I had to repeat this story just to give it more face time. Credit to Boing Boing and Engadget for posting the original.
Jasper Rine is a professor of genetics and development at the University of California at Berkeley, and recently had his laptop stolen by a student in his class. Apparently, the student believed that s/he would be able to copy the exam questions and solutions from the laptop prior to the next exam, and return the laptop without much consequence.
As this recorded webcast of Professor Rine’s announcement to the class on April 15th will show you, the student now has a bit more to worry about. To get to the pertinent part of the lecture, forward the RealPlayer file to 48:50. (Update: Apparently UC Berkeley didn’t like all of us viewing the speech, so the video has been cropped.) For those who don’t want to deal with RealPlayer, Sean Graham made a very lo-fi mp3 of the audio from the ‘good part’ of the lecture.
You can also read a transcript of Professor Rine’s speech.
…And this is why we don’t steal, children!
No kidding! If you ever wanted a reason to shy away from a career in theft, this is probably it. Though the professor shouldn’t have had all that sensitive data on the laptop to begin with, it definitely sucks for the student who stole it.
This blows me away. It never ceases to amaze me how smart people can do such stupid things.
Ugh. Prof. Rine made it all up in an attempt to get the laptop back! So he lied to catch the thief. Is there no end?
See : http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000817041260/
Nooooooo! I guess the technical inconsistencies should have been a red flag, but it is sad that it was all made up. Thanks for the heads up.