{"id":7025,"date":"2013-01-11T11:31:46","date_gmt":"2013-01-11T19:31:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=7025"},"modified":"2013-01-11T11:31:46","modified_gmt":"2013-01-11T19:31:46","slug":"unexpected-changes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=7025","title":{"rendered":"Unexpected Changes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-5009\" alt=\"userpic=observations\" src=\"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/userpicobservations.jpg\" width=\"100\" height=\"72\" align=\"right\" hspace=\"3\" vspace=\"3\" \/>To close out our lunchtime news chum for the week, here are a few articles about some unexpected changes reported in this week&#8217;s news:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Free Checking<\/strong>. We all know TANSTAAFL, meaning that &#8220;free&#8221; checking usually isn&#8217;t. As opposed to providing checking and imposing a lot of fees after the fact, <a href=\"http:\/\/online.wsj.com\/article\/SB10001424127887323374504578219573099727186.html?google_editors_picks=true\">some banks are now starting with a basic products and letting the customer build the features they want to add, which determines the monthly cost<\/a>. The article calls it <em>ala-carte checking<\/em>, but I see it more as transparency about what you are getting.<\/li>\n<li><strong>National Cathedral<\/strong>. In light of decisions in MD and DC regarding same sex marriage, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/news\/us\/article\/National-Cathedral-to-host-1st-same-sex-weddings-4177888.php\">the National Cathedral has announced it will perform same-sex ceremonies<\/a>. Good! This truly demonstrates that public commitment to one&#8217;s partner(s), same sex or different, is what is mainstream, and that the old ideas are just like old bread that has been left out too long. In a related article, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/news\/nation\/nationnow\/la-na-nn-marines-same-sex-spouses-20130110,0,846175.story\">the Marines have ordered spouses clubs on base to accept the partners of same-sex military couples, even though they are private clubs<\/a>. Say what you will about the military: The Marines have been exemplary in implementing the repeal of DADT. Basically, the government said to accept gays; it&#8217;s goverment policy, we do it. Gotta admire that.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Housing Sales<\/strong>. We&#8217;ve all been hearing the housing market is picking up a little. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/business\/realestate\/la-fi-short-sales-20130109,0,4251869.story\">Even more interesting is the fact that the number of short sales is outpacing the number of foreclosures, at least here in SoCal<\/a>. This is demonstrating to banks that it is cheaper to move the property to a new owner in good condition, speedily, than all the hassles and damage of foreclosure. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vegasinc.com\/news\/2013\/jan\/09\/cash-investors-make-foreclosure-discounts-easy-dea\/\">There&#8217;s even activity in Vegas on this<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Token Changes.<\/strong> Monopoly is running <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/life\/2013\/01\/08\/monopoly-board-game-tokens-change\/1805387\/\">a survey to choose some new tokens for the Monopoly game, and to get rid of some<\/a>. I think it is a publicity stunt; after all, who plays Monopoly?<\/li>\n<li><strong>Happy Books<\/strong>. An interesting change here: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/features\/books\/jacketcopy\/la-et-jc-mcdonalds-happy-meals-toys-books-20130109,0,2150667.story\">In the UK, McDonalds has replaced the toys in Happy Meals with books<\/a>. I think we should push for that in the US!<\/li>\n<li><strong>The Chinese Theatre<\/strong>. Turns out the Grauman&#8217;s Chinese Theatre may soon be named&#8230; by the Chinese. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment\/envelope\/cotown\/la-fi-ct-chinese-theater-20130111,0,1298028.story\" target=\"_blank\">It appears that TCL, a Chinese Firm, has just bought the naming rights for the Grauman&#8217;s Chinese for more than $5 million<\/a>. It will now be called the TCL Chinese, and the money will be used for a slew of infrastructure improvements, such as repairing the concrete in front of the theatre that a bunch of people walked through when it was wet. As an aside, I&#8217;m actually distantly related to the Grauman family.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Hidden Menus<\/strong>. We all know about <a href=\"http:\/\/www.in-n-out.com\/menu\/not-so-secret-menu.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">the hidden menu at In-N-Out<\/a>. Did you know <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stltoday.com\/business\/columns\/consumer-central\/panera-s-new-hidden-low-carb-menu-elicits-cheers-confusion\/article_730d3dba-901e-573f-9ee4-18331bc93a7f.html\" target=\"_blank\">there was one at Panera<\/a>? It emphasizes low carbs, and by <a href=\"http:\/\/mypanera.panerabread.com\/articlestips\/article\/access-into-paneras-hidden-menu\/?ref=tw\" target=\"_blank\">the looks of it, might be good for the gluten-free folks<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Setting an Example<\/strong>. And for our last unexpected change. Allyn Rose is the contestant from DC for Miss America, which is announced Saturday. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/news\/us\/article\/Miss-America-contestant-pursuing-double-mastectomy-4185268.php\" target=\"_blank\">Win or lose, due to her family history of breast cancer, she plans on getting a double mastectomy right after the competition<\/a>. She&#8217;s 24, and her mother found her first lump at 27. The disease took her mother, grandmother, and great aunt. In some ways, I hope she wins: it will truly demonstrate that it is not the body that makes Miss America, it is the person.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To close out our lunchtime news chum for the week, here are a few articles about some unexpected changes reported in this week&#8217;s news: Free Checking. We all know TANSTAAFL, meaning that &#8220;free&#8221; checking usually isn&#8217;t. As opposed to providing checking and imposing a lot of fees after the fact, some banks are now starting <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/?p=7025\">Read More &#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[75,85,73],"class_list":["post-7025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-chum","tag-gaming-2","tag-housing","tag-restaurants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7025"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7025\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7033,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7025\/revisions\/7033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cahighways.org\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}