Scammers have been using the internet to bilk consumers out of money and personal information with great success. Now the FTC has an online resource for consumers to hone their skills at identifying investment scams and research investment opportunities, promotors and references.

At OnGuardOnline consumers can read up on some ways to avoid investment scams or play an online game Invest Quest. As players move around the game board, they are asked questions related to investing online, such as deleting unsolicited requests for personal information, checking investment tips against unbiased sources, and using a security token. Correct answers have players investing wisely, and gaining life milestones: a car, home, education, and retirement. Wrong answers can place players in the unfriendly hands of hackers, identity thieves, and investment scammers.

Smelling like Britney Spears appeals to some. As Curious as it may seem, it’s not a Fantasy. Celebrity perfumes and celebrity-endorsed perfumes now claim 23% of the top fragrances in the market. With signature scents from JLo and Paris Hilton, Danielle Steel and Elizabeth Taylor (who started it all), there is no lack of famous fragrance.

But some experts are already warning that the market for celebrity scents is nearing its saturation point as more and more celebrities lend their names to perfumes. Celebrity fragrances can bring in profits from sales to younger consumers but the lifespans of new perfumes are shortening. One assumes they would wane even faster than the popularity of the celebrity involved.

Hopefully, this means that someday, no one will have to endure the stench of Paris as she sizzles.

When the market opened this morning to news of terrorist attack plots, stocks slipped in the jittery atmosphere of uncertainty. But they rallied and fought back as oil prices began to tumble.

Analysts did not agree on the reason for the $2.35 per barrel decline. Some opined that it was as a result of the terrorist plot and the possibility of reduced airline flights while others felt that other factors such as the slowing economy played the major roles in the plummeting oil prices.

While Fidel Castro underwent surgery for abdominal bleeding, Cuban-Americans celebrated. With his current hold on power in question and the eventual end of his long term rule of Cuba(47 years currently) ensured by biology, the world ponders and plans for a post-Castro Cuba.

Although there is an embargo on trade between the US and Cuba, some US businesses are starting to contemplate what markets may open up in the Cuba of the future. The possibility of normalizing trade relations has investors speculating.

Fidel Castro has temporarily set his brother Raul in his stead. If Raul succeeds his brother, there will still be a Castro government in Cuba and it would remain illegal and therefore impossible to trade with Cuba. Additionally, any future government, with or without a Castro, would probably not meet the rest of the conditions necessary for the US trade embargo to be lifted.

Still, the only thing certain about the future is that things will change. And so, the American Cuban community continues to dream.