Gekeken en ja, dat kan! App niet nodig, ook niet via de browser van mijn telefoon.

Ik vind Spanje op een manier nog wel meevallen hoor, Nederlandse banken kunnen er ook wat van. Die doen er bijvoorbeeld extreem moeilijk over als je naar het buitenland verhuist en je Nederlandse rekening wilt behouden. Maar goed, banken zijn eigenlijk altijd wel een beetje kut.

Ik heb zelf wel een rekening bij Wise. Kan ik wel aanraden, is gratis en je kan een pinpas krijgen. Er is een app maar kan ook via browser alles goed volgens mij. Ik gebruik het altijd in non-euro landen. Mocht je het willen gebruiken deel ik via DM een invite code 😉

Ik heb een tijd in Spanje gewoond en ik had iets vergelijkbaars ja. Ik vond de SMS'jes niet eens heel erg eigenlijk en een soort van handig. Maar ja wel een goed punt dat mijn telefoonprovider wel veel wist. Ik kon ze wel uitzetten geloof ik, weet het niet meer zo goed.

Wat ik nog wel weet was dat het internetbankieren echt heel slecht was ja. Mijn gebruikersnaam was mijn NIE (BSN equivalent) en mijn wachtwoord was een pincode van max 4 cijfers (!!!). Je kon geen beter wachtwoord instellen dan dat, wat voor mij wel een enorme red flag was.

De rekening überhaupt openen was ook lastig. Ik werkte toen nog niet in Spanje en ze deden erg moeilijk over het feit dat ik geen (Spaans) salaris kreeg. Dat ik nog in Nederland geld verdiende als ZZP'er en dat geld naar mijn Spaanse rekening wilde overmaken boeide ze niet echt.

Uiteindelijk wel gelukt dus (bij Bankia, bestaan niet eens meer), maar na een tijdje ge-switched naar een niet-Spaanse bank die kantoren hebben in Spanje (Banco de Pichincha) en zij waren erg relaxed en veel meer gewend aan buitenlandse klanten.

Wel een vraag: waarom zo moeilijk doen met dit soort rekeningen? Wat is er mis met Nederlandse banken?

Are we supposed to feel sorry that someone who at least willingly associated with extreme violence (if not committed it themselves) is locked up?

The word "associated" in this context can be as little as "looking like a gang member". People are arbitrarily arrested and locked up, often without real evidence or due process.

I of course feel sorry for the many thousands of innocent people who are imprisoned in horrible conditions as well as their friends and family who have no idea exactly where they are.

The Bukele regime is barbaric and extremely antidemocratic. And Bukele actually has very much associated himself with Trump and his corrupt circle. These people can't be trusted and don't work for the people, they just want money, power, and influence.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/07/el-salvador-el-costo-humano-del-regimen-de-excepcion-podria-constituir-crimenes-de-lesa-humanidad/

The time you choose can be different from when you enter, at least that was my experience. Perhaps they don't like it when you choose a quiet time and arrive when it's busy, but it's October and I think they won't care at all or even really notice.

The van Gogh museum is smaller than the rijksmuseum, but for me it has more interesting art that I end up thinking about and discussing with the person I go with, so you can easily be there 3 hours. Where you go depends on what interests you. For me van Gogh's art is way more interesting than most of what's in the rijksmuseum, but you could browse the collections to see what interests you more.

In the van Gogh museum it also describes the role that his sister in law, Jo, had. Without her none of us would know about Vincent. Definitely take some time reading about her in the museum too!

I don't understand why the US lacks some of these small but very helpful visual cues.

It's like the dollar bills all being green (and the same size?). If you have limited vision it's really hard to see the difference between the bills. I think every other currency I know uses different colours (and sizes) for each bill to make them easier to distinguish.

Same with street signs. Why use text like "speed limit" or "one way" when you can use symbols and colours for this? For people who can't read (English) it's so unnecessarily confusing.

And a last example I noticed again recently... Why is the nutritional information text on American products so confusing? It only says the amount of sugar, fat, carbs etc per serving. But a serving is such an arbitrary amount sometimes, I basically always want to know the percentage too so I can much more easily compare products. Like this.

I'm sure there's some things that are designed better in the US, but I remember these things from when I went to visit years ago and being quite surprised.

Uhm... I don't know the details of the other countries but Nicaragua is a de facto dictatorship. Elections haven't been fair and free for many years now.

Any systemic manipulation and fraud there is done by Ortega and the FSLN, they control everything. I remember the transition very well because I lived there and saw with my own eyes how Ortega consolidated power and eliminated political enemies, independent journalism, and civil society.

I happen to know quite a lot about this and I really don't understand what point you're trying to make. I'm sure the US is trying to meddle in Brazilian elections but that has nothing to do with the dictatorship in Nicaragua.

Oh interesting, where is that used? The only shorthand I've heard in Spanish is el aire

Ik ben benieuwd in hoeverre we dit in de toekomst gaan merken, ook in de context van oudere kinderen en studenten die volop AI gebruiken voor hun huiswerk, essays, etc.

Niet dat ik zo'n hoge pet op heb van mijn eigen generatie hoor, maar wij moesten in ieder geval de moeite nemen om dingen zelf te lezen, schrijven en tot een conclusie te komen op basis van logische redenaties.

Ik heb het idee dat er een soort half nutteloze generatie aankomt die amper kritisch kan nadenken. Niet alleen schoolwerk, met van alles in het leven wordt nu zoveel denkwerk ge-outsourced naar AI. Ik ben oprecht bang dat de komende generatie jongeren gewoon niet meer fatsoenlijk zelf tot conclusies kan komen.

En blijkbaar kunnen ze amper lezen, of in ieder geval een stuk slechter dan eerdere generaties. Hoeveel kans is er dan nog voor onderzoeksjournalisme, voor politieke discussies op basis van kennis en expertise, voor genuanceerde gesprekken over complexe onderwerpen?

Er zullen altijd genieën blijven die ongelooflijke dingen gaan ontdekken, uitvinden en bedenken. Maar die mogen maar één keer stemmen, net als de halve analfabeet die via sociale media en AI extreem makkelijk te manipuleren is.

Triest hoor. Ik heb nog nooit een stuk tekst met 'mijn' gedachten door AI laten genereren. Wil het eigenlijk ook nooit doen. Ik heb jaren en jarenlang zonder gekund, dat gaat me wel blijven lukken. En volgens mij gaan mensen ook vergeten hoe ze moeten schrijven en kritisch nadenken omdat ze alles outsourcen naar fucking AI.

Sorry just wanted to check: you don't support deportation under any circumstances?

To be clear: I absolutely don't agree with what ICE is doing and the abhorrent treatment of migrants in many parts of the world. I'm also not American so please keep in mind that context.

But what about someone who overstays a tourist visa and is then continuously committing violent crimes? After they've served their sentence, what should happen to them?

If you can't deport them, then should they get a resident permit? Citizenship? If they don't then they'll just be in the country without the required documentation to work and reside there legally and will likely return to crime to survive.

I'm genuinely asking because though "no deportations under any circumstances" sounds admirable, I think you'll quite quickly run into some big problems.

Not to mention how appealing a country with this policy would become for human traffickers. Then it wouldn't matter if you're a refugee or a gang member, just get across the border and you will never have to leave.

Again, fuck ICE and all brutal regimes throughout the world. I just think that abolishing any and all deportations would open up a whole other can of worms and there are surely better ways to protect migrants.

I'm not from the US. Do you know how much of your income tax goes to the health care system?

I live in the Netherlands and we actually have a pretty weird system of private insurance companies, but they're not allowed to make a profit and it's mandatory to have insurance. Anyway, my partner and I together pay about €300 per month, which actually doubled is about what you pay for 4 people (though for kids here it's free).

Copay is not a thing here. The legal minimum deductible is €385 per year. You can raise it to max €885 and then you pay less for insurance every month. I have the max deductible, my partner has the lowest.

$4500 seems like an insane amount! I have never reached that or even gotten close. The government here sets the limit for deductibles and that's always a big political discussion. There's some talks now of removing the deductible altogether, though that would mean raising taxes elsewhere.

How do deductibles even work in the US? I had my appendix removed and here you then never pay anything because it's like a life threatening thing. I think you do pay for things like medicine and the ambulance ride until you reach your deductible, but for things like going to the GP or life saving surgery it's just covered.

And here if you're not working or earn less than certain thresholds it becomes cheaper or free. But isn't that similar in the US, like medicaid or something?

I pay quite a lot of income tax too of course which also partially goes to the health care system. I think it's actually quite expensive here for people who have a reasonable income. If you don't earn anything it's mostly free but you still have plenty of health related costs like the deductible but also stuff that isn't automatically included with insurance like dental care.

Last question: what do you mean by "max out of pocket $15000"? Is that like your combined max deductible for your family?