Technology, Books and Other Neat Stuff

You can't take it with you.

Take only photographs, leave as few footprints as possible. That's the message of the National Park Service, especially with regards to the crystal trees of the Petrified Forest. Like the lava of Kilauea, there's a purported curse, and you see letters on the walls of the visitor centre detailing the bad luck that's befallen those who've walked off with pieces of the brightly coloured rocks.

Someone still wanted to make their mark on the park, and on the edge of the self-guided hike near the visitor centre we spotted this little cairn.



Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona
November 2009

If Michael Westin lived on a boat in Fort Lauderdale rather than in a loft in Miami South Beach, and if he drove Rolls Royce pickup rather than a Dodge Charger, and if Sam was called Myers, and was an economist rather than an ex-spy, wouldn't we be watching a Travis McGee series?

So close.

So close.

We'd heard a few rumours from sources in the security community that something "really bad" was going down, but it seems that the news is out at last.

Someone has leaked Santa's Naughty List to the Internet at large.

Arweena, a spokes-elf for Santa Claus, admitted a few hours ago that the database posted at WikiLeaks yesterday is indeed the comprehensive 2009 list of which kids have been naughty, and which were nice. The source of the leak is unclear. It may have come from a renegade reindeer, or it could be the work of a clever programmer in the Ukraine. Either way, it's a terrible black eye for Santa. Arweena promised that in the future, access to this database would be restricted on a “need to know” basis. And you know who that means!

So, are you on The List?