August 28, 2005
Those NYPD car auctions sound too good to be true, and today's Post makes it clear why: the NYPD is arresting buyers of cars that it sells at auction. Huh? Say it isn't so? Buyers "have been told by cops the cars were stolen, then get locked up, have their cars confiscated and are turned away when they ask for their money back." You gotta read this article, it confirms every car buyer's worst nightmare...and you'd think the NYPD could at least run a car's VIN through their computer system---takes about 3 seconds, assuming they can type in that string of numbers correctly.
Tags:
car, dmv, new york post, nypd
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Posted on 8/28/2005
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August 26, 2005
Don't ever say you've created an ID that's "virtually impossible to forge" because you are daring hackers to do it. As anyone who ever worked in a high-security position can tell you, dare the hackers and they will hack. Of course, the New York State DMV still hasn't posted the press release on their website (it usually takes their webmaster several weeks to move forward on Big News). But the new license features a high-tech wavy line, called an optical variable device, embedded in the laminate and has a coating that exposes alterations under ultraviolet light. Well my friends, nearly every high-tech thing like this ever invented, unless a proprietary creation of the Swiss national bank, tends to be made and mass-produced in southern China. So until you can guarantee that it won't be washed in acid and reprinted on the streets of Washington Heights, of Teheran, or of Shenzhen, you'd better watch what superlatives you use about your high-security ID.
Tags:
dmv, license, security
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Posted on 8/26/2005
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August 22, 2005
Over in New Jersey, they do things differently. Merrill Lynch has issued a report that the state could get $30 billion by selling the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway. Here's a great idea: sell them to New York, and we can hold the Garden State hostage.
Tags:
new jersey turnpike
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Posted on 8/22/2005
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August 03, 2005
Big Daddy swoops down from mothership of News Corp to rescue flagging New York Post! This week's New York Observer has a fine cover story: "Why Lachlan Flew the Coop: It Was Rupe". Of course it was Big Daddy; what else could it have been? The juiciest tidbit in the article was that Lachlan had a five-and-half hour, teary-eyed bye-bye lunch at Da Silvano last Friday before heading back to Oz. And the original Murdoch kids are all still pissed that Big Daddy married a Chinese lady a fraction of his age and they now have infant siblings with whom they have to share their massive trust funds.
And I can't resist quoting: Lachlan Murdoch was known as a constellation of Brash Young Man markers—the spiky hairdo, tattoos, the defiant footballer’s posture. The press was insistent on tagging him: The famous spikes, for instance, were shaved off by last year, but continued to crop up in news accounts and even in The Wall Street Journal’s hedcut illustration when he resigned.
His profilers were fixated on, mesmerized by his body ink, but couldn’t even agree on where it was: “his upper arms” (Daily News), “his left forearm” (USA Today), “his arms” (The Australian), “forearms” (Vanity Fair), “both arms” (New York Times). For the record: left forearm, right biceps.
(They had the same trouble with the wife’s body ink.)
Tags:
da silvano, murdoch, new york post, news corp
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Posted on 8/3/2005
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August 01, 2005
Hilly Kristal has killer punk shows lined up all August, some acts such as the Dead Boys not seen for nearly two decades. Other downtown clubs have bit the dust, Fez, the Bottom Line and Luna Lounge come to mind. But Kristal has an ace up his sleeve: he can move the place lock, stock and barrel to Vegas and cash in. So is it the end on the Bowery and a new beginning? Only Steve Van Zandt knows, the brains behind the Save CBGB campaign.
Tags:
cbgb, dead boys, hilly kristal, las vegas, punk
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Posted on 8/1/2005
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