These days, with nationwide long distance and cell phone plans, most of us don’t think twice about making a long distance call. However, there are four area codes that look like they belong in the US, but aren’t, and an accidental call to one could have you paying big. I discovered this about two months ago, when my grandmother received a call that she had won a large lottery jackpot. All she had to do was to send several thousand dollars, via Western Union, to a prearranged address. Then the lottery would send her the prize. Sound too good to be true? It is. Thankfully, she wasn’t stupid enough to fall for it. International lottery scams are on the rise. Crooks from overseas are trying to deceive, what they assume to be, rich Americans into sending them cash. While this type of crime has been around for many years, but recent news reports say this type of scam is the rise. Scammers will call from, what appears to be a, local United States area code. They will leave a number to call back, often in the same area code. Their number will also show up on a caller ID, although it’s often faked. Sophisticated computer programs can disguise the actual caller’s number and assign a false number to a caller ID. The victim will then either call them back or call the number left on the ID to see whose call they missed. And BANG. You will get a big fat charge on your phone bill. Plus, some scammers redirect your call to another number that can get charge even more. According to the FCC, the deceiving area codes are: 809, 649, 248, and 876.  While the caller will dial the normal 10 digit American long distance number, 1-xxx-xxx-xxxx, these are located internationally...

Check your lamps and the supply closet. The government has pulled the plug on 75 watt light bulbs. The packs that are left on store shelves are it. While the 75 watt bulbs may now be gone – the feds aren’t stopping there! A quick trip to your local Home Depot or Target can overwhelm you with a giant selection of light bulbs. In fact, you may not even realize that the old school 75 watt incandescent bulbs are gone. But, if you have a lamp that calls for one – you soon realize, you will have to change. The incandescent light bulb can trace its start back to 1802, when British inventor Sir Humphry Davy passed a current through a thin strip of metal to light the first bulb. The light that was given off was very low and lasted only a few seconds. Over the next few decades, he and other inventors would try to refine the product. An incandescent bulb causes light by heating a filament wire to a high temperature by passing an electric current through it. The filament is protected by a glass dome. The bulb is screwed into a lamp or socket by lining up the metal grooves at the bottom. A total of at least 22 inventors have been listed as helping to perfect the modern incandescent bulb. In 1841, British inventor Frederick de Moleyns received the first official patent. In 1878, American inventor Thomas Edison would begin work on a more practical model that would be more affordable, brighter, and last longer. On October 22, 1879, he would create a bulb that would last for 13 ½ hours. He later discovered a bulb that could burn over 1200 hours by using a bamboo filament. It wasn’t until 1880, that another British inventor Joseph...