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CIA Manual Thought Lost In 1973 Available On Amazon
An anonymous reader writes "At the height of the Cold War, the Central Intelligence Agency paid renowned magician John Mulholland $3,000 to write a manual on misdirection, concealment, and stagecraft. All known copies of the document were believed to be destroyed in 1973. Turns out one survived — and is now available on Amazon."
No, no, it seems they've actually started printing the book.
Amazon's selling the newly published copies, not auctioning the original.
It’s not particularly hard to find. Amongst the things that I found on eDonkey, some old anarchy sites, etc, are tons of CIA and army manuals about questionable topics. The one I found particularly nice was a guide that explained to you how to get a major or other politician off his post, or even killed, trough small nudges here and there in the town. Talk to someone here, do this there, and let the event cascade roll into a avalanche that breaks his neck. ;)
Then of course torture and interrogation manuals, building bombs and healing yourself in emergency situations or covert operations, etc. etc. etc. Everything from TNT over Napalm, termite, picking locks, spying on people, spy protection, and ten years ago I found a complete technical description of how to build a nuclear bomb. With a text file attached, saying to ask there and there when you’d find yourself in need for the “materials” to build it. ^^
Luckily I was only angry at my dad, and not at any country, back then. ^^
Hmm... I wonder if I still have them somewhere... probably locked away in a archive with military-grade encryption that I forgot the password to.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
The whole manuscript was published in a magicians' monthly magazine called "Genii" several years ago. Granted, it is a fascinating read, but it was not "just discovered".
Most of those files were work of BBS users and can range anywhere from complete bullshit all the way to actually working stuff.
I guess you know this, but rest of slashdot could take a peek at those manuals here: http://textfiles.com/
-- Technology for the sake of technology is as pathetic as eschewing technology because it's technology.
every single president in the US or leader elsewhere has read that book.
I bet half the college students in the U.S. have read it, too. What's your point?
Liberal? Conservative? Compare perspectives at Left-Right
I read "The Prince", but it's not very useful for manipulation. It's more focused on diplomacy.
IMHO, the best one is "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie.
Much more practical than "The Prince", and it works !
Are you sure Machiavelli's concerns about mercenaries are obsolete?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwater_Worldwide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DynCorp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Professional_Resources_Inc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northbridge_Services_Group
No sig for the moment.
How exactly is formally argued ruthlessness a mathematically supported prescription for running the world?
You do know The Prince was meant as satire, right?
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
If you want to effectively fight fire employ fire... That's progress.
I'd recommend instead Aqueous Fire-Fighting Foam, Halon, water mists, Mars water bombers, and electronic-safe extinguishers, depending on the type, severity, and location of the fire.
Now THAT'S progress.
In terms of your analogy, which is what you really meant -- the people using fire can recognize fire and will take counter-measures. Come at them sideways, get them to fall into their own traps, and they won't see it coming.
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ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.