when you have a few minutes, read this story from the times, about 82-year old dissident, lyudmila m. alexeyeva (front page in print, the late edition but easy to miss online).
here's a favorite bit:
On her way into K.G.B. headquarters, Ms. Alexeyeva would stop to buy a ham sandwich, an éclair and an orange. These were delicacies in the 1970s, even for the investigator, who was headed for a lunch of gray cutlets. Halfway through, Ms. Alexeyeva would unwrap her lunch and lay it out on the table.
“They reacted very nervously when they started to smell ham,” she said with a sweet smile. “Then I would start eating the orange, and the aroma would start dissipating through the room.” The effect was reliably hypnotic.
“That’s how I amused myself,” she said. “It was a way to play on his nerves.”
behold the power of ham and oranges. and one smart cookie.
