Putin's spewin'

[old man emu]

I reckon Putin is absolutely spewin'. The whole Western world - dominated by the USA - suffered a digital collapse and it wasn't a successful operation by his minions.

 

Joking aside, what happened yesterday exposed the fragility of society's heavy reliance on integrated digital systems. It is ironic that the cause of this worldwide collapse was due to the regular maintenance of the system.  It is not unknown that when software is updated with a view to improve its functioning, that unintended consequences arise. Obviously, software engineers test these updates by running them in computers that are isolated from the rest of the system. While the software might cause no problems in the software laboratory where the testing team know what other programs are are running on their computer, they have no way of knowing what interactions there might be with software programs they do not know about.

 

Another thought I have arising from this event is, what would happen if Earth was hit by a really strong solar storm? There are also the effects of electromagnetic pulses which are associated with nuclear explosions. An aggressor might not use a city-destroying bomb, but could use a mini-bomb placed close to a central major internet hub.

[onetrack]

I often wonder how many of these "technical glitches" are simply the result of "highly educated" IT people, who simply can't spell properly - and they install coding errors via their inability to spell words or code correctly?

There's always checks designed to catch these errors before they get through - but if someone misses the error or errors, then BOOM, it's in the system, and then has to be tracked down.

 

My middle nephew purchased a brand new Caterpillar motor grader about 8 or 9 years ago. It was state of the art, $750,000 worth, full of electronics like all modern equipment. It ran beautifully for 3 weeks - then it wouldn't go over 9kmh.

They're supposed to do 40kmh for roading, and quite often operate around 12-15kmh for fast grading, such as maintenance grading. So, the local Cat dealer sent out their field servicemen to fix the problem.

They couldn't fix it, so the dealer sent their "top-level" serviceman out to fix it. He couldn't fix it. The dealer called on Cat in America, and Cat in the U.S. decided it was a serious fault.

 

Cat flew a top-level Cat design engineer from the U.S to W.A., just to sort out the grader problem. The grader is full of ECU's and has a CANBUS system. It took the Cat engineer 3 days to find out there was a "communication problem" between the ECU's.

The "communication problem" was a "software flaw" according to Cat, and the engineer finally sorted it with his laptop, the grader then ran just fine, and the Cat engineer went back to the U.S.

 

But I often wonder just what that "software flaw" was. If the engineer sorted it with his laptop, it was obviously a programming error, that only showed up once certain parameters were reached.

It seems it took 3 weeks of grader operation, before those parameters were met, and this then introduced the "communication problem".

 

Yes, we are all extremely vulnerable to, A: The reliability of our electrical supplies, and B: Reliable computerisation and fault-free programming.

 

South Africa is going to be the canary in the coalmine - a failing, inadequate energy system, coupled with incompetence and corruption, will see them slowly slide back into a 3rd world, agricultural peasant economy.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 20 by onetrack

[spacesailor]

This ' tablet ' requires an update .

But , after viewing the update " things ", there were nothing that I wanted ,

And plenty I didn't want .

So it keeps asking. 

spacesailor

 

 

[facthunter]

Dog sends these things to TRY us.  Malcolm Frazer said "Life wasn't meant to be easy".  Nev

[red750]

There were repeated calls for a backup to eftpos, touch and go electronic payments yesterday after the CrowdStrike affair affected supermarkets, banks, airlines etc. Calls for Cash is King. But others responded saying even with cash, checkouts and registers still rely on the software, so traders could not handle cash transactions. The integrated systems for stock control,ordering, etc depend on these systems and simply receiving cash is not sufficient. Of course, actually getting cash is becoming more difficult, with ATM's etc. being affected by the same system failures.

[onetrack]

I always have about $100-150 in my wallet, and keep several hundred dollars in the house. I also carry around a taxi-type coin holder. I quite often give shopkeepers the exact amount required, when I purchase something.

Too many people "sail close to the wind", and I often wonder what happens when these people who use their phone to pay for everything, damage or lose their phone, or have it stolen.

[octave]

8 minutes ago, onetrack said:

Too many people "sail close to the wind", and I often wonder what happens when these people who use their phone to pay for everything, damage or lose their phone, or have it stolen.

I use my phone for just about everything. If my phone were to be out of power I would just use my card. All of my cards are on my phone and in my wallet.     

[facthunter]

My son had to get real money out of the ATM yesterday to pay for stuff at the supermarket. The Queue at the ATM was a "mile long"..  Nev

[red750]

When there's a run on the ATM's like that, they are likely to run out of cash. Lots of reports of country folk having to travel up to 100 km or so to get cash. How would you feel if you drove all that way to an empty ATM?

[facthunter]

I doubt I'd go that far without more assurance. .  Nev

[spacesailor]

I believe ' most ' supermarkets ' let you have " cash-out " .

Less for them to carry to the bank .

Now we pensioners,  are being charged a couple of dollars, when paying by

 " debit card " not just credit cards .

spacesailor

[octave]

18 minutes ago, spacesailor said:

Now we pensioners,  are being charged a couple of dollars, when paying by

 " debit card " not just credit cards .

 

Are you absolutely sure about that?

 

As far as I am aware the only supermarket that charges extra for card transactions is Aldi which charges 0.5% for card purchases.  If you are getting cash out then there is a 3% charge by the credit card company not the supermarket.

 

I can say for sure that I do not pay any extra at Woolworths when I use my phone/credit card. I know this because every time I shop I get an e receipt.

 

https://www.finder.com.au/credit-cards/how-to-avoid-bank-fees-at-the-supermarket 

Edited July 21 by octave

[spacesailor]

It was at the big butcher supermarket.

Pendle Hill Meat Market .

Without any cash out,  on our " debit card " .

spacesailor

[facthunter]

It would make no difference whether it's credit or debit.   Nev

[spacesailor]

Pensioners cannot get " credit " cards , they have to use their bank-card instead . 

We have the ' largest firm ' backing our debit but are treated like lepers. 

spacesailor

[red750]

1 hour ago, spacesailor said:

Pensioners cannot get " credit " cards

That's why, if you have one, don't cancel it. Keep it paid down and they can't take it off you. Use it occasionally for small things to keep it active.