rinnywee

Australia and US to swap refugees

Is this even legal? Can two countries agree to swap their refugees (asylum seekers, boat people, whatever you want to call them) at will? When a person seeks asylum in Australia, for example, do they renounce all rights to where they live? Let's say they changed their mind and wanted to return to their home country, would Australia be obliged to let them go or can they be held indefinitely?

So it turns out that the bits of bone and ash that were once believed to be the remains of Joan of Arc actually belong to an Egyptian mummy.

In true French fashion, the researchers employed the expertise of perfume sniffers to help settle the case and they concluded that the remains smelled of "vanilla and plaster".

I sense something fishy here. My guess is that Keith Richards sniffed ol' Joanie's remains and then replaced them with whatever he could dig up from his back garden.

Da Vinci Code poster upsets Roman church



Rome April 25, 2006
A giant advertisement of the The Da Vinci Code movie hangs on the facade of the Rome's San Pantaleo church.

Religious authorities in Rome have demanded the withdrawal of a huge ad for the forthcoming movie The Da Vinci Code which has been erected across the facade of a state-owned church undergoing restoration.

Marco Frisina, head of liturgical affairs for the Rome diocese, called the publicity for the movie which has upset the Vatican a "provocation", adding that "places of worship must be respected".

The film is based on the best-seller by Dan Brown that postulates that the Church, spearheaded by its militant Opus Dei organisation, is covering up a union between Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalen which produced offspring.

The church of San Pantaleo, in the heart of Rome, belongs to the interior ministry.

The practice of covering up the scaffolding on historic buildings being renovated with massive commercial advertisements regularly sparks protests.

"We have asked for it to be taken down and we are waiting," parish priest Adolfo Garcia Duran told the Ansa news agency, adding the agreement of the local clergy should have been sought.

The Da Vinci Code is to be launched at the Cannes film festival next month.

This weekend is one of absolute relaxation. I am not doing anything. This is not entirely by choice, however, as my credit card was defrauded by Romanians and I had to cancel it, thereby leaving me with no cash and a chequebook that is only semi-useful to me as less and less places these days are accepting cheque. So, thank you Romanians! Thank you!

Apparently the likely cause of this fraud isn't the Internet, but the machines at the gas station which read cards. Luc was telling me that he saw a news report about it. They read all the information from the magnetic strip, and then fabricate a bunch of cards with this information. This is a practice known as Card Skimming. They then try to use the cards (usually failing due to not knowing the PIN) and either causing the owner to lose a lot of money, or to have their card cancelled and to have to wait a week (or so, since it's Easter and banks aren't open) for another card to arrive.

I'm hoping to hear from my bank sometime this week. I'll have to go pick up the card in person, but it's certainly been a pain with no cash. When the bank called me to inform me of the fraud (for which they get points) I had 20€ on me. I was told I'd have until the following morning to get some cash before my card was cancelled. I tried to take out the cash, and the machine ate it. So I've been living on 20€ and Ticket Restaurant all week. Not the easiest of endeavours, but on the plus side, it saves my bank account somewhat.

This entire episode has got me thinking, though. With such a focus on the Internet and the fraud that occurs therein on a daily basis, are banks shifting attention away from more, dare I say, traditional methods of card theft? The most common form of defence against skimming is the EMV card's chip device which supposedly makes it impossible to skim. French banks have been using this chips for over a decade, and since they started issuing these "smart" cards, ATM and credit card fraud has dropped approximately 90%. [Source] However it is apparently still possible get the needed information to fabricate cards.</p>

The Wikipedia entry on Card Skimming says there is a EMV chip reader on the market which makes a clone of cards. There is also the fact that not every country utilises EMV, and many still rely on the data included in the magnetic strip on the backs of cards - thereby making credit card fraud unlikely to become a thing of the past any time soon.

I broke my toe last night. That fucking hurts. That's all I'll say on it. Jesus H.

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Is it bad that when I read this headline (Top stars picked in alien search) I automatically thought of Tom Cruise, NOT astronomy?

Learn Pi!

Trust me, it's worth it.