The EMV chip credit card transition in the US has been a disaster The whole chip card transition was timed to begin as the holiday shopping season of 2015 got underway. CVS simply shut off the chip card part of its terminals during the holiday season, to avoid the inevitable long lines. And CVS probably wasn’t the only retailer to do that. So, to rehash, the solution for longer lines wasn’t to make checkouts faster but to completely bypass the new security feature during the busiest shopping season of the year.
The Tower Amid the Ruins | Belmont Club Marx’s heirs, having freed themselves moral restraints, have ridiculously proceeded to construct an elaborate system of mores governing every aspect of life. There are now PC formulas for bathrooms, transgender forms of address, Halloween costumes, sexual behavior, speech, food choices, energy consumption, transportation and even mathematics just to name a few. Among the innumerable rules of virtue there’s even a sacrament of penance, to which Harvey Weinstein has subscribed, declaring his intention to atone for his reported sexual assaults by fighting the NRA.
We will never have to worry about a human mind going amok in cyberspace; alas, we will also never achieve immortality through downloading. This is not only because of the absence of consciousness software in the brain; there is a deeper problem here – let’s call it the uniqueness problem – which is both inspirational and depressing.
Like most of the mainline Protestants churches, the Episcopal Church has become a circus of degeneracy and general lunacy. As a result their pews are empty…. These churches are big on the “all are welcome” stuff. They hang banners outside their empty churches with this slogan, usually decorated with rainbows. My suggestion is the alt-right toughs should take pics of themselves dressed as Hitler, posing in front of these stupid signs. That would make for a hilarious social media campaign. The fact is, the only people welcome in these hell holes are Progressive nutters and sexual deviants. As is always the case with The Cult, the opposite of what they say is usually the truth. Suicide Cult | The Z Blog
Sultan Knish: The Global Failure of Globalization Globalization is a dead end. Open societies are open internally and mutually to people and ideas that share the premise of that ‘openness’. Not with those who hate them. Free markets are free when they interact with other free markets, not totalitarian slave labor camps that can always win on price.
The Best Western Movies Ever Made“How can you trust a man that wears both a belt and suspenders? Man can’t even trust his own pants.” UPDATE: This just in from commenter known forevermore as… …. a comment that I agree with wholeheartedly :
“Best westerns. Now I adjure you, honored cohort: watch the first one, High Noon. It is homework for you. Then, go ahead and see how your isolationist conservatism is short of the mark. I could make a short line between Kim in Nork, and the lessons of this movie. We’ve punted the ball on every opportunity; the train stops here at high noon, and some men are getting off to kill you.”
I rarely use my credit card. I haven’t written a check at a store for over 40 years. Cash is my choice for buying stuff. I have watched, usually the person in front of me, credit card purchases with the chip card and it seems fine. Except that there is zero proof of any kind of ownership or legal authority to use the card. I assume someone could take my card out of my wallet and use it freely because of this. No need, in most cases, to even sign a signature. I can remember when stores would make you put a thumb print on the back of a check in addition to checking ID. Why are the rules so lose now?
Clayton in MississippiOctober 30, 2017, 10:17 AM
re: Like most of the mainline Protestants churches, the Episcopal Church has become a circus of degeneracy and general lunacy.
“George Washington was one of the founding members of Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, buying pew No. 5 when the church opened in 1773 and attending for more than two decades whenever he rode north from Mount Vernon to do business in town.
This weekend, the church announced it was pulling down a memorial plaque to its onetime vestryman and the country’s first president, saying he and another famous parishioner, Robert E. Lee, have become so controversial that they are chasing away would-be parishioners.
While acknowledging “friction” over the decision, the church’s leadership said both plaques, which are attached to the front wall on either side of the altar, are relics of another era and have no business in a church that proclaims its motto as “All are welcome — no exceptions.'”
~~ from The Washington Times newspaper, online at https://www.google.com/search?q=george+washington%27s+church+pew&oq=george+washington%27s+church&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j69i60j0l3.5684j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Snakepit KansasOctober 30, 2017, 10:23 AM
GWTW,
Credit card companies get the best of both worlds. They get a percentage from the retailer every time someone uses the card, and they get a percentage from the consumer if they do not pay off their credit card in whole at the end of the month. They want to make it as easy as possible for you to buy. The amount of fraud apparently is not enough for credit card companies to make buying more difficult for the consumer.
Personally, I put everything I can on my credit card including business travel. I pay it off at the end of the month like religion. I also get four to five Ben Franklins back every year from the credit card company. If you are going to play the game, make the game work for you.
I didn’t know that about the chip readers. My main concern is forgetting the card in the reader someday. It’s the same everywhere you go, with systems. When capitalism becomes discredited as it has, the end products are shit that doesn’t work, more bureaucracy, and longer lines. I mean, that swipe was pretty fast, wasn’t it?
As I go on I-90 into the city, hating every minute of it, the new casino building project has leveraged a traffic circle right in the middle of what was once a long straight drive. Same stupidity. Never impede my straight driving! We are trying to run a capitalist system here!
Best westerns. Now I adjure you honored cohort: watch the first one, High Noon. It is homework for you. Then, go ahead and see how your isolationist conservatism is short of the mark. I could make a short line between Kim in Nork, and the lessons of this movie. We’ve punted the ball on every opportunity; the train stops here at high noon, and some men are getting off to kill you.
I didn’t know that about the chip readers. My main concern is forgetting the card in the reader someday. It’s the same everywhere you go, with systems. When capitalism becomes discredited as it has, the end products are shit that doesn’t work, more bureaucracy, and longer lines. I mean, that swipe was pretty fast, wasn’t it?
As I go on I-90 into the city, hating every minute of it, the new casino building project has leveraged a traffic circle right in the middle of what was once a long straight drive. Same stupidity. Never impede my straight driving! We are trying to run a capitalist system here!
Best westerns. Now I adjure you, honored cohort: watch the first one, High Noon. It is homework for you. Then, go ahead and see how your isolationist conservatism is short of the mark. I could make a short line between Kim in Nork, and the lessons of this movie. We’ve punted the ball on every opportunity; the train stops here at high noon, and some men are getting off to kill you.
Thanks for noting my comment, Gerard. “Klahn,” please. “Kahn” is my Star Trek doppelganger, and my faaaar distant relative who conquered the world on horseback.
VanderleunOctober 30, 2017, 3:51 PM
There. Fixed it. Never let it be said I am unresponsive to the reasonable requests of my readers.
Mike G.October 30, 2017, 6:41 PM
Re; credit card readers. I travel a lot for work, construction. Our company is licensed in 44 states. Several times, my bank has temporarily stopped my card. It can be embarrassing at times, especially when one doesn’t have the cash to pay the bill. Then I have to call the bank to get it straightened out. But I reckon it’s less embarrassing than having my bank account cleaned out.
@Mike G, Christmas 1986, a week before the big day I went into Walmart and bought the biggest tree they had, almost 2 bills. At the register I swiped a plastic, didn’t work. Swiped plastic 2, didn’t work. Same with 3. Looked in the bill section of the wallet, not enough. Dam! Embarrassing. Went back the next day and plastic 1 worked like it always does, cept for the day before. Now, nothing but cash and my debit card, for the past 12 years. No debt at all now, none. Not even a cellphone bill. Plan on staying this way from here on out. Quite liberating.
BTW, still have that big tree, now 31 years old, and my wife makes it stellar every year. She also puts smaller trees in every room of the house, even the cat’s room (but no tinsel). My only contribution is the RailKing O gauge Christmas 2000 train with 20 cars – the cats love it. whooo-whoooooo
Larry GeigerOctober 31, 2017, 9:36 AM
Possibly a bit of an esoteric reference but no “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean”? Ahhhh, Miss Lily Langtree. She was an angel 🙂
ClintonOctober 31, 2017, 10:00 PM
Sometimes when I’m bored I try to search the Internet for information related to an historical picture of a person or a place.
Claude Hankins, “The Boy Murderer,” has records on newspapers.com, ancestry.com, and even the free “California Digital Newspaper Collection,” cdnc.ucr.edu. His story was pretty big news in 1904.
His sister, whom he had been living with in Alameda, sent him to a ranch in Marysville when he started becoming unmanageable at home.
In July, 1904, Hankins murdered a 52-year-old ranch hand for the $30 he had in his pocket, went on the run, but was caught in short order.
Hankins initially stated that he wanted the money because he was homesick and needed the money to return to Alameda, but added later that the victim had been bullying him.
Hankins was imprisoned in San Quentin, with adults, until he was paroled on Nov 1, 1909. He was 19 years old at that time. Hankins moved to Seattle and was married and had a daughter. He died in 1965.
Real World Address for Donations, Mash Notes and Hate Mail
Gerard Van der Leun
1692 MANGROVE AVE
APT 379
Chico, Ca 95926
Green Pants Interior by Klahn
Who Am I? by Carl Sandburg
My head knocks against the stars.
My feet are on the hilltops.
My finger-tips are in the valleys and shores of universal life.
Down in the sounding foam of primal things I reach my hands and play with pebbles of destiny.
I have been to hell and back many times.
I know all about heaven, for I have talked with God.
I dabble in the blood and guts of the terrible.
I know the passionate seizure of beauty
And the marvelous rebellion of man at all signs reading “Keep Off.”
My name is Truth and I am the most elusive captive in the universe.
Duty, Beauty, Liberty, Country, Honor, Family, Faith — Plus a few simple easy to follow rules for guys
Men saw the stars at the edge of the sea
They thought great thoughts about liberty
Poets wrote down words that did fit
Writers wrote books
Thinkers thought about it
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
Many’s the road I have walked upon
Many’s the hour between dusk and dawn
Many’s the time
Many’s the mile
I see it all now
Through the eyes of a child
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
Lost dreams and found dreams
In America
In America
In America
And close your eyes
Leave it all for a while
Leave the world
And your worries behind
You will build on whatever is real
And wake up each day
To a new waking dream
Take it where you find it
Can’t leave it alone
You will find a purpose
To carry it on
Mainly when you find it
Your heart will be strong
About it
[Chorus]
Change, change come over
Change come over
Talkin’ about a change
Change, change
Change come over, now
Change, change, change come over
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I’m gonna walk down the street
Until I see
My shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
I see my light
See my light
See my shining light
…. a comment that I agree with wholeheartedly :
Gerard Van der Leun
Comments on this entry are closed.
I rarely use my credit card. I haven’t written a check at a store for over 40 years. Cash is my choice for buying stuff. I have watched, usually the person in front of me, credit card purchases with the chip card and it seems fine. Except that there is zero proof of any kind of ownership or legal authority to use the card. I assume someone could take my card out of my wallet and use it freely because of this. No need, in most cases, to even sign a signature. I can remember when stores would make you put a thumb print on the back of a check in addition to checking ID. Why are the rules so lose now?
re: Like most of the mainline Protestants churches, the Episcopal Church has become a circus of degeneracy and general lunacy.
“George Washington was one of the founding members of Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, buying pew No. 5 when the church opened in 1773 and attending for more than two decades whenever he rode north from Mount Vernon to do business in town.
This weekend, the church announced it was pulling down a memorial plaque to its onetime vestryman and the country’s first president, saying he and another famous parishioner, Robert E. Lee, have become so controversial that they are chasing away would-be parishioners.
While acknowledging “friction” over the decision, the church’s leadership said both plaques, which are attached to the front wall on either side of the altar, are relics of another era and have no business in a church that proclaims its motto as “All are welcome — no exceptions.'”
~~ from The Washington Times newspaper, online at https://www.google.com/search?q=george+washington%27s+church+pew&oq=george+washington%27s+church&aqs=chrome.0.0j69i57j69i60j0l3.5684j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
GWTW,
Credit card companies get the best of both worlds. They get a percentage from the retailer every time someone uses the card, and they get a percentage from the consumer if they do not pay off their credit card in whole at the end of the month. They want to make it as easy as possible for you to buy. The amount of fraud apparently is not enough for credit card companies to make buying more difficult for the consumer.
Personally, I put everything I can on my credit card including business travel. I pay it off at the end of the month like religion. I also get four to five Ben Franklins back every year from the credit card company. If you are going to play the game, make the game work for you.
I didn’t know that about the chip readers. My main concern is forgetting the card in the reader someday. It’s the same everywhere you go, with systems. When capitalism becomes discredited as it has, the end products are shit that doesn’t work, more bureaucracy, and longer lines. I mean, that swipe was pretty fast, wasn’t it?
As I go on I-90 into the city, hating every minute of it, the new casino building project has leveraged a traffic circle right in the middle of what was once a long straight drive. Same stupidity. Never impede my straight driving! We are trying to run a capitalist system here!
Best westerns. Now I adjure you honored cohort: watch the first one, High Noon. It is homework for you. Then, go ahead and see how your isolationist conservatism is short of the mark. I could make a short line between Kim in Nork, and the lessons of this movie. We’ve punted the ball on every opportunity; the train stops here at high noon, and some men are getting off to kill you.
I didn’t know that about the chip readers. My main concern is forgetting the card in the reader someday. It’s the same everywhere you go, with systems. When capitalism becomes discredited as it has, the end products are shit that doesn’t work, more bureaucracy, and longer lines. I mean, that swipe was pretty fast, wasn’t it?
As I go on I-90 into the city, hating every minute of it, the new casino building project has leveraged a traffic circle right in the middle of what was once a long straight drive. Same stupidity. Never impede my straight driving! We are trying to run a capitalist system here!
Best westerns. Now I adjure you, honored cohort: watch the first one, High Noon. It is homework for you. Then, go ahead and see how your isolationist conservatism is short of the mark. I could make a short line between Kim in Nork, and the lessons of this movie. We’ve punted the ball on every opportunity; the train stops here at high noon, and some men are getting off to kill you.
Thanks for noting my comment, Gerard. “Klahn,” please. “Kahn” is my Star Trek doppelganger, and my faaaar distant relative who conquered the world on horseback.
There. Fixed it. Never let it be said I am unresponsive to the reasonable requests of my readers.
Re; credit card readers. I travel a lot for work, construction. Our company is licensed in 44 states. Several times, my bank has temporarily stopped my card. It can be embarrassing at times, especially when one doesn’t have the cash to pay the bill. Then I have to call the bank to get it straightened out. But I reckon it’s less embarrassing than having my bank account cleaned out.
Best Western…Blazing Saddles.
Har! I’ll take Star Trek villain any time.
@Mike G, Christmas 1986, a week before the big day I went into Walmart and bought the biggest tree they had, almost 2 bills. At the register I swiped a plastic, didn’t work. Swiped plastic 2, didn’t work. Same with 3. Looked in the bill section of the wallet, not enough. Dam! Embarrassing. Went back the next day and plastic 1 worked like it always does, cept for the day before. Now, nothing but cash and my debit card, for the past 12 years. No debt at all now, none. Not even a cellphone bill. Plan on staying this way from here on out. Quite liberating.
BTW, still have that big tree, now 31 years old, and my wife makes it stellar every year. She also puts smaller trees in every room of the house, even the cat’s room (but no tinsel). My only contribution is the RailKing O gauge Christmas 2000 train with 20 cars – the cats love it. whooo-whoooooo
Possibly a bit of an esoteric reference but no “The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean”? Ahhhh, Miss Lily Langtree. She was an angel 🙂
Sometimes when I’m bored I try to search the Internet for information related to an historical picture of a person or a place.
Claude Hankins, “The Boy Murderer,” has records on newspapers.com, ancestry.com, and even the free “California Digital Newspaper Collection,” cdnc.ucr.edu. His story was pretty big news in 1904.
His sister, whom he had been living with in Alameda, sent him to a ranch in Marysville when he started becoming unmanageable at home.
In July, 1904, Hankins murdered a 52-year-old ranch hand for the $30 he had in his pocket, went on the run, but was caught in short order.
Hankins initially stated that he wanted the money because he was homesick and needed the money to return to Alameda, but added later that the victim had been bullying him.
Hankins was imprisoned in San Quentin, with adults, until he was paroled on Nov 1, 1909. He was 19 years old at that time. Hankins moved to Seattle and was married and had a daughter. He died in 1965.