Unintended consequences in the war on banks

It is interesting to see how quickly people have moved against bank overdraft fees. These are nothing new; I was once dinged with one 5 years ago and have only myself to blame. Now we are looking at congressional regulation of these fees. While that's great in theory, what could the unintended consequences be of stripping banks of one of their money making enterprises?

1. The end of free checking
2. Reduced bank hours
3. Higher ATM fees
4. Lower interest rates

Trust me, the banks will make up for this somewhere, and instead of the people who are financially irresponsible paying for it, people like me, who keep a decent balance in their accounts, will likely end up footing the bill.

Racism and prejudice against Muslims

Brian Cuban has a very good post about the overt racism against Muslims in America that I highly recommend reading. In it he describes his personal confrontation with one of these bigots.

Google Wave: First Impressions

I finally got an invitation to join Google Wave, "what email would look like if it was invented now."

In my first hour looking at it, I am very impressed. Google Wave will allow people to have conversations akin to emails, without the worrying about truncated text, missing attachments, etc. It is still very rough, but the core idea is definitely on the mark.

The one drawback is that out of my 250 contacts, only 3-4 have Wave accounts at this time. Hopefully it will be rolled out to many more soon.

Obesity causes 100k cancer cases in US

Wow! If being fat wasn't already bad enough, check this out. Obesity causes over 100,000 cases of cancer in the US each year. Nearly 20% of breast cancer cases, and a lot of other nasty diseases are due to people eating too much.

Lay off the food.

The tide will turn, eventually

It looks as though equality will lose in Maine, even though it is currently too close to call. What I'm talking about, is that gay marriage will be again illegal per voters. I'm one for a democracy, but I agree with many that there are some decisions that are too important to be left up to voters. Examples include our entire bill of rights (like the 1st and 2nd amendments) and decisions like gay marriage. Why should 50% of the people to tell 10% of the people how to live, when the 10% do not affect the 50%? Conservatives may decry "activist judges" but these are the same types of actions that are applauded whenever they favor gun rights, which has not always been in such high regard as it is now.

Regardless of what happens in Maine, I think we could be within 10-15 years of nationwide recognition of these marriages. And if you believe Jacob Weisberg, we'll be able to celebrate it by smoking a legal joint.

This is not a referendum

No matter what people tell you, the current handful of elections is not a "referendum" on President Obama. Take, for example, the Virginia elections. Turnout is down considerably from 2008, especially among young people. Very few national offices are at steak (1 congress seat?) and there was not a focus on getting out the vote.

Keep in mind that the President has been in office for less than 10 months, not enough time to do much of anything, although he has done more in this short time than GWB did in his last term. We need to keep in mind that the next presidential race is still 3 years away and not go around over analyzing this election.

At the Polls in 2009

I voted this way today:

Governor: Creigh Deeds (D)

Lt Governor: [blank]

Attorney General: Ken Cucinnelli (R)

House of Delegates: Tim Hugo (R)

I voted for Deeds because I've supported since before the primary. I like the guy, but he ran a horrible campaign and is going to get blown out by Bob McDonnell today.

The other two that I voted for represented me for the last 4.5 years locally. They have always responded to my concerns, and I'm happy to help re-elect Tim Hugo and to move Ken C. up the ladder.

россия.ru on its way

Very soon, you may be able to point your web browser to a non-latin alphabet based domain. ICANN, the regulatory body for domains, has approved non latin domains. This will open up a whole new world of domain squatting, as well as provide billions of users the ability to access websites in their language. It will be interesting to see how this shapes up.

House Health Care Bill

Today the House showed us their version of the healthcare bill. I am very impressed with the highlights, which will guarantee coverage to almost all Americans. Individuals will have the option of obtaining health insurance through their employer, or going to a health exchange, or a public plan. This is very similar to the Swiss system, which is probably one of the best in the world.

Religious tolerance in Northern VA

A lot can be learned from this example.

Livemocha

After reading a great article on CNN about computer based language learning, I tried out one of the top picks: Livemocha. This site takes online language learning to a new level and is completely free. I am currently learning Russian, and was able to quickly set up an account and get started. They also offer many other languages, just about anything you would want to learn.

The main benefit to using Livemocha is that it is a community, who helps each other learn languages. So when I submit a voice sample in Russian, a native Russian speaker will rate it and provide me with feedback. I do the same for others who are learning English. It is also possible to engage in chats with users, and of course there are the lessons which are pretty good.

I have to admit, I'm surprised how good this site is. I also have Rosetta Stone, which is great and helps a lot, but one thing it does not provide is feedback from native speakers which is obviously helpful.

While I don't think that you can learn a language from one source alone, Livemocha is a perfect complement to other options out there, like Rosetta Stone.

Anti-vax crowd is killing the children

Here is a great, highly recommended article from this month's Wired. The subject is controversial, because as always the anti-science folks (and these ones are not necessarily basing any arguments on religion) are back. And this time they are harming the youth of America.

In this battle, there are many who claim that vaccinating children is harmful, somewhat forgetting to say that polio, rubella, and measles are much worse. Wired has a full arsenal debunking various myths and even calling out these grade A assholes.

The main issue at stake is that some people believe vaccinations cause autism. This is simple correlation and no study has ever proven causation. Autism tends to set in at a certain age, the same age that kids are getting vaccines; however much of the increasing rate is better diagnosis of autism, not evil vaccines.

Evil is when a parent subjects their child to an array of diseases that have been eradicated.

The Case Against Bailing Out Granny

People on Social Security should not receive $250 checks from the government. They are not getting a cost of living adjustment (COLA) this year and for good reason: the cost of living has decreased. Deflation has set in. That means that their groceries, gas, and other things cost less this year. It is basically a handout to give them a raise. There are many people who are employed that did not get raises this year, why should we be giving what amounts to a bonus to someone on government pension?

I'm all for Social Security, but don't see the need to throw a $250 check at people who are not in a worse position than they were last year. This money would be better directed at people who are unemployed.

Hijacker Surrenders: Cuban Diplomacy?

A man who hijacked a US plane over 40 years ago has surrendered after flying in from Cuba. While no mention of this is made in the article, I would have to say that it is likely part of a deal with Cuba aimed at the restoration of diplomatic relations.

Obama: I will end Don't Ask

Today President Obama renewed his committment to ending one of the most stupid government policies: Don't Ask Don't Tell. We have lost thousands of qualified soldiers because they happen to be gay, at a time when we need highly skilled translators and personnel. It is time to stop throwing away our military like this.