My view of the world

The E-Passport and anything else based on rfid.
In the UK a reporter cloned an e-passport in under 5 minutes.
He cloned the chip and copied the data to a blank chip.
About this:
The UK Home Office however dismissed the ability to get hold of the information on the chip.
A spokesman said: “It is hard to see why anyone would want to access the information on the chip.
I would assume from that statement that nobody has ever used a fake drivers license or passport in the UK. It must be boring to be a policeman there, what with honest criminals and all.
source: BBC >Click

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Chertoff said one of his agency’s top goals next year is to forge ahead with recommendations for the controversial documents established by a federal law called the Real ID Act in May 2005. By 2008, Americans may be required to present such federally approved cards–which must be electronically readable–to travel on an airplane, open a bank account or take advantage of myriad government services such as Social Security.”Electronically readable,” this is nothing more than yet another way to keep track of everything you do.
The reason I say this is not paranoia, it’s because as security goes, this measure is laughable. After California spent millions of dollars on a drivers license redesign, the bad guys spent a few months before they could duplicate the design.
“Electronically readable,” means that the people who officially read this data, police, customs, and so on, will simply glance at the card and see only what the machine says.
If anything, human nature makes these thing easier to forge.
Source: Cnet News

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U.S. currency has special protections built in, that in addition to making it look like monopoly money, are suppose to make it impossible to counterfit. But, I saw a one hundred dollar bill that looked real, but tested fake with one of those old fashioned iodine pens. I didn’t get a chance to examine the bill under magnification, but the strip did glow, it was just the paper that was wrong.
On this subject. Why does the strip on the twenty glow so much brighter than the strip on the hundred, and why can’t most of us check the security features without a magnifier?

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Our primary security issues are cultural:
On one of Phoenix’s quiet residential streets live two men who came to the United States illegally but gained legal status — along with some 3 million others — under the federal 1986 amnesty program. David and Raul, who will give only first names, are in the business of helping newly arrived illegal immigrants acquire fake documents.
They are not part of an organized-crime family, they say — just part of a network of established immigrants who help others attain what they’ve achieved. They are, in effect, the go-betweens from those who bring the immigrants and those who make the fake ID papers — a service they say they provide for free.
They have a man they call, and if he’s unavailable, David said, he drives to the nearest Food City, a chain that specializes in Hispanic goods. There, he said, he just asks around. “There are even guys there who’ll hand you business cards — they’re in the business of providing fake documents.”
How, pray tell, are we supposed to make our borders safe, when the very people we have invited in, are deliberately breaking the law, with no real penalty, if by some massive stretch of the imagination, they happen to get caught.
Source: Seattle Times

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In our current situation there are more problems than anyone could possibly catalogue. The solutions being offered are expensive and don’t appear to have any effect except to make us easier to track. They’ve taken our rights, and in the name of security, given us electronic leashes in return.
Nothing will change, we are no safer now than we were before 911.
Our government will always react at the speed of glaciers, because of inertia, incompetence and personal power.
When the democrats were trying to get elected they swore they would impliment every point put forth by the 911 commission.
Now they are in power, the changes are no longer in play.
Changing the most important of them, oversight of the intelligence community, would take power away from a number of commitees that are now controled by democrats. …Fat Chance.
Law enforcement would like nothing better than to be able to keep track of where we go and what we do, Government contractors are always looking for a new “$400 hammer,” and big companys, like Swift, are always looking for cheap labor.
To this end “special interests” give “gifts” and campaign contributions to their favorite politicians, who in turn pass legislation, etc.
The so called $400 hammer will become a $100,000 manually operated inertial impact device, that will be designed by a blue ribbon engineering commitee, run millions of dollars over budget, require a crew of six to operate, and fail to function when exposed to dirt or dust.

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Let’s face it, until there’s a fundimental change in the way the government operates. we’re screwed.

A group of Pagans in Albemarle County, Va., was recently given permission to advertise their multi-cultural holiday program to public school children – and they have the Rev. Jerry Falwell to thank for it.
The good Reverand got the school board to allow the distribution of religious fliers on school grounds, this is refered to as the backpack mail system.
So this pagan group decided to use the same system and could not be denied.
(Ata boy, Jerry.)

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POLICE have been asked to protect Australia’s largest mosque next weekend because of concerns that a bikini march staged to coincide with the anniversary of the Cronulla riots may get out of control.
The organiser, Melbourne grandmother Christine Hawkins, has asked women nationally to dress in bikinis and colourful beachwear and rally outside large mosques to show their disgust at comments by leading Muslim cleric, Sheik Taj el-Din al Hilaly, who likened women to “uncovered meat”.
Many Muslim women suggested joining the march in their hijabs and burqas to voice their outrage at comments made by Senator Bronwyn Bishop and Prime Minister John Howard about the way they dress.
>>In this next holy war, we won’t have reporting and commentary by Wolf Blitzer, instead all the up to the minute, hard hitting, frontline reporting will be provided by the fashion editors of Vogue.

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Ziggy Stardust, an African grey parrot in England, blew the cover on its mistress’ love affair by blurting out imitations of her amorous exchanges in front of her companion. The latter, named Chris, realised something was up when the bird started repeating the name “Gary” and the phrase “I love you Gary.”

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A man in the US state of New Mexico got more than he bargained for when he decided to throw a live mouse he had caught in his home onto a fire burning outside. With sparks in its fur, the unfortunate rodent scurried to take refuge by a wall of the wood-frame house, which then caught fire and burned down.

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Slava, a resident of the city of Bavlov, Tatar Autonomous Republic, was visiting an apartment of his lady friend one day. He was about to charm the woman into a quickie when the doorbell rang. Slava had to flee the apartment by jumping out the window. Much to his amazement, he landed on a robber who just relieved his victim of a mink hat.
The mugger ran away, Slava got the muggers hat, the muggers victim got her hat back, and Slava and the woman he was seeing parted ways.

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A man in the city Serpukhov, Moscow region, also took a leap to escape the consequences of a date that went wrong. The man was in his paramour’s apartment when the doorbell rang. It was the woman’s husband who showed up earlier than expected. The lover boy named Nikolai was smart enough to jump out the window of a three-story apartment building.
Nikolai landed on his ground feet first but he could not get up after the fall. Nikolai, an employee with the Ministry of Emergency Situations, reckoned that he had a fracture. He called an ambulance that took him to hospital.
(Note to self, next time, cheat with someone who has ground floor apartment.)

Help wanted, condom tester, only Kiwis need apply:
The Kiwis were chosen because it was decided that they were the most sexually active and adventurous in the world.
(If whatever study determined this was included the women, I’m moving to New Zealand.)
If you happen to be from New Zealand log on to www.explorersclub.co.nz and tell them why you are suited to be one of their condom testers.

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A polar bear broke into a Russian weather station and rumaged through the place for two days, while the men who worked there hid in the attic, and waited for some bureaucrat in the environmental ministry back in Moscow to decide if they could to shoot the bear.
It’s a good thing for those guys that this didn’t happen on a long weekend.

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Back in april a Japanese company introduced a vibrating condom, not the traditional vibrating ring, but a full condom.
These are the same fine folks that brought us the anti-hemorrhoid chair.

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One hot afternoon the Balashikh beach on the Moscow-River shore received special visitors: three extremely attractive girls in an SUV. They got out of the car, approached the water and… took off all their clothes. Then the hotties began splashing near the shore, laughing and capturing everyone’s attention.
While the crowd gathered, the thieves, who were probably the girls friends, broke into 10 cars in the parking lot and stole four very expensive ones.
Currently both the cars and the performers are being sought by the police. However, the investigators say that it would be very hard to prove the girls’ fault. After all, they were simply bathing.
How come we never get any car thieves with style?

The final report is in on the Princess Di accident.
The Princess was not pregnant.
The driver was drunk.
The driver was apparently a French spy, with $200k in 14 bank accounts.
The N.S.A. has 39 files on the Princess and all of them are classified and they aren’t showing them to anyone, including Scotland Yard.
The U.S. Secret Service was bugging her phone.
The couple were not engaged.
There are allegations by Mohammed al Fayed linking Prince Philip and British intelligence agencies to the couple’s death.
Al Fayed rejected the report’s conclusions at a news conference later Thursday.
“God will help me, I’m sure, and with God’s blessing I will uncover and show the whole world and this country that they have terrorists that come and execute any crime with their power in government and high places in the Royal Family, they can cover up anything and they think that the public can be
duped,” he said.
If you are rich, you can not only be excentric, you can still be a nut case.

There are inumerable conspiracy theories, ranging from a deliberately drugged driver and a strobelight, to invisible policemen and a microwave transmitter.
People just don’t want to admit that their heros are human, and a car load of drunks, traveling at a high rate of speed for any reason, is an accident in the works. No conspiracy required.

If nobody ever said that, how come there are so many news clips on You-tube showing Republicans using the phrase?
In response to the Baker report:
US President George W Bush has said he will not be rushed into deciding how to change his Iraq policy.
He said he was receiving advice, but would reject implementing “ideas that would lead to defeat” - such as “leaving before the job is done”.
In other words, W is throwing a 5 year old’s temper tantrum, and is refusing to quit playing “army” with live troops and is going to keep killing our men in a war that was started illegally, and far worse, a war that we cannot possibly win.
This is one of the many reasons that I have no respect left for King George, or his court jesters.
I will always respect the office, but it’s like saluting the uniform when it’s being worn by an idiot.
There are simply some things in life, that we mere mortals, can do nothing about.

And now, more news of no real interest, except to the extent that it points out how scary they can be in D.C.
“District Judge James Robertson rejected a challenge by Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former driver of Osama Bin Laden.”
Interesting if boring headline, until you find out that this guy was the one who got the US Supreme Court to say that tribunals and a lack of habius corpus are illegal.
The end result, did he get a trial? No, King George simply signed a new law that established military commissions to try enemy combatants, and got a judge to go along, so it’s a long slow climb back up through the court system, assuming that is, that anyone challanges this new law any further, I doubt that Mr. Hamdan will be allowed that chance.
My personal opinions on how to deal with this particular individual are illegal in most countrys, but, there’s something about the incredible abuse of power that is being continually demonstrated by this administration, that I find more than a little unnerving.

I see Rags is once again on his soapbox. This time it concerns Iraqi president Talabani’s reaction to the Baker report.
The whole problem as I see it, is a complete breakdown of any semblance of civilization. Our wonderfully observant leaders warn that “civil war” may break out over there, instead of the “sectarian violence” we have now.
The cops and the military and assorted armed militias are killing the population based on religion, the Shias are killing the Sunnis and visa versa, people are getting killed every day based on what mosque the go to. So what is the difference between a “civil war” and “sectarian violence?”
People have chosen sides and are killing each other based on which side they belong to, what do they have to do, move the fight to Gettysburg, and put on blue and grey uniforms, before anyone will admit that this is for all intents and purposes a civil war.

My solution is to arm them all, go home and deal with the survivors, the Democrats and the Republicans, I mean, not the Iraqis.

After the poisoning of KGB defector, Alexander Litvinenko, a man named Mario Scaramella was hospitalized in London for radiation poisoning.
Mr. Scaramella was the man that Litvinenko met in the sushi bar on the day he was poisoned.
Mr. Scaramella also claimed to have been hit with 5 times the dose of polonium 210 that killed Litvinenko, and yet he walked out of the hospital a few days ago with only the most minimal traces of radioactive poisoning, and was otherwise just fine.
This man is one of those people who has been described as a 007 wannabe, he always claims to know the shadiest of people and to have friends in high places.
He has claimed to be a professor at the University of Naples, which claims never to have heard of him.
He was caught on a tape bragging that Silvio Berlusconi, the former Italian prime minister, was considering him for a top job at the United Nations. He later had to admit that he had never met Mr. Berlusconi.
He has been publicly described by people who have known him for years as: “an incurable liar,” “wannabe 007,” “braggart,” “bumbler” and “swindler,” not to mention “fool” and “mental case.”
In fact he’s such a putz that, in spite of being one of the last people to speak to the late, if not lamented, Alexander Litvinenko, he’s not even considered to be a suspect.

I have a friend, who claims to be ex naval intel. good trick since there’s no dd 214 on file, he claims Microsoft tried to hire him, in spite of no college degree and so on.

Now I’ve engaged in my share of “bar talk,” tequila does that to you, but why would you want to carry it over into your everyday, hopefully sober, life?
And why, in god’s name, would you try and sell this b.s. to the international press, like Scaramella?
You know that reporters are going to start digging if you hand them anything that might, by any stretch, be headline news.

Hint, hint, couriers make their living being invisible, in real life spies look like business men because they usually are business men, and if they filmed Bond movies like it would happen in real life, they would go something like this.
“Bond, James Bond.” “Bang.” The end. Roll credits.

The feds just mailed the claim forms for people who think they may have been victims of identity theft, caused by Choice-Point selling their data to,..aw, you guessed, identity thieves.
This, fine, upstanding, company that is without a doubt, run by pillars of the community, who only have the best interest of the consumer in mind, (excuse me while I step outside and scream) sold 163,000 files to the bad guys, but it was a simple human error, and couldn’t possibly have been based on greed.

“The events of early 2005 provided critical lessons from which ChoicePoint, and indeed the entire industry, has learned a great deal,” Derek Smith, ChoicePoint’s chief executive, said in a statement. “The men and women of this company take nothing more seriously than their responsibility to safeguard consumer information.”

Subscribers were approved even though some lied about their credentials and used a commercial mail drop as a business address, the agency said. In other cases, ChoicePoint would receive multiple faxed applications from the same location, with each form listing the sender as a separate business.

The penalty is $15m, $10m to go to the feds and $5m to go to consumers, and Choice-point will continue to do business as usual, of course they’ve put “safe-guards” in place so ID thieves will have to get a little more creative and not just call in and say, “hi, I run a totally bogus business, here’s money, give me your data.”
The form is available by clicking this link, FTC-Choice-Point.
Be sure and look at the FAQ.

Years ago, far enough back so I carried Wordperfect on a 5 1/4 floppy,
I bought a book on how to be an information broker. I gave it some serious consideration, and then decided that the government would step in and prevent me from selling other people’s personal data. I was wrong then, wasn’t I.
I not only could have sold their data, I could make a bundle selling to the bad guys and all uncle would do is slap my wrist and tell me not to get caught.

I just got a card from someone I haven’t talked to in at least a year, it was postmarked Miami and had a generic picture of a sailboat on it, inside it said gone sailing, back someday.
This guy was a salesman and more importantly a closer, he could sell ice to an eskimo in the dead of winter and have them wanting to reorder.
When he lived here, he had a wife, a whiney, bitchy, club whore, who thought her plastic tits would get her anything she wanted.
She was the reason he bought a house in summerlin.
They had three cars, his Mercedes, her BMW and a Volvo station wagon they bought to take the kids to school or the park, that was the one the nanny drove.
He used to buy tagamet by the truck load, he had the usual headaches and was diagnosed with some sort of cancer.
I don’t know if he had any kind of operation, I do know the doctors wanted to implant a small bb of radioactive material, but, they couldn’t tell him if he would live longer or not, needless to say, he passed on the project.
This was twelve or fifteen years ago, maybe even longer, he no longer sells anything, he no longer has a boss he hates, and he’s no longer married, which means he no longer has to listen to her whine and the brats scream.
These days he works on charter boats, mostly sailboats, out of Florida and the American Virgins.
He no longer has headaches, chest pain or heartburn, and as for the cancer, the doctors told him he had a year, maybe two to live, it hasn’t killed him yet, and he hasn’t been to an Oncologist since.
Bottom line, he’s living the life Jimmy Buffett sings about, and I’m sitting here thinking of reasons why I can’t.

This tale proves that there is someone in this world who figured out what he wanted to be when he grew up, that I’m seriously jealous, that stress will kill you faster than hard work and that even with a million dollars worth of equipment doctors have trouble figuring out what the hell is killing you.

Are you wondering what to get “Tiny Tim” or the office “hose monster” for christmas? Here are two gift suggestions.

For those of you who got the wrong end of the genetics deal, we have snug fit condoms made in a smaller size for a more secure fit.

This is from the ShopInPrivate website:

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