Thanksgiving Food Safety

Yes, there's football, but Thanksgiving is the Super Bowl of cooking.  To make sure you cook your feast safely and ensure that no one pays a penalty for your mistakes, take the advice of the bloggers on the FoodSafety.gov site: 

http://www.foodsafety.gov/blog/archive/2014/index.html

They offer tips on buying and cooking your turkey, as well as general information about food safety.  If you're feeling particularly inept in the kitchen, read their "Top 5 Thanksgiving Turkey Fails" and you're sure to feel much better about your own skills.  Have a safe and happy holiday!

Keystone Pipeline

The proposed Keystone Pipeline has been under discussion for the past few years, but the project seems to have gained some momentum in the last few weeks.  If you're still not sure exactly what the Pipeline would do or where it would be, this page from the Department of State may help to answer your questions: 

http://www.keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/

The project documents are extensive and the links provided lead to other informative sites maintained by TransCanada.  If the project does become a reality some day, we can only hope that the Keystone Pipeline people will be much more efficient and much less accident-prone than the Keystone Cops.

Veterans Day

On this Veterans Day, you may be wondering if the correct spelling is "Veterans Day," or "Veteran's Day," or maybe even "Veterans' Day."  This FAQ from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will answer that question for you, and many others:

http://www.va.gov/opa/vetsday/vetday_faq.asp

It explains why some schools close and others don't, why Veterans Day doesn't always fall on a Monday like most Federal holidays, and why poppies are more closely associated with Memorial Day than Veterans Day.  It even provides links to posters and Teacher's Guides that can be downloaded.  As the site says, "Veterans Day is largely intended to thank LIVING veterans for their service."  So, many thanks to all who served and all who are serving now!

Federal Reserve Centennial

The Federal Reserve Act was signed in 1913, but the Federal Reserve banks first opened their doors in 1914.  So, the Fed has been celebrating its Centennial all year.  Although we hear about the Fed Chair all the time in relation to raising or lowering interest rates, the Fed also performs a number of other important functions to keep America's financial system running efficiently.  You can learn a lot about the Fed's current activities as well as its history on its Centennial website: 

http://www.federalreserveeducation.org/centennial/

The site even provides lesson plans about both the Centennial and the basics of personal finance.  Spending some time learning about the Fed might be a wise investment.