June 27, 2024

— John Shepherd-Barron

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During World War II, a teenager named John Shepherd-Barron joined the British Army, where he was eventually assigned to an elite unit called the 159th Parachute Light Regiment, and nicknamed the Chindits.

These were special operations units that conducted long-range patrols during the Burma Campaign. It was dangerous work, but it made sense that Shepherd-Barron wound up there, since he'd been born and raised in India before going to England for school.

There are probably some pretty amazing stories of Shepherd-Barron's time in the military, but for our purposes, we're just going to point out one thing. It's that like all soldiers, Shepherd-Barron was given a service number, and he repeated it so many times in uniform that he could rattle it off many years later.

Hold onto that for a minute. After the war was over, Shepherd-Barron came home to the U.K., where he wound up in the management trainee program at a company called De La Rue Instruments. He worked hard, drew a paycheck, and formed a habit of cashing the check each Friday at the same time.

Then, one Friday in 1965, he was delayed, and he arrived at the bank one minute after it closed. Stuck without cash for the weekend, he went home, drew a bath, and contemplated his dilemma.

"It struck me there must be a way I could get my own money, anywhere in the world or the UK," he recalled long afterward. "I hit upon the idea of a chocolate bar dispenser, but replacing chocolate with cash."

Yes, John Shepherd-Barron is the person credited with inventing the automated teller machine, or ATM, which debuted 57 years ago today in England -- long before it hit the United States, by the way.

What's wild is that Shepherd-Barron wasn't in the banking industry or an accomplished inventor. But, a few months after his bathtub epiphany, he arranged to run into the chief general manager of Barclay's Bank.

The Telegraph picked up the story here, after Shepherd-Barron's death in 2010:

Barclays commissioned Shepherd-Barron to build six cash dispensers, the first of which was installed at a branch in the north London suburb of Enfield on June 27, 1967.

Remember I said to hold onto the fact that he held onto his military service number?

This is what gave him the idea for ATMs to use PINs -- personal identification numbers. Shepherd-Barron initially intended for every ATM user to have a 6-digit PIN, but his wife convinced him that would be too many digits.

"Over the kitchen table, she said she could only remember four figures, so because of her, four figures became the world standard," he recalled.

Sadly, this is apparently another instance of someone inventing something incredibly useful but never getting much in the way of financial reward as a result.

However, he received all kinds of honors for his work, and he apparently lived a long and happy life. And for that reason, I think we'll end with a quote from him about when he realized the reach of what he'd created.

It came years later when he was visiting Thailand, and he watched a farmer roll up to an ATM on an ox-driven cart, remove his wide-brimmed hat, and withdraw cash:

"It was the first evidence to me that we'd changed the world."

The winner of our "name the debate poll?" As of 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, as I wrote this we had 418 votes, and it turns out we have a landslide victory:

• Is This the Best We Can Do? (Part 2): 83.3%
• The Blather in Atlanta: 5%
• Georgia Gripe-a-Thon: 2.9%

Actually, I'd say "Other" was the real second-place winner. The vast majority of those email replies were suggestions that I shouldn't make fun of the debate because this is a crucial election and only [XXXXX] can save the country from ruin.

The "XXXXX" was for "Trump" in many reader emails, and "Biden" in others. I'm not going to tally those; I think you all can probably guess who I support, but I try not to hit everyone over the head with it. At the least I think our polling here suggests the vast majority of Americans wish there were other choices.

Folks, next week includes the Fourth of July, and I'm going to take some vacation starting tomorrow. When we return during the week of July 8, I hope we'll be revamping and reintroducing both Big Optimism and Understandably. Thanks for being with us!

Know someone who might like this newsletter? Please send them here!

Here are some other things ...

• Most U.S. adults plan to watch at least part of Thursday’s presidential debate and many think the event will be important for the campaigns of both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, according to a new poll. Separately (well, technically separate) a Supreme Court ruling on former Trump’s claims of immunity from criminal prosecution is looming over his debate with Biden. There's a good chance the ruling comes down either just before the debate, or the following morning after it. (AP, The Hill)
• Southlake’s Gateway Church is reeling from the shocking child sex abuse allegations against its founder Robert Morris, prompting questions of how one of the country’s largest churches will weather the scandal. The megachurch, which held its inaugural service in April 2000, went on to become the ninth largest church in the country. (Yahoo News)
• The Supreme Court on Wednesday acknowledged that it inadvertently posted online a document related to a pending abortion case, which was obtained by Bloomberg Law before it was removed from the website. The court appears set to allow emergency room doctors in Idaho to perform abortions in certain situations according to a copy of the decision, Bloomberg reported. The court is likely to dismiss an appeal brought by Idaho officials, Bloomberg said. (NBC News)
• Boeing’s public relations crisis is now out of this world: the company’s Starliner spacecraft – with two astronauts onboard – is currently stuck in space. After what started as an eight-day mission, US astronauts Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore have now spent the better part of a month on their space capsule attached to the International Space Station as engineers work out the problems with Starliner. (The Guardian)
• America’s drinking water is facing attack, with links back to China, Russia and Iran. Cyberattacks on the country’s water systems could damage infrastructure, disrupt the availability or flow of water, and alter chemical levels, contaminating public drinking water supply. A recent string of attacks on water utilities included systems in Kansas, Texas, and Pennsylvania. (CNBC)
• Job seekers are jumping through more hoops to get hired as power shifts back to employers. More people are staying in their jobs, and companies are squeezing budgets, leaving job hunters in a brutal market. Job seekers face more interview rounds, personality tests, and on-site assessment days. (Business Insider)
• Marissa Teijo has fulfilled her dream of competing in the Miss Texas USA pageant — at 71 years old. Over the weekend, Teijo and 74 other women participated in the Houston pageant, with Aarienna Ware ultimately crowned the winner. However, Teijo stood out throughout the competition, making history as the oldest contestant to ever compete. (NBC New York)