asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: i was thinking of:

asciilifeform: "If the reader had access to real dossiers on the secret agents of spetsnaz he would be disappointed and probably shocked, because the agents of spetsnaz bear no resemblance to the fine, upstanding, young and handsome heroes of spy films. Soviet military intelligence is looking for an entirely different type of person as a candidate for recruitment. A portrait of an ideal agent for spetsnaz emerges something li

asciilifeform: ke this: a man of between fifty-five and sixty-five years of age who has never served in the army, never had access to secret documents, does not carry or own a weapon, knows nothing about hand-to-hand fighting, does not possess any secret equipment and doesn't support the Comunists, does not read the newspapers, was never in the Soviet Union and has never met any Soviet citizens, leads a lonely, introspective

asciilifeform: life, far from other people, and is by profession a forester, fisherman, lighthouse-keeper, security guard or railwayman. In many cases such an agent will be a physical invalid. Spetsnaz is also on the lookout for women with roughly the same characteristics."

asciilifeform: (from the classic: http://militera.lib.ru/research/suvorov6/08.html)

asciilifeform: (the chapter concerned the recruitment of traitors in the west, rather than 'ninjas')

asciilifeform: a couple of runaways spilled the beans, yes

asciilifeform: they dug up some boobietraps, made a little noise, that was all.

asciilifeform: would surprise me greatly if they hadn't

asciilifeform: but a runaway lets you 'parallel construct' to your heart's delight.

asciilifeform: the one with the staples? or the black spy?

asciilifeform: (the staples that failed to rust, was, afaik, a real incident)

asciilifeform: re: agents: i'd be surprised though, it there is entirely no more 'maintain this derelict shipping container and cafe that nobody goes to and you'll get a little cash in the mail every month'

asciilifeform: likewise, most of the buried treasure probably remains buried.

asciilifeform: (if only because the fools lost the maps where 'x marks the spot.')

asciilifeform: one day some bored kid will dig through old soviet crap, find a footnote that leads to a working rpg-7 under a mailbox.

asciilifeform: the original 'geocaching.'

asciilifeform: texcoin.

asciilifeform: afaik, TX is being recolonized by mexico on schedule, just like CA

asciilifeform: still waiting to see an 'mpexian' exchange with no www site, operated entirely by coded TX amounts.

asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: seems like a trivial problem, ought to have been done 'last year.'

asciilifeform: misread as 'contest between a bulldog and a couch'

asciilifeform: nubbins`: does anyone still sell those toys that light up when illuminated by GSM nearby?

asciilifeform: would make a good gift for mr. deadbattery

asciilifeform: example:

asciilifeform: http://rookieelectronics.com/sensor-rf-radiation-detector/

asciilifeform: more elegant:

asciilifeform: http://www.creative-science.org.uk/mobile_LED.html

asciilifeform: (no pcb needed!)

asciilifeform: if bugged cell phones were presided over by Meta-NSA instead of classic nsa, the buggers would store compressed audio and piss it out in bursts when plugged into the mains

asciilifeform: rather than the 'me battery died in 1/2 hr.' idiocy.

asciilifeform: click-hiss

asciilifeform: sometimes click-hiss is the objective though.

asciilifeform: intimidation-by-botched-surveillance (or rumour thereof)

asciilifeform: works great

asciilifeform: witness all the 'me toaster is bugged!!1!' saps on schneier's blog

asciilifeform: dreamed a while ago that looking out the window, no traffic. asked some bum, 'why', he answers 'dontcha know, it's The Holiday, finally happened' ☟︎

asciilifeform: methinks 'the holiday' is as good a name as any for that event.

asciilifeform: and like the earthquake, most folks only 'believe' the dead lights, backed up toilets, disappeared heat

asciilifeform: seismograph? pfft.