Learn Something Random Every Day Thoughts

[A_B]

I should probably cash in my AmEx rewards and cancel that card. I use it for nothing.

IMHO, if there's one credit card I would want to keep, it would be AMEX. Sure you can't necessarily carry a balance (depending on the type of account), but they're the best of all options. No one covers your back better in the case of disputed charges. Their customer service is light years ahead of any other credit card co.
Also, the rewards program is better than most M/C or Visa cards. We use AMEX all the time at my office, and those reward points literally paid for a cruise for my family last February.

You need to have a visa or mastercard, too, for those occasions when you are somewhere that doesn't take Amex. For instance the parking lot at SFO airport, or buying a ticket on our bay area commuter train. You need a card and it can't be amex, sometimes. We have a Costco amex and a Chase Sapphire.

Or if you go to the olympics.

[brian]

Chase Freedom is supposed to have the best rewards. The APR isn't the best, but I always pay in full, so it isn't an issue. I don't think the interest is all that bad anyways. You haave to have good credit to get a card from them, though.

This. Chase's customer service is every bit as good as Amex's in my opinion. As long as you don't carry a balance, there's no real downside to have a few credit cards. Your credit score is judged partly on how much of your credit you use. If you have 1 credit card with a $1,000 balance and a $7,500 credit limit, your utilization is worse than if you have four credit cards with a $1,000 balance and a total credit limit of $20,000.

I have five different credit cards and I use each for different things:

Chase Freedom - most everyday purchases, definitely stuff in their 5 percent cash back categories -- for April through June you get five percent cash back at restaurants. That's a LOT of money if you're like us and eat out a couple times a week.

Delta Rewards Amex -- use mostly only for booking flights. Get double miles and ensure that I don't have to pay a bag fee. Only one that charges a fee ($95), but I get a $99 companion flight credit which is worth double that (assuming that the companion flight would cost $300 -- a safe assumption)

Target Visa -- Used ONLY at Target. Gets me 5 percent off at Target. Well worth carrying for that alone.

USAA MC -- Had to get it so that I can get some features of my bank account that I wanted like depositing checks from my phone, but I use this card for gas since they give 3 percent back on gas (except for quarters where Chase does 5 percent back at gas stations

Capital One Venture Visa -- Don't carry this one in my wallet. I leave it on my desk in my office and use it only for online purchases. I like to have one card that is the only one I use online. (It's not entirely possible, but I try.) Has decent travel rewards and I like that I can use it to "scrub" (get cash back) for ANY travel purchase.

[sancarlos]

Just to add to Brian's comments - if you carry extra cards, you need to keep in mind what annual fees are involved.

If you ever travel to foreign countries, get a card that doesn't hit you for currency translation fees. That can be huge, so read the fine print. I've got one card specifically for that purpose.

[The Sybian]

Chase Freedom is supposed to have the best rewards. The APR isn't the best, but I always pay in full, so it isn't an issue. I don't think the interest is all that bad anyways. You haave to have good credit to get a card from them, though.

This. Chase's customer service is every bit as good as Amex's in my opinion. As long as you don't carry a balance, there's no real downside to have a few credit cards. Your credit score is judged partly on how much of your credit you use. If you have 1 credit card with a $1,000 balance and a $7,500 credit limit, your utilization is worse than if you have four credit cards with a $1,000 balance and a total credit limit of $20,000.

I have five different credit cards and I use each for different things:

Chase Freedom - most everyday purchases, definitely stuff in their 5 percent cash back categories -- for April through June you get five percent cash back at restaurants. That's a LOT of money if you're like us and eat out a couple times a week.

Delta Rewards Amex -- use mostly only for booking flights. Get double miles and ensure that I don't have to pay a bag fee. Only one that charges a fee ($95), but I get a $99 companion flight credit which is worth double that (assuming that the companion flight would cost $300 -- a safe assumption)

Target Visa -- Used ONLY at Target. Gets me 5 percent off at Target. Well worth carrying for that alone.

USAA MC -- Had to get it so that I can get some features of my bank account that I wanted like depositing checks from my phone, but I use this card for gas since they give 3 percent back on gas (except for quarters where Chase does 5 percent back at gas stations

Capital One Venture Visa -- Don't carry this one in my wallet. I leave it on my desk in my office and use it only for online purchases. I like to have one card that is the only one I use online. (It's not entirely possible, but I try.) Has decent travel rewards and I like that I can use it to "scrub" (get cash back) for ANY travel purchase.

That is just too much for me to deal with. I use my Chase card for everything, and I have a MC that I've had since 1994 collecting dust in my wallet. I keep it because it has a $20,000 limit in case I ever decide to start a new life where the living is cheap, there is no extradition and that is enough to give me a head start. I keep a couple of recurring bills on there, like my gym membership and EZ pass, but I'll probably change then next month when the card expires.

[brian]

Just to add to Brian's comments - if you carry extra cards, you need to keep in mind what annual fees are involved.

If you ever travel to foreign countries, get a card that doesn't hit you for currency translation fees. That can be huge, so read the fine print. I've got one card specifically for that purpose.

Right. Capital One cards usually don't charge foreign transaction fees so I take that one with me overseas.

[rass]

RASSECTOMY.

Step 1 today. Doc was great. Warm hands. Probably going to get this done sometime in early June.

[howard]

The voice of Cleveland (on The Cleveland Show and Family Guy) is from a white guy (Mike Henry).

[Jerloma]

I was hanging out with Ms Rhode Island last night and I got to coach her on how to answer the evolution question if they ask her at the Ms America pageant.

[P.D.X.]

Rhode Island? They're never in contention.

[vandwagon]

I was hanging out with Ms Rhode Island last night and I got to coach her on how to answer the evolution question if they ask her at the Ms America pageant.

Where were you hanging out with Ms. Rhode Island?

[Jerloma]

I was hanging out with Ms Rhode Island last night and I got to coach her on how to answer the evolution question if they ask her at the Ms America pageant.

Where were you hanging out with Ms. Rhode Island?

Fundraiser to send her to Miss America. Some nightclub downtown. I'm friends with her grandparents and as it turned out, I went to high school with her pageant coach (sister school).

The answer is no...I've never been in one place with so many smoking hot women in my life.

[vandwagon]

My son is 5 and is in his first year of lacrosse. They do a little practice then play a game that's pretty much the lacrosse equivalent of bunch ball in soccer where everyone swarms the ball. There was a kid on the other team whose mother was literally standing with him on the field during his team's practice. She wasn't coaching, just standing with the kid. She actually stood next to him a while during the game too when he was playing. Strange, but she was good loooking so it didn't bother me too much.

The attackers on my son's team spent most of the game sitting in the grass except when the coach's older son (an assistant) got them up when the ball was coming their way. Funny age for these kids to play sports. I coach a 5-6-7 baseball team and the range of interest is amazing.

[brian]

Jerry Seinfeld (the fictional one at least) got to third-base with Miss Rhode Island. So there.

[Johnnie]

You guys need to Google "Olivia Culpo."

Miss Rhode Island USA >> Miss USA >> Miss Universe.

[The Sybian]

You guys need to Google "Olivia Culpo."

Miss Rhode Island USA(Olivia Culpo) = Miss USA (Olivia Culpo) = Miss Universe (Olivia Culpo).

FIFY

I think J-Lo means the current Ms. RI, not Miss RI. Two different pageants.

[Jerloma]

You guys need to Google "Olivia Culpo."

Miss Rhode Island USA(Olivia Culpo) = Miss USA (Olivia Culpo) = Miss Universe (Olivia Culpo).

FIFY

I think J-Lo means the current Ms. RI, not Miss RI. Two different pageants.

Correct. This year's Ms RI. (rules)

[Johnnie]

I'm aware of that. The USA one is owned by Trump, I think.

My comment was directed at P.D.X. and kind of at Brian.

[Jerloma]

Any way, she promised me that if she got asked that she would say, "Only in the sense that I think the theories of gravity and relativity should be taught in science classrooms." If this happens, it's going to be the proudest moment of my life.

[Johnnie]

If this happens, it's going to be the proudest moment of my life.

Hooking up your pretend internet nephew with her should have been your proudest moment. Thanks, Unc.

[wlu_lax6]

So Frank Deford's NPR piece on Wed is usually just so/so, but today's had some interesting thoughts

First, he asked, why do all newspapers and websites print so-called attendance figures, when they are abject lies? Box scores are scrupulously correct in every detail, except that what is listed as "attendance" is, instead, the number of tickets sold, not the people actually at the game

Why, the Curmudgeon railed in his next text, why do big-time tournaments in sports like golf and tennis have the nerve to depend on volunteers? Who are these suckers? The athletes are getting paid hundreds of thousands of dollars, even a million or more. Why should people who love the sport help run a tournament without any pay?

why, in the 21st century, do professional golfers have to keep their own scorecards?

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[Jerloma]

Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, and Jay-Z are remaking Annie. I'm intrigued.

[A_B]

Annie will whip her hair, guaranteed.

[howard]

So Frank Deford's NPR piece on Wed is usually just so/so, but today's had some interesting thoughts

First, he asked, why do all newspapers and websites print so-called attendance figures, when they are abject lies? Box scores are scrupulously correct in every detail, except that what is listed as "attendance" is, instead, the number of tickets sold, not the people actually at the game

So the sports page can be just like the political and economic reporting.

[Steve of phpBB]

"Mission Accomplished" ten years ago today.

Charlie Pierce is all over it.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/A_Decade_Decayed" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[P.D.X.]

Of all the PC terms that have popped up, nothing quite gets my goat like "rape culture." Just way too big of a catch-all term that can be thrown at anyone for virtually anything. Argue against it? Nope, because then you're part of RAPE CULTURE. Make an off-color joke? RAPE CULTURE. Have a few beers and hit on girls in the bar? RAPE CULTURE. The term is so ridiculous it's almost a joke in itself. But don't point that out!

[Scottie]

So Frank Deford's NPR piece on Wed is usually just so/so, but today's had some interesting thoughts

First, he asked, why do all newspapers and websites print so-called attendance figures, when they are abject lies? Box scores are scrupulously correct in every detail, except that what is listed as "attendance" is, instead, the number of tickets sold, not the people actually at the game

So the sports page can be just like the political and economic reporting.

Attendance, at that early stage of reporting, is an approximation anyway. It gets adjusted once the accountant types sit down and look at the numbers. It's hardly an "abject lie" but rather a traditional use of a word to describe the number of tickets sold. So if it's changed to "Box" or "Tickets Sold" or modified to be presented as "Percent of Capacity" it's not a lie anymore, right? He's splitting hairs over the meaning of the word "attendance", as it is, frankly, understood in that context to mean the number of tickets sold.

Had me wondering if he really knows what "abject" means or just unconsciously dropped a phrase. If he said "misleading", for example, that would have made far more sense.

It wasn't that long ago, even mid-to-late 20th century, where those attendance numbers given to the media were not determined by counting ticket stubs but rather by approximating the number of empty seats and subtracting that from stadium capacity. Pretty much every box score you'd see in newspapers in the 30s, 40s, 50s, showed attendance that was calculated in that way; nobody was scanning bar codes back then. (I'm using Baseball as my example).

[Gunpowder]

I've never heard of rape culture but I'm probs part of it.

[Scottie]

Of all the PC terms that have popped up, nothing quite gets my goat like "rape culture." Just way too big of a catch-all term that can be thrown at anyone for virtually anything. Argue against it? Nope, because then you're part of RAPE CULTURE. Make an off-color joke? RAPE CULTURE. Have a few beers and hit on girls in the bar? RAPE CULTURE. The term is so ridiculous it's almost a joke in itself. But don't point that out!

That's not PC, that's pure radical feminism; pretty much any phrase manufactured by feminists is utterly ridiculous. That one is probably the nadir of their collective absurdity.

[Gunpowder]

Easiest way to stop rape is probably to just consent while it's happening.

[Scottie]

Easiest way to stop rape is probably to just consent while it's happening.

And Julia's voice was lost, except in sighs,
Until too late for useful conversation;
The tears were gushing from her gentle eyes,
I wish, indeed, they had not had occasion;
But who, alas! can love, and then be wise?
Not that remorse did not oppose temptation;
A little still she strove, and much repented,
And whispering 'I will ne'er consent'--consented.

- MC Fresh Lord Bizziron.

[govmentchedda]

"Mission Accomplished" ten years ago today.

Charlie Pierce is all over it.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/A_Decade_Decayed" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I must have read his stuff before, but I don't specifically remember his name. However, between Grantland and Esquire, I am enjoying this Charlie Pierce renaissance.

[DSafetyGuy]

Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, and Jay-Z are remaking Annie. I'm intrigued.

Even if Foxx plays a character named Benjamin Stacks?

[howard]

Of all the PC terms that have popped up, nothing quite gets my goat like "rape culture."

I kind of like that as a descriptive phrase for United States colleges and universities. Increasingly high schools. Special props to the fraternity-sorority subculture for bringing efficiency to this culture. Special shout out to 'cunt-punt'.

ETA: Don't let me discount sexualization of children in the United States. Direct line from that in media to the growth and prevalence of child rape.

[Jerloma]

Easiest way to stop rape is probably to just consent while it's happening.

And Julia's voice was lost, except in sighs,
Until too late for useful conversation;
The tears were gushing from her gentle eyes,
I wish, indeed, they had not had occasion;
But who, alas! can love, and then be wise?
Not that remorse did not oppose temptation;
A little still she strove, and much repented,
And whispering 'I will ne'er consent'--consented.

- MC Fresh Lord Bizziron.

"If a rape is inevitable, you may as well just lay back and enjoy it."

-Robert Knight

[The Sybian]

The trifecta of seeing "MC Fresh Lord Bizziron," matched with Scottie's avatar and ranking of L'Carpetron Dookmarriot is just too much.

[Johnnie]

I've never heard of rape culture but I'm probs part of it.

Well you can certainly supply a jersey for it.

I'll call that Rape Couture.

[Scottie]

I'll call that Rape Couture.

In all honesty, you could probably (likely) make millions selling that.

[Gunpowder]

I'll call that Rape Couture.

In all honesty, you could probably (likely) make millions selling that.

I was just going to say, it's brilliant and I'll start cutting the fabric.

[Johnnie]

It can certainly be an offshoot of my 'MURICA clothing brand.

Now I just need someone to go in on it with and show these feminazis whose the boss.

[Jerloma]

Can someone just tell me what "Straight As. Boom" is?