Virtual Kiss, ugly dogs, child umpire lead latest roundup News of Note

Association Of Mature American Citizens

This issue’s roundup of nine interesting news items includes information about a virtual kissing app, an ugly dog contest in the Bay Area and a report about a young umpire who is turning heads. Each includes a video or other source to provide additional information.

Kiss me mate

Good news for those lonely couples engaged in a long-distance romance. China’s Changzhou Vocational Institute of Mechatronic Technology has come up with a device that lets absent lovers to share a kiss (https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooUZGj G3fj4) via their cellphones, reports the Association of Mature American

Citizens. He and she simply download the kissing app to their phones, dial up their partners and exchange a life-like smooch using silicon lips that fit into their phones’ charging ports.

Ugly is in the eye of the beholder

Calling all owners of ugly dogs: This year’s annual The World’s Ugliest Dog Contest will be held in June at California’s Sonoma-Marin Fair, according to the Association of Mature American Citizens. The fairground authorities’ invitation notes that “while the World’s Ugliest Dog contest is a celebration of the imperfections that make our dogs lovable, a good many of them are rescues from shelters and puppy mills, so we use the fun and notoriety of this competition to raise awareness for dog adoption.” Last year’s contest winner was Mr. Happy, a Chinese crested Chihuahua mix (https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=w9Yia 2q-Gkg).

Boy oh boy

Lathan Williams, who hails from Hammond, Louisiana, is likely to have his picture on a baseball card pretty soon, says the Association of Mature American Citizens. In fact, 7-year-old Lathan the Kid Umpire, as he’s known around town and his growing social media fan club (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v= K8fsQJQRyd8), may soon be declared the world’s youngest baseball umpire by the judges at Guinness World Record. He’s been calling plays on baseball fields since he turned 5 years old.

Social Security will use the annual limit and assess the smaller penalty amount. So, if your annual (full year) 2023 earnings are less than $21,240, no penalty will be assessed, or if you only exceed the annual limit by a small amount, you’ll be assessed a penalty of $1 for every $2 you are over the limit. But if your annual earnings are substantially more than the 2023 limit, Social Security may deem you temporarily ineligible to get benefits. When you complete your application there will be a section asking you to tell them about this year’s earnings as well as what you expect next year’s earnings to be. From that they will decide whether you are currently eligible to collect benefits.

So, if your goal is to work only to the point that no penalty will be assessed, you can work until your 2023 earnings reach $21,240 (whenever that is). Or you could work even a little bit longer and simply take the penalty (half of what you exceed the annual limit by), in which case Social Security will simply withhold future