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that Fair Bill (also known as S. 1799 FAIR Overdraft Coverage Act) is currently in the Senate Banking Committee. Charles Schumer, senior Senator from NY is a member of that committee.
there were evil-doers before facebook and twitter. They used whatever tools were available to them at the time. Tools themselves are mostly neutral, and can be used for good or bad.
Personally, my rule is never to post anything on the web that I would be ashamed to see attributed to me in tomorrow’s newspaper.
The FAIR Overdraft Coverage Act will rein in abusive fees, give customers greater choice, and bring greater transparency to these programs. The bill would:
Limit the number of overdraft coverage fees banks can charge to one per month and six per year;
* Require fees be proportional to the cost of processing the overdraft;
* Stop institutions from manipulating the order in which they post transactions in order to rack up extra fees,
* Require customers be notified when they overdraw their account and be given the option of being notified by email, text or traditional mail; and
* Require that customers be warned if an ATM or branch teller transaction will overdraw their account, and be given the chance to cancel the transaction.
I should also note that the limits I mention above only apply to US accounts in US banks.
I don’t mean to say there shouldn’t be some penalty for overdrawing or goofing-up, but the punishment automatically meted by the bank seemed to be a crime in itself.
He knows that the bank officer will not bail him out again.
By the way, this did happen to my 17-year old stepson earlier this year. He has a “student” checking account linked to my wife’s checking account.
He overdebited his account by $0.16 (his fault, entirely) and that small act ended up racking up close to $100 in bounced checks and fees, much to our and his horror. That seems vastly unfair on every level, even though it was his fault.
When we revived him, we coached him to go into the bank and explain the situation to the sympathetic officer who had helped him open the account, and they forgave the fees, and set his balance back to $0.00 where it remains now, months later.
There are other problems with using debit cards, even though they seem at first glance, a good idea.
While federal law limits your liability to $50 if the card is lost or misused by others, but the limit for debit cards is $500, if you notice and report the theft within 48 hours. This means, you are on the hook for at least the first $500 that is stolen from you, with no recourse. If you do not notice and report the theft within 60 days, you can be liable for the total amount in your checking account PLUS you maximum overdraft line-of-credit.
Many banks claim to limit your liability with a debit card to $50, but there have been complaints that many banks have not honored this limit.
Of course, the way you will notice that you have been robbed is that your checks will start to bounce, causing you great embarrasment and piling on the huge fees that ICOT speaks of above.
You can ask your bank for an ATM card that is not a debit card (doesn’t have the Visa or Mastercard logo on it) that will only work in ATM Machines.
There are other problems with using debit cards, even though they seem at first glance, a good idea.
While federal law limits your liability to $50 if the card is lost or misused by others, but the limit for debit cards is $500, if you notice and report the theft within 48 hours. This means, you are on the hook for at least the first $500 that is stolen from you, with no recourse. If you do not notice and report the theft within 60 days, you can be liable for the total amount in your checking account PLUS you maximum overdraft line-of-credit.
Many banks claim to limit your liability with a debit card to $50, but there have been complaints that many banks have not honored this limit.
Of course, the way you will notice that you have been robbed is that your checks will start to bounce, causing you great embarrasment and piling on the huge fees that ICOT speaks of above.
You can ask your bank for an ATM card that is not a debit card (doesn’t have the Visa or Mastercard logo on it) that will only work in ATM Machines.
I should note that she was from The Bronx, and the 42,000:1 ratio was the Bronx Minhag. In Brooklyn, your results may vary.
May all your moderations be moderate.
Judging by her results and my memories, my dear grandmother whose delicious food I still think about, despite the fact she has been cooking in Olam Habah for the past 26 years, used a ratio of about 42,000 to 1.
Do you know of any cases where a Shtar Mechila has been withheld, keeping someone from getting married?
why should we let them get all the good deals?
Pay retail? Not me~!
I never buy clothing that talks about me, in private or otherwise.
Cell phones (and more importantly) cellular networks were available in the US from the early ’80s.
Here’s a photo of a very popular cell phone from 1983, the Motorola Dynatac:
It’s pretty big. you probably remember it.
It was used mostly as a car phone, since the FCC limited its power outside of the car. If memory serves, the transmitter could be up to three watts in a car, but about 1/5 of that outside of a car.
They didn’t really become very popularly priced until the 90’s though.
Two boys, not students at this yeshiva, are walking by the Yeshiva tennis courts with a disappointed look on their face.
The Rosh Yeshiva asks them what is the problem. They had intended to play tennis, but when they got to the court saw the sign:
Yeshiva Students Only
No Visitors Allowed
Completetly without punctuation.
The Rosh Yeshiva, who is used to reading, interpreting and analyzing texts without punctuation, tells the boys they may play tennis there. He says that the sign he saw, actually read:
Yeshiva Students Only?
No! Visitors Allowed.
and lyrics certainly matter, too.
Maos Tzur is a different song than the same tune with the original lyrics.
The Star Spangled Banner is a different tune than its predecessor.
Words have power, too.
The song by George and Ira Gershwin, “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” was the theme of the Danish Resistance to Hitler in WWII. Was it because of the music?
back in the 80’s there were a number of engineers who played in a modestly popular country & western band in the Boston area. Not one looked as if he had been west of the Mississippi.
The name of the band: Texas Instruments.
Ooomis,
Interesting selection of songs. Somewhere Over the Rainbow was written by two Jews. The composer was Harold Arlen, son of a cantor, and the lyricist was E.Y “Yip” (Edgar Yipsel) Harburg (born Isidore Hochberg).
I can also see that Totty is well on the way to being his wife’s favorite husband.
As my wife constantly reminds me: Happy wife = happy life.
Hi Balanced, what did your mother consider to be Jewish books by Jewish authors? I suppose I was lucky, and my mother had a very wide definition of what was a Jewish book.
As a teenager, I read the epic novels of I.J. Singer (Israel Joseph Singer, elder brother of Isaac Bashevis Singer), with his sweeping histories of generations of Jewish families in Europe, and eventually America. The engrossing stories had extraordinarily vivid characters linked with their historical and socioeconomic settings. I recall “The Brothers Ashkenazi” and “The Family Carnovsky,” in particular. At the time of their writing, they were serialized in the Jewish Daily Forward and were extremely popular. When you finished one of these large novels, you felt like you had known and been part of the family, and I was always sorry to have to leave the characters at “The End.”
Not sure that most here would consider these Jewish books, and they may not be modest enough for general consumption, but they brought history alive, were never predictable, had wonderfully bad and delightfully bad characters, and were written by a first-rate talent. They start out in the shtetls or cities of Europe, and end up in America: you feel as if you made the trip with them.
It’s been over 35 years since I read these books, and they made a lasting impression on me. I also enjoyed them immensely during the weeks or months they took to read.
Some other favorites, that I would consider great Jewish literature:
1. Exodus, by Leon Uris.
2. City Boy, by Herman Wouk
3. Hope and Glory (two books) by Herman Wouk
There is a school of thought that says that most American classics ARE Jewish music, written by first-generation American-Jewish songwriters, who borrowed heavily from the Jewish musical traditions of Eastern Europe, including sacred music. Quite a few were sons of cantors.
To quote Jerome Kern’s (a great American composer of popular songs, born in America of two immigrant parents) conclusion on Israel Isidor Beilin (changed his name to Irving Berlin, he was the son of a cantor): “”Irving Berlin has no place in American music – he is American music.”
And I can mame Jacob Gershowitz (George Gershwin, son of Jewish immigrants from Europe), Samuel Cohen (Sammy Cahn, ditto), Richard Rogers, Lorenz Hart, Oscar Hammerstein II, Stephen Sondheim, Harold Arlen (Chaim Arlook, son of a cantor), Kurt Weill (another son of a cantor).
These men alone are responsible for over 1/2 of the great American songs we regard as standards. Cole Porter, another of the great 20th century songwriters, regarded himself as the token goy on tinpan alley.
Then, of course, you can’t ignore the players and purveyors of that music, who wove the rhythm of Jewish Klezmer into American Jazz- Benny Goodman comes to mind – did you ever notice the resemblance between “The Grine Cuzine” and “My Country Cousin?”
I’ve always considered the bulk of American music to actually be Jewish music.
An English teacher once explained to me that punctuation and clear writing is simply consideration for the poor soul who may have to read it. He said, “Have unbounded sympathy for reader, and you will be performing a kindness for all who read what you write, and your writing will improve.”
Dear Mybat, I wish a Refuah Shlema to your acquaintance.
He is one of the winners (or losers) in the flu vaccine lottery, I suppose. He is suffering because thousands of others have been saved from suffering, but he is truly is unfortunate. Chances are he would not have gotten Guillain-Barre’ syndrome w/o the flu shot.
But, 999,999 other people got the vaccine, and at least 1000 of them will avoid death, and many will avoid suffering. Prayers for his health should peppered with prayers of gratitude.
Thanks heavens that Hashem gave us a big brain so that some of us could understand some of the universe he created so well that we are able to alleviate so much human suffering in our world.
Please bless and keep the public health workers, the scientists, the doctors and the nurses who have devoted themselves to partnering with Hashem to make life in this world healthier and better.
All’s well that ends. I adore happy endings.
Rabbi Shmuel Shmoiger Boiger, or his brother Rabbi Sherlock Shmoiger Boiger?
Luckily, I have an internal ipod that keeps old tunes coursing through my mind.
Tehillim? Nigunim? Don’t I wish.
Usually they’re television commercial jingles from long ago.
Pin the colored shirt on the bochur.
It don’t mean a thing
if it ain’t got that swing.
My perspective comes from spending two hours this morning in a dentist’s chair, forced to listen to Christmas music.
This time of year, I’m just grateful if it’s not Christmas music.
and if people start spending less on simchas, who suffers? The musicians, the caterers, the florists, among others. This is a knotty question with far-reaching ramifications.
Flu vaccines have been made pretty much the same way for the last 50 years. This one is no exception.
Dear havesomeseichel — The recall is evidence that the vaccine is safe, and that all protective measures are being taken, and they are working.
yes, I know. contrary to popular rumor, no shortcuts were taken on this vaccine. It took months to produce, and went through the whole FDA approval and testing process, same as any other vaccine.
I apologize to Haifagirl if I have offended her.
Yes, dear Mybat, some people have gotten Guillaum-Barre syndrome. Some of them would have gotten it anyway, since it is a body’s reaction to a viral infection. Those cases, and there are currently about 10 cases of G-B worldwide, after 65 million vaccines have been given. This is much less than the expected number, one in a million.
Some of the people who got G-B may have gotten it anyway, even without the vaccine.
Take these situations:
A, A person with heart disease gets the flu shot. He walks outside, and dies of a heart attack. Would he have had the heart attack anyway? Or did the vaccine cause the heart attack.
B. A person gets the flu vaccine, walks outside, gets hit by a car.
Out of the 65 million people who got the flu vaccine, a few got married shortly thereafter, some got divorced, some became fathers, a few got the flu, and maybe one or two won the lottery, and about 10 got Guillaume-Barre syndrome, and perhaps a few had heart attacks.
Some of those things happpened just because things happen in our lives, and 65 million people is a large group – you can statistically predict what will happen within such a large group. These things would have happened whether or not they got the flu vaccine.
It is very likely that some of the people who got G-B got it because of the flu vaccine, and some got it because they would have gotten it anyway as their body’s reaction to some infection other than the flu vaccine.
Scientists are watching those cases very carefully to determine which are related to the vaccine.
A batch of flu vaccine was recalled this morning, because it caused higher than usual allergic reactions. This is being watched very carefully.
But it does not change the point: Your chances of getting temporary paralysis due to Guillame-Barre syndrome is one in several million. Your chance of dying of the flu is somewhat over one in a thousand in a normal year. There’s still really no comparison.
In the words of Boris Badunov:
I have brilliant idea! Let’s kill Moose und Sqvirrel.
>>o you see a point in signing an engagement contract 2 minutes before marriage? <<
Yes, give them a contract that is really easy to keep, to build their confidence for the one to come, which is somewhat more difficult.
I figured the thread was named by a Russian speaker, since they have no articles, and frequently make this mistake in English. I do not usually correct adults unless I know they are trying to learn the language.
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