Inspector Clouseau is still employed, I see

Computer security is not an issue Clouseau has thought about much, I guess.

At the time of the brazen heist of $102 million in jewels from the Louvre last month, the password to the world-famous museum’s video surveillance system was simply “Louvre,” according to a museum employee with knowledge of the system.

Awesome. I wonder if the password to the vault at Fort Knox is “FORTKNOX”. Someone should try it.

They are trying so hard to come up with excuses for how this could have happened.

The Louvre director told French lawmakers, “The security system, as installed in the Apollo Gallery, worked perfectly. The question that arises is how to adapt this system to a new type of attack and modus operandi that we could not have foreseen.”

They could not have foreseen that a taxi driver, a delivery man, and garbage collector could have been so sophisticated to back a cherry picker up to an upstairs window and hack through with some power tools. It’s so crude and simple that no one could have imagined pulling it off!

I got my sticker!

Yesterday, I took advantage of the university health clinic to get both my flu shot and my COVID shot. The important part is that I got my sticker.

Today, my right arm (flu shot) is fine, but my left (COVID) hurts like heck, and I’m feeling a general malaise…but it’s not as bad as previous COVID vaccinations. Maybe my body is getting accustomed to them. It’s still going to be a good day to take it easy.

Support a scientist!

I’m surprised that Siouxsie Wiles has had to fight with her own university — after she’d been fighting the good fight for science for so many years and striving against the ignorance of anti-vaxxer. The University of Auckland failed in it’s obligation to protect and support its employees, and that’s not just my opinion, since the courts definitively agreed with her.

Associate Professor Siouxsie Wiles‘ employer breached its contractual obligations to protect her health and safety in the wake of harassment she experienced as a result of her work, an Employment Court judgment today has found.
The long-awaited judgment comes around two-and-a-half years after she and then University of Auckland employee Professor Shaun Hendy initially filed their claim with the Employment Relations Authority in January 2022.

Dr Wiles alleged the university failed to protect her from a “tsunami of threats” she received for her public commentary on the Covid-19 pandemic. She said she had raised concerns to the university about her safety since April 2020, shortly after the pandemic began.

The university has denied unjustifiably disadvantaging Wiles, breaching their agreement or its statutory obligations. It said it had also acted in good faith towards her. However, the Employment Court’s judgment does not agree.

She won! Unfortunately, as I know from ugly past experience, trials are absurdly costly. She won…but what she won, in addition to a moral victory, was $400,000 in court costs. Rebecca Watson is rallying her followers to help her out.

I’ll join in that call! Go to this site to donate to Siouxsie’s court costs!

Post-Hallowe’en shopping day

I made a quick run to St Cloud today, to visit Spirit Halloween after Hallowe’en, when they are busy dumping everything left over at half price. Get out there quick! Like any mysterious fantasy shop, it’s going to vanish, leaving only a dusty empty space off an abandoned alleyway — our local stores disappear on November 3rd. I stocked up on weird fake spider crap for next year’s celebration.

More importantly, my wife sent me on a mission to get a new vacuum cleaner, because our old one is busted.

It’s Tim Curry time!

It’s Hallowe’en. It’s a dark and rainy night. I’m home all alone. The trick-or-treaters have been sparse — I’ve only had twenty kids all night, so I’m handing out great fistfuls of candy to each. You know what that means…

It’s time for Rocky Horror!

I’ve turned the sound way up and am soaking up the vibes. I’d put on fishnet stockings if I had any.

This movie is right there in my happy place. I’ve been watching it yearly since about 1976.

Uh-oh. The elevator scene just started. Bye.

Tasteless suits made to fit

Just in case you wanted to wear an ugly costume every day, here’s a bluesky thread about where Jordan Peterson gets his suits.

I wouldn’t mind getting a free suit, but I’d turn down those ugly-ass freak suits. They’re made by a guy who doesn’t know much about tailoring — he just takes your measurements and outsources everything to machines in India, after adding his weird tastes to the mix.

I do wonder what kind of suit Mr Peterson has picked out to be buried in, once his fevered brain disintegrates.