March 14, 2008
The Witch of ID (as opposed to the Wizard of Id), old Super Smith herself, must be heartened by the news that the military might of the UK is unable to keep track of its own ID cards.
Apparently, 11,000 have gone missing in the past two years, which is a fair chunk of military personnel, and does little to boost the leaking testosterone sack that is the credibility of the Armed Forces – rocked as they are by 'total success' in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In the spirit of duty to his nation, a quick ringaround confirmed that Mr O Bin Laden has not received the data as yet. But he did point Yours Truly in the direction of a group of 'Data Spotters' – a new form of geek that gets off by getting data off discs that they shouldn't do.
Big Jacqui should be alert to the fact that trains are no longer good enough, and that spotting 'data collection' opportunities is now the big thing in the world of the geek.
Expect security patrols to be stepped up in cafés and bars around all military bases just in case.
Guru always found trainspotters, philatelists and numismatists a suspicious lot and now it seems MI6 has joined the ranks of the concerned.
So expect a 'data spotter' job opportunity at the secret service's Vauxhall HQ any day soon. Swarthy types wearing wet weather gear and holding a pencil and pad-in-a-plastic-bag(TM) need not apply, of course.
