Daily Dose of Common Sense

This is an example of smartness:

Bank of America will no longer let you spend what you don’t have. Revolutionary, I know. The bank is not allowing customers using accounts linked to debit cards to spend more than in their checking accounts.

Customers making a purchase without sufficient funds will be rejected at the cash register, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank said today. Those seeking to withdraw more than their balance from automated teller machines must agree to a $35 fee before they can get the money, spokesman Don Vecchiarello said.

$35 is pricey, but at least you can’t spend yourself (and us) into debt. Living within your means can be hard (who are we kidding–it sucks!) but, it’s a good way to avoid financial disaster down the road.

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Thanks to George P. for the link!

At a Wisconsin zoo on Friday, a woman wanted to feed the bears by hand. (I mean, who doesn’t? They’re all like Winnie the Pooh, right?) She ignored several barriers and warning signs in order to get up close and personal with the bears. Result? She lost several fingers after she was bitten. The woman’s boyfriend was also bitten as he tried to help her.

But this is not even the most disturbing part of the news report:

The woman’s boyfriend was bitten as he tried to pry the bear’s mouth off her hand, but he didn’t lose any fingers. Her 3-year-old granddaughter wasn’t injured.

Yes, that’s right. The woman, through her own stupidity, gets expectedly injured by a bear IN FRONT OF her granddaughter. Way to scar the little one for life, Grandma.

We’ve written about zoo stupidity before, but it really never ceases to amaze us how people purposely cross barriers and restricted areas to get to the wildlife. If you’re this reckless and dumb, you deserve whatever the animals dish out.

Progress in technology always brings about new kinds of dangers. Crossing the street must have become a frightening experience for a fair percentage of the folks who lived through the transition from horse-drawn to motorized vehicles, but soon every 5-year old knew enough to look both ways before they cross and pay attention to traffic signals. Education and adapting your behavior are the key.

The security dangers posed by the Internet are no different. By now (hopefully) we’ve all learned not to open email attachments we weren’t expecting (even if they appear to come from friends).

But a newer and more subtle danger is deceptive web links in emails and on web sites. But, like the simple rule about looking both ways, there’s also an easy way to mitigate this danger as well.

The key is to understand that the text of a link doesn’t necessarily have to match the actual web “destination” (the technical term being a URL, Uniform Resource Locator). So, if I want to link to CNN, I can make the link text match (http://www.cnn.com/) or use some other text (CNN).

The malicious links are crafted to appear like that first link that shows the URL as the text (let’s call this a “bare link”), but the actual URL is a different site that is a fake version of the real site shown in the text. So, how can you detect this subterfuge?

Every web browser and email program has a feature that shows you the URL of a link when you hold the mouse pointer without clicking (called hovering) over the text. So, for instance, this fake bare link to Citibank can be easily detected: http://www.citibank.com/

So, anytime a bare link’s destination URL doesn’t match what looks like the URL in the text, don’t click it. It’s as simple and common-sensible as looking before you cross the street.

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A couple in California had a new baby on the way and they needed to find ways to save money. So, in 2008, they removed their front lawn and replaced the grass with wood chips. This saved the city thousands of gallons of water and slashed the homeowner’s water bill. Sounds like a win-win, right?

Wrong. Cities want you to keep your lawn for aesthetic reasons. The green looks pretty, even though it takes a whole lot more maintenance and resources than other options. Lawns help to keep property values up. In this particular case, the couple lives in a town that requires homeowners to have at least 40% live landscaping in their front yards. So, they are being taken to court for not having enough green. (And, this is in Southern California, where some cities fine overzealous lawn waterers.)

A neighbor of the couple says,

“It’s their yard, it’s not overgrown with weeds, it’s not an eyesore,” said Cleek, whose own yard boasts fruit and avocado trees. “We should be able to have our yards look the way we want them to.”

Even more disturbing than the draconian landscaping rules is the way this has played out. The couple has made several changes to the front lawn in order to comply with the 40% rule. And, in an example of local government efficiency, the homeowners heard nothing from the city in return until the misdemeanor charge. Way to work together on a compromise, Orange County.

“It’s just funny that we pay our taxes to the city and the city is now prosecuting us with our own money,” Quan Ha said. “Doesn’t it waste funds to go back and fourth in court, rather than sending pictures, e-mails and having phone conversations?”

Sounds like common sense to me.

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Waiting in line sucks. We all hate it, yet most of us do it every day. At the grocery, post office, drug store, restaurant, Target…. we’re in line waiting to pay. Well, here’s a gripe: Why isn’t everyone READY to pay when the time comes? You were in line. You knew money would be exchanged soon. You had the time to get your credit card or cash ready while standing in line. So, why are you fumbling around in your wallet once the cashier gives you the total? The rest of us are behind you and we’re READY to pay.

While in line, get your finances ready, people. That way, the line moves faster!

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As flying gets increasingly more laborious, expensive (hello, outrageous extra baggage fees!), and just downright miserable, at least one regional airline knows what consumers want–less hassle.

SeaPort Airlines, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, offers regional flights within the Pacific Northwest and also within the Mid-South region. Started in 2008, their goal is simple: Provide quick and easy commuter flights at a reasonable cost.

A quick flight cost comparison with another major airline showed one standard SeaPort fare to be about $200.00 less expensive than its competitor. They also offer free airport parking and suggest you need only arrive 15 minutes before your flight–even with check-in bags.

Best of all? They tout themselves as a “TSA free airline.” Yep, you read that right. Since they are a regional airline and fly into smaller terminals they are exempt from full-scale Transportation Security Administration screening.

Now that’s how I want to fly.

The fastest growing group on Facebook is the 35-54 set, which can lead to sticky situations with real consequences for many people. Therefore, who you friend is as important as who you don’t. As an example, a survey out this week found that 56% of people believe it’s irresponsible to friend your boss on Facebook. Seems there are more categories to be considered as well. So, here’s our common sense list of “To Friend, or Not to Friend.”

Should you friend…

…your boss? As the survey lends us to believe, it’s probably a bad idea. Not only are you possibly exposing awkward photos, status updates, and Wall posts, but your boss can actually SEE if you’re on Facebook at any given time. (The “Friends Online” feature reveals who is logged into the site.) Unless you plan to do all your Facebooking after hours (ha!), then let the boss actually think you’re working. Also, it’s hard to claim a “sick” day when you post photos of your impromptu trip to Six Flags the next day.

…your parents? This is tricky. It really depends on your parents. Are they the judgmental type? Do they disapprove of your lifestyle, job, or friends? If they’re the easy-going, we-love-you-just-the-way-you-are parents, then you’re probably safe. However, you don’t want to become the black sheep over your online revelations. Plus, if you connect to your folks, you might learn more than YOU want to know. (Be prepared for a barrage of Farmville.)

…your kids? As we just talked about, you might learn more than you want to know. Are you invading your child’s internet privacy? Or, are you just trying to stay more connected? If it’s the later, that is certainly a noble reason. Just don’t expect them to appreciate it. More than likely, you’ll just embarrass them.

…your ex? Before you try to maintain a friendship (albeit an online one) with an ex, ask yourself if you’re ready to hear about his or her new relationships. If you can handle seeing vacation pictures of he and his new girlfriend in Bermuda, then it’s probably OK to be Facebook friends. But, if hearing about how happy he or she is without you sends you over the edge, it’s not worth it. Also, if you friend an ex just to keep tabs on him or her “just in case” (or worse, for some revenge plot), then that’s just wrong.

…randoms? If you can’t remember the person from high school, then why stay connected to them on Facebook? Ditto for a friend of a friend, or someone who was blindly suggested by Facebook. Yes, you can hide friends from your News Feed. But, if you friend someone knowing that you’re just going to hide them, why friend them in the first place?

Facebook isn’t just about collecting as many friends as you can. It should be about interacting with a network of people you’re interested in. Don’t let the friend requests bog you down. When in doubt, IGNORE!

This week, a killer whale–which had already been involved in two deaths–killed a trainer at Sea World in Orlando in front of a crowd.

Now, I’m not going to go all PETA on your ass and start ranting about animals in captivity. My kids like to see the bears, elephants, and cows at the zoo as much as the next person. What doesn’t make sense is this is an animal who was involved in other deadly incidents. First a trainer was killed in 1991 and then a gatecrasher was found lying on top of the animal in 1999. In each case, it appeared the whale thought humans were toys.

How “dangerous” does an animal need to be before we decide it’s not worth the human life to keep it in captivity? I’m sure the orca show at Sea World is a big draw. And, the trainers are experienced and careful. But, when animals are prone to attack, is it really a good idea to keep them around? Here’s how a witness described the event:

Another audience member, Victoria Biniak, told WKMG-TV the whale “took off really fast in the tank, and then he came back, shot up in the air, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started thrashing around, and one of her shoes flew off.”

Yikes.

This pillow freaks me out. It’s called the Hug Me, and it’s a pillow in the shape of a man’s clothed arm.

I understand loneliness and the need for human contact. But, this pillow seems hardly the answer. It just comes off as creepy. And sad.

Please, buy a cat, fish, parrot, guinea pig…anything, instead.

Thanks to Sara B. for the link!

It never fails: A subway car is packed to the gills and some knucklehead still has a giant backpack on. If you commute by anything other than a car, or if you’re frequently around tourist attractions, you have likely had the same unhappy experience at some point.

A lot of backpack wearers never take the pack off. Ever. So, even in a crowd, the big ‘ol backpack is whacking people in the face, back, or chest. The owner usually seems oblivious and continues to barrel on through the crowd.

What is it with you backpackers? Have some consideration for the rest of us!

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