For the Weekend Warriors, Weirdos & Whackjobs - Issue #26

Sifting through the trash so you don't have to—you're welcome.

This week, our local hacker in charge, Justin, reflected on some of the issues he encounters with digital evidence in the courts, with a piece titled Front Porch Digital Forensics. It's definitely worth a read since many criminal and civil cases are being won and lost in increasing volumes via digital evidence.

On April 25th, 2024, Lamont Kellum Jr., a friend of the Permanent Record family, released his audiobook that you can preview and purchase from Spotify. 

It. Is. Awesome. Go have a listen!

What Kennedy Recommends

In a former life, when I hosted a Canadian true crime podcast, I covered the death of Cindy James, a nurse in Richmond, BC, who'd died of an "unknown event" after years of what seemed to be a suspicious and violent stalking. I would go on to think about Cindy for the next ten years. At the time, there wasn't much to find about her story aside from aged articles, archival material, and a few chapters of a book written by her sister that could be found online. I reached out to her sister. Less than a year later, a large American podcast covered the story, and suddenly, the internet was flooded with new information. 

I was overwhelmed. I'd grown attached to Cindy's story and had become convinced of a version of events that was suddenly being called into question. Instead of confronting what I found, I put it to rest, feeling this odd sense that if I changed my mind about what I thought, I would betray Cindy. These are the complicated feelings researchers and investigators can find wrapped around themselves. But recently, I went down the rabbit hole of the Dreading YouTube channel. I appreciated his approach and his victim-first storytelling rather than perpetrator sensationalizing. So, when I saw he'd made a video about the case of Cindy James, I watched. I'll let you decide what you believe happened.

From Justin’s Bookshelf

Unsolved: The History and Mystery of the World’s Greatest Ciphers

by Craig P. Bauer (Amazon)

Written by former NSA cryptologist-academic-mathy-person, this tome is a fascinating dive into how the earliest quests for knowledge and the desire to protect that knowledge led us to some of the most interesting puzzles of our time. From old timey kings and queens, to Voynich and beyond, Bauer takes you deep into the nuts and bolts of how language and its obfuscation, works. Not for the faint of heart due to its density, but an excellent read for those that are interested!

Now go smoke something legal, we’ll see you next Wednesday.

— Much Love From The Bullshit Hunting Crew

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