“Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action.”
—Ian Fleming, “Goldfinger.”
Yesterday, you might have seen the news that two different undersea fiber optic cables in the Mediterranean were severed, causing traffic problems on the internet.
The official story was that it was an accident caused by the cables being snagged by ship anchors.
Today, another cable was cut, in the Persian Gulf.
Who is the most affected by this series of incidents (which oddly resemble triangulation…)?
Please GOD, be wrong. And somebody duct-tape Neal Stephenson’s mouth shut!
Much as I have to monitor myself for paranoid thinking, when I heard this news report on NPR this morning, my immeddiate reaction wasn’t to wonder if it was an accident, but to wonder which country was responsible, specifically the U.S.
Criminy sakes, that’s an awful amount of coincidence all lumped together…
Though if it had something to do with our warmongering government, I’d expect it more in the June/July area to give candidates with similar Bush war mentality (Clinton, McCain and Romney) a boost. Or even a reason to go to martial law/suspend elections. Worked for Pakistan without a huge boogeyman.
You know what. Between David Beckham being dropped from the England football team and the weather (here first and China* second), this didn’t even make the 24 hours rolling news.
Sounds a bit worrying really.
* OK, admitedly, the wife is in China visiting her folks at the moment, so I am a tad biased and picking up on particular stories…
daaamn.
I don’t know who I’m disappointed in more, our government for most likely doing the shit or the media for ignoring it. Me thinks I hear Orwell cackling in the background.
Heinlein’s Razor
“Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity… but keep your eyes open.”
Re: Heinlein’s Razor
I’ve always been fond of the Grey’s Law variant (which riffs on Clarke’s third): “Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.”
Grey’s Riff on Clarke’s Third Law
Where did you find it? I’d like to post about it on my blog.
Re: Grey’s Riff on Clarke’s Third Law
The end of the third paragraph down from this heading/