This post begins with a big old sigh: >> S I G H <<
I have been had.
I don’t know by whom, or how, but someone has been using my debit card number at gas stations in another state on the opposite coast from where I live. Thankfully, Washington Mutual noticed the odd behavior and called me on Monday to let me know that there were some “suspicious” transactions on Sunday. They told me to watch my account and report to them any transactions I did not authorize to their fraud department.
I am lucky. I have only had about $400 taken from my account, and I had enough in my account that I didn’t accrue any overdraft charges. And, my bank caught it and called me. Kudos to WaMu (I hope they live up to these kudos by honoring my claim and covering the stolen money).
Here’s what I learned from the experience, both from my bank, and from doing a little bit of research:
One person I talked to in the Fraud dept at WaMu told me that transactions from gas stations take longer to post to the bank than most. I wonder if this is an opportunity for thieves – the longer it takes to post, the less likely you’ll notice in a timely manner. It buys them time.
Paying with a credit card is probably safer. It’s not a direct line to the cash in your account the way debit is. And credit cards often have strict fraud processes built in for their customers’ protection. A few articles I read online mention a recent rise in debit card fraud. Here’s an article from Reader’s Digest that suggests some ways to protect yourself: “Avoid these Debit Card Traps”.
I also learned that there are different kinds of cards banks issue. The old-school ATM cards, which allowed you to take cash out of an ATM machine, were not debit cards. Many banks stopped issuing these in favor of the Visa or MC-sponsored debit card. They get a cut of the action when these cards are used. Some consumer advocate groups are pushing to reinstate the plain old ATM cards. Here’s an article from PIRG on the topic: PIRG Consumer Fact Sheet on ATM/Debit cards (there’s no date on this page and I suspect it may have been posted a while ago, but much of the information still seems relevant.)
I want to learn a new language and am trying to decide whether to learn Hindi or Chinese. Found a ton of videos on YouTube ostensibly teaching various languages. And then I found this (wait for the special dancing, not to mention the sweet bandanna-nose man):
Any Japanese speakers out there who can tell me what the intention was behind this concept?!
I don’t know about you, but I have noticed some subtle changes on the good ‘ole NPR. I listen daily and a few little things have made me smile and take notice. I am not passing judgment here, just taking notice.
NPR goes straight edge – I have been hearing a lot of Minor Threat in between stories lately. The first time I think I heard it after a story about some kind of bureaucracy. Maybe it was about health care? The story ends with a nice wrap up line by the reporter and then Minor Threat’s song “Sitting in the Waiting Room” begins. Sweet. I enjoyed the memory and the perfect pairing of music and didn’t think anything of it. And then it happened again. I cannot remember the song or the story, but about a week later I heard Minor Threat again! I wonder if NPR has hired a new music manager who is a MT fan!? Did they sign a contract with MT to use their music? I have been a fan of Minor Threat since about 1987. Listening to their music on NPR all I could think was how, back in the day, this kind of music was so, well, hardcore. And now I hear it punctuating news stories on public radio!
“You coulda had a V-8″ – Yes, I heard this on NPR! Just the other day, around the end of the hour in the evening, during news time, there’s always this announcement about how NPR is supported by blah, blah…and then a list of all these foundations like the MacArthur foundation, and charitibles, and funds, etc. It’s always the same guy’s voice – the NPR voice - that lists these donors in that crisp clean way. The same guy has been naming NPR’s supporters forever. HIs voice is calming and reassuring. A few years ago he had to start saying new, more commercial names like “Toyota” and “Cisco”. There must have been a little *cringe* factor there for him. But you know, you gotta do what you gotta do. NPR always kept these more commercial announcements in line. They have never gotten too commercial-y, which is helped, in part, by the uniformity of this one announcer who is announcing all the sponsors in the same clean, but deadpan, voice. But then, I heard him say “You coulda had a V-8″! I just knew he was cringing as he said it!
Mint is a mgical, if contrary herb. It settles and calms, and stimulates and awakes. It’s really good in ice cream, tea, and toothpaste. But it doesn’t go very well with other herbs ans spices. It’s a solo herb, a loner that attracts a lot of attention. (I find myself thinking of Clint Eastwood’s characters in Sergio Valente’s films as a metaphor for mint. Maybe this is because I have a friend who is quite fond of both.)
Mint is also an ayurvedic favorite. When in India, I popped little green pills of mint every morning, called pudina hara, to thwart off any potential stomach explosions. It works way better than Pepto-Bismol. And it’s natural, and you get these nice little mint burps from the pills.
I just searched google and wikipedia for pudina and thought for sure I would find loads of info about this herb and its history. But not much there….hmmm…
I dunno. Starbuck used to be a character in an old 19th century book about a whale. Then it was a character on a sci-fi TV show with a side kick named Apollo – they both battled silver robots with K.I.T-like red bouncing LED lights in their hoods (which came first, K.I.T. or Cylons?). Then it was reinvented as a coffee shop in the Pike Place Market in Seattle (Which came first, BSG or the coffee?). Then that coffee shop became a million Starbucks all over the world. Now Starbuck is a grrl, and she kicks ass.
The original Starbuck was a Doubting Thomas and a Shaker. The new Starbuck is a military bad girl. They both hate the monster-enemy though, be it whale or Cylon.
Bagels appeared at our staff breakfast this morning and someone asked, “What is pumpernickel?” So I looked it up on (not so) trusty Wikipedia. It’s basically a very slowly cooked rye bread originally from Germany. Pumpernickel on Wikipedia
What really caught my attention though is the etymology of the word:
“The Philologist Johann Christoph Adelung states about the Germanic origin of the word, in the vernacular, Pumpen was a New High German synonym for being flatulent, a word similar in meaning to the English “fart”, and “Nickel” was a form of the name Nicholas, an appellation commonly associated with a goblin or devil (e.g., “Old Nick”, a familiar name for Satan). Hence, pumpernickel is described as the “devil’s fart”…”
I want to learn something new, or consolidate some older learning. I contemplated learning a new language today. But which to learn? Deciding which language to speak is not something we usually think of as a choice, but more and more it is becoming so. A political choice.
The old world domination of Russian intrigues me. Huge swaths of Central Asia speak this as a lingua franca. It is hard to tell if these emerging democracies are becoming new world powers, or fading. Chinese has always eluded me and is the second world language next to English. This could be the crucial language to learn. Although in the Western Hemisphere Spanish is becoming key. Japanese is so easy, and clean. But is it useful? And Arabic begins to seem more and more practical. Or perhaps I should just reawaken my French?
Am reading new book on this topic: Empires of the World: A Language History of the World, Nicholas Ostler.
