US Spies Failing to Decipher Donald Trump

I can’t discuss what Vernum and I worked on during his consultation Friday at 3:30, since he’s with the CIA and the subject matter was classified. On the other hand, after I completed my final appointment that evening, I headed down to the Willard Hotel, and there, in Round Robin Bar, I saw Vernum slouched,… Continue reading US Spies Failing to Decipher Donald Trump

Microsoft Bedeviled by Chatbot with a Plaid Dress On

Today, during lunch at Muze, my iPhone started to vibrate. I checked out the number calling me – it was Morton, who regular readers of this Web log will remember as an inveterate, peripatetic minion of Big Software. We go back a long way, and he’s a friend, of sorts. Tom: Holy smokes, Morton, where… Continue reading Microsoft Bedeviled by Chatbot with a Plaid Dress On

Sugar Honey Graham Discovers 20th Century Technology

This morning, just as I concluded a consultation about Boko Haram’s latest overtures to ISIL with a distraught Nigerian diplomat, Gretchen buzzed me on the intercom. “Mr. Collins,” she told me, “there’s this old Southern lady on Line Two. She sounds exactly like Woody Allen imitating Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire.” “Did this… Continue reading Sugar Honey Graham Discovers 20th Century Technology

Ain’t Misbehaving – GOP Caught in a Twitstorm

Yesterday morning at nine, I was visited by Harold Scheisskopf, Political Strategy Coordinator with the National Republican Congressional Committee. He projected his usual veneer of smug, supercilious Skull and Bones pretension, but beneath it, I readily detected a current of distinct unease. “Nice [expletive]-kicking we gave the Democrats, huh?” Scheisskopf opened as he assumed the… Continue reading Ain’t Misbehaving – GOP Caught in a Twitstorm

Secret Service Seeks Sarcasm Sensitive Software

When my sister-in-law Katje gets a bug in her ear concerning a certain subject, she’s pretty much implacable. So when she called me on Wednesday to make arrangements for dinner at my place in Great Falls, Virginia Saturday night, and insisted on doing all the necessary shopping and making everything herself so my brother Rob… Continue reading Secret Service Seeks Sarcasm Sensitive Software