No! Nothing To Do With The Art-Punk Band
Who started off being not quite like other punk bands, and who evolved into something quite different. We have mentioned albums of theirs previously, like "Pink Flag" or "Chairs Missing", which thus allows me to use one of them as a bait for the unwary - Art!
Okay, both of them, and no I have no shame.
ANYWAY Your Humble Scribe was pondering and wondering recently about a South Canadian legal term that has cropped up in the past and which I've never bothered to clarify or define: to wit, "Wire Fraud".
I know, I know, it sounds like an offence - a hint to foreshadow there - that might have come into being during the days of the Old West when it was getting long in the tooth and facing up to the brave new world that involved telegraphs. Art!
Conrad is unsure quite how people would have committed fraud via telegraph, but knowing both the ingenuity and criminality of Hom. Sap., it surely happened.
However, it's not the fraud we're looking for here. Art!
Perfect! The chaps are indubitably up to no good with wire, and are about to commit a crime, which might indeed be fraud. I mean, if they were innocently perusing a fence of barbed wire, there'd be no need for masks, would there? It is also indubitable that barbed wire had a profound effect on the Old West, allowing ranchers to define their lands very effectively, preventing casual trespass or theft.
But, again, not the kind of wire fraud we're after here. Art!
I am using the South Canadian term as it is most relevant here. It covers the whole of the telecommunications spectrum, and applies within and between states. It is, in fact, one of the more prevalent types of cybercrime. There are many examples of such schemes, e.g.: E-mail scams; fake e-shops; catfishing; social media scams; bank fraud when done online or by telephone. This is not exhaustive and you can bet that Hom. Sap.'s ingenuity and criminality combined will never cease to come up with new ways to defraud by wire.
Globally, it is calculated that $10 trillion dollars are lost annually to cybercrime, and a fair wodge of that will be wire fraud.
The South Canadians take an extraordinarily dim view of wire fraud. It's a felony, meaning the more serious classification of crime, and those found guilty of it can be fined $250,000 PER COUNT, or spend their leisure time in prison for up to 20 years. Art!
A home from home
This is quite mischievously speculative of me, but Your Humble Scribe wonders if any of Darth Marmalade's voluminous private Twitter correspondence, from the days when he had still access, might constitute wire fraud? "I just need you to find me 11,000 more votes, Brad. Tell you what, instead of this impersonal DM I'll give you a ring." Hmmmmmm well I guess there's two people who know the answer to that one: Citizen Trump and Sunny Jack Smith.
There we go, all better educated than we were five minutes ago. And you're welcome.
Some People Abuse The Right To Be Stupid
Take Gonzalo Lira. He's a Chilean-American who was in Kharkiv when the Special Idiotic Operation began. Deciding that his sleazy, seedy 'dating advice' channel on Youtube wasn't helping to heighten his profile enough, he instead set out to suck up to the Fun-Size Foot-Fiddler by lauding Ruffia and denigrating the Ukes. Art!
The Ukrainian SBU didn't take kindly to this, since, you know, the being-at-war thing was rather to the front of their minds. That Gonzo is neither the sharpest tool in the box nor very creative is proven by one of his quotes about the SIO: "one of the most brilliant invasions in military history"
Yeah, losing 50% of the land you conquered will go down in the annals of military strategy for centuries to come. Just not for the reasons you think, Gonzo.
ANYWAY he was arrested and questioned - which he probably dramatised as 'imprisoned and tortured' - by the SBU in 2022, then released, presumably with a stiff finger-wagging.
He was arrested again at the start of May, because HE CONTINUED TO SHILL FOR RUSSIA. Doubtless he shrieked loudly that his First Amendment rights were being violated. You may perceive the difference between living in South Canada and living in a nation at war. Art!
He then posted on social media about how he was going to flee whilst free on bail, head across Ukraine, then across Europe and plead for asylum in Hungary, except he did all this WHILST STILL IN UKRAINE <facepalm>.
The Ukrainians stopped him well before he got to the border, doubtless informed by anyone who saw his video and he's now back in prison, where he will stay until his trial.
I dunno. Some people.
"The War Illustrated"
More from Issue 176, and we discussed the cover at length. Let us now dip inside this March edition, where the contents plainly indicate that an amphibious invasion of Occupied Europe is going to happen. Art!
Here you see several of the sinews of war, without which it cannot be prosecuted, yet which are not especially eye-catching, splendid or trendy. At upper starboard you can see a dump of bombs, unfused so yes, they are safe to walk around on. Below that a set of bomb casings are being removed from the annealing ovens during their construction. Back to port and there are lines and lines of 'DUKW's, the 2 ton amphibious truck that allowed operations between sea and shore, and finally at starboard a huge store of locomotive and rolling stock wheels, which will be used to help start up the French railway system once the Allies get ashore. Er - because the Allies had done a great deal of damage to it in the meantime.
Conrad Unsure If You'll Get This
I am about to start the fourth episode of "For All Mankind", after we've seen the dismissal of Von Braun from the Apollo program, and the enrolment of female 20 'Asscans', as the Astronaut Candidates were known. Now down to 4 after the selection process.
ANYWAY let me prod Art awake with this bamboo skewer.
 |
| Smaller yet clearer |
"City In The Sky"
Ace realises that the Doctor is only moving them forward in time, not in space, when they return to the TARDIS after their excursion aboard Arcology One.
‘I bet you mean that blokes up here don’t think the way the people
“Downstairs” do. Up here – “Upstairs” –
they can’t take for granted all the things that people Downstairs do.’
He threw his hat with uncanny accuracy onto the elaborate umbrella
stand, then doffed his coat, standing in the garish tank-top he seemed to love
beyond reason.
‘Half-right, Ace.
Half-right. I suspect that the
problem is that people Downstairs – and the term “people” is one I use loosely
– do indeed see things differently. I
rather think we are going to venture into the near future’s near future,’
burbled the Doctor, as if nothing important or strange had happened.
‘Eh? Come again?’
Her mentor looked over the time rotor with amused eyes.
‘Dorothy! How long did our recent
hosts expect to stay in orbit above Earth after the Big Crash?’
Struggling to recall exactly what that pumped-up bulldog Veronika
claimed, Ace fell back on a generalisation.
‘Oooh, about, ah, twenty years.
At the most.’
‘Very well. I was told that, too. By the law of Rassillon’s Diary, I invoke the
multiplicative indices of between one hundred and one hundred and fifty per
cent.’
Ace recognised this for the whimsical nonsense
it was. She sneered in silent amusement.
I hope Rassilon gets royalties for all the stuff that's named after him.
Finally -
I watched "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" last night and found it an entertaining sequel to the original duology (we will forget that thing in 2016 never happened, as this film did), with a touch of poignancy. Finn Wolfhard playing a snotty teenager, probably because he is one, and McKenna Grace suitably studious as the swotty younger sister.
It looked pretty good for a relatively modest budget of $75 million, and as it made $204 million at the global box office, it was a modest success. The post-credits scene did imply a sequel, and indeed the industry states that there's one due out next year. On the basis of this one, Conrad is cautiously optimistic. Art!
And with that, we are done!
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