A leak, a mouse, 'pig butchering,' turtles and a game of chicken. Life in our modern Animal Farm.
Leaky chat messages—nothing new
You know how we sometimes send something over the wires that was not intended to a broader audience? That infamous text-chat that accidentally included Atlantic magazine reporter will go down as a cautionary tale about chat apps.
But did you know that this happened before? During World War 1. Germany’s classified war plans were sent on the wire, the equivalent of Signal at that time—Western Union! Just for larks I put this question about the leak to Google’s AI, and this is how it was summarized.
Yes, Arthur Zimmermann was the German foreign minister who sent the Zimmermann Telegram. This telegram, intercepted and deciphered by British intelligence, proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico, with a promise of returning Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico to Mexico if they won the war. The telegram was a significant factor in the U.S. entry into World War I.
Basically Germany was trying to cripple the US. The telegram was hacked. Details were published on March 1st, 1917 in the British press. One month later Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany. Here’s that artifact.
If you like to watch a video about this, see below:
Does this device need a handbook?
Pop quiz: This little handbook came in with a device in its box. Guess what it is:
This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.
This device contains license-free transmitter(s) receiver(s) that comply with innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s license-exempt RSS(s)
Answer: A mouse
When the EU hit back with… chicken
Another ‘nothing new under the sun’ story. By now most people in the US know that a ‘tariff’ ends up imposing a tax on the end user. It’s not new. But there’s a funny piece of tariff history between the US and Europe. It was known as the game of chicken. In 1962, Europe imposed a 13 cent tack on chicken being shipped in from Arkansas. It was a trade dispute called the ‘chicken war of 1966-1963.’
In 1962, the European Economic Community, comprising six nations, unexpectedly instituted trade duties of thirteen cents per pound on chicken imports. The effect was dramatic.
Just like Ted Talks.
I organized an event we call Ben Talks at our school. It is modeled on Ted Talks. This year’s speakers are truly inspiring. A documentary maker whose work has been featured on PBS, a novelist speaking on the writing craft, a student who’s in the air force cadet academy, a police chief who helps track human traffickers, and a YouTuber who creates animated stories like this.
(Click on the image to play the vid.)
Ben Talks is on Wednesday the 16th April at 6:00 pm. Tickets are here.
What do pigs have to do with scams?
As a computer teacher I come across ‘worms’ and ‘bugs.’ But I was taken aback when I came across ‘pig butchering.’ Here’s what the experts say it is:
Pig butchering scams are a form of investment fraud in the crypto space where scammers build relationships, and even fake romantic relationships with targets through social engineering and then lure them to invest in fake opportunities created by the scammer. These scams often start with casual outreach via text messages, dating apps, or social media/messaging platforms to engage individuals.
So it’s a crypto trap! More about this here. Why the ‘butchering’ reference? You probably guessed it. The scammer will ‘fatten’ up the victim before leading them to the financial slaughter-house. I thought worms were gross! (Sidenote: Interpol wants to change this, saying it dehumanizes victims, deterring them from coming forward.)
AI Titans go to court
The Open AI vs Elon Musk battle has been going on for some time. But this month saw a court filing by Sam Altman as a counter lawsuit against Musk, who was part of Open AI until he resigned. The lawsuit gives us more details of the spat. Like this:
"Elon's never been about the mission. He's always had his own agenda. He tried to seize control of OpenAI and merge it with Tesla as a for-profit — his own emails prove it. When he didn't get his way, he stormed off."
The company was supposed to “serve as a vital counterbalance to, Google/DeepMind in the race for AGI.” It’s aim was to “benefit humanity, not the shareholders” it said. A lesser publicized fact is that the initial algorithm it used, known as ‘Transformers,’ had been developed by Google. It was able to perform natural language tasks without any explicit training, the court filings say. Then, another titan joined the club—Microsoft, which now owns a large share—a $10 billion investment— of ChatGPT.
Turtles. A story of survival
A belated shout out to my friend from college days, Rajmohan, about a book he recently published. Dr. Rajmohan Ramanathapillai has a very interesting background. A poet and a human rights advocate he has master's in counseling from Monash University and has worked as a trauma counselor, among other things. I love the title and what it stands for. It’s available on Amazon.
Thank you for reading this far. If you found a story interesting, please share this newsletter with someone. If you have a tip for a story I ought to consider, pleases send it my way.
To my Sri Lankan readers, Suba Aluth Awurudda අලුත් අවුරුද්ද - Happy Sinhala and Tamil New Year! If you’re a Christian, a blessed Holy week.