To add on what you said since it was the most complete answer, the first credit cards didn’t start with a magnetic chip but had raised numbering that cashiers would emboss the numbering onto a carbon copy slip. The shop would keep two copies of the receipt and the customer would keep the third.

The switch to magnetic swipe on North America took a while because it required a phone connection to verify the card number. Europe switched to chips earlier than North America in part because a lot is stores didn’t have the required phone/data connections for continuous use, so the chip was developed to be used in cases where there wasn’t any connectivity with the card reader.

I think he’s credible as a witness for what he’s seen. He seems believable, but I haven’t looked into any criticism of what he’s said.

One modern issue is that sites like OnlyFans has caused is a unique type of spam as various models spam in a lot of places in order to build their audience.

Looking at the list of government expenditures, I don’t see space exploration as problematic as other things we are spending money on.

Regarding the Electoral College, the only thing I have an issue with it is that most states chose winner take all and the Senate is counted for votes. If the electoral college votes were given out as a percentage to each state’s popular vote, it would make the system work a lot cleaner.

It will get given out every time FIFA needs to mollify a corrupt official that will impact their work.

“Opposition Leader” is only a role in parliamentary systems where the leader of the second party has that role.

Typically, legislative “minority leader” positions fill a lot of those roles that an opposition leader would, but it isn’t official.

In context, Trump won 2024 with only 77 million voters. If you can get 100+ million to show up, that’s enough to demand control over Congress and the Presidency.

Is this related to Epstein or something else entirely?

The only “influencer” that I can think of who has done anything involved in Hollywood was John Green, and he isn’t the typical influencer. Even then, his path there was to use his fame to sell his product, books, and then that product became something that Hollywood could turn into a movie.

Outside of that, I think the Five Nights at Freddy’s movies had influencers in the cast, but I don’t see them using this to build an acting career yet.

Usually, it isn’t that an influencer becomes a movie star, but a movie star becomes an influencer since the star can use their same to build a following online. That’s likely why studios use the follower count as a metric in getting actors for certain roles; it is a way to determine fame and the ability of the actor to pull in crowds to see a movie.

Whatever gets us all in that autistic kid’s snowglobes.

God yes.

So don’t put AI in front of anything mission critical or without going through a review of a human.

Only one oil country switched to Euros and an invasion switched it back to dollars.

A lot of the international banking structure was built on American systems of banking, so the dollar got baked into a lot.

Until Trump, the dollar was generally seen as more stable given its longevity and being the currency of the largest superpower.

Also, compared to the Euro and Yuan, the American dollar has an internal hedge when it comes to energy prices given that the USA can supply most of its energy needs by itself. It is hard to handle an oil shock when the currency’s value drops because the internal market can’t afford oil.

It depends on what job it is. I don’t see a bank having a problem with it unless they have a uniform. If you were doing any field or machine work, I could see a safety issue.

No, but it is more a sign of what a restaurant or store will focus on. If the raw ingredients are of lower costs than rent and labor, it may make more sense to provide more food.

For restaurant culture in the USA, there is generally a focus on large portions, free tap water, few courses, and turning tables over quickly. A lot of early fast food chains were effectively food factories, skimping out in rent and reducing labor costs because those are the major costs.

Food is relatively cheap in the USA compared to other countries. You also had a lot of immigrant waves come to the USA, find that food was so cheap, and celebrated by creating larger meals.

Then they need different efforts to get their word out.

Also, I pointed out another leftist party which has been able to break through the noise.

I know of the Working Families Party and that party has had some success either winning their own election or running as Democrats.

A major job of a political party is to organize. If a party can’t organize while other ones can, maybe I shouldn’t support the party which can’t organize.

Given that I don’t know what the acronym is, they aren’t doing a great job.