A new technological breakthrough from the technological sh!thole.

[Serb]

You can now pay for D.C. Metro trains with your credit card


But the bus, transfers and special passes still require a SmarTrip card.

Visitors to D.C. for World Pride, the Fourth of July and other summer events won’t have to line up at fare machines to pay for Metro. Starting Wednesday, riders can pay with their credit cards.
​

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md...o-credit-card/

Well, my congrats to you, loosers!
But for your information, Russians pay with their credit cards (or with their smartphones) in Metro, buses, trolleybuses, trams, river river boats, etc (all public transport) since, surprise, surprise - 2015!!!

Moreover, since this year, you can pay in metro with your biometric data (you just show your face to a special sensor, it reads yuour face and automatically deducts payment from your bank account).
It is something what USA will have in 2070, I guess.

The "Golden Dome" you say?

Yeah, right!!!

[Provost Harrison]

The US's banking system is weirdly backwards. You still have to wet sign for card payments, I don't know if that has progressed to chip and pin, let alone contactless. In general in the modern era, the US isn't a place I've got much envy for, it has definitely lost its way. I presume like anywhere else in the world Russia has a more equitable healthcare system too.

[-Jrabbit]

Pretty sad post, Serb. Why you think this local story is worth mocking is a mystery. It's just local news; not even a technology story. Payment methods for the DC Metro transit system = not rocket science. I mean, there's plenty to make fun of in the West/USA, but at least we haven't given our government access to our bank accounts via our biometrics. Yet.

Trump's "golden dome"? Yes, that's what you should be mocking. No one here is taking it seriously. We all know that this supposed missile system is just another Trump grift, modeled on the same idiocy that Reagan tried to sell us as his "Star Wars" missile defense system (officially called the Strategic Defense Initiative) back in the 1980s.

No one -- NOBODY -- actually expects such a "missile defense shield" to happen. Or to actually prevent any attack. Even stupid Americans realize that the age of ICBM nukes is over, and that future wars will basically be fought by remote control (drones, online attacks, etc). To actually design, build, and deploy an effective missile defense system would take decades. But that's not in question. We all know that the 'golden dome' is just another excuse to hand big government contracts to Trump's billionaire buddies.

[Bereta_Eder]

And Jrabbit's post is exactly why anyone who has a functioning brain cell would still say US (although fatally flawed and infuriatenly inhuman) is still better than Russia's system

because a guy can say these things about his gov and he will not be jailed/killed
(not that it makes much difference if this is not translated to a political party capable of getting to power but anyway )


personally I didn't trust paying with credit in the metro btw let alone with biometrics. that's a dire invasion of privacy

[-Jrabbit]

Full disclosure: I'm a white male and a natural-born citizen, which makes me much less likely to be disappeared.

[BeBMan]

Golden Dome sounds really ridiculous.

[BeBMan]

Elon Musk is already promoting his plans for the Golden Dome project. The actual "dome" part still needs work

[Serb]

The US's banking system is weirdly backwards. You still have to wet sign for card payments, I don't know if that has progressed to chip and pin, let alone contactless. In general in the modern era, the US isn't a place I've got much envy for, it has definitely lost its way. I presume like anywhere else in the world Russia has a more equitable healthcare system too.

Says who?
The British healthcare system originally was a copy/past of the Soviet one, now you have screwed it completely.
Unlike you, who has to wait for months until visit a doctor, I can set a day a time (usually the next day) in my "State services" phone application and visit him the time and day I set.
I can receive any state service or a document in my phone as well.​

[Serb]

And Jrabbit's post is exactly why anyone who has a functioning brain cell would still say US (although fatally flawed and infuriatenly inhuman) is still better than Russia's system

because a guy can say these things about his gov and he will not be jailed/killed
(not that it makes much difference if this is not translated to a political party capable of getting to power but anyway )


personally I didn't trust paying with credit in the metro btw let alone with biometrics. that's a dire invasion of privacy

LOL!

Russians pay with their face in any store, restaurant, at any place - you name it, from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok and I never had any problem with my biometric data. The state has nothing to do with it, dummy, it is all about you and your private bank. Biometrics is a very convenient payment method, that's all!
But since you are living in Europe's beggars paradise and technological sh!thole, you will never know how convenient and safe it is.​

[Provost Harrison]

Says who?
The British healthcare system originally was a copy/past of the Soviet one, now you have screwed it completely.
Unlike you, who has to wait for months until visit a doctor, I can set a day a time (usually the next day) in my "State services" phone application and visit him the time and day I set.
I can receive any state service or a document in my phone as well.​

There are issues with the NHS but again, you are parroting propaganda you have been fed once more. But all essential services are provided and free at the point of use and prompt. My wife has recently been through cancer treatment. There was no waiting for months for that. It was immediate and comprehensive. When complications arose (one required immediate attention due to the life-threatening nature it) she was admitted, on IV antibiotics and then in the operating theatre in the period of a few hours. The stretch has affected non-critical services disproportionately (such as mental health, etc).

Thing is in the UK, we are very critical of these things because we want *better*. We see the parasitism that is affecting the NHS and don't want to be anything like what the US is in this respect. We don't just blindly think that our country does everything right. That's the thing of freedom, we are free to criticise, free to question. Whereas in your case if you say the wrong thing in the wrong place in the wrong time it's a hefty fine or even imprisonment.

A little bit of an overview of relative healthcare throughout the world:

https://www.who.int/data/gho/whs-annex

Alas Russia does not perform too well, really. Still, the statistics for the United States, supposedly the wealthiest country in the world, for its healthcare outcomes are truly shocking.

[Provost Harrison]

Says who?
The British healthcare system originally was a copy/past of the Soviet one, now you have screwed it completely.
Unlike you, who has to wait for months until visit a doctor, I can set a day a time (usually the next day) in my "State services" phone application and visit him the time and day I set.
I can receive any state service or a document in my phone as well.​

Thing is, on a population level, we are not the same as the US. We don't have this visceral and illogical hatred of anything socialist. In fact I think most sensible people here think that the all-out capitalist model constantly being pursued is a route to disaster - you only have to look at the US for that. And that's not a place we want to be. Hell no in fact.

[The Mad Monk]

Golden Dome sounds really ridiculous.

Trump heard "Iron Dome" and thought "I can do better".

[BeBMan]

Someone should tell him that a Golden Dome would be very vulnerable to Space Pirates stealing everything

[The Mad Monk]

The US's banking system is weirdly backwards. You still have to wet sign for card payments, I don't know if that has progressed to chip and pin, let alone contactless. In general in the modern era, the US isn't a place I've got much envy for, it has definitely lost its way. I presume like anywhere else in the world Russia has a more equitable healthcare system too.

It depends on the store and the card. Amazon and Costco have my card on file, no signature required, most stores (including Costco warehouses) have tap, some have chip, I don't think any only have swipe (though it works as a backup if the chip reader fails). No PIN is required for any credit card AFAIK, only debit cards, and I haven't used a debit card in over a decade.

[giblets]

Americans hate mass transit

[giblets]

Also, kudos to Serb for selling 1984 as a good thing