August 4, 2012 at 15:52Steve Wozniak Trolls US Secret Service Agent
Recently, Steve Wozniak published an inventory of the contents of his backpack, which he constantly takes on trips. Among dozens of gadgets, Woz mentioned sheets of two-dollar bills, which he also carries with him all the time. Some readers have a logical question: why are sheets needed?
Note: few people know about this, but uncut sheets with 4.16 or 32 banknotes are sold by the American Bureau of Engraving and Printing , a manufacturer of conventional banknotes for the Federal Reserve. Sheets are sold to collectors, and banknotes here are one and a half to two times more expensive than face value. Woz specially makes perforations on them with a printer in order to conveniently tear banknotes by removing a large sheet from his pocket.
The answer to the question of why Woz carries sheets of two-dollar bills with him can be found in the archives of his personal website: this story happened a few years ago in Las Vegas, where Wozniak and his wife brought her daughter to perform in regional gymnastics competitions.
To have fun, Steve went to the casino and, as usual, began to make fun of his two-dollar bills. He took out a sheet, tore one bill from him - and gave it to the waitress for tea. Traditionally, it caused a lot of positive emotions. For some reason, everyone is very fond of two-dollar bills, not to mention the impression that the average person makes a whole sheet from which such a bill is torn. Wozniak says that every two-dollar banknote costs him three dollars, but they give so many jokes in life that they fully pay for themselves.
However, the story in the casino did not end there. After some time, the absolutely unflappable casino security manager approached Woz and calmly sat next to him. He slowly started talking about two-dollar banknotes. Steve started trolling him, saying that he had bought notes from some guy on the street and thought they were real. The guard said that they checked them with a portable scanner - the banknotes turned out to be real. After that, Steve showed the manager a perforated sheet, driving him into a stupor for a minute. Then Steve turned his attention to the fact that the numbers on the banknotes of the sheet are not in a row, the first and last digits are the same, while the numbers in the middle change. This drove him into a stupor for another minute, but he did not lose his calm appearance, although his jaw dropped slightly.
After trolling the security manager, Wozniak faced a more difficult task. When Steve Wozniak left to freshen up and returned, a young man in a suit was waiting for him, he was an agent of the US Secret Service. Steve Wozniak sat next to him. The agent looked around and said that you need to find a quiet place. They found such a room, and the agent closed the door behind him. When he read out to Steve the rights, including the right to remain silent and so on, he realized that the matter would drag on and that he might be late for his daughter’s performance in gymnastics.
The agent asked for identification, and Woz thought about it. The fact is that he constantly carries with him a set of fake IDs for different occasions. For example, his favorite certificate was made 20 years ago, when color thermal sublimation printers appeared. There is a real name and photo of Wozniak, but the position “laser security officer” is indicated, and he is depicted with a blindfold on his eye. There is the seal of the Ministry of Defense, but it says Department of Defiance (instead of Department of Defense). This certificate is almost always shown by Steve when registering for flights, he likes it so much. But is it possible to take a chance now, when talking with an officer of the Secret Service, because here it can even go to a criminal case for falsifying documents? In the end, Woz made a decision - this situation happens only once in a lifetime,
The Secret Service agent copied the name and ID number to himself in a notebook - and returned it back. The cart was struck to the core. The Secret Service has accepted the identification of a "Laser Safety Officer" with a blindfold!
He says that when this story is told to other people, many people stop believing in it at that very moment.
Then there was a detailed interview in which Steve was asked for the passport number, driver’s license number, all credit card numbers, family names, names of schools and universities where he studied, and so on. Then it came to listing the names of all friends with phone numbers, because Steve had already started trolling and said that he did not remember which of the friends gave him these banknote sheets. That's it.
When the agent had said goodbye, Steve still trolled him a little regarding the fact that his 12-year-old daughter won $ 7,500 in the Keno lottery, but all this money would go to the US government. The fact is that only the parent can win, after which he will give almost half of this amount in the form of income tax, and the second half in the form of gift tax, because he transfers the money to his daughter (each US citizen has an annual limit of how much money he has the right to give gifts to relatives without paying tax, Steve has already chosen a limit that year).
Note: few people know about this, but uncut sheets with 4.16 or 32 banknotes are sold by the American Bureau of Engraving and Printing , a manufacturer of conventional banknotes for the Federal Reserve. Sheets are sold to collectors, and banknotes here are one and a half to two times more expensive than face value. Woz specially makes perforations on them with a printer in order to conveniently tear banknotes by removing a large sheet from his pocket.
The answer to the question of why Woz carries sheets of two-dollar bills with him can be found in the archives of his personal website: this story happened a few years ago in Las Vegas, where Wozniak and his wife brought her daughter to perform in regional gymnastics competitions.
To have fun, Steve went to the casino and, as usual, began to make fun of his two-dollar bills. He took out a sheet, tore one bill from him - and gave it to the waitress for tea. Traditionally, it caused a lot of positive emotions. For some reason, everyone is very fond of two-dollar bills, not to mention the impression that the average person makes a whole sheet from which such a bill is torn. Wozniak says that every two-dollar banknote costs him three dollars, but they give so many jokes in life that they fully pay for themselves.
However, the story in the casino did not end there. After some time, the absolutely unflappable casino security manager approached Woz and calmly sat next to him. He slowly started talking about two-dollar banknotes. Steve started trolling him, saying that he had bought notes from some guy on the street and thought they were real. The guard said that they checked them with a portable scanner - the banknotes turned out to be real. After that, Steve showed the manager a perforated sheet, driving him into a stupor for a minute. Then Steve turned his attention to the fact that the numbers on the banknotes of the sheet are not in a row, the first and last digits are the same, while the numbers in the middle change. This drove him into a stupor for another minute, but he did not lose his calm appearance, although his jaw dropped slightly.
After trolling the security manager, Wozniak faced a more difficult task. When Steve Wozniak left to freshen up and returned, a young man in a suit was waiting for him, he was an agent of the US Secret Service. Steve Wozniak sat next to him. The agent looked around and said that you need to find a quiet place. They found such a room, and the agent closed the door behind him. When he read out to Steve the rights, including the right to remain silent and so on, he realized that the matter would drag on and that he might be late for his daughter’s performance in gymnastics.
The agent asked for identification, and Woz thought about it. The fact is that he constantly carries with him a set of fake IDs for different occasions. For example, his favorite certificate was made 20 years ago, when color thermal sublimation printers appeared. There is a real name and photo of Wozniak, but the position “laser security officer” is indicated, and he is depicted with a blindfold on his eye. There is the seal of the Ministry of Defense, but it says Department of Defiance (instead of Department of Defense). This certificate is almost always shown by Steve when registering for flights, he likes it so much. But is it possible to take a chance now, when talking with an officer of the Secret Service, because here it can even go to a criminal case for falsifying documents? In the end, Woz made a decision - this situation happens only once in a lifetime,
The Secret Service agent copied the name and ID number to himself in a notebook - and returned it back. The cart was struck to the core. The Secret Service has accepted the identification of a "Laser Safety Officer" with a blindfold!
He says that when this story is told to other people, many people stop believing in it at that very moment.
Then there was a detailed interview in which Steve was asked for the passport number, driver’s license number, all credit card numbers, family names, names of schools and universities where he studied, and so on. Then it came to listing the names of all friends with phone numbers, because Steve had already started trolling and said that he did not remember which of the friends gave him these banknote sheets. That's it.
When the agent had said goodbye, Steve still trolled him a little regarding the fact that his 12-year-old daughter won $ 7,500 in the Keno lottery, but all this money would go to the US government. The fact is that only the parent can win, after which he will give almost half of this amount in the form of income tax, and the second half in the form of gift tax, because he transfers the money to his daughter (each US citizen has an annual limit of how much money he has the right to give gifts to relatives without paying tax, Steve has already chosen a limit that year).