MSNBC has an interesting story: FBI busted tracking student, demands GPS spy gear return.

You really need to look at the picture of the device. You are not apt to see anything like that these days … outside of a museum. What a relic of a bygone age.

The FBI continues to buy stuff from the old-time police supply houses that is five years out of date before it appears in their catalogs. It’s just sad to see that D-cell battery pack as part of the unit.

First off, you tap into the vehicle’s electrical system for power, you don’t use a battery pack, and you can get a tiny GPS transmitter for 10% of what they paid for that dinosaur. The installer should practice on the same model car as the target to minimize the time needed and determine the best mounting location for concealment and signal power.

You could build a good one from scratch with a cellphone motherboard that has GPS capabilities.

Sophisticated criminals around the world are breathing easier knowing how incompetent the FBI is. Is it any wonder they still don’t have a working network after decades of trying?

Position: 33.9N 48.7W [10 PM CDT 0300 UTC].
Movement: East-Northeast [060°] near 38 mph [61 kph].
Maximum sustained winds: 70 mph [115 kph].
Wind Gusts: 85 mph [135 kph].
Tropical Storm Wind Radius: 220 miles [350 km].
Minimum central pressure: 988 mb ↑.

Currently about 935 miles [1510 km] East of Bermuda.

Otto peaked and is beginning to weaken over the cooler water.

Here’s the link for NOAA’s latest satellite images.

[For the latest information click on the storm symbol, or go to the CATEGORIES drop-down box below the CALENDAR and select “Hurricanes” for all of the posts related to storms on this site.]

John Winston Lennon

1940-1980

From license plates in Florida to stamps in Central Asia, not bad for a working-class guy from Liverpool in only forty years.