Is anyone else burned out of these headlines? Doing X for fun and profit Everything we knew about X is wrong I did X for $timespan and Y happened
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Everything we know about spies is wrong
51–60 of 119 posts
Re: Everything we know about spies is wrong
#52Re: Everything we know about spies is wrong
#53I'm currently reading "Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb". The first section of the book focuses on the Russian A-Bomb program in the 1940s and how much of it was accelerated through espionage conducted against the US and UK. I'm struck by how painful a slog spying was. These spies were always effectively working two jobs and much of the nuts and bolts of spying and conveying information to handlers sounds li…
The memory of the gilded age was fresh back then, we forgot that those expected to fight were expected to fight for railway and sugarcane barons, poverty and a greatly depressed world. They had no idea of the golden years to come,to temporary moat communism.
Re: Everything we know about spies is wrong
#54Ctrl+f Carre - 0 matches? Not particularly strong engagement with the canon. There are spy stories that aren't James Bond!
Re: Everything we know about spies is wrong
#55Highly recommend watching The Americans, an incredible show about Soviet spies pretending to be a regular American family. Based somewhat on real people, and very well-researched.
I can recommend the french show "Le Bureau des Legends". It's written with the help of various consultants from the intelligence community and tries to be as realistic as possible, with most actual spies in the show being regular university students, office workers, psychologists, or even cafeteria staff. It's a fantastic show, although not very hollywood, so don't expect explosions or shootouts.
2005-2006 Canadian series Intelligence, at the intersection of organized crime, law enforcement and intelligence is also good, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0845746/.
Elsewhere on the Möbius loop lies the madcap 2009-2024 animated series Archer, with a string of award nominations and blink-and-you-will-miss-it references, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1486217/
The 2014-2017 series Turn dramatized New York farmers and shopkeepers who comprised the first US spy ring, including Benedict Arnold storyline, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543328/
Re: Everything we know about spies is wrong
#56This is pure gold, and still works on the internet to get the specs for PLA tanks: > If she wants to know something specific, but doesn’t want people to notice her asking questions, she should simply make incorrect statements while in the company of experts. Her companions will correct her, especially if they’re men.
> Her companions will correct her, especially if they’re men.
Observe the importance of phrasing. If this had been put as "men enjoy sharing knowledge, while women are content to let others wallow in ignorance and error", it would have ruffled a great many more feathers.
Re: Everything we know about spies is wrong
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
royal blood is one of them ideas even worse than the notion of race
Is classism not more real than race?
I mean, classism is about as real as racism but I don't know why one would ask about classism vs race. Class is about as not real as race; they're both things that people made up to justify their disrespectful behavior towards others.
Re: Everything we know about spies is wrong
#58Highly recommend watching The Americans, an incredible show about Soviet spies pretending to be a regular American family. Based somewhat on real people, and very well-researched.
And Slow Horses on Apple TV+
Season 4 released in Sept 2024! https://www.tomsguide.com/news/apple-tv-plus-free-trials
Re: Everything we know about spies is wrong
#59If you find yourself in Washington DC, I highly recommend a visit to the International Spy Museum. Its one of the few attractions in DC you need to pay for but worth the ticket price. (Spoiler Alert) At the end, there's mural or placard that says something like: Most exhibits in this museum are here because of failure. The best spies are the ones you never hear of.
They have a youtube channel that isn't bad either: https://www.youtube.com/user/IntlSpyMuseum
Re: Everything we know about spies is wrong
#60This is pure gold, and still works on the internet to get the specs for PLA tanks: > If she wants to know something specific, but doesn’t want people to notice her asking questions, she should simply make incorrect statements while in the company of experts. Her companions will correct her, especially if they’re men.
I heard this one about Linux in the '90s. "If you need help with doing something in Linux, don't ask for help - you'll get ignored. Just boldly state Linux can't do that and you'll have PhDs running to prove you wrong."
Related, around 2000, knowing which hardware device to buy for any/good Linux compatibility could be difficult.
And even among supported devices, some had better drivers (currently, or imminently), and some hardware itself was buggier than others.
I had access to some kernel developers, but they didn't have time for people's FAQs about current device compatibility.
So what I really did do, at least once, was to narrow down the options on my own, and then (lying) mention, in the enthusiastic manner that people did, that I'd just ordered such-and-such device for Linux.
As you'd guess, but it was still impressive to see happen for real, suddenly there were a number of experts telling me what I should've bought instead.
Question answered. I then admitted my deceit.