A news story broke locally last week about Liangtian Yang, an “ex-Army analyst” who was arrested at MSP airport attempting to board a flight for China. Apparently he had a “restricted Army field manual” on a flash drive on him, which was detected by CBP screeners.

It didn’t really get a huge amount of coverage, and what coverage has existed leaves a huge number of questions unanswered:

Yang worked for TRADOC as an analyst, before his security clearance - and thus his job, apparently - were revoked because of “alleged security violations”. What kind of security violations are we talking about, here?

What was the “restricted Army field manual” he had on him? FM-what-dot-what?

How “restricted” was it? Secret? or just FOUO, NOFORN, or some similar sensitive-but-unclassified markings?

Was the airport screening truly random, or was he singled out for screening as part of an ongoing security investigation?

Why in God’s name would someone try to smuggle electronic files out of the country on an unencrypted flash drive? Has Yang never heard of the internet? (Most FMs are 3-12MB in size; easily sent via e-mail.)

I find it very, very interesting that the file in question was found by CBP screeners. As far as I am aware this is one of the first high-profile instances of CBP’s highly controversial egress searches of electronic media to make the news, and possibly the first to actually turn up something of (potential) criminal interest, even if that aspect has largely been overlooked.

I also find it very interesting that news reports refer only to a “restricted” field manual, and not a “classified” one. The distinction is important - being charged with theft for possessing something merely FOUO or otherwise restricted in distribution, rather than for possessing something actualy lawfully classified, could set an extremely chilling precedent for the government…

My dear Neighbour down the street;

I noted with considerable personal interest the remarkable ingenuity and problem-solving skills you displayed last night when you “mowed” your entire lawn, between eight-fifteen and nine-fifteen, in the dark, using only your gas-powered weed-trimmer. May I commend you on owning a most remarkable piece of well-engineered, professional-level equipment? German, is it? The way its mono-filament blade tore through the dandelions and other weeds in your yard was a most impressive sight to nearly behold in the faint glow of the streetlight. The deafening roar of the engine, might I add, must have - in addition to significantly interfering with my attempts to enjoy a quite good movie - struck terror into the hearts of every living thing in your yard. I dare say it would have brought a tear to Tim Taylor’s eye, had he been there.

Incidentally, I thought you might like to know that you missed a whopping great spot near the boulevard, next to the maple tree. Also, you’re an appallingly inconsiderate excuse for a human being and a burden to society, and I hope you drop dead very soon of something tremendously painful, you disgustingly corpulent autofellator.

Sincerely yours, your neighbour,
Nemo de Monet

Nearly everything these days is made in China, which is not necessarily a bad thing. What may be a bad thing is the compulsive way the Chinese factories seem to produce Chinese-designed bargain knock-offs of just about everything - sometimes, it seems, without a complete grasp of just how it is you’re supposed to use the item in question. (One of my favorite Chinese drop-shipping sites, DealExtreme, has started carrying “personal massagers”, as I discovered when browsing their “new arrivals”. One of these “massagers” bears a striking resemblance to a surprised porcupine, i.e. it’s covered in a gajillion quite long, hard plastic spikes, sticking out at acute angles. Either there was a great untapped market for, um, custom-designed tools to exfoliate the inside of your yoohoo, or the people who developed this painful-looking thing don’t quite grasp how phallic “personal massagers” are normally used.)

Anyway, I really like pickles. So do my roommates.

What does this have to do with China? Well, there’s a family at the local farmer’s market who sell extremely tasty homemade pickles…
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Not that you care, but I’ll be taking a brief hiatus from this blog - and anything else that requires typing - for a few days. I, uh, had a little mishap with a knife while making dinner, and am down to eight usable fingers at the moment, which is phenomenally annoying for a fast touch-typer like me…

You don’t really appreciate how important your index and middle fingers are until you can’t use them. D’oh.

Hopefully the bandages will come off, and the swelling will go down, in a couple of days. Until then, have a gander at a factory smokestack here in Saint Paul which got struck by lightning in a recent storm:
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Ugh. It’s been a busy couple of days, I haven’t been sleeping well - and when I do get to sleep, I have the most amazingly surreal dreams…

Anyway, random observations of interest or amusement…

Minneapolis Will Pay $165,000 to Zombies. The headline says it all, really…

Fun cult-of-personality article from the Russian propaganda ministry: Putin Takes Care of Bears, Says They Should be Afraid of People. Regrettably, his “taking care of” the bears did not involve stripping off his shirt or personally wrestling a bear.

Fun America-Sucks article from the Russian propaganda ministry: 18 Signs That America is Rotting Right in Front of Our Eyes.

In England, apparently people are complaining because lamb prices have risen almost twenty-five percent in the last year. The cause is simple - increased demand, as lamb is a popular and inexpensive meat, and the economy… sucks. Poking around online, it looks like basic cuts - shoulder roasts and the like - start at prices (in GBP/kilogram) that work out to $2.50-$3.50 per pound.

Lamb is astonishingly uncommon in the United States, or at least here in the midwest, where cheap pork and chicken are the inexpensive protein sources of choice. I wanted to make Irish Stew last week, and the recipe called for lamb. When I finally found some for sale - at the fourth grocery store I tried, mind - they wanted $11.99/pound. For those of you following along at home, that’s more expensive than steak.

Happily, I eventually found another source - the University of Minnesota’s “meat laboratory”. It’s more than a little bit scary - the place is a basement freezer room in a working lab building, most of whose doors - as you wind your way through the halls towards the sales room - are adorned with friendly reminders that “all food products are meant for scientific purposes and are not for human consumption”. (The warning doesn’t apply to the stuff for sale, obviously.) There I was happy to pay a mere $5.50/pound for a shoulder roast. (And, just to give everyone an idea of how expensive lamb is, even at the U’s bargain prices - I got a boneless sirloin roast for $3.60/pound.)

It was very good meat, mind you, and well worth the hassle. (The “meat lab” is only open three hours a week.) Unless it’s the reason I haven’t been sleeping well…