neonascent

Who can say that credit card companies don’t have the best interests of Human Civilization at heart. Early last century they transformed America and much of the Western world into the consumer paradise it is today. Now they have put their heads together to ponder the world’s problems, and come up with the solution…

Valentine’s day is the second largest card-sending holiday of the year behind Christmas, and is conceivably in the same position with regards to consumer spending. Indeed in my brief foray into retail work, (the run up to) Christmas and Valentine’s were the two busiest periods of the year. Now, with the dreaded day itself fast approaching, Mastercard is pushing it’s newest service; The Mastercard Girftcard. This is touted as a fantastic improvement over conventional giftcards, as it does not tie your loved one to one particular store. I’m tempted to take a sarcastic tone and wax on about the expression of intimate knowledge of your loved-ones likes and interests expressed by such a gift. I won’t. I’ll just say that this is a very poor state of affairs, that seems on a par with your pimp cramming a few dirty $50s down your top, and smacking your ass in the direction of the mall/McDonalds/crack dealer.

With the exception of essential living conditions (somehow I don’t see someone running off to pay their gas bill or buy groceries with these), I’d be happy to say that what you get from this card is hardly equal to a relationship not divorce from personal interest via anonymous payments.

On another note, it has occurred to me that these cards are circumventing an important security aspect of credit cards - identifiability. A lot of services will not accept cash, as this is a way to avoid leaving a papertrail. These cards can be used similarly to pre-pay phone-cards to operate incognito.

Regardless: Love and $$$ to you all!

Well, finally after moving I’ve bitten the bullet and forked out to get my broadband connected. Unbelievably, it’s been nearly four months with nothing but a collection of jury-rigged equipment providing just a trickle of that sweet sweet honey.

The main impetus for the final push has been that I’m currently IT consulting from home, and the time overhead associated with waiting for things to upload and download has has been more significant that the time spent working.

Irony being what it is, having now committed to a fixed line and a significant contract, I will be getting itchy feet and wanting to flit about the world.