Hey Sult! I agree about the airlines. They've definitely taken on an attitude of entitlement. Delta has been, by far, our favorite one but, man, this was a true slap in the face. I also noticed another error in the app. They "charged" me $52.09 for an inflight purchase from July. The only problem is I haven't flown since January. I checked my card and, thankfully, there were no charges. Another glitch on their part.
I was very excited when I saw this story about Bitcoin. That new name is a pretty good sign that the establishment is (reluctantly) accepting XBT as a store of value and plans on it being around for the long haul. I think all of the money flowing into precious metals and XBT right now is a huge indicator that we have a crash of the financial markets coming very soon.
I missed that story about Japan! I was surprised to learn that Japan was largely a cash-based society. When we were researching for a trip over there they advise tourists to take out cash because so few places even accept credit cards. It would make sense that the government would want to roll out a centralized digital currency so they can tightly control it. I've been hearing rumors for a long time that the US Gov is considering Ripple, or a hardfork of it for the US digital dollar. Considering the US' diminishing reputation and dominance in the world it might be a logical move for them to partner with other allies to create a shared currency like the Euro. It might be our only chance against the digital Yuan from China. I'm worried about what the US will do with decentralized cryptos, especially alts, once a digital dollar is in place. They can't stop them but they can close off the exit ramps for US citizens.
I'm really liking doing this end of the week mash up! It's so nice to jot down something quickly and not have to mull it over as much. Best of luck with your contest and I'm sorry I won't be able to enter this one. I am looking forward to reading some of the submissions though. Take care, my friend, and enjoy this weekend!