Think before you act:

(Or what appeals to college guys)

This post comes from J.D. Roth at Get Rich Slowly.

On the first day of college, I opened my first bank account.

The gym was filled with registration tables, not just for classes and clubs, but also for local businesses wanting to sell themselves to the students. There were even a couple of banks. Because I was getting a small payment from the school to cover living expenses, I needed to open a checking account.

The two banks had very different methods of attracting students. One displayed a sign that said "free checking." The other was handing out Frisbees. My choice was easy. I wanted the Frisbee. (Free checking? How boring.)

I signed up for my checking account, got my free Frisbee, and spent the afternoon on the quad, tossing the disc back and forth with my roommates. When it was time for dinner, I took the Frisbee up to my room, put it in the closet, and never used it again. But I had that checking account for nearly 17 years.

Classes started. I forgot about the Frisbee, and I forgot about the checking account. The next month, I received my first bank statement. There was a $5 service charge, but I didn't care. It was just $5, right? I accepted the fee as part of the package, and as part of being an adult. My parents had always paid service charges on their bank accounts, and I expected I always would, too.

I paid $5 a month to maintain my checking account throughout college. When I graduated, I continued to pay $5 a month. In the early 1990s, the fee increased to $8 a month. This bugged my wife (who had the same account), so she went into the bank and had them switch her to free checking. I didn't do anything.

In 1998, I cut up my credit cards and transferred the debt to a home-equity loan held at the same bank as my checking account. It occurred to me that maybe I could get the same free account that Kris had moved to a few years earlier. I asked. They said no, the only account available for me was the one I had. I accepted that answer and kept paying my $8 a month.

In fact, I paid a monthly fee for checking from September 1987 until June 2004. For 202 months -- nearly 17 years -- I paid $5 or $8 a month to have a checking account. In 2004, as part of my financial awakening, I closed my accounts at the bank and moved them to a local credit union. The credit union never charges me fees at all.

During the first episode of "The Personal Finance Hour," I mentioned this story. As I spoke, it occurred to me that the "free" Frisbee wasn't really free. Not even close. Roughing out the numbers, it's clear that this one poor choice alone cost me about $1,500 -- enough to buy hundreds of Frisbees.

Oops!

PARIS (Reuters) - France intercepted 11 suspected Somali pirates on Sunday after they mistook a French naval ship for a commercial vessel and started heading toward it in preparation for an attack, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

[It's going to be really hard for me to take pirates seriously from now on. It would surprise me if they could get any more incompetent. The boat has a GIANT GUN on the front. How could they mistake this:
For this:
Anyways, onto the rest of the story.]

Heavily-armed* Somali pirates have stepped up their attacks on vessels in Indian Ocean shipping lanes and the Gulf of Aden, capturing dozens of vessels, kidnapping hundreds of hostages and raking in millions of dollars in ransoms.[I suggest: Read this as good fiction. The numbers aren't acurate. They are made up to make good story.]

The French navy seized the suspected pirates, who were in three small boats, 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean.

“They confused the Nivose with a commercial ship and rushed toward it, to intercept it,” the spokesman said.

“The Nivose then put its own craft in the water with its commandos and sent out a helicopter and stopped these 11 pirates who were on these three boats.”

Two were small boats which the pirates use for attacks and the third was the mother ship which is used to transport supplies such as petrol, water and food.

The commandos also found guns and rockets on the boats. [The French have Commandos? Footnote needed.]

“The pirates are currently on the Nivose,” he said.

“For the moment we don’t have any indication of what the European Union forces want to do with these pirates.” [They won't imprison them, they won't execute them. Euros are sissies. I say give 'em the traditional punishment: Hang 'em. Hang 'em all!]

A French naval patrol seized three more pirates in Seychelles’ waters on Saturday and handed them over to the coastguard, the islands’ president’s office said.

The attacks have disrupted U.N. aid supplies, driven up insurance costs and forced some firms to consider routing cargo between Europe and Asia around South Africa instead.

Naval forces from the United States, Europe and Asia have been deployed to protect merchant ships.

*Pirates may or may not have had heavy arms. Nicknamed skinnies, the pirates probably had small arms. Heavy arms makes for a better article and this is just a legal disclaimer that you really don't need to bother reading** but if you continue I would just go on to tell you that this blog takes no responsibility for any misinformation that may come from it. That is to say, you are the sole decision maker in your life. I am merely (Oatmeal Raisin Cookies) here (Delicious) to (gooy) make (oatmeal filled) suggestions (warm) and it is your (just out of the oven) responsibility to decide on which (home baked cookies) news stories to believe.

**Apparently I am not legaly allowed to suggest in any way, shape, or form*** that you needent read the legal disclaimer.****

***Aren't shape and form the same thing?

****Take legal disclaimer in the most general sence of the word*****

*****By word; read: phrase.******

******Ok, ok, I'm done^

^Seriously. Stop reading.

It's not just a double date...

Hard times lead 21 couples to share wedding

HARGEISA, Somalia (Reuters) - Twenty-one couples have shared a joint wedding in Somalia, where the traditional lavish celebrations are increasingly unaffordable at a time of economic slump. [The priest at the wedding was a little white talking rat. Among the congregants were dolphins watching from the ocean coast. I think I finally understand why 42 is the meaning of life.]

The function was held on Tuesday at a hotel in Hargeisa, capital of Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland, and was arranged by Telsom, a telecoms company that employs all the bridegrooms. [After this the company quickly went bankrupt due to lack of employees for the week following.]

The Horn of Africa region is staunchly Muslim, so the men and women celebrated separately. [Nevermind...]

The expense of a traditional wedding, especially when economic times are hard, is driving some young Somalis to leave their homeland. [Notice: It's the weddings, not the economic hardtimes.]

"One of the reasons why the youth migrate [Good use of the word there.] is weddings are expensive, and I appeal to the community to simplify marriage by reducing the cost," Sheikh Mohamed Sheikh Omar Dirir [One person not 5.], one of the area's most prominent religious leaders, told guests. [Little did you know, rats actually have 5 names.]

(Reporting by Husein Ali Nur; Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Phakamisa Ndzamela)