February 13, 2019

How Allied Flyers Used Monopoly to Escape From German POW Camps

https://militaryhistorynow.com/2012/12/20/how-allied-fliers-used-monopoly-to-escape-from-german-pow-camps/

For captured Allied flyers in World War Two, Monopoly was more than just a way to kill the long hours of idleness in German POW camps — it was a veritable tool box for helping them escape. That’s because beginning in 1941, British military intelligence rigged thousands of boxes of the popular board game with tools, compasses, European currency and even tiny maps that prisoners could use to make their way to freedom. All the equipment was miniaturized and pasted into the board, hidden within the bundles of game money, crammed into the tokens, or even packed into the tiny houses and hotels. What’s more amazing is that the games containing these secret escape kits were unwittingly distributed to POWs as part of care packages right under the nose of German prison guards.

According to a 2009 story on ABC News, MI9 (the wartime military intelligence division concerned with helping prisoners escape) worked with the British game maker Waddingtons to craft the equipment-laden copies of the game. For its part, the publisher was sworn to secrecy, lest the Germans get wind of the scheme. Once the specialized copies of Monopoly were ready to be shipped, Allied flyers were advised that if captured, they should watch for the top secret escape kits. Those containing tools would be specially marked with an innocuous looking red ink blot on the Free Parking space.

Aside from the tiny two-piece screw-together metal file and the miniature compass hidden in the game, perhaps the most incredible accomplishment of the escape kits’ designers were the tiny maps packed into the game’s hotels. Printed on silk, as opposed to paper, the maps could be folded and unfolded without tearing or wrinkling and could be very easily concealed. According to the article, the maps were possibly the most vital element of the kit — once POWs were outside of the wire, the maps would show the flyers how to get to friendly or neutral territory.

February 10, 2019

Thoughts on the "Horse Race" that we will be witnessing in the coming months in the media

I've had a couple of requests to repost this as an OP so here we go. This is how I saw the 2016 campaigns and what I expect for the upcoming Primary Season.

The narrative is designed to keep everyone worked up, agitated and distracted, worried that "their" candidate is up or down according to the polling and lasted whatever. It is rarely if ever a discussion of the issues. It is offers a wide variety of what-ifs, conjecture and high pitched noise.

It goes like this......

This week She is up until there is a hiccup of some small issue blown way out of proportion in the Breathless 24/7 Cable Noise Infotainment. Next Week He's up and doing well in some obscure poll with 12 people and a cat responding, but Oh Noes, by week end a new face has entered the run and all the oxygen is taken out of the room. Followed by the discovery that as a child the fresh face pushed another kid in the hall way in grammar school so that will take several news cycles between the pharmaceutical ads to discuss. Week 4 She will make a strong speech and return to the top of the polling, but will it be enough to overcome the whispered stories of her 3rd cousin 14 times removed being addicted to Snickers Bars? In the meantime He will get tongue tied during an interview having not had enough sleep and there will be questions of his age and can he really serve? The Fresh Face will suddenly soar to the top on word of a fundraiser far exceeding its goals of $12.47.

Rinse and repeat but be sure to allow time for more ads for drugs we never knew we needed and the anchors hawking their latest books on The Crisis in the Media.

February 2, 2019

Missouri Sen. Gina Walsh responds to Governor's 2019 State of the State Address

By SEN. GINA WALSH
(D-Bellefontaine Neighbors)
Jefferson City – I want to thank the Governor for sharing his policies and goals with the Legislature as we work together to pass a balanced budget and make our state a fairer and more equitable place for all.

About a year ago, things were a lot different around here. We had a different governor leading the state, one who chose to put personal ambition and partisan politics before all else.

Now, with a new governor, it is our hope that those old problems are behind us. But simply being better than Eric Greitens is too low of a bar to set for any of our leaders, too low for the kind of change we need. Missouri deserves better.

Being done with a bad politician isn’t enough if his bad policies remain, policies that denied too many Missourians basic health care, policies that attack working families and undermine their constitutional right to organize, and policies that turn out tax code upside down so that the middle class gets squeezed while special interests laugh all the way to the bank.

https://labortribune.com/missouri-sen-gina-walsh-responds-to-governors-2019-state-of-the-state-address/

February 1, 2019

Helping Existing Energy Infrastructure Generate More Energy with Less Fuel & Less Pollution

https://hecmedia.org/posts/helping-existing-energy-infrastructure-generate-more-energy-with-less-fuel-less-pollution/

St. Louis-based ThermoAI is using artificial intelligence and internet of things to optimize combustion for power plants and industry. The company claims the technology can save millions in fuel and reduce emissions. The ThermoAI team includes a machine-learning Ph.D. from Oxford, a chemical engineer and a published applied AI expert. The company says it’s increasing combustion efficiency by three to five percent with its existing proof-of-concepts. ThermoAI is a 2018 Arch Grants Global Startup Competition award winner.