They Pesky Bugs

Natalie Solent at Samizdata has a mildly disconcerting post about the future of espionage...

Imagine audio and video bugs get better and better. Maybe in the form of tiny physical cameras, maybe as viruses that will eventually succeed in penetrating any computer, phone or similar device, maybe as some kind of broadcast or field.

And what life events will these battalions of spies be watching for? According to Natalie, a rather eccentric selection...

Every time you sang along to your ipod, had sex, mentioned the word “government”.

Your intrepid reporter spent some time yesterday afternoon trying all three at once, leaving a rather alarmed whore in his wake and winding up £50 the poorer (+ £5 for the maid) and none the wiser.

Mysteries of AA-Dimensionality

You are at an Alcoholics Anonymous Meeting and...

...you do service as the Greeter. Only Liam and Steve are in the room when you arrive, 45 minutes early. You make a cup of coffee and go to the only entrance to greet everybody as they arrive. One minute before the meeting starts you go back to the room. 

There will be twice as many people in the room as passed you at the entrance.

...you volunteer to do the washing up after the meeting.

There will be twice as many cups to wash up as there were people at the meeting.

Illustration: projection of the Calibai-Yau Manifuld. A mere ten or eleven dimensions and so small that we can never see it. Feh.