Blog/December 2023/Dec 22nd

December 22nd

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I spent an inordinate amount of time on banking this week.

First, I linked an external account to my name redacted US bank account. That bank then checked the name on the linked account, which — because the other institution uses an intermediary bank — did not show my name. My bank then helpfully put a hold on my account, which required me to call them. I did, and spent close to two hours on line with them. Why so long, you ask? Because my bank sucks the proverbial… well, you know.

This being the last of many straws, we decided to seek out another US bank to use. It turns out that if you are a non-resident citizen, you can just go screw yourself. Almost nobody wants to deal with you. The ones that are happy to deal with you, generally want you to keep a significant amount on deposit. Which, I must say, is not really in the cards for us.

So we tried a credit union: SDFCU, which is supposed to be perfect for expats. During the sign-up process we uploaded our passports, took photos, uploaded an electric bill (in Hebrew, because well, you know). After a relatively short delay, we got a “your application has been rejected” notice.

Rejected, because they “could not identify us electronically”. Despite having accepted our passports and validated our pictures using some biometric nonsense. So, not to worry: I emailed them to find out exactly why we had been rejected, and what could we do to get accepted. No go.

According to SD-FU, once the automated system rejects you, your only recourse is to show up in person at one of their six branches around Washington D.C. There is no human involved in the online process, and it can’t be overturned. So in the end, we’re staying with our crappy bank.

This is your future: the AIs are going to FU up.

Around the bend:

• Bypassing fingerprint sensors on Windows, and subverting the system boot using specially crafted images.
• Chris Cuomo viewed the Oct 7th videos, and has his say.
• The Houthis (of Yemen) are maritime pirates. They’re soon going to find out what the “find out” of “#FAFO” means.
• My friend’s blog: “Means and Ends”.
• “Scummy privileged leftist highway protestors hate us” and I hate them too. Also by him: Wu’s insufferable entitlement. He’s on a roll.
• And the director of one of the hospitals in Gaza admits Hamas uses the hospitals for terror purposes. I mean, we did know that; but the mountain of evidence keeps growing.

We’re looking forward, very much, to our upcoming trip next week to visit the Grands and family! We’ll stay chez Daniela and take on the onerous burdens of “babysitting” and “playing with the kids” and “roughhousing”. I trust we’ll manage.

And we just started using the heating a bit. It’s getting cold (for us: 12C overnight lows), and the weather for shabbat should be chilly and perhaps rainy Saturday afternoon as well.

This shabbat we’re invited out for one meal. For the rest:
homemade ḥallah, roasted chicken with potatoes and yams, baked eggplant and ṭeḥina, various salatim, and fresh strawberries from the shuq.

Until next time,
shabbat shalom!

Happy birthday, Daniela!

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