At Defcon 13, easily the largest annual hacker convention being held this weekend in Las Vegas, you will find in the chill-out room one of the walls is covered with a projected image from a nearby computer of the “Wall of Sheep,” an ongoing listing of people at the conference who didn’t take proper security measures to prevent their username and password from being captured by hackers.

Only a small part of the password is actually posted, but enough is there that when you see it, you will know it’s yours. And God forbid, if you actually see your own picture there, perhaps you aren’t smart enough to be there.

Today’s lesson is: if you walk into a hacker convention, expect somebody to be hacking. And if you’re a sheep, don’t go into the wolves’ den.

Activist Jesse Jackson has found a new cause: bringing ESPN’s 50 States in 50 Days tour to Washington, D.C.

The activist and former presidential candidate says it’s insulting that the cable network left D.C. out when it came up with its plans. Jackson says he’ll go to the network’s Connecticut headquarters if they don’t change their tune. — Associated Press

Uh, Jesse, there’s nothing in D.C. that would quite fit in this tour. ESPN is covering events such as the Freestyle Frisbee Championships in Seattle, Wash., today, and the World Championship Cardboard Boat Races in Heber Springs, Ark., tomorrow.

ESPN has already toured 13 of 50 states and also has posted a blog online.

Congratulations, Rev. Jackson, you’re today’s Stupid Person of the Day.

Reporter Helen Thomas told The Hill newspaper, “The day I say Dick Cheney is going to run for president, I’ll kill myself. All we need is one more liar.”

According to WorldNetDaily, Thomas has been covering the White House since the Kennedy administration.

It’s one thing to kill yourself because the country is going to hell and you can’t stand it anymore. But at least wait and see if he gets elected first!

The Samaritans of Greater Boston provided new road signs to Massport for use on the Tobin Bridge to deter suicide jumpers, but the signs have the wrong number.

The organization’s 24-hour suicide hotline is reachable at 617-247-0220. The phone number posted on the new blue signs is off by one digit. — Boston Herald

The signs which the Samaritans provided show 617-247-0270, which is disconnected. The Samaritans get the Stupid award today for failing to look at the new signs before they went up.

Update July 31: If you need help, anywhere in the U.S., call 1-800-SUICIDE.

Arthur Teele, Jr., former Miami City Commissioner, committed suicide Wednesday in the lobby of the Miami Herald building. Teele had been indicted for fraud and money laundering.

[Teele] and an electrical contractor were indicted July 14th on charges of lying to get more than $20 million in contracts at Miami International Airport that were supposed to go to minority-owned businesses. Teele is black. — WKMG Local 6

Teele had entered a not guilty plea to the charges last week.

This wasn’t the first time he got himself in trouble, either. Last August he ran an unmarked police car off the road and threatened to shoot a police detective, and apparently had a thing for transsexual prostitutes.

Ah, one less crooked politician. Now if only every crooked politician would kill themselves.

A councillor in Bath, U.K. wants to suspend road maintenance and allow potholes in order to calm traffic.

When people are confronted by less well-maintained road surfaces with potholes, they tend to drive slower.

They are worried about doing damage to their car and, as such, are far more careful. They also become more aware of the pedestrians and hazards around them.

And taxpayers would make significant savings, first because less would be spent on road surfaces, and second because less would be spent on road-calming measures such as speed cameras and road humps. — Cllr Andy Furse

This completely ignores the dangers of two-wheeled vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians having accidents as a result of such potholes, for which the city’s insurance company would have to pay.

Congratulations, Councillor, you are today’s Stupid Person of the Day.

The Professional Association of Teachers wants to ban the use of the word “fail” in UK schools, replacing it with the phrase “deferred success.”

We recognise that children do not necessarily achieve success first time. . . . But I recognise that we can’t just strike a word from the dictionary. — PAT spokesperson

This politically correct speech thing has really gotten out of hand. Our children do not need to be misled by terms such as “deferred success,” which imply that she may get it right the next time. She may not. How long shall success be deferred, and do you really think the child will not catch on? Children aren’t stupid, at least not until they’ve been through the public education system. This will just make them even dumber.

A woman in Palermo, Italy, paid €50,000 (US$60,000) to a couple who had convinced her they were vampires and would otherwise impregnate her with the son of the Anti-Christ.

The couple, who was not identified, fleeced the victim of €3,000 (US$3,600) each for pills they convinced her would abort the Anti-Christ’s son over a period of four years.

More information from Reuters newswire.

The also unidentified victim is today’s Stupid Person of the Day.

The American public education system is dumbing down your kids and preparing them for a life of mediocrity.

That’s the startling, but perhaps not surprising, premise behind John Taylor Gatto’s book, The Underground History of American Education, which is available to read free online. (Hint: Try the printer-friendly links in each chapter.)

Gatto is a former New York State Teacher of the Year who taught for 30 years before finally quitting in disgust at the things the education system asked him to do to children. If you want to understand how America’s educational system works and what its true goals are, this book is required reading.

He argues that the system is designed to suppress in children the abilities of critical thinking and judgment needed to accomplish great things, and to psychologically warp children so as to be docile, apathetic, uncomplaining employees and consumers when they grow up.

Thanks to Liberty for Sale for bringing this very important work on American education to light. I can tell you no child of mine will ever attend a public school. Now go read the book, and come back here in a week or two when you’re finished, and let me know what you think.

Today’s Stupid Person of the Day is anyone who leaves their children in public school after learning what’s really going on in those classrooms.

Whoa! Wait a minute! Stop the presses!

I’ve already snidely made it known that I think that random bag searches of subway goers in New York City is futile because terrorism isn’t committed by random people. But wait until you hear this.
(more…)

Five members of the Tucson Raging Grannies face trespassing charges after entering an Army recruitment center saying they want to enlist and replace their grandchildren in Iraq.

The group had held weekly protests outside the recruitment center for three years, but on the 13th July, decided to go inside.

“We went in asking to be sent to Iraq so our kids and grandchildren can be sent home, but rather than listening to us, they called the police,” said 74-year-old Betty Schroeder. “It was their place to tell us the qualifications, but they wouldn’t even speak to us. They should’ve said, ‘You’re too old.’” — KVOA

“They need to direct their frustrations at people who have the power to change things,” said Nancy Hutchinson, an Army spokesperson, according to BBC News.

Congratulations, Tuscon Raging Grannies, you are the Stupid People of the Day. Annoying an Army recruiter is not going to make one bit of difference, and while your offer to stand in place of your children and grandchildren may be admirable, it’s completely unrealistic.

The naked tickler has been breaking into Florida residents’ houses and tickling women’s feet as they sleep. Police “don’t have a lot to go on.”

Investigators have been working on five similar, unsolved cases since 2001. Most of the victims are women over age 60, said police Cmdr. Wade Kirby. — Associated Press

This guy in Memphis, Tenn., (pictures not safe for work) stuck a lit firework between his butt cheeks and waited for it to go off…

Then, when it did go off, the idiot leans back and holds it in place!

Contributed by Jennifer.

In Center City, Pa., on Tuesday, a naked man tried to grab a police officer’s gun. The officer shot him, at which time the naked man stole the officer’s cruiser. Shortly afterward he crashed into another car and then into a New Jersey Transit bus. He died in the hospital about 1:30 am Wednesday.

It’s the type of thing that you’re driving down the street and all of a sudden a naked male tries to get into your car and tries to take your gun. Obviously the male must be mental. — Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson

More news coverage is available from WGAL.

Today’s Stupid Person of the Day had not been identified as of this time.

An initiative in San Bernardino County aims to bring Ebonics into the classroom. The pilot program will teach second, fourth and seventh grade students about black history and culture.

Mary Texeira, sociology professor at Cal State in San Bernardino, commended the school board for approving the policy.

Texeira suggested that including Ebonics in the program would be beneficial for students. Ebonics, a dialect of American English that is spoken by many blacks throughout the country, was recognized as a separate language in 1996 by the Oakland school board.

“Ebonics is a different language, it’s not slang as many believe,” Texeira said. “For many of these students Ebonics is their language, and it should be considered a foreign language. These students should be taught like other students who speak a foreign language.”

Teresa Parra, board vice president, said she worried the new program would have an adverse effect.

“I’m afraid that now that we have this the Hispanic community, our largest population, will say, ‘We want something for us.’ Next we’ll have the Asian community and the Jewish community (asking for their own programs). When will it end?” — San Bernardino County Sun

On this one, I think I’ll let you decide who’s stupid.