Diary of a Network Geek

So, a funny thing happened Friday night.

As I wrote in my last entry, I went to dinner with three friends Friday, to celebrate one’s birthday. The prettier half of the married couple, actually, L. To make things easier, I ran by their apartment and rode with them to A’s apartment. As per usual, I snuck past the security gate behind someone else and popped up to their apartment to visit for a moment before we left to gather up our last gustatory adventurer.

We walked down to their car and I went around to the rear passenger-side door via the back of the car. I watched with growing horror as the couple parted, J going to the driver’s seat and L going, by herself, to the front passenger side door. She opened her door and let herself in. I sat down behind her.

“So, you guys have been married for a long time now, haven’t you?” I asked, knowing that it had been less than a year.
“What do you mean?” J asked me as his wife started to laugh. “What?”
“I think he was asking why you didn’t open the door for me.”

That scene repeated several times before J was finally shamed into opening his wife’s door for her.
You try to raise them right, but these kids today…

Advice from your Uncle Jim:
"We cannot be sure that we have something worth living for unless we are ready to die for it."
   --Eric Hoffer

Well, not quite, but close.
In the UK, they’re going to be “chipping” their license plates. Among other things, that will mean that those plates can be tracked by the proper authorities via GPS. Yeah, the proper authorities. And, if that phrase didn’t strike enough terror into your heart, how about this… The article goes on to say that U.S. authorities are looking into this. How long before we’re greeted with “Hello citizen!” when the damn car door opens!?
Okay, this disturbs me on many levels. Setting aside the potential for governmental abuse and eroding the rights of the individual, what if hackers were to get into this system? Can you imagine the damage that could be done? It was bad enough when the old phone phreaks rerouted calls and made it look like calls originated in ficticious locations, but this, this has some really scary potential. Well, so far, it’s just over there in the UK, but, if the U.S. government is looking into this… Watch the skies, citizens. Remember, the price of liberty is eternal vigilance!
(Bonus points for anyone who can tell me where that quote originates. At least, with me.)