Now that streetwars is over for me and Team Scissor Attack, the FFFlag flies once again. I’ll share with you the story of Alan’s demise (and therefore mine) from the StreetWars website (it was later decided that the kill was legit):

Dear Supremeness,

At approximately 12:30 on 11/23/05 Agent IK aka Mr. Green and myself (The Chief) saw Agent AS (target # wywsgxeenskc) leaving work. As he got to the other side of the street the pursuit began….as we got within range of said target I yelled out “hey Alan” he turned with and the shoot out ensued. All three were fired on and hit. Our target claims that he some how hit both of us prior to getting hit and would not give up his card. This seems highly doubtful as Mr. Green is certain he hit the hoodie that Agent AS was wearing while he was turning around and my reflexes are cat like. Of course this comes down to his word over ours. All I can say is, there is precedence that a tie goes to……..Team America (Fuck Yeah!)……..the killers! But of course you are the Supreme Commander……

The Chief

Team America (Fuck Yeah!)

It took two teams (one of twelve members) almost two weeks to take us down. Not so bad.

Back to life as it was, I guess!

chris jordan ’s photographs are quite amazing. I would love to see them in person. Really makes you think.

… and it looks like this is going to work! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa! This is a test post - I grabbed my lat/lon while out running errands and entered it for the location.

I had a great time last night, and nearly all the things I had up for grabs were claimed! All in all, a success. I’ve posted some photos on flickr. I’m now in love with Flickr, by the way.

(these two photos by yutai)

I have a list of items that have been claimed but were not taken by the end of the night:

• Alvaro - Guitar
• Joe - Delta 44, ‘Sarita’ painting
• Yutai - Drum machines, mixer, microphone, gold frame
• Fong! - Rug, shelf unit thing, Tron slipmats
• Ryan - Pink trashcan, belt sander, skateboard
• Tony - Stereo receiver, croquet set, shoes
• Cyrelle - Robots, Lamp, Shelf unit
• David - Snowboard, boots, MIDI controller
• Hernan - Longboard
• Rue - Bench thing, Sarah painting
• Audrey - Jeremy Fish print
• Mayu - Computer desk

Hopefully you all can pick up the stuff next weekend and maybe give me a hand moving the remaining stuff into storage ;)

Most of you know that for the past couple years I’ve given up using my “real signature” on credit card receipts. Depending on my mood at the moment, I might create a lovely landscape of barking kittens and turtle doves, or a rockin’ pickle party right there on the dotted line. The other day as I doodled a shoe sailing along an ocean of squiggly lines instead of my name, I wondered what happens to these after I hand them back to the cashier. Obviously nothing is in place to check their validity after the cashier asks to make sure that a floating boot is indeed my real signature. Very rarely am I asked for a photo ID, or even to show the back of my card – and even in those cases no one has denied me the pleasure of covering my receipt in peanut-shaped airplanes. What is the purpose of collecting a signature at all anymore if it doesn’t seem to mean anything?

I asked the internet. As I suspected, I’m not the only one wondering about this. First, some background facts:

The signature, required only for “card-present” sales, of course, is one of several fraud-prevention features built into the process of making a credit card purchase. The idea is that the clerk compares your signature (from your card or photo ID) to the one you just made on the receipt, but thats just never happened for me. This signing of credit card receipts seems even more strange when paying by credit card at a restaurant.

According to Visa, the signature on the back of your card is not solely to give the cashier a signature to check against the receipt, but to bind you to the terms of your contract with the credit company / bank. Also, the popular “trick” of writing SEE ID in the signature box apparently doesn’t fly. You’re still supposed to sign the card.

Fine, I’ll sign the card.

This guy also wrote up a nice article complete with photos of his “signatures” he used to test the value of a proper credit card receipt signature. After this I’m beginning to wonder if all my purchases in the past few years are technically invalid… Are they?

Hello everyone! I have only a few minutes to write a quick note, but I wanted to let you all know that I have landed safely in Narita and am about to get on a train to Tokyo. I almost lost my camera but it survived so photos will come shortly…

Update!

I’m now sitting in my room at Hotel Hikari after roaming around lost for a while, which was way more fun than it sounds. I booked two nights here and am glad I did because it seems like a very good location from which to explore for a bit. Tomorrow: electric razor shopping and a visit with Kiyomi!