nomadpete

All the IT experts put a lot of careful design into the ends of the computing systems - servers, cloud storage, customer systems, etc. And these areas are where the most money goes, and is most visible to everybody. It is fairly well sorted. But there is a massive invisible complex of technology between say a customer terminal and a bank computer. The IT guys just know that it all goes into a RJ45 socket at one end and comes out of another RJ45 at the bank. ALL devices, whether mobile phones, POS terminals, network servers, etc, are interconnected by digital broadband telecommunications networks. These rely heavily on accurate timing signals without which any of the thousands of links will shut off. Synchronising of transmission clocks is maintained by master cesium standard atomic clocks and coordinated around the world by GPS satellites. Local clocks in each digital repeater or multiplexer in the network are locked to this and are accurate to millipoofteenths of a second. They can take days to resynchronise if they drift off due to loss of master signal. The whole digital network can crash if timing is lost. So if banks cannot access any cloud stored info, or the POS goes deaf, nobody can withdraw cash, nor buy anything. Nobody can write to the bank, the newspapers, or their MP to complain. Etc, etc. Fortunately these clocks take days to drift in the event of loss of master. Eg GPS satellites failure. But it remains a single (system) point of failure that would be very serious. Probability = low Consequences = catastrophic.

And what useful things might the hungry city dwellers be offering the farmers in exchange for some milk to put in their latte?

When they first came to my cash register, the acronym was a synonym

True, the old ones that I used had one. However, that in itself does not allow the business to deal in cash. The point of sale would need a paper receipting system to document each transaction. And if your customers (assuming they had some cash socked away someplace for emergencies) present a $50 note for a loaf of bread, do you think they will say "keep the change"? So every eftpos only store would need a cash float and receipt book in the back room. They don't. The weakness in the system is not actually the cashless concept. It is in the high risk of having a single point of failure (internet integrity) is that collapse of network paralyses the whole economy and even the food chain. The unlikely solution is to provide duplication of the whole internet infrastructure

That's what I was going to say. But it took me too long to find my brain, to tease.

The point was raised by the Optus network failure. And the vulnerability of our retail monetary system due to relying totally on a data network. Lose the network for a week and most folk run out of food. I'm not sure if the POS equipment can even open the till without network connectivity? This could have prevented about half of all retail outlets from doing business even with cash? (Jerry?) But certainly those Optus connected businesses couldn't do cashless without the network. So as more businesses put "Cash Only" signs, and remove their cash handling gear, the greater the risk of severe consequences to the public when a network failure occurs.

To put it into context, I recall it was with reference to tourism at the time. So probably only referring to daily bribes affecting tourism, not necessarily the big end of town. In fact the writer mentioned the need to hire "financial guide" there and some Red Sea countries. This helps the traveller to spend on productive bribes rather than con men bribes. Even the bribing system is riddled with its own corruption. Of course the writer cautioned visitors to carefully research to find an honest bribe guide!

Alright. I may as well just slit my wrists right now and save the country the burden of my old age.

I heard somewhere that Greece held the title of world's leading corrupt country?

Back to cash vs cashless..... https://au.finance.yahoo.com/cashless-society-not-coming-already-here-222223681.html Seems it is too late to fuss over the demise of hard cash.....

Just another random thought, to stir the pot a bit. Even we must be careful what we post on a forum. Big Brother is watching you.

Ironically, the last time I handled a cheque, was when I closed my ANZ account. They sent me a cheque for the remaining balance by snail mail. Even though I had given them the BSB & account number of my new bank account. Should this be in the funnies thread?

The cunning laughable 3 word slogan....... "Drain the Swamp" He epitomises everything about the swamp. And only wants all the other alligators out of the pool. Watching his court cases, is a lesson in watching a master playing his audience.

It's lost in an old shoebox at the back of the wardrobe, but I once took a photograph of a very neatly signwitten sign at the front door of a bush pub.... THE DEAL You keep your dog outside my pub. I keep my bullet outside your dog

Trumpy has learnt a lot from 'reality' TV shows. Now he is using the courts as a free publicity opportunity, he's playing to the viewers. And playing them like a trout. Certainly a cunning strategy.

That's a bit unfair. Real democracy can be fairly good. For instance in a real democracy the president would be elected by the majority vote of the people. But Middle America doesn't have that.

Yes, we do indeed lead shelterd lives here. My only work foray OS was to Dili in 2000, and that demonstrated to me how underutilised our road transport is in Australia. You can get a family of five into town on a stepthru. They were buying petrol from roadside vendors, who sold by the cordial bottlefull. And mum sat discretely side-saddle! Any momentarily vacant bit of road is fair game. Mudguards and headlights are optional. Etc.

If you ask them, I'm pretty sure they will say "Of course!"

I could be wrong but I doubt that they had sound tracks, or smooth blur free movie cameras.

Not to forget that the screen is there to protect the employee from contracting airborne pathogens carried in by the customer.

OME are you using a video made in 1890 to dispute the veracity of a social media presentation?

It looks like all the others but it is longer, and has such luxury as proper shock absorbers and hydraulic internal shoe brakes on all four wheels.

The early horseless carriages had the steering wheel in the middle because they couldn't find passengers brave enough to ride beside the driver.

Is that what Sfm told Boris? BTW. Our dear Scotty hasn't seen any close scrutiny into his last job. Does that mean he was really good at it? Or maybe there is an unspoken rule in Aussie politics - switch off the scrutiny when one leaves?

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Semantics, pedantics. However, is this conflict an insurrection? Are the Palestinians, or at least Hamas, trying to overthrow the Israeli government? Or are they trying to stop the decades of continued erosion of their living space? Or is it really a conflict of religions? Often a conflict gets dumbed down by reporting it as a totally religious dispute because the public don't want to bother with complex details.