Neil Hopcroft

A digital misfit

“According to research by card provider Visa, 20% of people are not using their pin because they haven’t memorised it.”

I already have a head full of numbers, there isn’t space for any more. Someone helpfully pointed out that it was just four digits, but what they hadn’t realised was that I’ve already remembered something in the region of 60 four-digit PINs (and their associated systems, a vital part of the mapping), any more and that will jeopodise those already in storage. Its OK, I’ll start using cash again, until that makes me a complete non-citizen.


Categories: Memories.

/ 9 Comments

9 comments

    • neilh

      with a big stick…

      erm, or maybe the same way I do now, using a cashpoint and a number I can remember. I’ll be in trouble when that expires though, must buy big stick before the cash runs out.

      Reply
      • sushidog

        My pin number for chip and pin transactions is the same as for extracting cash from the cash-cow; is yours different? (Erm, from your other pin, I mean, not from mine)

        Reply
        • neilh

          Well, its different in the sense its different cards. I don’t like using debit cards for shopping since you get better protection from credit cards, but they also charge you for withdrawing cash, so cash card for cashpoint, creditcard for shops. But thats broken now, I’m giving up with the credit card.

          Reply
    • neilh

      Theres two problems with that – if someone gets that number they can steal my entire life (and actually quite a lot of people have the same numbers already, maybe I should start again from somewhere and just count up whenever I need a new number?), and I need to remember another number long enough that I can change it to one of the numbers I already know.

      Probably an easier thing to do is to solder across some of the contacts on the card to make it not work any more.

      Reply
  3. ingaborg

    James Thurber wrote a beautiful short story about his attempts to memorise phone numbers using dates of the American Civil War. Nothing has changed since then!

    Reply
    • neilh

      Thats part of the problem, I can still remember a whole bunch of phone numbers from my school friends who I’ve not spoken to for 15 years, but nothing new sticks any more.

      Reply

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