Newspaper clippings

Oh My God

Turbaconucken: A chicken inside a duck inside a turkey, all wrapped in bacon.


Found via Mostly Cajun.

Doing it right

This is the kind of thing that restores your faith in humanity.

It didn't matter that his DeKalb, Ill., High School basketball team had ridden a bus two and a half hours to get to Milwaukee, then waited another hour past game time to play. Didn't matter that the game was close, or that this was a chance to beat a big city team. Something else was on Dave Rohlman's mind when he asked for a volunteer to shoot two free throws awarded his team on a technical foul in the second quarter. His senior captain raised his hand, ready to go to the line as he had many times before.

Only this time it was different.

"You realize you're going to miss them, don't you?" Rohlman said.

Darius McNeal nodded his head. He understood what had to be done.

Read the rest. That's sportsmanship.

Thanks, Xavier.

Ideal

WABASHA -- A Wabasha husband and wife, devoted to each other for 63 years, died within hours of each other last weekend.

Joe Ahlers, 91, of Wabasha, died Saturday at St. Elizabeth's Nursing Home, and his wife, Alta Ahlers, 88, died Sunday at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Wabasha.

The couple died within 12 hours of each other.

After 63 years, it is just right that this couple finds eternal peace together.

Link

Newspaper clippings

Zombie Thursday

Zombies make me feel....weird

The zombie plague starts. The zombies start eating this guy in a suit and tie and go “uuuuuhhh” as they’re eating him. Then they catch this lady, knock her off her bicycle, and go “uuuuhhhh” as they’re eating her.

A cop sees the whole thing and tries to rescue the two people but he slips and the zombies devour him and go “uuuuhhhh.”

The plague spreads and soon they’re everywhere, eating everyone in sight. They get to a clown and start eating him then one zombie turns to the other and says “does this taste funny to you?”

Newspaper clippings

Budget Deficit?

Maybe we wouldn't have the deficit if the government could manage to keep its spending to things proper for government.

Two Minnesota newspapers will receive a share of state grants normally given to retrain workers in manufacturing and other industries in transition.

The Duluth News Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press will work with the University of Minnesota´s School of Journalism and Mass Communication to help staff adapt to an increasingly Internet-based industry.

Minnesota Job Skills Partnership is awarding $238,000 in state funds, while the newspapers and the university will contribute about $469,000 combined, mostly by devoting staff time to training.

Three quarters of a million dollars of government money to help businesses that already use the internet learn to use the internet. Keep up or fail, stop taking my damn money.

International Safety

(CNN) -- Smugglers carrying a boatload of migrants forced their passengers to jump overboard in deep water off the coast of Yemen, causing up to 17 to drown, the United Nations said Tuesday.

The 52 Somali and Ethiopian passengers in one of seven boats crossing the Gulf of Aden were made to jump after the smugglers spotted police and refused to sail closer to shore, the U.N's refugee agency UNHCR said in a statement.

Of course, it would be criminal to allow ships coming in to port to have guns and-I don't know-a chance at survival, wouldn't it?



Link.

Quote of the Day

The reason that many people are in favor of the stimulus package is that 7 out of 5 people have problems with numbers.

Found here, by ElectricalEngineer.

Business

More here.

Reason to carry a gun, # 15,987

Wisconsin teacher dies after being punched outside bar - TwinCities.com

KENOSHA, Wis. — A Kenosha teacher who tried to stop some men from harassing his female friends died after he was punched and fell to the concrete.

The confrontation happened outside the Big Shotz Sports Bar in Kenosha about 2 a.m. Saturday when Colin Byars was leaving with some women. Police say a group of men began to bother the women and Byars intervened.

One of the men punched Byars, who police say fell and hit his head. He was taken to a Kenosha hospital, then transferred to a Milwaukee area hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Police are looking for the men involved.

Byars, 24, was a special education teacher at McKinley Middle School.

Requiscat in Pace, Mr. Byars.

Security in Your Home, Part 3: Locks

Continuing in the series, we’ll move on to the locks layer. Locks are the most basic protection/warning device you can have against intruders. Locks are designed to slow an intruder and cause the intruder to make noise while bypassing the lock.

Your doors should be locked regardless of the time of day. Home invasions can and do occur at all hours. Intruders no longer save their activities for the dark half of the day. You should have a heavy-duty strike-plate and you should always use at least 3 inch screws to secure the strike-plate. This will secure the strike plate to the wall framing, instead of to the door trim. There are also "full-height" strike plates available. These are steel trim extending the height of the door. Attach this with 3" screws, and it becomes very difficult to kick in your door.

Ideally, your exterior doors will be solid doors, as opposed to solid-core(wood-filled) or solid-core(foam filled). A steel-clad wooden door or a steel-center solid-core door are acceptable choices.

You should invest in a secure set of locks that are resistant to bump-keying. Look for the ANSI rating on the locks. An ANSI Grade 1 lock is twice as secure as ANSI Grade 2. Grade 3 should not be considered for an exterior door. Kwikset is currently marketing ANSI Grade 1, bumpkey-resistant lock sets to the residential market for a reasonable price. Schlage and Medeco both have high-end lines of lock sets that are very secure. There are others, so please don't consider this to be an all-exclusive list of locks. Do some research before you buy the primary means of securing your home.

If you have a window within arm's reach of your deadbolt, get a double-cylinder deadbolt that requires a key to unlock.

These considerations also apply to a door leading to an attached garage. The connection between your house and garage should always be considered an external entry point. If an intruder has access to your garage, he can attempt to circumvent the entry to the house in complete privacy.

Your patio door is also a prime point of vulnerability. Putting a broomstick in the bottom track isn't enough. Invest in a $13 "Charlie Bar" to keep that door secure. A Charlie Bar is mounted at the vertical middle of the stationary panel of your patio door. It removes the leverage that a stick at the bottom of the door leaves available to an intruder. Some versions can be set to allow the door to open a few inches for air flow.

Be very wary about opening the door to strangers, particularly outside of daytime business hours. Don't be embarrassed to refuse entry to someone you don't know because it might seem rude. It's better to be safe than not embarrassed. Opening your door to strangers removes most, if not all of the layers in your security system. Install a well-made storm or screen door with your front door. Keep this door locked, so you can open your main door, without leaving yourself open to a "rush attack".

If someone claiming to be law enforcement is at your door and you are suspicious about that claim (e.g. no squad car visible), lack of appropriate attire or credentials), simply call the 911 dispatcher to get confirmation of their identity. No legitimate law enforcement officer is going to be offended when you verify their identity.

Your windows should also be locked. Casement (crank) windows or double-hung windows with a pin-lock or brace provide more security than regular double hung windows left open. If you can’t secure a window while it is partially open, it should be closed and locked on any floor of the home.

Lock your car in the driveway. If you have a garage door opener in your car, this could give easy access to your home. If you have personal papers in your car, this opens you up to identity theft.

If at all possible, consider locking your bedroom door at night. This can mean the difference between waking up to an intruder standing over you and waking up to someone trying to break down your bedroom door. This isn't always possible, or desirable, especially if you have children.

Newspaper clippings

Blogroll

I added Depleted Cranium to the blogroll. It's a bad science blog.

NRA Elections

If you are undecided on your NRA ballot:

Please vote ONLY for these four persons.
(Voting for only 4 increases your voting POWER by a factor of five.)

Scott L. Bach

Ronnie G. Barrett

George K. Kollitides

Owen P. Mills

PLUS, write in (on the reverse side of the ballot):
Joseph E. Olson; Roseville, MN

Less than 6% of ballots are returned. Your vote matters.

RIP

Michael Ramirez does it again.

Scary

For a brief moment, Minnesota Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty got hearts racing on Fox News Sunday when host Chris Wallace asked him if he was planning a run for the White House in 2012.

"I'm going to make news right here on Fox News Sunday and tell you that I'm going to run for president . of my Eagan youth hockey association," Pawlenty said.

"For a second there I was really excited," said Wallace.

Pawlenty said his first focus is considering running for reelection in 2010.

RNC, pay attention: Run a true conservative in 2012, or you won't win. Republicans are already a joke. Fix the party or face extinction.

For the truly dense, not only is Pawlenty a liar politician, he's not conservative. He's never met a tax or regulation that he didn't like.

Link

Reason to carry a gun, #654,328

Sgt. Mike Mitchell says a woman and a man called police, saying they were in a vehicle that was being followed and rammed by another vehicle.

Mitchell says police told the couple to drive to the police station. He says the two vehicles stopped outside the police station and Springer left his vehicle and tried to get inside the other car.

Mitchell says when that failed, Springer went back to his vehicle and retrieved a hammer.

There is never a good reason NOT to carry.

Linky

National Mascot

Man with gun arrested after chase

http://www.sctimes.com/article/20090223/NEWS01/102230051

A man who had attracted police attention by knocking on doors in north St. Cloud was arrested with a gun in his possession after he led them on a 13-mile chase, police said.

The events started at 11:32 p.m. Sunday at the 5500 block of Knollwood Drive.

Police said they received a report of a suspicious man knocking on doors of houses. Officers found the man’s pickup and tried to stop him at Stearns County Road 120 and Minnesota Highway 15, police said. The driver sped off, reaching speeds of about 90 mph. The pursuit lasted for 13.4 miles and ended near Stearns County Road 47 and Minnesota Highway 23 after hitting spike strips that a Stearns County deputy had placed. The driver tried to run away and was arrested with help from a Waite Park police dog.

Knocking on random doors, carrying a gun illegally, then running from the police. Was this a home invasion waiting to happen?

People wonder why I don't open my door if I don't know who's knocking.

Sending the bad guys out to play

Guantanamo Detainee, Binyam Mohamed, Freed After 4 Years In Prison - wcco.com

LONDON (AP) ―
A former British resident who claims he was brutally tortured at a covert CIA site in Morocco has been freed from Guantanamo after nearly seven years in U.S. captivity -- an ordeal that could come back to haunt the U.S. and British governments.

Claims of torture are standard operating procedure for Islamist Terrorists. The real question is, how long before he returns to fighting against the free world?

Newspaper clippings

Horrible Movie

Zeitgeist(no link, google it if you have 2 extra hours of your life that you don't need or want) is horrible. The last 90 minutes are nothing but 9/11 truther nonsense conspiracy theories.

If you subscribe to the belief that the World Trade Towers came down in a controlled demolition, you are an idiot incapable of string two related thoughts together without flash cards.

If you think 9/11 was an inside job, your room-temperature IQ is giving me a headache. You are obviously a troll living under a bridge, because your conception of human nature is too far off for you to be an actual human.

Truism: 13 people can keep a secret if 12 of them are dead. There is no such thing as a conspiracy requiring the active, explicit cooperation of 100,000 people for years without a single one of the involved people letting the secret slip. If the government was capable of scaring that many people into submission, the truther idiots out broadcasting their fairy tale conspiracy theories would have been eliminated a long time ago.

Don't waste your time. That's 2 hours of my life I'll never get back.

Smiles

Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc.

Important Reminder

True Survival

Absolutely fascinating survival accounts.

Our block was completely overrun and we were actually forced to take a stand and defend our home with rifles - in Los Angeles! Several times we had to take aim at looters and thank god they ran - because I had every intention of shooting. It was literally like a war zone. The riots lasted days and did not stop until the National Guard showed up. I have since read that it was the 7th infantry division and additional Marines from Camp Pendleton that were deployed to Los Angeles. From our perspective it didn't matter where they came from they were a welcome site. It was surreal to see US Soldiers walking through our neighborhood. We could not travel more than a block from our home for days without the chance of major conflict.

Bad Burglar!

Rosario: Somebody's broken into my house.

Operator: I'm sorry?

Rosario: Somebody's broken into my house!...I just drove their car away. They've got nothing.

Operator: Their car?

Rosario: Yeah, I know. I stole their car.

Operator: OK, you can now be charged for that, so stop.

Cows and Ice Cream

From Curmudgeonly & Skeptical

A teacher in the Nashville area writes:

We are worried about "the cow" when it is all about the "Ice Cream"

The most eye-opening civics lesson I've ever had was while teaching third grade this year. The presidential election was heating up and some of the children showed an interest. I decided we would have an election for a class president.

We would choose our nominees. They would make a campaign speech and the class would vote.

To simplify the process, candidates were nominated by other class members. We discussed what kinds of characteristics these students should have. We got many nominations and from those, Jamie and Olivia were picked to run for the top spot.

Reese Witherspoon in 'Election' The class had done a great job in their selections. Both candidates were good kids. I thought Jamie might have an advantage because he got lots of parental support. I had never seen Olivia's mother.

The day arrived when they were to make their speeches. Jamie went first. He had specific ideas about how to make our class a better place. He ended by promising to do his very best. Ev ery one applauded. He sat down and Olivia came to the podium.

Her speech was concise. She said, "If you will vote for me, I will give you ice cream." She sat down. The class went wild.

"Yes! Yes! We want ice cream."

She surely would say more. She did not have to. A discussion followed. How did she plan to pay for the ice cream? She wasn't sure. Would her parents buy it or would the class pay for it. She didn't know. The class really didn't care. All they were thinking about was ice cream.

Jamie was forgotten. Olivia won by a landslide.

Every time Barack Obama opens his mouth he offers ice cream, fifty percent of the people react like nine year olds. They want ice cream.

The other fifty percent know they're going to have to feed the cow and clean up the mess.

Zombie Thursday

Q: What has the head of a cat and the tail of a cat, but isn't a cat?
A: A zombie baby (eating a cat).

Zombie Thursday

And in other non-news....

Brain scans revealed that when men are shown pictures of scantily clad women, the region of the brain associated with tool use lights up.

Battle of Wits

Subtle wordplay doesn't work if your target doesn't have English as a primary language and has a completely different, and non-Western, set of cultural referents. It really just makes you look like a jackass, Chris Baker. You don't win a battle of wits like that.

The Price of Free Corn

I don't remember if I've blogged this before, but it's something I want to keep.

The Price of Free Corn
Some years ago, about 1900, an old trapper from North Dakota hitched up some horses to his Studebaker wagon, packed a few possessions, especially his traps–and drove south.Several weeks later he stopped in a small town just north of the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. It was a Saturday morning–a lazy day–when he walked into the general store. Sitting around the pot-bellied stove were seven or eight of the town’s local citizens. The traveler spoke, “Gentlemen, could you direct me to the Okefenokee Swamp?”Some of the old-timers looked at him like he was crazy. “You must be a stranger in these parts,” they said. “I am. I’m from North Dakota,” said the stranger. “In the Okefenokee Swamp are thousands of wild hogs,” one old man explained.

“A man who goes into the swamp by himself asks to die!” He lifted up his leg. “I lost half my leg here, to the pigs of the swamp.”

Another old fellow said, “Look at the cuts on me; look at my arm bit off!” “Those pigs have been free since the Revolution, eating snakes and rooting out roots and fending for themselves for over a hundred years. They’re wild and they’re dangerous. You can’t trap them. No man dare go into the swamp by himself.” Every man nodded his head in agreement.

The old trapper said, “Thank you so much for the warning. Now could you direct me to the swamp?” They said, “Well, yeah, it’s due south–straight down the road.” But they begged the stranger not to go, because they knew he’d meet a terrible fate. He said, “Sell me ten sacks of corn, and help me load them into the wagon.” And they did.

Then the old trapper bid them farewell and drove on down the road. The townsfolk thought they’d never see him again. Two weeks later the man came back. He pulled up to the general store, got down off the wagon, walked in and bought ten more sacks of corn. After loading it up he went back down the road toward the swamp.

Two weeks later he returned and, again, bought ten sacks of corn. This went on for a month. And then two months, and three. Every week or two the old trapper would come into town on a Saturday morning, load up ten sacks of corn and drive off south into the swamp.

The stranger soon became a legend in the little village and the subject of much speculation. People wondered what kind of devil had possessed this man, that he could go into the Okefenokee by himself and not be consumed by the wild and free hogs.

One morning the man came into town as usual. Everyone thought he wanted more corn. He got off the wagon and went into the store where the usual group of men were gathered around the stove. He took off his gloves.

“Gentlemen,” he said, “I need to hire about ten or fifteen wagons. I need twenty or thirty men. I have six thousand hogs out in the swamp, penned up, and they’re all hungry. I’ve got to get them to market right away.”

“You’ve WHAT in the swamp?” asked the storekeeper, incredulously. “I have six thousand hogs penned up. They haven’t eaten for two or three days, and they’ll starve if I don’t get back there to feed and take care of them.”

One of the old-timers said, “You mean you’ve captured the wild hogs of the Okefenokee?” “That’s right.” “How did you do that? What did you do?” the men urged, breathlessly. One of them exclaimed, “But I lost my arm!” “I lost my brother!” cried another. “I lost my leg to those wild boars!” chimed a third.

The trapper said, “Well, the first week I went in there they were wild all right. They hid in the undergrowth and wouldn’t come out. I dared not get off the wagon. So I spread corn along behind the wagon. Every day I’d spread a sack of corn. “The old pigs would have nothing to do with it. But the younger pigs decided that it was easier to eat free corn than it was to root out roots and catch snakes. So the very young began to eat the corn first.

“I did this every day. Pretty soon, even the old pigs decided that it was easier to eat free corn. “The next thing was to get them used to eating in the same place all the time. So, I selected a clearing, and I started putting the corn in the clearing. “At first they wouldn’t come to the clearing. It was too far. It was too open. It was a nuisance to them. “But the very young decided that it was easier to take the corn in the clearing than it was to root out roots and catch their own snakes. And not long thereafter, the older pigs also decided that it was easier to come to the clearing every day.

“And so the pigs learned to come to the clearing every day to get their free corn. They could still subsidize their diet with roots and snakes and whatever else they wanted. After all, they were all free. They could run in any direction at any time. There were no bounds upon them.

“The next step was to get them used to fence posts. So I put fence posts all the way around the clearing. I put them in the underbrush so that they wouldn’t get suspicious or upset, after all, they were just sticks sticking up out of the ground, like the trees and the brush. The corn was there every day. It was easy to walk in between the posts, get the corn, and walk back out.

“This went on for a week or two. Shortly they became very used to walking into the clearing, getting the free corn, and walking back out through the fence posts. “The next step was to put one rail down at the bottom. I also left a few openings, so that the older, fatter pigs could walk through the openings and the younger pigs could easily jump over just one rail, after all, it was no real threat to their freedom or independence–they could always jump over the rail and flee in any direction at any time.

“Now I decided that I wouldn’t feed them every day. I began to feed them every other day. On the days I didn’t feed them, the pigs still gathered in the clearing. They squealed, and they grunted, and they begged and pleaded with me to feed them–but I only fed them every other day. Then I put a second rail around the posts.

“Now the pigs became more and more desperate for food. Because now they were no longer used to going out and digging their own roots and finding their own food, they now needed me. They needed my corn every other day.”

“So I trained them that I would feed them every day if they came in through a gate and I put up a third rail around the fence. “But it was still no great threat to their freedom, because there were several gates and they could run in and out at will.

“Finally I put up the fourth rail. Then I closed all the gates but one, and I fed them very, very well.” “Yesterday I closed the last gate and today I need you to help me take these pigs to market.”

The price of free corn.

The parable of the pigs has a serious moral lesson. This story is about federal money being used to bait, trap and enslave a once free and independent people.

Federal welfare, in its myriad forms, has reduced not only individuals to a state of dependency; state and local governments are also on the fast track to elimination, due to their functions being subverted by the command and control structures of federal “revenue sharing” programs.

My Hero

Fun.

Towed Idiots

So, I dial the towing company - yeah, they stil have the contract, and yeah, they will send their trucks right out.

Little over an hour later, three cars gone.

Out of pure fucking spite. Because I am a mean and hateful bastard, and that’s how I roll. And yes, had the Bumpers been full of conservative stickers, I would have let it slide. Discrimination, purely based on what they were. What of it? Whatchoo gonna do ’bout it?

So this morning, I drop by there, and find a nastygram stuck in my door, along with dried egg. The nastygram boasts of egging the building, and calls me a big poopy-head. And, to make the hat-trick, SHE SIGNS HER NAME.

*happysigh* One thing I can count on is Lefties not being terribly bright. One complaint of vandalism sworn out.

Gonzo’s Bar & Go-Go Grill

Sick

I have never been as miserably sick as I have been this week, including the time I had pneumonia and bronchitis. I've spent the last 5 days in bed hiding under blankets, half dead and looking forward to the other half.

Yoga

Zombie Thursday strikes again!

Zombies are people, too

Sometimes, even sexy people.

Eyes Right

Everybody should teach their children this kind of respect for the soldiers who guard their way of life.

One Trillion

...Pennies:

To the ammo counter employee at Dick's:

The fact that my hair isn't gray is not a reason to dismiss me.

You may be "in the industry", but you are a last-stage retail employee in a large corporation. The sixteen-year-old kid vacuuming floors by the car seats in target is technically in the "baby-gear" industry, but that doesn't mean he knows jack-sh** about car seats or baby formula.

Don't pretend you are an expert in manufacturing or financing just because you can fill out a stock request and send it to corporate.

Lions and Tigers and GFWs,

Oh my!
Say hello to Heather Martens and Joe Mullery, staunch adversaries of the right to self defense.

The Joys of Socialized Medicine

A 69-year-old Japanese man injured in a traffic accident died after paramedics spent more than an hour negotiating with 14 hospitals before finding one to admit him, a fire department official said Wednesday.

The man, whose bicycle collided with a motorcycle in the western city of Itami, waited at the scene in an ambulance because the hospitals said they could not accept him, citing a lack of specialists, equipment, beds and staff, according to Mitsuhisa Ikemoto.

That's what happens to unlimited demand when it's met by dwindling supply caused by doctor's going to other countries and research facilities to avoid the excess regulation and capped salaries. That's what will happen here.

More than 14,000 emergency patients were rejected at least three times by Japanese hospitals before getting treatment in 2007, according to the latest government survey. In the worst case, a woman in her 70s with a breathing problem was rejected 49 times in Tokyo.

Socialized medicine only works on the most rudimentary level. On any scale, or with an extenuating circumstances, you're screwed.

Eat My Heart Out

Zombie Thursday

Zombie Strippers

Oh dear.

This recession is worse than I thought. According to Nancy Pelosi, 165% of all Americans-man, woman, child, retiree-will lose their jobs each month.

Service Oriented Government

From: Campion, Michael [Michael.Campion@state.mn.us]
To: princewally
Subject: Not read: Capitol Carry Notification

Your message

To: Michael.Campion@state.mn.us; Mike.Parker@state.mn.us
Subject: Capitol Carry Notification
Sent: Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:05:03 -0600

was deleted without being read on Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:07:06 -0600

Amazingly enough, I've heard stories of public servants who actually believe in, I don't know, serving the public instead of pretending they are the rulers who only tolerate the poor peasants out of cruel necessity.

Mr. Campion, do your job.

This email was sent at the same time as certified letters containing the same notification, and I have the delivery receipts.

Today in History

2000, Syria & Sudan: Countries sign agreement on fighting terrorism in compliance with Arab Antiterrorism Convention

And, they lied. Shocker.

Book Review - Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane)

I finished reading Protecting the Gift: Keeping Children and Teenagers Safe (and Parents Sane) by Gavin de Becker last night and feel obligated to review it.

The first half of the book is great. It's not terribly groundbreaking, when considered as a sequel to The Gift of Fear, but it's a good book, especially for a parent worried about his or her children. There is a solid focus on prevention and trusting intuition.

The second half of the book has a different focus. Starting with the chapter on guns, Mr. de Becker abandons the premise of prevention and starts pushing an agenda. Instead of using intuition to avoid problems, he pretends that inanimate objects are the cause of society's ills. At one point, he derides gun owners for trusting their intuition in dealing with potential criminals. Apparently, in the author's mind, the most effective form of self defense in existence has a magic switch in it that kill intuition and critical thinking.

The author spends countless pages parroting bad studies published by the most biased groups available and actually pokes fun at the idea that guns prevent violent crime. The hypocrisy is entertaining, because the author owns a security company that employs armed guards. If guns don't help, why does he require them?

Further, the author advocates more government intervention, at any hint of a sign of trouble to an extent that would make any liberty-loving individual twitch. Child abuse is horrible, but the methods must be followed, or we'll soon be allowing all government intrusions.

In short, read the first half of the book, and a couple of the appendices, then put it on a shelf. The second half of the book is pushing for big government, no effective means of self defense and sweeping laws based on statistically minuscule problems and relying on benevolent government intervention.

RFID Wonders

Passport RFIDs cloned wholesale by $250 eBay auction spree

Using inexpensive off-the-shelf components, an information security expert has built a mobile platform that can clone large numbers of the unique electronic identifiers used in US passport cards and next generation drivers licenses.

The $250 proof-of-concept device - which researcher Chris Paget built in his spare time - operates out of his vehicle and contains everything needed to sniff and then clone RFID, or radio frequency identification, tags. During a recent 20-minute drive in downtown San Francisco, it successfully copied the RFID tags of two passport cards without the knowledge of their owners.

Time to hit ThinkGeek for an RFID-blocking wallet.

Found via Chris.

Rules to Live By

Picked this up on The GunCounter. Written by Chris Byrne.

I have a list of maxims , aphorism, rules, and guidelines, covering different areas; by which I attempt (not always successfully) to live every aspect of my life:

• Do what you say you will do, even if it is to your disadvantage
• Say only what you mean, mean what you say; and understand the difference
• Promise only that which you can keep; and do your best to do so
• Honor is the gift a man gives himself
• --
• --
• Respect yourself, and others; unless they prove themselves unworthy of respect
• Take pride in what you do, no matter what it is
• Do your best, always; anything less is an insult to yourself
• --
• --
• Fix the problem not the blame
• If it's my problem, it's my responsibility; there are no excuses
• Feeling bad about something doesn't make it better. Don't feel bad, fix it.
• There is no such thing as "should" or "deserve". In this life you get what you make, what you take, what you earn, and what you are given. Should, and deserve don't come into it.
• The difference between fucking up, and being a fuckup, isn't in how many times you fuck up, or how big your fuckups are; but in how you respond to fucking up.
• --
• --
• Expect and require excellence, and you may receive it. Expect and require only adequacy, and you most certainly will receive nothing more.
• --
• --
• The perfect is the enemy of the good
• Good is good enough, good enough isn't
• --
• --
• Keep It Simple Stupid
• Good, Fast, Cheap; pick two
• --
• --
• If it's stupid, and it works; it's still stupid... but then again, it still works
• --
• --
• Good intentions matter, but good results matter more
• Sometimes you have to make the “least bad” decision
• --
• --
• If everyone is thinking alike, someone isn't thinking
• Never mistake consensus for correctness
• Never let someone who says it is impossible interrupt the person who is doing it
• --
• --
• No idea is always a bad idea; but it may be a bad idea right now. Then again it might not. Be creative. Take risks; but understand them, and be sure the rewards are worth it
• --
• --
• Remember, you can never do only one thing. No matter what you do, what you know, or what your intentions are; every word you say, every thing you do, will have consequences you did not intend, forsee, or understand.
• --
• --
• Never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake
• --
• --
• Be prepared
• Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
• Two is one, One is none
• Be flexible. Always be ready for things to go other than how you planned. The only thing more useless than an unloaded weapon, is an unprepared mind
• Improvise, adapt, and overcome
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• Trust a man completely ONCE; and if betrayed, never again
• Trust your team without reservation; with all others, trust, but verify
• It's not whether you're paranoid, it's whether you're paranoid enough
• Never ascribe to malice that which can be adequately explained by incompetence
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• "Because it makes me (or my wife, or my kids) happy", is a perfectly good reason for something; but not an excuse to do something you know is wrong.
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• Life comes first
• Don't take yourself or your life too seriously; no-one get's out of this alive after all
• A filthy mind is a terrible thing to waste