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Tips to save you big problems.

Even If you dislike attorneys..You will love them for these tips.

Read this and make a copy for your files in case you need to refer to it someday. Maybe we should all take some of his advice! A corporate attorney sent the following out to the employees in his company:

1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put 'PHOTO ID REQUIRED.'

2. When you are writing checks to pay on your credit  card accounts, DO NOT put the complete> account number on the 'For' line. Instead, just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone who might be handling your check as it passes through all the check processing channels won't have access to it.

3. Put your work phone # on your checks instead of your home phone. If you have a PO Box use that instead of your home address. If you do not have a PO Box, use your work address. Never have your SS# printed on your checks. (DUH!) You can add it if it is necessary. But if you have It printed, anyone can get it.

4. Place the contents of your wallet on a  photocopy machine. Do both sides of each license, credit card, etc. You will know what you had in your wallet and all of the account numbers and phone numbers to call and cancel.. Keep the photocopy in a safe place.

I also carry a photocopy of my passport when I travel either here or abroad. We've all heard horror stories about fraud that's committed on us in stealing a Name, address, Social Security number, credit cards..

Unfortunately, I, an attorney, have first hand knowledge because my wallet was stolen last month. Within a week, the thieves ordered an expensive monthly cell phone package, applied for a VISA credit  card, had a credit line approved to buy a Gateway computer, received a PIN number from DMV to change my driving record information online, and more.

But here's some critical information to limit the damage in case this happens to you or someone you know:

5. We have been told we should cancel our credit cards immediately. But the key is having the toll free numbers and your card numbers handy so you know whom to call. Keep those where you can find them.

6. File a police report immediately in the jurisdiction where your credit cards, etc., were stolen. This proves to credit providers you were diligent, and this is a first step toward an investigation (if there ever is one).

But here's what is perhaps most important of  all: (I never even thought to do this.)

7. Call the 3 national credit reporting organizations immediately to place a fraud alert on your name and also call the Social Insurance(Service Canada) fraud line number.. I had never heard of doing that until advised by a bank that called to tell me an application for credit was made over the  Internet in my name.

The alert means any company that checks your credit knows your information was stolen, and they have to contact you by phone to authorize new credit..

By the time I was advised to do this, almost two weeks after the theft, all the damage had been done. There are records of all the credit checks initiated by the thieves' purchases, none of which I knew about before placing the alert. Since then, no additional damage has been done, and the thieves threw my wallet away this weekend (someone turned it in). It seems to have stopped them dead in their tracks..

Now, here are the numbers you always need to contact about your wallet, if it has been stolen:

1.) Equifax:
1-800-525-6285

2.) Experian (formerly TRW):
1-888-397-3742

3.) Trans Union
 1-800-680 7289 1-800-680 7289

4.) Social Insurance (fraud line): Service Canada
1-800-206-7218

We pass along jokes on the Internet; we pass  along just about everything.

If you are willing to pass this information along, it could really help those of whom you care about.

The Numbers Identity Thieves Want From You

 

There are two certainties in life – death and taxes. Who would have ever thought that there would ever be a contender for a third certainty in life – your personal information being stolen. It’s a harsh reality that we’re all facing and the numbers alone are enough to make you want to abandon your electronics and run away to a deserted island. From 2004-2012 over 1.1 billion records were compromised and in 2013 alone there were over 91 million records that identity thieves got their hands on.
So what information are identity thieves looking for? There are certain numbers they’re trying to get their hands on, numbers that can easily convince others that they are you.
Dates and ZIPs/Postal Codes
Your birth date, dates of employment, where you lived – while these may seem harmless to share on the internet, identity thieves can take hold of your identity with these numbers through various means. Be careful with over-sharing on social media, it isn’t necessary to list every little detail about your life on your Facebook page. With social media you should stick to the mantra “less is more”.
Social Security Number/ Social Insurance Number
These numbers are the skeleton key to your financial information, only provide it when legally required and never carry your card around with you – yes, that means we have to use our memory.
Driver’s License and Passport Numbers
Once an identity thief comes into possession of these numbers, these documents can be easily counterfeited with new names, addresses and photographs.
Bank Account Numbers
Paying with a cheque is a dying art form, which is probably a good thing since your bank account number is emblazoned across the front of your cheque, ripe for the picking by identity thieves. Try to avoid using cheques as much as possible –in this case, paying with plastic is a safer option.
PINs
There are many different tricks that scammers use to take hold of PIN numbers, from card skimmers to hidden cameras; scammers use technology in their hunt for your coveted PIN numbers. When using a bank or debit machine it helps to be a little paranoid – be wary of your surroundings and cover your hands when inputting your PIN. Another good way is to avoid your PIN being stolen is to use cash and avoid third party bank machines as much as possible.
IP Addresses
If a scammer gains access to your computer’s IP address it opens a gateway to access everything on your computer. Scammers can infect your computer with malware and steal any sensitive information you keep on your computer. Ransomware has become a popular tool for hackers of late – malware which locks you out of your files and demand you pay a fee to gain access back to your content your own computer. There are solutions to dealing with Ransomware on your computer as well as tactics to surf the internet and keep your IP address hidden from the bad guys.
It’s an unfortunate that our more digital and connected world has left so much of our information vulnerable. It always helps to stay one step ahead of fraudsters, and knowing is half the battle.
by: Big Dog Shred Bins

It's our annual Canada Day Quiz with 50 questions to challenge your patriotism

Think you're a great Canadian? The Historica-Dominion Institute challenges you to test your knowledge of Canadian history with a Canada Day quiz. Try your luck at 50 trivia questions 

By Nanaimo Daily News June 30, 2011

1. Who was the political leader who led the campaign to introduce universal health care?
2. Which once and future Prime Minister lost the 1874 election after it became known that he offered bribes during the construction of the transcontinental railway?
3. The Hudson's Bay Company is the world's oldest chartered trading company. What product gave this company its start?
4. What Canadian figure skater was first in the world to land a quadruple jump in a world competition?
5. What three oceans border Canada?
6. What medical breakthrough led to a 1923 Nobel Prize for Frederick Banting and J.J.R. Macleod?
7. Which Canadian province has the largest land size?
8. In the federal Parliament, what is a law called before it is passed?
9. The country's worst health crisis, spread by troops returning from overseas services in the First World War, was caused by what disease?
10. In 1942, a national plebiscite sparked a fierce debate over military service and national unity. What was this plebiscite about?
11. Which mountain is Canada's highest?
12. Quebec cabinet minister Pierre Laporte was taken hostage and murdered in the crisis initiated by which extremist separatist group?
13. Who was the first woman to be appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada?
14. Who was Canada's prime minister during the Second World War?
15. Who wrote the lyrics to Canada's national anthem?
16. Canada is a part of the voluntary association of countries that used to belong to the British Empire. What is this association called?
17. What was the name given to the group of women involved in Edwards vs. the Attorney General of Canada, also known as the Persons Case?
18. What two Canadian cities were part of the "Original Six" NHL teams?
19. Which Canadian city hosted the world during the summer Olympics in 1976?
20. What was the name of Canada's flag before the Maple Leaf?
21. During what war did Canadian doctor Norman Bethune create the first mobile blood transfusion clinic in 1936?
22. Which province elected the first female provincial premier in 1993?
23. Which province was, in 1916, the first to grant women the right to vote?
24. Which province was, in 1940, the last to grant women the right to vote?
25. Winnifred Blair of Saint John, N.B., was crowned the first winner of this pageant, which was cancelled 69 years later, on Jan. 3, 1992.
26. On Aug. 31, 1976, Carallyn Bowes became the first woman to accomplish this, a feat that took 133 days to complete.
27. Canada's first post office was established in Halifax in 1755. The first Deputy Postmaster General was this American thinker and revolutionary.
28. On Feb. 26, 1972, Michel Girouard and his pianist, Rejean Tremblay, got married, the first of this kind of wedding in Canadian history.
29. In 1833, painter Joseph Legare opened Canada's first one of these, in Quebec City
30. Sir Alec Guinness spoke these immortal words on July 13, 1953: "Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious summer by this son of York" to debut this festival.
31. The very first YMCA in North America was opened in 1851 in this Canadian city.
32. This Canadian prime minister won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in developing the UN Emergency Force in 1957.
33. Who was the first Canadian woman in space, flying aboard the American space shuttle Discovery from Jan. 22 to 30, 1992?
34. This sport, which origin-ated among the Algonquian tribes of the St Lawrence Valley, is the oldest organized sport continuously played in North America.
35. Between 1915 and 1994, The Montreal Canadiens won the Stanley Cup this many times.
36. In 1945, this Montreal Canadiens player was the first hockey player to score 50 goals in 50 games.
37. This kind of suit was developed in 1941 by W.R. Franks and his colleagues at the University of Toronto to allow pilots to carry out high-speed manoeuvres without losing consciousness.
38. This bridge, at 12.9 kilometres in length, is the longest bridge in the world to cross ice-covered saltwater.
39. In response to the temperance movement, Toronto pharmacist John J. McLaughlin invented this drink in 1907 as a popular alternative to alcohol.
40. Which province's entry into Confederation had to be moved up a day due to concerns that the original date, April 1, 1949, was April Fool's Day?
41. This prime minister holds the record for the shortest term, 69 days, from May 1 to July 8, 1896.
42. This prime minister holds the record for longest unbroken term, serving 15 straight years in office, from July 11, 1896, to Oct. 6, 1911.
43. The oldest dinosaur bones in Canada, fossils that are approximately 200 million years old, were found in what province?
44. Canada's most northerly point is this cape in Nunavut.
45. John Ware, nicknamed the "Smoked Irishman," started ranching in Alberta in the late 1880s and was the first black one of these in Canada.
46. Which of the following slogans is best associated with Canada's constitution? a. Liberty, equality, fraternity b. Peace, order and good government c. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness
47. Name the trade agreement that links Canada, Mexico, and the United States, and which went into effect in 1994.
48. What was the name of the route used by fleeing American slaves to get to Canada?
49. Which American War sped the move toward Confederation?
50. In 1959, John Diefenbaker's government cancelled the development of what new warplane?
BONUS QUESTIONS
1. What year was Dr. Emily Howard Stowe, Canada's first female doctor, granted a medical licence?
2. Using tanks and a garden hose with no nozzle, Charles Merle Rolston of Vancouver opened the first one of these in Canada in 1908.
3. What Canadian city houses the longest continuously operating ballet company in Canada?
4. The Dionne quintuplets were born on May 28 of what year?
ANSWERS TO CANADA DAY QUIZ
1. Tommy Douglas
2. Sir John A. Macdonald
3. fur
4. Kurt Browning
5. Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic
6. the discovery of insulin
7. Quebec
8. a bill
9. influenza
10. conscription
11. Mount Logan, in the Yukon
12. FLQ (Front de liberation du Quebec)
13. Bertha Wilson
14. William Lyon Mackenzie King
15. Calixa Lavallee
16. The Commonwealth
17. The Famous Five
18. Montreal and Toronto
19. Montreal
20. Red Ensign
21. Spanish Civil War
22. P.E.I. (Catherine Callbeck)
23. Manitoba
24. Quebec
25. Miss Canada Pageant
26. running across Canada
27. Benjamin Franklin
28. a same-sex one
29. an art gallery
30. Stratford Shakespeare Festival
31. Montreal
32. Lester B. Pearson
33. Roberta Bondar
34. Lacrosse
35. 24
36. Maurice Richard
37. The G-suit
38. Confederation Bridge (between P.E.I. and New Brunswick)
39. Canada Dry Ginger Ale
40. Newfoundland
41. Sir Charles Tupper
42. Sir Wilfrid Laurier
43. Nova Scotia (at the Bay of Fundy, near Parrsboro)
44. Cape Columbia
45. a cowboy
46. b) Peace, order and good government
47. NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement)
48. The Underground Railroad
49. The Civil War
50. The Avro Arrow
BONUS QUESITONS
1. 1880
2. a gas station
3. Winnipeg, since 1939
4. 1934
The Historica-Dominion Institute is the largest independent organization dedicated to history and citizenship in Canada. Its mandate is to build active and informed citizens through a greater knowledge and appreciation of the history, heritage and stories of Canada. Visit www. historica-dominion.ca.

© (c) CanWest MediaWorks Publications Inc.

The Personal Documents You Should Be Shredding

It doesn’t take long to build up a collection of paper and receipts chock full of your personal info, while you may get the urge to throw all of the documents out (or cleanse with fire), the more secure (and safer) option is to shred. The next question you might ask is “what do I shred?” Keep reading and you’ll see how you can cut down on all that paper clutter:

What to Shred:

• Anything that has personal info (your name, phone number, address, social security number, or bank account info)
• ATM receipts
• Bills
• Credit card receipts
• Used airline tickets
• Expired credit cards, visas, passports, and IDs

 The documents you should be shredding after a certain amount of time:

• Tax records and receipts – 7 years
• Pay stubs and bank statements – 1 year
• Home purchase, sale, or improvement documents – 6 Years after you sell
• Medical records and bills – 1 Year after payment (in case of disputes)
• Warranty docs – Until it expires

While you can’t control what businesses do with your personal info, you can by shredding your own personal documents. As long as you shred what was just covered, you won’t be the cause of your own identity theft.

Catholic documents in oldest U.S. city preserved

 

By Ron Word
Associated Press

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Sister Catherine Bitzer slowly opened a file box and carefully removed a brittle page, scarred by years of neglectful storage, mold and insects. At 415 years old, the marriage record written by a Roman Catholic priest is still readable and is one of the oldest known European records from the United States.

It's among thousands of artifacts detailing the lives of the Spanish soldiers, missionaries and merchants who settled St. Augustine, the nation's oldest permanent city. The church kept the only official records, a role that today is filled by government.
After being scattered from Florida and surviving destruction for centuries, they are now safe in a newly renovated waterproof, fireproof and climate-controlled building at the Diocese of St. Augustine, said Bitzer, the archivist of the diocese.
Michael Gannon, a professor emeritus of history at the University of Florida, calls the archives "a pocketful of miracles." He tracked down most of the documents, which had traveled to Cuba, back to St. Augustine and then Notre Dame, Ind.
The earliest documents detail the births, confirmations, marriages and deaths of the Spanish residents in St. Augustine from 1594 to 1763, when the British took over Florida.
Dated Jan. 24, 1594, and handwritten by Father Diego Escobar de Sambrana, the record held by Bitzer details the marriage of soldier Gabriel Hernandez to Catalina de Valdes in St. Augustine, some 26 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.
There are also records of the diocese's nine bishops and the Spanish colonial government, and microfilm of records on explorations, the attacks of English and French corsairs, the development of slavery and reports on Indian customs and languages.
Missing from the collection are the documents from the first 29 years of Catholic life in St. Augustine. Gannon believes they may have been destroyed by Sir Francis Drake, the English privateer, who sacked the town in 1586.
Tracking down and consolidating the collection in the diocese archive has been a long project for Gannon and other archivists.
For about a third of their existence, the documents have been away from St. Augustine. When Spanish Florida became a British outpost in 1763, the 15-volume parish records were placed in a crypt of the cathedral in Havana, Cuba, remaining forgotten for 107 years.
The first bishop of St. Augustine, Augustin Verot, found 14 of the 15 volumes in 1871. The 15th volume was found in 1938. The documents were sent to the National Archives in 1939, where they were encapsulated in transparent cellulose-diacetate foil for protection.
By the early 1960s, when Gannon was working on his doctoral dissertation on Verot, he began looking for documents detailing the lives of early Catholics in St. Augustine. "There was no collection of documents in Florida that any colleague could identify," Gannon said.
In 1961, Gannon asked a maid in the cathedral rectory in St. Augustine if she knew of any collections of old papers in the building. She directed Gannon to a closet off the second-story hallway.
He found documents from the Vatican setting up St. Augustine as a diocese in 1871, Verot's diary and correspondence from five other bishops.
Later in 1961, Gannon traveled to the University of Notre Dame to do research in its library. The parish registers had been sent there during World War II in 1942 to protect them from German U-boat activity in the Atlantic Ocean. He found them in the library attic, which he considered a fire hazard.
When they first came back to Florida, they were kept in the vault at St. Augustine National Bank. Gannon later found them stacked in a hallway floor opposite the boiler room in the Cathedral parish rectory.
"I felt especially blessed, as though divine force was leading me one step ahead of the cleaning lady, one step ahead of the wrecking ball, one step ahead of a possible fire," Gannon said.
Now that they are safely stored, the next project is to digitize them, so they can be readily and safely used by researchers.
Dr. Timothy Matovina, professor of theology and director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism, University of Notre Dame, said the collection is an important resource for the history of Catholics in America.
"As Hispanic Catholics grow in number across the country, the legacy of colonial Catholicism becomes all the more important to research and remember," Matovina said.

Records Clean-Up Days: Getting Your Records Storage Under Control

Summer quarter seems to be a popular time of the year for departments to roll up their sleeves, pull on their jeans, and tackle the backlog of records sitting in storage areas. The increased amount of archival collections that we have received and the certificates of disposals being submitted made me think of writing an article to help departments that may be contemplating a cleaning project. Whether you have a central storage area that needs to be cleaned out or individual offices that need attention, organizing a clean-up day is a good way to get it done. Here are some tips to planning and carrying out a successful records clean-up day.

Get everyone involved

Everyone creates and stores records, so to get a good handle on what you have, what can be disposed of and what needs to stay, try to get as many people in the department involved as possible. Highlight the benefits of creating and maintaining a well-organized file system and work area. If you are working on a storage area, take inventory of what you have in storage to the best of your ability and contact the people who are responsible for the records.

Consult your records retention schedules

It is essential to consult your records retention schedules to find out whether or not you can dispose of the records. You will want to review the schedule itself and see if it requires any updates before the clean-up day. Also, make sure that records for each unit of the department are covered on a schedule. If not, contact records management to update and existing schedule or create a new one to address the missing records.

Contact Records Management

If you need updated or new schedules, the work will have to be completed before your scheduled day so that you can dispose of the records that were not currently scheduled at the outset of your planning. Additionally, I would be happy to be onsite on the day of your clean-up to assist with records analysis and to box up records to be transferred to the Archives. An extra set of hands is always helpful during a records clean-up!

Pick a date and advertise it.

This can be made easier if you use Outlook calendaring. Use the “Plan a Meeting” action in the calendar application to view the schedules of the staff in your department to determine the time when you will be able to get the most participation.

If each staff member is working on their own desk/office area, draft some guidelines for addressing records and let them know where the departmental records retention schedules can be found. If it is impossible or inconvenient for a staff member to participate on the date that you assign, you can ask them to examine their stored records before the event and mark what can be disposed of and what should be retained.

Don’t forget your electronic records

PCs and storage media should be evaluated as well as your paper records. This is a good time to evaluate whether you need to migrate records to another medium or format in order to keep them accessible throughout their lifetime. Electronic storage may have special destruction requirements. See UCit’s Computer and Electronic Media Disposal Policy at http://www.uc.edu/ucit/documents/RETIRED_EQUIPMENT_CLEANING_PROCESS.pdf.

Have equipment and supplies ready

Make sure that you have a dolly or two for moving boxes that will be disposed of or stored elsewhere. You may also need records cartons if you are pulling records out of file cabinets and transferring them to inactive storage and bins for the temporary storage of records to be shredded if a vendor is not onsite. Your shredding vendor may be able to supply you with the appropriate bins.  Disposable dust masks are recommended, especially if participants have allergies. Also, don’t forget a broom and dust pan and other cleaning supplies. Storage areas can get pretty dusty. And of course, have your records retention schedules available as well as something to note down what is being disposed of so that it will be easier later to complete your certificate of records disposal.

Set up shredding services

Chances are good that you will end up with more paper to shred than a department-owned machine can handle. If you do not already have a relationship with a shredding vendor, you can find contact information on the records management website at http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/records_management/vendors.html. Additionally, you can contact the office of Information Security, which has a contract with Shred-It. InfoSec can be reached at infosec@uc.edu or by calling 558-ISec.

Most shredding vendors can either pick up your material after the clean-up is complete, or they can be onsite during the event. Decide what you would like to do and discuss your needs with the vendor beforehand.

Complete disposal certificates

As always, it is essential that you document what records you dispose of, including those that you destroy or discard AND those that you transfer to the Archives. As you will have a lot going on the day of your clean-up and several people may be responsible for disposal, it may be easiest to have a notepad available and write down what records are being disposed of as it happens, then completing the form later. The certificate forms can be found at http://www.libraries.uc.edu/libraries/arb/records_management/FormsDownloads.html.

Keep things organized

Now that you have everything clean, tidy and organized, nail down procedures that will help to keep it that way. Institute an annual or semi-annual records purge based on retention requirements. The frequency of a purge should be based on the volume of records that you accumulate, the space you have available for storage, and the resources you have to perform the purge. Make rules for what can be stored in a central area and who can authorize storage. Chances are good that your storage areas will not become cluttered if they are being monitored. As fun as record clean-up days are, one major one is enough!

Records Quarterly
Vol. 2 No. 2 Summer 2009