I've always wondered about something. Let's say I open a credit card account with Big Bank of the United States. Then I go and open up a credit card account with Little Bank of Virginia. As it is with my real credit card, if I pay any new balance on the first statement since a charge or cash advance is made I won't get any finance charges.
So I buy a computer or a bunch of clothes or something and charge it to Big Bank's card. Now I have a $1,276 balance. When the first statement comes in I go to Little Bank and get a $1,276 cash advance, deposit it into my checking account, and pay Big Bank. I get no finance charge on my Big Bank card, because I paid the balance within the first billing cycle that the charge was made. I have a $1,276 balance on my Little Bank credit card.
Next month I get my Little Bank credit card statement. I go to Big Bank, get a $1,276 cash advance, deposit it into my checking account, and use it to pay my Little Bank credit card balance. Since it was paid on the first billing cycle after making the charge to that card (in this case a cash advance), there is no finance charge. I now have a $1,276 balance on my Big Bank credit card.
The third month (and every odd month thereafter) I get my cash advance from Little Bank and pay Big Bank, and the fourth month (and every even month thereafter) I get my cash advance from Big Bank and pay Little Bank. Paying each new cash advance every month yields me no finance charges, because each payment is being made every billing cycle, the first billing cycle after each new charge. In effect, I can carry the balance indefinitely as long as I'm diligent enough to keep up with it every month. The "finance charges" I pay would be time and fuel to maintain this routine, and I could conceivably pay off the balance as quickly or slowly as I wish.
Would this work, and what protects financial institutions from someone doing this very type of thing?
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
The Fight Against the Sale of Used Games
This is almost infuriating. Slashdot (among others) are reporting (http://tinyurl.com/y8vt3mn) that Sony has now joined EA in extorting money from its player base by forcing registration of games for online play.... and when the game is resold or transferred, the recipient of the used game must fork over more money for another registration code to allow online game play.
Now, I readily admit that I could be ignorant about this, but it seems to me that the gaming companies are doing a disservice to their customers with this. I understand the desire to make money, but there comes a point when it's just uncouth if not outright tacky. Is there a panel somewhere that gets hired by companies for the sole purpose of finding ways to screw over customers or extort money?
When it all comes down to it, the world is brimming with greedy money-mongers who don't care about anything except money and/or themselves. I remember when concepts like community and sharing were more prevalent in areas where they're now lacking. Sometimes I'm almost ashamed to be a part of this earth, a part of human society.
Now, I readily admit that I could be ignorant about this, but it seems to me that the gaming companies are doing a disservice to their customers with this. I understand the desire to make money, but there comes a point when it's just uncouth if not outright tacky. Is there a panel somewhere that gets hired by companies for the sole purpose of finding ways to screw over customers or extort money?
When it all comes down to it, the world is brimming with greedy money-mongers who don't care about anything except money and/or themselves. I remember when concepts like community and sharing were more prevalent in areas where they're now lacking. Sometimes I'm almost ashamed to be a part of this earth, a part of human society.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Valentine's Day Post Mortem
I actually was thinking about this yesterday, but decided that I wanted to wait to post. Today's good, though.
Why is Valentine's Day wrought with pink and red? When I see so much pink and red I feel my face getting hot as if the stove burner was left on and I was hovering near it. When I think of pink and red I think of heat, fire, blood, and death. I think of people burning alive as flesh gets cooked and charred. Is this really how a person wants to think of Valentine's Day?
Yeah, I didn't think so.
It's supposed to remind you of love.
Okay. But it doesn't. What connection does pink/red have with love? I'll tell you... it has none. Someone started it, and someone else kept it going. Just like love and hearts. There's no connection between love and a heart. The physical and biological evidences from the emotion labeled "love" manifests itself many times as a sensation in the chest, where the heart is. I hear it told that long ago (probably with the ancient Greeks and important thinkers of human history) that this was taken as evidence that love originates from a person's heart (since modern medical discoveries of endorphins and brain functions haven't been made yet). It was a misguided and mistaken association perpetuated through ignorance. For all I know the pink/red association with love and Valentine's Day was arbitrary.
Girls like pink, and it's about wooing the girls and being romantic.
Posh. Girls should be wooed as a normal part of the dating process (although that's not to say it stops there) and romance should exist throughout the life of a love relationship. I don't need an excuse to enjoy romance, just a girlfriend/wife. I even hear it said that the unexpected acts of love can be more meaningful... like a random breakfast in bed or something. Besides, not all girls like pink and/or red. What am I supposed to do? Pick out all of the pink and red candies from the box and give those girls the rest? I'm not about to give my girl a used dessert or candy for Valentine's Day.
Then what do YOU want to do about it?
Nothing. I just don't like being inundated with so much pink and red.
Then why did you bring it up?
Because it's blog content. Duh. There's no point to it. I'm just expressing my dislike for so much pink and red. I'm throwing out the question of how pink and red got associated with Valentine's Day. I'm not trying to change the world here or anything. I don't want to DO anything about it except learn how pink and red got so prevalent when it comes to Valentine's Day.
As a parting thought, I don't claim to be absolved from my own ignornace of anything.
Why is Valentine's Day wrought with pink and red? When I see so much pink and red I feel my face getting hot as if the stove burner was left on and I was hovering near it. When I think of pink and red I think of heat, fire, blood, and death. I think of people burning alive as flesh gets cooked and charred. Is this really how a person wants to think of Valentine's Day?
Yeah, I didn't think so.
It's supposed to remind you of love.
Okay. But it doesn't. What connection does pink/red have with love? I'll tell you... it has none. Someone started it, and someone else kept it going. Just like love and hearts. There's no connection between love and a heart. The physical and biological evidences from the emotion labeled "love" manifests itself many times as a sensation in the chest, where the heart is. I hear it told that long ago (probably with the ancient Greeks and important thinkers of human history) that this was taken as evidence that love originates from a person's heart (since modern medical discoveries of endorphins and brain functions haven't been made yet). It was a misguided and mistaken association perpetuated through ignorance. For all I know the pink/red association with love and Valentine's Day was arbitrary.
Girls like pink, and it's about wooing the girls and being romantic.
Posh. Girls should be wooed as a normal part of the dating process (although that's not to say it stops there) and romance should exist throughout the life of a love relationship. I don't need an excuse to enjoy romance, just a girlfriend/wife. I even hear it said that the unexpected acts of love can be more meaningful... like a random breakfast in bed or something. Besides, not all girls like pink and/or red. What am I supposed to do? Pick out all of the pink and red candies from the box and give those girls the rest? I'm not about to give my girl a used dessert or candy for Valentine's Day.
Then what do YOU want to do about it?
Nothing. I just don't like being inundated with so much pink and red.
Then why did you bring it up?
Because it's blog content. Duh. There's no point to it. I'm just expressing my dislike for so much pink and red. I'm throwing out the question of how pink and red got associated with Valentine's Day. I'm not trying to change the world here or anything. I don't want to DO anything about it except learn how pink and red got so prevalent when it comes to Valentine's Day.
As a parting thought, I don't claim to be absolved from my own ignornace of anything.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Hope in a Decidedly Futile Effort
What's this? Is there another blog post here? Say it ain't so!
Okay, so what's this all about, anyway? In truth, this is a test. Someone (who I won't name, but their initials are Troy Goldie) has found my blog. Or so they claim. Is this unnamed person watching for an update? Will this unnamed person find this post and contact me about it? Hrmmm.... I hope so. CALL ME!!! (Just don't call me bad names.)
I'm not an optimist at heart. I try to hope for the best, but in my heart I know that things will turn out wrong. I'm involved, afterall; therefore, it stands to reason that something will go wrong along the way. I also don't have anything to say to the world. At least, not to the world at large. Certain pieces of the population I'd be happy to tell them to DIAF, but overall I'd rather stay under my varying-sized rock and play WoW. So in a dichotomy that is called my life, I have hope that I will post more on this blog after having already decided that I won't have the motivation to keep posting (resulting in it becoming stagnant for another ... however long it was since my last post). Self fulfilling prophecy? Let me tell you something about prophecy.
A prophet is simply one who speaks for another. To receive a prophecy is to receive a message on behalf of another (typically a divine being) so that it can be communicated on the message-sender's behalf. If I were to declare something to be (according to my beliefs that are of my own design) and then act in a way to carry it out, there is no prophecy involved. The "prophecy" is a declarative statement based on what I think is correct. By that logic a "self fulfilling prophecy" does not exist. I am the one creating the message, I am the one declaring the message to others, and then I am the one acting in a way that makes it so.
Huh?
Let me put it this way: I hope to keep updating this blog. I have reason to believe that this blog will NOT be updated as I hope. Past experience with yourspace and this blog have proven that I did not have the motivation to keep updating these things, and nothing has given me reason to believe that things are different now. The logical conclusion is that my hope of updating this blog regularly is misplaced, and any attempt to fulfill that hope is futile. NONE of this paragraph has anything to do with prophecy.
I like to do what I call "express myself." I think you may call it "rambling." Either way, it's what I do. I'm not a concise person; that's no secret and I'll readily admit that. But as long as what I say is interesting enough to not solicit tl;dr comments, then I don't really care.
Okay, so what's this all about, anyway? In truth, this is a test. Someone (who I won't name, but their initials are Troy Goldie) has found my blog. Or so they claim. Is this unnamed person watching for an update? Will this unnamed person find this post and contact me about it? Hrmmm.... I hope so. CALL ME!!! (Just don't call me bad names.)
I'm not an optimist at heart. I try to hope for the best, but in my heart I know that things will turn out wrong. I'm involved, afterall; therefore, it stands to reason that something will go wrong along the way. I also don't have anything to say to the world. At least, not to the world at large. Certain pieces of the population I'd be happy to tell them to DIAF, but overall I'd rather stay under my varying-sized rock and play WoW. So in a dichotomy that is called my life, I have hope that I will post more on this blog after having already decided that I won't have the motivation to keep posting (resulting in it becoming stagnant for another ... however long it was since my last post). Self fulfilling prophecy? Let me tell you something about prophecy.
A prophet is simply one who speaks for another. To receive a prophecy is to receive a message on behalf of another (typically a divine being) so that it can be communicated on the message-sender's behalf. If I were to declare something to be (according to my beliefs that are of my own design) and then act in a way to carry it out, there is no prophecy involved. The "prophecy" is a declarative statement based on what I think is correct. By that logic a "self fulfilling prophecy" does not exist. I am the one creating the message, I am the one declaring the message to others, and then I am the one acting in a way that makes it so.
Huh?
Let me put it this way: I hope to keep updating this blog. I have reason to believe that this blog will NOT be updated as I hope. Past experience with yourspace and this blog have proven that I did not have the motivation to keep updating these things, and nothing has given me reason to believe that things are different now. The logical conclusion is that my hope of updating this blog regularly is misplaced, and any attempt to fulfill that hope is futile. NONE of this paragraph has anything to do with prophecy.
I like to do what I call "express myself." I think you may call it "rambling." Either way, it's what I do. I'm not a concise person; that's no secret and I'll readily admit that. But as long as what I say is interesting enough to not solicit tl;dr comments, then I don't really care.
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