Sunday, January 07, 2024

When You Roam, You’re Not Alone

Two old ladies in a Catskills Mountain resort… one says “the food in here’s terrible” and the other replies “I know – and such small portions”.

IIRC, the Bank of England is tasked with controlling inflation and reducing unemployment, the police are tasked with reducing crime and maintaining community harmony. In both cases these requirements are diametrically opposed. This gives the organization complete freedom of action. e.g. “Why did you arrest that man?” “He broke the law.” “Why didn’t you arrest that man?” “To maintain community harmony


 more and more organisations in our lives are a bit like having a department tasked with increasing alcohol consumption and sobriety.

A Tax department tasked with ensuring that plenty of booze is available, but nobody drinks it.







THE CALLS ARE COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE! Report: Chinese Spy Balloon Used U.S. Internet Provider.

The balloon connected to a U.S.-based company, according to the assessment, to send and receive communications from China, primarily related to its navigation. Officials familiar with the assessment said it found that the connection allowed the balloon to send burst transmissions, or high-bandwidth collections of data over short periods of time.

The Biden administration sought a highly secretive court order from the federal Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to collect intelligence about it while it was over the U.S., according to multiple current and former U.S. officials. How the court ruled has not been disclosed.

Such a court order would have allowed U.S. intelligence agencies to conduct electronic surveillance on the balloon as it flew over the U.S. and as it sent and received messages to and from China, the officials said, including communications sent via the American internet service provider.

That’s in addition to earlier reports that US-made equipment was found inside the balloon’s hardware: Chinese spy balloon used US technology: Report.

In February, Noah Rothman described the spy balloon as being an actual ‘Sputnik Moment,’ but in 1957, Ike was much more concerned about US enemies, in sharp contrast to Sundown Joe and his Obama-era retread handlers in 2023


The Wondrous Birds of the Himalayas and the Forgotten Victorian Woman Whose Illustrations Rewilded the Western Imagination The Marginalian


The First Photo-Illustrated Book, Anna Atkins’ Austerely Beautiful Photographs of British Algae (1843) Open Culture. From 2016, but a good pairing.


It’s time to reassess the ‘dark arts’ of central banksThe Telegraph