What's this button do?

North Korea tried Saturday to launch a ballistic missile, and just like their last test attempt, it also failed.  Crashed and burned big time, it did.  The question now is WHY?  Was it simply a case of inferior engineering, or something else?  Sunday the former British Foreign Secretary suggested it was likely that a US cyber-attack was responsible for the North Korean missile's spectacular failure. 

We've heard for years now about other countries successful hacks / cyber attacks on American commercial and public interests.  Through all this I've been wondering, "What are we capable of doing to them?"  Of course, barring a security leak, we'll never know for sure.  But if science is truly on the cusp of being able to disable enormously expensive weapons systems with cyber commands from a dark, secure room somewhere, this could be a world "balance-of-power" game changer.

This potential new form of dominant warfare has far-ranging implications.  For many decades there have been only two true superpowers, the USSR / Russia and the US, with the US generally believed to have a considerable edge.  "Superpower" being defined as quantities and qualities of missiles, warheads, aircraft, submarines, tanks, etc.  Only a select few advanced countries could get into our very exclusive club.  

Now, with a relatively small financial investment, many smaller countries could soon find themselves in the Cyber Big Leagues.  Surely tiny Israel is there right now, joining the US, Russia, and China in the top tier.  Other potential members might include N Korea, S Korea, Japan, India, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, and a few others you wouldn't think of as likely superstars.  

Can you imagine the challenges to traditional spheres of influence where former minor league players can demand and win concessions from today's superpowers?  Where most of today's massive aircraft carrier battle groups and nuclear-tipped missiles are made redundant?  Where warfare will be (even) more about electronic / digital measures and countermeasures than about the actual hardware?  Will today's heavyweights be able to gracefully and willingly share power?

For those who are today willing to appease the Tea Party's thirst for tax cuts at all costs, please think twice.  Cutting funding in the wrong places, such as in education, especially in the nerdy fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, would likely come back to haunt us in the not-too-distant future.  It's time to double-down on funding our future.  Cyber-nerds sitting at computer keyboards may not be as sexy as a fleet of stealth bombers, but they will likely someday be far more important to our national security.

Chew on that thought for a while.

S

"Normal" is a relative term

Looks like things are returning to normal here.  Over the past week we buried my 96-year old aunt (on Tuesday) and yesterday we laid to rest my 96-year old step-mom, too.  They both just wore out and died peacefully....they did it right!

Interesting factoid:  If I understood the story correctly, my step-mom invented the "conference call".  It was during WWII and she was working for the Southwestern Bell phone company.

  
She figured out a way to plug in the wires to the switchboard in such a way that she could connect calls from servicemen to multiple people on the other end at the same time, enabling them to all hear their loved one during the very brief calls the soldiers were allowed.  

Later the phone company techies of the day ran with her idea and, in the true spirit of capitalism, perfected a way to charge us extra for it.

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They are officially zero.  I'm talking about the odds that I will ever travel to India.  Before I read today's paper my odds of visiting India were about the same slightly lower than my sweeping Scarlett Johansson off her feet and driving off into the sunset with her beside me in my vintage Ferrari.

It seems in the northern Indian state of Uttar Prapesh the heat spiked to 117 degrees and the power company shut down.  The story said that on a good day power only works for a couple of hours anyway, but now they don't even get that.

And being the super intelligent folks they are, they rioted, took the electric company employees hostage, and burned down the electric substations.  Yeah, that'll show 'em!

So now they have 200,000,000 people (literally) running around without even their usual 2 hours of electric service a day.  And to make matters worse, I'll bet you $100 the stores are all sold out of deodorant, too.  Man, they can't buy a break!

Nope, sorry. No air conditioning, no Scotty boy.  Texas in the summer is bad enough.  I'm not going looking for trouble.

Stay cool everyone.  :)

S

So now I've pissed off Germany, too?

"I had...a bad...experience!"  from The Italian Job.

Earlier this week I said some rather disparaging things about India, and immediately my technology tools all went kaput.  This necessitated a call to Yahoo customer service, which of course is contracted out to a couple of semi-English speaking idiots in....INDIA!   It has been suggested to me this was simply Karma coming home to roost with a vengeance.  (NOTE:  Just as I typed this, the battery compartment door on my wireless keyboard popped open and the batteries fell out.  That's creepy!)

Yesterday my car's driver side power window wouldn't open, and I remembered there was a fuse that controlled just the driver's side front window.  The other 3 windows worked fine.  So while I was out making my rounds I stopped in to my mechanic and asked him to please check it.

He got in my car (an Audi), turned on the key, hit the "down" switch....and it came down.  DAMN!  So it was just me?  Am I jinxed or what?

Then he tried to close it, and just as happened to me....nothing.  Now it was stuck down*.  Yes.  I AM jinxed.

What have I done to piss off Germany?  I like Germany, especially their cars.  *sigh*

I need the weekend to hurry up and get here.  *pout*

S

*They got it back up temporarily. It wasn't the fuse.   Replacement parts are coming pronto from Canada.  I'm just thankful they aren't coming from #$%^& India.  ;)

This "one world" thing many are hoping for is still a long way off

Have you been keeping up with the controversy surrounding the Indian consular official who was strip searched and arrested for visa fraud and abusing her domestic help?  It seems that to get her servant a visa into the US, Devyani Khobragade told officials here that she would be paying a certain wage.  As things turned out, the maid went to authorities in NY and alleged that she was forced to work 94-109 hours per week, yet was only paid $573 a month.

It seems consular officials do NOT have full diplomatic immunity like accredited embassy staff have, leaving Ms. Khobragade open to arrest.  (I have no idea what the strip search was about.)  

To end the diplomatic stand-off she was given full diplomatic accreditation by India and it was accepted by the US, and she was put on a plane and sent home.  A US diplomat of similar rank will also be sent home from India, a sort of face-saving tit-for-tat.

Here's the part of the story that I find the most disgusting:  The newspapers report that "...while Americans reflexively came to the defense of the maid who the authorities said was subject to abuse, Indians reflexively sympathized with the diplomat."  

Part of that support is probably just due to national pride, but back in India many middle and upper class families also have servants who work equally long hours, yet make even less (comparatively) than the $573 Ms. Khobragade paid.  To them this is apparently just business as usual.  "If you got 'em, abuse 'em."

This is one reason why, to me, I don't care how many brilliant IT professionals India produces, or how many top-tier engineers or semi-English-speaking customer service agents, India will always be a crummy third-world nation.  Their currency is in trouble because India has a horribly corrupt government, tax cheating is rampant, and nothing meaningful will ever change there because that's the way they like it.

I've had business dealings with extremely intelligent, highly affluent Indians here and I can attest that it was an unpleasant experience.  I don't care how honorably you deal with them, they are always, ALWAYS looking for a way to screw you. It's simply their culture (I'm told) that makes them this way.

You can agree on a price, put it in writing, etc, yet before they eventually make final payment they'll want to renegotiate all over again.  I was warned over and over by others that I would be sorry I dealt with them, that they had tried it and failed miserably, but I somehow thought my experience would be different. I was wrong.

In a non-business environment, I must admit they can be very interesting, charming, gracious hosts.  I have friends who have vacationed in India, and even spent many of their formative years growing up there, and they probably have an entirely different view of the country and its people.

But since there was money involved, and based on my personal experience, the behavior of Ms. Khobragade and the reaction of her countrymen is not at all surprising to me.  I think this "one world"  thing many are hoping for is still a long way off.

S

Today's silliness...

Former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was laid to rest today in a pomp-filled ceremony in London.  Years ago she was in Dallas on a book-signing tour and I got to meet her.  She had on her finest British properness (is that even a word?), just as I imagined she would.  But I digress.

As I mentioned, today was Margaret Thatcher's funeral.  This photo was on the morning news pages, and I was struck by the ceremonial dress of the Honour Guard.  I wonder where they get those helmets with the built-in lightning rods and feathers?  And those boots?  Harrods?

Nobody does pomp like the British.  If you've never seen the Changing of the Guard ceremony at Buckingham Palace, you've missed something quite spectacular.  I have no idea what the purpose of it all is, with the cavalry and bands and such, but I liked it. Maybe it was just for the benefit of us tourists.

By contrast American military dress uniforms are just so....blah.  Dignified, but blah.  Some militaries just know how to please a crowd, you know?  For example....

....the Swiss Guard that protects the Vatican.  If there's ever trouble in St. Peter's Square, just imagine a few hundred of these guys counter attacking with their red-plumed helmets, court jester costumes, and assault rifles.  Grrrr!  (They need to cull that tall guy in the middle.  He ruins the chorus line.)

I'd have to give the Indian's a B-.  They've got the Las Vegas show-girl headdress down, but IMO they need a bit more panache with the rest of their outfit.  (Read:  Lose the brown.)

It's good be Leader, at least until your subjects behead you.  Remember Libya's Muammar Gaddafi?  Snappy dresser he was.

Here's something I'll bet you haven't seen in the Western press.....the North Korean Army Terror-ette's Drill Team.  Step, kick, step, step kick!

And then there's the Greek army.  Laugh if you want, but I think they'd make a very effective fighting force.  I mean, if I saw a division of these guys charging me with their chiffon shirts, tights, and petticoats, not to mention those cute little puffy balls on their shoes,  I'd run like hell.

I'm sorry, but I have to say my US of A needs to up their game.  Whenever we get our financial house back in order I think we need to bring in a designer to give our troops more flamboyant uniforms.  

Maybe they could make it a TV reality show where we could call in and vote for our favorite.  It's the American way.  ;)

S