Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2017 January 20

= January 20 =

Preventing federal agent blackmail
I'm watching the first season of 24 and am wondering how the Secret Service, or any other federal agency, can prevent a situation where an agent can be compromised through blackmail by, for example, kidnapping his or her family members. Sure, it's a TV show and real life is not exactly the same, but what would a real agent do? Just ignore the kidnapper's demands? It certainty seems like there's tremendous opportunity for someone to infiltrate security in this fashion.  DRosenbach  ( Talk 03:34, 20 January 2017 (UTC)


 * I don't know for sure, but presumably the compromised agent would be placed on paid leave until the situation is resolved (or, in the case of intelligence agents abroad, the agency could simply issue a temporary burn notice to disregard the information the agent sends). 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:F88D:DE34:7772:8E5B (talk) 04:26, 20 January 2017 (UTC)


 * You're assuming the agency knows. Presumably the kidnappers only tell that agent, and threaten to kill his family if he tells anyone else.  But, the agent probably would figure that either his family is already dead or will be killed in either case, as there's little incentive for the kidnappers to release people who can identify them, once they get what they want.  So, then, his best chance is to get the entire agency looking for his family.   StuRat (talk) 04:29, 20 January 2017 (UTC)


 * There are actually ways for an agent to tell the agency without the kidnappers knowing -- when an agent is sent on assignment, he/she is given a prearranged security phrase with which he/she could preface or follow a normal communication to let them know "Help, they've kidnapped my wife and baby daughter and will murder them unless I give you false information" or something of the sort. (This is actually described in Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising, where they give an agent the security phrase "Things are going great" with which he should start his radio broadcasts if he's captured by the Soviets and forced to send out false information.)  Or, alternatively, he/she could be given a prearranged security phrase or tag which he/she should use in normal communications, and omit if there's any trouble of the sort you describe.  Of course, the kidnappers could try to prevent the agent from letting the agency know by not letting him/her report in at all -- but if the agent fails to report at the regular time, that would in itself let the agency know that something bad has happened. 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:F88D:DE34:7772:8E5B (talk) 06:43, 20 January 2017 (UTC)

This would be a problem faced by any intelligence and security agency. And that is why such people are typically monitored by their own employers. For instance, we know about incidents like this one because of such internal monitoring. And on top of that, though how exactly command structure works within such an agency may not be public knowledge, presumably it is set up in such a fashion that no one compromised agent can do all that much without being noticed by others. Someguy1221 (talk) 04:39, 20 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Monitoring agent's stress levels would be a good fix, as presumably an agent so blackmailed would have stress readings off the charts. At each entrance they could read pulse levels, for example, and call in help when a pulse is out of the normal range. StuRat (talk) 04:57, 20 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Agents will be monitored also for anything that could be used to coerce them. Financial ties, family life, close relations in a foreign country, etc. I wound up being interviewed by the US Air Force when a friend of mine was being considered for a job that required security clearance. The lengths to which they examined his life were... extensive. Someguy1221 (talk) 05:00, 20 January 2017 (UTC)


 * It sounds more like extortion than blackmail. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 11:16, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Right; blackmail would be something like "I have dirt on you, do exactly as I say and I won't release it to the general public and ruin your life", like in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? when Eddie Valiant is hired to get compromising information on Jessica Rabbit and Marvin Acme - it is specifically described as blackmail.--WaltCip (talk) 13:00, 20 January 2017 (UTC)

A real agent would use a duress code and after that other people will take over. &#40;&#40;&#40;The Quixotic Potato&#41;&#41;&#41; (talk) 15:53, 22 January 2017 (UTC)

History
Is there a History of Wikipedia somewhere I could read? Benjamin (talk) 07:13, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Have you tried History of Wikipedia? --Wrongfilter (talk) 07:15, 20 January 2017 (UTC)


 * I was looking for something more along the lines of WikiDragons and the like. Benjamin (talk) 07:17, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * See WikiFauna. Ian.thomson (talk) 07:21, 20 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Yes, like that, but history. Benjamin (talk) 10:30, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Can you elaborate? There's a lot of humor and satirical stuff buried in the Wikipedia namespace, Category:Wikipedia humor, what specifically are you researching?  -- Jayron 32 13:00, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Like, for example, when it says that Wiki Dragons were once more plentiful. Benjamin (talk) 14:00, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * What "it" are you talking about? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:09, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * The wiki. Benjamin (talk) 14:17, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * There are lots of wikis on the internet. Which one are you referring to? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:25, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia, of course. I was talking about Wiki Dragons, so, the relevant page would be the one about Wiki Dragons. On that page it mentions that Wiki Dragons have become more rare, and I'm wondering if there's any sort of chronicle, humorous or not, of those sorts of changes. Benjamin (talk) 14:36, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Calling Wikipedia "wiki" is considered a no-no here. Be that as it may, can you cite a specific statement within WikiDragon that you're referring to? ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 14:39, 20 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Sorry, thanks. For example, This user is a WikiDragon. ...one of the last of a dying breed... Benjamin (talk) 14:46, 20 January 2017 (UTC)

What you mean is "Is there a fictional history of Wikipedia chronicling the rise and fall of different Wikifauna?" -- no, there isn't. Ian.thomson (talk) 14:58, 20 January 2017 (UTC)

Or perhaps non fictional, chronicling the editing habits of actual editors. Benjamin (talk) 15:06, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Not really one of those, either. Ian.thomson (talk) 15:09, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * If you want to know what specific editors have done, you can click "user contributions" from the left side menu while on their user page. For example, yours is at Special:Contributions/Benjaminikuta.  It will give ALL contributions from that user.  You can also get analysis of a user's edits (while viewing their contributions history) by clicking the "Edit count" link WAY at the bottom, that brings up this page which gives a more detailed history of that user, with graphs and charts and the like.  -- Jayron 32 15:31, 20 January 2017 (UTC)

What code is this using
I'm reliably informed (although it may be a wind-up!) that there's a code hidden in the fence in the picture at [] (apologies, I tried to upload the picture to Wikipedia but could not).

My initial thought was flag letters, but whilst some fit, others do not. It's not the greatest picture, but does anyone have any suggestions as to what the code may be? Just the method used, not the actual message.

Thank you.

Whatonearthisthis (talk) 10:15, 20 January 2017 (UTC)


 * It looks like some form of Ogham to me. Someguy1221 (talk) 10:20, 20 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Not one I'd thought of, but not sure I agree - few seem to correspond, particularly the rectangular one at the right hand end? Whatonearthisthis (talk) 10:27, 20 January 2017 (UTC)


 * There's more than one ogham alphabet. This lists two, and there is also Thieves' Ogham . Could be more. Someguy1221 (talk) 10:28, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Ehh, maybe not. I tried translating it with a few Ogham scripts, I just get gibberish. Someguy1221 (talk) 10:34, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Spam-free link to image:  --2606:A000:4C0C:E200:D52B:CE19:E1B3:FD5B (talk) 17:55, 20 January 2017 (UTC)


 * I can't make them out very well - but possibly J R R Tolkien's runes from LOTR? It does seem to be the sort of thing a fan might do, rather than a serious scholar of historical scripts. Wymspen (talk) 18:47, 20 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Hey, we learned about this in primary school. It's in the runes the convicts on the Tasman Peninsula used to write secret messages the guards couldn't read. It spells out "P - A - R - E - I - D - O - L - I - "... sorry, I can't make out the last letter. --Shirt58 (talk) 04:15, 21 January 2017 (UTC)
 * If it's meant to be Pareidolia, it's a pretty funny message to hide as an ordinary object. Someguy1221 (talk) 04:21, 21 January 2017 (UTC) Wait, was that a joke and I totally missed it? Someguy1221 (talk) 04:25, 21 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I think it was, and I think you did. Whatonearthisthis (talk) 14:30, 21 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Tolkien's English runes are here. I'm struggling to find a single match. Have we considered that it might be just an idiosyncratic fence? Occam's razor n'all that? Alansplodge (talk) 10:31, 21 January 2017 (UTC)
 * It could be, but I'm assured that there is a code, by the man who created the fence. Whatonearthisthis (talk) 14:30, 21 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Do you own a wrench? &#40;&#40;&#40;The Quixotic Potato&#41;&#41;&#41; (talk) 23:05, 21 January 2017 (UTC)
 * There's currently discussion over whether a rock inscribed with the letters "Furku.Al" is "a genuine Runic inscription-or a crude joke".. 92.2.72.206 (talk) 12:44, 25 January 2017 (UTC)


 * On second look, the left part resembles SEMA or SENA in plain old ordinary kind of letters. Pity that we don't have a shot unobscured by foliage. —Tamfang (talk) 01:50, 5 February 2017 (UTC)