Sold Cell Phones Reveal Customer Secrets

A company that makes phone-security tools bought 10 phones on EBay and shared their contents with a reporter, finding evidence of marital affairs, business deals and other juicy private information.

One phone surrendered the secrets of a chief executive at a small technology company in Silicon Valley. It included details of a pending deal with Adobe Systems Inc., and e-mail proposals from a potential Japanese partner:

"If we want to be exclusive distributor in Japan, what kind of business terms you want?" asked the executive in Japan.

Trust Digital surmised that the U.S. chief executive gave his old phone to a former roommate, who used it briefly then sold it for $400 on eBay. Researchers found e-mails covering different periods for both men, who used the same address until recently.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, but "former roommate" has to be a euphemism for a relationship, right? They were sharing a residence, e-mail address and expensive cell phone, which the roomie quickly dumped. I'm sensing that somebody's got a box of somebody else's T-shirts, toiletries and The Best of Judy Garland two-disc vinyl record set, and if he doesn't pick it up soon, that crap hits the garbage.

Security · 2006/08/30 · 1 COMMENT · Link

Mexican Flag Raised Over U.S. Post Office

Los Angeles blogger Lone Wacko reported an incident this weekend that should be entering heavy rotation any minute now in the mainstream media: Hispanic pro-immigration demonstrators raised a Mexican flag over a U.S. post office in Maywood, Calif., Saturday as part of a counterdemonstration against Save Our State, an anti-immigration group that claims California is becoming a "third-world cesspool."

Maywood became a flashpoint in the escalating immigration debate when elected officials in the Los Angeles-area city of 25,000, which is 96 percent Hispanic, declared it a sanctuary for illegal immigrants and took steps to make enforcement more difficult.

The Los Angeles Times covered the competing Maywood protests but did not report the flag-raising, which was witnessed by commentator Bridget Johnson of the Los Angeles Daily News:

... after the local post office took down the American flag at closing time, pro-immigration demonstrators promptly ran the Mexican flag up the flagpole. Eventually, police officers surrounded the flagpole and tried to get the Mexican flag down, but the cords got twisted and they could only lower it to half-staff.

Reporting this event makes me sound like a Minuteman, but I share her position on immigration. I'd like to see work become a path to citizenship for thousands of immigrants living illegally in this country, who wouldn't be here if employers didn't need them badly enough to risk breaking our laws. If there's too much immigration the place to get tough is with the Americans who hire workers illegally, not by demonizing desperate people yearning to improve their lives. I sympathize with these folks as the child of poor Irish a couple generations off the boat.

But raising a Mexican flag over a U.S. government building is a flagrantly offensive gesture against a country that has celebrated immigration, supported bilingualism and teaches schoolchildren to believe the melting pot's one of our strengths. This stunt's as ugly as the Mexifornia rhetoric coming from groups like Save Our State, and you have to marvel at the stupidity that would inspire activists to be so damaging to their own cause.

Politics · Journalism · 2006/08/29 · 108 COMMENTS · Link

The Giant Bikini Woman of Peoria, Illinois

I was pleased to discover this morning that the giant fiberglass bikini woman still stands tall in Peoria, Ill., lording over a grimy industrial strip where I first saw her on a bitterly cold day in 1996.

Travis Alber's photo best captures the scene.

The tire company she calls home has named her Vanna Whitewall, but she began life as one of several Miss Uniroyal women in 1968. Her description on the company's web site provides her dimensions (though they might want to check the math):

Manufactured in the 1960s in Venice, California, "Miss Uniroyal" arrived at our location in May of 1968 as a grand opening promotion. She was stored at our location until Uniroyal needed her at another grand opening. Due to the years of wear and tear on her body, Uniroyal decided to change to their present mascot, Bengal "Tiger Paws" Tiger. Plaza Tire acquired Vanna Whitewall in 1971. She is 17 feet 6 inches tall and weighs approximately 450 lbs. Her measurements are 108-72-108, three times the perfect woman's (36-24-26).

There are at least 11 others of her kind, according to Roadside America:

The sculptor who created the original molds for the large lady had a thing for Jackie Kennedy. She was issued with a dress, ready for shedding or donning depending on the community climate.

From the looks of a more recent photo by another Flickr user who is traveling the country in search of huge beings, Vanna's now wearing a dress. I'm surprised at the change, because she's been a beacon of immodesty at the family-owned tire business for decades.

The Huge Being List Project, is attempting to document all of the gargantuan fiberglass people in the U.S. I'm going to find out if there's still a Uniroyal woman beckoning the drivers on Highway 50 in Ocoee, Florida.

Business · Kitsch · Tourism · 2006/08/29 · 10 COMMENTS · Link

Ernesto Hits Florida as Tropical Depression

Most of Florida is under hurricane watch for Ernesto, the hurricane that weakened to a tropical depression and will hit the Florida Keys later today.

Jeff Masters' prediction:

The latest forecast models are all in excellent agreement, calling for a landfall in the Everglades tonight, a long passage up the spine of Florida, followed by a re-emergence into the Atlantic and possible re-intensification to a Category 1 hurricane before a second landfall in the Carolinas.

Riding out a tropical storm is better than riding out a hurricane, of course, but they spawn tornadoes at an alarming rate. My urge to be the first Floridian to evacuate the state grows strong.

Jacksonville · Florida · 2006/08/29 · Comment · Link

Hurricane Ernesto Eyes Florida

Northeast Florida is in the projected path of Hurricane Ernesto, a category 1 storm that Weather Underground meteorologist Jeff Masters expects to strike Florida's west coast and move northeast across the state:

I think it is unlikely Ernesto could affect the Keys as anything stronger than a Category 2 hurricane with 105 mph winds. A hit as a tropical storm or Category 1 hurricane is more likely. If Ernesto spends another day or two traversing the warm waters along the west cost of Florida, then it could grow to a major Category 3 or 4 hurricane.

His worst-case scenario would be a carbon copy of Hurricane Charley, which was still a dangerous storm when it left the state over Daytona Beach.

Florida · Jacksonville · 2006/08/27 · 7 COMMENTS · Link

Netroots 1, Weekly Standard 0

Writing for the conservative magazine Weekly Standard, Louis Wittig draws a parallel between the underwhelming box office receipts of Snakes on a Plane and the exaggerated political impact of left-wing blogs:

Since Howard Dean's 2004 primary sprint, Web sites such as MyDD, Democratic Underground, and Daily Kos have been exalted by as a new and powerful phenomenon, capable of spinning liberal frustration into cash, volunteers, and excitement for Democratic candidates nationwide. The left-wing blogosphere has declared itself the "netroots" and proclaimed a new era of "people powered politics." The Democratic establishment has reluctantly ratified their self-image. ...

The weekend box office numbers came back in and SoaP's big debut pulled in $15.2 million, in line with what a hokey thriller without any Web buzz might have made.

For all the donations and volunteers it may generate, the left-wing blogosphere essentially performs the same function as the SoaP blogosphere.

I think it's time to start judging the netroots movement by electoral victories, not moral ones. But if Daily Kos isn't an influential force in politics, what does that say about the Weekly Standard, given the traffic drawn by both sites?

Movies · Politics · 2006/08/26 · 18 COMMENTS · Link

I Deserve a Little Credit

This week I paid off my last student loan, 15 years after I graduated from the University of North Texas, and brought an aggravating credit card debt down to $0. A five-year car loan is two payments from completion.

Matt Haughey's celebrating the demise of his own student loan and other debts:

All told, we'll be saving around a thousand bucks a month that would normally been sent away, which isn't too bad at all, especially on an annual basis ($12 grand in my pocket!). Then I started looking at all my bills as annual raises.

I feel closer to Sallie Mae than Haughey does, because she helped me stretch college out to 6.5 years without taking a job in the food service industry.

But the heady feeling of knocking off a long-term debt is great. I wish it felt as good as watching a brand-new high-definition television with no payments until January 2008.

2006/08/24 · 5 COMMENTS · Link

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