On Facebook and matters of privacy...

About a month ago, a tennis-friend of the Mrs probligo joined up with Facebook. There was no need for her to publicise this, nor did she do anything more than follow the process of form-filling to get her page set up.

The first that we knew of it was an email - through Facebook - saying the the Mrs probligo should join up and become a "friend".

That would also explain how Facebook got a hold of our email address.

What is inexplicable is that the email includes the names and Facebook addresses of four other people.

Those four people are -

the probligo's daughter, whom we know has a Facepage.

a lady the Mrs probligo worked with about 5 years back and with whom we have occasional direct contact.

Tommy Miesel whom I suspect might be the same gent I conversed with some years back on matters modelling.

Alan Erkkila, whom I presume might have a very direct relationship to an old whig.

And therein lies the mystery.

How was Facebook able to make the connection between the latter two and the Mrs probligo (or perhaps the probligo's private email address)?

On taking quotations out of context -

How many times have these words of Adam Smith been quoted in support of the neo-capitilist ideals of disaffected Americans -

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love."

Me old mates at ALD tagged a commentary at New Statesman that picks up this point and correctly places it in the context of his earlier "The Theory of Moral Sentiments".

Read the article for the detail. I recommend it.

What does deserve quotation is another (equally out of context) relating to the "political economy" from Adam Smith -

..."first, to provide a plentiful revenue or subsistence for the people, or more properly to enable them to provide such a revenue or subsistence for themselves; and second, to supply the state or commonwealth with a revenue sufficient for the public services".

Next thing will be members of the American right quoting the likes of Karl Marx's economic theories in support of their neo-neo-capitalism. The driver behind such a move might well come from this thoughtful article from Der Spiegel -

Greece is only the beginning. The world's leading economies have long lived beyond their means, and the financial crisis caused government debt to swell dramatically. Now the bill is coming due, but not all countries will be able to pay it.
...
A Huge Bubble

The world was saved, temporarily at least, but since then it has accumulated more debt than ever before in peacetime. The national deficits of the 30 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have grown almost sevenfold since 2007, to about $3.4 trillion today. Their total debt burden has also grown dramatically, to a record-setting $43 trillion. In the euro zone, national deficits have even grown 12-fold in the same time period, with the euro-zone countries accumulating $7.7 trillion in debt.

The current government debt bubble is the last of all possible bubbles. Either governments manage to slowly let out the air, or the bubble will burst. If that happens, the world will truly be on the brink of disaster.

When Greece faces a possible bankruptcy, the euro-zone countries and the IMF come to its aid. But what happens if the entire euro group bites off more than it can chew? What if the United States can no longer service its debt because, say, China is no longer willing to buy American treasury bonds? And what if Japan, which is running into more and more problems, falters in its attempts to pay for its now-chronic deficits?

The conditions that prevail in Greece exist in many countries, which is why governments around the world are paying such close attention to how -- and if -- the Europeans gain control over the crisis.

Now that is frighteningly close to some of the ol' probligo's worst fears. Galahs like MK should, but won't, listen.

Time to go play Gorillaz...

Time to ratchet up American paranoia...

... and add to the ol' probligo's worries as well. And, TF, you do not need to "read between the lines" with this story. The only thing puzzling me is how it has missed the right-whinge news feeds in the US. At least until now (19:50 27/4/10 NZST)that is and I have not yet been across to TF's place for a read.

Today's Herald had this article reprinted from Telegraph UK -

Iran and Venezuela have already shown an interest in the Club-K Container Missile System which could allow them to carry out pre-emptive strikes from behind an enemy's missile defences.

Defence experts say the system is designed to be concealed as a standard 40ft shipping container that cannot be identified until it is activated.

Priced at an estimated £10 million, each container is fitted with four cruise anti-ship or land attack missiles. The system represents an affordable "strategic level weapon".

Some experts believe that if Iraq had the Club-K system in 2003 it would have made it impossible for America to invade with any container ship in the Gulf a potential threat.

Club-K is being marketed at the Defence Services Asia exhibition in Malaysia this week.

Novator, the manufacturer, is an advanced missile specialist that would not have marketed the system without Moscow's approval. It has released an emotive marketing film complete with dramatic background music.

It shows Club-K containers stowed on ships, trucks and trains as a neighbouring country prepares to invade with American style military equipment.

The enemy force is wiped out by the cruise missile counter attack.

The ol' probligo is not in any way claiming an ability at prescience. Not one little bit. This is a weapon that was just crying out for development. It would surprise me immensely if such a system was not already an element of the US war machine. The diff obviously being that they would limit sales to one or two good friends - like Israel for example.

So, TF (and any anyone else of like mind), this one does scare the ol' probligo. It is what I have talked of for some years come to fruition.

Swine flu...

I’m sorry, but when I come across any headline in ol’ Granny Herald (page 3) like the one announcing that a scientist in the US has “discovered” that the Swine Flu bug originated in NZ it just makes me cringe more than somewhat.



A quick probligo review…



Scientist makes announcement that SF originated in NZ.

What is the basis for this “discovery”? Something to do with the fact that the virus carried by a group of Auckland students (of whom 3 were actually infected and a further 4 “developed symptoms”) had close DNA links to the outbreak in Mexico. Now, the student party had been in Mexico for a couple of weeks practising their Spanish in amongst with the locals; right?

And, I just guess that it is totally logical that one of their number (remember 3 came back with SF-like symptoms after 2 weeks in Mexico) had caught a stray virus from the biological warfare division of ESR in Wellington; right? Before the group left for Mexico; right? So we can safely assume that that one student has infected some one hundred or so people in a wide area of Mexico; right? And even more in the US as a result!!



Not just that, but in the intervening month or so, there have been another 9 or 10 potential cases of SF in NZ. That means that NZ must be a real hot-bed of infection arising from the biological warfare division of ESR. Not only that, but NZ has been actively toting the disease into Australia!! So effective has that campaign been that there are well over 1,000 confirmed cases of SF in Australia, a cruise liner tied up for several days with a quarantine flag flying (that at least was fact), and the locals have started beating up on Indian students (perhaps mistakenly thinking that they are Maori).



In the meantime, the scientist who started this whole miasma has suddenly recanted; raising the obvious questions – why did he say it in the first place, and why has he recanted?

An American scientist says he was misquoted as saying the swine flu virus originated in "either New Zealand or China".

The director of Louisiana State University's division of biotechnology and molecular medicine, Gus Kousoulas, had been quoted as saying: "We think it [swine flu] began in New Zealand or China."

But he subsequently told the New Zealand Science Media Centre: "The statement was based on early phylogenetic analysis of available sequences. It was misquoted.

"There is no basis currently to support a New Zealand origin. While we still do not know the true origin, a US or Mexico origin is more likely," he added.

Equally obvious as the questions is the answer – he has been paid his 30 pieces of silver by ESR and their friends. This germ warfare experiment in Wellington is so highly secret, and so dangerous, that even the Americans are sworn to highest secrecy from Obama on down.



Well, I had to get him into the picture somewhere given the extreme US rights panic and dismay that the guy might be in the process of turning the US into a success; sorry, successful communist state. I am not going to debate that one here simply because it ranks as much as the idea that ESR are responsible for SF.



Mind you, if the ESR is looking for experimental subjects there are a number of people around here who would sing their praises – starting with the Jonkey – if they were to approach Dr Richard Worth and offer him his 30 pieces for a good ol’ dose of the SF.



A good start to the foil hat season, I have to say.