Lots of you are aware that the laptop I used from 2010 to early 2013 now has a new home as an exhibit inside Washington DC’s International Spy Museum. Many people are wondering how the hell it got there, this post will address that question.
The International Spy Museum and friends expressed an interest in acquiring the laptop on loan for a period of five years, to be displayed under glass in their new Weapons of Mass Disruption exhibit. I thought this was such a cool idea. But I had to think about the logistics of getting it there safely and without jeopardizing my own position. It just so happens that one of my followers whom I have a great deal of respect for, offered to be (one of) the links in the chain between me and the museum.
I set about sanitizing the laptop both inside and out, including DBANning the SSD drive multiple times and ‘draining’ the RAM. I removed all serial numbers, drilled the torque screws out so they could not be removed and cleansed the exterior thoroughly to remove prints, etc.
With that done, I packaged it up and set about setting up a chain of 3 people, none of whom know my identity, to relay it to each other with the final link in the chain being in Washington DC, who was willing to walk it directly into the museum personally. Once this was arranged I waited until I was out of town on business with my day job before mailing it to the first link in the chain.
And that’s what happened. It’s a great honor for me that it’s got a home there for now, but also very surreal. The 007 Bond car is directly to its left standing overwatch. Very weird for me to see photos of it being tweeted to me by visitors. I always associate museums with artifacts from dead people and events long since passed. It’s just a huge honor for me. I’d like to thank the International Spy Museum (@IntlSpyMuseum), and all the folks that facilitated the transportation and handover (you know who you are).
Thank you. Here’s some more photos of the handover:
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Some of you have noticed the words ‘Courtesy: Dave Marcus’ on the description of the laptop at the museum. Dave Marcus kindly set the whole handover up. He is not ‘Jester’, has never met ‘Jester’, nor does he know who ‘Jester is, just for clarification.
Interesting Footnote: The irony of how the Museum even found out about the laptop in the first place – I originally attempted to auction my decommissioned laptop using the BitMit Bitcoin auction site, to preserve my anonymity and donate the proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Project. What could go wrong? Well, it was all going great, I let everyone know via twitter and my blog and a few bids came in. Then predictably the crazed stalker now known as NarcoTroll Emick and her then sidekick (she has a new sidekick now) decided that it was all a big scam, I didn’t have the laptop and so on, the usual fathomless shit from her. They took it upon themselves to sabotage the auction, in the interests of the public at large (clearly lol) to prevent me from ‘ripping anybody off’. Asshats, I know. Here’s NarcoTroll Emick claiming the laptop doesn’t exist and here’s a screenshot of their outrageous bidding.
I suppose it was naive of me to think this wouldn’t happen, but I thought it was worth a shot for a good cause. So it came to be that the auction had to be abandoned, all because NarcoTroll Emick knows best, and isn’t at all vindictive and jealous or anything right? So I’d like to thank the NarcoTroll Emick because without her obsessive mission to ‘thwart’ my every move, this whole thing would never have happened. Thanks Jen, I am so proud.
Moral of the story. Be careful what you wish troll for.
Happy Independence Day.
Peace.
J
Update 9/20/13
