In previous item, the proposal to teach reliable signatures focused on a past era when signatures were easy to recognize and hard to forge. I argued that the signature itself isn’t nearly as important as the PURPOSE of the signature. Nevertheless, the marketing point is true.
The Spokane News FB page published the usual item asking folks to identify a criminal caught on surveillance cameras, along with the usual unrecognizable picture.
Commenters hit the usual point:
Why is it that we can read a license plate on a car from space, but a store security camera cant get a decent picture from 10 feet away?
Our phones take better video than this. Maybe they should download a camera app and tape a bunch of iPhones to the walls… would be better quality
Two commenters hit a different point:
Until retailers and banks change security on using plastic I don’t care. Anyone can push credit and no pen required. This is a bank issue. Quit wasting my time
It seems like checking ID and signatures would help, when I worked retail I had to.
Would that make any difference? Probably not. Nobody has a signature now, so checking signatures is meaningless.
Before 1961 signatures were unique and constant identifiers. In 1961 JFK spoiled it. I’m no better than anyone else. My signature follows the JFK model. Initial letter of each name followed by a line.
Compare previous item, the illuminated check:
Or these signatures on the Topolobampo utopian scam:
Or these from the Missoury Fur Traders in 1812:
Or more modern, ET Starkweather on the 1933 Clay Center scrip.
When you know how to use a PEN, you don’t need a PIN.
Polistra's Mill 