Lone Iguana

I loved the following infographic on how to spot a handgun:

Megan Jaegerman’s brilliant news graphics via BoingBoing

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Want to change your caller ID? How about record a call or disguise your voice on one? With Bluff My Call, you can. Try it for free, or buy a subscription, starting at $10.

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Bluff My Call

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Check out BoingBoing’s article for the whole story, but what I really enjoyed about the article was the decription of the gang, the yakuza:

Unlike in America, where someone’s word is as light as a feather, some of the yakuza guys have demonstrated incredible loyalty. If they promise something — if they give their word — they honor it, even if that promise is no longer convenient or even detrimental to keep.Bushi ni nigon wa nai. (“A warrior does not have a forked tongue.”) Once you’ve said it, then you’ll do it. A promise is a promise. It’s so rare to meet anybody in this world who has any sense of honor, who puts actual importance in keeping their word. That’s one of the nicer things about them.

Meet Jake Adelstein, a Jewish reporter who thinks like a Japanese gangster

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“Operator! Give me the number for 911!”-The Simpsons

Emergency! Call 911. In that type of situation, you should always be aware what you should do. First, before you do anything else, say your current location and whether you need police, fire assistance or an ambulance. This is done so that the operator can dispatch the assistance immediately.

Another good thing to know is that almost all phones, including phones with discontinued service and pay phones without coins inserted should be able to reach 911.

Looking for more? Check out this wiki article and this About article for more details.

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The New York Times had this article on North Korean spies.

The informers themselves remain of limited use to American and South Korean spymasters, in part because the North has no broad cellphone network, making it easier for the authorities to eavesdrop on calls and harder for handlers to direct operatives in real time.

As one senior American intelligence official put it, “You’re not going to find the North Korean uranium project from these guys.” So the traditional methods of intelligence collection — using satellite imagery, phone and computer intercepts, and informants and agents of South Korea’s intelligence service — remain the main sources of information.

North Koreans Use Cellphones to Bare Secrets

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Holy crap. After reading this Lifehacker article, I realized how easy it would be to break into a hotel room solely guarded by one of those sliding locks. Check out the video below for a shock.

Blogger and lock-picker extraordinaire Barry Wels demonstrates how to unlock a sliding chain lock with a rubber band in the video above. In short, it’s a matter of attaching the rubber band to the lock and the door handle (it looks like a handle rather than a knob is important). Before you go asking why he doesn’t just slide the lock open with his hand (which I wondered briefly myself), remember: Chain locks work because you can’t slide it open with your hand. As you start sliding the lock toward open, the tension between the wall and the door will pull the door closed before you can slide it all the way open.

Whether you’re picking a lock, cracking a padlock, or hacking a Wi-Fi password, the goal is often less about knowing how to “break in” to something and more about understanding the security limitations a tool provides. The same holds true here. Also, who knows? It could come in handy next time little Timmy locks himself in the hotel room and won’t come out.

Unlock a Sliding Chain Lock with a Rubber Band

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