Posts Tagged ‘CIA’
“In terms of organisational models and human relationship models, humankind has not evolved much over the last millennia”*…
The Office of Strategic Services (the CIA’s World War II–era precursor) created this document in 1944, for use by operatives in Europe who were trying to recruit civilians living in occupied countries to commit sabotage. The document is available in full via the CIA’s website.
The Simple Sabotage Field Manual, which contains instructions in physical as well as interpersonal disruption tactics, begins with a preface directed to OSS personnel, describing the problems and possibilities of working with “citizen-saboteurs.” Such people, living under the rule of enemy administrators in countries such as Norway or France, might already be sabotaging materials, machinery, or operations of their own initiative, but these acts “may be completely foreign to [a] habitually conservationist attitude toward materials and tools … Purposeful stupidity is contrary to human nature.” Reading instructions such as the ones in this manual might refine civilian efforts at destruction, and reassure them that they were taking risks that had rewards…
More (and a larger version of the pages above) at “The CIA’s WWII Guide to Creating Organizational Dysfunction Perfectly Describes Your Toxic Workplace.”
* Miguel Reynolds Brandao, The Sustainable Organisation
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As we consult the chart, we might send commercial birthday greetings to Johan van der Veeken; he was born on this date in 1549. A shipowner, merchant, and banker, van der Veeken was a founding director of the VOC– Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, or the Dutch East India Company as we know it– the first multi-national corporation, and the first company to issue stock.
Spy vs. Spy…
For most of the latter half of the 20th century, the United States and the Soviet Union were leading adversaries in the nuclear arms race known as the Cold War. Seemingly no potential advantage was to be overlooked, regardless of sector or industry. This was true in technology and espionage as well, and, in the 1960s, the CIA found a marriage of the two which could have been a potential game-changer.
That innovation? A bionic spy cat named the Acoustic Kitty.
According to former CIA agent turned author Victor Marchetti, the CIA had developed a way to, literally, wire a cat so that it could be used in espionage missions. The CIA surgically implanted a power supply into the cat, as well as wires going into its brain and its ears. A microphone was layered into its ears and an antenna through its tail. The implanted device was able to determine when the cat was aroused or hungry and suppress those urges, allowing it to carry out its mission — cuddle up to some Soviets and listen to their conversations. The entire operation, from start until its end, cost the government somewhere in the ballpark of $20 million and took about five years to develop.
In testing, the CIA discovered that the Acoustic Kitty had a fatal flaw. A surveillance van drove up to the test subjects and released the cat, which again according to Marchetti, made its way across the street unnoticed. Unnoticed, that is, by an oncoming taxi cab, which struck the cat, killing it immediately.
The CIA decided to drop the spy cat program soon thereafter.
From kindred spirit (public broadcasting guy who does a daily email/blog) Dan Lewis, whose Now I Know is always a treat.
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As we beef up our bionics, we might recall that one cat did make it through: on this date in 1979 Elton John became the first Western pop star to play a live concert in what was then the Soviet Union, as he performed in Leningrad, kicking off a hugely-successful Evil-Empire-wide tour.
Elton behind the (Iron) Curtain
Knowing the Distance: More Fun With Numbers…
The Fibonacci sequence describes the golden ratio (or golden spiral), an ideal form found in the more beautiful corners of nature, and much beloved by designers everywhere.
The Fibonacci numbers are the sum of the previous two numbers in the sequence, starting with 0 and 1: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144…
A Fibonacci spiral created by drawing circular arcs connecting the opposite corners of squares in a Fibonacci tiling; this one uses squares of sizes 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, and 34. (source)
It turns out that the Fibonacci sequence also neatly matches the relationship between kilometers and miles. Three miles is five kilometers, five miles is eight kilometers, eight miles is 13 kilometers. It’s not perfect: eight miles is actually 12.875 kilometers– but it’s close enough in a pinch.
If one needs to convert a number that’s not in the Fibonacci sequence, one can simply break out the Fibonacci numbers, convert, and add the answers. For instance, 100 can be broken down into 89 + 8 + 3, all Fibonacci numbers. The next numbers are 144, 13, and 5, which add up to 162. 100 miles is actually equal to 160.934 kilometers. But again, close enough.
[TotH to MNN]
Special bonus arithmetic amusement: the quadratic equation, explained (as though) by Dr. Seuss.
As we marvel at math, we might wish a Happy Birthday to a master of “numbers” of a different sort; author and prankster Ken Kesey was born on this date in 1935. While at Stanford in 1959 (studying writing with Wallace Stegner), Kesey was a paid volunteer in CIA-funded LSD trials (Project MKULTRA), an experience that informed his novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and that inspired him to form the “Merry Pranksters” and embark on the cross-country school bus trip memorialized in Tom Wolfe’s “Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.”
“Leave no turn unstoned.”
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