Wired on the best capers of 2008 - I am sure Hollywood will work them into some upcoming movies...here's a couple:
"..a robber disguised as a gardener pepper-sprayed an armored car driver using a pesticide sprayer and ran off with a bag stuffed with $400,000 in cash. When police arrived seconds later, they found the sidewalk crowded with dozens of men decked out in the same attire as the perp: blue shirt, Day-Glo vest, safety mask and glasses. While the cops hacked through a forest of suspects, the real perp fled to a nearby creek and escaped in a waiting inner tube....Turns out the unwitting decoys had been lured to the crime scene by a Craigslist ad that promised construction work to those showing up in a "yellow vest, safety goggles, a respirator mask … and, if possible, a blue shirt."
"To ensure that Smith answered the calls and took his punishment like a man, Weigman social engineered the phone company into giving him near real-time access to Smith's billing data, then repeatedly used Caller ID spoofing to make the harried security official think people were returning his own calls: when Smith phoned a travel agent to book a flight, his phone would ring a few minutes later, displaying the number of the travel agency he'd just called."
Photo: Poster of my favorite caper movie The Sting
2008's biggest science stories
It was a year when scientists looked out into the heavens, unraveling the secrets of planets both near and far. Others turned their gaze inward, tracing the importance of our genes in defining who we are and what our future holds or sounding the alarm on the risks a common chemical might pose to our bodies. Human tragedies, too, had their place: Soaring food prices took their toll worldwide and the investigation of the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks came to an abrupt end with the apparent suicide of a scientist believed to be behind them."
Scientific American - top 10 science stories of 2008
Photo Credit: Time which named Obama 2008 Person of the Year - of course, not just with a science lens
December 31, 2008 in Industry Commentary | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)