate is written in German and stamped with a seal of the German town in which I was born. There is no mention on the birth certificate of the fact that my parents were both American citizens. When I was 13 yo, my father discovered that he was supposed to have established my American citizenship at the time of my birth, which he had not done, so at age 13 (because the authorities weren't sure what to do in my case, I ended up receiving a US "Certificate of Citizenship" complete with my photo and my signature on it. I had to hold up my right hand and take naturalization oath, which included the statement 'that I was willing to die for my country.' [Hey, I was only 13, not an adult]!

When I was born the US did not allow dual citizenship, although many people born in foreign countries like myself but raised mostly in the US did not formally 'lock themselves in' to being American until they joined the military (or, if male, perhaps when they signed the draft card. Not sure).

But now US law has changed and Americans can have dual citizenship. I may want to move to a European country in the future, and I understand it's much easier to do so if you have European citizenship.

Would I legally be considered a German citizen as well as an American citizen at this time since I was born in Germany and the US now allows dual citizenship?

I had one, and I have several friends who have seen a spirit or been contacted by a dead relative. Have you ever had a psychic experience?

Okay, so 30 years ago, after I'd gotten married and bought a home but before we had any children, we went to a lawyer and drew up a will. It was a very generic will, stating among other things that our property would be evenly divided among any children we might have or adopt. We've always assumed that this will was in place and, should we have died unexpectedly would be accessible to our heirs. Well, a couple of years ago we moved to PA and someone told us that we should have our will 'registered' in the state of PA. So I started searching for our original will to have it transferred and I CAN'T FIND IT. The lawyer who wrote it up died and his office no longer exists. I was told that the will should be registered in the NJ county where we had it drawn up. So I called the NJ county but the woman told me "we don't have wills here, call the State." So I called the State of NJ, and they person there told me that the State didn't keep copies of wills.

SO WHERE IS OUR WILL? Did our will evaporate when our lawyer died? If we had a copy ourselves, we lost it years ago in one of our many moves. So does this mean that all these years, without us knowing it, our children did not have the protection that our existing will would have provided? Would our estate have had to go through probate for our children to get their inheritance just because our lawyer died and his office went defunct?

I KNOW that we can draw up a new will rather than search for the old one--but what bothers me is that, had we died, it apparently would have been as if we had drawn up no will at all.

So what happens to wills if the people die and it turns out their lawyer died first? Do they just disappear? Evaporate?

What is "trust?" Can trust be freely given or can it only be earned? Can you give me an example?

If so, how does it affect you (or him/her)? And what kind of impact does it have on how you live your life?

A big problem in the US is that people overspend. Did any teachers or courses during your school years teach you how to balance a checkbook, stick to a budget, plan for retirement, etc? [Mine didn't, but I'm hoping that younger people get some exposure to handling their finances].