So What To Do Now?

Apparently, governments like to try to piece together shredded documents as much as identity thieves do.

They shred their own, but try to put back together documents of terrorists or people deemed security risks.

Thus the Pentagon held a contest, and a company won US$50,000 for coming up with a way to put together 5 different documents that had been shredded into 10,000 pieces. Using computer algorithms with humans to verify, it took All Your Shreds Belong to U.S. only 33 days to complete the task.

So, what does this mean to us poor, unfortunate mortals attempting to prevent nefarious individuals from wresting sensitive info from our trash?

It's time to do what i do. Use your documents that need to be shredded as cat litter box liners.

Trust me, no one wants to try to put them back together after that.


Today is:

AFL-CIO Day (date of merger in 1955)

Ashura -- Islam

Bathtub Party Day -- celebrate how much fun it is to take a nice, long, hot bath in these days when showers prevail

Constitution Day -- Sudan

Day of the Ninja -- sponsored by Ninja Burger!

Dingle-Fritter, Gooseberry Humple, Tiger-Get-By, LoneFolding, and Zimbor-Quattor's (Multiple Squishing of) Celebration -- Fairy Calendar

Discovery Day -- Haiti

Electric Light Parade -- Lovington, MN, US (over 60 entries, all decorated with Christmas lights)

Faunalia -- Roman Empirical Calendar (festival of Faunus, through the 8th)

International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development

King's Birthday -- Thailand, also National Day and Father's Day

Krampus -- Austria (St. Nicholas celebration, which begins the evening before the Saint's day)

National Sacher Torte Day

Nones of December -- Ancient Roman Calendar

Repeal Day, celebrating the repeal of Prohibition -- US

St. Clement of Alexandria's Day

St. Nicholas' Eve -- Belgium; Czech Republic; Hungary; Netherlands; Romania; Slovakia; parts of the UK

St. Saba's Day


Birthdays Today:

Gary Allan, 1967
John Rzeznik, 1965
Morgan Brittany, 1951
Jim Messina, 1947
J.J. Cale, 1938
Little Richard, 1932
Otto Preminger, 1906
Strom Thurmond, 1902
Walt Disney, 1901
George Armstrong Custer, 1839
Christina Rossetti, 1830
Martin Van Buren, 1782


Today in History:

Cicero reads the last of his Catiline Orations, BC63
An earthquake in Naples leave about 35,000 dead, 1465
All Jews are expelled from Portugal by order of King Manuel I, 1496
London auctioneers Christie's hold their first sale, 1766
Henry Knox begins the transport of Fort Ticonderoga artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts, a key to later forcing the British Fleet out of Boston Harbor, 1775
C F Schoenbein obtains patent for cellulose nitrate explosive, 1846
President Polk confirms that gold has been discovered in California, triggering the next year's "Gold Rush", 1848
Daniel Stillson of Massachusetts patents the first practical pipe wrench, 1876
The first automated telephone switching system is patented, 1879
The first electric car makes its debut; it could go 15 miles between charges, 1893
University of Pittsburg makes the first use of numbers on football jerseys, 1908
The American League for Physical Culture is founded in NYC, the first US nudist organization, 1929
The 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition, is ratified, 1933
Sister Elizabeth Kenny's new treatment for infantile paralysis receives approval, 1941
A cold fog descends upon London, combining with air pollution and killing at least 12,000 in the weeks and months that follow, 1952
The United Nations General Assembly adopts Pakistan's resolution on security of non-Nuclear States, 1976
The Civil Partnership Act comes into effect in the United Kingdom, and the first civil partnership is registered there, 2005