Friday Squid Blogging: Squid in Byzantine Monk Cooking

This is a very weird story about how squid stayed on the menu of Byzantine monks by falling between the cracks of dietary rules.

At Constantinople’s Monastery of Stoudios, the kitchen didn’t answer to appetite.

It answered to the “typikon”: a manual for ensuring that nothing unexpected happened at mealtimes. Meat: forbidden. Dairy: forbidden. Eggs: forbidden. Fish: feast-day only. Oil: regulated. But squid?

Squid had eight arms, no bones, and a gift for changing color. Nobody had bothered writing a regulation for that. This wasn’t a loophole born of legal creativity but an oversight rooted in taxonomic confusion. Medieval monks, confronted with a creature that was neither fish nor fowl, gave up and let it pass.

In a kitchen governed by prohibitions, the safest ingredient was the one that caused the least disturbance. Squid entered not with applause, but with a shrug.

Bonus stuffed squid recipe at the end.

As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.

Blog moderation policy.

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Posted on March 6, 2026 at 5:03 PM • 40 Comments

Comments

ResearcherZero • March 7, 2026 3:08 AM

Don’t wear your magic glasses on the porcelain throne. (unless you like being watched?)

‘https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/03/workers-report-watching-ray-ban-meta-shot-footage-of-people-using-the-bathroom/

Mossad hacked traffic cameras across Tehran to help it map movements inside the city.
https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/how-israels-mossad-hacked-tehrans-traffic-cameras-to-track-ayatollah-khamenei-13985794.html

Iran is attempting to hack Hikvision and Dahua IP cameras to identify targets for attack.
https://www.theregister.com/2026/03/04/iranian_hacking_attempts_ip_cameras/

lurker • March 7, 2026 3:56 PM

AI = Absolute Insatiability

I went to my local supplier for a 512GB SDXC card, the only one offered was not my usual brand and 2.5x the usual price. I don’t usually read the professional photography sites, this from last December:

“The companies that make our memory cards have already sold their entire 2026 production capacity.

And the buyers aren’t photographers – they’re AI data centers with bottomless budgets.”

https://luminous-landscape.com/the-coming-memory-card-crisis-why-photographers-need-to-act-now/

This is affecting any and all devices that use NAND flash memory.

Britelite77 • March 7, 2026 7:49 PM

@What is Triangulation?

What about the targeted poor sap that was terrorized, tortured, harassed, and had their lives ruined? Personal and Professional reputation harmed, financial ruin, significant mental and physical harm. Where is his compensation? Just sweeping the ordeal under the rug and moving on? “Roaching out” as they say?

Im sure a slap on the wrist and maybe security clearance revocation is a sufficient punishment. “Integrity” appears to be just another buzzword.

Clive Robinson • March 8, 2026 3:11 AM

@ lurker,

Abounding Insanity is not just AI

You indicate that you might be a photographer and needing a Flash Nand memory card and say,

“This is affecting any and all devices that use NAND Flash memory.”

Are you aware that you should not use Flash NAND memory for anything more than “short term storage” measured in not more than just ten months?

Yup less than a year for “bit rot” to happen…

Which is problematic in that many people use Flash NAND for “cold storage” of visual information such as photographs, video, and also audio file collections. Thus put them in a box in a desk draw or similar and “the cherished memories” they thought safe are “bit rotting away” at rather an alarming rate.

Worse with the higher the data density on chips the sooner the loss of data is likely to happen…

Whilst most think it only applies to “SSD Drives” due to recent articles like,

https://www.xda-developers.com/your-unpowered-ssd-is-slowly-losing-your-data/

It actually applies to all high density Flash NAND chips including those used on USB thumb drives and “solid state”(SD) cards used in consumer and commercial media storage devices and equipment.

Those getting hit the hardest are those that are freelance or semi-professional photographers, and makers of YouTube video channels who might have multiple Terabytes of data in devices they have in their SoHo storage but are unaware of the “active steps” they have to take.

So “backup” is nolonger just 3-2-1 with an A60 fire-safe in the Office and an off-site copy… Actual “long term data retention” needs “Active Rotation” as well as “multiple backup” strategies where you have duplicate copies that get rotated by “copying through” preferably previously unused storage devices using archive formats with high error checking and correcting mechanisms…

Ask older Sys-Admins about this because there were issues –and still are– with backup tapes, floppy drives CD/DVD etc.

In fact, don’t expect any consumer and most commercial grade “data storage” to last even a few months now let alone a decade or even an adult working life span…

It’s something that “archivists” and “historians” are really quite worried about as some Archives have already been hit by uncorrectable “bit rot”.

And why really weird sounding things like “QR-Codes on Film Stock stored in freezers” are being looked at.

BUT everything “storage” has the same issue,

“The higher the bit density of data storage the shorter the storage life.”

It’s a natural consequence of having fixed sized chemical molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles etc subject to “decay and half life issues” from macro, micro, and quantum events and just entropy in general. As,

“Coherent data dissolves away into what appears as random noise”…

Clive Robinson • March 8, 2026 4:08 AM

@ Bruce, ALL,

You note of this Friday Squid,

“This is a very weird story”

It is far from the only one…

Did you know that “beaver” were likewise seen as neither “meat nor fish or fowl” so were treated by some as “their choice” thus could be eaten on Fridays that were traditionally reserved for “Fish”.

This “Fish Friday” rule was responsible for many “fish ponds” being dug during the Medieval period as fish did not transport easily alive, or dead… And even in the almost unpalatable salted or fermented forms they were still problematic to supply. Thus many “Village Ponds” are not natural.

But have a thought about how do you “feed fish” or more importantly “what with” as they don’t eat what most mammals and other farm live stock do.

Well the answer is really not that “palatable to us”. It’s “scat from cloven hoof” animals (so not fowl, dogs, pigs, or humans).

But an interesting fact is that the “Religious food Rules” are actually almost all “staying healthy rules”.

That is science has discovered that all these rules either provide essential nutrition or prevent pathogen and parasite spreading.

And worse breaking these “religious food rules” in more modern times has given rise to all sorts of issues like immunological diseases, cancers, and other terminal diseases such as neurological diseases like of “Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease”(CJD) and various other types of dementia.

Most do not want to talk about it but eating “bush meat” and “high intensity farmed meat” is what causes or enables “zoonotic transfer” to happen, thus combined with modern transport “Global Pandemics”.

Now in the “luna month” of Ramadan “fasting” is a subject that comes up. But food fasting appears in many religions not just Judeo-Islamic or other Abrahamic ones. Medical Science is now only very grudgingly admitting that “fasting” when done correctly is very far from dangerous, and has all sorts of health benefits.

What we do not know is why these “food rules” came about… But then few realise that “science and mathematics” and their fundamental foundation of “measurement” all started in the kitchen…

Winter • March 8, 2026 8:09 AM

@Clive

But an interesting fact is that the “Religious food Rules” are actually almost all “staying healthy rules”.

There are some rules that codified bad outcomes of food practices to the displeasure of the gods.

But most rules are fully arbitrary and intended to separate the “true believers” from the “heathens”. Think the milk/meat rules in Judaism or the rules for Kosher wine.

The same holds for fasting. That is simply a practice to require a conscious effort, again separating the believers from the heathens. In Christianity, fasting was very conveniently placed in the time of year when food was most scarce in Europe, but that is irrelevant for most religions.

lurker • March 8, 2026 1:37 PM

@Winter
re milk/meat rules

These were basic hygeine rules for nomadic peoples in a semi-desert environment. Bowls and spoons were made of wood, or unglazed earthenware, and little water was available for washing. The rules kept the different families of bacteria from contaminating each other.

Those rules should have been superseded by stainless steel, and running hot water, but it is difficult to change tradition.

Rontea • March 8, 2026 2:01 PM

Religious rules about health can function like a form of social security through tradition. They encode generations of empirical observation into actionable habits—dietary restrictions, fasting periods, cleanliness rituals—without requiring their adherents to understand microbiology or epidemiology. From a security mindset, these rules are a kind of pre-scientific risk management: simple, enforceable heuristics that reduce communal exposure to threats like disease or malnutrition.

Is fasting, for example, a form of security? In a way, yes: it’s a behavioral control that limits overindulgence, enforces routine, and can reduce contact with risky food sources. It’s also a ritual that reinforces group cohesion, which itself is a type of social resilience. But the question remains—does it still align with modern threat models, or has the underlying risk landscape shifted?

The strength of such systems lies in their ability to create broad compliance through moral authority rather than personal risk assessment. The weakness is their rigidity—once the threat landscape changes, or if the health risks no longer align with modern conditions, the rules can become obsolete or even counterproductive.

Security and health alike benefit from layered defenses. Religious rules can be one layer, but they need to coexist with evidence-based medicine and adaptive public health policies. Ultimately, resilience comes from understanding both the logic behind the tradition and the evolving context of risk.

Clive Robinson • March 9, 2026 1:30 AM

@ Winter, lurker, Rontea,

With regards,

“But most rules are fully arbitrary and intended to separate the “true believers” from the “heathens”. Think the milk/meat rules in Judaism…”

They appear “arbitrary” to current medical practice… but we are finding in very recent scientific research terms they are actually not.

They effect the health of your gut flora and this has all kinds of knock on effects on the likes of your autoimmune system. Even though the general medical assumption is few but simple molecules can cross the various gut barriers.

It’s the same with fasting, it effects what exists in your gut where and for how long, and that in turn effects the rest of you. The so called “Syndrom X” that is now more frequently called “metabolic syndrome” that is now accepted as being a “pre-pre condition” for diabetes, strokes, coronary / heart disease and more recently dementia is one such.

It’s something science via leading edge research is finding out these rules actually have “beneficial” effects that might take 40-60 years or as with epigenetics three lifetimes or more to show up. Yet at the time the rules were brought into existence we assume that the general population were not even living that long or had generational records.

So the rules may appear –by pre-held assumptions– to be “arbitrary” but current science is finding out using record searching and the like they are not…

Which suggests that some of what we have long assumed about our ancestors is not true, and this raises all sorts of other questions about just how fast things are evolving / changing.

Which brings up @lurkers point of,

“The rules kept the different families of bacteria from contaminating each other.”

Which in turn bring up, @Rontea’s points of,

“function like a form of social security through tradition”,

and

“From a security mindset, these rules are a kind of pre-scientific risk management: simple, enforceable heuristics that reduce communal exposure to threats like disease or malnutrition.”

Now consider that they were in fact based on a form of very sensitive “observations across generations”.

Untill relatively recently “scientific research” was in effect constrained by the useful life of a “researcher”. That is maybe a decade or two at most.

The need to “prove” by “testable cause and effect” likewise limited the time scope of “scientific research”.

And further, the genetic life cycle events of bacteria are a fraction of that of humans. Thus our gut flora can change faster than multi-generational effects in mammals.

Thus we have to look at things differently we have to infer “micro states” that look chaotic but give rise to “macro states” that look like trends.

One way we now do this is look for differences that have become visible in records and find correlations. It’s how we found out about the benefits of the “sickle cell” mutation and similar.

This is something that the use of more powerful computers and searching existing records is helping bring up as viable research candidates.

Now consider some of our most powerful “statistical systems” are Current AI LLM and ML Systems…

The likes of “alpha-fold” has shown that they can do this sort of thing in time periods well inside of a researchers useful life time, and produce research candidates for generations to come.

It is I suspect a niche area where Current AI will actually have most benefit for mankind… If of course we don’t do something “stupid with it” first, by say using it to find “weapons of domination”… Which unfortunately history tells us some will do…

And recent events in the US Executive tend to suggest will be almost the default behaviour currently.

ResearcherZero • March 9, 2026 3:15 AM

On pencil pushers…

There remains a huge amount of evidence held back from CIA personnel.
Some of the most important information is decades old. The public will certainly never see it or hear about it. Nor will those within the CIA exposed and inflicted by the ongoing occurrences.

The Global Health Incident Cell (GHIC) was not the first fact-gathering mission charged with investigating the incidents. A much earlier group was sent out with the same mission to find nothing, cover up any notion that the events might be real and ensure no-one found out about what was already known. The present tests conducted on mice and rats are not the first either.

Not that any member of a such a group would ever get access to the facts. Middle management is often a useless appendage within the covert agencies. The private sector is where they belong.

‘https://theins.ru/en/inv/290088

ResearcherZero • March 9, 2026 5:39 AM

CIA led massive coverup for decades. In secret they have been testing a Russian device.

The mystery device is silent, does not generate heat like a microwave oven, can be programmed for different scenarios, operated remotely, and has a beam range of several hundred feet. It can reportedly penetrate windows and drywall.

Rats and sheep have been used to study the effects of the portable weapon.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-military-tested-device-that-may-be-tied-to-havana-syndrome-60-minutes-transcript/

Clive Robinson • March 9, 2026 6:18 AM

@ ResearcherZero,

With regards,

“pencil pushers”

Note I have previously described how Peter Thiel via his entity Palantir plans to replace “analysts” in government agencies, “detectives” in law enforcement and replace them with his AI driven systems (for reasons those close to him have given voice to publicly).

As we know AI systems become captured permanently by the nature and input of their “training data”.

Heaven forbid those 7th floor idiot analysts get used as the training data set…

But moving on to the subject of their –lets just call it– incompetence. Long before the “device” was obtained I described here exactly how I expected it to work and why if used properly it would not show up in medical tests on living humans (see why I linked it to TBI’s in the US NFL). Or harm the operators –something you might expect– with an overly simple 1/(r^2) energy model.

The reason I could do this is quite simple,

1, Everything is well within the bounds of available technology, not just the laws of physics.
2, I’ve been involved with the design of a similar device using audio rather than EM radiation and it could kill target identified “pigs” in a herd but leaving the rest of the herd unaffected out to ~300m or more if the target was not in a herd.
3, Long before the “device” was acquired I’ve described the how and the why of the modulating waveforms that are required.

I was unaware that an idiot Norwegian fried his own brain trying to disprove this… All I can say is the research was out there if he had just looked rather than leap blindly.

My conclusion has been that with sufficient technical sophistication such a device is not just do’able but inevitable. The only issue delaying that inevitability has been protecting the operators…

Winter • March 9, 2026 9:37 AM

@Clive

“metabolic syndrome”

The metabolic syndrome is a disease relevant to obese people with too little exercise.

There are indications it existed in the Renaissance and Baroque times, but only for the few people who could manage to get obese without moving too much. Most people were underweight and had too much exercise, if anything.

Anyhow, the observation of metabolic syndrome post-dates all religious food rules.
https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/full/10.5555/20073227241

@lurker

These were basic [meat/milk] hygeine rules for nomadic peoples in a semi-desert environment.

There is literally only a single minor religion that has these rules. The rest of humanity fared well without it.

There are some “religions” (or sects) that have extremely unhealthy, life shortening food rules, breatharianism (living of air only) and raw foodism come to mind. Such extreme religions will not spread far before getting extinguished by natural selection.

But many other food rules are six of one, half a dozen of the other and do not influence survival that much, eg, not eating cows vs not eating pigs. Fasting is practiced by almost all religions one way or another. The difference is in when, how, and how long. That does not distinguish much.

Religious rules of food and behavior are mainly a way to separate US form THEM and make that difference very visible. You cannot shop or eat with THEM as you are not allowed to eat anything they have touched. They cannot shop or eat with US as they cannot eat anything we have touched.

lurker • March 9, 2026 1:51 PM

@fib, ALL

To locate the origin of the signal requires directional antennae, which are usually large at shortwave frequencies. And it requires more than one, preferably more than three. But these types of antennae have fallen victim to intense urbanisation: there’s no room for them, and/or planning rules and neighbours’ objections prevent them.

Clive Robinson • March 9, 2026 8:57 PM

@ fib, lurker,

With regards the article it says,

“But the announcer’s intended audience was likely no more than a handful of people using a centuries-old system to decipher his otherwise incoherent message.”

I thought hmm the “One Time Pad” is not “centuries old” thus the article some what “suspect” as I scrolled down a line or two a pop-up about taking out a subscription and the rest of the article faded out…

So I shall assume the rest of it is as inaccurate as what I’ve been able to read thus not worth reading any further or searching for a “research archive”.

But @lurker you make a point about,

“To locate the origin of the signal requires directional antennae, which are usually large at shortwave frequencies.”

To which there are two answered of “yes” and “sometimes”. You can make even an HF antenna quit directional and small if you use it to “null” rather than “peak” the signal.

Aircraft used a small directional loop and omnidirectional vertical whip to make a “cardioid” pattern antenna that could be “switched”. You first “peaked the signal” with the switch in one phase then flipped the switch to put it in null mode to tune for a minima or “null” by switching back and forth you could get the direction down to 5-10 degrees which was more than good enough for radio navigation or for a submarine finding ships. Similar with the Addcock or H antenna, which is still used for HF direction finding as it requires no moving parts in awkward to get to places outside of the “operators area”, as well as deeper nulls giving better direction finding capability,

https://www.w8ji.com/Goniometer%20adcock%20antenna.htm

Instead of “swinging antennas” two Italians Ettore Bellini and Alessandro Tosi had realised that you could instead build an angle measuring device not much bigger than a 1/2 pint coffee mug using two fixed stator coils at 90degrees to each other inside of which was a rotating sense coil to “peak the signal” so it became the Bellini-Tosi Goniometer,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellini%E2%80%93Tosi_direction_finder

But to get a reliable direction of just a couple of degrees or less then yes a multi vertical antenna is required with multiple rings of antennas. Officially a “Wullenweber” Antenna the Nazi German project cover name or more informally an “Elephant Cage”.

There used to be one at RAF Chqicksands that I used to “know” back in the day and was good to better than 4000 nautical miles range for direction finding. It got “dismantled” back in the early 1990’s and as far as I’m aware even the marks left on the ground are now gone.

https://static.secret-bases.co.uk/IMG/chicksands-CDAA.jpg

The NSA did a documentary on “The last elephant cage” that got put up on YouTube back at the begining of the 2020’s but was probably made back in the very early 1990’s.

The building in the middle houses the “trick” part of how a “Wullenweber” works. It’s an extension of the idea used behind the Bellini-Tosi Direction Finder.

For something like 30years these were the “cold war” “back stay” of military signals intelligence, due to the “Soviet love of CW Signalling”, which when you find out more about nuclear weapons attacks makes a lot of sense.

Something that has just been realised by some with Russia and now Iran opening up not just “Numbers Stations” but other systems and the US updating HFGS. To learn a little more YouTube has some excelent videos put up by “Ringway Manchester” who has become a bit of an acknowledged expert,

https://m.youtube.com/@RingwayManchester/videos

Have fun, it’s a rabbit-hole that even Alice would have been astonished by 😉

ResearcherZero • March 9, 2026 9:48 PM

@Clive Robinson

When they conducted blood tests to look for biomarkers (and other tests), they knew exactly what to look for as the same types of incidents had occurred 20 years earlier before Cuba, in another location entirely, on another continent. Again similar targets, however not Americans. Back then, the debilitating effects, though very much the same, were not as severe. The same kind of gaslighting occurred from the middle management types from the domestic spy agency. Worse still, the device responsible was obtained and the operator identified. Russian, GRU, Unit 29155.

At that time it appeared the device was being tested on targets, often family members of veterans (ex-military and navy) or the relatives of members of the intelligence community.
There were also a small number civilians who seemed to be simply targets of opportunity.

The immediate team members investigating the incidents had no doubt as to what happened, due to firsthand experience seeing some of those incidents take place first hand. The operator took no measures to conceal his presence and every attack was line-of-sight. The response from the government bureaucracy was to cover-up what was happening, in-spite of medical testing taking place and assistance given to select victims.

The worse affected victims by the attacks were completely ignored and not informed by the government bureaucracy. This gaslighting and lack of objectivity extended into other areas of intelligence collection on covert Russian activity, acting as a foil of the detractors own making. Hence the GRU’s operation proved far more successful than they may have ever imagined possible. It also allowed them to run other campaigns uncontested.

The interesting thing about the testing that took place following these earlier events, the medical staff were directed to conduct specific tests that would normally take place after exposure to an explosive blast. The medical team was confused by those instructions, yet those giving directions already knew what to look for. Medical evidence existed long before these incidents became public knowledge. Actions could have been taken to protect targets and collect far more evidence on top of the physical evidence that was already available.

The lack of objectivity and the cover-up deliberately placed many at serious harm. The extended intelligence and national security harm is far greater and more troubling, as it allowed other interference and espionage operations to run with little opposition. There is blood on the hands of those who decided to gaslight and not protect the targets of attack.

Attitudes of the type exhibited by those responsible, have led to declining public trust and weaknesses in institutions. Social cohesion was undermined as a result of their actions. The long-term damage to political and public institutions – very difficult to repair, with the full details of what happened shrouded behind layers of bureaucracy and secrecy that remain easy points of penetration – that should have been mitigated to reduce the high level of risk. Not looking after our people under attack is unforgivable IMHO.

All risk is impossible to remove – but it can be reduced – as long as it is acknowledged!

The segment can be viewed here

h t t p s://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VU9JwFoMCnY

Clive Robinson • March 10, 2026 4:45 AM

@ Bruce, ALL,

China has shipped a DNN and sensors to the gulf

I’ve been kind of expecting something like this to happen, simply because it makes sense.

An “arms-race” is a term that most forget has a very real reality behind it. The last one of note to me was that of ECM, ECCM, ECCCM that kind of regressed back to ECCM on the to higher cost for utility basis back in the early 1990’s.

Since then things took a sideways step as stealth became a thing that was increasingly practical.

But this does not mean that the ISR arms-race was won. The Ukraine has shown how to put life back into older technology by using networks of “Sound sensors” that now feed back to AI type systems.

Thus drones that are “low and slow” but “small and noisy” get in effect “passively detected and tracked” for what is a working “Find Fix and Finish” kill cycle at really quite low cost.

China knows quite a lot about stealth tech and it’s pros and cons, probably as much as the US does. For one thing stealth has such issues that much of the design targets only the “front aspect”… Thus many stealth weapons are way more visible from the sides and behind. Which makes them more vulnerable to the likes of “off set radar”(OSR) systems than is generally known. The other advantage OSR has is the “emitter” can be made inexpensive and easily “expendable” whilst in effect fully decoupled from the now passive sensor system and processing systems.

The other thing about OSR systems is that the number of pulses from the “emitter” can be almost reduced to 1 with a suitable DSP filtering system behind the passive sensor array (similar Sonar tech was in development back in the 1980’s for submarine location and disposal).

As I mention from time to time the heart of an LLM is a “Digital Neural Network” that is in reality a massive multispectral adaptive filter based on a DSP array.

Thus all the components are in place for this,

China Deploys 30,000-Ton Liaowang-1 “Floating Supercomputer” to Gulf of Oman — PLAN Intelligence Ship Now Watching U.S.–Israel–Iran War From 6,000km Sensor Bubble
…

“The arrival of the Liaowang-1, a next-generation signals intelligence and space-tracking vessel commissioned in 2025, represents a powerful shift in the conflict’s information geometry because the ship’s advanced sensor architecture allows Beijing to watch the entire theatre through a surveillance envelope stretching approximately 6,000 kilometres.“

https://defencesecurityasia.com/en/china-liaowang-1-spy-ship-gulf-of-oman-us-israel-iran-war-surveillance/

As noted in the article,

“An anonymous analyst from a prominent American think tank described the platform’s analytical capacity with blunt clarity, stating that “the Liaowang-1 isn’t just a ship; it’s a floating supercomputer processing petabytes of data to map the invisible battlefield.”

That observation captures the central strategic question surrounding the vessel’s presence: not whether it is capable of collecting intelligence, but how the information harvested by its sensors might influence the balance of situational awareness across a theatre already defined by high-tempo missile, air and naval operations.“

The US relies on forward facing stealth for it’s battle field “advantage” and satellites for ISR “advantage” this ship in effect critically effects those two advantages.

Thus the question is this “non belligerent” ship in “International Waters” a target for attack is a question that must be crossing minds in the US Executive…

But the real shock for the US is just how quickly the vessel went from a concept to actual in the theater of action participation… Along with the knowledge that China has found ways around using US tech for AI systems and is in some respects out in front on the development curve.

Is this ship a “game changer” in some respects the answer is yes. Will it change the game for the US and Israel well that rather depends on what China decides to do with the “ISR Product”. That is does it reveal some or all capabilities by handing intel to Iran so it has more equity in the conflict.

China has a significant interest in blunting if not reversing US Executive plans to control the world “Energy Resources” and like many sovereign nations wants the US “back in the box” in many areas because of the very real threat the US Executive presents to Global Stability (something that Europe is finally waking upto).

With regards the ISR product and Iran, either way China gets to “field test” this ship in real world conditions against it’s most likely superpower opponent…

I guess we will just have to wait and see how things unfold.

Ismar • March 10, 2026 6:28 AM

@Clive there are conflicting reports of the whereabouts of that ship and that whole article reads like an AI generated one

ResearcherZero • March 10, 2026 7:18 AM

Perhaps one of the reasons for gaslighting those targeted by the attacks reported in many locations around the world, apart from ignorance by those outside the loop, was fear. Fear is not a reasonable excuse to ignore the plight of those facing the consequences. It is an emotion which warns the host of danger, allowing actions to be taken to mitigate and reduce the impact of the threat, or quite possibly avoid any long lasting repercussions entirely.

Ignorance is not a credible excuse at all, given the circumstances. Rather it is indicative of a situation that requires attention and compassion for the afflicted, in order to listen constructively to their concerns and formulate an appropriate course of action. To protect them any any other potentials victims from further attack and unnecessary injury.

An effective response could easily have been devised and put into action, whilst keeping all the little secrets under-wraps, keeping any bureaucratic fears of panic at a minimum. To do otherwise is a dereliction of duty. To go the extra step – mocking those who were attacked – unconscionable.

Tests conducted on rats and sheep produced similar injuries seen in those targeted.

‘https://nypost.com/2026/03/09/us-news/us-military-tests-on-secret-weapon-bought-from-russian-criminal-network-reveal-havana-syndrome-like-symptoms-report/

The damage that can be caused by such a weapon can be severe, long lasting or even permanent.

“Oxidative stress provides a documented mechanism of RF/MW injury compatible with reported signs and symptoms; sequelae of endothelial dysfunction (yielding blood flow compromise), membrane damage, blood-brain barrier disruption, mitochondrial injury, apoptosis (select cell elimination), and autoimmune triggering” … “Reported facts appear consistent with pulsed RF/MW as the source of injury in affected diplomats.”

(Dysregulation of apoptosis contributes to a wide range of diseases, including cancer, autoimmune disorders, and developmental abnormalities.)

https://direct.mit.edu/neco/article/30/11/2882/8424/Diplomats-Mystery-Illness-and-Pulsed

The CIA’s insistence a microwave weapon would need to be the size of a truck were clearly untrue.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/01/science/sonic-attack-cuba-microwave.html

ResearcherZero • March 10, 2026 10:01 PM

@Clive Robinson

I made a mistake. It was 30 years ago when these attacks began on our soil before it became public (now approximately 40 years since). After the incidents were investigated and officially reported, a CIA team flew out. They displayed no doubt that the incidents were real and knew exactly what was being discussed. So when one of those assessments from recent times states that the evidence of an allied intelligence agency was not accepted, that is a highly dubious claim to make. Medical examinations were carried out, equipment analyzed by experienced officers familiar with detection and interception of covert equipment, particularity Russian covert operations and signalling equipment.

It is plausible that the office bound, lower to mid range clearance staff within such organisations have a low level of situational awareness and a lack of deeper understanding of what is going on around them due to compartmentalization. That comparison does not apply to the better informed from senior heads and those from more specialized roles with high clearance. That the conditions existed to allow the situation to proceed and be ignored at large, while also be mocked then at the time, just as it was over the last decade, shows a real failure of leadership across the entire five eyes mid-level management.

Those directly dealing with the incidents took it seriously, as they were accustomed to the environment of counterespionage and the dangers that accompanied such activity. Outside of those tight circles, the arrogance and indifference of middle management from then on had a direct impact on their acceptance of inbound information regarding covert Russian activity.

It was that attitude that saw a loss of effectiveness throughout the 1990’s and beyond. Those people stalled, disputed, ridiculed and impeded intelligence flows at a very critical time. This in turn significantly raised the level of risk for those operating in the space and resulted in not just unnecessary harm, but the death of civilians, some close friends and colleagues. That kind of thing is not good for moral. One excepts the dangers of the job, but not the deaths of innocent civilians who were violently murdered in acts of retribution. Deaths that went ignored.

We have laws to keep classified information out of the courts. It need not be an impediment. It need not even be mentioned to prosecute, given how much criminal evidence we have on the Russian operators, as their offending and blatant lack of regard for the law was long and prolific. The conventional crimes alone that they committed were more than enough to lock them away forever. But then perhaps we got far more valuable information by letting them run free and continue offending.

ResearcherZero • March 10, 2026 10:06 PM

Live human testing would be inhumane. If someone else were to engage in Byzantine monk cooking then… everyone could pretend that the events themselves never existed.

lurker • March 10, 2026 10:35 PM

@Ismar, Clive Robinson

There are certainly conflicting reports on the present location of Liaowang-1, and some highly imaginative stories of its capabilities and involvement in the Persian Gulf conflict. The language of the defencesecurityasia story reads like a puff piece, and the writer is attributed as “Admin” (probably his password is “admin”?)

More fog of war I suspect

Clive Robinson • March 11, 2026 2:14 AM

@ lurker, Ismar, ResearcherZero, ALL,

The other day I mentioned “tripping points” and highlighted “desalination / water supply” as being one, that has now been crossed.

There are now two others,

1, US Civilian satellite imaging companies being ordered to “put a hold on images”.
2, US is dismantling THAAD systems in South Korea.

The image hold has nothing to do with Iran and everything to do with “bad press / publicity” for the US.

Put simply we know that Iran is getting Intel from both Russia and China and other in area entities for targeting information so does not need US Commercial satellite data.

The various MSM outlets do need US Commercial satellite data to give updates on the war. Thus as the US Gov is effectively “censoring” a logical conclusion is things are not going well for either or both of them and Israel in their illegal war against Iran.

The fact that the US is taking South Korean THAAD installations apart and shipping them out further indicates this is “not going well” for the US and Israel… Those THAAD systems were only a few weeks ago still being talked about as “vital for the defence of South Korea” against both North Korea and China…

Consider what this actually signals.

Further Israel and the US are now bombing Iranian sites they have already bombed, indicating that their intelligence is very probably in significant deficit.

The MSM are being fed a line about Iran cutting back on attacks means they have “run out” of missiles / launchers and drones…

The chances are more likely it was “planned” before hostilities started.

The Iranians clearly planned for the “decapitation strikes” and mitigated by “devolving command” which also means no way for a “cease fire or surrender” to happen… Thus they have also probably planned for a “long haul war” going on weeks if not months so have cut the tempo of attacks down accordingly.

Both Israel and the US need the war to be “short” for both political and practical reasons and it looks like they are not going to get it.

So yes the US and Israel are currently loosing this war they started… as they are now in what they most did not want “attrition” and the “global economy” being sufficiently effected as to have recessionary effects that bring significant issues for them and opportunities for Russia, China, and even North Korea…

But also consider that there was no US/Israel “Plan B” and that they are now “winging it” or “making it up as they go along”. What does that say about their political leadership”

Oh and one other thing that has not been confirmed, but has some background evidence for. Iran has tried it’s own “decapitation strikes” against the homes of certain Israeli senior politicians… As well as against key Israeli communications facilities.

It’s known the IDF deliberately by policy murders journalists as a form of “censorship by bullet” as has the US under the excuse of “fog of war” (as do Russia, China and North Korea). So it’s not surprising that any evidence is currently scant as sanitising it for safety is going to take time and effort.

Winter • March 11, 2026 4:46 AM

@Clive

So yes the US and Israel are currently loosing this war they started…

The Mad Red Hatter has failed in every policy he ever started. Just as he failed in his businesses. [1] So I fully anticipated him to loose this war.

I wouldn’t be surprised TACO will declare victory, take his ball and go home, leaving others to clean up the debris.

As for Israel, their only plan is to murder enemies. They have always been very good at that. But it never brought them the “victory” they expected.

I am in no way surprised this war will be the next example of MAGA distributing death and destruction with no benefits, not even for MAGA. The Mad Red Hatter might shovel in some more money in his personal accounts, but that’s it.

[1] The Mad Red Hatter started business life with a King’s Ransom of an inherited fortune. He ended in debt with his name being his only asset left.

ResearcherZero • March 11, 2026 5:24 AM

Panic-buying of either toilet paper, hydroxychloroquine, fertilizer and diesel is unhealthy, or in combination.

Actors in foreign countries are running fake political news on Facebook targeting Australians. Facebook is failing to tackle AI slop and fake news that circulates on the platform. Real-world impacts include poor health outcomes, falling public trust, supply shortages, and significant societal harm. Politicians in turn have suggested that perhaps firmer regulations to deal with disinformation and fake news on social media might now be needed. The politicians are growing unhappy about fake news stories with AI generated images of themselves in particular.

Just because someone has a lot of money and is running for election does not mean that their statements are accurate. Medical and other professional advice should be left to those with a background in the profession and be backed with rigorous peer-reviewed evidence that supports the claims being made. Platforms like Facebook have a responsibility to ensure that their services are not used to exploit, deceive or mislead vulnerable and impressionable people. When political pundits attempt to evoke emotional responses, people should be skeptical.

At least 17000 deaths were associated with the inappropriate use of hydroxychloroquine. Among those that promoted its use was the mining magnate Clive Palmer, who ran an active online campaign, encouraging members of the public to place their faith in hydroxychloroquine as an appropriate treatment for COVID-19 (which it is not).

Facebook should also examine how flammable a world its company executives, board and share holders want to live in. Politicians should consider if unnecessarily ramping up fear and a habit of poor planning, places additional pressures on critical supply chains. Refraining from spreading bulls–t might also be helpful.

Due to the decisions that successive governments have made in relation to just-in-time delivery, critical infrastructure and long-term planning – a mirror might make a good investment for politicians in which they could direct both questions and accusations – to the appropriate recipient, their very own personal reflection.

(If a reflection does not appear, stay out of the sunlight and consult a doctor at first opportunity.)

‘https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-11/foreign-fake-news-pauline-hanson-one-nation/106436702

The International Energy Agency has proposed the largest ever oil release in history.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/iea-proposes-largest-ever-oil-release-strategic-reserves-wsj-reports-2026-03-11/

Politicians have meanwhile continued to spread fear about fuel supplies, which contributes to the panic, hence places growing pressures on supply. Panic-buying reduces local stock, which drives up the price due to greater demand.

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/no-need-for-panic-bowen-calls-urgent-summit-as-fuel-fears-grip-regions-20260310-p5o8yx.html

Clive Robinson • March 11, 2026 7:57 AM

@ ResearcherZero,

With regards 40years ago and,

“They displayed no doubt that the incidents were real and knew exactly what was being discussed.”

As I said, I’d been working on similar and we “got visitors” some of whom had recognisable accents. From two 5eyes begining with A so yeh they both knew all right.

But… Back then it would gave been the SigInt agencies who saw themselves “above all others” in their respective Nations and loyal only “to the group” not the nations or entities within them[1]… So it may never have become wider knowledge due to the frequent turf wars inside various national units.

[1] In part you can see why even today, “nobody with any sense tells a politician anything they do not know already”. Because politicians are like little girls when it comes to gossiping. It’s worst in America because the political system there encourages back stabbing and self promotion… Look back at Scooter Libby and the burning of UK and Dutch under cover assets by US Politicos just to get “one up” on Network TV and similar.

lurker • March 11, 2026 1:47 PM

@Eriadilos, Bruce

The Verge tried to investigate and found garbage in – garbage out:

However, the experts’ work proved difficult to “explore more deeply.” The feature crashed frequently and its “sources” linked to spammy copies of legit websites, or other archived copies that aren’t the actual source page.
…
Some sources even went to completely unrelated links that weren’t written by the person whose work they were supposedly an example of …

https://www.theverge.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/890921/grammarly-ai-expert-reviews

Clive Robinson • March 11, 2026 7:07 PM

@ Eriadilos, Bruce, lurker,

With regards,

“Are we beginning to see the “Betray” stage of AI Clive has been talking about ?”

As I and others have been warning about Microsoft using AI for “Clint Side Scanning” and other “surveillance” on users,

“It’s the only way to make AI pay…”

And we are already there which is why I’m not going to be using Microsoft or other US Silicon Valley Mega-Corp software unless it’s pre-2015 or preferably earlier and “never designed for cloud usage”.

Remember it all started with the “global pandemic” and “contact tracing” with Apple and Google modifying the base mobile device OS’s / device drivers to add BLE beaconing and contact tracing hooks into them…

For a more contemporary view have a read of,

https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/breaking-sam-altmans-greed-and-dishonesty

It just proves the point about Sam Altman and Microsoft and “AI to Betray” the user as a business plan.

And it’s not just Microsoft the other big Silicon valley Corps including Apple and Google have exactly the same plan.

Worse some US States are making it compulsory by legislation that will also cover FOSS OS’s and Apps…

Some in the EU are only too aware of this, which is why they are talking about kicking the Silicon Valley Mega-Corps out of Europe on the pretext of US legislation, but it actually runs deeper.

It’s bad enough that China, North Korea, and Russia steal “Trade Secrets” in various almost “more honest” ways. But the US is so much more dishonest about stealing IP and PII.

The reason is it’s ultimately the neo-con / US-Capitalist way as espoused in the “American Dream” which when you analyse it is really about criminal not equitable behaviour.

In short,

“In a resource constrained environment, the ‘American Dream’ is now a charter for Criminal behaviour by Criminal Enterprise.”

Or put another way,

“Might is right so fill your boots”.

But for the “self entitled” they need one thing to make it work “authoritarian following guard labour” legitimised by bad legislation and regulation. Hence the large investment in and for lobbying legislators.

Because the easiest way to make such behaviour “legal” is to stop it ever becoming “illegal” in the first place…

Clive Robinson • March 12, 2026 5:19 AM

@ ALL,

Fresh off the press …

I Note above I’m not the only one going on about “AI as a surveillance tool” and the Microsoft “BE” business plan that ends up “Betraying the user”.

This is a slightly different way of looking at the issues by Rob Braxman[1],

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e7a89ZYcTo8

He points out not only does Microsoft want to turn you into “the product” as Google does. Microsoft want to steal every thing you do, when and how, along with making you pay a monthly fee just to use the computer you purchased.

Yes I’ve mentioned all these points in the past but Rob will give you the same but from a different perspective.

As I’ve said before I’m done with Microsoft, their last OS I use unmodified “as installed” is XP and the last that I’ve heavily modified and striped back almost to the bare metal to stop anomalous behaviour is the highly dubious Windows Vista.

From Win 7 onwards I claimed the money back and put one of a number of *nix OS’s on the hardware. Which Microsoft is making as hard as possible in various ways that they would probably claim is illegal to circumvent…

But in the US in certain States the Fix is already in with legislation requiring client side scanning to do “age verification” signaling to any online service you connect to. Which basically means you have to grant those you should not in anyway trust with in effect “full access” to not just your data but your privacy…

All to be done by the OS and hardware below it that all OS’s wether commercial, consumer or FOSS must comply with…

The EFF has started a “Resource Hub” on “age gating” and the harms it is already causing where you can see a number of articles you can read and other resources (why our host @Bruce has not yet mentioned it I don’t know),

‘https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/12/age-verification-coming-internet-we-built-you-resource-hub-fight-back

You can see an informative article on what’s kind of involved, from a wider angle,

‘https://builtin.com/articles/age-verification-laws-us-internet-debate

[1] For some reason some of you in the past have complained about “adverts” in the Braxman videos. All I can say is that on three different computers owned by three different people none of whom are me and I’ve not had any involvement with the SysAdmin on them I’ve seen no adverts… As far as I’m aware the only thing I don’t do that might be different is not having any kind of “on-Line account” or age gating nonsense.

Clive Robinson • March 12, 2026 6:49 AM

@ ALL,

As mentioned I coind an expression for the Microsoft Busines plan for making AI pay that I call the “BE Plan”.

The thought is we should come up with a “User Security Plan” against the “BE Plan” I’m thinking along the lines of the “DE Plan” of,

“Defang, Debloat, Deactivate, Defenestrate, Destroy”

And a couple of other DE-prefix words… if any one has their own thoughts on DE prefix words to use just say.

lurker • March 12, 2026 12:56 PM

@Clive Robinson, ALL
re client side scanning, betrayal, and theft of user data

I don’t have firm idea of when, probably about pandemic time, a significant number of Android apps that could need read-only access to user data, now require to be given permision to “read, modify, or delete any files” in user accessible storage. That is “any” files, not just images for a photo app, or sound files for a music player, and no way to confine it to a specific folder. Without these permissions the app just does not work.

Apps available for *nix powered tablets and phones don’t seem to have the same functionality or UI polish as Android ones. And if FOSS is to be swept into the legal swamp with MAGA then I guess it’s back to drums for messaging.[1]

re ads on Braxman: YT may show ads depending on your geolocated market area, time of day, referrer tag (if any), state of your cookie store, or just because they can. I’ve never had ads on Braxman or Perun. My Adblock Latitude says it bocked 5 of 35 items on the Braxman clip @Clive linked above.

[1] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/jungle_telegraph

Clive Robinson • March 12, 2026 1:20 PM

@ Bruce, ALL,

Tony Hoare has died aged 92.

Some won’t know who Tony Hoare is others will know from CS courses he had a mind for “complexity” and how to formalise it in logic.

Tony Hoare (1934-2026)

Turing Award winner and former Oxford professor Tony Hoare passed away last Thursday at the age of 92. Hoare is famous for quicksort, ALGOL, Hoare logic and so much more. Jim Miles gives his personal reflections.

“Last Thursday (5th March 2026), Tony Hoare passed away, at the age of 92. He made many important contributions to Computer Science, which go well beyond just the one for which most Maths/CompSci undergraduates might know his name: the quicksort algorithm. His achievements in the field are covered comprehensively across easy-to-find books and articles, and I am sure will be addressed in detail as obituaries are published over the coming weeks. I was invited in this entry to remember the Tony that I knew, so here I will be writing about his personality from the occasions that I met him.“

https://blog.computationalcomplexity.org/2026/03/tony-hoare-1934-2026.html?m=1

Clive Robinson • March 12, 2026 1:46 PM

@ lurker, ALL,

With regards,

“I don’t have firm idea of when, probably about pandemic time, a significant number of Android apps that could need read-only access to user data, now require to be given permision to “read, modify, or delete any files” in user accessible storage. That is “any” files, not just images for a photo app, or sound files for a music player, and no way to confine it to a specific folder. Without these permissions the app just does not work.”

It also went the other way… Some developers who had a security view point who wanted to “lock permissions down” also found they were being forced into that behaviour.

It’s still not clear if it was Alphabet/Google or some common library.

The feeling was it was Google because it was coincident with changes to the base OS to enable beaconing and similar “contact tracing” nonsense (that failed to work correctly because it was distance based and RF goes through walls, windows, and other materials that make hermetic barriers).

There was a lot pushed through at that time, that we are now finding out weakened security favourably for certain “Guard Labour” entities in the US and other Governments. Which raises the question,

“Was this deliberate or an accidental result?”

My view is there was “to much for accidental” which raises a second question,

“Deliberate by who and why?”

My fealing is Google was “feeling an income pinch” thus decided to get what it could of peoples PII. But to do this they had to

“Not just hamstring new apps, but change settings etc on already functioning on device apps.”

What ever the truth is more than a half decade later things are just getting worse on an incremental basis. So we as owners/users are in a “boil the frog slowly” type situation and I really do not think that is in anyway accidental. As I’ve said already it’s my basic reasoned argument that leads to the conclusion,

“Surveillance is the only way to make general AI pay!”

If people agree or not is another matter, but “if not” I would like to hear their “considered reasoning” not just “shilling for their investment etc”.

lurker • March 13, 2026 1:26 PM

@Clive Robinson
“Not just hamstring new apps, but change settings etc on already functioning on device apps.”

So I go to the “Play” store with my new phone to get new copies of a couple of favourite apps from my old phone, and I find they are no longer available. Not because of OS level compatibility, but because they never phoned home, never had any need to, doing so now would be suspicious; because their UI was fully functional, no place for ads. These apps were well designed ten years ago: I had to dig them out of old backups. Oh yes, another thing, try to backup your phone nowadays to a local hard disk without going through the cloud …

Clive Robinson • March 13, 2026 10:31 PM

@ lurker,

“Not because of OS level compatibility, but because they never phoned home, never had any need to, doing so now would be suspicious; because their UI was fully functional, no place for ads.”

You forgot “or surveillance” on the end there…

This is how the corporate world makes it’s vast fortunes on the Internet –with a Capital “I”– makes profit,

1, Adds.
2, Surveillance.

There is no other way to do so as the “Online Media” and other traditional “print” medial, academia and research journal entities are finding out, unless they are de facto cartels or monopolies.

The simple fact is there is still a lot of money to be made in “real print” from “traditionalists” who will pay around $300-700/year for a doorstep delivery of the printed newspaper, magazine, or journal, and use the services of those that advertise in them in “real print”.

The problem is “traditionalists” are in reality “mostly old folk”, who are “a dying market” quite literally. Those who are “the last of the baby boomers” (1944-64) who are mostly retired and have major assets and high disposable income.

Whilst some are “Silver Surfers” who are happy “cruising the Internet”. Unfortunately for those trying to make money on the Internet they have learn’t that “every thing new on the net is a scam”… So don’t subscribe or buy anywhere near as much online as they do through print unless it’s from a “Recognised high Street Brand”.

So in reality their “disposable income” does not make it onto the Internet…

The other problem is the “only information outlets” are “ten a penny” and those who are smart can now find their “news for free” on “archive sites” and small regional media outlets via search engines and media aggregators, just by searching for a name or other distinguisher such as the actual “article title” (something I’ve posted about a couple of times now media is going to the “top of fold taster” paywalls where you get the title and a couple or three paragraphs).

Google were loosing a lot of money because of “ad blockers” and some sites have paywalls that block certain web-browsers or detect ad blocker enabled browser use and block access.

Back in the 1990’s I wrote a paper about how to get “money through Internet media” and concluded that all forms of direct payment would fail for quite a number of reasons, but two basic ones stuck out,

1, Supply Distance, was not a cost.
2, Surplus of Supply.

Kicked out the various cartels or monopolies on local, regional, and national print in electronic form.

Something that has proved to be the case repeatedly over the past three decades or so. Hence the crazy “Murdoch Media Protection Laws” in Australia and other places.

But my paper also highlighted the issue of “Surplus of Supply” and it’s effect on “quality” and it likewise predicted what Cory Doctorow christened “enshitification” as a direct result of economists continuously ignoring the “Distance cost metric” that had actually enabled “Free-Markets” to work.

That is “tangible physical objects” always have a non-negligible per unit cost that increases with distance thus supply area that comes from profit margin. Where as “intangible information objects” don’t have a per unit cost or in most cases any cost at all that changes with distance or area covered.

Thus “retail outlets” of physical objects cost increases go up at an easily seen “power law” with respect to coverage area, which acts as a significant cost to “supply” no matter what the demand might be thus supply area limiter. Which allows small local supply to have a “market entrant” supply thus profit advantage which ensures “Market competition”.

Unfortunately “Internet outlets” of information objects have effectively no distance / area costs metric thus there is no cost difference to local through global supply. Which kills the “market entrant” “Market competition” advantage and also kills any kind of de facto cartel or monopoly with it.

I could go on but I think the point should have got across that “Internet Ads” really do not provide advert carriers any income.

Thus they have switched to “customers as products” but the increasing number of “data brokers” have had almost the exact same issues and thus that is not really providing income.

It’s an almost “racing certainty” the same is going to happen with “Current AI LLM and ML System” supply of any kind of “general AI” and will happen way way faster. That is the “honeymoon period” won’t even be as long as a “one nighter” in duration and will quickly be less than a “peck on the cheek” along with being less rewarding than a “quick fart”.

We can see this with FOSS killing “Commercial / Consumer” software and why the likes of Apple and Microsoft and even Google are desperate to keep “Walled Gardens” and move over to “subscription with surveillance” models.

I suspect a few are realising that the UK “Online Safety Act”(OSA) is in fact doing them a favour with the requirement of “age verification” because it hits just about anything bigger than a “Closed club web-site” thus ripping out “federated competition” such as Discord.

I guess we will have to wait and see if the UK OSA and similar will “save their bacon”, “kill the Internet” or more likely do both, which would please many politicians immensely…

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