--dis-information( reverse effectiveness)--

   i was thinking about an old "intel-situation" last night at work, what was done about it, and the effectiveness of our fore-fathers( despite having "lower-tech" tools, by modern standards)--

 here goes...



   the "carrier pigeon"...there aren't any, what's the deal there??, where did they go, and why...the answer is oblivion, and the reason is more complex, someone learned to tie a note to one, and then release/send it, to a known position, where other friendly troops could utilize the "intel"...

  i suggest, that not long after the tactic was discovered by the opposing forces, that the counter-maneuver, of catching one, and changing the note being sent, with a bogus one, became popular...with everybody, creating a serious dislike for them by the troops( due to the results of bad "intel", being that troops would be lead/sent into an ambush, generating large numbers of needless casualties)...hence, the next super-popular past-time of the era, likely having become the shooting of anything that looked even remotely like a "carrier pigeon"...and they shot them all...with muskets...incredible, the power of dis-information was so much more effective than good "intel", that both sides declared "all-out war" on a species of bird, and it's gone...the civil war was a while ago, and there still isn't a single one running around...i can hardly believe the current reality that they could do it, but they have--

  summary--

    i feel that having good communications during battle, negotiations, or "super-spy stuff", is a game changer...in the civil war, the amount of information that could be printed on a scrap of paper( one small enough for a little bird to fly with), was enough to kill 10,000 men( astonishing), in today's modern world, the volume of "intel" that can be sent is more than a "pterodactylus"( a huge pre-historic bird) could carry...so, we may be wise to be wary( or rid of), communication mediums with too much ease of manipulation, by others...for me...if my G.P.S. says "take the bridge", i still look out the car's window, to see if it's out, before crossing-- 

        --i love technology, when it suits me, and i "un-plug it" when it becomes something to worry about...the decision is a personal one, for all mankind to ponder--

  best wishes, john kruschke--