It's the single biggest mistake made by a bank.

Citibank transferred $500 million instead of $ 5 million, acting as an agent for Revlon.

It was part of an ongoing repayment plan.

It was like any other transaction - except that the term used in the form was misunderstood

The error was detected a day later - by then, it was too late

A tale of bad UI.

High value transactions like these pass through three levels of approval. And the box ticked seemed to be the right one. So, everyone concerned approved it.

There's a detailed explanation available in the article.

The creditors who benefited were delighted. They were expecting a protracted delay in getting the money back from Revlon.

Instead, they hit the jackpot

Citibank was aghast at the turn of events and tried to reverse the transfer. No luck.

Ordinarily, this would be reversed. But there is a provision in the law which says that if creditors are paid back by mistake they can keep it. And the transfer was equal to the money owed to them

The judge ruled in the creditors favour.

There's a crater to fill in the bank's accounts now.

In defence of boredom

Over the years, it has acquired a stigma

Boredom is to be avoided at all costs.

It has come to be equated with 'nothing to do' - a state of idleness which is frowned upon

Sometimes, the mind needs to wander aimlessly.

Without a looming deadline. Or toiling through a thicket of doubt.

There are proverbial warnings - An idle mind is the devil's workshop'

As if the exploring mind will immediately be oriented towards destruction and deviousness.

It's a time when the ideas in your head get a chance to interact and come up with fresh ways of looking at things.

When you lie on the ground and watch passing clouds, you see shapes and patterns that would never occur to you otherwise.

If you sat at the water's edge on a beach and listened to the waves chase each other endlessly, you'd get a sense of eternity a clock could never display.

Living life means many things - and all experiences don't have to be collected and stored in memories.

Boredom needs to be welcomed, not feared.

It's the space minds need to grow, without being driven to perform at every hour of the day.

It's your choice.

In corona times, creating safer public spaces

The coronavirus is not disappearing anytime soon

As governments struggle to help businesses open, an Israeli company, Protouch may have found a solution

Helping businesses operate and signal to people the places that are safe to enter

The original product was simply an LED lighting pole for exhibitions.

They collaborated with an American company Synect to install sensors and use AI to monitor crowd numbers in an area

As numbers increase beyond defined safe levels, the light indicator goes from green to orange to red.

The traffic light principle which everyone understands being applied to a new situation altogether.

These poles have been installed at the airport in Orlando and without using cameras or any other tracking technology, people instinctively move to the areas which show up as green

The light sensors can be altered to change depending on what is deemed safe.

So, if restaurants are allowed to operate at 25%, the numbers can be calibrated accordingly.

Or even entry into cinemas or malls.

It is applicable to all public spaces - and it can scale to just about anywhere because the components are easily assembled and deployed.

And it's what people easily understand and follow.

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