On April 28, 1947, a balsa wood raft called what left Peru for Polynesia?

Savvy Senior by Jim Miller

Beware of Coronavirus Scams

Dear Savvy Senior,

Amid all the troubling coronavirus news, I’ve also read that there are various coronavirus scams going around right now taking advantage of innocent people who are afraid of getting sick or are worried about those that have. What can you tell me about coronavirus scams and what can I do to protect myself? Scared Senior Dear Scared,

Unfortunately, coronavirus scams are spreading nearly as fast as the virus itself, and seniors are often the most vulnerable.

These con artists are setting up websites to sell bogus products, and using spoofed phone calls, emails, texts, and social media posts as a ruse to take your money and get your personal information.

The emails and posts may be promoting awareness and prevention tips, and fake information about cases in your community. They also may be asking you to donate to victims, off ering advice on unproven treatments, or contain malicious email attachments.

Here are some tips to help you keep the scammers at bay.

Click carefully: Don’t click on coronavirus-related links from sources you don’t know in an email or text message. The same goes for unfamiliar websites. When you click on an email or download a fi le, you could get a program on your computer that could either use your computer’s internet connection to spread malware or dig into your personal fi les looking for passwords and other information.

Ignore bogus product offers: Ignore online offers for coronavirus vaccinations or miracle cures. There are currently no vaccines, pills, potions, lotions, lozenges, or over-the-counter products available to treat or cure coronavirus online or in stores. If you see or receive ads touting prevention, treatment, or cure claims for the coronavirus, ignore them because they’re not legitimate.

Beware of CDC spoofi ng: Be wary of emails, text messages or phone calls claiming to come from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and/or the World Health Organization (WHO). These scams could take several forms – such as fake health agency warnings about infections in your local area, vaccine and treatment off ers, medical test results, health insurance cancellation, alerts about critical supply shortages, and more.

For the most up-to-date information about the coronavirus, visit CDC.gov/coronavirus.

Beware of fundraising scams: Be wary of emails or phone calls asking you to donate to a charity or crowdfunding campaign for coronavirus victims or for disease research. To verify a charity’s legitimacy use CharityNavigator.org. But, if you’re asked for donations in cash, by prepaid credit card or gift card, or by wiring money, don’t do it because it’s probably a scam.

Beware of stock scams: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is warning people about phone calls and online promotions, including on social media, touting stocks of companies with products that supposedly can prevent, detect or cure coronavirus. Buy those stocks now, they say, and they will soar in price.

But the con artists have already bought the stocks, which typically sell for a dollar or less. As the hype grows and the stock price increases, the con men dump the stock, saddling other investors with big losses. It's a classic penny-stock fraud called “pump and dump.” Making matters worse: you may not be able to sell your shares if trading is suspended.

When investing in any company, including companies that claim to focus on coronavirus-related products and services, carefully research the investment and keep in mind that investment scam artists often exploit the latest crisis to line their own pockets.

For more tips on how to avoid getting swindled, see the Federal Communications Commission COVID-19 consumer warning and safety tips at FCC.gov/covid-scams.

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

the Yankees defeated the A’s on three of four games in Yankee Stadium in September and eked out the championship. Ruth batted only .323 with 54 homeruns. The Yankees swept the Cardinals in the World Series in four games when Ruth batted .625 and hit three homers in game four.

Before the 1929 season, Jacob Rupert, the owner, announced that the Yankees would wear uniform numbers both home and away so the fans could identify the stars. The Cardinals and the Indians both experimented with numbers that year, but the Yankees were the fi rst to wear them in all games. Ruth, batting third, was naturally given the number three. The word was also out that the Yankees started wearing pin-striped uniforms to make Ruth look slimmer. The Athletics proved to be the better team in 1929. Late in the season the manager, Miller Huggins, died of a bacterial skin infection on September 25. For the season, Ruth hit .345, smacked 46 home runs and knocked in 154 RBIs. With Huggins gone, Ruth campaigned for the position of player-manager, but Rupert chose Bob Shawkey as manager.

Ruth had concluded a threeyear contract for $70,000 per year, and in January the team gave a final offer of $75,000 per year; that equaled the salary of President Herbert Hoover. Ruth demanded $85,000 and three years, and in answer to the question posed to the Babe, why was he “worth more than the President of the United States,” Babe replied, “Say, if I hadn’t been sick last summer, I’d have broken hell out of that home run record! Besides, the President gets a four-year contract. I’m only asking for three.” They fi nally settled for $80,000. That made Ruth’s salary two and one-half greater than the next higher player. In the 1930 season, Ruth belted 49 home runs, hit .359 and had 153 RBIs. The Yankees fi nished in third place behind the Athletics. After the season Shawkey was fi red and Joe McCarthy left the Cubs to manage the Yankees, although Ruth had once again tried for the job.

In 1931 the Athletics won again; Ruth batted .373, 46 home runs and 163 RBIs. In 1932 the Yankees won the AL championship, but Ruth was on a downward trend, hitting .341, 41 homers and 137 RBIs. They faced McCarthy’s former team, the Cubs, and the Yankees took the fi rst two games at home. Chicago was another situation. Fans hooted and hollered against Ruth and often threw lemons at him. Ruth homered in the fi rst, but the Cubs eventually evened the score at four, partly due to Ruth’s fielding error. In the top of the fi fth inning, Ruth, after a two-balls-and-onestrike count, pointed the bat to centerfi eld and proceeded to slam the ball out over the centerfi eld fence. The Yankees won the next two games to claim the Series. During the fourth game, Guy Bush hit Ruth on the arm, which precipitated a disagreement and which powered the Yankees to win.

In 1933 Ruth was still productive, batting .301 and hitting 34 homers and 103 RBIs. He also had a league-leading 114 walks as teams tried to fend off the slugger. He was selected by the A’s manager, Connie Mack, to play right fi eld in the fi rst MLB AllStar game on July 6, 1933, at Comiskey Park in Chicago. As the Yankees were in second place well behind the Athletics, McCarthy selected Ruth to pitch the fi nal game of the season, and he beat the Red Sox. Over his time with the Yankees, Ruth won fi ve games and had suff ered no losses.

During the off season he circled the world with his wife and led a barnstorming tour of the Far East. His fi nal stop was in England, where he THE BAMBINO | from page 7 1. What holiday was originally going to be called Sylvan

Day? 2. What is the term for a computer’s “brain”? 3. What country produces the most wine? 4. What river is the world’s longest salmon run? 5. On April 25, 1874, Marchese

Guglielmo Marconi was born; what did he invent? 6. What 7th U.S. president’s home in Nashville, Tenn., is called The Hermitage? 7. “Mary Had a Little Lamb” by

Sarah Josepha Hale was first published in what N.E. city? 8. What French landmark has its own post office? 9. Who painted “Spring

Turning” and “American

Gothic”? 10. On April 26, the weather was first broadcast in the United States (St. Louis, Mo.) in what year: 1897, 1921 or 1936? 11. What British rock band appeared in the film “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely

Daughter”? 12. What Virginian U.S. president born in April 1743 has an epitaph that doesn’t mention he was president? 13. On April 27, 1822, what U.S. president was born whose first name is that of a Greek hero? 14. What 1941 Humphrey Bogart movie ends with the words “the stuff that dreams are made of”? 15. What is the most popular

Mexican beer in the United

States? 16. On April 28, 1947, a balsa wood raft called what left

Peru for Polynesia? 17. Two Royal Horological

Conservators are based at Buckingham Palace; what do they do? 18. On April 29, 1998, what country agreed on conservation of about 62 million acres of Amazon rain forest? 19. In 1949 who first recorded

“I’m So Lonesome I Could

Cry”? 20. On April 30, 1792, John

Montagu died, who is the namesake of what food and islands? 1. Arbor Day (April 24, 2020) 2. Central Processing Unit (CPU) 3. Italy 4. The Yukon River 5. The wireless telegraph (radio wave transmission) 6. Andrew Jackson 7. Boston 8. The Eiff el Tower 9. Grant Wood 10. 1921 11. Herman’s Hermits 12. Thomas Jeff erson 13. Ulysses S. Grant 14. “The Maltese Falcon” 15. Corona 16. The Kon-Tiki (named for an In- can god) 17. Oversee and restore over 1,000 timepieces 18. Brazil 19. Hank Williams 20. Sandwich; Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii); he was the 4th Earl of Sandwich

FROM PAGE 16 Answers below, please no cheating!

THE BAMBINO | SEE PAGE 16