Category Archives: Security

History, Poetry, Security

Would the real diamond please step forward?

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Pretty green stones.

The excitement related to a recent mining discovery raises an interesting question about security and authenticity. Take this report from the BBC, for example:

The South African company says it has asked the president of the World Federation of Diamond Bourses to carry out the examination.

Experts have been sceptical about the discovery, saying the light-green stone may turn out to be a fluorite crystal.

But the firm insists it could still turn out to be a diamond.

Will the joy of the observer be lessened if it does turn out to be fluorite rather than diamond? I guess I am not a fan of diamonds to begin with, and do not really understand the fascination, so if someone told me the pretty green stone I was looking at was green fluorite I would be no less impressed. In other words, is value more tangible if it comes from complicated and obscure (even proprietary) tests or from less quantifiable expression and feeling?

Security sometimes is driven by the murky veins of marketing and sales, as explained by the Atlantic Monthly:

The diamond invention—the creation of the idea that diamonds are rare and valuable, and are essential signs of esteem—is a relatively recent development in the history of the diamond trade. Until the late nineteenth century, diamonds were found only in a few riverbeds in India and in the jungles of Brazil, and the entire world production of gem diamonds amounted to a few pounds a year. In 1870, however, huge diamond mines were discovered near the Orange River, in South Africa, where diamonds were soon being scooped out by the ton. Suddenly, the market was deluged with diamonds. The British financiers who had organized the South African mines quickly realized that their investment was endangered; diamonds had little intrinsic value—and their price depended almost entirely on their scarcity. The financiers feared that when new mines were developed in South Africa, diamonds would become at best only semiprecious gems.

The major investors in the diamond mines realized that they had no alternative but to merge their interests into a single entity that would be powerful enough to control production and perpetuate the illusion of scarcity of diamonds. The instrument they created, in 1888, was called De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd., incorporated in South Africa.

Fascinating. So again, what is so special about the diamond versus fluorite if not its actual appearance or properties? It seems it is the ruse of rarity.

No wonder the press is feeding on speculation about the likelihood of such a giant diamond being “possible”. A calculated control mechanism to prevent value fluctuation may be at work here, perhaps the same one that helped avert the market collapse in the 1980s predicted by the Atlantic Monthly.

As Blaise Pascal once said “We know truth, not only by reason, but also by heart.”

Food, Security

The FDA hates Purslane

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MSN takes a stab at the FDA in their “10 Best Foods” article:

Purslane

Although the FDA classifies purslane as a broad-leaved weed, it’s a popular vegetable and herb in many other countries, including China, Mexico, and Greece.

Why it’s healthy: Purslane has the highest amount of heart-healthy omega-3 fats of any edible plant, according to researchers at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The scientists also report that this herb has 10 to 20 times more melatonin – an antioxidant that may inhibit cancer growth – than any other fruit or vegetable tested.

What makes a weed a weed? Or what makes it a “pervasive weed (the 7th worst, worldwide)” when it also is a nutritious food source?

History, Security

Tuareg rebels

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This conflict has nothing to do with VW. Really, the car company just happened to use the name Tuareg. The ultimate irony would be if the Niger and Mali military started driving the VW SUVs when patrolling for Tuareg rebels.

…a Tuareg splinter group in Mali announced it had formed an alliance with Tuareg rebels in neighbouring Niger, who have begun a new military offensive this year against the Niger government.

The governments of Mali and Niger have said they will work together against the rebels who have demanded better development and a share of Niger’s mineral wealth.

Will VW come out with a Tuareg Rebel edition?

How many other vehicles have been named after a group of people? The Chrysler New Yorker comes to mind.

History, Security

Technology Impact on Counterfeit Currency

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I noted three interesting perspectives about the impact of technology on US currency fraud, all in a single AP article:

The government says $118.1 million in counterfeit U.S. currency was detected in 2006, an increase of 3.8 percent from 2005.

While that is a fraction of the currency in circulation, the Secret Service is concerned with the threat, especially the challenge posed by new digital technology. Digital copies account for about half of all counterfeit notes passed in the U.S., compared with less than 1 percent of all counterfeit bills detected in 1995.

“The quality of the counterfeit currency has gone down, but the ease by which people can make this currency and the access to the computer equipment has had an impact on the rising numbers,” Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren said.

Color laser printers and the like means the money printing business needs more complexity in their product in order to differentiate themselves properly. New controls (barrier to entry) are needed:

To stay ahead of the counterfeiters, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing plans to redesign U.S. currency every seven years to 10 years. That is a far cry from the practice for most of the 20th century – from 1929 to the 1990s – when the currency stayed the same without any major changes.

“We had three generations of engravers who spent their entire careers at the bureau and never saw their designs hit the streets,” Felix said. “Now since 1996, we have all of these changes.”

Wonder what the reason was for keeping the currency so constant. The article gives a little perspective:

By order of Congress, the $1 bill, which accounts for 45 percent of the notes printed each year, will not be redesigned. Lawmakers were concerned about the cost to business if low-end vending machines that only take coins and $1 bills had to be upgraded.

If I read that correctly, it might be argued that the US did not upgrade any of its currency in the past because the people taking the currency did not want to handle the cost of better verification. Now the issue is the cost of upgrading technology readers instead. But that argument only makes sense if people taking the counterfit currency are not the same as the ones who end up holding the bag. Strange logic.

One would think that the low-end vending machine owners/operators would actively participate or even encourage better controls to avoid accepting bogus bills.

With all that in mind, consider this case, where strippers in Tennessee identified fake money:

A man who authorities say used his computer to make fake $100 bills to buy lap dances at a strip club has pleaded guilty to counterfeiting charges, federal prosecutors said.

Strippers at Deja Vu in Nashville were suspicious of the bills and called police after Damon Armagost spent $600 of the fake money April 16, authorities said.

It is not clear whether the strippers immediately could tell that the money was fake (after six bills) or if they just profiled the person spending that kind of money and then became suspicious. I guess the big question is whether Congress would have intervened and argued on his behalf had the man paid with fake dollar bills instead.