Monday Rundown: Is Completely Drenched

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It’s Monday, and if you’re new to Quarterlife Man (welcome), you’re new to the Monday Rundown. The Monday Rundown is a compendium of  randomness compiled over the course of each week. Enjoy…

[As always, if you've seen something crazy or have a suggestion, email us or tell us on Twitter (@QuarterlifeMan).]

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––Tropical Storm Debby

Tropical Storm Debby rolled through QM headquarters over the weekend, drenching everything in sight. (When I say headquarters, I mean every Starbucks from here to Fort Lauderdale, but I digress.) It was some pretty decent rain and wind throughout the weekend, and besides completely wrecking my sleep schedule (rain 24/7 = probable sleep 24/7), it produced this great video:

That video game from Jupiter, Florida, just north of West Palm Beach. I don’t know about you, but that thing’s at least one quarter mile wide and goes down as the biggest waterspout I’ve ever seen. Hashtag, weather nerd. #proudofit

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––Bus Monitor Gets $600k Vacation, Tax-Free

Surely, you’ve heard about Karen Klein, the verbally-abused bus monitor. If you’ve been hiding under a rock lately, the internet community rallied around her, surpassing a small goal of $5000 to send her on a vacation. The total (as of publishing) was more than $646,000.

What’s more, she’ll get it all tax-free:

[box_light]We turned to tax lawyer Joanne Clark, Esq., for an expert’s analysis.

“As a general rule, there are no income tax implications to the recipient/donee of a cash gift,” wrote Clark in an e-mail. “If she invests that cash, she would be responsible for income taxes on any income derived from it.”

That makes sense — if Klein invested the funds and made a profit, she’d be taxed for her capital gains.

But what about the donors? They’re off the hook as well, as long as no individual donor gave Klein more than $13,000. They can’t, however, claim their donation as a tax write-off.

“The gift tax implications are more relevant on the donor side,” said Clark. “If individual donations don’t exceed $13,000, there are no issues for the donors. If a single donation exceeds $13,000, the donor is supposed to file a gift tax return. I am guessing that most donations are on the small side. And it isn’t clear, but I assume that there is no ‘charitable purpose’ behind these donations for IRS purposes, so there’s no tax deductions for donors.”[/box_light]

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––Social Tip: Be Smug, Get Burgled

Don’t be so quick to post about your marvelous vacation on Facebook. A South Carolina couple were arrested Sunday for using Facebook to find out which of their friends were out of town so they could rob “several” of the empty houses over the course of two months, according to WFMY News.

Although Facebook eventually contributed to their demise (the police department asked for surveillance help on the social network), you are reminded to avoid giving burglars the opportunity to plunder. If you must, however, post the statuses and the pictures after the trip has ended.

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––Do You Know Who Your President Prays To?

Apparently, a large majority of Americans don’t. Here’s the excerpt from Gallup (read more for the official statistics):

[box_light]President Obama has been very open about his Christian faith since moving into the public spotlight. In fact, his past attendance at the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, with its controversial minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, itself became a heated point of political discussion during the 2008 presidential campaign. Still, just 34% of Americans say Obama is a Christian when asked what his religion is. Forty-four percent say they don’t know his religion, while 11% — mostly Republicans and independents — say he is a Muslim.[/box_light]

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––Daschund Meets Crab

Best 1:50 ever. The music is perfect. Hilarity ensues. (p.s. who knew crabs were that fast?)

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[box_success]Thanks for reading. Check back next Monday for more of the Rundown and, as always, tweet us (@QuarterlifeMan) if you have any suggestions![/box_success]

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