Posts by Bombinova

I think Argentina excels across a range of musical genres from everything I hear.

And of course the audiences at the likes of the Monumental showcase how great Argentine audiences are when a northern hemisphere musical artist is in town.

But that’s an entirely separate point to what I asked about.

I wonder how many Air BnB owners are using AI to optimise their offering?

Somewhere around none I imagine.

There's a unique business opportunity there.

People wandering around with headphones on baffle me. That’s not clever on any level in any public place. Well maybe running around the park it’s ok!

Clyde is very Bonnie

For the expats deriving from north of Hadrians Wall. There probably a way for me turn the image 90° but I’m on my phone and can’t figure it out.

This particular rendition of the aforementioned song is interesting.

If you're of the British sort of Argentine expat and old enough then you'll remember Michael Foot at the Cenotaph

Quote from Rice

Bombinova , how long have you lived in Argentina?

I will add to my profile as I move along here. That's if I can.

He’s supposed to be receiving King Charles on a visit soon isn’t he?

My head spins thinking about the consequences of everything he does these days.

I don't think I've come across any of those artists so that's quite a bit for me look up. That's great!

I've been watching some Argentine musicians on YouTube for some time. Some recommended to me and others reach me via the powers of the algorithm.

My appreciation and knowledge of Argentina's music scene runs nether wide nor deep.

I like a few songs by Divididos, such as Que Ves?, Sisters and Guanuqeando.

And a couple by Leon Gieco, such as La Memoria and Solo Lo Pido a Dios.

Does anyone have any suggestions for further listening?

Maybe the owner of this fine, abandoned pre-loved item has now got a girlfriend.

Whatever directives these guys get (I've only seen males but don’t assume it is so) , when they leave the house to go to work from their loved ones, how can they do so with a good conscience that their work is for the good and in accordance with what they believed they signed up for?

Have they lost their individual minds?

It’s odd to me. There would be uproar in the UK if you had to hand over your NI number with your loyalty card in Tesco.

So perhaps my question and the consequences of my response right here needs to be drilled down into a little more.

What is it then about a DNI number that differs it to a UK NI number that means that a DNI number holder in Argentina has no issue with handing it over with their supermarket loyalty card whilst a holder of a UK NI number would see it as a step too far to transact in the same way?

That’s the nub of my enquiry. I probably could have used fewer words to ask.

And that’s without even repeating my point about the faff it causes at the till.

There’s quite a lot in there thats interesting.

The UK DL is accepted as photo ID by banks and includes your address too so it ticks two boxes at once in that credit or banking application process.

Reading in between the lines, I think a lot of countries are in the process of joining and sharing information between different departments of government. And going by what you say Argentina is trying to join up those dots in the same way.

What the heck is going on in a shop though when people pay for stuff with a card and/or a loyalty card?

I’ve seen the videos, but this article strikes at the heart of it. I hope it’s interesting to readers here.

For me what’s going on with ICE in Minneapolis is horrific. But the writer taps into the fears that Americans feel right there on the ground as a consequence.

From the FinanciaI Times, London.

I hope Swampians of both political persuasions know I’m not given to hyperbole when it comes to describing the Trump administration. I try to give the president hell when he’s doing things that are terrible (like compromising ethics in ways that will ultimately degrade US markets) and credit when he’s done something I think is right policy-wise (like pursuing industrial policyin strategic sectors).

Unfortunately, what’s happening in Minneapolis right now falls into the first category and should give everyone pause. Following raids there by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during which a protester who appeared to be leaving a protest site as instructed was shot point blank and killed (the 13th shooting by ICE since July), Donald Trump is now considering invoking the Insurrection Act, a set of 18th and 19th century laws which would allow him to send the US military into the city to quell protests.

This is the moment that many of us in the US have been dreading since the president was first elected. Trump now has his own paramilitary force in the form of ICE. The agents have clear instructions not to use excessive force, particularly since they have legal immunity from criminal prosecution, but are being praised and seemingly encouraged to continue behaving as they are by Trump, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and others in the administration.

As Miller posted on social media, “You have immunity to perform your duties and no one — no city official, no state official, no illegal alien, no leftist agitator or domestic insurrectionist — can prevent you from fulfilling your legal obligations and duties.”

According to people I’ve heard from in Minneapolis, ICE is everywhere — lying in wait, swarming suddenly, hauling people away — and they are creating a feeling of pervasive dread and anxiety. The governor Tim Walz just closed schools for two days to try and avoid children being harmed.

But turning the US military on its own people would be another level of horror, even for Trump. The last time the Insurrection Act was used was to quell riots in LA after the acquittal of white police offers following the beating of Rodney King. (For a list of the other times, check out the Brennan Center website).

I was a senior in college back then and had been interning at a magazine in New York, about 120 blocks from campus. We were dismissed early from work that day, as many businesses and public officials feared the riots would spread to other major cities (they didn’t). With the subway and buses mostly down, I walked all the way back to school.

I fear that this time around things will spread. Particularly if the military is brought in. But the sad flip side of that argument is that Americans are simply used to lots of violence. As I wrote in a column a while back, gun violence in America has become normalised in such a way that we have come to view it as just another thing that happens in the day, not something outrageous and unacceptable. I’d say it makes America look ever more like an emerging market, but the truth is that many emerging markets are becoming less violent while the US is only becoming more so.

Violence has a drip, drip, quality. People are frightened, and so they hang back, and things get progressively worse. Trump is testing limits here, and while those concerned about the administration’s over-reach are using the legal system to try and set limits, I fear things aren’t changing fast enough.

Last week, I checked that my and my family’s British passports were up to date. I fretted (yet again) about how much of my asset base was diversified away from dollars (not enough yet; I’m working on that). An Italian acquaintance told me her friends at home were asking if it was safe to walk in Hoboken, New Jersey, where she lives. I have a million other examples of this sort of thinking that I could share.

Quote from Splinter

You can't do much without your DNI. When I auto - pay at Carrefour, I have to tap in the number for Mi Carrefour, then tap it in again when swiping the card

This is interesting. I don’t have a DNI but see people faffing around at tills longer than I think they should need to.

Would this equate to having to disclose my NI number at Tescos every time I presented my Tesco club card?

If so I imagine Starmer will be on to this soon enough!

Do any of you watch Mark Wiens on YouTube? He grew up in Kenya but more specifically he did a few videos in Ethiopia a few years ago that stick in the mind in terms of interesting African food

My first ever experience receiving sweets as change was in Italy in the 1970s. From a very vague memory, the rate of exchange was about 1500 lira to the GBP. My memory of note and coin denominations being less clear in my memory.

And here in Argentina, I’ve received coins in change in Chinos but would never dream of trying to spend them!

I really like Nora’s website. And at a “few million users every month” (on her about me page) shes doing a lot right. I’m bookmarking that site.