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March 24, 2006
Random News Snippets
There are currently 35 web browser windows open on my desktop. Each is a fascinating story, worth of a blog entry in its own right. But since I need to close these windows and I turn in a revised dissertation draft due tomorrow, I'll just post the highlights.
-Katherine Albrecht
Wanted - Australian spies who love to shop
The Aussies have taken a page straight from Paco Underhill's horrid CRM marketing spybook.
CANBERRA: Australia's top intelligence agency is promoting the chance to go shopping during work as one of the benefits of working as a spy, using case studies from real agents to try to attract new recruits.
"I'm like any girl in her 20s, I just can't talk about what I do," Alison says in an advertisement.
"Sometimes, when I'm out following a target who's gone shopping, I get to go shopping too. Or sometimes, as I'm passing through an area following a target, I might see something in a shop that I like and think to myself, hmmm. . . I'll have to go back there."
More detail on the Australia Spies story
"Alison", a recent recruit to ASIO, says she once worked as a private investigator, keeping tabs on cheating partners and their lovers, but wanted more out of her career.
"I love the way the job is unpredictable," she says.
"It's almost like I get to live another person's life every day.
"Sometimes when I'm out following a target who's gone shopping, I get to go shopping too."
Robotic Fish - Fake fish look just like the real thing
These fish are startlingly realistic. They are equipped with cameras, of course.
I'm someone who actually takes the second commandment ("Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth..." ) rather seriously. If humanity followed this simple rule, there would be no hybrid human-mice or other monstrous creations. When you saw a fish or a bug you'd know that it was fashioned by God, not a defense laboratory. (Plus you'd be sure it wasn't equipped with a remote control camera and a microphone.)
Stealth sharks to patrol the high seas
"IMAGINE getting inside the mind of a shark: swimming silently through the ocean...We may soon be able to do just that via electrical probes in the shark's brain. Engineers funded by the US military have created a neural implant designed to enable a shark's brain signals to be manipulated remotely, controlling the animal's movements, and perhaps even decoding what it is feeling....By remotely guiding the sharks' movements, they hope to transform the animals into stealth spies [of course], perhaps capable of following vessels without being spotted."
Remote-controllable human implant
"Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has come up with a way to remotely control implanted components from outside the body...Livermore's device consists of an implant attached to a silicone tube a few millimetres long. The tube has with gold particles on its tip and a current is passed wirelessly through these to create a patterned magnetic field, which can then be used to manoeuvre the implant remotely.The implants could be injected near the target site and moved around the patient's head using an external electromagnet...."
NJ Police Chief takes a chip implant
Chief of Police Jack Schmidig of Bergen County, NJ, a member of the police force for over 30 years, received a VeriChip as part of Applied Digital Solution's strategy of enlisting key regional leaders to accelerate adoption of its implantable product.
Man's entire apartment wrapped in aluminum foil
A practical joke where a man's entire home was encased in aluminum foil - right down to the quarters in his change jar. (The photos in the gallery are jaw dropping.)
New Zealand Government to give all kids an ID number
Social Development Minister David Benson-Pope said "I am interested in ensuring that ...our monitoring of young people is as coordinated as possible."
Japanese government plans to sprinkle RFID tags over disaster areas
The Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications ntends to sprinkle disaster areas with RFID-tagged sensors that will form a mesh network to detect heat and vibration.
Food Technology Run Amok
"I'll bet most people have never taken a moment to consider that the current state of our physical health is likely due to eating food that is no longer compatible with our physical bodies...."
Posted by Katherine Albrecht at March 24, 2006 12:42 PM