Jumping Bail

Veterans Day (observed)

We have a lot of veterans among our family and friends, including a number currently serving in the military. I salute them all for their sacrifices and courage.

But as we observe this Veterans Day, I’m thinking specifically of one veteran who had the unusual distinction of serving in the armies of two different nations. My grandfather.

His service in the American Army came shortly after World War I. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about it, except for him – it provided a fast-track to citizenship.

But it’s unlikely that any peacetime duty could have measured up to his service with the Italian army during World War I. He joined at fourteen or fifteen, becoming a truck driver. By the time the war ended, he was the 19-year-old first sergeant in charge of a machine gun unit. The battles he survived in the Alps against the Austrians were among the most ferocious and bloodiest of the war; at least once he was the only man in his squad to survive an attack.

To see and deal death on such a massive scale must greatly change a young man, though he never spoke of those changes, and in fact barely spoke much of the war at all. He was a great storyteller, but his stories were of the Roman Empire and the Church, of saints and philosopher-poets. I don’t think this was a matter of avoidance; it was more that he grew up at a time when talking about yourself was something you didn’t bother with.

I don’t know that he was a hero in the war. I can guess that even if he was, he’d be the last person to mention it. In that way, he’s like many if not all of the other veterans we know and honor for their service. Thank you, all.

The next installment in the Puppetmaster series is due out next January.... sorry for the long wait.

Disappointed doesn't cover it

The most disturbing thing about John Kelly's interview last night was not the fact that a four-star general is ignorant about basic history, but that a man sworn to uphold the constitution praises a man who renounced that oath as honorable.

In paperback . . .

We’re out in paperback November 21 – preorder now, or even better, get a good discount on the hardcover.

Here’s a link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/IvanCastroFightingBlind/

Conspiracy Theory

In honor of the release of the last JFK files.

Not exactly news . . .

. . . but still absolutely true:

Among video game developers, it’s called “crunch”: a sudden spike in work hours, as many as 20 a day, that can last for days or weeks on end. During this time, they sleep at work, limit bathroom breaks and cut out anything that pulls their attention away from their screens, including family and even food. Crunch makes the industry roll — but it’s taking a serious toll on its workers.

Story.

The burnout factor is incredible. The lure of a huge payday (assuming you have some sort of equity compensation package) lulls a lot of people, both workers and managers/execs, into thinking it's worth it, but the truth is something different in most cases.

We remember . . .

Those who are gone remain fresh in our hearts.

Coming in paperback this fall. . .

Quote of the day

“I feel for those guys,” said Mr. Elleman, who visited the factory repeatedly a decade ago while working on federal projects to curb weapon threats. “They don’t want to do bad things.”

- about the Ukrainian engineers suspected of supplying North Korea with its rocket technology, and thereby taking the world close to WWIII.

Story.

Charlottesville

I’ve been trying for more than twenty-four hours to come up with an adequate expression of my outrage at the events perpetrated by the nazis on the people of Charlottesville, Va. and all good Americans Friday and Saturday. There is so much wrong that starting in on one aspect seems to distort all the others. Evil has come out of its hell to mock us all.

Maybe it’s just ironic, but the most optimistic conversation I had about Charlottesville and what it represents came with a black friend who took the events almost in stride. It’s like chemo working on cancer, he said; the country has to suffer before the evil is completely beaten off. We’re sick, but eventually getting better. Without this struggle, without seeing evil and facing it directly, we can’t ever get to that better place.

I hope so. And if a person who was born in South Central L.A. can find a way to be hopeful, surely everyone should be. But at just this moment, the battle seems overwhelming to many.

This country was founded on brave ideals. Its greatness has come not because it achieved those ideals, but because it has striven toward them. We’re not there yet; some of us may never be.

But we fight on.

More on Dieppe . . .

The Rangers book is being reissued soon, which has given me the opportunity to correct some of the dumb mistakes that got past me the first time around. (Submarine rather than Supermarine? Ouch! And let's not get into the M1 fiasco! But as I always say, the only original thing I own are my mistakes.)

I appreciate people pointing out the mistakes, especially when they are polite and forgiving. But I've always been amazed at the sharp reactions to things that aren’t in the book. For some odd reason, (an admittedly tiny percentage of) readers seem to believe that a book focusing on the small contribution that Americans made to the battle denigrates the larger Canadian effort and sacrifice. And then there are the folks who think I said the newly formed Ranger unit was the equivalent of the British Commandos. (Eventually, yes, as one of the surviving commandos told me when I worked on the book. But at the time of Dieppe, they were still very much learning.)

I could view it as some people looking for a fight. But I prefer to think of it as another riff on one of the book's themes: History is always filtered by the framework we bring to it. That is, after all, one of the main themes of the book.

Many brave men died on that city beach, and many others were captured. Most were Canadian, who were mentoring part of the Ranger contingent. Three Americans died alongside them, and others were awarded medals for bravery. For the small but brave contingent of Americans involved, it was an important baptism in fire, the first American blood-letting in Europe. The lessons learned were applied immediately in Africa, then Sicily, Italy, and beyond.

Honoring the brave . . .

This is the 75th anniversary of Operation Jubilee, the assault on German-held Dieppe, France.

I’ve been honored with an invitation from the Canadian embassy and the mayor to attend ceremonies commemorating the bravery of the Canadian, British, and American troops who fought there.

I'm humbled to be able to add my prayers and thoughts to the memory of those brave men.

Say, what?

Here’s a lesson in critiques –

I’ve been working on a particular screenplay for a while now. Gave it to my film agent/manager, who came back with one note in particular: No one wants flashbacks.

Hmmmm….

Revised the script without flashbacks. Everyone is happy, until . . .

Feedback from (famous) director: Try doing this with flashbacks.

Just goes to show. . . .

Baseball . . .

One of the worst things about sports “reporting” is the manufactured hype around baseball’s trade deadlines. The endless and breathless speculation is bad enough, but giving the teams “grades” on them is idiotic.

I understand why commentators – I won’t call them reporters – do it. Fans and even team officials buying into it, though . . .

Speaking of winning and losing, one of the worst possible pseudo-statistics floating around these days are the “chances of making the playoffs” guesstimates. I’m a big believer in real statistics – with the caveat that they are not a substitute for actually watching the players and games, but rather a tool for enriching that process. But predictions based on what other teams have done in the past . . . this is baseball, not bingo.

All of which is to say - the Yankees' acquisitions at the July trading deadline will not give them the pennant, and their value won't be apparent for several years.

And I wouldn't have made the trades, but then nobody asked . . .

Syria shutdown

From an op ed:

Syria adds another chapter to the star-crossed history of CIA paramilitary action. These efforts begin with the worthy objective of giving presidents policy options short of all-out war. But they often end with an untidy mess, in which rebels feel they have been “seduced and abandoned” by the promise of U.S. support that disappears when the political winds change.

Article.

Most important point (low in the piece): you need a geo-political plan for the military component to make any sense. But we knew that, right?

John McCain

Whatever other achievements, etc., he has had since, John McCain is a hero and example to all of us. His endurance and fortitude during his imprisonment in North Vietnam is an example for all of on how to persevere under the most horrible circumstances. His politics are irrelevant; his resilience is everything.

Article:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee known for political independence during more than three decades in the Senate, has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer, his office said on Wednesday.
The 80-year-old lawmaker and former Navy pilot, who was re-elected to a sixth Senate term in November, has been recovering at home in Arizona since undergoing surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix last Friday to remove a blood clot from above his left eye.

Official statement.

The next war . . .

From the NYT:

“I don’t pursue every attacker, just the ones that piss me off,” Mr. Ben-Oni told me recently over lentils in his office, which was strewn with empty Red Bull cans. “This pissed me off and, more importantly, it pissed my wife off, which is the real litmus test.”

Story.

Memorial Day

When you’re a kid, a lot of things that are real don’t seem real. War is one of them. Movies and TV shows about war, books and comics about combat, all exist in some place other than “real.” You get some of the emotion maybe, but you don’t really understand the depth of what fighting and sacrifice truly mean.

I first began to realize how much there was to learn when a friend’s older brother died in Vietnam. I was far too young to truly understand what had happened, let alone comprehend how great a sacrifice he and his family had made for our country, but this first shock of realty has stayed with me.

These many years later, I am grateful for his sacrifice, and for all the thousands and thousands of other young men and women, stretching back to the Revolutionary War, who have made my life of freedom possible.

I’ve learned a lot of things over the years, witnessed and felt sacrifice and sorrow myself. I know a lot more about the “real” world and its entertainment analogue. But the willingness of others to give their lives so unselfishly continues to fill me with awe.

Projecting power

The Chinese launched their first home-grown carrier today. It will likely take two years (or more) to be fully operational, but it's a critical piece in the drive to increase Chinese presence in the South China Sea.

While the ship's function (and expected air arm) is more akin to, say the Italian Cavour than to American supercarriers, published reports of its dimensions show it's larger than the Cavour, and in terms of length - not necessarily a good measurement - it's close to the Nimitz class vessels.

Reuters.

(A fictional version of the carrier and its still-building sister ship make brief appearances in the Red Dragon series.)

AI and the news . . .

. . . not "in" the news, writing it:

The dispatch came with the clarity and verve for which Post reporters are known, with one key difference: It was generated by Heliograf, a bot that made its debut on the Post’s website last year and marked the most sophisticated use of artificial intelligence in journalism to date.

Story in Wired.

Dictatorship . . .

. . . AI's break-through app.

Riffing off Maciej Ceglowski at Philly Ete April 18:

A question few are asking is whether the tools of mass surveillance and social control we spent the last decade building could have had anything to do with the debacle of the 2017 election, or whether destroying local journalism and making national journalism so dependent on our platforms was, in retrospect, a good idea.

Essay/talk.

What the United video really shows

Jacob Silverman in the WP:

We are told that this is the era of the empowered consumer . . .This vision is a lie. Air travel is the most concentrated version of an essentially authoritarian experience that can be found throughout today’s economy. We live, work, shop, and travel under a system of grossly asymmetric power relationships, in which consumers sign away most of their rights just by purchasing a ticket and companies deputize themselves to enforce contracts with hired goons.

Essay.

Spies & lies that changed history . . .

. . . The Zimmermann letter, America's entry into WWI, and some thoughts on What-If: Great entry by John Schindler:

Counterfactual history is a hazardous game, but it’s easy to imagine a very different Europe coming to pass without American intervention in April 1917. Some sort of peace would eventually have emerged out of the Great War stalemate that was broken by the Americans. It would have been a German-dominated Europe, but we have that now anyway. Importantly, it would not have given prominence to murderous madmen such as Bolsheviks and Fascists, while Adolf Hitler might have died, penniless and forgotten, as the aspiring artist-manqué he really was.

Article.

If you're traveling overseas . . .

. . . do it before the reprisals kick in. Because once the U.S. adopts these idiotic policies and applies them to allies, no one's going to want to travel at all.

From the WSJ:

Trump Administration Considers Far-Reaching Steps for ‘Extreme Vetting’
Foreigners entering U.S. could be forced to hand over phones, answer questions on ideology; changes could apply to allies like France and Germany

. . .
“We want to say for instance, ‘What sites do you visit? And give us your passwords,’ so that we can see what they do on the internet,” Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said at a congressional hearing in February. “If they don’t want to give us that information then they don’t come.”

Story.

Everybody's business

Web surfing has never been entirely "private," but now it's everybody's business.

Item:

In a party-line vote, House Republicans freed Internet service providers such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast of protections approved just last year that had sought to limit what companies could do with information such as customer browsing habits, app usage history, location data and Social Security numbers. The rules also had required providers to strengthen safeguards for customer data against hackers and thieves.

The bill now goes to the president, who is expected to sign it.

Story.

A day in the life . . .

People ask what it's like fighting iSIS. This little documentary is far more eloquent on the subject than I can be:

https://thecorrespondent.com/4151/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-sniper-fighting-isis/234058286-d881d610

RIP

Meanwhile, back in the real world . . .

Item:

Russia has secretly deployed a new cruise missile despite complaints from American officials that it violates a landmark arms control treaty that helped seal the end of the Cold War, administration officials say.

Story.

A little more information about the missile family here.

Happy Valentine's Day . . .

Spy vs. spy

More speculation from Russian sources on the hacker arrests:

However, according to two Moscow Times sources, the treason charges and the men's supposed link to America are likely a cover story. Politically, the loss of Shaltai Boltai is a big blow to the FSB’s reputation. The U.S. connection makes it easier to explain to an external audience what is, in fact, an internal power struggle, they said.

Story.

Thinking about getting a new car . . .

. . . but first I have to take and pass this course.

Six more weeks?

No one thought of blindfolding the f@#fdjng little b@#$agd????

How reassuring . . .

Item: Iran test fires ballistic missile. But don't worry:

[Foreign Minister Javad] Zarif said that his country's missiles are "not designed for the capability of carrying a nuclear warhead".

Story.

On a technical note, fitting a nuclear weapon a missile this size is not easy and is probably beyond Iran's current or very-near-future capabilities. But a) the best way to get get there is from here, b) ballistic missiles are by their nature offensive, not defensive weapons, c) what are the odds that Iran wants to be the first country in the world to design medium-range ballistic missiles to deliver conventional, rather than nuclear, warheads?

If you want to know a nation's intent when it comes to nukes, watch what they do with delivery systems.

Toasted?

Tostitos got ya covered . . .

This chip bag can not only detect alcohol, but call Uber for you.

Story.

In North Korea...

Item:

The North Korean elite are outwardly expressing their discontent towards young leader Kim Jong Un and his government as more outside information trickles into the isolated country, North Korea's former deputy ambassador to London said on Wednesday.
Thae Yong Ho defected to South Korea in August last year and since December 2016 has been speaking to media and appearing on variety television shows to discuss his defection to Seoul and his life as a North Korean envoy.
"When Kim Jong Un first came to power, I was hopeful that he would make reasonable and rational decisions to save North Korea from poverty, but I soon fell into despair watching him purging officials for no proper reasons," Thae said during his first news conference with foreign media on Wednesday.
"Low-level dissent or criticism of the regime, until recently unthinkable, is becoming more frequent," said Thae, who spoke in fluent, British-accented English.

Details.

We have seen stories like this before, though.

Happy birthday, Edith . . .

. . . One of America's greatest novelists wrote many of her works in bed - not a bad gig if you can get it.

Godspeed, John Glenn . . .

Space hero dead at 95. A Marine, a pilot, an astronaut, a senator, a great American.

Story:

John Glenn, who captured the nation’s attention in 1962 as the first American to orbit the Earth during a tense time when the United States sought supremacy over the Soviet Union in the space race, and who rocketed back into space 36 years later, becoming the oldest astronaut in history, died Dec. 8 at a hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Glenn, who in his post-NASA career served four terms as a U.S. senator from Ohio, was 95.

Link.

Where we're at

Not one of my best pictures, but Ivan always makes me laugh as well as sweat . . .

RIP

We asked a book club to take a look at FIGHTING BLIND. They liked what they read.

Got candy?

The weaponized web

Schneier on Friday's attacks:

Over the past year or two, someone has been probing the defenses of the companies that run critical pieces of the Internet. These probes take the form of precisely calibrated attacks designed to determine exactly how well these companies can defend themselves, and what would be required to take them down. We don't know who is doing this, but it feels like a large nation state. China or Russia would be my first guesses.

Full entry.

Math in the Philippines . . .

U.S. aid & major grants (2012): $197,036,510
Chinese promises: $24,000,000, half of it loans.

Clearly, despots have trouble counting.

Lasagna . . .

. . . unlike any you've ever eaten.

What would grandma think?

Zumwalt . . .

... about to be commissioned:

WASHINGTON (NNS) -- The Navy will commission the destroyer Zumwalt (DDG 1000), Saturday, Oct. 15, during a 5 p.m. EDT ceremony in Baltimore.
The ship is named in honor of Adm. Elmo R. "Bud" Zumwalt Jr., former chief of naval operations (CNO) from 1970 to 1974. A veteran of World War II and the conflicts in Korea and Vietnam, Zumwalt exemplified honor, courage and commitment during 32-years of dedicated naval service, earning a Bronze Star with Valor for his actions during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. He passed away in 2000 at the age of 79.

Story.

Bob Dylan - Nobel Laureate

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/bob-dylan-wins-nobel-prize-in-literature/2016/10/13/d0c05ac4-90ea-11e6-a6a3-d50061aa9fae_story.html

Act of war?

Item:

The U.S. government on Friday formally accused Russia of a campaign of cyber attacks against Democratic Party organizations during the campaign for the Nov. 8 presidential election.
U.S. officials have said in the past few months that they believe cyber attacks were orchestrated by hackers backed by the Russian government, possibly to disrupt the election in which Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton faces Republican Party candidate Donald Trump. Russia has dismissed allegations it was involved in cyber attacks on the organizations.

Story.

The question is, how do you retaliate - make Russia have a real election?

Books to Mars . . .

... or wherever - Amazon's rocket takes its next leap. (Actually Blue Origin, but Amazon just sounds cooler. Story.)

The Aleppo lesson

Any Sunni country, looking at the genocidal tactics being used in Syria, will conclude that they need a nuclear weapon. Why? Because Iran, which is part of the Syrian/Russian coalition, clearly has no qualms against total war, and would not hesitate to use those tactics against them. The WEst will not stop the, and Russia will encourage them.

Story on Aleppo.

What is a techno-thriller anyway?

Puppet Master is a “techno-thriller” – but what is that exactly? What is the genre that has been said to include everyone from Tom Clancy to Jim DeFelice?

Technos are most often compared to either science fiction or military-adventure. While my work almost always blurs differences – I love nothing better than genre hopping – even I observe differences.

To sci-fi: While Puppet Master is big on techno – robots, AI, that sort of thing – it’s set in the present/very near future, which is one of the things that separates techno-thrillers from science fiction. Themes for technos tend to be chosen from recognizable present-day situations; if that happens in sci-fi, they’re usually transmuted into unfamiliar settings. Technos take the present and burrow in; sci-fi takes it and goes outward.

To military: A lot of technos – Clancy is the prime example – involve combat and the military: it’s a good way to show off the tech. But there are plenty that aren’t – many of Michael Crichton’s works are technos, with nary a soldier in sight. And there’s this – in a techno, the tech is generally one of the main characters; it’s hard to imagine the book without it. It pushes along the plot, and in some ways has its own personality. That doesn’t happen in traditional military-adventure.

But really the best way to define the genre is to read. I’d start with Dale’s books – Flight of the Old Dog is a classic, but you can hop in anywhere.

Football ready . . .

Puppet Master is intended primarily for the paperback and eBook market, but there’s also a hardcover available. It’s made for the library market. I got one the other day – it’s built like a tank. You can play football with it.

I guess library patrons are more destructive than I thought.

Inspirations . . .

Around the time we started working on Puppet Master, I was doing a number of fund-raising events that brought me into contact with veterans who’d lost limbs in the Iraq war. It’s a cliché to say they’re an inspiration, even though that’s the truth.

Spending time with them you learn to look past the wounds and find the actual person. They’re all different, struggling with the new reality of who they are.

It’s very easy to pay lip service to their struggles, or to put them on an untouchable pedestal. Most don’t want that. Nor do they want to be defined by their injuries or even the battles they’ve fought, are still fighting, to recover.

I don’t pretend to know what’s it like to lose a limb, to lose might sight or hearing. I do know what it’s like to have friends who have. Like all my friends, they’ve added to my life in ways that I can’t really define.

One of the characters in Puppet master goes through some of that trauma and transitions. Hopefully the writing captures a tiny bit of what it’s really like.

Now on sale at your favorite bookstore. Here's a page with links.

Hacking an election . . .

. . . is possible. Is it probable?

Yes.

The Washington Post:

Reports this week of Russian intrusions into U.S. election systems have startled many voters, but computer experts are not surprised. They have long warned that Americans vote in a way that's so insecure that hackers could change the outcome of races at the local, state and even national level.
Multibillion-dollar investments in better election technology after the troubled 2000 presidential election count prompted widespread abandonment of flawed paper-based systems, such as punch ballots. But the rush to embrace electronic voting technology - and leave old-fashioned paper tallies behind - created new sets of vulnerabilities that have taken years to fix.
"There are computers used in all points of the election process, and they can all be hacked," said Princeton computer scientist Andrew Appel, an expert in voting technologies. "So we should work at all points in that system to see how we make them trustworthy even if they do get hacked."

Story.

War, by any means possible . . .

This is reality, not a premise for a book:

Multiple former officials and security researchers said the cyberattacks on Arizona’s and Illinois’ voter databases could be part of a suspected Russian attempt to meddle in the U.S. election, a campaign that has already included successful intrusions at major Democratic Party organizations and the selective leaking of documents embarrassing to Democrats. Hillary Clinton’s campaign has alleged that the digital attacks on her party are an effort by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime to sway the election to GOP nominee Donald Trump. Moscow has denied any involvement.

Triumph amid tragedy

A girl is rescued from the ruins of the earthquake in Amatrice, Italy.

(Story.)

On the border . . .

Russia prepares to move again:

Ukraine’s president warned of a possible invasion by Russia, further fraying nerves that have been on edge since his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin accused his neighbor last week of engaging in “terror” tactics in Crimea.

Story.

The actual motives this time may be more in the way of intimidation than invasion, but either way it's unacceptable.

Crime at the ATM

Part of the plot in Puppet Master turns on a scam involving ATM machines. Because it’s fiction, the plot is a bit more involved and advanced than what you might encounter in real life – but that’s scary enough.

Here’s a good briefer on what to watch out for:

http://krebsonsecurity.com/all-about-skimmers/

Krebsonsecurity.com is hands-down one the best and most accessible site on all manner of internet fraud for “regular” folk. (But make sure to take it small enough doses that your paranoia level isn’t overwhelmed.)

To order the book, click here.

Covers . . .

This year's most popular motif seems to be . . . faces coming out of darkness.

It's not just us:

Here's the cover for novelist Javier Marias's new book, which is also coming out in November:

We don't pretend to have invented the idea, by the way. I count at least three books with somewhat similar ideas over the past two or three years, and more on the way. When one designer has a good idea, others follow.

Announcing . . .

. . . my new book with blind Special Forces Major Ivan Castro, to be published this November by St. Martin's Press.

Book's website (still a work in progress at this point).

The 'Equation' Group . . .

. . . one of the real-life inspirations for Puppet Master.

CANCUN, Mexico — In 2009, one or more prestigious researchers received a CD by mail that contained pictures and other materials from a recent scientific conference they attended in Houston. The scientists didn't know it then, but the disc also delivered a malicious payload developed by a highly advanced hacking operation that had been active since at least 2001. The CD, it seems, was tampered with on its way through the mail.

Story.

I suspect that the real life intrigue, in this case at least, is even more mind-blowing than fiction can ever be.

(There's not much hacking in book 1; more in book 2 and beyond. You can preorder here.)

Fact follows fiction . . .

. . . in southeast Asia.

Item:

PERTH, Australia — On July 29, loudspeakers and screens for national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines were hijacked in two major Vietnam airports in the cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Offensive messages and what has been described by state media as "distorted information" about Vietnam and the Philippines’ claims to the South China Sea were displayed on flight information screens and broadcast over the public address systems.

Story.

Shades of Red Dragon Rising; (book one at Amazon.com / B&N / your local indie store.

1984 . . .

. . . but Big Brother is actually for hire.

Item:

Forget telephoto lenses and fake mustaches: The most important tools for America’s 35,000 private investigators are database subscription services. For more than a decade, professional snoops have been able to search troves of public and nonpublic records—known addresses, DMV records, photographs of a person’s car—and condense them into comprehensive reports costing as little as $10. Now they can combine that information with the kinds of things marketers know about you, such as which politicians you donate to, what you spend on groceries, and whether it’s weird that you ate in last night, to create a portrait of your life and predict your behavior.

Story.

(The underlying technology is similar to tech used in Puppet Master. There, of course, it won't be used for nefarious purposes . . . at least not yet.)

Fact or fiction?

How about both?

Sometimes fiction and fact overlap - this story details an ISIS branch that plays a key role in the next installment of Puppetmasters, due out this time next year:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/world/middleeast/isis-german-recruit-interview.html?ref=world&_r=0

Up, up, and away . . .

F-35A ready to fight:

JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. (AFNS) -- The F-35A Lightning II fifth-generation fighter aircraft was declared 'combat ready' by Gen. Hawk Carlisle, the commander of Air Combat Command, Aug 2.

Story.

Will our elections be hacked?

Or have they been hacked already?

In light of Russia's recent attacks on our electoral system, I'm surprised that this isn't getting more attention:

The State Board of Elections (SBE) fell victim to a cyberattack that was detected on July 12, 2016. Specifically, the target was the IVRS database. Once discovered, State Board of Elections closed the point of entry. On July 13th, once the severity of the attack was realized, as a precautionary measure, the entire IVRS system was shut down, including online voter registration.

Election official's Facebook post, which includes details.

The real question is whether other states would even know if they'd been compromised.

Did computers alter writing?

Sitting at a typewriter, we are always in the present moment as the carriage trundles forward character by character, line by line. Word processing, by contrast, allowed writers to grasp a manuscript as a whole, a gestalt. The entire manuscript was instantly available via search functions. Whole passages could be moved at will, and chapters or sections reordered. The textual field became fluid and malleable, a potentially infinite expanse, or at least limited only by the computer’s ever-expanding memory.

Essay.

(I would definitely agree that computers have changed the way a writer can relate to a book, and specifically, make it easier to alter individual facets of it, be they plot lines plot characters. I can't imagine writing a novel in any other way. Some writers I know, however, only write forward -- they don't go back once they've finished a page. Ever. Or at least that's what they say. It would be interesting to see a more in-depth study . . .)

The purge continues . . .

. . . in Turkey:

Istanbul (CNN)Turkish authorities have issued arrest warrants for 42 journalists, state-run news agency Anadolu reported Monday, as a purge on the country's democratic institutions following a failed military coup intensifies.

Story. (And just for the record, the Western media's version is way milder than how it feels there.)

The shame and sham in Turkey . . .

There’s nothing like a failed coup to boost the standing of a dictator, especially one who is slowly disassembling a democracy.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is certainly making the most of the inept coup aimed at his regime last week. Today the Turkish president declared a “state of emergency” for three months; this after starting to purge the military and schools, presumably of anyone who may pose a threat.

Very sad to see such a proud country with a rich heritage and great potential being slowly strangled by a regime that has struggled to help it live up to its potential. Hopefully the people won’t have to go back out on the streets to bring real democracy back.

Spy vs. spy . . .

. . . takes a bizarre turn in Russia - weirder even than the Cold War.

BRUSSELS — An executive with NBCUniversal said he had been denied entry into Russia and detained for several hours on Wednesday, raising the prospect that a growing spy and diplomatic confrontation could now be tipping into the world of business.

The executive, Jeff Shell, who oversees the motion picture unit, said he was traveling to Russia on business when he was detained briefly and ordered to leave the country. Mr. Shell said NBCUniversal had a movie operation in the country. He is also the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the federal agency that oversees Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and other government broadcasters that are not well liked in the Kremlin.

Story is here - Make sure to read at least as far as the dump - and I'm not talking about an info dump.

Speaking of home . . .

It's good to be back. Posting some outtakes of my research trip for a book on the Pony Express (due out next year) on Facebook, here.

World to China: Go back home . . .

. . . and stop building sand castles in everyone else's backyard.

Item:

A tribunal at The Hague ruled in a sweeping decision Tuesday that China has no legal basis for claiming much of the South China Sea and had aggravated the seething regional dispute with its large-scale land reclamation and construction of artificial islands that destroyed coral reefs and the natural condition of the disputed areas.

China "does not accept or acknowledge" the tribunal or the ruling, China's state Xinhua news agency said. The nation has long maintained that the tribunal did not have jurisdiction over the dispute.

Story.

The question is what anyone's going to do about it.

Medals again (???)

I understand from a reporter’s email overnight that the Navy is contemplating issuing a new DD214 for Chris Kyle, revising his medal total downwards. I have yet to find out exactly what or why or how they made that decision.

Chris's memory of his medal totals agreed EXACTLY with the original discharge documents issued independently in 2009 by the Navy and reported by us in American Sniper. In revising the discharge documents, the Navy is now admitting to sloppy record-keeping, either in 2009 or today. I find it difficult to believe their records have become MORE complete in the years since the discharge papers were first issued.

I don't know who or what or why things got fouled up, but the bottom line is this: Chris saved countless lives on the battlefield, was awarded numerous medals for valor, and should have gotten even more.

Coming this August . . .

Dale and I are launching a new series, with bots, AI, and damsels in distress . . .

Old bones . . .

. . . for the Corps. Item:

The Marines are looking for a few good planes, and their search has taken them to an Arizona boneyard where the Corps' old F/A Hornets have been gathering dust and rust for years.

Story.

In the bizarro world . . .

. . . of North Korea, the fact that they want war justifies them wanting war.

Item:

"It's the United States that caused this issue," Han Song Ryol, director-general of the department of U.S. affairs at North Korea's Foreign Ministry, said in his first interview with an American news organization since assuming the post three years ago. "They have to stop their military threats, sanctions and economic pressure. Without doing so, it's like they are telling us to reconcile while they are putting a gun to our forehead."

Article.

The real question is when does Japan decide to implement an offensive capability to meet the threat. Because even with the best defensive shield in place, retaliation will be seen as necessary. And especially after the recent launchings, they have to feel they're the ones in the bull's eye.

VR - don't listen to the critics . . .

Farhad Manjo, the technology writer for the NY Times, has an article today on virtual reality that is going to come off like the stories about the Wright brothers and their new-fangled, never-gonna-work contraption, the aeroplane. We’re seeing a lot of these lately because of the alleged “failure” of the first generation of VR devices to be runaway commercial hits.

You can read the article here; he’s absolutely right about the improved controllers that are coming out soon – they radically alter the experience. And additional technical improvements in the hardware, sure to be available commercially within the next few years, will improve it as well.

But what Manjo is really reacting to – which he seems unable to fully articulate, or perhaps perceive – is the fact that the art form – yes, VR is an ART FORM – is so new that the VR artists have not yet arrived to develop the medium. The examples that we’ve seen – in the labs where Manjo played and even in the VR “experiences” his own newspaper is pioneering – don’t fully engage the user or exploit the medium. Critics are looking for Charlie Chaplain when the "Great Train Robbery" hasn’t been shot yet.

I’m writing this while out West researching a book on the Pony Express, but as I’m writing this, I’m thinking of how the VR experience – which would not only interactive but multi-participant – would be. (No, this isn't a pitch . . . but . . .)

The medium is an exciting but demanding one, one that demands collaboration as well as vision. But when the artists get a good handle on it, the world will not be the same.

Not horsing around . . .

Superb monument capturing the changing of horses during a Pony Express ride in bronze. The statue by Avard T. Fairbanks is located on the grounds of This Is The Place Heritage Park in Salt Lake City.

Road less traveled . . .

. . . today. In its time - the 1800s - it was a super highway (part of the Pony Express trail heading through Utah toward the desert and eventually Nevada and California).

Jumping Bail

Godspeed, John Glenn . . .

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