[ExI] help please, from you creative types

[Tomasz Rola]

On Wed, 22 Sep 2010, spike wrote:

> Today I ask for some suggestions from those of you who think outside the
> box.  For those who offer good suggestions, the standard reward is yours: my
> gratitude, respect and everlasting admiration, or at least until I forget,
> whichever comes first, restrictions apply etc.
>  
> Assume I did a particular job at the ranch on a particular day, and I wanted
> to prove in court at some future date that this task was performed on that
> particular day.  Of course I could have an honest neighbor witness and sign
> a statement to that effect, but then she could be subpoenaed to testify in
> court etc, and that isn't good, and may not even be possible, if for
> instance she is old and sick.  So imagine I take digital photos with a time
> stamp.  The time could be set wrong on the camera, so just to make sure, I
> get that day's newspaper and hold it in the foreground, then keep the paper.
> So that proves to the satisfaction of the court that the event could not
> have taken place earlier than the timestamp on the camera, but it doesn't
> conclusively prove the event could not have taken place later.  I could have
> gotten last week's paper, intentionally set the camera time a week behind,
> taken the pictures and claimed the events took place a week earlier than
> they really did.
>  
> Question please, extro-thinkers: how do I use a digital camera to prove an
> event took place no later than stated?
>  
> This isn't a murder case or anything, just a civil matter, so the standards
> of proof are such that a digital photo is usually more than sufficient.  One
> day resolution is plenty good for this application, but not one week.  But
> using the newspaper trick I can only bound the problem on one side.  

Trivial. Some possible solutions:

1. You ask paper delivery to send you not only yesterday's newspaper but 
tomorrow one, too. Do I have to tell you that you simply make your photos 
with two papers? There are going to be some naysayers, who will murmur 
bs like "you can't get tomorrow's news today" but I've seen it in 
TV. It worked. Hint: you need a cat, or newspapers will be one day late. 
Don't ask me. I'm no Einstein. Not even Zweistein.

or

2. You shoot photos of your ranch at night, catching star positions so 
that in a court you may show their relative distances, which are unique.

or

3. You do the job. Next, get drunk and drive a lot. When sheriff shows up, 
ask her politely to have a photo session on your ranch. After taking your 
photos (don't forget to give her newspaper), she takes you to jail. Now 
you have a proof because you are mentioned in her papers.

or

3b. You do the job. Take the photo with newspaper and store it in a safe 
place. Next, set it all on fire and call firefighters.

Now, let me see. "gratitude, respect and everlasting admiration". I choose 
admiration. Can I?

 ;-)

Regards,
Tomasz Rola

--
** A C programmer asked whether computer had Buddha's nature.      **
** As the answer, master did "rm -rif" on the programmer's home    **
** directory. And then the C programmer became enlightened...      **
**                                                                 **
** Tomasz Rola          mailto:tomasz_rola at bigfoot.com             **