Slashdot Mirror
Thief Returns Stolen Laptop Contents On USB Stick
While it's true that Sweden is responsible for unleashing IKEA and ABBA on humanity, not everything they produce is terrible. Their thieves are some of the most considerate in the world. An unnamed professor at Umeå University received a USB stick with all his data after his laptop was stolen. From the article: "The professor, who teaches at Umeå University in northern Sweden, was devastated when ten years of work stored on his laptop was stolen. But to his surprise, a week after the theft, the entire contents of his laptop were posted to him on a USB stick. 'I am very happy,' the unnamed professor told the local Västerbottens-Kuriren newspaper. 'This story makes me feel hope for humanity.'"
He took the time to scan money he stole from me and provide me a convenient pdf file.
I feel so much better about humanity.
I'll second this. I had a thief break into my car to steal my CD changer. He broke the glass in my driver window, but then all he did was cut the cable, pop the trunk, and pull everything out. He actually took the time to pile up the CDs and what he didn't need on my driver's seat. Then he closed the door behind him. While I was out a CD changer and a window, it could have been a heck of a lot worse. I was struck by how... kind... basically the guy was.
Here's to hot beer, cold women, and Glaswegian kisses for all.
A single CD being shared by two people? Sounds like copyright infrignment to me.
I have a feeling the RIAA lawyers will hunt down both perpetrators before the cops can finish their donuts.
I'm listening to Abba right now, you insensitive clod!
In Sweden, stealing laptops is The Name Of The Game! Obviously, The Winner Takes it All except he brings back some of it's MP3 on a USB stick to the Dancing Queen, who had been sending out an S.O.S. She then says to the thief Thank You For The Music, followed by Voulez-Vous?. At which point the story turns to swedish erotica which is not appropriate to relate here.
-- Home is where you eat your heart out.
i heard about a guy that left a Justin Bieber CD on his dash... when he got back to his car the window was smashed, and someone left a second CD
Uh, that doesn't sound all that creepy to me. Yeah, someone who stole my laptop looked at its contents. Yeah it's an invasion of privacy, but you have to assume it happened regardless. Getting the data back at that point is pure positive IMO.
To make it more creepy to get your data back, it'd have to be something like all your pr0n, only sorted by type and quality or with photoshopped annotations. Or your non-pr0n data like your documents but with pr0n inserted into them. That'd be both creepy and potentially devastating... "Oh good I got my data back just in time for my presentation to the reagents tomorrow!"
The enemies of Democracy are
just in time for my presentation to the reagents
I bet he'll get a reaction.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
It sounds like the thief would have been kinder to steal a newer machine for the professor, preload it with his data, and send *that* back to him. :)
Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
But that might be Stockholm syndrome speaking.
Knowledge is power; knowledge shared is power lost.
10 years of data on the laptop - are they implying that said stolen laptop was 10 years old? And thief bothered, not only to steal it but also boot it up? Sweden is scary sometimes.
Hey,
He's is from Sweden for god's sake, didn't you hear about Stockholm syndrome?
...the country that brought us their massages, little gummy fish, and that legendary muppet chef, now brings us great höpen för åll thé frickén wöörlden. That is, until the professor clicks "gEt_uR_fiLezz_bäcken.exe" on an unfortunate colleague's borrowed laptop.
Heh. Now I'm imagining him giving a presentation to an audience of beakers, one full of powdered sulfur, another with a 1-molar HCL solution, and so on.
And oh, Mr. Sulfur is very offended by the salacious content in this presentation! The good Professor won't be getting tenure at Schizo U.!
The enemies of Democracy are
Reminds me of when a friend had their radio stolen from their car, however, the thief took the time slimjim the door rather then bust his window. He even locked it up after he was finish. Just because you're gonna be a thief, doesn't mean you have to be a jerk about it.
I think it goes more like:
Couple arrive home from vacation to find their house was broken into and wiped clean. Thieves were nice enough to have left the roll of film from their stolen camera, and most of their bathroom toiletries. So the couple filed their police report, brushed their teeth, and went to sleep on the floor.
A week later after they got the film developed, turns out they had a few extra blurry pictures taken by the thieves of some toothbrushes jammed up someone's ass.
Flash memory is so efficient that you can store 10 years of scientific research on one USB stick. Now, that's progress!
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
You might want to consider parking your car in a different location.
Ha! I hear in downtown Baltimore, junkies will break car windows just to rifle through the ashtray for loose pocket change. Some people post signs saying "No valuables inside", but it doesn't work, or is viewed as an invitation (some thieves break in anyway, and leave their own sign: "You're right! But I checked anyway").
Best approach seems to be to just leave the windows open. :-P
Maybe the thief wanted access to the "unnamed professor's" data for whatever reason, but didn't feel justified in depriving him of it permanently. Maybe he also wants him to continue his research so he can steal more of it later. I'd tell him to take a good hard look at his colleagues and students.
One time I was at a restaurant in my hometown of Baltimore, and someone smashed the window in and stole my briefcase which I carelessly left on the back seat. Unfortunately for them, it contained nothing but 2 weeks of my student's homework and 2 textbooks.
I hope someone learned a lesson : )
-Dom
For more on this idea, read Larry Niven's "Flatlander", originally published in the March 1967 "Worlds of If"
"See them all? Sixty-four million people in Los Angeles alone. Eighteen billion in the whole world. Suppose there was a law against picking pockets? How would you enforce it?" She deftly extracted the cash from my wallet and handed the wallet back. "Get yourself a new wallet, and fast. It'll have a place for your address and a window for a tenth-star stamp. Put your address in right away, and a stamp, too. Then the next guy who takes it can pull out the money and drop your wallet in the nearest mailbox -- no sweat. Otherwise you lose your credit cards, your ident, everything." She stuffed two hundred-odd stars in cash between her breasts, flashing me a parting smile as she turned.
"Thanks," I called. Yes, I did. I was still bewildered, but she'd obviously stayed to help me. She could just as easily have kept wallet and all.
"No charge," she called back, and was gone.
I'm reminded of a little joke myself:
Once upon a time Satan challenged Jesus to a programming contest. Christ sits down to a Commodore 64 and begins slowly pecking out the beginnings of a "hello world", while Satan conjures up a super computer, grows extra appendages, and begins coding like an army of hellish fiends. After a short while, Satan begins cackling madly, certain he's won the contest, while Christ just muddles slowly through. Suddenly, the power goes out. When God comes to judge the contest he declares Jesus the clear winner. When asked why, he answers, unlike Jesus, Satan had no program at all, because Jesus saves.
Or something like that.
Once again HTF did this get modded +5 Funny? This story is as old as the hills and there are many variations all over the globe. IT's about as funny as:
Q: Why didn't the cat drink its milk
A: because it was dead
The new right fascists are bilingual. They speak English and Bullshit.