25 arrested in dollar-store ID theft ring

…

A three-month investigation of the Governor’s Fraudulent ID Task Force, “Operation Dollar Store” targeted 14 dollar-stores across the Valley suspected of selling cell phones activated with false identities to people who claimed they had no legal identification.

Authorities believe some of the phones,… were used to facilitate organized crime operations. Similar phones are widely used by … fake id manufacturers,…

…

It could be months before authorities determine which identities belonged to actual people.

“It’s impossible to tell, and that’s the frightening part,” Morrison said. “Some of these were real victims in the sense of identity theft and some were fraudulent names. It’s going to take a while to see who are the real victims.”

…

OK I can see that selling cell phones activated with a fake ID is a big problem, untraceable phones are important to those involved in crime. But what I don’t get is the comment-

Authorities believe some of the phones,… were used to facilitate organized crime operations. Similar phones are widely used by … fake id manufacturers…

Since when are cell phones important to fake id manufacturers? Most of them operate perfectly legally on the internet selling Fake IDs.

Why would a legitimate business need untraceable cell phones, am I missing something here?

Seems like the Governor’s Fraudulent ID Task Force is trying to give those who make fake IDs a bad name.

More about ID Cards.

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I really like it. It combines some of the best features of Safari with the stability and rendering accuracy of the Mozilla engine. Plus, like Safari, it’s fast and incorporates tabbed browsing. It has some nice features of it’s own, which I’m still learning. Right now I’m loving the really cool real-time “find” feature. Oh, and Firefox is free free.

I’ll probably still use Safari for most things at home, if for no other reason than I’m comfortable with it and it’s so nicely incorporated into OS X, but at work I’m switching to Firefox. In fact, I’m using Firefox to post this right now.

Yet another reason to abandon Explorer. As if you needed another.

There’s a FireFox link on the right menu, for anyone wanting to try it.

The US House Aviation Subcommittee yesterday heard how congressional investigators used false IDs to gain access to a series of federal buildings and two commercial airports, and how a copy of the report detailing their success was later found in an al-Qaida cave in Afghanistan. The investigators were 100 per cent successful in getting past security, but apparently less so in the case of their own report’s security.

Subcommittee Chairman John Mica told a hearing on biometric ID in aviation that the deployment of more secure ID needed to be accelerated, given that terrorists are interested in gaining access to restricted airport areas. The congressional investigators had made their fake IDs using software downloaded from the Internet, and apparently this passed muster.

So basically congressional investigators are doing research on fake IDs and then allowing it to fall into the hands of terrorists, hey why not!!

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The phrase “the reason being is so”

Her mom is “running behind my sister like crazy” (what the hell does that even mean???)

She’s going to “just chill & let all of the other overexposed blondes on the cover of Us Weekly be your entertainment… GOOD LUCK GIRLS!!”

…and so much more. Honestly, I nearly spit my coffee out from laughing while I was reading it.

Screw it, here it is in full-

Dear Fans,

I am going to start writing this column now as often as possible. The reason being is so I can talk directly to you, my fans, who have stuck by me & who continue to support me. Also, I’m not going to be as busy as my Mom. She’s running behind my sister like crazy! I am also going to take some time off to enjoy life. I’ve actually learned to say “NO!” With this newly found freedom, its like people don’t know how to act around me. Should we talk to her like we did when she was 16 or like the Icon everyone says she is? My prerogative right now is to just chill & let all of the other overexposed blondes on the cover of Us Weekly be your entertainment… GOOD LUCK GIRLS!! I’m sorry that my life seemed like it was all over the place the past 2 years, it’s probably because IT WAS! I understand now what they mean when they talk about child stars. Going & going & going is all I’ve ever known since I was 15 years old. It’s amazing what advisors will push you to do, even if it means taking a naive, young, blonde girl & putting her on the cover of every magazine.

I know now that my knee gave out on me this past summer so that I would have no choice but to stop. My body was shutting down and needed rest. It’s funny how the Man upstairs works. Right now, I have to go– I really want to watch “Saved” with Mandy Moore and re-runs of “Sex and the City.” I want to enjoy all of the simple things that I missed over the past few years due to working way too much.

Being married is GREAT and I can’t wait to start my family! There is so much change going on right now… not only with me, but in the world, as well. So, the next time you see my face, hear one of my songs or even if I’m the topic of your next conversation, please remember that times are changing & so am I.

Love always, Britney

P.S. I look forward to writing you all again soon. Kevin and I are finally able to take our Honeymoon!!

Did you know over 90% of people who die from flu each year are aged under 65! With 90% of those dieing from flu being young and the flu shot a safe vaccination everyone should get a flu shot.

I’ve already had mine, I’m in my early forties and have lost count the number of times I’ve suffered from flu, it really does suck.

Flu Season: What You Need To Know

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First up: Creative Writing for Game Design.

Then later tonight I have Graphics File Format and Data Compression Techniques.

Well, the writing class is going to be odd as hell, it’s with an English teacher who has some wonky ideas

And as for the graphics file format class…I swear, that teacher always turns CS classes into math classes

Up for today, I get Design and Analysis of Algorithms, Advanced Mechanics, and History of Film and Animation. I’m pissed off at the latter, since in addition to being a 3 hour class on Wednesdays, I also apparently have to go in every Friday and watch more films!

Anyone else starting up school, and/or are taking any interesting classes?

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Perhaps, an even better question, is if gamers prefer gameplay or graphics in their games? I believe there have been several releases that have allowed gamers to provide an answer to this very question. My analysis of Half-Life 2 and also an outsider’s impression of World of Warcraft (WoW) are below.

Let’s start with Half-Life 2

Here, we have a game that has been in development for a very long time and followed by a long release delay. Even though, it has nice features and one of the best single-player stories I’ve seen in a long time, the engine and it’s features have become quite dated now. Even if it did release last year, FarCry’s graphics and other features put it to shame.

Regardless, if I were to pick between FarCry or Half-Life 2, I would have to go with Half-Life 2 for sure. Why? Because the gameplay and story was just more fun to play. I really felt like I was a character in a movie, which had a decent story and held on to it. One of the worst things we see many games do, is that they start out with a nice story and then they take it off on some other mutant or psycho tangent.

So, score one for gameplay. FarCry had better graphics, but Half-Life 2′s gameplay will bring me back.

Now, let’s look at World of Warcraft and EverQuest 2

Both MMORPG games released close together. I had the chance to really play EverQuest 2 and learn it’s gameplay and graphics, but I denied a chance to play WoW after a failed attempt to get into the open beta (thanks GameSpy for the lame exclusives you had on World of Warcraft). Most of my arguments against WoW is really with it’s low-poly graphics engine. Although, there are many out there that would argue against me in order to defend WoW, they end up admitting the same conclusion in the end.

With EverQuest 2, my biggest complaint was with the gameplay. It just wouldn’t cut it at all as a single player and fails even more as an MMO, IMO anyway. It did have some nice graphics, which didn’t look low-poly, no matter how small the creatures were. But, it lacked the feeling of being a unique character and the missions and combat system within the stagnant environment really drags the gameplay down to a waste of money.

So, if I was really interested in playing one of these, I would most likely get my money and enjoyment out of World of Warcraft, over the waste of time in EverQuest 2. I think the middle-road MMORPG that offers a blend of both, will be the upcoming Guild Wars. But, more on this in the future.

To summarize then, for me, I would go for gameplay over graphics. But, there is a point where I draw the line with graphics. Since, I only have limited time to play (with work and family requiring time), I can be pretty selective. But, there are many others out there in the same boat.

This means that game developers really should take a break and analyze what gamers are really looking for in a game. As the next generation games are now a here generation, it’s time to look forward to another evolution to where game developers get with it, and start providing the right mix of features and deliver what gamers really want. Hopefully, in the process, we’ll see a shakeout in the industry where the copy-cats and wannabes fade off, leaving the real game developers that have the gamer in mind, rather than profits. Somewhere in the future, a game is coming to where we don’t have to make a choice between gameplay or graphics.

Until then, I’ll keep my eye out for the first game to satisfy all of the categories that would make a great game.

BTW, what would you choose?
Gameplay or Graphics?

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You can use your mobile phone to get information by text message direct from Google. As Google explains, “Send your query as a text message and get phone book listings, dictionary definitions, product prices and more. Just text. No links. No web pages. Simply the answers you’re looking to find.”

For example, send a text message (called an SMS) to 46645 (GOOGL) that reads “China Garden Chicago, IL” and you get a message back that says “China Garden 2256 North Clark Street Chicago IL (773) 477-3219.” You can even be more general and send “Chinese food 60614″ and see what they recommend.

I will never pay T-Mobile $.99 per 411 call again. I now have even more love for those people at Google.

SEGAMAT: Malaysians will soon get to have personalised registration number plates for their vehicles, by paying an extra fee.

“However, there are still some finer details which we need to look into before Malaysians can apply to have their own personalised registration number plates,” Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy said here.

“We are also looking into the formats for the plate, whether to allow names, numbers or both,” he said after opening the Segamat Road Transport Department branch office here yesterday.

The Road Transport Department (JPJ) has submitted the proposal to the ministry for evaluation.

Imagine that, in Malaysia personalised car number plates are currently NOT available where in the west it’s the norm (at least I assume it’s the norm?)!

I wonder why they’ve never introduced them until now, would be interested in a comment if anyone knows the history of this?

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So I get to the airport at around 8 and they say to me – we overbooked your flight would you mind taking a flight tomorrow morning?

I looked over and there was a family on stand by and I thought [I didnt want to split them up but darn it I am trying to get to a party tonight].

The airline staff saw that I was hesitant and said that in the morning I would fly 1st class, get a voucher for $400.00, and have hotel stay for the night at the airport hotel- so then I said SOLD!

Finally its morning and I OVER SLEPT!!!!! I high tail it down to the terminal area for boarding and they say there is a 30 minute cut off for boarding and luggage. The guy lets me pass but says that my luggage may not make it. I panic and tell him to do what he can.

I run to the security area, strip and show ID well wouldnt you know it that my DL is expired (cuz I just had a birthday and it didn’t come in the mail yet) this was not a problem the night before (mind you). I tell the main staff member the situation and they gave me a full body search.

At that time it was about 10-15 minutes before take off- and I was running like the family on home alone but I was not laughing. I made it to the gate and boarded while huffing and puffing.

I arrive in Vegas, get my baggage and meet with friends who were nice enough to pick me up. We went straight to the convention center which was packed!

For the rest of the day we checked out what CES had to offer and also did some work interviewing people. After that was over we arrived at the big azz home that was rented for us and relaxed a bit. CES has gadgets upon gadgets but it was the floor with the cars that got me revved up. They were so hawt and all kinds of tricked out.

Basically for the part of the week that CES was going on it was work by day and party by night. We went to Ziff Davis Party, MTV/Microsoft Party & WITI/PMS Party all of which were a blast. Especially the hot tub *wink wink*- what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Nah it wasn’t too crazy but it was so much fun hanging with my girls again.

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