IS the Central Intelligence Agency still worried about possible terrorist acts by a shadowy 鈥渙rganisation of uncertain make-up, using the name 鈥楪roup of the Martyr Ebenezer Scrooge'鈥�?
The group first surfaced in the CIA鈥檚 records on 17 December 1974 as part of the Weekly Situation Report on International Terrorism submitted to then-president Gerald Ford. Twenty-five years later, this report was among millions the Clinton administration decided should be declassified after intelligence agencies had reviewed them and blotted out any information that remained sensitive. In the copy of the report cleared by the CIA, a black rectangle concealed the single paragraph on the Scrooge group.
But a copy of this same document 鈥� censored by a different CIA official 鈥� had earlier been sent to the Gerald Ford Library in Michigan for safe keeping. And now researchers from the Washington-based National Security Archive have compared the two documents and discovered that the key paragraph escaped the second censor.
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It reveals that some time on 24 or 25 December the Scrooge group planned 鈥渢o sabotage the annual courier flight of the Government of the North Pole. Prime Minister and Chief Courier S. Claus has been notified and security precautions are being coordinated worldwide.鈥�
Obviously, the paragraph is a joke 鈥� the result, perhaps, of a particularly well-lubricated CIA Christmas party. So why did the CIA decide to censor it from the declassified document? Had the censors鈥� minds been so numbed by reading the mountains of documents that they thought it was serious? Or were they worried that public revelation of such high-level silliness might embarrass someone?
Sadly, we鈥檙e unlikely ever to know. Nor are we likely to discover what President Ford鈥檚 reaction was when he read the spies鈥� merry offering.
Meanwhile, Feedback has news for the CIA. Using our own espionage techniques, we have discovered that the Scrooge group may still exist. A few weeks ago the website identified itself as the 鈥渙fficial online publication of the Group of the Martyr Ebenezer Scrooge鈥�. But that key phrase has now vanished 鈥� no doubt as the result of yet another sinister conspiracy.
WE recently wondered how the topic of 鈥渂uttocks exercises鈥� could be subdivided geographically (28 June). Reader Valerie Moyses explains: 鈥淥ne of the great things about the Library of Congress classification scheme and its subject headings is that they are based not on dreamed-up hypothetical subjects but on actual examples. The mention of buttock exercises being subdivided by geographical area suggests to me that the librarians in the Library of Congress really have had to catalogue and classify a book on, say, 鈥楥hinese Buttock Exercises鈥�.鈥�
Looking at the matter differently, however, reader Brian Adams suggests that 鈥渂uttocks exercises could be subdivided geographically by performing them on the Greenwich meridian鈥�.
We are also grateful to the reader (name and address supplied) who informs us: 鈥淢y boyfriend commented once that my bum has its own postcode, so there you go.鈥�
AN EDITOR from IEEE Spectrum magazine recently noticed that only one company was making use of a high-bandwidth data pipeline that links Nigeria to a major submarine telecommunications cable.
The editor鈥檚 online report says that Nigerians aren鈥檛 taking advantage of the available capacity. Which will come as a surprise to the millions who regularly receive spam emails requesting 鈥渦rgent assistance鈥� that emanate from Nigeria.
VEGETARIAN food may be good for the body, but what effect does it have on the brains of the people who produce it? Reader Gary Betcherman was happy about the Nature鈥檚 Gate red Thai bean pastry parcel he bought until he saw the list of ingredients, which runs as follows: 鈥淧astry (48 per cent), Kidney Beans (44 per cent), Tomato (16 per cent), Onions (12 per cent), Peppers (12 per cent), non-GMO Soya Milk (10 per cent), Coconut (5 per cent), Tomato Puree (2.5 per cent), Thai Paste (1.7 per cent).鈥�
That鈥檚 151.2 per cent already, but there鈥檚 more. The parcel also contains 鈥淰egetable Oil, Lemon Juice, Turmeric, Chilli, Garlic, Ginger, Tomato [again], non-GMO soya milk [again], Topping Wheat Bran, Preservative Sulphur Dioxide鈥�. However, no percentages are given for these ingredients, presumably because they鈥檝e run out of them.
FINALLY, reader Geraint Day asks: 鈥淒id self-replicating molecules originate in the United Kingdom?鈥�
The question is prompted by an article on genetic testing in The Economist (28 June, p 31) that states: 鈥淭he birthplace of the double helix, Britain was first off the starting blocks 50 years ago.鈥�
Gloucestershire firm Rubbertech 2000, 鈥渟pecialist moulders of silicone rubber鈥�, is advertising in the local press that it has a 鈥渧acancy for a flexible person to work in three departments鈥�