Working the Long Con [Wednesday, Period One]

[talentforlying]

"I've got a role-model for you today," John decided as people began showing up. "Frank William Abagnale, Jr. is an American security consultant known for his history as a former confidence trickster, check forger, impostor, and escape artist. He became one of the most famous impostors ever, claiming to have assumed no fewer than eight identities as an airline pilot, a doctor, a U.S. Bureau of Prisons agent, and a lawyer. He escaped from police custody twice -- once from a taxiing airliner and once from a U.S. federal penitentiary -- before he was 21 years old. He served fewer than five years in prison before starting to work for the federal government. He is currently a consultant and lecturer for the FBI academy and field offices. He also runs Abagnale & Associates, a financial fraud consultancy company. Abagnale's life story provided the inspiration for the film Catch Me If You Can, a Broadway musical of the same name, and a ghostwritten autobiography also of the same name."

( What I did in my youth is hundreds of times easier today. Technology breeds crime )

"The authenticity of Abagnale's criminal exploits was questioned even before the publication of Catch Me If You Can. In 1978, after Abagnale had been a featured speaker at an anti-crime seminar, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter looked into his assertions. Phone calls to banks, schools, hospitals and other institutions Abagnale mentioned turned up no evidence of his cons under the aliases he used. Abagnale's response was that "Due to the embarrassment involved, I doubt if anyone would confirm the information.""

"In 2002, Abagnale himself addressed the issue of his story's truthfulness with a statement posted on his company's website which said in part: "I was interviewed by the co-writer only about four times. I believe he did a great job of telling the story, but he also over-dramatized and exaggerated some of the story. That was his style and what the editor wanted. He always reminded me that he was just telling a story and not writing my biography.""

Hunting 101, Wednesday

[6buckstohisname.livejournal.com]

After this past weekend, it would seem the teachers were cutting their students a break by making it a movie day. Weren't you all just so thrilled by that?

Well, if not... tough.

"Today we're gonna watch a completely inaccurate, but fun movie," Dean informed them. "On the plus side, Kate Beckinsale is awesomely hot in it."

Which totally made up for the inaccuracies, right?

"Have fun."

Library, Wednesday, All Day

[3girls-1core.livejournal.com]

Today, everything had conspired to go wrong. First, she'd overslept. Then, the cold water in the shower had unexpectedly cut out, leaving her yelping and scalded with hair full of shampoo. She'd intended to take a twenty minute shower, but it took longer than that for the cold water to come back so she could rinse out her hair and finish with conditioner.

She'd gone back to her room to discover that all of her dresses needed to be laundered, so she had to borrow something of Zeela's instead. Which had turned into a bickering argument that Sholeh really, really hadn't time for. And Zhahar wouldn't let her run to work without eating something, so that had taken even more time.

All in all, she was rather ridiculously late for work. The books had prepared for her, with several different works on timeliness, punctuality, and the importance of time management.

Sholeh didn't say anything, just sighed and started stacking them up to put them away.

How to Be One with Your City, Wednesday, Period Two

[cannotdenyher.livejournal.com]

Danger Shop.

Neo-noir rooftop.

... Cats.

A lot of them, actually. A bunch of lovable strays curiously circling around the students. Surely they would like to play? One of the cats meowed imploringly at the Spirit, who picked the feline up. "Hello, kids," he said, as he straightened up. "A little bird tells me there was some kind of upset on the island over the weekend. Or at least some kind of an event. Odd things afoot."

Of which he remembered nothing. As far as he could tell, there... had been no weekend. And that probably really should have concerned him more than it did.

"So we're taking things easy this week." He gestured at the cats with his free hand. "Show kindness to your fellow city dwellers. That's your task today."

Yes. He just wanted you to play with cats. Deal with it.