So... remember that NASA Mac?
Yep, the NASA Mac was hot, it turns out. That was the PowerMac G4 I bought on eBay before selling it less than a month later becuase it was too noisy and reeked of cigarettes.
I got a call from Chuck at NASA Ames today and he's trying to track down a bunch of them which got stolen. I sent him all the info I had on it (who I bought it from and who I sold it to). It was obvious when I owned it that it came from NASA, but I couldn't believe that it had been ripped off. I figured someone had installed NASA stuff on their Mac at home so they could work remotely, etc. then forgot to wack it before passing it on to a relative or what not. Or maybe just general government incompetence. There were no actual data or files on it, so I assumed the best. Nope, it turns out it was stolen property. Good thing I reformatted the drive before I passed it on.
Hmmm, what are the chances that the one major thing I buy on eBay in the past five years is stolen goods? I bet you eBay is awash with this stuff. If hadn't blogged about it, no one would have been any wiser about where that stuff had come from or gone.
Amazing.
-Russ