(no subject)

My attention was caught by a particularly fun headline in today's Metro: Pigeon that's quicker than broadband. The practicalities of this alternative form of file transfer have perhaps been skirted over:

"Did the files arrive?"
"No, there was a problem with the transfer, they were...corrupted en route."
"Oh dear.  Do you have a virus?"
"Not as such, no."
"What do you mean 'not as such'? Either you have a virus or you don't!"
"Well, it's not a virus, so much as a....well, as a hawk."
"A hawk? Is that some sort of super virus? Or a new Apple OS?"
"No....it's sort of....well, it's a hawk."
"A hawk?"
"Yes. It ate the pigeon."
"The pigeon?"
"Yes.  The pigeon that transfers our data."
"You're sure this isn't computer slang for something else?"
"No, it's definitely a pigeon.  He's called Steve.  Or he was *sob*"

Moreover, industrial espionage would never look the same.  It's actually even the playing field as far as successful espionage goes, it wouldn't be about having the money to invest in high-tech gadgets, a nice bowl of grain and some determined cooing - or perhaps some hot lady pigeons wiggling their arses about - would pretty much do the trick.