I'll have to keep these in mind for wrapping presents next Christmas.
Same. And then the recipient, *by law*, must not damage the paper while unwrapping.
Uncut Currency
361–370 of 421 posts
Re: Uncut Currency
#362Earlier quoted context omitted.
The sheet on the mints site looks very flat, it doesn't look like it would fold in this manner, this looks like it's been perforated: https://www.instagram.com/starworldlab/p/C-vzStay1yx/?img_in... Curious though, what speaking appearance are you talking about? He always just seems like a jolly old man to me who is a bit out of touch but quite sweet.
The one that irked me the most was his cameo for a dubious crypto startup https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38855645 He does a lot of public speaking the quality can be gauged by searching "Steve Wozniak conference", and his attendance can be bought https://www.aurumbureau.com/speaker/steve-wozniak/ What kind of message a person who is getting paid by the platform is going to have? I'm overall not very trusting of…
> Yes, he had cofounded Apple, and created the first machines but I don't see anything significant that he created after that.
That's kind of like saying "God made the world, but he hasn't really done anything else lately so he's overrated". Woz's big achievements might be in the past, but they are so big that he certainly commands respect even still.
Re: Uncut Currency
#363Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you are really concerned with security, you should also be concerned with the security of your bank. Yes, of course. There are reasons I don't bank with every bank under the sun. > Do you keep all of your money under your mattress? No. Do you? I'm starting to think you're not having this conversation in good faith. > You realize that no one has ever lost money in an FDIC insured bank account because of either fr…
> Yes, of course. There are reasons I don't bank with every bank under the sun. But you have an issue with the security of Apple and Google but you don’t have an issue with the security of your bank? You haven’t seen the quality of software developers at the typical bank have you? > I'm starting to think you're not having this conversation in good faith. Your threat model is not backed up by any evidence > You can cl…
> But you have an issue with the security of Apple and Google but you don’t have an issue with the security of your bank?
Apple and Google are not regulated.
My bank is. Here, let me quote it:
> > Banks are regulated (in all countries I can think of) and federally insured in the US
-> https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42612390
> Your threat model is not backed up by any evidence
Isn't it? Let's see.
1. Spam is indistinguishable from spearphishing. It seems nobody understands this.
2. Working in high tech or finance results in higher amounts of targeted spearphishing.
3. Working with people in journalism or political activity results in higher risk of malware.
4. Having friends or family with criminal history or mental problems results in extreme loss of privacy.
5. Having ex-friends or ex-family (eg, divorce) with threats of physical harm results in a sensitivity to privacy. For example, having your name mentioned in court proceedings, even when you are not there, is publicly searchable and gives a reasonable estimate of your location. There's a reason that Witness Protection programs exist and it takes some extra levels of threats to make it into that.
6. "Security" software is often shady ([0], [1], [2], need I go on?)
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVG_(software)#Controversy
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McAfee#Controversies
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Defender#Criticisms
So with that in mind, consider the following threat model built upon those:
7. "Businesses" who don't have a way for a real person to resolve an issue, such as Google. Let me know what phone number to call when my Gmail account is suspended because someone else tried to hack their way in, would you?
8. "Businesses" who use shady practices to steal data without consent. Let me know how to selectively share single data-points of contact information to a single app, would you? I want this app to have an email address, that app to have a phone number, the other app to have a different email address, blah blah. Good luck.
9. "Businesses" which abuse interstate or international policies to maximize profits. One state says it's illegal to hold data? No problem, hold that data in a different state!
10. "Businesses" which flagrantly disregard laws and fight tooth-and-nail to prevent loopholes from being closed. Every single billion-dollar "business" does this, including Apple. Just look at how much pushback Apple had against Europe enacting sane privacy laws.
11. "Businesses" which consider my work to be their work. Good luck getting paid for art when the art is stolen wholesale. Want to make a website with cool stuff? Good luck keeping bots from scraping it and putting advertisements up with no profit for you.
Don't presume that your threat model applies to everyone.
> And which banking issues have you had to deal with because the supposed insecurity of Apple and Android with respect to the banking apps?
None because I don't use them.
I have had banking issues, even without apps. So why add to the flavor?
One issue that I'm willing to share: create a technical-oriented business whose name reflects SQL injection. Something like `select * from \' -- or drop table systable;`. The local municipality was fine with that name. The local bank? Well suddenly their system crashed when trying to create the account for the business. That was a not-fun fun day.
Hell, another issue even unrelated to banking. Another regulated industry, telecom. I had an issue with T-Mobile wherein I could not log in to their website at all using Private Browsing in Firefox on Linux. I could log in with Firefox on Linux without Private Mode. T-Mobile's statement was that this is intentional. After over a year, T-Mobile quietly fixed the problem. There was literally no* technical reason whatsoever to be unable to log in. I had to call every month to make a payment, and also ask for a refund of the call-in-fee because I could not access the website. That's both a lot of time for anyone and also easily troublesome for someone without mental faculties to navigate the stupidity of T-Mobile bureaucracy.
> Your funds aren’t insured by taxpayer money. Banks pay into the system based on the deposits they have.
K. Wanna talk about bank bailouts? Too-big-to-fail?
> And if you trust the fraud protection of your bank?
No, I don't trust the fraud protection of my bank. I trust the fraud protection of the FDIC.
> And banks aren’t regulated?
I literally said that banks are regulated.
> If you are in a car accident or have an illness, you are going to get treated outside of the US?
If I can get outside of the US, sure. Otherwise I will surely die. That's the effect of capitalism's hyper-optimization for profit at the cost of real lives. Ever wonder why so many people are upset with insurance companies?
Outside of serious injury or illness then there are plenty, but fewer every year, non-hospital doctors offices around me who I can rely on to give me a sane price for normal health maintenance. Unfortunately, "normal health maintenance" is not private if you're coming with insurance.
Re: Uncut Currency
#364Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If you are really concerned with security, you should also be concerned with the security of your bank. Yes, of course. There are reasons I don't bank with every bank under the sun. > Do you keep all of your money under your mattress? No. Do you? I'm starting to think you're not having this conversation in good faith. > You realize that no one has ever lost money in an FDIC insured bank account because of either fr…
> Yes, of course. There are reasons I don't bank with every bank under the sun. But you have an issue with the security of Apple and Google but you don’t have an issue with the security of your bank? You haven’t seen the quality of software developers at the typical bank have you? > I'm starting to think you're not having this conversation in good faith. Your threat model is not backed up by any evidence > You can cl…
> > > You realize that no one has ever lost money in an FDIC insured bank account because of either fraud or a bug in client software.
> > You can claim that all you want.
> Is my claim false?
Yes.
My family specifically have lost money due to fraud, non-recoverable from the bank.
Many people have lost money from bank bailouts which only occurred because certain banks were fraudulently packaging mortgages. That's happened more than once.
Re: Uncut Currency
#365Earlier quoted context omitted.
$2 bills are somewhat rare and are considered lucky. We could use math to prove that on average $2 dollar bill is worth more than $2. 1 - There exist collectable $2 dollar bills which are worth significantly more than $2. 2 - there are no $2 dollar bills which are worth less than $2 due to being legal tender. From 1 and 2 - average value of all $2 bills is above $2.
All it takes is a cooperating bank teller, $200, and some patience and you can order a strap of $2's. Chances are large that 100 uncirculated $2 bills in sequential order will be ready for you to pick up in a few days. I don't expect there's much more value than $200 in there, but if you disagree, you're welcome to figure out what your local bank's limit on currency ordering is :P
The San Diego zoo used to make a point of stocking all their cashiers with $2 bills, as a subtle "this is how much we bring to the local economy" indicator.
It's not a bad idea for a small business, either, until everyone starts doing it.
Re: Uncut Currency
#366Earlier quoted context omitted.
I once found a pad of tear off $2 on the ground of the departures drop off at O’hare airport. I thought it was a novelty initially but after closer inspection found the bills to be real. It’s been a 20 year mystery to me how that came to be since I’ve never seen anything like it since. Now I’m wondering if I found Woz’s pad. That would be quite interesting because when I was very young I crank called him after findin…
Make your own with padding cement. Put the stack of bills in a vice and coat one edge a few times with the cement. I did this for a nephew as a unique gift. Some people being paid with these are suspicious.
Nowhere near as suspicious as the tire shop in east LA late at night on Sunday when I needed a flat patched, and I only had credit cards on me - and a uncut roll of $2s in the trunk.
I pulled that out to cut some off and pay and they all started screaming about feds and told me to get the hell out of there, no need to pay.
Re: Uncut Currency
#367Why is the US one of the few countries that can't keep a consistent design across their bills and still does not have a way for blind people to identify which note they have. They are all the same size and have no embossed markings.
To actually answer the question: The redesigns were mainly about preventing counterfeiting. That's also the reason for continuing to change them periodically. In some places outside the US money shops and banks won't exchange the old style notes after a certain time. Changing the design resets counterfeit operations back to square one. Then they added the embedded strip. Color doubles or quadruples the number of prin…
There's another reason - I suspect most blind people can see "well enough" to distinguish if they really need to. And they rarely do, because they likely pay for most everything with credit or phone these days.
Then all you have to do is make sure you only have one size of bill in your wallet and you've solved most of it.
Re: Uncut Currency
#368Earlier quoted context omitted.
kinda off topic but since you're an expert here: what do people do with these uncut sheets? Is it mainly for collectors? also, my favorite form of getting currency is $2 bills in a 100 stack (so $200) from the bank. I used to use these for gift money on holidays :) but unfortunately my credit union doesn't order new stacks anymore, just jumbled up old $2 bills now.
A great question - it's something the BEP offers to collectors basically for the cool factor. People frame them, give them as gifts, etc. It's just kind of fun to see real money as it comes off the press (and, thankfully, it inspires lots of collectors!) $2 bills are SUPER fun. 99.9% are not worth more than $2, but they still bring a smile to peoples' faces when you leave them as tips, etc. I always keep a stack in m…
Why do people smile about $2 notes?
(In Europe no one would bat an eye about any € coin. Only the now-discontinued but still legal 500€ notes have this effect)
Re: Uncut Currency
#369Why is the US one of the few countries that can't keep a consistent design across their bills and still does not have a way for blind people to identify which note they have. They are all the same size and have no embossed markings.
The thing I cannot fathom is why quarters are so huge, considering they’re nearly valueless. Then you need whole stacks of $1 bills to pay anything relevant. I find both constantly cluttering up my wallet.
This is one of those logic puzzles, about how many bills you can end up with in your wallet (you dump the coins in a dish at home each night, of course).
Because if you start with $1000 in fifties, say, the first time you buy something (not using hundreds because many places don't like them), you'll get smaller bills back in change, but the next thing you buy you can probably use some of the smaller bills, so you'll never end up with 50 ones.
I like to keep a balance of $5-10 in ones, and the rest in twenties, with $5/10 sometimes appearing.
Re: Uncut Currency
#370Uncle was proud owner of his own printing business. When I visited he wanted to give my branch of the family a tour of his facility with some new $1M+ printing machine.
After showing us around, he drew in close and told us that he had been quietly doing some work for the U.S. Mint and to please keep it a bit quiet.
He removes a padlock from a cabinet and pulls out a maybe 2 inch thick stack of uncut $5 bills, 2 bills wide and maybe 6 bills tall, all shrink wrapped.
As anyone else would, I start trying to do the math in my head, wanting to crack a joke about fitting the printing machine back up for a “special run,” and so on.
After a moment my uncle admits that it’s all a gag, only the top sheet is actual money, specially ordered uncut, with the rest of the stack underneath just being regular blank paper.
In hindsight the locker was a super flimsy sheet metal cabinet.