We are all depressingly aware of recent vicious attacks made by individuals who believe they know the ultimate truth and that anyone who might think differently should be either cloistered or killed.
My recent experiences fall well short of this level of megalomania. Yet, they are a symptom of the same mindset: destroy rather than build.
In the last two days, my blog has been under continual attack by those who would subvert it to their own sleazy purposes. Not content to promote their ideas or products on their own merits, they prefer to co-opt the work of others.
I note that my blog is at most only of minor local interest. It discusses the wildlife, natural phenomena, and scenes around Kootenay Lake, Canada. Yet, in the last few years, it has been hacked twice and forced to (temporarily) promote irrelevant pharmaceuticals. At present, it is experiencing a third, ongoing, widespread, and coordinated attack, presumably with the objective of similarly turning it to the dark side.
The attack on blog.kootenay-lake.ca is impressive in its scope. In two days, there have been over three hundred attacks and that number is still climbing. Here is a list of the countries (internet jurisdictions) from which attacks have so far arisen:
Abu Dhabi, Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria,
Bangladesh, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria
Cambodia, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Dominican Republic, Dubai,
Egypt,
France,
Georgia, Germany, Ghana,
Hong Kong, Hungary,
India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Iraq, Ivory Coast,
Japan,
Kenya, Korea (Republic of),
Lebanon, Lithuania,
Macedonia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Moldavia (Republic of), Montenegro, Morocco,
Nepal, Netherlands, Nigeria,
Oman,
Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal,
Qatar,
Romania,
Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland,
Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey,
United Arab Emirate, United Kingdom, United States, Ukraine, Uzbekistan,
Venezuela, Vietnam,
Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Three things are worth recognizing:
• Computers in many of these countries are responsible for not one, but multiple attacks
• It is likely that the attacks are coordinated from one location and that the owners of the compromised machines have no knowledge of what is going on
• The attacks are undoubtedly incidental to my blog’s specific content, arising only because the work of others is deemed exploitable.
Sigh.
Bird collisions
Do birds collide in flight?
Yes.
Unfortunately, this question is often begged (question’s answer assumed rather than sought), so it is often phrased as: Why don’t birds collide when flying close together? A responder then must struggle with the daunting task of explaining the truth of something that is false.
Now, birds are remarkably good at avoiding collisions and this fact does merit an explanation. However, they are not perfect at it. While avoidance is important, equally important seems to be the rapid recovery from inevitable collisions.
This shot into a flock of Snow Geese shows two collisions. In the upper centre right, two birds are colliding, while in the lower centre, three birds are.
Earlier this week, I was watching Cliff Swallows coming and going from the nests they had built on a human structure. While ascending to adjacent nests two of them collided.
Interestingly, a fifth of a second later each bird had recovered and continued on its way.
Of course, I have been discussing inadvertent collisions. During an attack, a raptor frequently collides with another bird. Indeed, falcons will purposely collide with prey so as to kill it. I lack a picture showing this, but do show one of an eagle about to collide with an osprey in its (successful) attempt to steal the osprey’s fish.
