It’s been an exciting few days in Iran. First, a government stunt meant to encourage healthy eating habits ended rather badly. The Daily Mail reports:
The meat had been cooked, the sandwich almost assembled and assorted Guinness Book of Records dignitaries were patiently waiting by to give it their official stamp of approval.
But cooks in Iran were left in despair after their bid to create the world’s longest sandwich failed when the crowd started eating it before it could be measured.
Event organisers had planned to stuff the 1,500-metre-long sandwich with 700 kg of ostrich meat and 700 kg of chicken, and display it in a park in the capital Tehran.
I’m not sure how showcasing a sandwich that’s 1.5 kilometres long is supposed to induce dietary restraint, but apparently ostrich is much healthier than chicken.
Anyway, three days later, Iranian security officials caught what they say are “spy pigeons” on a mission to survey an underground uranium-enrichment plant.
“Early this month, a black pigeon was caught bearing a blue-coated metal ring, with invisible strings,” the source was quoted as saying of the second pigeon.
The source gave no further description of the pigeons, neither their current status nor what their fate will be.
No details were given about how the pigeons were captured, what the blue rings mean, or how an airborne pigeon can gather information about an underground facility. Could the rings be made of a super-secret metal that records radiation exposure? Are the pigeons really well-disguised surveillance aircraft with x-ray vision? Sadly, we may never know.
Interestingly, pigeons have a long and storied history of intrigue and espionage. During World War II, Britain’s National Pigeon Service used passenger pigeons to relay messages about enemy troop positions, and even awarded medals to pigeons who displayed “conspicuous bravery” on the battlefield. Pigeons carried surveillance cameras for both sides in that war, and Wired reports that they also flew reconnaissance for the CIA, relayed messages for Iraqi soldiers in the first Gulf War, and donned weather instruments in California. China has even announced a pigeon brain implant that can control the bird’s flight and create the ultimate in inconspicuous snooping.
Sandwich image via the Daylife / Reuters.
Pigeon image via The Online Photographer.
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