I cannot imagine a bunch of crooks like these guys NOT having an exit strategy in place,
Truth be told, I've mulled over this very thought in my mind. I strongly suspect there is no exit strategy and there never was one. The hugely narcissistic egos involved would never admit to even speculating on any kind of failure to their schemes. How can you have an exit strategy if you can't conceive of even a remote possibility of anyone objecting to your superlatively superior intellect?
I also suspect the smartest or .. most probably .. the most cunning of the bunch was Lutz. I doubt he was 'done in' by his compatriots nor do I think he's still working in cahoots with the Prenda Cohort. Rather, he's simply gathered together what he could in liquid assets including what he could get from the Prenda Cohort as the price for his silence and has exited 'stage left'. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if no one in the Prenda Cohort can even contact him anymore.
My opinion is based on both the concept of "Never attribute to malice what can be done by stupidity" and of seeing first hand people who simply cut their losses and run at the first sign of trouble.
What I find really funny is that the remaining Prendanistas appear to be too egotistical to cut their losses and admit defeat much less admit they're wrong.
Some disclaimers. I'm not a handwriting expert. I've never qualified as any kind of expert witness. I'm merely speculating and expressing my opinion.
Having gotten the disclaimers out of the way, I would like to share a few observations.
As an (ex)artist, I see signatures as 'works of art'. From my perspective, the 'z' in both signatures could not possibly be by the same artist. On the other hand, the vertical sw/loops in the purported Nov BS5 Lutz signature match very closely in style and feel with Steele's on signature on the same document. Funny that.
I spent two years in college pursuing a fine arts degree. As part of that, I took 4 semesters of drawing. In addition to at least one major drawing every week, we were required to do 50 rough sketches each and every week. Am I being pointless here?
Not really. It meant that every week, we spent every Fri afternoon doing group critiques of each other's work. It didn't take very long be able to identify anyone's work the first time you saw it in class. This was one course of study where you couldn't pay anyone to do your homework for you.
Signatures are very personal pieces of individual art. It takes real talent and skill to (at first glance) successfully forge someone's signature.
I can't imagine any ven diagram where the set including 'talent' and 'skill' intersect with the set 'Prenda Team'.
Some disclaimers. I'm not a handwriting expert. I've never qualified as any kind of expert witness. I'm merely speculating and expressing my opinion.
Having gotten the disclaimers out of the way, I would like to share a few observations.
As an (ex)artist, I see signatures as 'works of art'. From my perspective, the 'z' in both signatures could not possibly be by the same artist. On the other hand, the vertical sw/loops in the purported Nov BS5 Lutz signature match very closely in style and feel with Steele's on signature on the same document. Funny that.
I spent two years in college pursuing a fine arts degree. As part of that, I took 4 semesters of drawing. In addition to at least one major drawing every week, we were required to do 50 rough sketches each and every week. Am I being pointless here?
Not really. It meant that every week, we spent every Fri afternoon doing group critiques of each other's work. It didn't take very long be able to identify anyone's work the first time you saw it in class. This was one course of study where you couldn't pay anyone to do your homework for you.
Signatures are very personal pieces of individual art. It takes real talent and skill to (at first glance) successfully forge someone's signature.
I can't imagine any ven diagramm where the set including 'talent' and 'skill' intersect with the set 'Prenda Team'.
When I was in High School {class of 1975}, we had a very interesting shop instructor. He used to say: "If you don't know how to misuse a hammer in at least 4 different ways, then you didn't know how to use a hammer."
When it came to using a table saw {or any power tool}, he would put his philosophy in action and physically demonstrate all the ways to _not_ use said table saw {tool}. i.e. Remove blade guard. Don't use a push stick. Don't use a hold down when it was possible to use one. Don't use a rip fence {push wood through 'free hand'}.
We saw chunks and splinters of wood fly the entire length of the shop floor {easily 40'plus}. He even demonstrated a dummy's arm sleeve getting caught.
Watching all the bad things that could happen taught me two things.
1) Always pay attention to what you're doing.
2) The best way to learn about anything worthwhile is to learn how to abuse it every way you can. That makes a much more lasting impression than someone droning about safety practices.
From 1974 through 2004, I never injured myself with any power tool. In 2004, I managed to slice off 1/8" of one finger nail tip on a table saw. I pay even closer attention now.
I see no difference between learning how to abuse any hand tool at least four different ways and learning how to hack my servers.
You can't learn the safest way to handle anything if you don't know how to abuse it. If you're a network or server admin of any kind, this is exactly the kind of practical, hand's on article you need to see and do and learn to best protect your network.
Shame on B&N to take it upon themselves to censor Linux Format Magazine for the magazine's excellent article on penetration testing.
Techdirt has not posted any stories submitted by No Tell-n What.
Fishing - No no no
They just want to go fishing. Period. ".. up to no good" is simply an excuse.
Stalking by any other name
The real take away* here is:
1) Become a cop
2) Stalk
..
..
3) Score!
* From that perennial Law Enforcement Library favourite How to Stalk Women and Cop a Feel with Impunity
Re:
"Stuff"
'Nuff said.
Icy Hot
Rubs eyes with Icy Hot .. I didn't just see that. I didn't just see that.
Re: Prendators and Prey
Truth be told, I've mulled over this very thought in my mind. I strongly suspect there is no exit strategy and there never was one. The hugely narcissistic egos involved would never admit to even speculating on any kind of failure to their schemes. How can you have an exit strategy if you can't conceive of even a remote possibility of anyone objecting to your superlatively superior intellect?
I also suspect the smartest or .. most probably .. the most cunning of the bunch was Lutz. I doubt he was 'done in' by his compatriots nor do I think he's still working in cahoots with the Prenda Cohort. Rather, he's simply gathered together what he could in liquid assets including what he could get from the Prenda Cohort as the price for his silence and has exited 'stage left'. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if no one in the Prenda Cohort can even contact him anymore.
My opinion is based on both the concept of "Never attribute to malice what can be done by stupidity" and of seeing first hand people who simply cut their losses and run at the first sign of trouble.
What I find really funny is that the remaining Prendanistas appear to be too egotistical to cut their losses and admit defeat much less admit they're wrong.
Re: "I say the signature is a forgery."
I agree.
Some disclaimers. I'm not a handwriting expert. I've never qualified as any kind of expert witness. I'm merely speculating and expressing my opinion.
Having gotten the disclaimers out of the way, I would like to share a few observations.
As an (ex)artist, I see signatures as 'works of art'. From my perspective, the 'z' in both signatures could not possibly be by the same artist. On the other hand, the vertical sw/loops in the purported Nov BS5 Lutz signature match very closely in style and feel with Steele's on signature on the same document. Funny that.
I spent two years in college pursuing a fine arts degree. As part of that, I took 4 semesters of drawing. In addition to at least one major drawing every week, we were required to do 50 rough sketches each and every week. Am I being pointless here?
Not really. It meant that every week, we spent every Fri afternoon doing group critiques of each other's work. It didn't take very long be able to identify anyone's work the first time you saw it in class. This was one course of study where you couldn't pay anyone to do your homework for you.
Signatures are very personal pieces of individual art. It takes real talent and skill to (at first glance) successfully forge someone's signature.
I can't imagine any ven diagram where the set including 'talent' and 'skill' intersect with the set 'Prenda Team'.
Re: "I say the signature is a forgery."
I agree.
Some disclaimers. I'm not a handwriting expert. I've never qualified as any kind of expert witness. I'm merely speculating and expressing my opinion.
Having gotten the disclaimers out of the way, I would like to share a few observations.
As an (ex)artist, I see signatures as 'works of art'. From my perspective, the 'z' in both signatures could not possibly be by the same artist. On the other hand, the vertical sw/loops in the purported Nov BS5 Lutz signature match very closely in style and feel with Steele's on signature on the same document. Funny that.
I spent two years in college pursuing a fine arts degree. As part of that, I took 4 semesters of drawing. In addition to at least one major drawing every week, we were required to do 50 rough sketches each and every week. Am I being pointless here?
Not really. It meant that every week, we spent every Fri afternoon doing group critiques of each other's work. It didn't take very long be able to identify anyone's work the first time you saw it in class. This was one course of study where you couldn't pay anyone to do your homework for you.
Signatures are very personal pieces of individual art. It takes real talent and skill to (at first glance) successfully forge someone's signature.
I can't imagine any ven diagramm where the set including 'talent' and 'skill' intersect with the set 'Prenda Team'.
Four Ways to Abuse a Hammer
When I was in High School {class of 1975}, we had a very interesting shop instructor. He used to say: "If you don't know how to misuse a hammer in at least 4 different ways, then you didn't know how to use a hammer."
When it came to using a table saw {or any power tool}, he would put his philosophy in action and physically demonstrate all the ways to _not_ use said table saw {tool}. i.e. Remove blade guard. Don't use a push stick. Don't use a hold down when it was possible to use one. Don't use a rip fence {push wood through 'free hand'}.
We saw chunks and splinters of wood fly the entire length of the shop floor {easily 40'plus}. He even demonstrated a dummy's arm sleeve getting caught.
Watching all the bad things that could happen taught me two things.
1) Always pay attention to what you're doing.
2) The best way to learn about anything worthwhile is to learn how to abuse it every way you can. That makes a much more lasting impression than someone droning about safety practices.
From 1974 through 2004, I never injured myself with any power tool. In 2004, I managed to slice off 1/8" of one finger nail tip on a table saw. I pay even closer attention now.
I see no difference between learning how to abuse any hand tool at least four different ways and learning how to hack my servers.
You can't learn the safest way to handle anything if you don't know how to abuse it. If you're a network or server admin of any kind, this is exactly the kind of practical, hand's on article you need to see and do and learn to best protect your network.
Shame on B&N to take it upon themselves to censor Linux Format Magazine for the magazine's excellent article on penetration testing.