August 04, 2004
Identify This
I've been selling some stuff on eBay recently, in order to raise some much-needed capital that the recent iBook death and new purchase have cost me. Things have sold for a lot more than I expected them to...$370 of sales already and I have yet to sell the CDRW/DVD drive and screen off my old ibook. Quite astounding...
I went to the post office today to mail the first round of items. Not having any cash, I went to use my credit card.
Back up a moment. For years I have been writing "Please See ID" on the back of all my cards. It's a trick I learned back when I used to work for Radio Shack. The industrious Brian Green taught it to me.
Back to the present. The post office lady informed that I could not use the card without a signature. I suddenly remembered hearing this before, so I said no problem I would come back with cash.
I went to the HSBC to withdraw some money, and talked to my friendly teller about the Post Office. "Oh yes," she said, "it's actually less safe to have someone look at your ID. It's very hard to forge someone's signature, but if they get a fake ID with your name and their picture on it, then they can still use your card."
I can only laugh my ass off at this brilliant deduction. It seems like it would be much easier to learn someone's signature than to make a fake ID, as the penalty for making a fake ID is much higher and the likelihood of getting caught much greater...
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Further back...
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Previous Trips...
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Hiking Mount Whitney, 2007 
Spring Break in West Virginia, 2005
New Year's in Paris, 2003-2004
Coming to America, 2003
Protesting in Berlin, 2003
Prague Bier-Tour, 2002
Dresden, 2002
Recent Reading
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The Curve of Binding Energy
John McPhee follows famous physicist Ted Taylor in this piece that was -- and probably still -- ahead of its time.
Originally published in 1973, McPhee outlined the coming security and environmental issues surrounding the plutonium enrichment processes. For the most part, though, McPhee invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, although he does point out the ease with which any number of people could obtain the material (though not necessarily the manufacturing prowess) to make an atomic weapon.
The question still sits in my mind after reading -- are we being too paranoid, or not paranoid enough?
Rated 
by reid
on October 01, 2007
by reid
on October 01, 2007
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Zodiac
Zodiac touts itself as an 'eco-thriller,' and it is just that. Told from the first-person perspective of ST (or Sangamon Taylor), the book recounts a roughly six-month period of his life busting big corporations for violating environmental laws.
Not the tree-hugging political activist type, ST is equipped with chem labs, scuba divers, maps, and an organization (GEE International, the Group of Environmental Extremists) that masterfully brings the press into the fold to scare the public with the very real dangers posed by illegal dumping. It's sort of a Sierra Club member's wet dream -- a band of ecowarriors that actually get things done.
ST finds something odd happening in Boston Harbor during his tale: a new form of pollution that could poison everyone on the planet in a matter of weeks. His quest to uncover exactly who and what is causing the latest spike in toxins goes all the way up to the President of the United States, and could end up costing him his own life.
While a neat and fast-paced tale, the novel drags on a bit toward the end, begging disbelief from even the most forgiving sci-fi folk. While not as good as his latest offerings, it's still a great read for those that enjoy a good Stephenson novel (or even those who don't).
Rated 
by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
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Cat's Cradle
A few years ago, I attempted to woo an online datee, and she immediately criticized me for my politics. I protested the war on Iraq, which was "a shame." She defended her position of complete noninvolvement by standing behind Vonnegut.
It may seem odd to open a review that way. My assumption is now not that she was an idiot, but that she had only read Cat's Cradle, and only with a rather odd viewpoint.
Cat's Cradle looks at a cold-war world where the personifications of religious, political, and scientific single-mindedness collide to destroy the world.
Vonnegut tells a masterful tale, but it makes me wonder what one person's indifference would do to prevent us from all dying? So for now I will continue to unblindly stop unjust wars, even while I'm only reading.
Rated by reid
on July 17, 2005
by reid
on July 17, 2005
That really is funny. Because when they look at the signature, that's all they do, is just look at the sig, not compare them.
Posted by: Saiph on August 4, 2004 03:50 PMBesides a habitual credit theif is going to be a forger he's not going to make a fake id just to use a credit card, that's too much work.