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2008-07-05 13:32:10Alt Text: Con Men Lose Their Cool in the E-Mail Era
The online world has improved many things. Classified ads are simpler to search, obscure books are easy to get your hands on for the right price, and if you wish to see any two cartoon characters having sex with each other, you have only to ask.However, I think even the most forward-looking technophile would have to admit that there's one area in which we have gone too far, sucking the humanity out of what once was a vibrant, personal endeavor: the realm of the con man.Alt Text PodcastDownload audio files and subscribe to the <ahref="http://rss.sonibyte.com/rssfeed/wired/20.xml">Alt Text podcast.In the Golden Age of Hucksterism, an unsavory gent might try to sell you a bridge, or a large area of swampland, or perhaps a simple faux-Stradivarius violin. The first step, though, would always be to gain your confidence -- the "con" in "con man."They did this the old-fashioned way, gaining your trust and even becoming your friend through an elaborate set of lies set one on top of another like Roman architecture. And when they departed, taking your money and your ability to trust your fellow man with them, you could take solace in knowing that this was your con, specially concocted for you and nobody else.What do you get now Form letters from deposed African royalty, handed out impartially like advertisements for prostitutes on the Vegas strip. Dry, clinical warnings of fictional eBay disputes. Mindless, soulless pop-up ads for "antivirus programs" that merely throw up more mindless, soulless ads. The soul of yesteryear's con man may have been shriveled and caustic with disdain for humanity, but at least he had one. Can a computer cackle with glee as it fans its face with a stack of bills taken from your nest-egg account Well, yes it can, but only if you build it especially for that purpose. Most of today's swindlers won't even take the time to do that.And the stories! It used to be that a con man would leave you with a tale to tell passers-by as you held out your hand for a few meager coins: the Spanish princess in need of a young man to do double duty as her rescuer and her husband ... the briefcase that held thousands of dollars when it was shown to you, but somehow contained only newspaper once it was yours ... the betting store, bustling with gamblers, all of whom turned out to be in on the scam. The story itself might be worth maybe one-twentieth of the money you lost in your naive ignorance.Today, of course, you're lucky if you get a few run-on sentences about Nigerian royalty. More likely, if you fall for a modern scam, the only tale you'll have to tell is some boring sob story about trying to sell a laptop and getting paid with a cashier's check. How many sympathy drinks can you get out of, "Well, this website asked for my login and password, so I gave it to them" There's no epic sweep there, no sense of gravitas or adventure.I call upon the grifters, schemers and flim-flam artists of this brave new age to step up their game! Don't just throw a form in my face -- get to know me! Befriend me, then let me in on the opportunity of a lifetime, something so juicy that I'd run off to tell my friends if I weren't concerned that they'd beat me to it. Then finally, with flair and grace, rip my heart out, take my money and tip your hat to me as you depart.Anyone can cheat me, but only you can truly con me.- - -Born helpless, nude and unable to provide for himself, Lore Sjöberg eventually overcame these handicaps to become a rube, a mark and occasionally a dupe.
2008-07-05 10:10:27Year In and Year Out...
For six years - even before broadband's surge - online viewing of FRONTLINE's "The Merchants of Cool," has ranked at the top for our online audience. Watch it here, explore its related stories.
2008-07-04 18:27:37Exodus of Aussies, Kiwis to affect IPL
Cricket | R. MohanIn May, IPL teams may hardly resemble those that played in the last two weeks of April. The exodus of the Australians, West Indians and New Zealanders, to do national duty in the Cari-bbean and in England, would mean that the team composition would change dramatically. Considering the impact the Australians have made in the opening phase with three of four centuries coming from them, the very nature of a team's cricket could change too.The latecomers and the reinforcements have arrived, some may even have sneaked in much to the consternation of franchises, which are questioning the norms for foreign player signings outside the auction. Frankly speaking, the flavour of the first IPL has been mostly of the imported variety despite so many success stories of local players who on occasion have outperformed themselves.Chennai Super Kings who have established themselves at the top of the table with four wins in as many outings may have to change their whole batting order as well as their approach because they are losing three key men to the exodus - Matthew Hayden, Mike Hussey and Jaocb Oram. Other teams are also similarly affected with Kolkata Knight Riders certain to feel the pinch as McCullum was providing them with so much thrust.The question is bound to come up about how open should the competition be. Should the IPL throw open its doors and raise the cap on foreign players from the existing four It can be argued that if the English Premier League format is to be followed, it should then be an open house with teams free to choose how much of their playing XI they would wish to be filled by imported stars.If market forces are allowed their freedom, which will probably happen after the first season when transfers become possible, it is on the cards that some IPL teams will aspire to be the Arsenal FC of the IPL. The London club that boasts of 13 League titles and 10 FA Cups now has far more French-speaking players than English footballers. If the existing cap of four players is raised because of pressure from teams, the composition of IPL teams could change drastically once again.It would be nice if the IPL teams were to follow the examples of the other giants of EPL, like Manchester United and Chelsea who believe in keeping their backbone English. There is a certain pride in them when an English footballer like Paul Scholes scores the goal as he did to take ManU to the final of the Champions League.When it comes to a one-club star like Scholes, who having been with United for 14 years has risen through the Old Trafford ranks, the English tend to go gaga.There is, however, no denying the pride in seeing home grown talent reach the pinnacle even in a club with an international outlook like ManU, one of the leading brands in pro sport franchises.The Delhi Daredevils, with a batting star cast that is virtually all Indian will probably argue that national is the way to go. That might, however, be a minority view. IPL cricket is bound to face the dilemma over the cap on foreign players soon as franchises try to go for the best combinations possible.The effect of having the big hitters who belt the new ball from the top order is already evident, with openers McCullum, Hayden and Gilchrist making three spectacular centuries. The other century came from the uberbat Symonds.It must have been galling for youth like Abhishek Nayar and Palani Amarnath to have to go out and play in front of huge crowds, with millions more watching on television. Many young Indians have begun to shed their stage fright and are standing up to be counted.Still, when it comes to providing momentum at the top of the innings, only the world's best, which of course includes Dhoni and Sehwag, have done it so far. The clamour will be for more ammunition from abroad. One of the founding principles of the IPL was to promote Indian talent.This is where the issue will get ticklish because franchises that have put up considerable sums will demand greater flexibility. They do pay huge amounts for foreign players to sit on the benches because only four are allowed.Curiously, Chennai dropped Muralitaharan to play Morkel against Bangalore, which was a poor tactical decision considering how Murali is a spinner for all conditions and pitches.In any case, the cap of four will certainly prove irksome and the arguments will break out. It would be interesting to see what shape the administrators give the league in the future when the debate over foreigners opens up.Â
2008-07-04 11:49:09A novel plot
Nawaid AnjumDateline: August 17, 1988. A C-130 Hercules carrying Pakistan’s military dictator, General Zia-ul-Haq, crashes. Twenty years after that mysterious crash, Pakistan-born and London-based journalist and playwright Mohammed Hanif reimagines the "conspiracies and coincidences" that sprang up on Zia’s death in his brilliant debut, A Case of Exploding Mangoes, published by Random House.A powerful story of love, betrayal, tyranny and revenge, the novel spins a dark, humorous tale out of one of the subcontinent’s most enduring mysteries which has been critically acclaimed for having shades of Sara Suleri Meatless Days, Joseph Heller Catch 22 and Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse Five. After Pakistan Air Force pilot Ali Shigri’s father, one of Zia’s colonels, commits suicide under suspicious circumstances, Shigri sets out to avenge his father’s death.While the novel is ostensibly bold in its narration ISI is referred to by a character as "Inter Bloody Services Bloody Intelligence", Hanif is far from agreeing that it will "unruffle feathers" in Pakistan. "It is a little love and adventure story with some jokes in it and I think it will be read in that spirit," says Hanif, who heads the BBC Urdu Service.As for the conspiracy theories shrouding General Zia’s death, the author says he "loves" all those theories. "I took some, added some of my own and wrote this book. And after I had finished, this 80-year-old American dude who was the US ambassador in India at the time, came up with a completely new theory. He says the Israelis did it and the state department declared him an almost-loony for bringing up the subject. I think it must be true. And I am hoping another one, an even better one will come along soon," says Hanif, who holds that while Pakistan may still be struggling with Zia’s ghost, August 17 is not a big day on anyone’s calendar.Hanif, who graduated from the Pakistan Air Force Academy, knew the setting of his novel only too well. "It’s personal in the sense that I came of age in that period. But I must say I probably learnt more about the Air Force watching Top Gun than I did being in the Air Force. So, I would say that fiction doesn’t always need to get fixated on personal. There is always other fiction to get inspiration from," he says.Having moved to London a decade back, Hanif last visited the country of his birth in April this year. "I was in Karachi when suddenly riots erupted in downtown Karachi. I felt immediately at home. The only new thing is that when robbers stop you at gunpoint in Karachi they ask for your cellphone. But then we didn’t have cellphones when I moved to London," says Hanif in a lighter vein.In the last few years, there have been some nice novels from Pakistani authors settled abroad Kamila Shamsie, Nadeem Aslam, Moni Mohsin et al. Have they helped in building Pakistan’s literary character as nations are defined by their narrations Hanif holds that Pakistanis like a good story, just like anyone else. "And probably more so because there are not enough good stories about them. There are one hundred and sixty million Pakistanis and very few writers. All the writers you mention come from very different backgrounds and write about diverse subjects. There are obviously many more who write in Urdu, Sindhi and Punjabi as well who have a wider readership. But I am not sure Pakistan has a literary character as such. TV character, may be, or pop music character, but sadly no literary character as such," he explains.As for Mohsin Hamid, whose The Reluctant Fundamentalist was shortlisted for the 2007 Booker Prize, Hanif says, "It’s a very striking book. And the only debate that I have heard about this book is that whether it’s better than Moth Smoke, which again was a very striking book. So, Mohsin is competing against himself. His books have always started conversations, debates. And there are not very many books anywhere which can accomplish that."What does Hanif think of the baggage of identities in a world that has shrunk to become a global village "I think of it as just that: baggage. Whenever my baggage is opened at customs, they usually find laundry, unread books and Indian DVDs," says Hanif, who has written plays for the stage and screen, including a critically acclaimed BBC drama and the feature film The Long Night, an urban "dystopia of drugs, sex and dislocation" produced and directed by Hasan Zaidi. Hanif holds that a bi-cultural experience is not of any great importance for a writer as people become bi-cultural for "mundane" reasons like jobs and children’s education."I have read very fine writers who died in the very house they were born in. I think Nayyar Masud, who is probably the finest post-Partition Urdu writer, was born in Lucknow and still lives there. And if you read his short stories, you’ll never mention the word bi-cultural. He can create these incredible worlds for you. And I think that’s what writers do, conjure up worlds," says Hanif.Â
2008-07-04 11:46:27Video: AP Top Stories
Here's the latest news for July 4th, 2008: Hostage update; Vermont girl slain; Indonesia terror arrests; Williams at Wimbledon.
2008-07-04 03:18:44Video: AP Campaign Stories
Here are the top AP Campaign stories for July 3rd: Obama says he's not softening stance on troop pullout from Iraq; McCain sends message to Hispanic voters; Obama puts the red in red, white and blue; The movable middle.
2008-07-04 03:18:44Showbiz week
The week's top showbiz stories for Friday, July 4, 2008.
2008-07-04 03:01:18Top stories
The most-read BBC Scotland news website stories
2008-07-03 13:35:17Alt Text: Con Men Lose Their Cool in the E-Mail Era
The online world has improved many things. Classified ads are simpler to search, obscure books are easy to get your hands on for the right price, and if you wish to see any two cartoon characters having sex with each other, you have only to ask.However, I think even the most forward-looking technophile would have to admit that there's one area in which we have gone too far, sucking the humanity out of what once was a vibrant, personal endeavor: the realm of the con man.Alt Text PodcastDownload audio files and subscribe to the <ahref="http://rss.sonibyte.com/rssfeed/wired/20.xml">Alt Text podcast.In the Golden Age of Hucksterism, an unsavory gent might try to sell you a bridge, or a large area of swampland, or perhaps a simple faux-Stradivarius violin. The first step, though, would always be to gain your confidence -- the "con" in "con man."They did this the old-fashioned way, gaining your trust and even becoming your friend through an elaborate set of lies set one on top of another like Roman architecture. And when they departed, taking your money and your ability to trust your fellow man with them, you could take solace in knowing that this was your con, specially concocted for you and nobody else.What do you get now Form letters from deposed African royalty, handed out impartially like advertisements for prostitutes on the Vegas strip. Dry, clinical warnings of fictional eBay disputes. Mindless, soulless pop-up ads for "antivirus programs" that merely throw up more mindless, soulless ads. The soul of yesteryear's con man may have been shriveled and caustic with disdain for humanity, but at least he had one. Can a computer cackle with glee as it fans its face with a stack of bills taken from your nest-egg account Well, yes it can, but only if you build it especially for that purpose. Most of today's swindlers won't even take the time to do that.And the stories! It used to be that a con man would leave you with a tale to tell passers-by as you held out your hand for a few meager coins: the Spanish princess in need of a young man to do double duty as her rescuer and her husband ... the briefcase that held thousands of dollars when it was shown to you, but somehow contained only newspaper once it was yours ... the betting store, bustling with gamblers, all of whom turned out to be in on the scam. The story itself might be worth maybe one-twentieth of the money you lost in your naive ignorance.Today, of course, you're lucky if you get a few run-on sentences about Nigerian royalty. More likely, if you fall for a modern scam, the only tale you'll have to tell is some boring sob story about trying to sell a laptop and getting paid with a cashier's check. How many sympathy drinks can you get out of, "Well, this website asked for my login and password, so I gave it to them" There's no epic sweep there, no sense of gravitas or adventure.I call upon the grifters, schemers and flim-flam artists of this brave new age to step up their game! Don't just throw a form in my face -- get to know me! Befriend me, then let me in on the opportunity of a lifetime, something so juicy that I'd run off to tell my friends if I weren't concerned that they'd beat me to it. Then finally, with flair and grace, rip my heart out, take my money and tip your hat to me as you depart.Anyone can cheat me, but only you can truly con me.- - -Born helpless, nude and unable to provide for himself, Lore Sjöberg eventually overcame these handicaps to become a rube, a mark and occasionally a dupe.
2008-07-03 10:09:36
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