Florida Style Fantasy Yacht

Growing up in Fort Lauderdale, you're surrounded by yachts. It is the yacht capital of the world after all. When you live there, you tend to fantasize about owning one too. After all, they're so common! I have a friend, Larry Hendry, who is living that fantasy, and he's doing it aboard a Fantasy yacht.

He purchased his Fantasy in 2005. He picked it up at the factory in Monticello, Kentucky with his wife and son and they took a "trip of a lifetime"cruising down the Mississippi to the West Coast of Florida. He is still planning a "Great Loop" trip some day. He enjoyed it so much that he established a Fantasy dealership in Hudson called Fantasy South. What got me thinking about it is that he sent me a video that features one of his yachts at the St. Petersburg Boat Show. Here it is ---




The Fantasy is actually built for how most people use their yachts. It is a houseboat. One of the things you notice when you pass the same yachts every day is that most of them spend 48 of every 52 weeks tied at the dock. When they do move, they're usually the backdrop for a cocktail party as they cruise down the Intracoastal looking stately. You don't see lots of yachts cruising offshore. Your guests are less likely to get seasick and barf all over your yacht inshore. It is also more scenic. You can admire the mansions you pass and the constant parade of other boats.

Although most yachts are used as floating condominiums close to shore, they have pretensions of being ocean spanning globetrotters. Consequently, they're powered by huge, thirsty twelve cylinder diesels, have cramped staterooms, narrow hallways, and require a crew. In contrast, a Fantasy is a floating condominium. It has a huge sundeck for parties and wide open spaces. It is built for what most people do -- cruising close to shore and having parties. An 85 foot Fantasy Coastal is powered by twin four cylinder diesels which is enough to push the yacht along at a good clip, but much more economical than huge multi-thousand horsepower diesels.

A Fantasy costs about the same as a waterfront condominium, but it can do something that no waterfront condo can do. It can move. St. Augustine in the winter too cold for you? No problem just cruise to the Keys. Keys too crowded for you? Head up the west coast through the Everglades National Park and the 10,000 islands area. I haven't found what their draft is but I'll bet they're shoal draft compared to most vessels the same size. The Coastal series protects the propellers in tunnels, which keeps the draft shallow and makes them perfect for cruising coastal Florida and the Keys.

I'll bet Larry will sell you whatever you want, but he specializes in the Coastals and they're perfect for Florida. They can be equipped with a saltwater corrosion protection package, come equipped with a higher pointed bow for cutting through waves offshore, and have reinforced hull sections. They have diesel v-drives in tunnels and marine air conditioning.

Imagine visiting Steinhatchee in scallop season. In the morning you take your dinghy scalloping, and that evening your eating fresh scallops pulled from the Gulf and just cooked in the fully equipped kitchen of your Fantasy. Wow! Now that's a dream not a fantasy! Enough fantasizing though, does anyone know where I can get an interest free 100 year loan for $700,000.00?

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A Weekend at the Blue Moon in Homosassa Springs, Florida

My wife and I recently got a weekend without the children for only the third time in fourteen years. We booked two nights at the Blue Moon Bed and Breakfast in Homosassa Springs. Check in is between 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m, but because of a late start we knew that we would not arrive in time so we called ahead. The hosts were very accomodating and said it would not be a problem. We arrived after dark and found ourselves on a very dark Fishbowl Road in Homosassa looking for the entrance to the Blue Moon. Fortunately, the gated entryway was well marked with a lighted sign. As we drove up the long narrow driveway, we were pleased to find that it looked very much like the pictures on the website. As soon as we got out of our vehicle, we could hear the pleasant splashing of the fountains.

It turned out that the owners John and Cindi were in charge that weekend. Normally, John's brother and sister-in-law are the hosts, but they were out of town. You enter through a gift shop with artwork done by the owners and their relations. It was immediately evident that John and Cindi were very pleasant and eager for you to enjoy your stay. We checked in and went to our room.

All five guest rooms are upstairs and arranged on either side of a great room that occupies the center of the house from one end to the other. A gas fireplace is at one end. Three rooms are on one side of the great room and two rooms and the kitchen are on the other side. A TV room stocked with movies, books, and a computer is downstairs. If you've brought a laptop or wifi equipped phone with you, there is no need to use the provided computer to access the internet. The house is equipped with a wifi network. I had no problem using it with my laptop or Sue's iPhone. Snacks, hot water for tea, and sodas are all available in the great room and kitchen at no additional charge. Beer , Smirnoff Ice, and bottled water are kept chilled in the refrigerator and are billed on an honor system. The beers were $2.50 each. An unchilled bottle of red wine and white wine are available in the room with wine glasses. I believe the white wine was $14.00 and the red $17.50. They also have a wine list of available wines that you can order before 9:00 p.m.

We stayed in the French room, which is the only one with a king size bed. A large jacuzzi tub and shower are in the bathroom. A battery operated "candle" is provided. Unfortunately, ours wasn't working so we didn't get to try it out. Of course, the room was not quite as large as it appeared in the pictures on the website, but it was large enough. Every room has two doors. One is off the great room and the other is onto a deck that extends along three sides of the house. The French room's outside door opens onto a large section of deck with a table and chairs and a view of the boathouse and water. Unfortunately, the weekend we stayed was cold, damp, and rainy. Otherwise, the deck would have been a perfect place to sit and read. Fortunately, the weather made a great opportunity to enjoy the gas fireplace. You can turn a valve to get a roaring fire or just enough for a warm glow. We were hungry so we left soon after our arrival to look for dinner. The hosts keep brochures and menus on hand for you and they're also happy to recommend restaurants to you.

Breakfast was provided both mornings at about 9:00 a.m. and both mornings it was good. Two coffees were provided --- one flavored and one regular. I don't like most flavored coffees so it was perfect for me. The first morning was blueberry pancakes, but I don't like fruit so John and Cindi made my pancakes plain. The second morning was a crustless quiche with ham and eggs. Breakfast is served at two tables in the great room. Jazz played softly in the background as we ate. We got a separate table to ourselves. Four rooms were occupied with couples. The main table seats six so we got the table for four to ourselves. The couples all seemed to come from within an hour or two drive of Homosassa.

After breakfast, everyone took off for the day. One couple took one of the canoes and paddled to the springs to see the manatees. Another sounded like they might hit a local flea market. The third couple apparently went for a drive. After a short drive around Homosassa Springs, we came back and rented the B & B's pontoon boat for a half day (a reasonable $95.00 including fuel). If you rent a boat be prepared to go nowhere fast, the whole Homosassa River seems to be one long, slow no wake zone due to the manatees. There was even less to historic Homosassa Springs than I expected. I was hoping for some galleries and shops, but I only saw one gallery.

We puttered down to the springs, which are located at the Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park. We didn't make it to the Park this trip, but it comes highly recommended. John said that he goes at least once every year. The park entrance is located on Fishbowl Road right next to the B & B. There were so many kayakers and snorkelers in the Springs that I turned around before getting over them. We still saw manatees though. It is easy to see how they get run over by boats, They swam directly under our slow moving pontoon boat, which provided a good view of them. We putted back up the river towards the Gulf and admired some of the riverfront homes as we went. We stopped for lunch near Monkey Island and then puttered along awhile longer before turning around. We got back just before the rain started in earnest.

One of the other guests was sitting outside in the gardens reading near the fountains. It looked like a pleasant way to spend an afternoon. The exterior of the Blue Moon is well landscaped, but the gardens aren't exactly formal. They appear to be planted with native species. There are some nicely babbling fountains near the front entrance. There is a pool around back, but given the weather we never even looked at it so I can't say much about it.

Oddly everyone seemed to gather back in the great room at the same time for naps and relaxation. We had some pleasant conversation with our fellow guests --- an interesting group of people. Cindi and John provided complimentary wine, cheese, and crackers at just the right time. Everyone seemed to disperse at about the same time and head out for dinner. We went to the local mall, which is nice enough but nothing to write home to mom about. We considered seeing a movie but none of the movies were showing at a time that worked. The theatre is hard to find. We drove around the mall several times looking for some sign of the theatre entrance. We finally flagged down a security guard. He told us that you had to enter through one of two Kmart entrances. He apparently gets that question alot.

Unfortunately, the weekend was over all too soon and it was time to head back to the real world. We'll be back. It is a nice spot to spend a romantic weekend for two. We really enjoyed it. We'd like to book it with four other couples that are friends some time. However, being the parents that we are, we kept saying, "We'll have to come back with the kids and show them that," or "The kids would love that." If we go back with the kids, we'll have to find someplace more appropriate for a family.

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Fat Actresses?

I first started thinking about this topic when I saw a magazine cover with a very cute Jennifer Love Hewitt in a black bikini declaring, "I'm not fat!" A little investigation online revealed these photos of Ms. Hewitt on a beach in Hawaii. Yep, those camera angles are pretty unflattering without airbrushing. But fat? No, she's not fat. She's probably pretty average for a woman her age. I think she looks pretty good in that bikini. Some of that is the advantage of age. I'm old enough now to appreciate just how cute most young women are. It really is a shame that youth is wasted on the young and judgmental.

One blog posted a picture of Hewitt from a Hanes underwear ad and commented on what a difference a few years makes. I'll bet you anything that the difference isn't the years but Photoshop and airbrushing. Even Cindy Crawford gets the full Photoshop treatment to smooth out wrinkles and shave inches off her thighs. There is hardly an image in a magazine or an ad today that isn't thoroughly altered to create an unbelievably perfect image of the subject. I once blogged about a time lapse video of a Dove ad that showed the process in minutes.

What drove me over the edge and finally caused me to post this was a review of 27 Dresses, which contained this line "They’re no Hepburn and Tracy, but Heigl—her quivering double chin a welcome sight in a profession of dangerously low BMI—and Marsden skillfully find the believable traits in their characters and turn them into some semblance of adults." "Quivering double chin"? MEOW! HISS! That's got to be one of the cattiest comments in movie review history. I spent the entire movie wondering how anyone could ever suggest that a very attractive woman with a totally flat stomach, a 12 inch waste, and no fat could possibly have double chins and anything but a low BMI. (Well, maybe she has some fat, but it is all in the right places.)

Okay, maybe these actors and actresses bring some of this on themselves by helping to promote an unrealistic image of themselves. I'll bet they're not complaining when the director strives for just the right camera angles or the advertisers break out the Photoshop to improve their pictures. But the rest of us don't have to contribute to this unrealistic image of what people really look like.

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Ben Stein's Commentaries

I've long been a fan of Ben Stein whether it is his deadpan delivery in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" or his display of intellectual prowess on "Win Ben Stein's Money." He has degrees in economics and law and was a speechwriter and lawyer for Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. These days you can catch him some Sunday mornings doing commentaries for CBS Sunday Morning, which may be my favorite TV show.

I always look forward to his commentaries. Probably because I find that I agree with him on most things. He has this uncanny ability to put what I'm thinking into words. Of course, he does it much more eloquently than I could whether it is a thank you to veterans, the Christmas season, or the arrest of Senator Larry Craig. (Seriously, don't the police have better things to do than hang out in men's rooms looking for ambiguous "signs" of homosexuality? And shame on the Republican legislators for their gutless response.)

This morning (Sunday, January 6, 2008) he put into words a common thought of mine. That is, that presidential candidates and politicians in general have a very inflated opinion of their own importance and ability to affect people's lives. Like I said, Mr. Stein was much more eloquent and less blunt than I just was. Most positive things in most people's lives (in fact, most things in most people's lives) occur in spite of the best efforts of politicians and not because of them. In Stein's view, the only people whose lives are really affected by politician's promises are the poorest Americans who actually depend on government programs. The only thing that really affects all of us is the ability of politicians to declare war. I agree. I've often felt that the U.S. President gets both too much credit and too much blame for the state of the economy. In fact, I believe that the U.S. economy is so huge that most effects of political meddling, good or bad, aren't seen until many years after the President who implemented them is out of office.

As for our day to day lives, it is our daily decisions and actions that determine the quality of our lives and not the politicians. I think they have more power to screw up our lives than they do to improve them. That's why I'd like to see even fewer laws, and a drastically smaller Federal government. If this is ever going to be a reality, people need to stop voting based on promises or the ability of the local politician to "bring home the bacon."

The transcripts of Stein's commentaries are posted on his website and videos of them can be found on the http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/sunday/main3445.shtml website for CBS News Sunday Morning. Unfortunately, Mr. Stein appears to be three months behind on his transcripts and the video is not yet posted. When the transcript or video for this morning's commentary is posted, I urge you to check it out.

Why Dell and Gateway Are Going Into Retail

I recently bought a Dell for my daughter. This was the first desktop that I ever purchased by simply walking into a store and walking out with a box. My Toshiba laptop was the first computer that I ever purchased at retail and not online. I went to the local WalMart and bought the second cheapest computer in stock. The cheapest was an eMachines. It came with a widescreen monitor, 2 GB of RAM, an AMD dual core processor, Vista, and a 250 GB hard drive for less than $1,000.00. One thing about just walking in and picking up a computer is that you don't have the same urge to upgrade, upgrade, upgrade that you do when ordering online. It works just fine for my daughter who was thrilled.

Having succeded with the Toshiba and a Dell, I decided to do the same thing for my new laptop. I went to the local OfficeMax, which had a supply of HPs, Sony's, and Toshibas. After looking them over, an employee pointed out to me that they had the HP Pavilion dv6000 for $799.99 bundled with an HP printer and digital camera. The dv6000 has an AMD processor (only my second), 2 GB of RAM (which is more than you can even add to the old Toshiba), a widescreen, Vista Home Premium, and a 160 GB hard drive.. It seemed like a no brainer to me. Plus with Christmas coming, I figured that I could give the printer to my daughter to go with her new Dell and the camera to my son. I took one. I had thought about buying a business laptop with Windows XP, which seemed to be available at Office Depot, but I figured that if I really hated Vista, I could retro-upgrade to the older more familiar experience of XP. So far, so good.

Pleasant Surprises: The widescreen is gorgeous. It is at least the equal of my Toshiba's and that was really good. The built in Altec Lansing speakers are 100 times better than the crummy Toshiba speakers. It is much lighter than my Toshiba. In fact, it is almost too light. The shell is clearly plastic, which may be one reason that it is so light, and I worry about the construction quality of this lightweight, plastic laptop. It is also very thin. It is much thinner than the Toshiba. However, the lightness and thinness make it a pleasure to travel with. It is the lightest, thinnest laptop I've ever owned. I buy my laptops to serve as a desktop replacement that I lug to work and back home again so lightness and thinness were never a priority before. It has a webcam and built in microphone, which I've never had before. I might have to try some video communications now.

Disappointments: The aforementioned lightweight, plasticky feel. Vista seems to take too long to boot up (not that my former XP laptop was a speed demon). It took me forever and multiple tries before I could get it to connect reliably to my home wireless network. At first, it didn't even seem to find the network and I thought it was broken. However, after monkeying around with the settings and exploring, I finally found one that worked. I've now connected to wireless networks at home, Orlando International Airport, a Microtel Hotel, my in-laws in Williamstown, a Howard Johnson's motel, and (at this very moment) my in-laws in Albany. Guess I've got it figured out. The touchpad has a virtual scroll bar on the right side so every time I brush it with my right palm the screen jumps around. It is pretty annoying. I've adjusted the pressure settings and it has improved, but it hasn't gone away completely. I loaded Office 2003 and now the EULA keeps popping up when I use it. According to a Crucial Memory scan, 2 GB is the maximum amount of RAM that the computer can handle. I'm going to investigate that further though. Given that 2 GB is the minimum recommended for Vista I'd like to have the option to add another 2 GB.

Over-all I am pretty happy with it, especially for the price of $799.99

An Update to Adventures in DIY Computer Upgrading

Remember that Toshiba laptop that I added RAM to and upgraded the hard drive myself? It died. Specifically, the LCD screen stopped working. It is very difficult to work on a computer when the screen looks plaid. Having already learned my lesson wasting time and money upgrading the hard drive myself, I immediately purchased a new laptop. "Immediately" may not be the right word. "Eventually" would be the right word, because first I just couldn't resist goofing around trying to be clever.

The Toshiba still worked except that you couldn't see anything on the screen. So I tried connecting it to a working monitor, which worked really well until I tried to tweak the settings. Silly me! I just had to tinker. After that, I had to try to figure out what was happening on the broken Toshiba screen and then drag the window that I was working with to the working screen. I couldn't get back to having the working screen show the Toshiba's desktop until I connected it to another monitor. I thought maybe I could just swap the Toshiba's recently upgraded hard drive to the Gateway. It fit easily and booted up, but it didn't work too well because of the differing hardware configurations. For some reason, I also couldn't get to my data.

I tried backing up my data to the old 40 GB hard drive, reformatting, and starting over. Well, somehow the data didn't back up and I lost it. In the end, I ended up with a broken but still working Toshiba and a Gateway that is missing essential drivers, which I've tried to replace, that won't connect to the Internet anymore. By the way, the data loss wasn't a complete disaster. Most of my important documents are on the server at my office anyway. I did lose a few things, but nothing that I don't have paper copies of and that I can't rebuild.

After spending another weekend learning my lesson, I hit on the solution that I had figured would cure the problem from the beginning and was my fall back plan all along. I went out and bought a new laptop. I realize that the problem with the Toshiba might be as simple as the cable connecting the screen to the rest of the computer, but even if it could be fixed for a reasonable price would I be halfway to the cost of an up-to-date laptop while preserving a laptop that while functional was yesterday's news?

My Blogging Hiatus

It has been awhile, too long really, since I last posted to this blog. After an intitial burst of regular posting, I found myself feeling like I had nothing interesting to say. So where have I been and what have I been doing? Nothing much really. Well, that isn't entirely true. I've been working --- a lot. Plus the kids are back in school and the family is busy. I get up, I take the kids to school, I go to work, I come home, I go to sleep.... I think you get the idea. Summer is over and the living is no longer easy. And given the nature of my work (I'm a lawyer), I can't say a whole lot about what I do at work. But this week, I'm on vacation so I'm gong to try to do some blogging. So, here goes...

Adventures in DIY Computer Upgrading

Could you replace the hard drive in your laptop? Even if you're not "handy" and not "mechanically inclined"? If my experience is any indication, the answer is "Yes! You can!"

First, a little background on me. I'm probably the least "handy", least "mechanically inclined" person that you'd ever meet. Power tools are dangerous things of wonder to me. I once took the Kolbe A Index and my lowest conative ability was working with my hands. Theoretically, I shouldn't be any good with computers or anything technical. My lack of ability and interest has never stopped me from daydreaming about building a car or an airplane from a kit. However, my common sense has always prevailed. It was, therefore, with some trepidation that I decided to try to replace my own laptop hard drive.

I discovered that the 40GB hard drive in my Toshiba Satellite was almost completely full when I tried to defragment it one day and found out that I didn't have enough space to defragment. Who knew you needed space? I did some investigation and discovered that it was allegedly easy to replace a hard drive. I supposedly only needed to clone the new drive and swap it for the old drive. Yeah, right!

My first mistake was buying the wrong kind of hard drive. I needed a SATA drive but I bought an IDE drive. The connectors are not compatible. Fortunately, the big box retailer where I got the drive took it back and refunded my money, but they didn't have any SATA drives in stock so I had to go elsewhere. My second mistake was prematurely sealing the Nexxtech 2.5 inch USB hard drive enclosure. I thought it would snap apart as easily as it snapped together. I was wrong. I had to pry it apart with a screwdriver, which ruined the enclosure. I wish I hadn't done that. It was a pretty nice little enclosure. I could still use it to hook up the drives to my laptop even though I had ruined the case. I downloaded some software from Acronis and after some fiddling around managed to "clone" my hard drive. I see now that I didn't follow what Acronis recommends. Everything seemed to go well until I installed the new hard drive in the laptop and tried to boot the computer, and then I got an OS error. I tried it again with the same results.

I decided that maybe it made more sense to have professionals do it. So, while visiting the big box electronics store to get a new car stereo, I took my laptop to get a quote on installing the new hard drive. While discussing what was involved and the estimated cost (around $278.00), the fellow helping me asked if I had the original installation disks because the OS wouldn't transfer. If I didn't have the disks, then they'd have to charge me for Windows XP. The lightbulb went off and I realized the missing step that hadn't been explained in what I had read ---- the OS wouldn't clone and I needed to reintall it. EUREKA! I decided to try it myself one more time.

I went to the store and bought a new copy of Windows XP. I sat down with my laptop, new hard drive, external USB drive case, and my Windows disks. I installed XP on the new hard drive and cloned my old drive again. I had a few glitches along the way. I got several error messages that files couldn't be found as I installed XP. I had a Windows upgrade disk and for some reason that seemed to help. In any event, I eventually was able to boot up the new hard drive and it was a thing of beauty. My desktop looked and acted exactly as it had before. It was as if no change had been made to my computer, except that now I had three times the hard drive space. I've noticed some other changes as well. For some reason, the Western Digital 120GB drive seems to run much cooler than the 40GB Hitachi Travel Star drive even though they both run at 5400 rpm. Consequently, the cooling fans don't run all the time and create a lot of noise. The computer also no longer overheats and shuts down unless it gets excellent airflow to the fans. I liked the laptop before, but I like it even more now that it isn't so hot that it burns my lap.

I replaced the external USB hard drive enclosure with another one from Tiger Direct. Now I have a new internal 120 GB hard drive and a 40 GB external hard drive for back ups. Unfortunately, the drive case requires two small screws, but did not come with them. I think the assumption is that you'll use the screws from your hard drive, but my hard drive screws are holding in the new internal hard drive. Nevertheless, the case seems to fit together pretty well without the screws.

Because my hourly rate is $250.00, I probably would have saved money by working and paying someone else to install the hard drive. But that wouldn't have been as interesting or as much fun. The final cost was $321.00 with tax for Windows XP Professional, about $14.99 for the second drive enclosure, $25.00 for the first drive enclosure. and around $100.00 for the new drive. The total was about $461.00 plus my time. At that rate, I was on my way to the price of a new low end laptop.

Spooks, Gadgets, and "The Bourne Ultimatum" Part II

What really got me thinking about what the CIA and NSA can and can't get away with while I was watching "The Bourne Ultimatum" was the CIA's problems with the kidnapping of Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr a/k/a Abu Omar in Italy. They succeeded in kidnapping him from an Italian street and whisking him to the Aviano Air Base, but it wasn't exactly a complete success. Apparently, the CIA isn't as spooky as we thought or would hope. Twenty-six Americans and five Italians have been indicted for the kidnapping or, as the CIA calls it, "extraordinary rendition." Their gadgets and technical prowess might also not be that sophisticated.

Italian prosecutors apparently tracked and identified the CIA agents involved via their use of cell phones. They were not tracked in real time. The prosecutors apparently identified cell phones that were responsible for unusually high traffic during and near the extraordinary rendition , and not all of these phones were registered to aliases. The phones were even used to call the CIA headquarters, the local CIA station chief, and the commander of Aviano. In the CIA's defense, they may have had the cooperation of Italian intelligence officials, and weren't trying to hide. Nevertheless, operations like this are potentially embarrassing to the U.S. and its allies and of questionable legality so why not take basic precautions? Why not use prepaid phones like every drug dealer, thug, and terrorist?

You would hope that the CIA has encrypted satellite phones for agents to use. There are also encrypted cell phones commercially available. Of course, encrypted cell phones might actually increase suspicion and make a covert operation even more obvious. After all, the Italians weren't eavesdropping on the CIA, they simply tracked the numbers called to and from each cell phone. Encrypted satellite phones would both prevent tracing through cell phone records and prevent eavesdropping. However, if they don't have them or if they're just looking for a lower tech solution, then prepaid cell phones would be the answer.

Imagine if the CIA had used prepaid phones exclusively in their efforts to grab Abu Omar. Just pay cash for the phones so they can't be traced to individuals. Other operatives could collect them in advance a few at a time so as to not arouse suspicion. The phones would best be purchased by agents not associated with the operation from all over the country or Europe, as this would make it even more difficult to connect related calls. This would make it harder to gather up retail store surveillance images to connect particular individuals to each phone. Perhaps several dummy retailers could be created to purchase the phones in bulk from a variety of companies wholesale. Each morning remove new phones from the shrink wrap, exchange numbers, and hit the streets At the end of the day, the phones go in the trash and the process begins again the next day. Now the Italians would have dozens of different numbers to trace and all of them would be dead ends. Every day calls from a new set of prepaid phones would create a new pattern of calls that would not match the previous days calls.

Better yet -- don't throw the phones away. Give them to passing teenagers, leave them on cafe' tables, leave them in the backseat of taxis, and other places where they're likely to be "stolen." Give some anonymously to charities . The point being to increase the number of calls and the geographic range of calls for each phone. This makes it even more unlikely that they could be ferreted out as part of a pattern. If a phone becomes identified with an operation under investigation, then the investigating authorities would be kept busy tracking down clueless teenagers and their friends. It seems one of the things the Italians looked for was phones with SIM cards that were no longer used within days of the kidnapping.

Speaking of SIM cards, perhaps the CIA could simply have a supply of prepaid SIM cards to swap in and out of the phones. A large number of SIM cards would be easier to hide than an equal number of phones. Dozens could be kept in a plastic baggie. Each time the SIM cards were changed, the phone would be identified by a different number. SIM cards could easily be flushed down toilets, tossed in storm drains, burned, cut up, and even swallowed.

Any phone or SIM used to call anyone associated with CIA headquarters, or other U.S. installations should be used once and discarded immediately. Likewise, any phone used to call any cooperative local official would be used once and then discarded. It might even be a good idea to make these calls from distant locations. Call someone on the other side of town, or another country or who is driving around in a car, and then have them relay the messages to the people you don't want connected with the operation using a completely different prepaid phone that is immediately discarded. If the person tracking you knows that you've called Langley or Aviano, then they'll know to track that phone number. A call to another anonymous cell phone in the city is unlikely to arouse suspicion. If the phone called from the suspect phone is not used to place the sensitive call but rather another prepaid phone, then the number called is a dead end. If the phone used to call U.S. or foreign officials is used once, the trail begins and ends with the one call. If the phone is then left somewhere to be stolen, then tracing calls from that number leads to a whole new set of false leads.

I doubt that the Italians could have pieced together the convoluted trail created by using dozens of prepaid phones or SIM cards for limited periods of time, and then allowing them to be "stolen" or redistributed.

Spooks, Gadgets, and "The Bourne Ultimatum" Part I

I went to see "The Bourne Ultimatum" a second time last night. Lest you think that I loved it so much that I had to see it twice --- the first time was with just my daughter and friends, and the second time was with my wife and son. However, it is a good movie and I definitely recommend it. It was almost as entertaining the second time as the first. As usual, I picked up clues and connections the second time around that I missed the first time. It is a high energy, action packed movie full of equally exciting foot, scooter, motorcycle, and car chases. The frequent use of jittery handheld camera shots even for close ups combined with fast cuts of little pieces of action might leave you feeling motion sick, but it all adds to the feeling of constantly being on edge. But this isn't about the movie, this is about the CIA, NSA, and gadgets. If you'd like a collection of reviews, visit Rottentomatoes.com .
In the movie, cell phone calls are intercepted, closed circuit cameras are hijacked, compact digital camera images are viewed from the other side of the world in real time, people are tracked in real time, innocent people are assaulted in broad daylight, and a lot of other things happen that leave you wondering --- can they really do that?

Events are set in motion when a British journalist mentions "blackbriar" on his cell phone in London. This is picked up by a CIA substation (i.e., listening post) and a top level black ops section in New York is notified in minutes and provided with a full recording of the conversation. Can they do that? I believe the answer is "maybe, sort of..." There is no doubt that the US government operates programs around the world where they listen to electronic communications. The Echelon program is known to identify key words and other data. However, it is doubtful that this can be done instantly in real time for random communications as opposed to tapping a specific known target. There must be millions of telephone conversations in London every day. The word "blackbriar" gets 32,400 hits when you Google it. The task of instantly identifying one person who mentions the word "blackbriar" and then tapping every phone connected with him would simply be too massive, especially when millions and millions of communications are monitored. Note the frustration of the FBI over the flood of "tips" generated by the NSA listening programs in this ACLU article. Could they do it? Maybe but it would take days, weeks, or months to be identified and followed up most likely.

Everyone knows that London is perhaps the most surveilled major city in the world with closed circuit TV (CCTV) everywhere. But could a CIA post in New York City take control of these cameras and operate them from New York City? I doubt it. It would take the cooperation of the British authorities in charge of the cameras, or you would have to hack into the control system. Although the U.S. and U.K. intelligence agencies cooperate, it is doubtful that the U.K. authorities would cede complete control of their CCTV system to the U.S. If the system is even connected to the Internet or could otherwise be hacked, it would undoubtedly set off alarm bells when the cameras started whizzing around scanning the crowd and following people all by themselves. I also believe that there would be too many technical hurdles for a top secret CIA post in New York to control cameras on the other side of the Atlantic. What happens in the movie would be a disaster for the U.K. and the U.S. as it results in the obviously professional assassination of a journalist who has already published articles about Bourne and is known to be investigating the CIA. This one doesn't pass the smell test.

In a number of scenes, CIA agents employ compact digital cameras to transmit images around the world to New York City. Can they do this? Maybe. We don't know how they do this in the movie. Is it via satellite? Is it via cell phone technology? We just don't know. However, the cameras used are very small and have no external antennas. They look a lot like this Sanyo. The U.S. government might be able to make an ultracompact video camera that transmits via cell phone technology. I doubt it could make one that small that would transmit in real time via satellite. A compact satellite telephone looks like this. Note the antenna. You wouldn't need a keypad, or a screen if it called only one number when activated so maybe it could be made smaller, but you'd also need room for the camera systems so maybe, maybe not. However, even if this could be done, would you want to? Would you want a video record of your break ins, murders, and kidnappings flying around the ether via either cell phone or satellite? I wouldn't. As I'll mention later, cell phones have caused the CIA enough trouble.

I also don't believe that CIA operatives would run through public places brandishing guns, stopping buses, shooting at police, ramming cars, and assaulting people in plain view. This would create a public relations nightmare and would attract too much attention, especially if a journalist was then killed nearby with a single bullet to the head under very difficult circumstances. There is also the moral problem of getting a relatively large number of people to participate in random killings, assaults, and serious bodily injury to journalists, fellow agents, people waiting for buses, police officers, bystanders, random motorists, and others who haven't been charged with any crime or wrongdoing of any sort. It is one thing to target known terrorists sworn to destroy the U.S. and another to willy nilly order assassinations and run the very real risk of killing, maiming, and injuring bystanders. We know from the Italian kidnapping case and others that the CIA can efficiently and quietly grab people, but, as we'll see in my next post, they aren't so good at covering their tracks.