Computers, Security, Car Keys
I locked myself out of the car on Friday. Both my keys were on the keychain since I got a new wallet. The phone dispatcher wouldn't tell me what it would cost to unlock, or I would have gotten a ride and blogged to ask if anyone had lockpicking skills. The locksmith charged $123. That's almost half the cost of an Asus Eee ultra-mobile computer, my ultimate goal after paying off my last small debt and building an emergency fund. $123 is more than the cost of convention trips, classes, and other life-building experiences that I've exercised self-control to turn down. And there it went, gone, for what seems like nothing.
I put one of the two keys in my wallet. I made a new key and gave it to a close friend. I will make another one to keep at home.
I am starting to give my computers names, based on who gave them to me.
gave me two laptops this weekend. :) One has a failed hard drive and one has a failed motherboard. I need to use my Dremel tool to grind the little metal alignment tabs off the working hard drive so it will fit in the laptop with the working motherboard. Finally I'll have my first laptop computer.
I have to run Windows to operate the gigantimungous Duplicatorzilla to make Poddisc.com CDs. I am no longer using Windows since two of my computers died. I'm running Ubuntu Linux on the one gave me. The Mac Mini that gave me runs the latest MacOS X, of course. I tried using Apple's Bootcamp to install Windows on a partition of the Mac Mini, but it said there was a hard drive problem. Disk Utility said it couldn't verify the disk.
To get Duplicatorzilla up and running fastest, I'll put a backed-up hard disk from the old fried PCs into the PC, format it, and install Windows on that. The long term solution will be to install Windows on the laptop and put Ubuntu Linux back on the PC. I love the usability of Ubuntu, which is right up there with Mac OS X, so it's my primary environment. But Ubuntu misrecognizes the wireless on this particular Toshiba laptop hardware and installs a driver that bricks the entire system.
I've been listening to a computer text-to-speech synthesized recording of "Little Brother" by Cory Doctorow. (Download it from Cory's site for free in a nearly limitless number of text formats.)
I am consuming the novel in small doses, because it has been an emotional roller-coaster. Cory's prologue was exhilarating as usual, and the counter-surveillance and dissident HOWTOs are fascinating (see them here). The novel itself has triggered a non-stop chemical bath of fear and rage in my brain. The surveillance officer at the school, the Homeland Security interrogator, and the profiling SFPD officers all took an attitude that I found very familiar. It didn't matter that the protagonist had done nothing to harm anyone. All he had done was free himself from their supervision. It wasn't about security, or country, or God, or training you to be a better person, or other excuses. It was about them. It was about power. It was about your attitude toward power, toward them.
I had to take a break from work to hunker in a bathroom stall, stop trembling, calm my breathing, and just turn my mind to something other than authoritarians and their abuses. I wish I could figure out how to distribute a copy of "Little Brother" to every student at Pensacola Christian College. If the techniques described in this book can help dissidents in Iran and China, it can help them retain some privacy and dignity, some semblance of human adult responsibility and control.
At least it can be said that PCC does not manacle anyone in a cramped cell to urinate on themselves in solitary confinement. PCC administrators would probably think that deserves some kind of merit badge for restraint. The higher-ups would understand that the comment is meant as damnation with faint praise, but some of their drooling stooges would need to be told explicitly.
For now I'll just try to get a printed copy of "Little Brother" into the hands of my own little brother, when I can budget for it, before he goes back there.
Comments
beamjockey on Jun. 2, 2008 10:52 PM
Keys: I carry two sets of car and house keys, in different pockets. Kinda paranoid, but I haven't locked myself out in recent decades.
For now I'll just try to get a printed copy of "Little Brother" into the hands of my own little brother, when I can budget for it, before he goes back there.
Inscribe a URL for online copies in the book, so if he wants to share it with others it'll be easy. (Maybe Cory and Tor have already done this.)
matt-arnold on Jun. 2, 2008 11:26 PM
Knowing the author, I'm sure the URL is in the printed book. However, PCC has Draconian internet restrictions which, if I recall correctly, might be based on a list of permitted sites, so the students would be unlikely to reach the web version.
Using the students to distribute the book would not work. It would be an expellable offense. The rules explicitly state that student organization results in summary expulsion. Even knowing about such activity without reporting it is severely penalized up to and including expulsion. This was demonstrated while I was going to school there and there was a short-lived underground student newspaper. Andy has already been expelled from there once, and probably wouldn't risk it again.
sheryl67 on Jun. 3, 2008 12:06 AM
I feel a great need to hug you now. I guess I'll have to wait until I see you next.
matt-arnold on Jun. 3, 2008 12:08 AM
I appreciate it.
brendand on Jun. 3, 2008 2:05 AM
You should also be aware that a membership to AAA for one year is something in the neighborhood of $30, and that will cover you to unlock your car anytime, and they will bring you gas if you run out (although you have to pay for gas). Much cheaper than paying for a locksmith. *AND* you can sign up over the phone next time you're locked out... although you may have to pay by credit card if you do that, and IIRC, you don't carry one...?
brendand on Jun. 3, 2008 2:05 AM
Also - Two laptops?! If they've got an extra one... pls feel free to send it my way.
matt-arnold on Jun. 3, 2008 2:14 AM
Two broken laptops, neither of which function. We're combining working parts from them to form one working Frankenlaptop.
Anonymous on Jun. 3, 2008 3:45 AM — Locked in keys
You know... I have locked myself out of many cars over the years and have never payed for a locksmith. You should have just broken in. Even busting out the windshield would have cost no more than your locksmith. Dude you got robbed. A tow truck driver could probably have gotten you in for less. An bent coat hanger and a great deal of patience is free. I have even used a friends replica sword to pry a door lock. Next time "if there is one" give me a call.
Your Pal Narfboy
fromrain2smiles on Jun. 3, 2008 7:35 AM
Most car insurance companies not only AAA will cover the cost of a locksmith. Call your car insurance they may cover it.
uplinktruck on Jun. 4, 2008 3:18 AM
Thanks for letting us know about the e-book.
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