markjgsmith

2023/12/28 #

• Banking neutrality - I'm starting to wonder whether payment networks should be completely neutral. That's a weird thing to say in this age where payment networks are regularly used to cancel people and groups. I'm certainly not for people doing criminal things, but the fact is that governments change over time, so there really isn't a way to ensure you won't at some point be canceled yourself. Perhaps if governments were not allowed to weaponise payment networks then they would be forced to reckon with the reasons why some people are forced to engage in illegal activities in the first place.

  The problem with having a dual use network is that it runs the risk of eventually turning into something other than a payment network.

  We have the idea of net neutrality for the world wide web. Should there be something like transaction neutrality for banking? #

• Internet cutoff - The internet connection got cutoff pretty much as soon as I pushed the previous banking neutrality note. There's been rather a lot of blatant bullying and harrassment by the gang stalkers today everywhere I've been.

  Just after writing the previous paragraph, the wifi connectiom re-connected except either (1) the network was renamed, or (2) an old network that I was previously connected to re-appeared. I can't tell which. I just know the network name is diferent than it was earlier. It looks familiar though. In any case though I can connect to the wifi, there is no internet connection. I've tried reconnecting several times.

  I tried changing the DNS server and the network suddenly disapeared, and the old network re-appeared! But when I connect it shows a strange iOS connection screen that says 'Oops... Connection lost', and a bunch of text in vietnamese. So now I can't even connect to the Wifi.

  I rebooted the device and when it turned back on the old network was once again gone, and the renamed network was back. This time it reconnected and internet appears to be working. #

Today’s links:

• Jacques Delors: Architect of the modern European Union - European politics is a weird thing growing up in Europe. I recognize many of the names, including Delors', but it felt like all the politics was happening just out of reach, sort of peripherally. Anyhow based on the description of his role, I guess his passing is probably quite a big deal. My recollection was that UK politicians didn't like him that much, but that was likely shaped by the mainstream media of the time. I'm curious to see what the next phase of the european project will look like. Who are the current day European Union 'architects'? www.bbc.com #

• ‘We don’t want the kids to be afraid of each other’: the Jews and Arabs uniting to heal rifts of war - "We don’t want the kids to be afraid of each other and hate each other. Here, they get to know each other and the parents get to meet". This is really great. www.theguardian.com #