Whitehouse security breaches and Balloon hoaxes

The two that broke into the whitehouse have done this sort of thing before, they take the Captain Janks idea (a frequent crank caller to popular media shows and contributor to the Howard Stern show) a few steps further by actually being there. In this case, simple social engineering accomplishing a physical breach in places this absolutely should not happen is the joke.

The recent balloon hoax, where a large balloon was launched into the sky with a fictional child trapped in the basket below (he was later found safe but hiding) had caused rescue efforts to waste resources and time. The media was fixed on it in a way similar to watching OJ Simpson's Bronco glide down the road doing nothing for several hours.

Tiger Woods, popular golfer and manicured by a force of public relations people to be the perfect celebrity, showed he was human and made a "gasp" mistake. It was an interesting one, after a fight with his spouse he crashed his car into a tree. Tiger is doing the opposite of the others in controlling the story, he is trying to hide from it. He is worth an estimated Billion, and there are a lot of people that suck off his success that do not want his archetype tarnished. This only makes the media more curious.

ISOC recognizes six elements to social engineering: Authority, Scarcity, Liking, Reciprocation, Commitment, and Social Proof. Perhaps a seventh principle should be added: Entertainment.