Comments

&ers • October 14, 2022 7:09 PM

@ALL

NOT security but this is an insanely cool.
And it’s Friday. So don’t delete 🙂

hxxps://hackaday.io/project/187684-eptaora

Clive Robinson • October 15, 2022 4:06 AM

@ Ted, ALL,

Austrailia might look large and mighty on a map, but for a very long time it’s population has been tiny in comparison.

However it has sent it’s boys, men, and more recently women off to fight in others wars, a price that has oft been costly.

So I would look on people not knowing of Australia “punching above it’s weight” as being a deliberate removal from others history books, mostly for political reasons.

People should remember an important fact in life,

“We are only taught what others want us to know, it is upto us to go out and learn the truth as best we can.”

Nick Levinson • October 15, 2022 4:19 AM

A user interface can enhance national security briefings. Reporting for a new book by a The New York Times journalist who covered President Trump was that, while Trump was too impatient to read briefings much, he was engaged by visuals supported by data.

Nick Levinson • October 15, 2022 4:50 AM

Too-good security as a problem:

— I wrote someone a confidential report and, at her group’s office, I left it in her mailbox. In addition to it being in a sealed envelope, I had written it on the back of an obviously outdated event flyer to fool an interloper. I folded the flyer so the flyer side would be the first thing seen coming out of the envelope. But she never saw the report. We thought what happened is that she opened the envelope, saw an obviously outdated event flyer, and threw it away. I think I would have flipped it over, but an interloper might have, too.

— I wrote my bank account number in code, so no one could read it. Then, I couldn’t read it.

Ted • October 15, 2022 10:53 AM

@Clive, ALL

I didn’t realize Australia’s overall population density was on the lower side, but that does make sense considering the size of their land area.

They also have to watch out for those muscle-bound kangaroos and drop bears 🙂

https://twitter.com/samtomlin539/status/1581063532560650240

Israeli’s former prime minister also made a comment about their country “punching above its weight.”

Means we’re punching a bag two-hundred times above our weight. Not two times, not ten times, and not even a hundred times. Two-hundred times above our weight which means there’s something here that defies numerical size.

Ep 28: Unit 8200
https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/28/

name.withheld.for.obvious.reasons • October 15, 2022 10:54 AM

Being Semi-Sarcastic…

If the best you can muster is to challenge a cartoon, speaks far more about you than any challenge you might bring–duh. In other words, challenging the nature or character of a cartoon can in fact turn the observer into one. Going to write my next thesis on; “The Didactic Automa of Multi-Dimensional Cartoon Expressions as AI; A Transmogrification of the State via Anthropomorphic Projection onto Cellulose as an Application” (aka Trumpism). But this work might get in the way of my current study; “Procreation in Patriarchal Systems of Oppression, Giving Meaning to Your Life without the Work”, Christian Nationalism in Three Easy Pieces. Am I being sarcastic and pedantic? I certainly hope so, but doubt it.

Of course, low-information and slow-brained individuals can often be found circling channels that are not encumbered by principals of science or pesky facts, requiring fewer neuro-synaptic network messages, and they are good with that. Too many calories are required to make the larger active neural networks used in complex analysis, as within the context of wider topical subjects that have some depth to them.

name.withheld.for.obvious.reasons • October 15, 2022 11:06 AM

Accusations of being a robot?

Recently, two weeks ago, I received a lengthy query respecting the operation of a utility and perceptions respecting its operation and goals. Having understood that the person writing this letter had made a significant investment in communicating with the utility, I took it upon myself to personally reply the the curious individual. With the care and practice necessary for a equally thoughtful response, I went to work writing a exceptional responsive letter.

Interesting, not long after sending this answer to a series of queries (one where a colleague would/did suggest having a FOIA file prior to any response), the originator of the letter believed that the response received came from an AI-based auto responder. I was elated and shaken, at the same time.

Dancing On Thin Ice • October 15, 2022 11:49 AM

The domain name registration was changed to a remote server for a small non-profit website I work on.
It may have been done while in the process of moving to another hosting company.
My current hosting lists the default name servers but customer service for both the previous and current hosts say it is goes to a server neither have.

I realize hiding a website’s locked status is security by obscurity.

Any ideas on how to regain control without having to deal with the hijackers?

lurker • October 15, 2022 12:42 PM

@Ted

Roughly rounding, 80% of Australia has ground cover similar to Arizona;
80% of Australia’s population live on a strip 60 miles wide along the east coast; plenty of room there for misconceptions.

Nick Levinson • October 15, 2022 12:42 PM

@Dancing On Thin Ice:

Try a security Q&A forum or, probably better, search Google for answers from sources you know to be reliable but that aren’t fora. Try lots of keywords in multiple searches, to get many results. While a forum lets you ask specific questions with your specific facts, it has the risk that hijackers read it and post misleading answers there.

My contribution: Use a registrar’s Whois server to identify the current server for your domain. Notice the domain that hosts the server. Then do a Whois on the domain given in the server’s host domain. That’s a start, not a complete solution. If the server’s host’s hosting service provider is innocent because the hijacker cracked into a hosting service (maybe to steal service), maybe the victimized hosting service will help you; but maybe it’s hostile.

Ted • October 15, 2022 1:20 PM

@lurker

Thanks for the update on population distribution! Lots of people must see some beautiful sunrises.

I also had no idea Australia has one of the highest life expectancies: 83 years.

pup vas • October 15, 2022 2:42 PM

@all on Australia.
It is better to conduct their own foreign policy and finally stop being dominion-type country. You are independent country and be like this. Then, humankind may reborn after possible WW3 out of Australia.

Starlink is crucial to Ukrainian defense — here’s how it works
https://www.dw.com/en/starlink-is-crucial-to-ukrainian-defense-heres-how-it-works/a-63443808

For Musk’s good he should keep doing what he is the best in: technology and stay away of the fight he doesn’t have dog in. He has really many bigger fish to fry.

ResearcherZero • October 15, 2022 8:14 PM

Chaos Computer Club Could Save German Health System 400M Euros

The company in charge of the connectors for the health care system “Telematik” built devices with certificates that expire after 5 years. Instead of updating thousands of machines with new certificates, the company claims these need to be replaced for a total cost of 400M Euro. The CCC showed how the firmware can be changed to accept new certificates, making the hardware replacement unnecessary, and offers to assist hospitals and doctor’s offices with the software patch. However, the company “gematik” who delivers these connection endpoints first has to sign the new certificates, which they so far haven’t agreed to.

What’s worse about this story is that the company apparently planned the hardware replacement in a way that it would have to be replaced again in 2027, and they still were awarded the contracts for this multi-million dollar project.
https://www.ccc.de/de/updates/2022/konnektoren-400-millionen-geschenk

–

Know Your Mushrooms!

“When the app matched his photos of the backyard mushrooms with an edible species, Hickman collected them, took them home, and sautéed them with onions, garlic and butter. Then he ate them on top of the mushroom tortellini his wife had made for dinner.”
https://www.cleveland.com/news/2022/10/beware-of-deadly-wild-mushrooms-portage-county-man-survives-poisoning-thanks-to-experimental-drug-at-uh.html

–

AT&T admitted that in 2017 it arranged for an ally of Madigan to indirectly receive $22,500 in payments from the company.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/former-illinois-speaker-house-indicted-federal-racketeering-and-bribery-charges

Former AT&T Illinois President Paul La Schiazza was indicted on five charges as a result of the same investigation.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/former-president-att-illinois-charged-conspiracy-unlawfully-influence-former-illinois-0

AT&T’s payment was designed to influence a 2017 vote on Carrier of Last Resort (COLR) legislation that “terminate[d] AT&T Illinois’ costly obligation to provide landline telephone services to all Illinois residents.
https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/att-illinois-pay-23-million-resolve-federal-investigation-efforts-unlawfully-influence

ResearcherZero • October 15, 2022 8:28 PM

How many companies are running a scam like gematik worldwide?

National Agent For Digital Medicine

Gematik is a company specialized in the digitization of health care systems. It develops electronic health card, e-patient record, e-prescription, emergency data, and other telematics applications.

gematik GmbH in Berlin was founded in January 2005 as a service company by the leading organizations of the German health care system. Since May 2019, the Federal Ministry of Health has held 51 percent of the shares.
https://www.gematik.de/

Boom! Bad Medicine

ResearcherZero • October 15, 2022 8:50 PM

Siemens Industry, Inc. has been hit with a proposed class action lawsuit over its alleged failure to provide accurate water meters and billing services to ratepayers in Jackson, Mississippi and its surrounding municipalities.

The case says, Siemens has failed to uphold its responsibilities and has instead outfitted Jackson and its surrounding municipalities with a broken system that has caused ratepayers such as the plaintiffs to be hit with inaccurate water/sewer bills that can soar into the thousands.
https://www.classaction.org/news/siemens-industry-sued-over-alleged-water-utility-system-failures-in-jackson-ms

The years-long saga of a troubled contract with Siemens Inc. and subcontractors for new water meters for Jackson seemed to come to an end on Feb. 19 when Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba announced that the City of Jackson had reached a $89.8-million settlement with the multinational corporation. The mayor’s statement came eight months after the City had filed a lawsuit against Siemens and several local subcontractors for more than $450 million in damages stemming from botched work on Jackson’s water-sewer infrastructure and billing system.

Instead of generating revenue or savings for the City, the work Siemens contracted to complete resulted in problems that have thrown Jackson’s water-sewer system into crisis and the City further into debt, the lawsuit charged.

“Siemens and its subcontractors manipulated the minority contracting rules to inflate the cost of the system from approximately $45 million to (nearly) $90 million. This was done through reselling meters in order to inflate their cost so that middlemen could line their pockets.”
https://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2020/mar/04/siemens-settlement-explained/

“Application lifecycle management (ALM) is the standardized process of managing a software application or from its initial conception, through its different development phases and ongoing support, to its end of life.”
https://www.plm.automation.siemens.com/global/en/our-story/customers/gematik/84830/

“The Lifecycle Management Suite enables the use of innovative digitalization technologies, a holistic and comprehensive data platform for maintenance as well as reduction and better scheduling of maintenance costs.”
https://new.siemens.com/us/en/products/services/digital-enterprise-services/field-maintenance-services/lifecycle-management-suite.html

SpaceLifeForm • October 15, 2022 11:16 PM

@ Ted, Clive

Double Deepfake. Double plus good.

LOL. Seriously, this is movie material.

‘https://nitter.net/EtoBuziashvili/status/1581034781734641664#m

ResearcherZero • October 16, 2022 1:13 AM

Guacamaya leaks five terabytes of classified data, including emails, documents, and methods AFP agents were using to stop drug cartels from running their business in Australia.

The leak contains details of 35 Australian Federal Police operations, some ongoing, as well as surveillance reports from undercover agents, phone taps and payroll records for Colombian law enforcement officers. Many overseas police agencies are also affected.

Among the victims are the Chilean Armed Forces, the Peruvian Army, the Joint Command of the Armed Forces of Peru, the Armed Forces of El Salvador, the National Civil Police of El Salvador, the Secretariat of National Defense of Mexico, and the General Command of the Military Forces of Colombia.

The hack that compromised AFP targeted the Office of the Attorney General of Colombia, an AFP partner that enabled carrying out undercover operations in Australia to fight drug trafficking and importation channels in the country.

The documents chart a steady flow of cocaine and other drugs from Colombian cartels and organised crime groups in Europe, Asia and the Pacific targeting Australian ports and airports, via intermediaries in places such as Africa, Hong Kong and Fiji.

Large-scale drug importation is happening via shipping containers, small and large aircraft, cargo vessels and private yachts, in some cases with the aid of corrupt law enforcement officials overseas.
https://www.smh.com.au/national/secret-agents-targeting-drug-cartels-in-australia-exposed-in-data-hack-20221004-p5bmzg.html

Ted • October 16, 2022 1:20 AM

@SpaceLifeForm, Clive, All

Re: tomayto, tomahto. hold the deepfake

Kyiv, Kiev. Let’s call the whole thing off. Seriously. The jig is up. Russian deepfake go home.

Scary they were using a deepfake of Ukraine’s PM on a video call. Makes you wonder when Ukraine’s defense intelligence service was made aware.

Best to have an “equally fake” person take calls.

Jon • October 16, 2022 6:03 PM

@ Ted

Of course, you might want to mention that Israel has benefited since its creation with massive financial, military, and diplomatic support from the 800lb. gorilla; the USA.

And not merely official: Gigantic quantities of material were sent through unofficial channels. Not merely remittances from Americans, but where do you think Israel got their nukes from?

Yes, they have nuclear weapons. There is no reasonable doubt about that (there’s always unreasonable doubts). No, they didn’t make them on their own. No, they did not get them from China, India, Pakistan, France, the USSR, or Britain.

It’s not too hard to ‘punch above your weight’ when a colossal external force is pushing your fists forwards.

J.

JonKnowsNothing • October 16, 2022 10:25 PM

@Ted, @All

re: X Prisoners

There have been and are a number of “unidentified” persons held in Israeli prisons under highest security. They are referred to as “Prisoner X” or “Prisoner X2”.

Some details are known but very few. Over decades bits and pieces have dribbled out through the media. It’s just as good a mystery as The Man in the Iron Mask.

While there are numerous public sources of information, it is a topic in which one can expect some level of “eyeballing” and to include a fair bit of misdirection in information.

Mordechai Vanunu

Mordechai Vanunu also known as John Crossman, is an Israeli former nuclear technician and peace activist who, citing his opposition to weapons of mass destruction, revealed details of Israel’s nuclear weapons program to the British press in 1986. He was subsequently lured to Italy by the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, where he was drugged and abducted. He was secretly transported to Israel and ultimately convicted in a trial that was held behind closed doors.

Some topics are too sensitive to remain “un-directed”, wiki talk and wiki text history pages are your friend, and might give you insight as to how sensitive topics are dealt with. Generally a high ranked editor will claim control of a topic and anything that doesn’t “fit” gets deleted. The audit and talk pages may give insight as to how that happens. (1)

===

Search Terms

Prisoner X

Prisoner X2

Death of Ben Zygier

Lavon Affair

Mordechai Vanunu

1) eg: Prior to public expose of STINGRAY/DRTBX tracking, the topic of “parallel construction” and “public misstatements by Unnamed Officials Familiar With…” were regularly excised. WikiP is an encyclopedia and not a current events or news repository. There’s a lot of those items, but not if the topic is HOT and not if the information runs contrary to “Official Un-official Off the Record or Leaked” viewpoints. Edit Wars are quite fun to read about.

ResearcherZero • October 17, 2022 12:29 AM

“The proposed EU Child Sexual Abuse Regulation is a draft law which is supposed to help tackle the spread of child sexual abuse material. Instead, it will force the providers of all our digital chats, messages and emails to know what we are typing and sharing at all times. It will remove the possibility of anonymity from many legitimate online spaces. And it may also require dangerous software to be downloaded onto every digital device.”

“From the viewpoint of child protection and children’s rights, we need to look at actual harms, and then at the practical priorities for policing and social work interventions that can minimize them. In short, the data do not support claims of large-scale growing harm that is initiated online and that is preventable by image scanning.”
https://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/Papers/chatcontrol.pdf

Anderson calls into question the data used to fuel media outrage and political concern about harms to children. Citing the 102,842 reports from National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), the US-based non-profit coordinating child abuse reports from tech firms, to the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), he estimates that this led to 750 prosecutions for indecent images, “well under 3 percent of the 2019 total of 27,233 prosecutions for indecent image offences, of which 26,124 involved images of children.” And the number of such prosecutions peaked in 2016 and has since fallen, he says.

However, real harm is done by false positives, he observes, pointing to Operation Ore, an internet child abuse crackdown that began two decades ago and led to false accusations. Anderson says law enforcement agencies long ago gave up scanning emails for keywords like “bomb” because it doesn’t work and because traffic analysis, for which content access is not required, is more effective. And he doesn’t expect natural language processing (NLP) models will perform any better.

With 5 percent false positives, Anderson suggests each of Europe’s 1.6 million police officers would have 625 alarms about potential harms to deal with daily – not exactly a practical scenario. That’s not to say there aren’t options, just that the technical fixes breaking encryption aren’t fit for purpose.
https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/13/clientside_scanning_csam_anderson/

“However the big soft spot is how Big Tech handles user reporting, which ranges from bad (Facebook) to almost not at all (Twitter).”
https://www.lightbluetouchpaper.org/2022/10/04/the-online-safety-bill-reboot-it-or-shoot-it/

ResearcherZero • October 17, 2022 12:33 AM

“Microsoft officials have steadfastly asserted that Windows Update will automatically add new software drivers to a blocklist designed to thwart a well-known trick in the malware infection playbook. The malware technique—known as BYOVD, short for “bring your own vulnerable driver”—makes it easy for an attacker with administrative control to bypass Windows kernel protections. Rather than writing an exploit from scratch, the attacker simply installs any one of dozens of third-party drivers with known vulnerabilities.”

“It turns out, however, that Windows was not properly downloading and applying updates to the driver blocklist, leaving users vulnerable to new BYOVD attacks.”
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/10/how-a-microsoft-blunder-opened-millions-of-pcs-to-potent-malware-attacks/

how to manually update the blocklist
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/threat-protection/windows-defender-application-control/microsoft-recommended-driver-block-rules

lurker • October 17, 2022 12:39 AM

@Jon, Ted

Regrettably no new info turned up in 25 years, but it was a reliable non-partisan source:

nuclearweaponarchive[dot]org see Israel, South Africa, The Vela Incident.

AndOfCourse • October 17, 2022 11:12 AM

@ResearcherZero
However, the company “gematik” who delivers these connection endpoints first has to sign the new certificates, which they so far haven’t agreed to.

Typical. Why give up a potential 400 million euro deal even if the buyer does not really need it. Swindlers.

Thank you for posting that BTW. I just read yesterday (in a Stackexchange question) about updating the certificates without updating devices so it’s interesting.

JonKnowsNothing • October 17, 2022 11:17 AM

@Clive, @SpaceLifeForm, All

re: Shifting COVID Muts

Delays in reporting plus the shifting to Wt Avg as base numbers, makes it a wee bit harder to follow COVID’s Progress but eventually, there are enough data points to calibrate a direction.

In the USA 68% is BA5. The differential is taken up by New COVID Muts at 32% of cases.

  • BA4.6 has slipped to 12%
  • BQs now at 12%
  • Miscellaneous COVID Muts 8%

Globally, the toll of Long COVID is now more visible. There are no targeted treatments. Any protocols are Ad Hoc and focus on symptom management. Every round of COVID increases the chances of the roulette wheel landing on your square with the prize of Long COVID. Reinfections are now 2-3 weeks apart. (1)

Governments in UK, AU, USA are attempting to ignore the consequences of HIP RIP LOVID policies, the economic costs are staggering and far beyond the Austerity Economics promoted by those governments.

  • 3%-5% of COVID infections result in LONG COVID symptoms.

As Long COVID affects everyone globally, it might be time to declare a New Economic Pandemic of Long COVID Disability where millions of people will be unable to perform gainful employment, which was the main justification for HIP RIP LOVID economic policies.

The Short Term, Once in a Lifetime, Herd Immunity (no vax), No Herd Reinfections (failed vax) hypothesis can be confirmed as incorrect.

===

1) We know from early COVID in Manaus Brazil, that multiple mutations and reinfections can happen at the same time.

Raphy • October 17, 2022 11:20 AM

Google’s ‘Incognito’ Mode Inspires Staff Jokes — and a Big Lawsuit
Company says users know data is tracked and consented to it

hxxps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-11/google-s-incognito-inspires-staff-jokes-and-a-big-lawsuit

Google argues in court filings that while it’s common knowledge Incognito doesn’t make browsing invisible, users have given consent for the company to track their data.

So far only Google knows what it’s doing with data it may be collecting from Incognito Mode searches and “some of that will come out at trial,” Serge Egelman, research director of the Usable Security and Privacy Group at University of California at Berkeley’s International Computer Science Institute.

Winter • October 17, 2022 11:39 AM

@Raphy

So far only Google knows what it’s doing with data it may be collecting from Incognito Mode searches

Which would make any consent of the user (product?) invalid. Even if explicit consent had been given.

JonKnowsNothing • October 17, 2022 11:57 AM

@All

re:Austerity Economics affecting Discretionary Spending on Tech

MSM reports that discretionary spending on streaming services has dropped by 1Million households since the start of year (2022).

The primary reason check-boxed is “financial”.

Subscriptions for other services are still meeting expectations.

Anecdotal reports of increasing dependence on the Bank of Mom and Dad for support, housing, food, child care. The known problem is that the balances in the Bank of Mom and Dad are getting pretty close to NIL.

Additional reports of increased dependence on Food Pantries and Non-Governmental Support Services. 9 out of 10 UK Food Support Groups cannot keep up with the increased number of people needing help. In the USA 13Million households did not have enough food in 2021 and 2022 is significantly worse. Supply chain issues, Cost of Goods and Crop Failures all contribute to the difficulty.

===

Search Terms

UK
cancel streaming services
One million households

USA
cars started lining up at least an hour before (1)
Department of Agriculture
13m households had trouble

UK
nine in 10 outlets
demand rise
since July 2022
may not be able to support everyone (1)

1) RL Anecdote tl;dr

I line up 2-3 hours before the doors open. Sometimes the pantries run out of food. Sometimes there’s not much in the bag. In which case, you have to find another pantry to queue up at or tighten the belt in another notch.

Winter • October 17, 2022 12:31 PM

@JonKnowsNothing

In the USA 13Million households did not have enough food in 2021 and 2022 is significantly worse.

That is hard market economics in industrial societies:
The stronger the economic growth, the higher the number of poor families. Only to increase during a downturn. [1]

[1] Actually, there is no part of the economic cycle where poverty declines. Poverty declines only as part of the political cycle, ie, when labor unions become stronger during the low part of the cycle.

lurker • October 17, 2022 3:33 PM

@ResearcherZero

. . .
In New Zealand, Axon sells police the hardware, licences them the software, then leases them the cloud storage.

“Storage … is a key logistical issue,” said a 2021 review into tasers-with-cameras versus tasers with body-cams, released here for the first time.

. . .
But in 2017, after a self-described “brief” privacy impact assessment that canvassed just eight police staff, police opted to begin sending the taser footage to Axon’s cloud storage in Canberra.

. . .
Court registrars now also use the evidence.com storage, from Canberra servers, to access police evidence files.

By contrast, Axon’s US deals often contain guarantees all content will only be stored within the United States.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/476808/police-consider-using-us-taser-maker-to-capture-and-store-sensitive-criminal-data

JonKnowsNothing • October 17, 2022 5:15 PM

@ lurker, SpaceLifeForm, All

re: Count Buffer Under Flow…

During a recent census count of under-housed persons in California, a prominent location in Los Angeles that used to be a haven for artists, bohemians, body builders and low income folks and is now an Up Scaled Gentrified Mega Buck Milieu, counted ZERO and as in NONE, homeless people in their beach patch.

Amazing how you can disappear 100,000 un-housed persons…

SpaceLifeForm • October 17, 2022 5:29 PM

@ fib, Clive, ALL

re: Kerch and WX

Supposedly, the still standing road span has been repaired enough that it can be utilized as one lane in each direction with around 3.5 ton weight limit. I have yet to see any evidence of that yet.

The collapsed road span has been ordered to be reopened by 2023-07-01.

I do not see that happening, because the one pier has shock fracture, and there is doubt that it was built with proper rebar in the first place.

I can imagine that they will just wing it, but if they properly conclude that the pier should be rebuilt, then there is no way that span will be functional next July.

Why? because the WX conditions will not be safe enough to build a coffer dam and rebuild the pier until next spring.

The WX is already going downhill. The winds are too strong now for a ferry to cross, so more trucks are backed up on each side.

It will not be long before people in Crimea will want to escape to Ukraine because there will be no supplies to survive.

‘https://nitter.net/ChrisO_wiki/status/1582045663830736900#m

SpaceLifeForm • October 17, 2022 6:04 PM

@ lurker, ResearcherZero

re: Axon

Based upon information and belief, the Axon body cams are buffer boxes, and the data can be wiped before it reaches any cloud. They are not even near-time.

SpaceLifeForm • October 17, 2022 6:32 PM

@ lurker, JonKnowsNothing

re: age distribution

They never mention vax rate.

I’ll bet you that most of the elders never got vaccinated.

Did you see the long-covid study in Scotland?

Can you see what was not mentioned?

SpaceLifeForm • October 17, 2022 7:51 PM

Re: Ukraine and Starlink

The main cost of operations is ground based terminal equipment.

And the terminals do not not just fall off of trees like magic. You can not build thousands per day.

Starlink did not provide the major cost gratis, contrary to what you may have have heard. Launching the satellites is not free of course, but managing the ephemeris is not that expensive either. But, most of the ground based terminal equipmemt was paid for by crowdfunding or other sources,

I think that what Musk is saying, is, that if you want to get this to work even better, soon, then we need to upscale quickly, and that Starlink does not have the cashflow to do it quickly. Probably not staff and materials either.

Musk does have a point, but he needs to calm down his voice on Twitter. He is not being consistent in his message.

So, Elon, make a stand. Quit equiviocating.

‘https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/17/pentagon-starlink-funding-ukraine-00062103

MarkH • October 17, 2022 8:14 PM

Re: Security Delays

Even if the Kerch bridge were physically able to accommodate its design traffic loads, supply to Crimea would still be in trouble for security reasons:

Millions have now seen the video of the alleged bomb vehicle undergoing a uselessly brief inspection before entering the bridge.

Security officials are now presumably terrified of a second attack. It is much more likely than not, that they have ordered intensive inspections of every vehicle coming to the bridge — and if they’re using a little imagination, every locomotive and rail car as well.

It will be difficult to enforce a thorough inspection regime without seriously throttling the volume of cargo.

MarkH • October 17, 2022 8:38 PM

continued:

One precedent is the famous “Doolittle raid” on the Japanese home islands in 1942. Unlike the Kerch bridge attack, it could not do substantive damage, with only 16 tons of air-dropped bombs.

But Japan’s military transferred fighter groups — and likely increased the number of men devoted to anti-aircraft units — in response to the psychological injury.

Those diverted resources sat idle for more than a year, until the first genuine bombing raids began. No enemy bomber would reach Tokyo until 2.5 years after the Doolittle raid.

Forcing an enemy to divert or waste resources, can have a similar battlefield effect to destroying them.

JonKnowsNothing • October 18, 2022 12:22 AM

@ SpaceLifeForm, @ lurker, All

re: Rates and Wobbles

Over the last years, there have been a number of indicators of the success or not success of vaccination rates in Aged Care Homes.

Early on LOADS of folks lined up for vaccinations but nearly none happened in Aged Care Homes. By Anders Tegnell’s design, old age homes were omitted because “no one was going to make the elders sick”.

The early death rates were under reported for Aged Care because the reporting thresholds are much higher than for hospitals. In California, it was +10 deaths in Aged Care Homes before that had to be reported and it was segregated from the main dashboards. The individual States had their own thresholds: Florida reported nearly nothing.

When Hong Kong had a big outbreak, recently, COVID whipped through the overcrowded city and rat maze primarily killing elderly persons. While Chinese made COVID Vaccinations are available for “some unknown reason” families did not take their elders to get them vaccinated. The high death rates were non-vaccinated Elders.

We have the continuation of Anders Tegnell’s COVID in Aged Care Homes as outbreaks frequently happen. In California, most care homes get regular COVID boosters and vaccinations but there are still some who do not. It takes 1 infected visitor to spread through multiple floors and infect a large number of residents who had the misfortune to be in close proximity to the Resident and their UnThinking Family Visitors.

Vaccination rates are down significantly and boosters have dismal uptake. It’s an unfortunate setup for the coming COVID SPLASH.

A comment made by an early victim of COVID, who went to a Get COVID Party, and was successful at getting it, holds a realization that came a bit late for them but still might save someone’s life:

  • Going to the GET COVID Party was the biggest mistake of my life….

Not having a vax or booster and pretending there isn’t aren’t repercussions, carries the same realization.

The coming disaster in the making is similar to the ones from 2020-2021, when workers in the abattoir and critical industries were required to stand shoulder to shoulder with no protections and they died accordingly.

This time, people have to stand in lines for food. Every outing carries a risk. Food or COVID. Odds were 1:50 2 weeks ago and today 1:35.

SpaceLifeForm • October 18, 2022 1:11 AM

@ fib, Clive, ALL

re: Kerch and WX

Alternate thread read I was not aware of at the time because I did not chase it down far enough. Points still stand, no change in conclusions.

‘https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1582045663830736900.html

lurker • October 18, 2022 2:41 AM

@JonKnowsNothing, re length of C19

Our PM was asked yesterday about numbers still suffering from the long version. Reply was they didn’t know, because they don’t have an official definition of what the long version is.

JonKnowsNothing • October 18, 2022 11:04 AM

@ lurker

re: And Today’s Definition Is….

There are a good number of countries who “have no definition” for Long COVID both for medical and economic reasons.

There is a long list of symptoms that are associated with Long COVID. Many of those share similarities with other illnesses that have traditionally been ignored or subject to Medical Denials. MDs don’t like too many challenges and when they hit the bottom of their knowledge barrel, many pass the buck back to the patient.

One good thing about the internet is that ordinary folks can get information from many sources. Not all the information is “quality” but it maybe better than “dead air” from your health insurer.

Along with the Medical Definition Problem, lays a quagmire of economic issues: Disability, Pensions, Payments, Support, Health Care Costs, Medications, Treatment Costs. These have less to do with the medical condition than they do with governmental budgeting. Austerity Governments are not too keen on opening the doors to millions and millions of people needing life-time supports.

Every Disability Pension Agency in these countries is working hard to avoid the sudden onset of millions of mid-working-life people now with an expected dependency on social support systems for the duration of their lifetimes. COVID has dropped 2-6 years minimum off the Life Expectancy Table but carrying a 35yo worker for 30yrs until 75yo+ is a big financial number.

In a Hobson’s Choice Dilemma, the ongoing decisions promoting COVID-Forever, can be expected to produce more Long COVID cases and more weight on social support costs.

So, I’m not surprised that no one has an “official definition”, even though they know all about the issue and the health care system is treating millions of people daily.

Without a definition governments do not have to recognize the scope of the problem and they do not have to deal with the social disruptions in the global economy.

fib • October 18, 2022 1:26 PM

@ SpaceLifeForm, All

re: Kerch and WX

Yes my friend. Noted with thanks.

In case of high winds beware the harmonics. 🙂

SpaceLifeForm • October 18, 2022 4:15 PM

@ fib, ALL

Beware of suspension bridges in a strong wind

‘https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacoma_Narrows_Bridge_(1940)

Note: It was not purely a resonance problem after all. Bad data (different film frame rates) contributed to an inaccurate conclusion.

‘https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/75-years-ago-famous-clip-of-galloping-gertie-not-accurate-study-says/

SpaceLifeForm • October 18, 2022 7:02 PM

@ Clive, Winter, ALL

Dots connected

(second time this year, btw)

‘https://www.reuters.com/business/german-prosecutors-search-deutsche-bank-hq-cum-ex-probe-2022-10-18/

The probe has long taken on vast dimensions. Government officials say it involves some 100 banks on four continents and at least 1,000 suspects.

SpaceLifeForm • October 18, 2022 8:42 PM

@ piglet

You are safe now

‘https://nitter.net/BradMossEsq/status/1582469258839457793#m

The Full of Bull Durham never had the muster, eh, mustard. Obvious from the start.

It takes real skill to drop the legal sandwich twice in one year before you can find the condiments.

Ted • October 18, 2022 10:50 PM

“Dutch Police obtain 155 decryption keys for Deadbolt ransomware victims”

The ransomware has been targeting QNAP’s NAS devices since January. A Dutch cybersecurity company Responder.NU figured out a trick to get keys for free by making a Bitcoin payment, receiving the key, and then withdrawing the Bitcoin payment.

They created a website where people can check to see if their key was among those recovered.

https://therecord.media/dutch-police-obtain-155-decryption-keys-for-deadbolt-ransomware-victims/

ResearcherZero • October 19, 2022 2:38 AM

Christoph Spengel, Professor for International Taxation at the University of Mannheim and a member of the Advisory Board of the Finance Ministry, estimated the total damage at up to 10 billion euros and said that the practice of dividend stripping might still continue.
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/100-banks-1000-suspects-german-fraud-probe-puts-scholz-spot-2022-08-17/

“Deutsche Bank will contribute an amount of less than 10 million euros to the payment”
https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/bny-mellon-warburg-group-deutsche-bank-pay-up-cum-ex-case-newspaper-2022-09-18/

–

Medicare – $8b a year in leakage and fraud

“The evidence is very clear, we have a haemorrhaging Medicare system, fraud is not being detected, the four levels of compliance that Medicare (has) … are not effective.”

The inappropriate billing occurs in all areas of the health sector including GPs, surgeons, pathologists, anaesthetists, radiologists and dentists who use the child dental benefit scheme. Hundreds of millions of Medicare claims are made each year — many of them are under $100 — but the high volume, low dollar transactions make it easy for fraud to fly under the radar.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-17/medicare-leakage-fraud-waste/101537016

ResearcherZero • October 19, 2022 3:40 AM

@name., @Winter

They were awfully paranoid also when we asked why they were meeting with people from Russian Intelligence Services when we had those RIS operatives under surveillance as part of counter-intelligence operations.

Winter • October 19, 2022 6:41 AM

@ResearcherZero

They were awfully paranoid also when we asked why they were meeting with people from Russian Intelligence Services

The GOP knows demographics is working against them. They are already a minority in the US. They would not win a single election if everybody could vote. Hence their insistence to the big lie that the 2020 elections were rigged. Admitting they lost would mean admitting they would lose every fair election.

So, they seek help with those whose example they aspire to follow: Putin.

Putin cannot loose elections, and he commands all the wealth of Russia. Trump et al. want the same in the US.

Clive Robinson • October 19, 2022 11:10 AM

@ SpaceLifeForm, Winter, All,

Re : Dots connected

Yes it was sort of expected.

@ ALL !!!Word of Warning!!!

When you read the reuters.com article you will see the unlawful activity to defraud the tax authorities has been given a short form name…

Think twice before searching for it, as it is likely to trip some “Not Suitable For Work”(NSFW) filters as it in effect forms a pornographic search term…

@SpaceLifeForm, ALL,

The EU only being a loose federation with each sovereign nation having it’s own Treasury and Revenue Service, has been subjet to trillions or so of cross boarder tax fraud of one form or another.

Lookup VAT Carousel Fraud where a lorry full of say worthless rotting meat gets driven across border after border picking up VAT refunds and the like.

Simular VAT fruad involving the melting down of gold coins that are VAT exempt and selling on as bullion and charging VAT as expected but… Putting the vat into your pocket…

Then there is fraud involving “art” as we all know fundementally art has little intrinsic value but large perceprual value, which means it makes a great vehicle for “money laundering”.

Another is “doing up homes” not only can you claim the vat back on building materials nobody actually inspects properties before or after. So a major work over supposadly costing thousands could just be a lick of paint… The other building materials going off to “cash only builders” etc… As for the houses, well you can pull several tricks there like buying them through a company running up debt by loans then putting it in the hands of a preferential receiver who legally flogs the properties off “at what ever price can be raised” and splits that up amongst the creditors. The purchasors obviously get a very good deal and round the circle goes again…

The list of such frauds especially cross border frauds in the EU is stagering.

It’s estimated that there is another unofficial nation in the EU with probably the greatest “GDP” and it’s called the “black economy” and it’s basically all that fraud money flowing around…

JonKnowsNothing • October 19, 2022 12:12 PM

@ Clive Robinson, @ SpaceLifeForm, Winter, All

re: Connecting Dots in Non-Linear Fashion

It may be useful to remember that DOTS come in two main forms:
* Governmental DOTS
and
* Individual DOTS (including groups of individuals)

They have similar effects but have different impacts.

A recent MSM anecdote about the methods used by a City in the USA used to transfer property (Real Estate) from one individual to the City, and then the City redistributes that property to someone different, is not uncommon. (1)

Stories abound of Individual DOTS. I wouldn’t be surprised if everyone on the planet has not had something taken from them without permission. From school lunchboxes, to whole house clean outs, to money-laundering schemes targeting individuals who “cash checks for their internet friends” and every other form of asset transfer. Victims never fully recover emotionally or financially.

The interesting aspect of the latter is that like MILS, the values add up over time. Fractional amounts of funds yield huge payoffs to the perpetrators.

Governments are not unaware of this and jealously guard their rights to be the sole perpetrators.

===

Search Term

1)
Detroit
Wayne county
Deutsche Bank National Trust
property tax foreclosures
over-assessments

Clive Robinson • October 19, 2022 2:42 PM

@ Leon Theremin,

Re : Havana Syndrome.

“Video capture of the waves responsible for Havana Syndrome…”

Sorry but that is conjecture based on assumptions.

We’ve discussed this before on this blog and been through the sicence of it.

The problem is the RF wavelength and the size of the antenna aperture to focus the beam sufficiently that you don’t fry the operators (remember power in a radiant system drops as 1/(r^2) with a massive drop in the near field for the first few wavelengths in front of the antenna aperture).

The US developed an anti-personnel system as a non leathal weapon for crowd control (if memory serves Raytheon were the prime contractors). The equipment consisted to two humvee sized vehicals not including the power generator truck.

The antenna was a flat pannel phased array about 10ft in diameter and the frequency of operation was extraordinarily high even for RF microwaves. Thus the wavelength was milimetric, which although it would go through dry synthetic cloathing and the outer couple of layers of dead cells that form the dermis, it would not go any deeper than that. The result was not concussion but an intense “sun-burn” like feeling.

To do what you and others believe the microwave RF wavelength would have to be centimetric. It would need ten times the power and a antenna apeture of ten times the size.

Whilst you can build such a system it’s not something you could carry around in a suitcase. It would need a couple of large trucks to shift it all around and they would be fairly obvious. Oh and anyone walking near would be in trouble which would include the operators.

You can work out the energy required to produce a concussive force, and also the inefficiencies involved and to be honest the maths does not look favourable on the bulk heating effect because the blood and other bodily fluids would turn the body into a radiator much like a 1980’s home heating system.

What you should be looking at is “NFL Madness” or more correctly called “chronic traumatic encephalopathy”(CTE). According to the Concussion Foundation,

It is now recognised by various medical researchers etc that CTE is a progressive and degenerative brain disease which results from multiple what were thought of as minor not even concussive insults –injuries– to the side of the head.

CTE did not show yp on brain scans only at autopsies, it manifests it’s self in the living by “personality change” resulting in mental and physical decline, especially cognative decline like a form of early dementia and is often accompanied by increasingly vilont outbursts and other aberrant behaviours that did not previously exist in the sufferer (hence “NFL Madness”). Saddly it usually starts to occur years or even decades after the initial physical insults and resulting trauma.

I could go into a lot more detail, but I already have on this blog years ago, before it got called “Havana Syndrome”.

As I’ve mentioned before you need to consider all “potential energy transport systems” of which RF microwaves are just one.

Especially you need to know the way the materials being illuminated function with regards, reflection, transmisson and absorbtion at the frequency of illumination. Importantly you need to work out what happens on absorbtion, the current assumption by the likes of the NRPB is non-ionising systems only produce a heating effect.

We know from laser ablation that a “Continuous Wave”(CW) signal does not transfer energy very effectively especially with time. To cause injury in the brain you need to look at inducing “hydrostatic shock”(HS) in the sheathing of the neurons. What many forget is that HS is not actually about “bullets” but the effects of “the energy transfered to the target body” in terms of rise time and peek amplitude moving out as a shock wave. One of the failings of HS discussions is “resonance” is mainly ignored. If you look into certain musical instrumments like “gongs” they are actually resonators with very low loss / damping. This means that lots of very small energy bursts if at the resonant frequency or one of it’s harmonics will cause the energy to rise linearly with each burst. Untill the resonator or the environment it’s in undergoes some kind of physical change, when the stored energy can be released in a single go. See optical cavities and similar and even the more familia Tesla Coils,

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesla_coil

Understanding these physical principles will be important to working out the actual mechanisms behind Havana Syndrome.

Leon Theremin • October 19, 2022 6:37 PM

@Clive

Yeah, right. I said “waves”, not microwaves. Maybe it is caused by a particle that most physicists haven’t yet observed and don’t know how to measure.

The bottom of the oceans haven’t been mapped yet, neither most of Earth’s core (dynamo with plenty of thermal energy?). If a complete search for the cause is what it takes, maybe looking down there might be what it takes.

MarkH • October 19, 2022 8:16 PM

From a book I’m reading … off topic, but I think interesting to Clive at least:

The computer onboard the Minuteman II ICBM had a disk drive (!) spinning at 6000 RPM. The missile designers had to consider the case of launch under attack (cheery thought), and expected that the computer would make erroneous computations during high exposures to ionizing radiation from nearby Soviet warhead explosions …

So they incorporated a “transient” detector polled every disk revolution (10 msec intervals), which would trigger the writing of guidance parameters onto the disk and “sleep” the computer.

The circuit counted sleep intervals; when radiation dropped below a defined threshold, the guidance computations would resume — using, I suppose, some combination of extrapolation and interpolation.

This process was projected to degrade targeting accuracy, but only modestly.

ResearcherZero • October 19, 2022 10:14 PM

@Leon Theremin

Telling everyone it is a myth keeps The Brass happy, and the average chump does not have to worry about it.

The waves from ‘Havana Syndrome’ are microwaves, we measured them. The antenna is not that large at all and it needs a relatively small aperture size. The antenna is about half the size of old UHF antennas that people used to have on the roof of their house. The entirety of the equipment can fit in a van.

The transmitter is pulsed, so while average power is low, peak power is high. The range is within 500M, for eavesdropping. When the power is turned up and used to blast someone at closer proximity the capacitors empty quite quickly, but it’s enough time to take someone down.

Quite a few victims who received long term exposure and were not treated died. It took many years, but they eventually died from the exposure, all in the same manner. We watched them die. Those who received early intervention did not die.

It is also helpful to know who was sniffing around the area when this happens.

This is why personnel are now asked to report symptoms.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/572525-pentagon-asks-all-personnel-to-report-symptoms-of-havana-syndrome/

And there is a fund to treat it.
https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2021/10/rubio-sponsored-bill-to-support-havana-syndrome-victims-signed-into-law

I could explain all the equipment and how it works. It really is not that difficult as the equipment has all existed since the 1960’s. The odd part is a little hard to source and expensive for someone on an average wage, but the rest of the parts are not. It is old tech.

You can microwave your chicken right, but do you want to microwave your neighbours that badly? It does not leave a mark, there is no bullet, it’s a difficult crime to solve, and crimes are difficult for police to solve at the best of times. That’s why Russian Intelligence Services use them.

The larger systems carried by trucks are for knocking out electronics. The human brain requires significantly less power to disrupt it’s center of balance. The human body is also not that great at absorbing that much heat.

Watch how quickly your chicken takes to start steaming when it’s already at normal body temperature.

Thermoelastic pressure waves and MAE
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/ielx7/7397573/8000303/09366412.pdf

“U.S. officials concluded that the diplomats had been exposed to an advanced device that operated outside the range of audible sound and had been deployed either inside or outside their residences.”
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/09/us-diplomats-in-cuba-suffer-severe-hearing-loss-blamed-on-covert-sonic-device.html

Some of the cases they tracked included the children and dependents of Defense Department personnel overseas.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/29/politics/us-investigating-mysterious-directed-energy-attack-white-house/index.html

It’s a very real effect and we have seen it in operation, seized the equipment, those responsible, then studied the equipment. The Russians are very good at building stuff, their engineers are quite talented. They even got our own hypersonic missile designs to work before we did.

ResearcherZero • October 19, 2022 10:18 PM

Meek [REDACTED]

Big black vans arrived and a journalist disappeared.

“He resigned very abruptly and hasn’t worked for us for months.”

Documents pertaining to the case remain sealed.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/fbi-raid-abc-news_producer-1234613619/

–

Dystopian fiction is generally speculative, whereas all of these items and services are real.

“The ankle monitor—which for almost two decades was simply an analog device that informed authorities if the wearer was at home—has now grown into a sophisticated surveillance tool via the use of GPS capacity, biometric measurements, cameras, and audio recording.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/10/amazon-tracking-devices-surveillance-state/671772/

“It uses radar to monitor your movements while you sleep, combining that data with information about your bedroom—temperature, humidity, and brightness—to measure the quality of your sleep.”
https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-wants-to-cocoon-you-with-ambient-intelligence/

ResearcherZero • October 19, 2022 11:04 PM

@Clive Robinson

Any of these little suckers are large enough, although not the optimal design.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/413979390722837999/

It’s very easy to send a signal to a satellite, and over much shorter distances at higher powers it does require larger and more powerful equipment, but not significantly larger. A pulsed wave behaves quite differently, and peaks reach much higher power.

The CIA has it’s own doctors. Do you really believe that this would be dealt with in any other way than in-house? The public used to freak out over radios and comic books. They have to be slowly eased into accepting modern technology, or even old s__t that has been around since the 60’s. Otherwise they might panic and wig-the-f-out.

“Aagh! Me 5G has got nanobots!” – Stuff like that. The public are crazy. Eventually we might explain it in more detail. Perhaps. You could work it out yourself, it’s just a matter of looking at the right waves, and the math is not too difficult. Most people are just applying the theory wrong.

ResearcherZero • October 20, 2022 4:11 AM

@Clive Robinson

What matters is that personnel report symptoms. That they are treated with respect and not stigmatized.

Once doctors believed that CSR was not a real condition. The British Royal Air Force stigmatized the term and sometimes used the designation ‘Lack of Moral Fiber’ to describe airmen that “cracked” and refused to fly when presented an operation or mission.

“Shell-shock and shell concussion cases should have the letter ‘W’ prefixed to the report of the casualty, if it was due to the enemy; in that case the patient would be entitled to rank as ‘wounded’ and to wear on his arm a ‘wound stripe’. If, however, the man’s breakdown did not follow a shell explosion, it was not thought to be ‘due to the enemy’, and he was to [be] labelled ‘Shell-shock’ or ‘S’ (for sickness) and was not entitled to a wound stripe or a pension.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_shock

There is plenty of observational evidence and experience with casualties of “Havana Syndrome”, the equipment, and it’s operators, over many decades. In the cases of “Havana Syndrome” that we observed it was very simple to discern their validity. Remotely diagnosing such medical ailments or conditions would be immoral, unfair and inaccurate, even for trained professionals to attempt.

Even if we were to publish photographs, seeing is not always believing, and it would provide a possible source to information regarding the design elements. There may be some psychologists or psychiatrists out there who possess a wealth of practical experience in radio frequency and microwave engineering.

It is more important that proper treatment be available to all personnel and any family members who do get hit.

Public opinion and medical opinion itself often take time to mature until there is a critical mass of personal experience. Something that will no doubt take time, as it is a covert instrument, few will come in contact with it.

ResearcherZero • October 20, 2022 4:44 AM

@Clive Robinson

Havana Syndrome is also a very serious security matter.

It is the peak of the wave that induces the audible sound that people hear, and it is this peak of high energy that causes the effects.

Although this short term burst can disable someone, and itself is dangerous, it is the low powered long-term exposure over many days or months that is more dangerous. The lower powered mode still carries enough energy to cause chromosomal damage given enough time.

The lower powered mode can be sustained for a long duration, is usually run from mains power, and often indicates passive listening devices have been secreted in the vicinity of the target. Passive bugs are difficult to locate.

ResearcherZero • October 20, 2022 5:31 AM

Prigozhin
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/world/europe/russia-wagner-ukraine-video.html

The three journalists – Kirill Radchenko, Alexander Rastorguyev and Orkhan Dzhemal – went to CAR in July 2018 to investigate the activities of Russian private military contractors. The trio were shot dead after the vehicle in which they were traveling was attacked on a remote road in the volatile country.

In an apparent effort to disguise his communications, the Russian trainer had registered his mobile phone under a fake American name, using a forged passport, according to the Dossier Center’s investigation. In reality he was working with one of the Russian military contractors that has a presence in CAR – Wagner.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/01/10/africa/russian-journalists-car-ambush-intl/index.html

In one email, dated August 13, 2021, Discreet Law attorney Andrew Stephenson cautioned Prigozhin’s representatives at CLS, the Russian law firm, that their client’s desire to quickly publicize the lawsuit before Higgins had been notified would be “a public relations disaster in the west” and potentially an “abuse of the process.”

Prigozhin’s representatives discussed the possibility of bringing additional defamation claims … According to the hacked emails, …discussed communications with an editor at the British newspaper The Telegraph, and they discussed tracking coverage by the BBC. Separately, Prigozhin’s representatives … discussed … the potential of suing the BBC

Prigozhin’s representatives raised the possibility of bringing additional defamation claims, in both the U.K. and the U.S., against other outlets that reported on Prigozhin,
https://theintercept.com/2022/10/19/russia-hack-wagner-group-yevgeny-prigozhin/

Wagner (pronounced with a V – like the composer) is run by Prigozhin
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/26/world/europe/russia-wagner-group-prigozhin.html

Prigozhin recruiting prisoners for Wagner
https://vk.com/rsotm?w=wall-187527798_206210

Clive Robinson • October 20, 2022 8:02 AM

@ ResearcherZero,

Re : Directed Energy Weapons.

“Havana Syndrome is also a very serious security matter.”

Firstly it’s a collection of symptoms which appear to have a core commonality as published by various outlets, and some of those that suffer from them.

Whilst the symptoms are in most cases life altering, information in the public domain does not link them to anything in particular.

As was noted some years ago the US authorities could have put instrumentation in place, but apparently decided not to. Why is an open question, that I suspect will join other things done and not done to in effect kick the whole issue into the long grass, in the hope it will become forgotton or “somebody elses problem” some long way down the line when the sufferes are beyond help or compensation.

The fact is whilst there are symptoms there were not scars or other injuries that could be tested for medically in a living human (the same issue as with “NFL Madness” which from autopsy information is now accepted as real even though it was debied for decades).

It’s why it’s still “Havana Syndrome” not “Havana disease” or “Havana injury”.

Which means currently there is no actual evidence pointing to a “directed energy weapon” be it electromagnetic or physical matter movment like acoustic / sound waves.

That does not mean that they are not the cause, but that we do not have acceptable evidence of the sort criminal courts accept.

However if it is a “Directed Energy Weapon” that is radient then the basic laws of geometry and physics apply regardless of the energy form.

So we can “know” certain things.

The problem I have with what you say is that you appear to “flip and flop” between EM radiation and Mechanical radiation by sound.

As for,

“A pulsed wave behaves quite differently, and peaks reach much higher power.”

A pulsed wave does not radiate any differently than a continuous wave. What you are refering to is to do with “pumping” where energy is put into a storage device over a long period of time compared to the very short discharge time. Such circuits are easy to build and were in use back in WWII in radar systems with a transmitted pulse being as little as 1/1000 of the total period thus ignoring losses 1000 times the mean power.

To have a different radiation pattern you need to consider “Phased Array” or “MIMO” systems using phase cohearent sources. Early examples of which were the German “beam bombing signals” that evolved into radio navigation systems, and these days to provide the current generation of “Low Probability of Intercept”(LPI) military and similar communications systems (that I have some technical knowledge of).

I can go into depth about using various phase cohearent pulsed CW systems that use the ideas of overlapping beams and Walsh Hamarad derived –sequency– waveforms to provide a special signal in very small volume.

However that does not change the fact that a lot of energy goes out in a broad scatter and you have the 1/(r^2) issue which means anyone standing close to the antennas is going to be hit by more energy than the supposed target.

Thus you have to account for why the targets are hurt but the operators of the equipment not.

Untill somebody does then radiated energy weapons have a biq question mark hanging over them.

It’s not a mater of opinion but as I said basic geometry and physics.

Oh and this does not in any way say I do not believe Havana Syndrom exists, only that we do not yet have a reasonable hypothesis as to the mechanism.

vas pup • October 20, 2022 5:47 PM

@SpaceLifeForm • October 17, 2022 7:51 PM

Musk’s hands were for sure twisted by US deep state in the same way as China did with Jack Ma in not so distant past. They started criminal investigation on Musk’s deal with Twitter. And with thousand of pages of Federal Law & Regulations for such huge enterprise as Musk’s You could definitely find something when you targeted particular person.

So, Musk was forced to pay HIS own money to support HIS own stations because of pressure made on him. It is not capitalism, that is pure China type of action when deep state did the same as Communist Party doing in China for their businesses.

By the way, President could do this openly using his power when US is at war officially (like FDR did during WW2) but we are not openly at war now at least the war was not declared.

If anybody want to respond, please put emotions aside. Emotions are for other places and times and counterproductive to unbiased deliberation not argument. Not proud of actions towards Musk by US! He is real treasure of this country.

Did US learn history lesson when Nazi treated bad German’s treasury Einstein and he created nuclear weapon for US which treated him properly as he deserved it rather than for his Fatherland?

ResearcherZero • October 20, 2022 8:36 PM

@Clive Robinson

Don’t worry, you are not alone. While politicians and many officials were scoffing at “Havana Syndrome”, those spies were happily stealing sensitive military secrets right from under their noses.

Those same spies were using the information they obtained to run operations like this one, and they were getting away with those earlier operations almost completely unhindered. Unfortunately many, including politicians, still tend to think that their knowledge encompasses more than the entire capabilities of the allied intelligence apparatus.

“Using NDA GmbH as a front company, Orekhov and Kuzurgasheva sourced and purchased sensitive military and dual-use technologies from U.S. manufacturers, including advanced semiconductors and microprocessors used in fighter aircraft, missile systems, smart munitions, radar, satellites, and other space-based military applications.”
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-charges-and-arrests-two-cases-involving-export-violation-schemes

Nick Levinson • October 22, 2022 12:42 AM

@ResearcherZero:

An ankle monitor, a simpler one, might be placed on someone’s cat while the person who was supposed to wear it at home would leave home for a while. A remote observer would observe that the ankle monitor was moving from time to time and presume the person was home wearing it. This was briefly and publicly discussed by criminal defense lawyer Ron Kuby years ago on the Curtis & Kuby WABC radio program (Curtis being Curtis Sliwa) (no URL known for segment).

name.withheld.for.obvious.reasons • October 22, 2022 2:31 AM

@ResearcherZero, Clive, et al (i.e. the unusual suspects)

Some very interesting spatial mapping, similar to bi-static and active radar can go a long way to reveal more than surface topologies in the pressure wave arena. Exceedingly useful in environments where yielding differential time domain optimizations are employed. More difficult to perform detailed analysis when dynamic environments or rapid travel is involved. Carry on my good mates…

Postscript
When topically relevant snippets aren’t relevant, tis the question. As temperature is moderated by entity, subject, or technical detail as might be dialing in specific coordinates that allow one’s diatribes to land, is a skill. One, I am, of late, in short supply. Still, when I throw darts I don’t question the boards construction, but the atmosphere in which said darts must take flight. Cryptic to be sure, but hey, it is what it is…trying to stay relevant.

Ted • October 22, 2022 8:57 PM

@MarkH

That’s pretty fascinating that the Minuteman II ICBM was designed to detect and respond to nearby blast radiation – as you said putting the computer to “sleep” until guidance systems could effectively resume.

That seems really advanced for its day.

The Minuteman II program popped out to me because it was mentioned in a book I am slowly reading about semiconductors.

Apparently the Minuteman II program was a huge boon to Texas Instrument’s nascent chip business. By the end of 1964 TI had supplied one hundred thousand integrated circuits to the program.

The prior version had an onboard computer with discrete transistors “with the targeting program fed into the guidance computer via Mylar tape with holes punched in it.”

It seems like every city should have a museum dedicated to the history of computing technologies. There certainly would be an amazement in getting to witness these developments first hand.

MarkH • October 23, 2022 1:35 PM

@Ted:

The tour of early computers I’ve been taking with the book has magnified my awe at the pace of computer tech development at mid-century — in many respects, far more dramatic than the steady incremental improvements at present.

To fit in the missile nose cone, the D37 weighed less than 50 lb and occupied less than half a cubic foot. To my knowledge, up to the mid 50’s or so, the smallest electronic computers weighed a ton or more.

Amazingly, the D37 had no magnetic core memory (considered too sensitive to radiation) — except for a very few registers composed of flip-flops, all code and data were on the disk! The programming techniques required to ensure that the next program and data words would be coming under the disk’s read heads at the moment needed, must have been skull-crushing.

Ted • October 23, 2022 6:17 PM

@MarkH

Such wonderful detail! I was wondering if you were referencing David Stumpf’s book or maybe another?

MarkH • October 23, 2022 9:06 PM

@Ted:

McMurran, “Achieving Accuracy”. He worked at Autonetics at the time of that MMII computer.

Clive Robinson • October 26, 2022 3:15 AM

@ NameWithheld…

First off : May fair winds be found under your wings 😉

With regards,

“Some very interesting spatial mapping, similar to bi-static and active radar can go a long way to reveal more than surface topologies in the pressure wave arena.”

It’s actually quite scary just how good some radar systems can be these days, easily pulling such minor disturbances as tire tracks and footprints off of certain surfaces (otherwise undisturbed dessert crust being one).

But also radar techniques can go below the surface eyes can not see beyond. And it need not be “r” as in radio…

Many years ago now there were attempts to do the equivalent of holographic imaging using ultrasound in water tanks to try and assess the performance of ship hulls. Some of the technicians developed strange symptoms that turned out to be the energy of sound waves demodulating by the nonlinear response of the dermis and subdermis and causing neurologic effects. In effect the frequency difference of two ultrasound waves came into the same low frequency band as that used for neurological signalling and caused problems, some significantly so.

I think you can see where that went…

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