Quote of the week!

[Cody]

7 men control world finances...

What... all seven are men? No women? So there's a 'glass ceiling' in the 'world domination' business, eh? <chortles>

[Cody]

The Telegraph says the BBC will "snoop on internet users" by deploying wi-fi detection vans to identify people who are "illicitly watching its programmes online". It says the BBC confirmed its new detection techniques had been authorised under legislation.

<sniggers>

[Disembodied]

wi-fi detection vans

Dear lord, I thought this was a spoof. Vans? Really? What oaf thought that literally wheeling this one out again was a good idea? It's the bloody internet, for pity's sake: there are no end of lies they could come up with to diddle the bewildered. Great chunks of the population are prepared to hand out credit card payments to people who phone them up and tell them that they're from Microsoft and "they've detected a virus" on their computer.

Vans? All right, society has been on a huge nostalgia kick since the financial crash (the reappearance of the Tetley Tea men in 2008 was probably the single biggest indicator of how deep we were in the doodoo: if they drag out the piano-lugging chimps, then we'll know that Brecession is here to stay), but … vans! I don't mind being lied to - I'm used to it - but this is just insulting.

[Cody]

Dear lord, I thought this was a spoof.

That was my first thought, and I'm still dubious. El Reg has its own view, of course!

[Disembodied]

Unless it's this sort of detector Van …

[Disembodied]

The review of our solar system has just come out. One star …

[Smivs]

<chuckle>

[Cody]

Adblock Plus blocks Facebook block of Adblock Plus block of Facebook block of AdBlock Plus block of Facebook ads

<sniggers>

[Disembodied]

“Where is the money going? Nobody knows.”

—Franklin Spinney, retired military analyst for the Pentagon, following revelations that

The United States Army’s finances are so jumbled it had to make trillions of dollars of improper accounting adjustments to create an illusion that its books are balanced.

The Defense Department’s Inspector General, in a June report, said the Army made $2.8 trillion in wrongful adjustments to accounting entries in one quarter alone in 2015, and $6.5 trillion for the year. Yet the Army lacked receipts and invoices to support those numbers or simply made them up.

[Cody]

I feel that I ought to be surprised, or even shocked, at the above - but somehow I ain't!

"Moist" is the early front-runner in a search to find the most-hated word in the English language.

<scratches head>

[Fritz]

I feel that I ought to be surprised, or even shocked, at the above - but somehow I ain't!

Yes, same here... I wasn't shocked - after all, it's not my tax money - but I was fascinated. But whatever happens, the "lost" money will somehow return to the economy, so it probably isn't as bad as it sounds.

[Disembodied]

But whatever happens, the "lost" money will somehow return to the economy, so it probably isn't as bad as it sounds.

That assumes that all the "lost" money was spent in the US. If even just one ten-thousandth of the $2.8 trillion unaccounted for was misappropriated overseas - if it was supposed to arm this or that group of resistance fighters enemies terrorists brave allies, say, but fell off the back of a lorry on the way - that would represent a loss to the US economy of $280,000,000 in three months, or over $1 billion a year. And this is just from the Army: there aren't any figures for the Navy or Air Force.

Even if it's all above board, and this is simply viewed as a test of numeracy and basic competence, I think being unable to account for $2,800,000,000,000 of expenditure over three months is definitely as bad as it sounds …

[Fritz]

The question is: Incompetence, or intentional crime? I tend to suspect both.

[Disembodied]

Oh yes, I agree. Military incompetence is a mighty force indeed, but this takes things to such heights that it must involve massive amounts of corruption as well.

[Cody]

New evidence suggests that the famous fossilised human ancestor dubbed "Lucy" by scientists died falling from a great height - probably out of a tree.

They call it a 'vertical deceleration event' - sweet!