I can't believe that came from your mouth!
Archive for June, 2007
Carder Works Undercover, Then Betrays USSS
Jun 6th
There is an interesting story in Wired magazine about a professional ID thief who was arrested and then worked briefly undercover to bust other carders in the underworld of credit card thieves and ID thieves. But what the guy was really doing was eliminating the competition by using the Government intelligence and systems to put his enemies behind bars. The government eventually caught onto his plan.
Brett Johnson, aka Gollumfun
From Wired Mag here:
Brett Shannon Johnson is a credit-card and identity thief. In five years of crime, the 37-year-old estimates he’s stolen about $2 million — some of it while working as a paid informant for the U.S. Secret Service.
Johnson, a well-known figure in the online carding community who went by the nickname Gollumfun, worked undercover for 10 months in the agency’s Columbia, South Carolina, office helping catch other card thieves. Then last year agents discovered his two-timing, and he went on the lam.
“It was $350 a week (from the Secret Service) vs. $5,000 or $6,000 a week” from his fraudulent tax-refund scam, Johnson told Wired News by phone, prior to his sentencing on charges of aggravated identity theft and other crimes. A federal judge last week ordered him to serve six years and three months in prison, and to pay more than $300,000 in restitution.
Johnson’s case began when he was arrested in February 2005 for buying counterfeit Bank of America cashier’s checks, which he planned to use to purchase items on eBay for resale.
He was already known to the Secret Service. Johnson had been a top administrator on a crime-facilitating web forum called Shadowcrew, and he eluded capture when the Secret Service shuttered the site in 2004 with a dozen arrests of forum members and administrators. But when agents caught him in 2005, they didn’t hold a grudge: They asked him to help them infiltrate other online carding forums in exchange for a reduced sentence.
Agents seemed pleased with his knowledge and skills, and they dubbed the investigation Operation Anglerphish. Two weeks into his new role, however, Johnson started working his own angle. He was generally in the office from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., but by 5:30 p.m. the rest of the agency staff had left, leaving only his handlers behind. After 8 p.m., he says, the agents would get bored and focus on other things, and that’s when he’d collect data for his tax-refund crimes.
Working with criminals to catch other criminals sometimes works. And given Johnson’s skill level and maturity, it should have worked for him too. But the guy was a greedy idiot who couldn’t see past his capture to a probable secure future as a computer-security expert. He just wanted more coin. Perhaps it was the thrill of the theft that drove him as much as the cash.
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Loading ...Cool D-Day Video
Jun 6th
I knock on public school education sometimes, mostly because of the predatory practices of teachers against students. But sometimes teachers do teach, and the brilliance of the kids really comes out.
This 8th grader posted a video documentary to YouTube. It was created using publicly available film footage, along with some shots of video games, Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers. He provides an excellent voiceover and does an outstanding job on the subject.
I’d give him an A on it. Click the video below to remember those who gave their all on that day.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Brangelina Takes the Net to Czech Republic
Jun 6th
See that’s what happens when you adopt an oriental child. Three months later you are ready to adopt again! Brad apparently let Angelina wander out of his sight while she was over in the Czech Republic shooting a new movie. And between takes, the local orphanarium acted like a magnet on Jolie’s addled sensibilities, and soon she was pressing her nose against the glass of the baby cage pointing to a cute little white one in diapers.
“I don’t have one of those yet!” she exclaimed, meaning a white boy.
Angelina with her child-catching net.
So she called Brad up and ordered him to bring her giant child-catching net, which was still warm from her recent child-snatching in the jungles of Vietnam.
From the Sun Online here:
ANGELINA JOLIE is planning another addition to her rainbow family – this time an orphan boy from the Czech Republic.
The Hollywood star, in Prague to film her latest movie Wanted, has been paying regular visits to a Catholic orphanage in the centre of the city. And Angelina — who has already adopted nippers from Cambodia, Ethiopia and Vietnam — has fallen in love with one of the orphans.
Her partner BRAD PITT flew from Montreal, Canada, to Prague to meet the child this weekend. Now the couple are going through official channels to make their fourth adoption.
The couple’s family now includes Cambodian son MADDOX, five, Vietnamese son PAX THIEN, three, Ethiopian daughter ZAHARA, two, and their own daughter SHILOH, one.
The couple have now flown to New York for a three-week break while Czech authorities complete the adoption paperwork.
What is the three week break about? I’m willing to bet its all about breaking down Brad’s will to live in a house with five little kids. Any sane man with his balls still intact would be screaming at Angelina that enough is enough, which means that Brad is crazy, neutered or both. Seriously, Brad. How loudly is Jennifer Aniston laughing at your stupid ass now?
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...White Stripes’ Icky Thump
Jun 6th
I became a fan of Jack White from his work in the band the Raconteurs. Of course he is the guitarist and lyricist for the White Stripes. The White Stripes are coming out with a new album, and if the title song is any indication, this will be a great record. Click the video below to see Icky Thump.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...What is Your Cat’s Day Job?
Jun 6th
We went out to dinner with a vegetarian friend of my wife’s today. She works part time as a dog walker, and one of her customers recommended an amazing veterinarian who paracticed holistic medicine.
She went on to detail how this doggie quack diagnosed and proposed to treat her sick cat. Part of the diagnosis was a series of questions and answers about the cat’s homelife- its likes, dislikes, sleeping schedule, eating habits, and really odd personality questions. One of the questions was “If your cat had a human career, what job would he have?”
This kittten would be a professional stalker. Or maybe an astronaut. Like crazed stalker Lisa Nowak!
This sham of a vet prescribed several herbs based on the stress of the type of job she thought the cat would hold in life. Our friend paid this quack his fee and never went back.
But it got me thinking about what my cats would be if they had a career.
Considering they fight often with each other, but in a cute way, they would be wrestlers. Or gang members. One’s a Blood and the other is a Crip. But since they are mostly non-violent, its more like the Sharks versus the Jets from West Side Story.
Individually, I would guess serial killer for the older cat, Rogue. She always looks at me funny and tries to trip me when I walk downstairs. The kitten is a stalker. She sneaks up on me and watches me when I take a shower. And sometimes when I take a nap and roll over she is there, just looking at me. And she reads my emails when Im not at home.
What would your cat be if it was allowed to get a real job?
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Larry and Laurie David Split
Jun 5th
Uber-eco-religionists Larry David and Laurie David are facing an inconvenient truth of their own. They no longer can stand to be married to one another. The question remains: Who gets the Prius and the family carbon credits?
From Fox News here:
After 14 years of marriage and two children, Laurie and Larry David have reportedly decided to call it quits, according to the New York Post.
The breakup has been civil, concerning no known third parties, the Post says.
Larry David is best known for his lead role in the popular HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” in which Cheryl Hines plays his environmentalist wife. He also helped create the now defunct sitcom “Seinfeld.”
Since Laurie David helped produce “An Inconvenient Truth” and other shorter documentaries on global warming, her popularity as an environmentalist has risen. Most recently, Laurie David has been traveling across the nation with singer Sheryl Crow in the “Stop Global Warming College Tour.”
Okay Larry. Quit being a woman. You know you want to drive a Hummer. Get one and show that frigid bitch the eco-finger.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...When Hippies Grow Up
Jun 5th
So if hippies who have dropped back in, tuned back out, and finally turned it off after the bedlam of their youth, do you think they remain sympathetic to the next generation of hippies that are infesting the hippie mecca of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco? Or do they become one with the corporate machine? Its definitely the latter.
This funny article here at Boing Boing, quoting the LA Times:
(Arthur) Evans, 64, says (the punks) should get help, clean up or go home…
“I used to be a hippie. I wore beads and grew my hair long,” he said. “But my generation had something these kids do not: a standard of civilized behavior….”
Oh Really? It wasn’t that long ago that I heard of starving hippies eating stray and homeowners’ cats in the Haight Ashbury district during the “Summer of Love.” They called that civilized?
I’m sick of stepping over gangs of kids, only to be told ‘Die, yuppie!’ A lot of us were flower children, but we grew up,” said Robert Shadoian, 58, a retired family therapist. “There are responsibilities in this world you have to meet. You can’t be drugged out 24/7 and expect the world to take care of you.”
(Carolyn) Mckenna said she was tired of being criticized for the “crime” of owning a home. “Haight-Ashbury is not synonymous with anarchy,” she said. “It’s not fair to homeowners with their entire net worth tied up here. I’d be disingenuous if I said I wasn’t worried about property values.”
Property values are threatened, huh? I guess they need a neighborhood watch and stronger police enforcement. Or would that be fascist?
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Aye Caramba! Una Lion! Una Tigre! Aieee!
Jun 5th
Doing jobs American’s won’t do, a Mexican shop keeper went to the roof of his store to feed a captive lion and a captive tiger. The lion knocked the man down while the tiger took him from the top. Mauled to death and half-eaten.
Maybe he was planning to breed a liger?
From Fox News here:
A 56-year-old man was fatally mauled Monday by a lion and a tiger kept on the roof of a Mexico City food wholesaler.
Officers found the body of caretaker Luis Aguilar between the two animals, who were standing next to the small cages in which they were normally held, the Mexico City police department said in a statement. Aguilar had looked after the felines since they were cubs, it said.
Mexican media cited witnesses saying Aguilar was feeding the animals when the lion swatted at his legs and the tiger helped pull him down.
The felines were lured back into their cages with meat and then tranquilized and transferred to a nearby zoo, along with an iguana and a macaw also held in the building, police said.
You can’t really blame the animals. It must be hot as hell on the roof of any structure in Mexico City.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Hampton Swat Team Surrounds McDonalds
Jun 5th
This is just a little news from my hometown. In Hampton, VA there is a McDonalds that I remember being famous because the company completely demolished the restaurant and rebuilt it four feet to the left so they could widen the drive-thru. Now its famous because some nucklehead phoned in a prank that summoned an overly enthusiastic Hampton SWAT team that surrounded the building and scared the bejeezus out of everyone that was still in the restaurant, unaware that there was any type of threat.
Seeing the building surrounded by men with assault rifles, the frightened employees and two customers locked themselves inside a walkin freezer.
From WAVY TV here:
A hostage situation that began unfolding at around 2 p.m. at a Hampton fast food restaurant is apparently over, but the person responsible for starting this incident hasn’t been found, leading to more questions than answers.
Hampton Police surrounded the McDonalds at the intersection Of Grimes and East Pembroke Ave. after receiving a phone call from a man saying that he had a gun and was holding people hostage inside.
When police arrived, several customers came out of the restaurant but other people were still inside.
Shortly before 5 p.m., police led a group of people, believed to be employees, out of the restaurant and away from the scene. All the people led away were wearing wrist restraints. This was to ensure that the suspect wasn’t trying to slip away with the hostages.
According to police, there were twelve employees and two customers inside the business. The employees were locked inside a freezer inside the business.
Police had no contact with the gunman after their initial call and believed he was still inside. But when SWAT team members entered the restaurant, they didn’t locate anyone.
Plastic handcuffs and McFlurries for everyone!
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Critical Infrastructure Valued Target by Muslims
Jun 5th
The money being spent by Homeland Security and law enforcement to track terrorists that want to harm our nation is paying off. The plot to blow up JFK airport in New York City was likely not to succeed, but it clearly demonstrates the motives and targets of Muslim terrorists that want to kill us.
Our critical infrastructure has mostly been identified by now by Homeland Security and is under closer scrutiny for threats.
Muslim Pipeline Bombers Russell Defreitas and Abdul Kadir
From the AP here:
Until a suspected terrorist plot was revealed, few people even knew there was a pipeline of highly combustible jet fuel snaking beneath the nation’s largest city.
Police were aware that the fuel system feeding John F. Kennedy International Airport posed a risk well before investigators unearthed an alleged conspiracy by a homegrown Muslim terror cell to blow it up, with the goal of killing thousands of people and inflicting major damage on the U.S. economy.
The pipeline system targeted by the suspects in the latest case is huge, winding its way through all corners of the city. It is part of a national pipeline network run by Buckeye Partners LP (BPL) that serves major airports in New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Pennsylvania, among other locations. The network also delivers jet fuel to military bases.
In a criminal complaint outlining the allegations, one suspect is quoted as saying he hoped it would “cause greater destruction than in the Sept. 11 attacks,” torching the airport, killing several thousand people and destroying parts of New York’s borough of Queens, where the pipeline route is marked by warning signs.
The pipeline was designed to shut off when it detects heat, a feature that would have prevented the chain-reaction explosion that the plotters allegedly envisioned, authorities said. And it would have been virtually impossible to get inside the airport to do the kind of damage they planned.
Even if the suspects had succeeded in detonating a bomb, McCann said, there “would have been some damage and it would have been terrible. But would the whole thing have gone up? No.”
The pipeline network would not have exploded all at once. All fuel needs a large supply of oxygen for it to combust. At worst flames may have erupted from a few breaks, but it would not have caused the destruction those stupid Muslims were hoping for.
My own community has a huge pipeline that runs from Manassas all the way across the Potomac River and into Maryland. You can see it on Live.com here. Its the swatch of green grass. Buried beneath is a natural gas pipeline that feeds the region. It is patrolled daily from the air by civil air patrol searching for anything out of the ordinary.
The Supply Chain Information Sharing and Analysis Center helps secure against threats to critical pipelines.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Congressman Faces 235 Years in Jail
Jun 4th
William Jefferson is the most corrupt congressman ever. He openly solicited for bribes in exchange for congressional favors, and even took bribes in order to help businesses get a foothold in Nigeria. And no, it wasn’t another spam business.
This prick even commandeered a rescue helicopter during Hurricane Katrina in order to sneak his bribery loot out of his house before it became submerged under filfthy Katrina flooding. Yet he still sits in Congress. Indictment is here. He should immediately resign. Get another black democrat from his district to do his job.
From CNN here:
U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, D-Louisiana, was indicted Monday on federal charges of racketeering, soliciting bribes and money-laundering in a long-running bribery investigation into business deals he tried to broker in Africa.
The indictment handed up Monday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, is 94 pages long and lists 16 alleged violations of federal law that could keep Jefferson in prison for up to 235 years, according to a Justice Department official who has seen the document.
Among the charges listed in the indictment, said the official, are racketeering, soliciting bribes, wire fraud, money-laundering, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case.
Jefferson is accused of soliciting bribes for himself and his family, and also for bribing a Nigerian official.
The 63-year-old lawmaker, whose Louisiana district includes New Orleans, has said little about the case publicly but has maintained his innocence. He was re-elected last year despite the looming investigation.
Almost two years ago, in August 2005, investigators raided Jefferson’s home in Louisiana and found $90,000 in cash stuffed into a box in his freezer.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Careful What You Search For
Jun 4th
I’m a pretty big fan of the SiteAdvisor application. It warns me about the risk posed by certain websites regarding malware, spyware, popups and even spammy websites. They came out with a new report warning about the most risky search keywords. Unsurprisingly, they are music and tech related.
From the AP here:
Search terms related to music and technology are most likely to return sites with spyware and other malicious code, a new study finds.
Some 42 percent of the results using the term “screensavers,” for example, led to sites flagged with a “red” warning or a cautionary “yellow” by McAfee Inc.’s SiteAdvisor service. Other keywords McAfee deemed risky include names of file-sharing software — “BearShare,” “LimeWire” and “Kazaa.”In many cases, the programs come bundled with adware and toolbars McAfee considers unwanted, according to McAfee’s “The State of Search Engine Safety” report, scheduled for release Monday.
Risks are greater when clicking on keyword ads that make up much of search companies’ revenues: According to McAfee, 7 percent of such links produce risky sites, down from 8.5 percent a year ago.
I ran into this problem when I went searching for DVD drivers for a system I was rebuilding. I encountered dozens of pages full of search results to malware hosting sites. I eventually chose one that I thought was not malware related and installed it. It turned out that malware piggybacked my installation and the system was botted. Ooops. Then I tried to find a malware disinfector using a web search. The results? Yeah, more malware!
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Very Memorable Baby Shower
Jun 3rd
My wife and I are very fortunate to have such great friends and family. Yesterday was a fabulous baby shower thrown by our friends Dana and Arlene at Arlene’s home, which happens to be very close to the Fox Meadow winery high atop a Shenandoah mountain in Virginia.
It was a beautiful misty day at Fox Meadow Winery
First came a wonderful Scottish blessing on our unborn child by our dearest loved ones and friends, followed by a generous shower of gifts for the baby. We were lucky to receive everything we would need to get started with a newborn, which is a great relief to my wife, who is getting bigger by the day and is ready for birth.
One gift that was fabulous was a quilt made by my sister-in-law Suzy, based off a pattern she copied from a photo from this blog.
We saw this quilt and were blown away at the craftmanship and thoughtfulness.
She took careful notes from my nursery post here and created a wonderful quilt that our baby will be able to enjoy for years.
Closeup of the quilt’s detail.
After the shower we went to the winery for wine tasting, food and live music. Everyone had a fabulous time watching the mist play atop the mountains and snacking on cheese, olives and sausages. Old friends were reunited and friends and family really enjoyed a warm day in the mountains. At one point, my buddy Robb, who was gracious to host the baby shower, picked up a spare guitar from the paid musician at the winery and showed him how to play a couple of journey songs.
It is just so heartwarming to have such close friends that can make our baby shower so memorable. Thanks to everyone who came and we will be calling you with good news in just a few weeks!
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...The Mach 5
Jun 1st
Like most adult men my age, I played with Matchbox and Hot Wheels die cast cars as a kid. I remember playing with one until it wore out, however. It was a replica of Speed Racer’s Mach 5.
Speed Racer was one of the first kids TV shows that came on in the afternoon. I remember getting cable TV for the first time and I was always plopped in front of it after school watching Speed Racer and Marine Boy. These were followed up by Ultra-man.
The directors of the Matrix are coming out with the Speed Racer movie. And they released a photo of the Mach 5, Speed’s car that could jump obstacles and drive underwater, and of course, win the big race with the help of the mysterious ‘Racer X.”
I want that car. Its hot!
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Stupid Clown Goes to Pot
Jun 1st
I love bad clowns. I love dead clowns more, but bad ones make me laugh. A stupid clown from Suffolk, VA tried to visit some sad sack in the state lockup. To smuggle in some fine cannabis. No word on whether or not it was in an animal balloon.
The drug sniffing dogs at the jail alerted authorities to this evil creature smuggling the dope. Word has it that when clowns go to prison they have to paint their faces from happy clowns to sad clowns.
Spunky the Pot Junky Clown
From the Daily Press here:
A Suffolk woman who works as a clown at children’s parties was arrested last month and charged with trying to smuggle marijuana to a prison inmate.
Manuela Markham, who operates Bubblehead Entertainment and performs as Spunky the Clown, was arrested on May 6 when police say she tried to sneak marijuana to an unnamed inmate at the Greensville Correctional Center.
Prison security guards suspected Markham was carrying drugs because of “previous information received through recorded telephone conversations” between Markham and the inmate. When she arrived to visit the inmate around noon on May 6, Rose said, the guards’ drug-sniffing dogs detected marijuana.
She is charged with possession of drugs with intent to distribute to an inmate, a Class 4 felony.
I think they were really concerned about people going to their website over this. They deleted all of their pictures. I guess they didn’t count on Google cache! Hey boys and girls, hiring dope smoking clowns is bad.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...Snoopstick: Cyber Sitter or Hacker’s Friend?
Jun 1st
Snoopstick has been around for a little while. Its a thumb drive with a software program set to auto-run that will load spyware and keyloggers onto a computer system. The intent is to load this on your kid’s system so you will know what they are doing with the computer when you are not around to supervise them.
From a remote location, such as your office, you can check the logfiles in real time as your kid sits at home merrily chatting away with God knows who online.
But the feds are scared that this software is being used to tap and monitor government systems. But after their scare over the red poppy Canadian quarters, this may be a bunch of handwringing.
I’m not familiar with detecting or removing this software. Their site is here. The software loads and becomes silent in just 60 seconds.
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(No Ratings Yet. Rate It!) Loading ...EHarmony Sued by Militant Gays
Jun 1st
I can’t believe that a Lesbian activist, Linda Carlson, can’t meet another lesbian in the gayest city on the planet, San Francisco. So she’s going to sue E-Harmony because they don’t cater to homosexual relationship-seekers.
EHarmony’s business is built upon some type of secret formula its founder, Dr. Neil Clark Warren created to match couples based on successful heterosexual relationships.
From the AP here:
A Northern California woman sued the online dating service eHarmony on Thursday, alleging it discriminates against gays, lesbians and bisexuals.
Linda Carlson said she tried to use the Internet site in February to meet a woman but could not based on her sexual orientation. When Carlson wrote to eHarmony to complain, the company refused to change its policy, according to the lawsuit filed on her behalf in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
The lawsuit claims that by only offering to find a compatible match for men seeking women or women seeking men, the company was violating state law barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. It seeks class-action status, a jury trial and unspecified damages.
Even the gay community is questioning this move. As Dan Savage points out at the Strangers Blog:
There’s room on God’s green Internet for gay personals websites and straight personals websites—just as there’s room in the real world for gay bars and straight bars, gay porn companies and straight porn companies, gay rodeos and straight rodeos. It’s not like homos are exactly under-served in this area—there are almost too many queer personals websites out there. And so if the breeders wanna have one all to themselves, well, what’s the harm in it?
Make no mistake. Linda Carlson does not want to use eHarmony to find a long lasting love of her life. She wants to insert her own views of political correctness into eHarmony as part of a campaign to ruin anything that she feels discriminates against her. In fact, I think she already has a life-partner, so what is she doing on a dating site?
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