Monthly Archives: February 2004

"Tux Racer" Arcade Game!

Posted on February 23, 2004 by Kevin

On Sunday, Heather and I took the kids to a local kid’s entertainment center called “Scallywags”. It’s the sort of place that has jungle gyms, inflatable trampolines, etc. inside a large commercial building – and an area for parents to sit and have a few minutes of freedom to read and talk. Off to one side of the building was the arcade area, filled with kid-friendly arcade games. Imagine my surprise when I saw an arcade version of the Linux game “Tux Racer”. Too bad it was broken – it would have been fun to play with Tommy and Petey.

Here’s a couple of snapshots from my camera phone. It was a bit dark inside the arcade, so the quality isn’t so great.

 

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Interesting device to steal ATM accounts

Posted on February 19, 2004 by Kevin

From Risks Digest #23.19:

Bank ATMs Converted to Steal Bank Customer IDs

A team of organized criminals is installing equipment on legitimate bank ATMs in at least 2 regions to steal both the ATM card number and the PIN. The team sits nearby in a car receiving the information transmitted wirelessly over weekends and evenings from equipment they install on the front of the ATM. If you see an attachment like this, do not use the ATM and report it immediately to the bank using the 800 number or phone on the front of the ATM.

The equipment used to capture your ATM card number and PIN is cleverly disguised to look like normal ATM equipment. A “skimmer” is mounted to the front of the normal ATM card slot that reads the ATM card number and transmits it to the criminals sitting in a nearby car.

At the same time, a wireless camera is disguised to look like a leaflet holder and is mounted in a position to view ATM PIN entries.

The thieves copy the cards and use the PIN numbers to withdraw thousands from many accounts in a very short time directly from the bank ATM.


ATM with theft equipment installed.


Hidden PIN-capture camera installed in leaflet container.

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Animals on the Underground

Posted on February 17, 2004 by Kevin
The Animals, made up using tube lines, stations and junctions were spotted by Paul Middlewick some 15 years ago. The original Animal, the Elephant’ was ‘discovered’ while Paul was staring at the tube map during his daily journey to work.

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Hey, That's My Blow!

Posted on February 13, 2004 by Kevin

FYI – my office is right above the Downtown Crossing subway station.

[Brutus “The Barber”] Beefcake – these days Edward Leslie, 46, of Winchester – voluntarily checked into a treatment program Monday, according to a source, after cocaine he admitted was his created an anthrax scare at the MBTA’s Downtown Crossing subway station.

http://www.wrestling-news.com/artman/publish/article_2047.shtml

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Bush Must Go (Part 4)

Posted on February 12, 2004 by Kevin

The Cato Institute has a page that contains all of Bush’s most recent budget charts. So much for the Republican party being the party of small government and fiscal responsibility…

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Battlestar Galactica becomes a regular series on SciFi Channel

Posted on February 10, 2004 by Kevin

From BoingBoing:

SCI FI Channel has greenlit production on the Battlestar Galactica franchise as a new original weekly series. Based on the top-rated December miniseries event of the same name, the one-hour drama is slated to begin production on 13 episodes in Vancouver next month.

All principal cast from the mini will reprise their roles for the series, including Edward James Olmos (Commander Adama), Mary McDonnell (President Laura Roslin), Katee Sackhoff (Starbuck), and Tricia Helfer (Number Six), among others. Ronald D. Moore (Carnivale, Mission Impossible 2) returns as executive producer as well as writer.

The project will be produced exclusively for SCI FI, in association with Sky One. The series will be distributed by USACE, where David Eick, an executive producer of the miniseries, serves as Executive Vice President.

Like I’ve said before, the new Galactica (which until now was limited to a two episode miniseries) is much better than the original. While I have very fond memories for the 1970’s Glen Larson version, they are specious memories at best.

This photograph says it all:

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Cross-Border Church Visit Costs Man $10,000

Posted on February 10, 2004 by Kevin

This was bound to happen sooner or later:

Crossing the U.S.-Canada border to go to church on a Sunday cost a U.S. citizen $10,000 for breaching Washington’s tough new security rules.

The expensive trip to church was a surprise for Richard Albert, a resident of rural Maine who lives so close to the Canadian border the U.S. customs office is right next door to his house.

The local U.S. customs station is closed on Sundays, so he just drove around the locked gate, as he had done every weekend since the gate appeared last May, following a tightening of border security.

Two days later, Albert was summoned to the customs office, where an officer told him he had been caught on camera crossing the border illegally.

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Is Putin Making a Power Play?

Posted on February 10, 2004 by Kevin

Three of Vladamir Putin’s rivals in the upcoming March election have been killed or have disappeared. Ingvald Godal, a member of Norway’s parliament, thinks Putin himself is behind it.

Update:

Rybkin told the radio station Echo of Moscow that “I haven’t disappeared anywhere.”

“I decided not to listen to the radio and TV” for a few days, Rybkin said. “I decided to go to Kiev to visit friends.”

Rybkin, 57, said he was “shocked” when he read Russian newspapers on Tuesday and saw that his absence was being given wide attention.

He failed to turn up for a news conference Friday and missed his official registration as a candidate Saturday for the March 14 election.

Rybkin also has not contacted his wife, Albina, his close friends or staff, and didn’t answer his mobile phone. Albina Rybkina filed a missing persons report Sunday, waiting the three days required under Russian law.

Still sounds a bit fishy, eh?

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Original Star Wars Trilogy Finally Coming Out on DVD

Posted on February 10, 2004 by Kevin

The New York Post has an article stating that the original three Star Wars films will be released on DVD Septmber 21st.

Fans have long been clamoring for DVD versions of the trilogy, the last holdouts from the top 200 grossing films of all time to be scheduled for release on DVD.

“Star Wars” creator George Lucas has finally relented, after insisting the three movies wouldn’t be released until the final “Star Wars” hits theaters in May 2005.

The set (details like pricing are still unavailable) will include four DVDs, with the fourth disc containing a brand-new two-hour documentary.

Note that these are the revised releases from the 90s and not the original theatrical versions.

The DVDs, which are certain to be blockbusters, are also certain to be controversial: Despite pleas from “Star Wars” fanatics all over the world, these DVDs will not contain the original theatrical version of the movies.

Instead, the DVDs will include the much-debated versions director Lucas released in the ’90s with new digital effects and plot twists that softened the character of Han Solo – even though DVD makes it easy to offer both the original and director’s cut of a movie.

It’s simply a matter of an artist’s right, says Jim Ward, a Lucasfilm vice president and the executive producer of the set.

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This Sounds Fair to Me – Not

Posted on February 10, 2004 by Kevin

From WSFA12 Montogomery, AL:

Alabama State Representative Alvin Holmes was pulled over after seen weaving on a highway in Montgomery.

An off-duty deputy says he approached Holmes and noticed his speech was slurred and his breath smelled of alcohol.
Holmes denies any wrong-doing. He says he was driving home from the state house that night when his pickup truck started to overheat. He says he pulled over to look for a flashlight and that’s when the deputy pulled in behind him.

So, the State Rep was arrested and taken into custody, right? Wrong.

Holmes wasn’t arrested because he’s a state legislator and a state law gives legislators immunity to certain crimes. During the one hundred and five days of the legislative session, the law says legislators can only be arrested for treason, a felony, or a breach of peace.

The law is a privilege which many say helps legislators break the law. Republican Senator Larry Dixon says it was needed in the 19th century to stop sheriffs from using their power to keep legislators from voting.

Nice.

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