Ruario's Journal
================
The following is a 'stream of consciousness' (micro *log style).
finger
[email protected]
2023-04-29
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-13:32 +0200-
Little does Indie know how many Fediverse accounts I have. ;)
2023-03-29
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-20:45 +0200-
I stumbled over Atheist Shoes. A company half setup as a joke. The guy
who runs it is an atheist and developed an interest in shoe making. At
some point he posted a picture of his shoes on a reddit atheist group.
One thing lead to another (others said they liked his shoes) and he
setup a Kickstarter to make more and... the company "Atheist Shoes"
was born.
While the concept of atheist shoes is whimsical or silly depending on
how you approach it, his shoes are nice. Pricy but given the materials
and production process, perhaps not as crazy as they first appear.
Anyway, long story short I bought some ("DAS MIDNIGHT BLUE SNEAKER" if
you are interested).
The one thing that does bother me about them as a company is that they
accept payment in crypto currency. Personally I am very anti-crypto
and this was almost a deal breaker for me but in the end I went ahead
nonetheless (paid for in Euro obviously, not Bitcoin).
But... I could not resist writing to them to point out my disapproval
of them taking Bitcoin and why. Much of their shoes selling point is
about quality products that last and with that comes sustainability.
However, Bitcoin is the opposite of that, with its vast energy usage.
Probably nothing will come of my post to them but I do think it is
important to speak up or there is no chance of change.
~ Atheist Shoes:
https://atheist.shoes
2023-02-28
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-19:30 +0100-
Still did not work today but I did get plenty of questions from
colleagues, so I felt somewhat stressed. One way or another I guess I
will have to work tomorrow, no matter how I feel.
2023-02-27
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-19:26 +0100-
I decided not to go into work today because I would have likely
infected people. Initially I had intended to work from home but then
realised my concentration was all over the place and just called in
sick. I have been in this weird state all day, where I can't quite
sleep but also cannot really spend any time looking at or thinking
about anything in detail, so I am sort of frustrated and bored. Also
my nose runs endlessly.
Pretty certain I will go in tomorrow and touch and go that I will even
work from home effectively but I guess we'll see.
-19:19 +0100-
Been away for a week at the cabin owned by my extended family. It was
great but somehow I have arrived back with a terrible cold. During my
time away I only really interacted with 8 people. None of us had a
cold when we left. Where did this come from?
2023-02-21
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-23:08 +0100-
You can use a Gopher client to read finger information
If you have a finger link like this:
finger://happynetbox.com/ruario
Just rewrite it like so:
gopher://happynetbox.com:79/0ruario
* Change the protocol from finger:// to gopher://
* Add the port :79 after the domain
* Add a 0 before the username
This works because on the most basic level the protocols are
essentially the same.
~ epoch's "blog": - fingerlist -- android finger client:
gemini://gemini.thebackupbox.net/~epoch/blog/fingerlist
2023-02-14
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-22:49 +0100-
Two different watch straps arrived today. One by Laks and one by Berg.
The former is not quite tight enough in its smallest setting. The
latter I am not 100% sure with regards to the style. Hmm...
On the plus side they can both house my new payment microcard.
-11:10 +0100-
Re: Swapfiets and bicycle leasing
~ JBanana's gemlog: Bicycle [bike]:
gemini://freeshell.de/gemlog/2023-02-14_Bicycle.gmi
While I learned to unicycle as a kid, I only started commuting to work
via unicycle a few years ago. This was in part because my bike had
issues at the time, something that was quite frequent for me. This
time it was a very rusty chain that had pretty much locked up from all
the salt that had been put down during the winter, plus me not being
good enough (ok, not doing anything) to maintain it. Indeed I was sort
of on a quest around the time to find a low maintenance bike because I
am pretty terrible at bike maintenance (both skill wise and motivating
myself to do it). This meant my bikes would typically get to a point
where I had to bring them in to a bike shop for professional help.
However the economics of this in Norway are such that any significant
amount of work (on a cheap bike) costs so much that you might as well
buy a new bike. From an environmental perspective that is not
reasonable, even if it is cost wise. So what I wanted was a very basic
bike with high quality, low maintenance parts like a belt drive, high
end internal hub (or single speed), and all-weather front and rear hub
brakes. I never found quite what I wanted and in the mean time I just
unicycled to the office.
Now here is the clincher, it turns out a unicycle is a very low
maintenance form of 'bike' (well... cycle) and hence it is one of the
reasons I just stuck with it. ;) Now of course this is not a solution
for everyone but you know what else could fill this gap? Bike leasing
solutions like Swapfiets! I welcome this idea and hope it spreads
widely... OR... ... everyone just takes up unicycling! [shrugs]
2023-02-10
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-09:10 +0100-
I wrote up a small post summarising my basic understanding of how
payments on systems like Apple, Google and Samsung Pay and Wearables
actually work, since I have had exchanges with a couple of people who
seem to believe that your card numbers can be leaked over the wireless
connection. The short version is that they cannot and your real
account number is neither stored on your device nor sent to the
merchant when paying with such systems. Instead just a token that
represents the your account and a one time code are passed on. These
are converted back to an account number further up the payment stack
(past the merchant level), so that thieves operating at the "steal
details off your device" or "intercept your payment to your merchant"
never have a chance to access your account number.
Anyway, for (a little) more detail you can read my post. It is still
pretty high level, based on my own limited understanding but it
explains the basic concepts.
~ Apple, Google & Samsung Pay (+ Wearables) don't store you card
details:
gopher://sdf.org/0/users/r0/phlog/2023-02-10_payments_and_tokens.txt
2023-02-09
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-21:18 +0100-
I really need to do some preparatory work for a (Vivaldi Browser)
snapshot tomorrow but my motivation is low, not least because I am
unusually tired. So here I am procrastinating and writing this
instead.
It does not help though, I can't get out of doing this snapshot...
2023-02-08
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-12:10 +0100-
Without properly announcing it (AFAICT) it seems that at some point
wise.com added support for TOTP ("Authenticator"-style) 2SV/2FA. I
have no idea why they do not announce this but nonetheless as a
customer of theirs, I am pleased to see it happen anyway.
Previously (and until quite recently) they only offered Phone/SMS
based 2SV/2FA or via their own dedicated app. Indeed, I see that help
pages still make no mention if it, and yet... there it is under their
settings page and it works. Now if only they would also enable
FIDO/Webauthn! Although if/when they do, they probably will not
mention that either! XD
Anyway, as a side note, they are quite a handy service if you often
transfer money internationally, pay in multiple currencies (on your
travels or over the internet) or want/need to hold and receive money
in different (or several) currencies. They have a paid
recommendation/invite system, that could earn me (as a current user) a
commission but to show I am genuine in my enthusiasm, here is an
unaffiliated link. ;)
~ Wise Financial services (particularly international money
transfer):
https://wise.com
P.S. While I do offer a recommendation as handy service, keep in mind
of course that like any capitalistic company (especially one in the
financial services market), they do not care about you! As with a bank
they are really only guided by making more money. Sometimes they
pretend to be morally guided but it is very doubtful they mean it.
~ Wise debit card and corporate green washing:
gopher://sdf.org/0/users/r0/phlog/2023-02-03_wise_and_corporate_green_washing.txt
2023-02-07
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-12:42 +0100-
Re: JBanana's Payment card psephology
~ Payment card psephology:
gemini://freeshell.de/gemlog/2023-02-07_Payment_card_psephology.gmi
``
Curious stuff. But it made me think about elections. In many
countries, no type of card would have overall control. Analysts
would predict a coalition of "number on the front" cards would
emerge, agreeing to ignore their differences on embossing. Meanwhile
in the UK, the first-past-the-post voting system would mean a
landslide win for embossed cards, with voters left to ponder whether
tactical voting could be the only way to bring about more
progressive card numbering.
Taking this further I can't help but think that the UK
(first-past-the-post) example is partcularly fitting because the
older, established cards would then be stopping the modern cards from
changing things, potentially for the better. Indeed, this is pretty
much how it works in UK with people. The old people keep things as
they are even though the younger people want to move society forward,
perhaps not fully agreeing on how far we should go. Or maybe I am
overthinking this now? XD
2023-02-06
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-14:44 +0100-
Here is a short video showing how these credit/debit microcards work
~ Tietoevry wearables demo video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ3m8LW5plw
-13:43 +0100-
So I just discovered that my credit card provider offers a microcard
version of their credit cards as an additional (but no cost) extra.
They provide you with a second card in small form, which is basically
the size of a phone SIM card. It is effectively just the chip
(NFC/Touch part) found in a normal credit card. You can put this card
in a band (also supplied) and wear it on your wrist, saving you the
need to always have your wallet with you. Alternatively, it is
possible to buy a special watch strap (basically a normal strap with a
little pocket to house the card) and use this with your current watch.
A number of suppliers provide these, so you can pick something that
works with your watch.
In the end you therefore have a normal (not "smart") watch and can
make touch (tap) payments, like you would if you had an Android Wear
or Apple Watch but with the upside of not being tied to the Google or
Apple ecosystems, nor the worry about battery life.
I was aware or various payment wearables before, both payment rings
and alternative watch payment systems like Swatchpay but I did not
realise that such solutions were already offered by my current
provider, in Norway.
-09:57 +0100-
I spent the weekend at the cabin. There was so much snow on the roof,
so I spent a fair amount of time clearing it as we started to worry
about the weight of it. I couldn't clear everything though, there just
was not enough time but I am hoping that it helped nonetheless. Most
likely we will take another trip out there soon and I can try and
finish the job.
P.S. I have never actually cleared snow from the roof before and I
have to say it was a bit scary. Whilst I have lived in Norway for
quite a few years now I'm still not quite sure how snow will move
under various conditions and hence I was in constant fear of falling
off the roof, even though my caution meant I was probably quite safe.
In addition there was a lot of snow on the ground already and even
bigger piles as I cleared more from the roof. So if I did fall, I
probably would have been ok anyway! ;)
2023-02-03
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-13:59 +0100-
I put up a couple of Mastodon polls on credit/debit cards related to
my earlier posts
~ What kind of card design do you have?:
https://velocipederider.com/@ruari/109800182501124400
~ Who here has memorised one or more of their debit/credit card
numbers?:
https://velocipederider.com/@ruari/109800895961047024
I also got a reply to my latest post by @JBanana
~ I have credit card nostalgia. WTF?:
gemini://freeshell.de/gemlog/2023-02-03_I_have_credit_card_nostalgia__WTF_.gmi
-10:08 +0100-
I moved (well... copied) my thoughts on Wise's new Eco card to its own
post, since it was pretty long!
~ Wise debit card and corporate green washing:
gopher://sdf.org/0/users/r0/phlog/2023-02-03_wise_and_corporate_green_washing.txt
While doing that I started to think more about card designs and trends
and also wrote a following up of sorts
~ The progression to numberless credit/debit cards:
gopher://sdf.org/0/users/r0/phlog/2023-02-03_numberless_cards.txt
2023-02-02
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-13:02 +0100-
Wise debit card and more corporate green washing
Recently Wise (an international payment company) started to offer a
new debit card to its customers. It is called Wise Eco and is supposed
to have green credentials, with the following advantages listed:
* It is "bioplastic"--The bioplastic is made from Polylactic acid or
polylactide (PLA), which is a polyester derived from biomass
(typically corn) rather than from the oil industry
* It has "Less ink" because it does not include things like the
primary account number (PAN) written on the card. The reduced amount
of ink is because the ink used is not biodegradable
* "Planet-friendly" packaging using "Incada Silk" which is
FSC-certified
~ Wise page announcing the card:
https://wise.com/gb/blog/wise-launches-ecocards
This all sounds like bullshit green washing to me. Some quick thoughts
off the top of my head
* Wise also have virtual cards, which are just a set of numbers that
can be used directly online or paired with Google or Apple pay, so
that you can use your smartphone as a payment device. Since these
"cards" are entirely virtual, and thus made of nothing and require
no shipping, surely they are the green option?
* Wise continue to offer their original non-eco card (which
ironically is green in colour, while the new eco card is white).
Why? Instead shouldn't this just be the default card for new
customers and the replacement card for outstanding ones that come up
for expiry?
* If you are an existing customer and have the green (but not eco
"green") original card, you are actually offered the new eco one in
addition when you view your card details online. They are linked to
the same account balance and you can already have 3 virtual cards at
no cost. So how does offering another physical card that still draws
from they same balance help in being ecological? Wise is offering an
additional physical thing when you already have multiple ways to pay
from your account.
* This ink saving sounds particularly bullshitty. How much ink are
we saving here and surely the environmental saving of slightly less
ink pails in comparison to producing a card with a semiconductor
chip and then sending it (in your eco friendly packaging) to your
largely international customers?
I am not totally against this product. Physical cards are still needed
by many consumers and perhaps some of these changes help but seriously
Wise just make this your one physical card offering, and give up on
your non-"green" (but actually green in colour) card.
As a side note, I do sort of like the no PAN printed on the card idea.
Not for the green aspect but from an improved security perspective.
Why are we still printing credit card numbers on all our cards? If you
need the numbers you can get them from your bank's website or app,
store them in your browser and/or your password manager, or even write
them down on a note you keep in a safe place at home. Or if you use
Google or Apple Pay, your mobile device has the number as well.
Having the number written on the card stems from a time where it was
used as a fallback in cases where the card was non working or damaged
but this is exceptionally uncommon (at least in my part of the world)
these days, and in any case the consumer could likely retrieve these
details from their phone using some of the methods I outlined above.
Surely it would be better not to list the number on the card at all
and thus make the visual skimming of these numbers impossible.
In fact as a customer of Wise I am sort of tempted to get one of these
cards. Though if I do it will be for that last aspect and certainly
not because I deluded into thinking that getting yet another card is
greener!
* * *
~ Older entries:
gopher://sdf.org/0/users/r0/journal-2023-01.txt
