On Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:32:43 +0200, Magda <[email protected]> wrote:

>On Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:21:17 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, Martin <[email protected]>
>arranged some electrons, so they looked like this:
>
> ... On Thu, 09 Aug 2007 20:26:16 +0200, Magda <[email protected]> wrote:
> ...
> ... >On Thu, 09 Aug 2007 16:19:57 +0200, in rec.travel.europe, Martin <[email protected]>
> ... >arranged some electrons, so they looked like this:
> ... >
> ... > ...
> ... > ... Beat three cash cards last year, twice in two consecutive days this year, ID
> ... > ... cards, driving licenses, purses, even my wedding ring that for some reason was
> ... > ... in her purse for safe keeping
> ... >
> ... >Your finger is not good enough a place for said ring, I presume...?
> ...
> ... There was already a wedding ring on my finger. Go figure!
>
>Bigamy is a crime, you know.

Magda ex-private eye?
--

Martin

> Does 90% of Scotland's crime occur in a few heroin-infested council
> estates? It's not like there are drive-bys on the Royal Mile.

Most of the overall crime may be out there, but murder is more
evenly spread. Pubs are a popular place for it.

I used to live in Edinburgh's "Pubic Triangle" (the strip club
area), and there were two murders within 100 yards of my front
door in that time. One was a guy beaten to death in a doorway
by his lover's husband and the other was a knifing over I know
not what; left a pool of blood in front of the Usher Hall (one
of the city's major concert halls) that took two weeks to clear.

It seems to be an Edinburgh institution that pubs change their
name after somebody gets murdered in one. I know of one that
did it three times (it's the place in the Cowgate that now has
a fibreglass cow on the outside wall).

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk =============Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

Jack Campin - bogus address <[email protected]> wrote:

> > When was the last time a tourist was shot in the UK? (Menenez
> > doesn't count, he was living here.)
>
> Somebody held up a tourist at gunpoint in Edinburgh last year but
> didn't shoot.

How do you know it was a real gun then? Was the person arrested?

> > The murder and violent crime rate is higher in Scotland than it
> > is in England. I don't think tourists suddenly feel less safe when
> > they cross the border, because the risk to tourists is very low.
>
> A new idea in Edinburgh is robbing people in parks after knocking
> them off their feet with a tripwire.

When I went to school there in 80s the myth going around was that drug
addict were going around with syringes and injecting passersby with
their blood.

> > Two people have been violently murdered in my home town
> > (Tillicoultry) in the last few years. I don't remember a
> > murder in all the time I lived there- though I remember
> > a stabbing.
>
> Wasn't it Tillicoultry or a town nearby where the local kids
> repeatedly pelted Santa with rocks during a Christmas parade
> so they had to call the event off permanently?

Rings a bell, but I haven't been there at Christmas for ages. I think it
was a neighbouring town though...

Quick net search suggests it was nearby Tullibody.

--
(*) ... of the royal duchy of city south and deansgate
http://www.davidhorne.net - real address on website
"Abominable, loyal, blind, apparently subservient."
Pres. Carter on Ex-Pres. Blair- May, 2007

On Thu, 9 Aug 2007 20:43:13 +0100, [email protected] (David Horne, _the_
chancellor (*)) wrote:

>"nightjar" <nightjar@<insert my surname here> wrote:

>> I like the system used by Barclays' business banking. You dial their
>> computer on a direct line, get a code that has to be entered into a credit
>> card sized device that creates a counter-code, which you have to send in
>> reply. The system times out fairly quickly and three wrong attempts will
>> lock the account.

With a Barclays Internet bank account you then get a new password posted to your
official address. When you start getting one a week, without using your account,
you know that somebody is trying to hack into your account. When the bank shows
no interest in the problem, it is time to go elsewhere.
Sending out passwords without first receiving a request is about the most
insecure thing I can think of.
--

Martin

>> A new idea in Edinburgh is robbing people in parks after knocking
>> them off their feet with a tripwire.
> When I went to school there in 80s the myth going around was that
> drug addicts were going around with syringes and injecting passersby
> with their blood.

*Threatening* to was reported often enough as a modus operandi for
robberies. I never heard of one of them following through.

The tripwire stunt sure doesn't seem to be a myth:
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id49892007

My own tripwire experience was walking along the riverside in
Amasya and seeing young guys on each side of the path apparently
lifting a fishing line up in front of me. It turned out they
were drama students miming it; there was no line. They were
extremely convincing. I hope they haven't incorporated it into
a Fringe show or they might get some unexpected responses.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk =============Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/> for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

"David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*)" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:1i2lilb.1phtstb19x1n1zN%[email protected]...
...
>> Certainly that is about the
>> only way anyone could have found out enough to try, unsucessfully, to get
>> the address changed on my credit card and a new card issued to that
>> address.
>> I cross-cut shred anything with even my name and address on it, then
>> compost
>> the shreddings.
>
> Have you not considered it might be the utterly crap postal service?

Improbable, considering the change of address was made by someone who
telephoned my bank and pretended to be me. The request for a replacement
card was placed a few weeks later, after a couple of test purchases on
internet sites. That would have required my card validation code, which
would only be available to someone from whom I had ordered online.
Presumably they used sites that had not implemented 3-D secure (Verified by
Visa and MasterCard SecureCode), as all my cards have those passwords set
up.

Colin Bignell

The Reid wrote:
> Following up to Bruce Dumes <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> What do you do at home?

For safety? I live in Los Angeles, so it's not like I'm a small town
boy (though actually I was when I was a boy) but I feel absolutely safe
here. Of course, I don't do stupid things, which I personally think is
a big part of safety and security. I see guys opening up their wallet
in public places to pay for something and I can't help but see them
flashing hundreds of dollars, and I wonder how long they'll hold on to
that money.

It's my feeling that common sense is the best defense against trouble,
but it's always nice to hedge your bets a little.

Bruce

nightjar <nightjar@ wrote:

> It is really not a good idea to have any personal information online;
> certainly not an image of your passport. Online data is a rich source of
> information for identity theft.
>
> Colin Bignell
>

If you are technical enough, you can get away with it.

For the most part, as long as you don't link to it, no bots or pirates
could find it, unless your website is hacked. So to take care of that
(because I do plan on keeping some important data online) I'm also
encrypting all of the files with a very high encryption rate. Sure, the
FBI could probably unencrypt it eventually with the help of a Cray
supercomputer, but I feel that will keep it safe enough for reality.


Bruce

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote:
> The Reid <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Following up to Bruce Dumes <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>> Which is why I never check baggage if I can help it. I haven't checked
>>> a bag in 10 years.
>> you must travel light!
>
> I knew an American who did this wherever she went, after having her bags
> lost by an airline.

Certainly that is one of the things that motivates me to never check a
bag, but the other is just saving time getting out of the airport. I
once had to wait an hour for the bags to get from the plane to the
baggage claim.

Bruce

David Horne, _the_ chancellor (*) wrote:
> Martin <[email protected]> wrote:
>

>>> I thought the thread was about crime against tourists.
>> Wasn't it about theft proof rucksacks
>
> That's the same thing!
>

It's a floor wax AND a dessert topping! ;-)

Bruce

On Thu, 09 Aug 2007 18:20:30 -0700, Bruce Dumes <[email protected]>
wrote:

>nightjar <nightjar@ wrote:
>
>> It is really not a good idea to have any personal information online;
>> certainly not an image of your passport. Online data is a rich source of
>> information for identity theft.
>>
>> Colin Bignell
>>
>
>If you are technical enough, you can get away with it.
>
>For the most part, as long as you don't link to it, no bots or pirates
>could find it, unless your website is hacked.

When abroad, I do just that. I add a non-linked JPG of my passport to
my website and name it something innocuous, like "seeithere007.jpg".
(Do a GIS for "passport.jpg"...not a good idea...)

In this way, if I'm in a cement room surrounded by chain-smoking
Eastern European police detectives, I can simply tell them to visit
www.mywebsite.com/seeithere007.jpg. There ya go.

Once I'm home, I delete the file.

It's easy and it doesn't require you to do any legwork, or even have
Internet access at all. Just remember the URL, that's all.

- TR
- really sick and tired of being locked up in Eastern European jail
cells with chain-smoking police detectives.

Following up to "nightjar" <nightjar@<insert my surname here>.uk.com>
wrote:

>Improbable, considering the change of address was made by someone who
>telephoned my bank and pretended to be me.

you would think the banks would take a bit more care, confirming
letter to old address maybe.
--
Mike
(remove clothing to email)

Following up to Bruce Dumes <[email protected]> wrote:

>For safety? I live in Los Angeles, so it's not like I'm a small town
>boy (though actually I was when I was a boy) but I feel absolutely safe
>here.

I feel much the same in London.
--
Mike
(remove clothing to email)

"The Reid" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Following up to "nightjar" <nightjar@<insert my surname here>.uk.com>
> wrote:
>
>>Improbable, considering the change of address was made by someone who
>>telephoned my bank and pretended to be me.
>
> you would think the banks would take a bit more care, confirming
> letter to old address maybe.

That was what happened, although not until the replacement card was
requested. We then set up a password to confirm any future telephone calls.

Colin Bignell

On Thu, 09 Aug 2007 12:23:43 +0200, Martin <[email protected]> wrote:

>On Thu, 9 Aug 2007 11:17:43 +0100, [email protected] (David Horne, _the_
>chancellor (*)) wrote:
>>Do you have any information on the number of tourists who are victims of
>>violent crime in the Hague, or NL? It's probably extremely low, as it is
>>in most places.
>
>How do you know it is seriously low in most places?
>
>I see plenty of reports of tourists being robbed in Leiden. Both my wife, my son
>and daughter have been robbed, in A'dam, Leiden and in the Hague. All three have
>been robbed several times, but what do we know we just live here and read the
>local newspapers.

As a regular Leiden tourist, I have never been robbed, I know dozens
of bike thefts though...

Jim.