A tax break for the wealthy
Taxpayers reporting less than $50,000 in income provide 19 percent of the money given to charity, but receive only 5 percent of the tax write-offs for donations, according to the Congressional Budget Office. About 70 percent of Americans do not have enough deductions to itemize on their returns, so the vast majority of charitable deductions go to the wealthy.
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Another legacy from Steve Jobs
The number of parents naming their daughters “Apple” jumped 15 percent in 2012 over the previous year, while the popularity of the name “Mac” for boys rose 12 percent. The number of people naming their baby daughters “Siri” also rose 5 percent from last year.
ABCNews.com
Hair transplants for mustaches
A growing number of Middle Eastern men are undergoing surgical hair transplants to attain thick, luxurious mustaches, which are seen as a symbol of virility and maturity. One Turkish plastic surgeon reports that he now performs about 60 of the $7,000 transplants a month, in which hair is moved from the scalp to the upper lip.
CNN.com
Lottery tickets draw in the poor
Households with incomes of under $13,000 a year spend an average of 9 percent of their income on lottery tickets.
Salon.com
Text messages, then and now
The first text message was sent 20 years ago this week. It read, “Merry Christmas.” Last year, more than 8 trillion texts were sent worldwide, or about 15 million a minute.
The Guardian (U.K.)