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Making Mincemeat of the Germans

In the opening days of World War II, the Germans enjoyed significant advantages over the Allies in almost every category you can think of. They had more soldiers, better officers, and more of just about any materiel an army would need. So when the war started, the Allies were almost powerless to stop the Nazi machine.

Almost. While the Brits couldn’t keep up with the Germans on the battlefield, they were more than a match for them behind the scenes. Instead of “fighting harder”, the British “fought smarter”. So while the Germans were deploying tanks and troops, the Brits were busy deploying code breakers, spies and helping resistance movements wherever possible. Their experience at “dirty tricks” would come in handy throughout the war – especially when it came time to invade Italy. And that’s where “Operation Mincemeat” comes in.

As the Allies saw it, their first task was to kick the Germans out of North Africa… which is exactly what they did. Their next target was Italy, but this presented a problem. The Allies knew the most logical place to invade Italy was Sicily. But so did the Germans. In fact, everyone in the world knew that Sicily was the Allies’ next target. Churchill himself even said that “[a]nyone but a fool would realize it’s Sicily”. So the question was… how to fool the Germans into thinking the Allies would land somewhere else?

How about taking a corpse, dressing it up as a military officer, handcuffing a briefcase full of “top secret documents” to it and shoving the whole mess into the sea where the Germans were sure to find it?

If that sounds like the plot of a third-rate spy novel… well, yeah. It does. And even though many of his superiors were certain that the plan would fail, Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu was sure that it would work.

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Wow!!!

Oh my gosh! Check out this HAWT new picture of Madonna! Sure, it’s photoshopped to hell and back, but man… the woman looks incredible to be 49, no?

Madonna… WOW! (sm)

Click to enlarge

If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go drool now!

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Tweaking Tracfone’s Moto w370

Tracfone is America’s largest prepay-only wireless provider. They have good service and great rates for people like me that only talk around 30 minutes a month. Unfortunately, the phones they sell are a bit dated and decidedly low-tech. Their new Motorola w370 looks and feels an awful lot like the RAZR, but unfortunately, it’s crippled in a lot of ways. For example, the box advertises (heh – almost screams about) customizable wallpaper and MP3 ringtones. But, like all things in life, there’s a catch. Although the w370 has a mini-USB port, the phone’s locked, and the USB port doesn’t work. So to the Average Joe, the only way to get customized ringtones or wallpapers is to buy them through Tracfone’s website. The manual even says that explicitly: “Want cool wallpapers and ringtones? Go to Tracfone.com today!” Now, nothing I’m about to tell you is “illegal” or “immoral”… But it’s information that Tracfone usually isn’t very willing to give.

First of all, add the following addresses to your email address book:

myphonenumber@mms.att.net
myphonenumber@txt.att.net

where “myphonenumber” is your full 10-digit Tracfone number. We’ll need these addresses in a minute.

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2 Minute History Lesson: The UK

I’ve been to several different countries in my lifetime, and I’ve formed the opinion that the “average American” is about as smart as the “average Briton” or the “average German”. But one thing Americans as a whole seem to have great difficulty with is the difference between “England”, “Great Britain” and the “United Kingdom”. Americans tend to use these names interchangeably, and this is not correct. So take a couple of minutes to learn the difference:

There is a large island off the northern coast of France. This island – that is, the physical island itself – is known as Great Britain. Great Britain was traditionally divided into two separate countries: England and Scotland. However, Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603 and left no heir. This led to King James VI of Scotland – a descendant of Henry VII through his great-grandmother Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII’s eldest sister – being offered the English crown. James accepted, and became known as King James I in England.

It’s important to understand that although James was king of both countries, the two were still independent nations at the time. England and Scotland each had their own form of parliament, currency, customs procedures, army, navy, legal and educational systems… and all those other things that make one country different from another. King James himself would lead the first movement to unify England and Scotland; although he was unsuccessful, the idea persisted. In 1707, the Act of Union was passed by both the English and Scottish parliaments. With this act, both “England” and “Scotland” ceased to exist, and one nation called the United Kingdom of Great Britain was formed.

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Just for fun!

Happy Friday, everyone!

I don’t normally post downloadable music on this site, mainly ‘cos I don’t want the Music Police breaking my door down. But I will make an exception for this Duran Duran bootleg I picked up on the ‘Net the other day. It’s from an radio show called “The Source” (no, I hadn’t heard of it either). Apparently “The Source” was part of NBC Radio’s “Young Adult Network”, for what that’s worth.

Anyway, the show was recorded live on November 16, 1982 at Hammersmith Odeon in London. Here’s the track list:

01. Introduction
02. (Waiting for the) Nightboat
03. New Religion
04. Save a Prayer
05. Planet Earth
06. Friends of Mine
07. Careless Memories
08. Rio
09. Hungry Like the Wolf
10. Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
11. Girls on Film
12. Outro

The music files are in MP3 format, 192kbps CBR. Also included are scans of the album’s “artwork” (it’s a generic NBC Radio sleeve with program notes on it) as well as the actual disc label. A 500×500 version of the disc label pic has been embedded into the ID3 tag… ‘cos that’s how I roll.

Click here to download the zip file
(97.7 MB)

Sorry folks! The file has been deleted.
Not by court order or anything – I just didn’t want it on the server any more.

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Tweaking SETUPP.INI

One problem that tech support guys face – especially third-party types who go to different homes or companies – is that of reinstalling Windows XP on computers with different types of licenses. Some people buy retail copies of Windows XP at Best Buy or Office Depot. Some people get Windows XP preloaded on a computer from Dell or HP. Still others have computers provided for them by their employer, and that employer uses a Volume Licensing copy of XP.

The problem with all these different versions is that the CD keys for each version don’t work with any other version. So a Windows XP retail CD won’t accept an OEM license key. Likewise, an OEM CD won’t accept volume license or retail keys. And a volume license CD won’t accept retail or OEM keys.

So – does this mean that us tech support folks have to buy multiple copies of Windows XP just to reinstall them on their client’s computers? Not at all! You can easily tweak the SETUPP.INI file found on the XP installation CD to do two things: change what type of installation media setup thinks you have, and change what type of key your media will accept.

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Today’s News

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve… DONE THE NEWS! (/cue “The Daily Show” theme)

Popular music trading site OiNK was shut down by British authorities today; rather than feel sadness at the loss of the site, or fear that other sites might be next, I’m actually feeling a bit of schadenfreude about it, since I could never get an invite to the site… hehehehe!

Joey Bishop died last Thursday at 89.  He was the last of the original Rat Pack, and was my least favorite member. How could poor Joey compete with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Peter Lawford? Bishop will be missed – just like an “artist” in Providence, Rhode Island that built a secret apartment in an unused storage space at Providence Place Mall. He lived there off and on for four years before mall security finally noticed the apartment… which included “a sectional sofa and love seat, coffee and breakfast tables, chairs, lamps, rugs, paintings, a hutch filled with china, a waffle iron, TV and Sony Playstation 2”. Check out the artist’s website and wonder how lame mall security was to miss this for four years!

Boring old landline phones don’t get much love these days, so check this out: Priestman Goode has created an ultra-thin telephone which can be made out of made out of cardboard or plastic… and even mailed using a standard first-class stamp! At 4mm thick and around the size of an A5 envelope, the phone looks more like a greeting card than… well, a phone!

Speaking of neat stuff, some bright person got the idea of selling “rust stickers” that make your car or bike look like a rusted piece of junk, in hopes of deterring thieves. The stickers actually look pretty real (click the link for pics), and one satisfied user says that he’s used them on his “shiny new bike” for 13 days in London and it hasn’t been stolen yet!

Hey, speaking of thieves… check out this post at The Consumerist… Apparently one Best Buy store is charging $9.99 for an “open box” 3ft. component video cable. The only problem with that? The regular price is $7.99! I hate that store!

To finish out the “thieves” train of thought… Mona Shaw is an elderly, law-abiding American. But she got so angry with cable company Comcast that she went to her local office and started smashing a CSR’s computer with a hammer. Shaw was quoted as saying that “I scared the tar out of some people, at least…It had never occurred to me to take a hammer to a phone company before, but I was just so upset. . . . After I hit the keyboard, I turned to this blonde who had been there the previous Friday, the one who told me to wait for the manager, and I said, ‘ Now do I have your attention?”“. The incident received so much attention that Comcast issued a press release asking customers not to rebel against their evil authority. Of course, Comcast is the same company that’s blocking Bittorrent, Gnutella… even Lotus Notes! Jackasses! All I know is that I’m glad that Time Warner is my cable company… and that Mona Shaw is my new hero!

Some dudes are using pumpkins as beer kegs!

And lastly… (you didn’t think I’d NOT post this, did you?) the deputy mayor of New Delhi, India was killed last Saturday, in an attack blamed on… MONKEYS! It seems that poor Mr. Bajwa was reading the newspaper on the first floor terrace of his home when he was attacked by a band of wild monkeys. Whilst fighting them off, Bajwa slipped and fell off the terrace, which apparently broke his neck. Oh – and the local exterminators’ solution to the problem??? More monkeys! Yep, city officials have hired people using langurs to fight off macaques, which are the species of monkey that apparently terrorize New Delhi.

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Why “Mad Men” is GREAT!

As I mentioned in this post from a few days ago, Mad Men is an original series on American Movie Classics (AMC). It’s set in an advertising agency in New York in 1960. Unlike other shows which have a “goal” – like getting a brother out of prison or getting off a mysterious island – Mad Men isn’t “about” anything. It is, however, like taking a time machine back to 1960 and watching people live their lives. And it’s one of the best shows on TV right now. Watch the clip below and you’ll agree!

But first, some setup is needed. Don Draper (the one who does most of the talking in the clip) is an advertising executive and the show’s protagonist. But he is not what he seems. Born to a prostitute who died in childbirth, “Don” grew up with his father and step-mother. His father died when “Don” was ten, and his step-mother remarried an abusive jerk. Plus, they live in a really small town. So when the Korean War broke out, “Don” eagerly signed up for the Army. When he arrives in Korea, he’s paired with a lieutenant to build field hospitals (due to some Army screw-up, the rest of the soldiers in Don’s company were delayed, so it’s just “Don” and his commanding officer). But then a deadly accident happens, and “Don” sees a way out: just before passing out in pain, “Don” sees a way to start his life over again… by switching dog tags with his (obviously dead) lieutenant.

So most of Don’s life is a lie. Although he has a beautiful wife and children, he constantly lives with fear, uncertainty and guilt. And the guilt only gets worse when he starts having affairs. It all comes crashing down on Don during this clip, where he’s pitching an ad campaign for the new “wheel” feature of slide machines to some executives from Kodak:

Folks, if that’s not Emmy worthy acting, I just don’t know what is! You should really, really, really watch the show… I’m serious… it’s beyond excellent!