Hey all, it's been a while
Just finding time to sit down and write has been tough enough...it helps that the ban on LJ as a "Social Networking" site has been lifted slightly at work. Things are going pretty good around here, and the kids are doing great.
My notice of the day: I heard this story on NPR, which also got distributed to the "weird news" files all around TV and the net. VISA makes an error with multiple cardholders with the same charge: $23,148,855,308,184,500. Big deals have been made about how this is a "23 quadrillion dollar charge", it's a 17-digit number, larger than the U.S. national debt, etc. etc. The banks have been extra nice in not charging overdraft charges, as they should be.
When I heard the story, I thought, well, what kind of number could accidentally be input instead of a dollar amount? Credit card numbers are 16 digits long. I also noticed the round number at the end of the charge--no cents. If the charged amount is divisible by 5, it creates a new 16-digit number starting with 4--which all VISA cards start with. If you look at the statement in the link above, the last 4 of the card on the bill does not match the new 16-digit number. But is it possible that someone else's legitimate card number got processed/mangled through the accidental input, and ended up as this new 17-digit number? Probably too much of a coincidence, but I wonder if I'm onto something.
My notice of the day: I heard this story on NPR, which also got distributed to the "weird news" files all around TV and the net. VISA makes an error with multiple cardholders with the same charge: $23,148,855,308,184,500. Big deals have been made about how this is a "23 quadrillion dollar charge", it's a 17-digit number, larger than the U.S. national debt, etc. etc. The banks have been extra nice in not charging overdraft charges, as they should be.
When I heard the story, I thought, well, what kind of number could accidentally be input instead of a dollar amount? Credit card numbers are 16 digits long. I also noticed the round number at the end of the charge--no cents. If the charged amount is divisible by 5, it creates a new 16-digit number starting with 4--which all VISA cards start with. If you look at the statement in the link above, the last 4 of the card on the bill does not match the new 16-digit number. But is it possible that someone else's legitimate card number got processed/mangled through the accidental input, and ended up as this new 17-digit number? Probably too much of a coincidence, but I wonder if I'm onto something.