OSS sabotage manual from 1944

Rebecca Hill posted a Homeland Security Digital Library article on Facebook.

OSS/CIA sabatoge instructions

1. Organizations and Conferences

1. Insist on doing everything through “channels.” Never permit short-cuts to be taken in order to expedite decisions.

2. Make “speeches.” Talk as frequently as possible and at great length. Illustrate your “points” by long anecdotes and accounts of personal experiences. Never hesitate to make a few appropriate “patriotic” comments.

3. When possible, refer all matters to committees, for “further study and consideration.” Attempt to make the committees as large as possible — never less than five.

4. Bring up irrelevant issues as frequently as possible.

5. Haggle over precise wordings of communications, minutes, resolutions.

6. Refer back to matters decided upon at the last meeting and attempt to re-open the question of the advisability of that decision.

7. Advocate “caution.” Be “reasonable” and urge your fellow-conferees to be “reasonable” and avoid haste which might result in embarrassments or difficulties later on.

8. Be worried about the propriety of any decision raise the question of whether such action as is contemplated lies within the jurisdiction of the group or whether it might confict with the policy of some higher echelon.

Home — Finding Place in Poetry

SAVE THE DATE!

Sunday, July 18th, 3:00-4:00 pm

Use this link to join the Zoom poetry reading,

Featured Readers: Mark Smith-Soto, Iris Tillman, Fred Joiner, L. Teresa Church

A longing to understand origin leads our poetry
inwards and sends us seeking in the outer world.

The four poets who will read on Sunday, July 18th,
3:00 pm, have found a lost home in their writing.

Please join us for an unusual and diverse reading.

–

The Great 2021 Gasoline Shortage

As I recall, the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers used to say

Beer will get you through times of no gasoline better than gasoline will get you through times of no beer.

Or has the beer given me a false memory?

A Monument to the Union Victory

A good friend of mine asks on Facebook:

Why aren’t there Union victory monuments or monuments to abolitionists?

This question reminded me of the monuments at Gettysburg, where I was struck by the contrast between the monuments erected by the Union and Confederate states. In general the Confederate monuments were larger and more warlike, the sort of thing you’d expect from the victors. The victors, on the other hand, generally erected more sober monuments naming the soldiers who had died and expressing sadness at the war’s terrible toll.

Then I remembered a monument at the US Capitol. It might not even be a monument, it is so understated, on a par with the Vietnam memorial. Only its placement tells you how important it is:

Placement of the Memorial

[[usgrant00.jpg]]

I remember wandering near the statue of the horseman years ago and being moved by its majesty and sense of tragedy. US Grant, perhaps our greatest general, is sitting on top of his horse, but the horse is not rearing up for battle and the man atop is not saluting his triumph.

Closeup of the Memorial

[[usgrant01.jpg]]

Now, years later, having listened to American Ulysses, Ron White’s biography of Grant, I think of him as a truly great leader and human being. His life was so rich and complex that I won’t try to explain what makes him great. It’s clear from this simple monument that our country felt the same as I do.

You say “Naomi”, I say “Naomi”…

From Bloomberg Business Week Facebook Sees WhatsApp As Its Future, Antitrust Suit or Not

Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp

[Will Cathcart, the head of WhatsApp] likes
to tell a slightly embarrassing story to
illustrate how deeply private digital
messaging has penetrated people’s lives.
After the birth of his first daughter,
Naomi, he discovered that he and his wife
disagreed on how to pronounce her name,
which they’d agreed on months earlier. Even
today, he calls her “NAY-omi”; his wife,
“NY-omi.” “It took us a good month to figure
out how we’d made that mistake,” he recalls.
“And the realization was, every conversation
about what to call her had been typed.”

Shawn Hartsock has a similar story

My wife and I named a cat “meme”. She still pronounces it “mee-mee” while I call her “meem”… none of those conversations were spoken it turns out.

link

Self-Ignorance

Impossible Friendships (poem)

• By Adam Zagajewski
• Translated by Clare Cavanagh
• Found in NY Times Magazine

For example, with someone who no longer is,
who exists only in yellowed letters.

Or long walks beside a stream,
whose depths hold hidden

porcelain cups — and the talks about philosophy
with a timid student or the postman.

A passer-by with proud eyes
whom you’ll never know.

Friendship with this world, ever more perfect
(if not for the salty smell of blood).

The old man sipping coffee
in St.-Lazare, who reminds you of someone.

Faces flashing by
in local trains —

the happy faces of travelers headed perhaps
for a splendid ball, or a beheading.

And friendship with yourself
— since after all you don’t know who you are.

Notes

I don’t believe we humans have any special form of self-knowledge or introspection. That’s why I like this poem, especially its last, somewhat awkward line.