Radical Terrorists or an Army of Spies

Imagine a terrorist organisation. This organisation might be seen as a threat to the security in a great number of nations. Rumours abound but in reality this terrorist organisation only exists in the minds of two radical students who probably would have grown out it by the time they left university. The Americans are worried so the CIA sends a couple of agents to infiltrate the group. Unbeknown to the CIA, Home security and the FBI have also sent agents as infiltrators. The UK’s MI5, French DRCI, Finish SUPO, Danish FE, Czech BIS, and Israeli Mossad also infiltrate the group. None of the agents know that the other agents are anything other than members of this terrorist cell. Those keeping watch on the group see that the threat seems to be growing; they are recruiting more and more members. As the level of paranoia rises more and more security agencies send people to infiltrate the group. Canadian, Italian, Russian, Chinese, Japanese Kuwait, South Africa, Norway and Spain send agents. Australia, New Zeland, Norway and Qatar are not far behind. The group keeps growing but the original two students have discovered girls and are working hard for their degrees. To them their radical dreams are all but forgotten, but the infiltrators feel they need to prove themselves to the others in this expanding group. Small acts of terror are carried out as proof of their seriousness and loyalty. As time goes by these acts need to be made more and more audacious to impress the others in the group so the infiltrators are trusted by the organisation. What we now have is a large terrorist organisation where almost everyone is a spy, so is highly trained and has access to almost unlimited 

funds. In reality the whole thing is a non-entity but is just as dangerous as a real group of terrorists.

Think it sounds far-fetched?  It has happened in the past, is happening now and will most certainly happen again.            

Magpies and Shiney Objects

This week the BBC and various other press reports that "Magpies do not steal trinkets and are positively scared of shiny objects." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28797519

I for one know this simply is not true or at least was not true, they do or at least did like shiny things when I was a lad. When I was a child I observed Magpies nesting in a tree that I used to climb. The Magpie's nest was always full of bits of tin foil and other shiny oddments.  On one occasion I caught a Magpie trying to take or at least peeking away at a small mirror on my bedroom windowsill.

When I was a child everyone had their milk delivered to the doorstep by the milkman. A well observed habit of various birds was to peck open milk bottles to get at the cream. It was a favourite trick of Blue Tits, but on my early morning paper rounds I often saw Magpies, Starlings and Sparrows following their example.

I suspect that the Magpies associated shiny with food and tried to take that food back to the nest. Bearing in mind that the foil off chocolate and sweets might often contain traces of food and along with the milk bottle thing it is hardly surprising that an intelligent bird like a Magpie should display such behaviour.

This behaviour in Magpies was no doubt a learned rather than a natural thing and maybe due to the lack of milk bottles on doorsteps and the somewhat improved cleaning methods use in our streets, since I was a child, has been unlearned by successive generations of the birds.

The so call scientific tests with only 64 observations is such a small sample as to be insignificant. To be of any use there would need to be several thousand observations in Magpie colonies in different parts of the country, but then what would be the point. Sorry BBC, sorry DR Sheppard - Myth not busted.     

    

Identity theft is on the increase. First my bank inform me my financial details have been compromised and now my insurance company tells me someone has been sacked for selling my details too. I am getting so paranoid I have to see photo ID every time I look in the mirror just in case I'm not me.