teller

Our own Morgan Meis in The Smart Set:

A year-2010 problem which surprised software experts is becoming so big that German banks may have to urgently replace millions of customers' payment cards, a bank spokesman said Wednesday.

Fears are growing that the faulty microchips in the new cards may threaten the economy, with a sizeable number of people hampered when they try to withdraw cash at automated teller machines (ATMs) or pay in shops through electronic point-of-sale (EFTPOS) terminals.

Banks have been struggling since Monday to reprogram big national computer servers so that the faults do not block payments.

In Charlotte, N.C., residents like to joke that there's a church or bank branch on virtually every street corner -- which is fitting, since both are viewed as houses of worship in a city that until a recent merger boasted two of the nation's five largest banks. Charlotte isn't alone that regard, because during the housing boom of the past decade commercial banks everywhere threw up new branches as fast as they could. From 1990 to 2006, the number of bank branches in the U.S. roughly doubled, to more than 90,000 -- or one for roughly every 2,200 adults in the country.

Jonah Lehrer in Wired:

One of the first tricks in Penn and Teller's Las Vegas show begins when Teller—the short, quiet one—strolls onstage with a lit cigarette, inhales, drops it to the floor, and stamps it out. Then he takes another cigarette from his suit pocket and lights it.

Justin E. H. Smith