i have great intel—i have people brief me on great intel every day

In a move that potentially poisons its own diplomatic and intelligence wells, when Dear Leader welcomed the Russian foreign minister and the ambassador to the US into the Oval Office for a closed-door meeting he used the session to apparently brandish to the assembled company highly classified material that had been relayed to the US by a partner state.
On a high enough level of course the whole world is united against the Cosplay Caliphate and their ilk, but in the Syrian proxy war, Russia and the American allies have very different objectives. Dear Leader is demonstrating a willingness, apparently (it’s a matter of speculation since reporters familiar with the conversation have withheld details to prevent further damage to national security), to share more with individuals with an adversarial stance than with tried and true associates. Compromised or otherwise, Dear Leader with this stunt and lack of reprimand by Republican politicians jeopardises future information exchange from sources that did not want its identity revealed to the Russians.

bird of prey

Although I know it’s the way of wild things, it’s a bit dissonant to think of parrots, crows and ravens as carnivorous hunters—especially of the domesticated variety. I few years ago, we watched with rapt fascination when the young falcon had caught his first mouse and sort of hammed up the act for the camera, but had to confront not such a majestic sight the other day while queuing at the gas pump. A big crow was rather cruelly batting around a shrieking tiny bird, stunning it before ripping it apart. I had to look away and I was torn whether I ought to have intervened, even if I could have gotten there in time. If we’d been in the forest and not near the bins of fast-food restaurants where the murder hangs out, I might have felt differently but these birds are fearless around humans and seem to have shed all other instincts.

londontown

The Big Think features a review of the newly released Curiocity, which is a celebration of the city of London told through a soulful geographic introduction that combines the best elements of atlases, trivia and more conventional travel guides to address those deceptively straightforward questions and statistics that allude answer or definition. The verdict on London’s etymology is still at large, as are the city-limits and the city’s central point—the Omphalos (Greek for navel), the spot on the Isle of Dogs (no one knows how this eyot got its name either) where John Dee and Christopher Marlowe performed a magical rite in 1593 to establish the psychic base of the British Empire, is our favourite contender. Visit the links up top for more information and imponderables to ponder.

v’ger or codified likeness utility

Clever musician and filmmaker Patrick Collins has rescored Star Trek: The Motion Picture with Daft Punk’s soundscape for Tron: Legacy and the result is really satisfying. Thematically similar on some levels, I think both Star Trek’s premiere on the big screen—which was ultimately not the story first-pitched to the studios—and the original Tron (not even considered for an Academy Award since using computerised generated landscapes were considered cheating in 1982—1979’s release was also panned for its over-reliance on special effects) were both really ahead of their time but received lack-lustre acclaim from contemporaries.

denial-of-access

The consensus seems to suggest that for all the potentially dangerous disruption unleashed—and not to financial institutions or social networks—but to hospitals and transportation support systems, and for the risks involved if caught, the group behind a global tranche of ransom-ware cyber-attacks have little ill-gotten Geld to show for it.
Even when weighing the risks of how it might encourage further extortion, security experts are tacitly suggesting that they paid this pittance—though doing so isn’t just send a nuisance away, should one consider the shuddering scope of the kidnapped data that they could release, resell or delete if their demands weren’t met, not to mention the real risk to life and limb. The groups behind these attacks, which capitalised on exploitative techniques that the US National Security Agency believed that as the guys in the white hats would only work for them, perhaps wanted industry to finally patch all these flaws to bother hackers and snooping governments—as this attack surely can no longer be carried out with the same quiver of tactics. What do you think? As small amounts continue to flow in, it strikes me as their demands probably fail to exceed some threshold for authorities to act on and they could possibly just bilk their victims with ransom becoming a protection-racket. Maybe it’s too increase the value of the cyber-currency that they’re demanding remuneration in—which would appear especially safe if they’re never apprehended. Whatever the outcome, I don’t think we’ve heard the last of it.

sunday drive: bad bocklet

We’ve visited Bad Bocklet previously but I hadn’t before taken the time for a stroll through the Kurpark (Spa) until now and gather a virtual bouquet for Mother’s Day.
                                                           The thermal baths and the surrounding gardens were first landscaped in the back in the seventeen hundreds by the Bishop Electors of Würzburg—and those familiar with the other properties of that diocese would certainly recognise their style and influence.
During the Napoleonic Wars, however, the lands of Würzburg were awarded to the Duke of Tuscany which also the look of the place, I think. Unfortunately, I did not have a cup handy to sample the spring waters, but I’m sure we’ll get another chance.