Re: QM, EPR, A/B
Actually, Tyler Durden (ie, me) wrote what is attributed to the generic anonymous name of Norman Nescio. Anyway,... Part of the problem is that the detection equipment is many fermions looking at single particles. I think QM is easier to understand when looking at an ion trap. There are lots of photons around for every atom but the interactions are with fields and the detection is of single photons (again with massive amounts of equipment, but the atoms don't interact directly as in EPR or double slit). With all due respect, Pooey Dr Mike. Take a nice, straightforward EPR using two correlated photons produced by KDP-downconversion. How do you exaplain the EPR experiements where pairs of photons are created via KDP downconversion? The two particles are separated at birth and travel through different paths through the apparatus. (And this apparatus can be made aribtrarily large.) If the apparatus does not permit us to determine the path of any single photon, the two photons will have completely coupled measureables (eg, polarization) at the output. The moment will are able to determine the path of ONE of the photons, then the measureable of the other becomes completely de-correlated from the other. This is true on the single photon level, and looked at up close its pretty startling. Now the odd thing (if this isn't odd already), is that we can (and have) perform the change from isolatable to nonisolatable AFTER THE PHOTONS HAVE ENTERED THE APPARATUS. (This was suggested by Wheeler and done around '94 as I remember). In a sense, then, the photons are 'aware' of events happening (relatively speaking) backwards in time. And this is not theoretical. It was predicted via quantum theory and seen in the lab many times. Now obviously we could step back and say that QM is a useful computational tool. Let's not worry about reality, but that's an intellectual dodge. Classical physics grew up around the desire to understand natural reality, and this new fad of ignoring what QM says about reality only arose as a way to move QM forward in the early days. Look, it's not like we say Don't think of light as an electromagnetic wave. E-M theory is merely a useful computational tool. Likewise just because we are in the odd situation of not knowing what QM says about the universe doesn't mean its not saying anything, or that what its saying is of no interest. With EPR (and, arguably, A-b), we are confronted with obvious proof that these particles communicate in ways that are completely different from the models developed prior to 1910 or so. (One of the few intelligent thoughts I've had on the subject is that the particles are still a single quantum object prior to measurement.) With respect to Cypherpunks and cryptography, then, we would be intellectually hypocritical if we thought there was anything inherently more secure about quantum cryptography. But we (I mean, pretty much every working physicist in the world) DO believe this, because this is really the way reality works. Wavefunction collapse actually objectively (if that's the right word in the quantum world) happens and there's no undoing it. It's a basic physical property of the universe. With respect to many worlds, David Deutch, et al have argued that for any single path taken by a particle in a quantum there are innumerable shadow photons in the other universes that communicate with the observed photon. We also see just one possible but the complete collection of shadow photons take all possible outcomes. Now while I don't really buy this explanation, I DO buy Deutch's desire to find a picture of the underlying reality (we once spoke on this issue and wildly agreed). I could go on but I've got work to do. No one's actually read this far anyway, have they? -Tyler Durden QM is a nice model that works. It is a good mathematical description of observed phenomena. What else do we need? The idea that a photon passes thru one slit or the other is just a model. What is the slit? It's really a whole bunch of fermions in a spacial pattern, and when an electron or photon interacts with that distribution we get the observed self interaction result. The model is self interaction. That may have nothing to do with reality. Patience, persistence, truth, Dr. mike _ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 3 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmailxAPID=42PS=47575PI=7324DI=7474SU= http://www.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/getmsgHL=1216hotmailtaglines_stopmorespam_3mf
Re: The Microsoft Xbox Key
I think you're drifting here from my original point, which that it is in no way illegal, or even immoral, to run free software on hardware that you own, and to pick any locks on the hardware you own, which would preclude you from doing so. Amen, brudda. So will the cops eventually bust down my door if I accidentally drop and break an Xbox open? Also, some would argue that microsoft does use forms of coercion to get ultimately use their products. Whether one agrees with this or not, a nice little byproduct of hacking an Xbox and turning it into a PC is that there will be some slight pressure on 'Soft to get the prices back up to at least breakeven for the box. From: Eric Cordian [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Tim May) CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: The Microsoft Xbox Key Date: Tue, 7 Jan 2003 11:58:56 -0800 (PST) Tim writes: Given that x86 boxes without Windows installed can now be had for about the price of an XBox, and given that the graphics chip in the Xbox is not used by any of the Linux server uses (so far as I know), the main value of hacking the Xbox is for cuteness, to show that it can be done. Linux is now available for download for modchipped Xboxes. Ergo, I would infer that issues of Linux supporting the hardware are behind us, and the sole remaining problem is getting an unaltered Xbox to run arbitrary code. There is a non-Microsoft-approved Xbox media player out, so I would also infer someone has figured out how to use the graphics chip, which is a custom nVidia Geforce 3, a known device for which good drivers exist. (The approximately $200-300 Linux box comes with a 600 MHz VIA x86, and may come with more than the 10 GB disk the Xbox comes from. I don't track this closely. I'd expect that the drive is faster in the PC, as XBox doesn't need a speedy drive for game play. All in all, I'd rather have the PC for Linux than a hacked Xbox.) My impression is that at the $200 price point, the Xbox is a better built fuller-featured box than similarly priced boxes from places like Wal-Mart. Those who don't wish to use MS products should not do so. I use Macs. Many use Linux. And so on. I think you're drifting here from my original point, which that it is in no way illegal, or even immoral, to run free software on hardware that you own, and to pick any locks on the hardware you own, which would preclude you from doing so. The public is getting the notion that there are things that it should be illegal for you to do to devices that you own, for purposes of accessing their functionality. This is something that needs to be strongly discouraged. Right now, such endeavors are being muddied by being lumped in with such things as cracking commerical software and breaking into corporate and military systems in the public mindset. A widely publicized legal opinion by someone like the EFF, stating that running anything you want on your own Xbox is a perfectly legitimate thing to do, would put the ball in Microsoft's court to either say that they disagreed, or to say nothing and let it slide, which would greatly reduce their ability to legally harrass people in the future. It costs nothing to issue a press release. -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law _ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Re: Television
WOW! While I may agree that Tim May seems to like anarchy as long as he's in charge of it, he does come up with some truly destabilising and dangerous ideas every now and then. Like his alter ego Jim Choate, there's some real signal burried under that noise so at least token measures of respect every now and then are due. -TD PS: Where does one get a hold of the app you used to make that thing? _ Help STOP SPAM: Try the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Security cameras are getting smart -- and scary
Do you forget the episode of the Simpsons where Homer has a camera installed in his 10-gallon hat? (He was catching Apu recycling expired hotdogs or something.) -TD (Who is not RA Hettinga, at least when RAH is awake.) From: R. A. Hettinga [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: James A. Donald [EMAIL PROTECTED], Sarad AV [EMAIL PROTECTED], Thomas Shaddack [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Security cameras are getting smart -- and scary Date: Wed, 8 Jan 2003 14:40:20 -0500 At 10:28 AM -0800 on 1/8/03, James A. Donald wrote: Men's fashions, however, change at the speed of glaciers, so there is little chance of that becoming acceptable for men. All we need is the return of the fedora, I'd bet, as most cameras I can remember are up high. Cheers, RAH -- - R. A. Hettinga mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/ 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA ... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience. -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' _ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
Re: Security cameras are getting smart -- and scary
Tim May wrote... Cowboy hats are much more common in Cypherpunks Bay Aryan meetings Uh...do you actually hold Aryan meetings? Is this a white supremist thing, or will the following be welcome: Iranians Afghans Most people hailing from Northern India Turks And for that matter, what about cypherpunks of non-aryan descent? -TD _ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Re: Security cameras are getting smart -- and scary
Tim May wrote... I've been seeing your nitwitticisms and shallow observations for several weeks now. Time to plonk you. Bye. And I can honestly say that based on Tim May's responses, he simply doesn't get what I am saying most of the time. In this case I wasn't actually being too clever. In the first place, I was actually trying to determine just what Aryan meant in this context. Was this a joke? (I did not believe so.) If there really are Aryan Cypherpunk meetings, and if that's the case then a classic first test I apply to those who bandy the term Aryan about is to see if they know what it means. For lumpen-White trash, it means WHite Guy who's not Jewish. They do not seem to be aware of the fact that people of darker skin can also be Indo-European, or Aryan. Good examples are the peoples I mentioned in the previous post. Iranians, Afghans, and many of those in the Indian subcontinent descend from the original Indo-European invaders (as far as I understand it, some scholars ascribe the expansion of Indo-Europeans approximately 13,000 years ago to early breakthroughs in agriculture and not military invasion). So the moment I hear someone talk about those Iranian Arabs I know I've got someone who don't know shit. As for Nitwiticisms, I had thought that some of my posts on Quantum Mechanics, Bell's Inequality, and the collapse of the wavefunction engendered some useful (and ultimately practical) discussion. As a trained physicist and Optical Network Engineer (now on Wall Street), I don't consider myself an expert on everything, but there are few in the real world who would label me a nitwit. SIgh. Although I read May's Crypto Anarchy piece and liked it, I am slowly coming to the conclusion that he's just another dimwitted fascist who by accident had a few interesting ideas. When I see statements that praised McVeigh's murders combined with derogatory statements about blacks with his use of the term Aryan, I'm also starting to think that he's linked with those forces that have plotted to plunge us into the White-Dominated, Neo/Crypto Fascist Corporate state so eloquently described by the likes of Mussolini. -TD _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
Re: citizens can be named as enemy combatants
Someone, somewhere, has to decide whether this man's service in a foreign army is naughty enough to lose him his constitutional rights. First of all, I don't even think that depriving someone of their constitutional rights is the major issue in this case. On a very simplistic level (apparently the only level that Tim May seems to think Tyler Durden operates on), the US trial by a jury of your peers and innocent until proven guilty are not supposed to be Rome-like luxuries of being a citizen. They in theory represent a system that protects the accused from basically being the target of whatever political interests may be in charge. By bypassing this system, isn't there a subtext here that on some level says He's guilty if we say he's guilty? In other words, they apparently don't trust that our legal system works the way they (Bush and the military) want it to. In this sense, our legal system is now caricatured as being essentially a luxury of US citzenship, as opposed to reflecting some basic human right. Yes of course I know that there are probably practicalities involved: If we don't try him as an enemy combatant then he might go free and kill more US soldiers. But again, this statement assumes complete and infallible knowledge on the part of the military concerning this man, and then the right to bypass the rights of American citizens to determine what to do with him. It's a bad sign. -TD If *that* decision-making process has weaker legal protection than a normal criminal trial would have had, the effect is that the legal protection of the whole system is reduced. If the process of removing someone's constitutional rights is not itself subject to those rights, then those rights are hollow and can be removed at will. Ken Brown _ The new MSN 8 is here: Try it free* for 2 months http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup
Indo European Origins
Steve wrote... I would imagine so since ironically the Aryans came from what is now Northern India and Iran up to about 1000BC. The word is even derived from Sanskrit. Read the Rig Veda and break out the soma (if you know what it was). Soma? Despite the fact that I've read large chunks of the Rig Vedas, I don't remember anything called Soma (unless this is a Brave New World Reference). Of course, the Bhagavad Gita is a subsection of the Mahabaratabut I don't imagine this is what you are referring to... As for the ultimate origin of the Aryans, it is far older than 1,000BC. As far as I understand it, the Aryans emanated from the lower reaches of the Caucus Mountains, and moved into Greece, Europe, Asia Minor, Central Asia, and the Northern Part of the Indian subcontinent. (I've read wildly conflicting reports as to when, but I remember ending up believing it happened around 13,000BC.) Early theories were that the Aryans had learned horseback-based military tactics before the indigenous peoples, but emerging theories have them slowly growing out of Asia minor via agricultural advances. Most of the people from the British Isles over to Northern India speak a variant of the original Indo-European language, with Sanskrit and Lithuanian likely being the closest languages surviving. Some interesting exceptions (I believe) are the Basque in Spain, Hungarians, The (Italian) Etruscans, and (as far as I remember) the Flemish. As I remember too, the Greek 'Linear A' script seems to be a pre-Indo-European leftover, and 'Linear B' shows the clear input of I-Es. (That the Basque and other groups claiming to be 'unique' has apparently been confirmed via the use of mitochondrial DNA techniques, which can determine when various human sub-populations diverged. this apparently mirrors the linguisitic evidence quite precisely.) So what current users of the term Aryan seem to be unaware of is that Iranians, Afghans, and tons of others are actually Indo European and hence Aryans. (Meanwhile, Iraqis, Saudis and all other Arabs along with Jews are Semites and not IndoEurpoean at all.) Of course, they DO tend to have somewhat lighter skin than many of the 'locals' (in fact, the Indian caste system seems to have codified this fact). But those who use the term Aryan these days seem to have inherited all of the Nazi bullshit mythological baggage. Now there may be exceptions, so that's why I asked. Of course Hitler and the gang appropriated this term and pumped it with some very different meanings, including notions of racial purity. I was curious as to whether Tim May meant this version of the term or what (and all that is concomittant, including hoped-for genocides), in which case bludgeoning him with a heavy, blunt object in the base of the skull would be a break for all humanity. -TD From: Steve Mynott [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Tyler Durden [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Security cameras are getting smart -- and scary Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2003 19:41:42 + On Wednesday, Jan 8, 2003, at 22:10 Europe/London, Tyler Durden wrote: Tim May wrote... Cowboy hats are much more common in Cypherpunks Bay Aryan meetings Uh...do you actually hold Aryan meetings? Is this a white supremist thing, or will the following be welcome: Iranians Afghans Most people hailing from Northern India Turks -- Steve Mynott [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
Re: Security cameras are getting smart -- and scary
Some guy wrote You are moron. Care to be a little more specific? (I'm not afraid of a little criticism, particularly if its constructive.) Even if true, I don't see how that comment pertains to my reply. For all I know, I've been posting on a list haunted by a bunch of crypto-white supremists (crypto, as in secret, hidden). And if that's the case, then I want to know. Figured I'd ask for clarification on this issue. (And from some of May's comments in the past, it wasn't clear to me.) If that makes me a moron, so be it. BTW...You're not the guy with the Chomsky Dis website are you? -TD _ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
US Government didn't even claim Hamdi was Taliban
Ran across this in the Villiage Voice today. Basically, the Adminstration got some token pushback from Judge Doumar, pointing out that the 2 PAGE document issued by Bush Co doesn't even specify what is meant by enemy combatant, and doesn't ever actually claim Hamdi was even in the Taliban. In addtion, he doesn't actually seem to have been grabbed as the result of battle. But then again, I guess that shouldn't be a suprise. Our boys know they have to take drastic measures to protect us, even if that means protecting us poor stupid proles from our own legal system. Anyway, here's the link, http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0302/hentoff.php and here's an excerpt. (-TD) A fuller account of what Judge Doumar said is in an extraordinarily valuable report by the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights: A Year of Loss: Reexamining Civil Liberties Since September 11. Released last September 5, the report quotes more of what Judge Doumar indignantly said to the government prosecutor who had handed him the Mobbs document: I'm challenging everything in the Mobbs declaration. If you think I don't understand the utilization of words, you are sadly mistaken. Mr. Mobbs had declared that Hamdi was affiliated with a Taliban unit and received weapons training. Bolstering the government's caseor so it seemedwere photographs in some of the media of Hamdi carrying a weapon. So what was Judge Doumar's beef? The Mobbs document, Judge Doumar said bluntly, makes no effort to explain what 'affiliated' means nor under what criteria this 'affiliation' justified Hamdi's classification as an enemy combatant. The declaration is silent as to what level of 'affiliation' is necessary to warrant enemy combatant status. . . . It does not say where or by whom he received weapons training or the nature and content thereof. Indeed, a close inspection of the declaration reveals that [it] never claims that Hamdi was fighting for the Taliban, nor that he was a member of the Taliban. Without access to the screening criteria actually used by the government in its classification decision, this Court is unable to determine whether the government has paid adequate consideration to due process rights to which Hamdi is entitled under his present detention. _ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Protect Your Country From Terrorists: Use Crypto Wherever possible
Any time you post to a list of a bunch of people you don't know, you might be posting to a list of a bunch of people you don't like. Reading the archives sometimes helps. This is a good point, and one I attempted to address (very) indirectly a few months back. I hope this may clarify: There's a major strength to have a list composed of folks with wildly different philosophies, particularly if what might unite them might be, for instance, a desire to preserve privacy. Indeed, is it not the duty of us fatherland-loving citizens to preserve a subset of our liberties at home while our boys are off protecting us from the evil ragheads and their hatred of our freedoms? (They're obviously jealous.) Therefore, I hereby declare that it is the duty of all freedom-loving, patriotic Americans to protect our personal secrets from the terrorists who are listening to our conversations and trying to disrupt our economy by snooping in on our Internet purchases, online banking, and so on. It is therefore encumbant on us to utilize strong crypto wherever possible, even in the most routine and mundane of transactions. We must also demand that even our naughty file-sharing systems also incorporate heavy crypto, so that terrorists don't even know where to look. (As for those few bad young people who insist on stealing from the Record Companies, shame on you, but we can deal with that after our war is over.) Crypto-phones, or PGP-based Java apps in the next generation of cell phones, will also help confuse and disorient the numberless terrorists that we must assume are listening everywhere, at all times. Let us no longer bicker about political differences, for those will always exist. We need to unite NOW for the good of God, Country, and our precious freedoms. My God be with us as we struggle against evil. Tyler Durden. _ The new MSN 8 is here: Try it free* for 2 months http://join.msn.com/?page=dept/dialup
Re: Security cameras are getting smart -- and scary
My thought was that James is some kind of Fed. I suspect Chomsky is one guy they most don't want around these days. His accusations on the Chomsky dis website were technicalities and hair-splitting, even somantic. Chomsky is an in-your-face fuckin' giant. And even if you don't agree wih his politics, ya GOTTA love a guy who is that much of a pain in the ass! And, wrt some issues of US national and foreign policy, he's totally all over dat shit. -TD Chomky's da MAN...enjoy him before he 'mysteriously' dies. From: Jim Choate [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Security cameras are getting smart -- and scary Date: Sun, 12 Jan 2003 11:13:32 -0600 (CST) On Fri, 10 Jan 2003, Tyler Durden wrote: For all I know, I've been posting on a list haunted by a bunch of crypto-white supremists (crypto, as in secret, hidden). And if that's the case, then I want to know. Figured I'd ask for clarification on this issue. (And from some of May's comments in the past, it wasn't clear to me.) If that makes me a moron, so be it. There is definitely a faction of this sort on this list, has always been. Will always be. I just lump the whole kit and kaboodle into the 'CACL Contingent'. May's one of the leaders of that contingent. He's into 'freedom for me, but not for thee'. BTW...You're not the guy with the Chomsky Dis website are you? He's the one who claims Chomsky is lying and then retracts the statement. What he's got is exactly what Chomsky called it 'a joke' (and I'm no big supporter of Chomsky, either his science or his politics). I'm still waiting for James to provide the other references he claims are on that page, but aren't. He claims to have done a thorough study of Chomsky's work and developed a list of bad references and such. Though he has steadfastly refused to share it with anyone (and it is -not- on that page as he has claimed on this list several times). I asked one (and ask again) what references in 'Deterring Democracy' are bogus? I'm still waiting for a clear, honest answer to that one. I suspect it is a futile wait. -- We are all interested in the future for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives. Criswell, Plan 9 from Outer Space [EMAIL PROTECTED][EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ssz.com www.open-forge.org _ Help STOP SPAM: Try the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Security cameras are getting smart -- and scary
Holy shit! I could done better than this! (ie, I THOUGHT this would be outrageous and amusing but it kinda sucked black prison dick.) -TD From: Sleeping Vayu - Vayu Anonymous Remailer [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Security cameras are getting smart -- and scary Date: 12 Jan 2003 20:55:51 - At 09:33 PM 01/10/2003 -0500, Tyler Durden wrote: For all I know, I've been posting on a list haunted by a bunch of crypto-white supremists (crypto, as in secret, hidden). And if that's the case, then I want to know. Figured I'd ask for clarification on this issue. (And from some of May's comments in the past, it wasn't clear to me.) As a matter of fact, I and Tim May regularly go nigger hunting in the hills, me with my SKS. Tim May is not so keen on those commie guns, and usually has a good old American AR15 Of course, in the hills around here there usually are no damned niggers, but sometimes we get a pig. Niggers are pretty rare. To catch a nigger, you need the right bait. The tricky thing is to lure a nigger out of his native haunts, to someplace far away and lonely with no one knowing where he went. Fortunately a friend of ours sometimes hires some nigger pussy to give him a good time in his house out in the woods. Then of course the lady tells her numerous boyfriends about all the good stuff he has, and pretty soon there are some niggers out to rob him. They usually get caught in one of his traps, and if a couple of days pass and it seems that no one is missing that nigger, I and Tim May have a it of fun killing it. It is not really as sporting as finding one in hills, so usually we torture it a bit then give it a short head start, track it through the hills by bloodstains, and then shoot it. There are quite a few entertaining ways of torturing a nigger before you kill it. Books are one of the best -- they have the same effect on a nigger as kryptonite on superman. _ MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
[no subject]
Some dudes wrote... Japanese, for example, did not even exist in any recognizable form until long after Confucian-era texts which are still readable today. How then can a claim be made that Japanese and Chinese are the same age? The grammar is Japanese is almost unrelated to Chinese 'grammar' (what litle here is). As for reading Confucian-era texts, they are by no means readble today, and believe me I've tried. (Aside from how the characters have changed, Ancient Chinese has a lot of differences when compared to modern Chinese, which actually only goes back about a century.) But I would agree that a Chinese reader wanting to read Confucious would need to do a lot less work that a modern speaker of English trying to read Beowulf (which is prior to influence from the Latin languages, no?) -TD _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: The Plague
Actually, this may turn out to be more an academic issue than anything. If someone wanted bubonic or pnuemonic samples, all he'd have to do is just grab someone from the western hospitals that contract it each year. Contrary to popular belief, it still exists, but we have effective treatments against it. (Although when I was in China, there were cities in southern Xinjiang that had a bad bubonic problem and had to be shut from the outside world. Much worse was the HepA epidemic that hit Shanghai at the time...stores and schools were oncverted into Hep wards, and you could go there provided you brought your own bed.) -TD From: Declan McCullagh [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: The Plague Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 18:59:42 -0500 from today's white house briefing... QAnd if I can ask you one final question -- what can you tell us about the Texas Tech problem, bubonic plague samples apparently missing from a lab there? MR. FLEISCHER: I'm aware of the report, and this is a matter that the FBI and the CDC have been in touch with Texas Tech about. And anything further will come from them. That's the extent of everything I have on this now. QThey're saying that the White House has been briefed on this. MR. FLEISCHER: That's correct. QYour briefing was nothing more than -- MR. FLEISCHER: This is information that is just coming in to the White House and has been for just a short period of time, as well as to the FBI. I'm not in a position to give you any additional information at this time about it, and it's something that is being talked to with the FBI and the CDC to ascertain what all the facts are. QNot even to the extent of how much is missing, or how long it's been missing? MR. FLEISCHER: No, these are all the facts that are being ascertained as we speak. _ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Re: Petro's catch-22 incorrect (Re: citizens can be named as enemy combatants)
John Keley wrote... There are terrorists who'd want to do nasty things to us for simply allowing global trade, or for allowing trade with repressive regimes like Saudi Arabia or Nigeria, or for selling weapons to countries with bad human rights records. Hummm...kind of an odd argument, don't you think? Should it still be called terrorism if there exist those that oppose a world-wide oppressive and corrupt regime that in turn props up any petty dictator that smells as rotten as we are? Osama Bin Laden might not hate us, but *someone* would. Well, perhaps we fucked with the wrong guy. In other words, its one thing to piss off a small number of people, but if you keep stomping around the globe screwing people over and spouting tired rhetoric, you're bound to attract the attention of someone with enough money, networks, determination and religious zealotry who makes it their mission in life to take you out. Perhaps its no big coincidence that OBL is Saudi and that we've supported and propped up the repressive Saudi regime for years. (He's also stated many times that one of his goals is to topple the corrupt Saudi regime and to remove American control.) It's funny...but I think I just understood what infidel means... Even if we were just an economic giant with little foreign policy, we'd still have an impact by which countries we chose to trade with, and if someone could improve their fortunes by several billion dollars a year by finding a few gullable guys to strap dynamite to themselves and blow up shopping malls and such, I'm sure they'd do just that. Perhaps we should try it and see? Ah well. But remember, it just might be that OBL and Co are not just half a dozen guys in a Pakistani cave. Perhaps there are thousands who are almost equally angry, and every time the Israelis use one of our whiz-bangs to kill their kids, we add a few more to the roster of those willing to strap dynamite to themselves. BTW...a Muslim co-worker sardonically stated recently that our new war with Iraq is just a way to show more smart missle advertisements to the petty dictators we peddle our stuff to. -TD _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Small taste of things to come if the war on Iraq happens.
Well, our offensive against Starbucks wasn't so much against Starbucks per se. We wanted to utilize some crappy generic corporate art to auto-destroy another establishment that, at the time, was rapidly crystallizing brand consciousness in the minds of consumers. By destroying a Starbucks, we wished to introduce a crystal imperfection, so that alternate, non-corporate-driven considerations of branding might be catalyzed. We continue to maintain the right to develop truly populist forms of conception towards consumer items, independent of the desire of the coporate state. Unfortunately, we incurred our first casualty, one Robert Paulson. Note the willingness of rentacops to use deadly force to stop someone who was finished in the destruction of mere property. This, according to the establishment, was justified as an act of violence against violence. As for Starbucks itself, we have no particular qualm. -Tyler Durden From: Jay h [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Small taste of things to come if the war on Iraq happens. Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 07:45:56 -0500 -- Original Message -- From: Matthew X [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 20:47:49 +1100 street, and through the windows of a Starbucks and a Victoria's Secret. Yes all those evil weapons of mass destruction made by Victoria's Secret... they MUST BE STOPPED! The obsession with Starbucks really puzzles me. Starbucks is one of the few mass retailers that actually offers medical coverage to even part timers, it allows people to move from place to place and pick up employment at another store, their policies have always been actively supportive of people discriminated against elsewhere such as lesbian and gay, and unlike Walmart, their prices pose no threat to the beloved 'mom and pop' stores in a community. It would seem there are better targets to attack as the evil tools of oppression. j Sent via the WebMail system at 1st.net _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
RE: [linux-elitists] LOCAL Stanford University: face down the DMCA enfo (fwd)
Nobody said... Cops probably deserve *your* thanks, since they maintain *your* cash flow. Are you sayin' this guy's growing some grade-A hydroponic sensimilla? -TD _ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Dissent Takedown...a little sloppy
But that girl was really an undercover cop- surfing the web as part of a police sting operation. OK, so does this mean that the girl wasn't actually 16, just posing as a 16 year-old? (ie, when did the cops start hiring 16 year olds?) So, this guy was busted for BELIEVING that the girl was 16, but the girl was actually 24 (or whatever). That's a crime? (Not meant to be a rhetorical question.) What if I had a dream where I was humping an ostrich, or perhaps putting ole Shrub in a headlock and then kicking his ass...Or, what if Pamela Anderson told me she was 15, but that she wanted to my ? My instincts would be correct in telling me that was a mature, bang-able woman. I guess the propaganda folks are just a little tired. Could it be that they snuck out that little detail for us in protest? -TD _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Forget VOA -- new exec order creating Global Communications Office
WH Robinson wrote... convey the truth about America and the goals we share with people everywhere. I agree with your ultimate conclusions, but I'm not sure you need so much irony in interpreting these words. My favorite example is Nancy Reagan's Just say NO to drugs...she was a big-time prescription drug Junkie, right? So maybe we misunderstood. If you read with the emphasis changed, all becomes clear: Just SAY no to drugs. Likewise, convey the truth about America and the goals we share with people everywhere. This is also pretty clear, no? It basically says The truth is, our goal is to dominate the world, and we have operatives and cronies everywhere who share our goals, so stay out of our way and Don't Fuck With Us. -TD _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: The burn-off of twenty million useless eaters and minorities is about tobegin
Tim May wrote... Ain't gonna be a lot of negroes and Mexicans after this war is over. (I'm not a racist. It's their leaders and their ideology that is to blame. These leaders have led their followers to acts which cannot be forgiven, and which must be punished by death. Nearly all of them need killing for what they have done, regardless of which mischief-makers taught them their mischief.) What a bunch of silly bullshit. This is the view of blacks one gets by watching TV. The vast majority of blacks in this country don't have a leader per se. What percentage of black folks do you think follow Al Sharpton, Farrakhan, or anyone else for that matter? Ah well. Not a lot of black folks in his part of Silicon Valley, I guess. Tim May needs to get out more and stop watching COPS or whatever. -TD From: Tim May [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: The burn-off of twenty million useless eaters and minorities is about to begin Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 21:54:34 -0800 On Tuesday, January 21, 2003, at 11:55 AM, Anonymous wrote: I'm sure that I do nothing new in drawing parallels between the occurences in George Orwell's seminal text 1984 and the founding of the Information Awareness Office. It is nothing short of terrifying that someone wants to gather all digital information on anyone and everyone into a giant database for the purpose of finding out who is a social undesirable and who isn't. We are moving into another glorious age, where one may come under scrutiny due to the books and films that we rent, the clothes that we buy, and the places that we visit. This has happened before and will probably happen again and we will still probably learn nothing from it. My question is why is everyone so apathetic about this? But we're NOT apathetic about this. Many of us have acquired the usual assault rifles, explosives, etc., and we anticipate the onset of Revolution. Look to anonymous remailers, militias, and depots as the reason the free man has been preparing. I expect 20 million to die. Fortunately, 18 million of them will be the usual Democrat, Commies, welfare recipients, negro activists, and Socialist fellow travellers. The other two million will be the Bushies. And proably most of the remaining Jews will be scourged, as payment for their support of thefts, of Zionism, etc. Sounds fair to me. Ain't gonna be a lot of negroes and Mexicans after this war is over. (I'm not a racist. It's their leaders and their ideology that is to blame. These leaders have led their followers to acts which cannot be forgiven, and which must be punished by death. Nearly all of them need killing for what they have done, regardless of which mischief-makers taught them their mischief.) We should be cheerful about this upcoming burn-off of twenty million negroes, Mexicans, Jews, and liberals will mean. --Tim May _ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
Deniable Thumbdrive?
I got a hold of a little gadget recently that is very nearly perfect for certain forms of data storage. It's called a Thumbdrive and I bought it online somewhere (64Meg for about $179 or so). The cool thing about this drive (small enough that it has holes for use as a keychain) is that it's got a Public area and a private area, and the private area is accessible (if one desires) only via the little fingerprint reader on the top of the drive. (It's also USB based, and on Windows2000 and beyond you don't need any software drivers--just plug it in to a USB port and it appears as a drive). ANyway, I was wondering. I'd really like a nice software mod of this thing so that, depending on which finger I use for verification, a different private area on the drive will open (right now several users can be assigned access by the master user to use their fingerprint for access to the single private area). Of course, there should be no indication that there even IS more than one private area. So...anyone heard of such a hack/mod, or is there a straightforward way to go about doing it oneself? -TD _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Semi-Deniable Thumbdrive...
I think the best way to think about any biometric is as a very cheap, moderately hard to copy identification token. Think of it like a good ID card that just happens to be very hard to misplace or lend to your friends. Well, if I was smuggling capacitors into Iraq I certainly wouldn't use a thumbdrive! But the above is pretty much the way I see it: 'reglar' folks can't 'figure out' my thumbprint, and couldn't use binoculars or whatever to see my password. More importantly, I don't have a lot of time to try to come up with some soft/hard gadget on my own these days. I pretty much need to be able to BUY something and come up to speed pretty quickly on how to use it. I need it like sex: cheap/dirty/fast. I can't really spend a lot of time worrying about some hyper-evil, hyper-powerful fed (just yet). Aside from the deniability aspect, another upgrade would be for me to be able to use my thumbprint as a PGP password. Then this thumbdrive wouldn't be readable via some off-the-shelf pin reader that any helpdesk knucklehead could buy. SO both of these upgrades might be available by fairly simple hacks, or by pestering Trek for them. I wouldn't have to spend a few weeks down in Dexter's laboratory coming up with a completely new, God-proof device. And then as further easy upgrades become available, I'll grab 'em. And who knows? With enough little hacks, some gadgets may eventually morph into inexpensive but quite fierce little black boxes. (As guitarist Robert Fripp has said: Incremental changes are transformative.) -TD Cheap, fast, easy, and MASSIVELY scalability: that's the real end-run. From: John Kelsey [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Eugen Leitl [EMAIL PROTECTED], Thomas Shaddack [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: Ben Laurie [EMAIL PROTECTED], Tyler Durden [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Deniable Thumbdrive? Date: Sun, 26 Jan 2003 22:16:52 -0500 At 10:06 PM 1/24/03 +0100, Eugen Leitl wrote: ... Frankly, the fingerprint is a lousy secret: you leak it all over the place. You can't help it, unless you're wearing gloves all the time. Ditto DNA. That's generally true of biometrics. Unless taking the measurement is so intrusive it's obvious when it's taken (e.g., maybe the geometry of your sinus cavities or some such thing that requires a CAT scan to measure properly), there's no secret. People constantly seem to get themselves in trouble trying to use biometrics in a system as though they were secret. The best you can usually do is to make it moderately expensive and difficult to actually copy the biometric in a way that will fool the reader. But this is really hard. In fact, making special-purpose devices that are hard to copy or imitate is pretty difficult. It seems enormously harder to find a hard-to-copy, easy-to-use token that just happens to come free with a normal human body. I think the best way to think about any biometric is as a very cheap, moderately hard to copy identification token. Think of it like a good ID card that just happens to be very hard to misplace or lend to your friends. --John Kelsey, [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Re: [IP] OASIS takes up lawful intercept standardization (fwd)
XML-specification? Sounds like one of Variola's posts: bulletableNoam Chomskybulletable commie-fagsDC Anti-war Protestcommie-fags nonAmericanelectrifiedPlungerHandleMohammedAkbarelectrifiedPlungerHandlenonAmerican -TD From: Eugen Leitl [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [IP] OASIS takes up lawful intercept standardization (fwd) Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 14:51:55 +0100 (CET) -- Forwarded message -- Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2003 08:29:40 -0500 From: Dave Farber [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: ip [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [IP] OASIS takes up lawful intercept standardization via slashdot: http://xml.coverpages.org/LawfulInterceptTC.html OASIS Members to Create Framework for Global Sharing of Criminal and Terrorist Evidence XML Specification Will Deliver Reliable Authentication and Auditing to Safeguard Privacy and Increase Effectiveness of Lawful Intercepts Boston, MA, USA. January 23, 2003. The OASIS standards consortium today announced the formation of a new technical committee to develop a universal global framework for supporting rapid discovery and sharing of suspected criminal and terrorist evidence by law enforcement agencies. The OASIS LegalXML Lawful Intercept XML (LI-XML) Technical Committee was formed to meet critical needs emerging from several national and intergovernmental mandates around the world, including the recently passed United States Homeland Security Information Sharing Act of 2002, the new Lawful Intercept additional protocol of the European Convention on Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, and e-Government mandates in Europe and the United States. As the ability for criminals and terrorists to access technology increases, the challenge for law enforcement to detect, comply with legal process, and implement evidence discovery tools also grows, noted Anthony M. Rutkowski of VeriSign, chair of the OASIS LegalXML LI-XML Technical Committee. Government agencies as well as providers of electronic communication services worldwide will benefit from uniform XML schema that facilitates fully electronic receipt, authentication, and implementation of lawful process. Rutkowski added that the enhanced precision, authentication, and audit features provided by LI-XML will result in greater public trust in the traditionally sensitive area of legal discovery. As part of the OASIS LegalXML Member Section, the LI-XML specification will be designed to support an end-to-end legal process where law enforcement, justice, and security agencies are the principal beneficiaries. LI-XML Technical Committee members plan to work closely with related OASIS efforts including the LegalXML Electronic Court Filing and OASIS e-Government Technical Committees. LI-XML is the latest in a growing number of OASIS Technical Committees that address the needs of the public sector, noted Karl Best, vice president of OASIS. We are encouraged to see government agencies and representatives from around the globe joining OASIS to advance this effort, along with our e-Government, Tax XML and other LegalXML initiatives. Participation in the OASIS LegalXML LI-XML Technical Committee remains open to all organizations and individuals. OASIS will host an open mail list for public comment, and completed work will be freely available to the public without licensing or other fees. Information on joining OASIS can be found on http://www.oasis-open.org/join. About OASIS OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) is a not-for-profit, global consortium that drives the development, convergence, and adoption of e-business standards. Members themselves set the OASIS technical agenda, using a lightweight, open process expressly designed to promote industry consensus and unite disparate efforts. OASIS produces worldwide standards for security, Web services, XML conformance, business transactions, electronic publishing, topic maps and interoperability within and between marketplaces. Founded in 1993, OASIS has more than 2,000 participants representing over 300 companies as well as individual members in 100 countries around the world. For more information: Carol Geyer Director of Communications OASIS Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Voice: +1.978.667.5115 x209 - You are subscribed as [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe or update your address, click http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/ _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Palm Pilot Handshake
Yo! Anyone out there in codeville know if the following is possible? I'd like to be able digitally shake hands using a Palm Pilot. Is this possible? What I mean is, Let's say some disgruntled and generic crypto-kook (let's call him, say,...'Tyler Durden') has been signing his (tiring) cyber-missives with a public key. And now let's say there's some guy at a party claiming to be that very same Tyler Durden, but you're not so sure (this real-life Tyler Durden is WAY too much of an obvious chick-magnet to be the same guy that posts on the Internet). BUT, you happen to have your Palm Pilot(TM), and so does he. So you both both engage the little hand-shaking app on your PP (using Tyler Durden's public key) and there's verification. Yep. Same dude. (You then procede to prostrate yourself before this obvious godlet, stating I'm not worthy, Sire.) Is this possible within the memory constraints of a Palm device? What about with a booster pack of memory? If not, is some sort of Public Key Masking possible so that a 'less secure' handshake is possible using a subset of the public key? And for extra credit, when might the chipsets be available for incorporating this functionality into, say, a wristwatch so that the protocol runs automatically (giving you a beep, for instance, only if there's a mismatch)? (This I'm sure the feds must already have.) -TD _ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
RE: the news from bush's speech...H-power
And don't forget his promise that we'll all be able to buy Hydrogen-powered cars by 2020 or so. Guess that's how long he thinks this war on terrorism will last (and its probability for ending!). -TD _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: [DIGRESSION] RE: the news from bush's speech...H-power
Mike Rossing wrote... Just gotta kill off a few more arabs to extend the time when that happens is all. That gives me a damned good idea. Perhaps we can use Camp XRay to do some research on how to melt down Muslims and convert then directly into fossil fuels, bypassing all the middlemen...Muslim-powered vehicles could sport a cute lil' sticker proclaiming Allah On Board. -TD _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: the news from bush's speech...H-power
Tim May wrote... Ask why the U.S.S.R., which depended essentially solely on federal funding, failed so completely. Hint: it wasn't just because of repression. It was largely because picking winners doesn't work, and command economies only know how to pick winners (they think). Well, there's some truth here but a lot of oversimplification as well. I'd argue that the US patent system (or at least the thoughtof it) had a lot to do with the ability of inventors to take risks, gather startup capital, and get a product rolling. There is first of all the perception that their secret sauce is to some extent protected (as are the time $ investments), as well as the actual protection (litigation actually works once in a while, and the threat thereof has kept some from copying to soon and too closely). This environment has had a major effect on technological innovation. That's not to say it can't happen in other environments, but it seems to unfold very differently in, say, China or the USSR (which actually has contributed lots of technological and scientific ideas to the world). But none of them have benefited $$$-wise (nor has the pace been nearly as fast) as in the US. Meanwhile, regulations and governments can give some industries a head start, particularly if a jungle already holds a nice warm niche for the output of those industries. Thus Sematec helped US semiconductors to roar back from the brink of extinction, and the buying up (and subsequent dismantling) of lite rail systems in the LA basin in the 30s and 40s apparently had a major impact on the rollout of vehicles Might we have seen much better public transportation in that area if this capitalist coup-d'etat hadn't occurred? The moon shots did apparently accelerate the development of semiconductors. (A side note should be made here about the fact that some technologies have a very high activation energy barrier...without a very intensive amount of capital, they can't happen. Indeed, aren't we nearly at that point with sub-0.13um technology? It is possible that further advances just won't be possible without direct or indirect government funding.) The best technology does not always win. In fact, the concept of best technology is kinda shakey most of the time. There are sociological, political, and other factors than can alter the course of things for a while. That said, the technological survival of the fittest notion seems to be a fairly constant undercurrent that re-asserts itself periodically as the various sociological ephemera come and go. Like Kuhn or Popper, these aren't the only drivers, but they are certainly one of the axes. So the picking of technological winners is possible, but if the technology is actually a winner! -TD From: Tim May [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: the news from bush's speech...H-power Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 16:08:08 -0800 On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 02:24 PM, Eugen Leitl wrote: Feds are sure inefficient, but the random dispersal of funds does tend to hit the far shots now and then. The private sector tends to ruthlessly optimize on the short run (because the long shot doesn't pay if you go broke before you can reap the possible benefits). It's about the single most powerful reason for federally funded research to exist. I should have mentioned in my first reply that you need to spend some time looking into evolutionary learning and markets. For example, the importance of quick feedback and correction, with profits determining which markets are explored. I have strong views on this, having studied the electronics/semiconductor market for many years, having studied carefully the role of intermediate products (such as RTL -- DTL -- TTL -- op amps -- MOS RAMs -- 4-bit microprocessors -- etc.). Products introduced in 1963, say, were generally making the bulk of a company's profits by 1965-66, paying for the 1965 R D and the 1966 product rollouts, which then paid for the 1967-69 cycle, etc. I know this was true of the earlier technologies and it matched everything I saw in my years at Intel and thereafter. The 2-4 year payback cycle in the electronics industry, from roughly 1955 to the present, was terribly important. Each generation of technology paid for the next generation, and costly mistakes resulted in companies ceasing to exist (Shockley Transistor, Rheem, Precision Monolithics, and so on...the list is long). Successful products led to the genes (or memes) propagating. Phenotypes and genotypes. This same model gave us, basically, the commercial automobile and aviation industries. Moon shots, on the other hand, distort markets, suffer from a lack of evolutionary learning, and have almost no breakthroughs (But what about Tang?). I am proud to announce, as your President, the goal of creating our national mechanical brain, a machine which will be built with one million relays and vacuum tubes. I am committing
Re: [DIGRESSION] RE: the news from bush's speech...H-power
Tim May wrote... Then there's safety, and personal injury insurance rates. If my 3500-pound S-Class hits a Prius, the laws of physics dictate what happens. And if I hit a golf cart, er, a Honda Lupo, I'd better yell Fore! That's what it came down to for me. In the 80s I swore I'd never buy some yuppie status symbol like a Mercedes, but after the Russians moved into my neighborhood (and I saw how they drive), I bought a gas-guzzling Mercedes SUV when my son was born. I mourned the loss of the environment and felt a little guilty, but in the end it came down to something far more basic than philosphy or whatever. (I might still be convincable that I did something bad, but I don't really give a crap.) Indeed, after I squashed a family of four riding in a Honda, I stepped down from my Mercedes and noticed a tiny spatter of blood on my bumper: You fucked up my Mercedes! Is what I told them as their last few moments of life ebbed away -TD From: Tim May [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [DIGRESSION] RE: the news from bush's speech...H-power Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 18:38:11 -0800 On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 04:23 PM, Harmon Seaver wrote: On Wed, Jan 29, 2003 at 03:36:20PM -0800, Mike Rosing wrote: On Wed, 29 Jan 2003, Harmon Seaver wrote: Although canola oil is a much better source for fuel. And diesels a much better IC engine for hybrids. Even in non-hybrids, VW builds some pretty nice diesel cars, including the Lupo, on the market for a couple years now, which gets 80mpg. And the prototype that VW's CEO drives around in that gets 280mpg. From http://www.used-volkswagen-cars.co.uk/volkswagenlupo.htm: As befits a small car, the cheapest models come with a 1.0-litre engine that is decent enough, though finds it hard going on the motorway. Hard going on the motorway? It cruises at 80mph. And as much as I love riding bicycles, even in Winter, the Lupo certainly has a lot more practical uses than a bike. Even neater is their new one tho -- http://www.vwvortex.com/news/index_1L.html It too will do 75mph -- fast enough for the likes of me. At 239mpg. What's that saying about muscle cars? Something about the size of their motors is an inverse ratio to the size of their dicks? It's an old and silly line. I value my life quite highly. I put about 8000 miles per year on my main car (and about 4000 miles per year on an older SUV I used to haul large items, etc.). My car gets about 20 mpg. This costs me about $700 per year in gasoline. Some of the leftie/environmentalists on another list I am on attempted to argue, strenuously, that I owed it to the planet and to yourself to start driving a Prius, a hybrid that the enthusiasts say averages around 40 mpg. Whatever the exact number, if it is 40 mpg it would save me about $300-400 per year in gas, depending on the grade of gas it takes. (Of course, my 1991 Mercedes-Benz is bought and paid for, and costs less than a Prius by about $6000-$9000, based on blue book comparisons of early 90s MBs to late 90s-early 00s Priusi. Saving $350 a year will take 15-25 years to amortize, modulo others costs.) Then there's safety, and personal injury insurance rates. If my 3500-pound S-Class hits a Prius, the laws of physics dictate what happens. And if I hit a golf cart, er, a Honda Lupo, I'd better yell Fore! (Here's a quote about the size: Developed in the wind tunnel and built entirely from composite carbon-fiber reinforced material, it has a width of only 1.25 m (49.2 inches) and is just over a meter high (39 inches).) Since my life and my safety is vastly more valuable to me than saving $350-$600 a year in gas, I'll be keeping my 3500-pound S-Class. (Actually, the little golf car runabouts are slightly popular (maybe one car in 2000 is one of these golf carts) near the downtown beach area around here. But not on the California freeways, and most definitely not the on the highway which consumes most of my driving: the mountainous Highway 17 between Santa Cruz and San Jose, with 18-wheelers only a foot away. I wouldn't want to be sitting inside a golf cart just over a meter high when the wheels of an 18-wheeler are taller!) And then there's the issue of carrying passengers, cargo, plus the availability of repairs in small towns, etc. A lot of theoretically good solutions fail for market reasons, what someone correctly said is Metcalfe's Law, or the fax effect. Until fueling stations carry exotic fuels, or until all cars and trucks are reduced to golf cart sizes, the disadvantages outweigh the slight savings in fuel costs. I'm quite surprised to see, on this list and on other lists, the ignorance of basic economics. Markets clear. Gas costs what it costs. To argue that there is a moral cost to consider, as some on those other lists have been arguing, is silly. Prisoner's Dilemma and all the usual arguments apply. It's why I'll be safer when I run into Harmon on the
Roger Rabbit says: Bullshit
I don't really understand why examining the current state of affairs in US transportation is productive. Who built the highway system? Private companies? Hell no. Basically, the US government did, and that acted as the initial investment to make the value of an automobile (via the Network Effect) very high. So in a sense, the US government has occasionally placed some bets on technology that arguably paid off. So the large activation energy needed to get some technologies rolling is sometimes too large for any one company, so once in a while a government can do something useful. (This is not to say that they should...I'm willing to concede that such payoffs are largely accidental.) Meanwhile, public transportation in the US sucks precisely because the government has always sided with big business. there's no real motivation to build a usable mass transportation system in most of the urban areas, despite the fact that such systems can and do work (here in NYC, and throughout Europe and the far East). My point is not inherently statist per se, just that things are never black and white. Government doesn't HAVE to be stupid and useless, is just almost always is. As for the Roger Rabbit plot, that actually happened, and the events of Roger Rabbit were loosely based on them. Would that lightrail system have slowly evolved into a useful mass transit system for the LA basin? Possibly, but possibly not. _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: The burn-off of twenty million useless eaters and minorities is aQ
Tom Veil wrote... According to the most recent Census data, blacks currently account for around 12.6 percent, or 35.5 million, Even if 20 million are liquidated, there will still be plenty of vermin around to replenish their numbers. -- Tom Veil So what's the deal with hating black folks? I still don't get it. Of course, there's the old They Eat Up Welfare Money bullshit, but aside from the fact that Whites eat up more welfare (absolute and percentage), why get mad at folks if they take $$$ that are given to them? In the case of black folks, however, this is a population that has not been well served by the US system, despite their disproportionate contributions (Trane, Monk, Bird, Miles anyone?). As for me I grew up in a very tough black neighborhood in NYC, and lost a front tooth to a black fist. (When I was a kid that is. Not a lot of people even here would try something like that with me now.) So I theoretically have the right to hate. But the fact is that if you live with black folks, you see there's really not a hell of a lot of difference between them and whites in this country (except they don't seem to like meat cooked medium rare for some reason). -TD _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
The news from May's peech...Narc-power
You folks here pay lip service to aspect of free markets and anarcho-capitalism,but many of you consistently fail to see the follow-through, the applicability to the world around you. You need to have faith that greed is good, that free markets optimize a lot better than planners in Washington or Tokyo or Moscow do. And while no planning job is ever perfect, no optimization makes everybody happy, at least with free markets there is not the coercion and graft which feeds the state. Let's take a look at this for a second. Why do I need to have faith that greed is good? Even IF this statement is true, so what? Is this another way of saying, If only everyone in the world thought like Tim May the world would be a better place? Sorry. As a trained physicist-cum-engineer, I know that the physical world has never been well described by any one theory. Depending on context, EM, QM, Mechanics, Hamiltonian Dynamics, QED, Classical or Neo-classic optics are all still quite useful and necessary. And I don't expect the world of people and their ideas to be any simpler. So why the insistence on not only anarcho-capitalist, but YOUR version of it? You seem to respond strongly to very surface-level issues in not only my posts (which you frankly do not comprehend most of the time) but others as well, often bringing any real discourse to a halt. In other words, there seems to be a need for some kind of May-ian Orthodoxy. Me? I grew up here in NYC in the 70s, where/when Punk began (please, no one out in the sticks there try to tell me about the Brits inventing Punk, and I'll spare us the history lesson). In a sense, this term has packed in it the very essence of anti-Orthodoxy. We (yes we) spoke with our axes and sheer, raw energy. (This was later interpreted as some kind of rebellion against Prog, but that's only true for the Brits.) When I first became acquainted with the term Cypherpunk, I thought the notion would be similar: Who gives a crap what your philosophy is as long as your putting out some 'fuck-you-powered' Cryto Apps, or at least emanating SOMETHING from that spirit. This list, at least in the Fraunhoffer region, does on some level emanate a Punk attitude, and tolerating the presence of a crypto-fascist or two is something of a consequence. But I'm sick of seeing the Tim May cops come out every time someone suggests a different political notion. In the end, if Tim May truly wants to see Crypto Anarchy come about, then he should shut up more often and allow any political stripe (whether they are 'right' or 'wrong') find their own need for heavy crypto. This can only further his stated goals. Being the list's Narc only drives away those that might have some very powerful ideas, but who don't necessarily agree with the universe May paints. -TD Oh, and this isn't meant to be a pure slam. I actually agree with a solid percentage of what May writes. And there are issues he does seem to understand fairly well (others he THINKS he understands well, too). SO this isn't about who is right or wrong on any set of issues. It's about ALLOWING TO BE WRONG, or right, or fucking whatever, and allowing for a free exchange of ideas amongst a very diverse group of people. _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Passenger rail is for adventurers and bums
One more reasons passenger rail lines are failing and are demanding massive subsidies. Real people won't wait for hours for late trains, or miss a day completely when the track is being repaired, or park their Lexuses and BMWs where bums and winos will key their paint jobs. Railroads are for hoboes and untermenschen. Basically true, except where its not. Here in the Northeast we've seen a resurgence in both rail usage as well as rail quality, as old roads simply can't be expanded through many towns to accomodate the increased traffic loads. Not only are the express trains reliable and quite fast, some of the stations along the route have been rennovated and mall-ated, and are doing quite well. The DC station is quite nice (verging on spectacular)and offers lots of good food and shops. (Local trains, for the 'plebes', are a completely different story.) Of course, the population densities along this route are very high, but the DC station gives one and example of what is occasionally possible with central planning. Basically, if the commons are allowed to deteriorate (or of no real use) people will of course find alternatives (if the alternatives are allowed, that is). This doesn't always mean those alternatives are inherently the best, however. Next year the new/old Penn station is set to open on its original location, and that should make traveling through Penn much less of the claustrophobic chaos it is now. -TD From: Tim May [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Passenger rail is for adventurers and bums Date: Thu, 30 Jan 2003 21:44:32 -0800 On Thursday, January 30, 2003, at 07:39 PM, Neil Johnson wrote: On Thursday 30 January 2003 10:12 am, Declan McCullagh wrote: On Thu, Jan 30, 2003 at 07:32:10AM -0800, Marshall Clow wrote: 3) Train - about 17 hours - $130 round trip. Out here in the Midwest, we have people creating committees all the time to encourage Amtrak to add/change routes. As my dad says, There's a lot of people who want to take a train ride, but no one who wants to ride a train. Amtrak does go through my town on it's way to/from Chicago/California. Other than the fact our departure was delayed SIX hours because the train was that late, my wife and I had a nice trip to Chicago for our one year anniversary. Besides the late schedules--which is made worse by the once per day schedule--and the time it takes, there's another issue. I used to occasionally take the Coast Starlight from San Jose down to San Luis Obispo to visit a girlfriend going to Cal Poly at the time. The all day trip was OK, as I didn't trust my car at the time to make it the entire distance. It was fun for the few times I took it, though missing my arrival time by a few hours was not cool...I eventually just got to the point of calling her when I arrived instead of her planning to meet me. Various times the train was cancelled completely, for various reasons, though I escaped these bad situations on the days I travelled. What was really bad was that the train stations in all of the cities I could have parked my car in were in really crummy parts of town. Leaving a car for several days in that scummy part of Santa Clara, or the even scummier part of San Jose, or the much more Mexican and much more crime-ridden part of Salinas, well, this was a major gamble. Amtrak had no security on the parking lot (not our job) and ragged signs warned that cars were subject to vandalism and break-in. There is simply no way today I would leave my Mercedes in one of these inner city mutant free fire zones. And taking a taxi from Santa Cruz to either San Jose or Salinas is not acceptable, for cost reasons. (Nor is the shuttle, which requires me to travel by bus with my luggage to Santa Cruz, then another hour to the train station.) A world of difference between these downtown parking lots and the protected, fenced, patrolled parking lots at all major airports I have seen. Part of this is historical, part is logistical. Railroads typically go through the seedier parts of large cities, while airports are typically built on sprawling sites far from city centers. Downtown railroad stations are like downtown Greyhound and Trailways bus stations: filled with winos, addicts, drooling retards, beggars, whores, and welfare denizens. One more reasons passenger rail lines are failing and are demanding massive subsidies. Real people won't wait for hours for late trains, or miss a day completely when the track is being repaired, or park their Lexuses and BMWs where bums and winos will key their paint jobs. Railroads are for hoboes and untermenschen. --Tim May _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
SSL to replace IPSec in VPNs
From the Lightreading newswire feed... Any comments? Impact statement anyone? -TD SOMERSET, N.J. -- More than 75 percent of survey respondents believe that browser-based SSL (secure sockets layer) VPN (virtual private network) technology is somewhat to highly likely to replace IPSec-based VPNs for remote access to enterprise resources over the next two years, according to the latest survey on enterprise network security trends from The Tolly Group, a premier IT testing and consulting firm. Netilla® Networks, Inc., a leading provider of SSL VPN solutions for secure Web-based access to any corporate application, co-sponsored the survey along with Check Point Software, Nortel Networks, Ingrian Networks and Enterasys Networks. Survey respondents also projected that the most likely future uses for SSL VPNs will be for securing Web services (67 percent), followed by securing extranets and e-business services (54 percent), providing remote access for business partners (50 percent) and enabling remote access by mobile and teleworking employees (48 percent). SSL-based VPN appliances use the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption engineered into todays Web browsers to provide simple, browser-based remote access to centrally hosted corporate applications. Unlike traditional remote access solutions based on the IPSec standard, SSL-based VPNs do not require application or VPN client software to be configured and maintained on remote PCs, which reduces IT support costs while increasing usability. Overall, respondents demonstrated a significant surge in the usage of SSL-based VPNs, said Kevin Tolly, president and chief executive officer of The Tolly Group. Just two years ago, SSL VPNs were nowhere on the map, but now interest in the technology is starting to mature. However, these same users also cited a lack of general understanding on how to deploy SSL VPNs as a potential roadblock. Vendors must step up SSL education to help users better understand the benefits of this technology. Tolly Group _ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: punk and free markets
Michael Motyka wrote... Now to return your serve : back to NYC, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground 1966. White Light White Heat 1967. As close to the egg as I can place any band in style and in spirit. If it were necessary to name one band as the progenitors of punk the Velvet Underground gets my vote. Gold star. Velvet Underground is definitely ground zero for Punk to my ears, but with this recent set of pre-Velvets minimalist releases (eg, Dream Theater, with LaMount Young, John Cale--who helped start the band I was in, and others), the stage was somewhat set. (Auto-edit on the history of early NYC-centric punk rock and its analogy to the Cypherpunks list.) -TD _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Life Sentence for Medical Marijuana?
Great how bush's daughter, the cocaine addict, isn't in jail, but this man, who was deputized by the city of oakland to grow this marijuana, is going to be in jail for 20 years. Bush himself was arrested for DUI, I wish he was rotting in jail instead of ed. Hold it...Bush's relationship with Cocaine is on a first name basis at least. What's this about him as Governer of Texas flying the same plane that had supposedly moved the cocaine for the drugs-for-guns part of Iran Contra? And then there's the PERSISTENT rumors of him actually taking an accidental DEA bust in a Florida airport after landing a fresh new cargo. Supposedly this was a bit of a snafu and they had to let him go on the hush-hush...(And I keep hearing there's video of that bust.) Do some fishing around on http://www.spitfirelist.com/ftr.html and you'll eventually see the references. OK, maybe it's conspiracy theory crapola, but when you start seeing a LONG list of dates/times/places, you begin to wonder that perhaps at least a subset is true. -TD PS: I personally think it would be a waste for that hot little coke slut to get locked away. _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: punk and free markets
Tim May wrote... Silliness. The name cypherpunks was a pun on cyberpunks, a pun suggested by Jude Milhon, a woman writer for Mondo 2000 at the time. Being that there is no body which decides what our group is called, or even that it _is_ a group, saying that someone's pun on top of someone else's pun means some political ideology attached to degenerates like Sid Vicious, the Dead Kennedy's, etc., is pure silliness. Whether even cyberpunks had anything substantive to do with the so-called punk music scene is debatable, but cypherpunks certainly did not. The political ideology of all musical punks I have met is decidedly leftist, and not in the way libertarians often like. Rather, the leftists of British socialism, of American Democrat statists, and of Trotskyites in general. Sometimes I keep asking myself if the author of statements like these is really pretending Guru-like to be clueless just to elicit a response. But it's obvious here that whoever Tim May is he's just about clueless. In the discussions about the meaning of the suffix -punk I don't remember seeing any suggestion that Cypherpunks had any connection politically or music-wise to punk music. The posts were meant to explore what quintessentially punk flavorings might be implied by the name or that may be reflected in the overall makeup of the list. And yes, I was aware of where the term originated from, and it was clear to me that the intent of the naming was to imply a sort of anti-establishment don't give a crap we're going to code and unload crypto apps attitude. And to some extent, the list (no, not a group, but a set of lists with the name cypherpunks) has aspects of that character. But it always pisses me off when I see the local jocks or other thoughtpolice come on out and enforce whatever ideology it is desired we bow down to. Hmmm...a song lyric comes to mind... If you've come to fight, get outa here You ain't no better than the bouncers We ain't trying to be police When you ape the cops it ain't anarchy (From Nazi Punks Fuck Off by the Dead Kennedys) _ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Re: Shuttle Diplomacy
Well, one little trick I learned from the natives from living in China is to see what's being denied the most vehemently. If, over the next few days, they keep saying It's not a missle, it's not a missle, then you KNOW it's a fuckin missle. (It worked a little differently in China...if they thought Deng Xiao Peng and whoever was having a lot of political friction, they'd wait to see if there were lots of pictures in the papers of those two guys shaking hands. Then they'd know the rumors were confirmed.) Another sign to look for is the doublethink sign...if some theory is being discussed that seems pretty important but then a few days later there's absolutely no more mention of it, then that's a real good candidate for the truth. -TD From: Thomas Shaddack [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Shuttle Diplomacy Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 03:59:13 +0100 (CET) One of the current theories floating around has to do with a piece of debris that flew off the booster rocket during take-off and collided with the left wing (where the problems began). The video of the take-off was reviewed in great detail and it was determined that it was innocent, considering the proximity of the problems and the debris there appears to be at least something worth investigating. According to Slashdot, the ground control started to lose data from shuttle's sensors; first from the back of the left wing, then spreading forward, then all the shuttle went dead. Sounds like a structural damage. The takeoff damage could've been a contributing factor; one single slightly loosened tile can be deadly in such speeds. I just hope they won't mothball the ISS... _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Flaming the Clueless
Jesus H(I assume the 'H' was instered to avert the condemnation of blasphemy)...quite a good post. Heard and duly noted. -TD From: John Young [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Flaming the Clueless Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 09:32:47 -0800 (PST) It's common for those accomplished in one field to believe that ability is confidently transferrable to another, in particular for social, political and religious matters -- and vice versa. Endeavors which require close, sustained concentration and logical methodologies seldom help with challenges which require noodling, free-form creativity, openness to disagreement, compromise. And vice versa. Disaster looms when a logical minded person gains political power and sets out to arrange a nation into a perfect society as if a machine for sharply controlled output. And vice versa when a muddled-headed dreamer sets out to design and manufacture physical structures. Yet again and again this happens: logical nuts get into positions of political power -- left, right and center, anarcho and theological -- and all to often millions suffer, and multi-thousands are murdered. Or an all-loving putz so narcotizes adherents to believe heaven on earth is at hand that mass suicide occurs, not least by letting a logical nut annihilate the willing victims. Cluelessness abounds, not only on cpunks but in all fields, almost as commonplace as clueless flaming. Flaming the clueless is perfect proof that flamers are no wiser than those they mimic. Never let an over-confident thinker run anything except bath water and never obey a beloved mush-brain calling for war. Yet here we are, flaming the clueless at hand as if whistling is courageous deep-thinking. Auto-didact, heal your ignorance, to be sure, a contradiction. _ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: punk and free markets
Declan: Yes perhaps. I try not to think too much (I don't trust 'thinking' unless its mathematics or a good experimental setup), but I'll ponder for a while, to the extent that I am able -TD From: Declan McCullagh [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Tyler Durden [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: punk and free markets Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 00:48:40 -0500 On Sat, Feb 01, 2003 at 06:33:50PM -0500, Tyler Durden wrote: name cypherpunks) has aspects of that character. But it always pisses me off when I see the local jocks or other thoughtpolice come on out and enforce whatever ideology it is desired we bow down to. Jocks enforcing ideology seems to me to be a concept coterminous with flaming the clueless. :) -Declan _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Touching shuttle debris may cause bad spirits to invade your body!
Tim May wrote... Last laugh: CNN is carrying (10:06 a.m. PST) an information slug at the bottom of a Wolf Blitzer interview: Columbia was traveling 18 times faster than the speed of light. Yes, speed of light. Yo Choate! Want to take a crack at this? Please explain using your theories how the shuttle can be traveling 18 times faster than light! -TD Ain't I a stinker? BB From: Tim May [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Touching shuttle debris may cause bad spirits to invade your body! Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 10:19:27 -0800 Journalists may as well be saying the above, saying that shuttle debris has evil spirits which can come out if the debris is touched. Part of the dumbing down of America, and of journalism. (I just heard one Fox News anchorbimbo referring to the Russian rocket launched today as bringing supplies to the space station.) The journalists are spouting the NASA line that shuttle debris may be hot and may have dangerous substances. Right. As if the heat and spinning and 12000 mph turbulence hasn't scrubbed every surface of its volatiles. What they want is for people not to collect the pieces and hang on to them on their fireplace mantles. Or to try to sell them at flea markets and EBay. But the only way they think they can frighten people off is to utter obvious gibberish about how the pieces are hot and may be toxic. DALLAS (AP) - From corrosive fuels to ammonia-like liquids, insulation and plastics, space shuttle Columbia carried a witch's brew of toxic and caustic materials designed to work in the hostile environment of space. Authorities warned the public to stay away from shuttle debris because it could be harmful. Perry said either liquid oxygen from the shuttle's fuel system or liquid nitrogen used to inflate the tires could be dangerous. Right. Those charred and warped pieces of metal are going to have liquid oxygen and/or liquid nitrogen on them...after the fall and after sitting on the ground (not to mentioned being so hot, other NASA droids and reporters report). (Needless to say, any look at the images of the designated officials picking up the bits of debris shows no HAZMAT suits, no welding gloves to deal with the hot debris. The pickup crews are just wearing ordinary coveralls and uniforms.) Last laugh: CNN is carrying (10:06 a.m. PST) an information slug at the bottom of a Wolf Blitzer interview: Columbia was traveling 18 times faster than the speed of light. Yes, speed of light. Speaking of journalists, why does Wolf Blitzer repeat this obvious lie about the metal bits and pieces being tainted by evil spirits? Because these so-called journalists are stooges for the state. A real journalist would just roll his eyes and say Look, folks, NASA wants these pieces to be aid in reconstructing the accident. There are no traces of liquid propellants and deadly chemicals on these pieces. And they certainly didn't stay hot for long. NASA is trying to get us to feed you jive so you'll be properly frightened and won't touch them.? --Tim May, Occupied America They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759. _ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Gullible Journalists
John Kelsey wrote... For some reason I've never been able to fathom, many journalists seem to be remarkably gullable, when they're told something from the right kind of source, especially a government agency or other official source. Chomsky (dig around on http://www.zmag.org/weluser.htm) and others have commented on this quite a bit. What it seems to boil down to is a sort of natural selection. Basically, it works like this: 1) Government is releasing some cool smart-bomb commercials, erh I mean video to a few select news sources. 2) NBC sends a questioning, smart, well-informed dude to said press conference. 3) During said smart-bomb footage notices the Arabic word for Hospital on the top of the smart-bombs target, and asks Is that a hospital? 4) Government takes NBC off list of cool insider info: Can't be trusted, not playing ball 5) NBC, now out in the cold, assigns said informed journalist to covering Ruwanda or other low-profile stuff, and assures military officials that they'll send someone a little more cooperative next time. I'm exagerating for effect here of course...there's possibly not as much conscious decision making, and supposedly this kind of list-making happens for much quieter, insider stuff (not smart bomb footage). But clearly, there's got to be SOMETHING like this happening. -TD _ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Life Sentence for Medical Marijuana?
Ken Brown wrote... Oh, PERSISTENT rumours eh? So they must be true. The TRANSIENT sort are just a pack of lies. No, not saying that. But in Bush's case there's a long enough trail of circumstatial evidence to merit some investigation.e AND, totally unfounded rumors tend to go away. Rumors that don't go away seem to have some kind of validity to them on average underneath. And in this particular case, given the larger-scale goings on with the CIA, Drug running and Daddy Bush, this does not seem wildly improbable. (I see from the email you're across the pond, so perhaps you are unaware of the fact that Daddy Bush was head of the CIA in the 70s? And then there was the drugs-for-guns part of Iran Contra, and then Bush Jr while Governer having a pilot's license and regularly flying the plane that had previously moved the drugs for Iran Contra, and the San Jose Mercury Chronicle expose discussing the moving of drugs by the CIA in the 80s and 90s into minority-inhabited inner cities...after these fairly undisputed facts, hearing that Bush Jr took a patriotic bust running drugs into the US doesn't seem even too shocking.) From: Ken Brown [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Life Sentence for Medical Marijuana? Date: Mon, 03 Feb 2003 20:07:52 + Tyler Durden wrote: And then there's the PERSISTENT rumors of him actually taking an accidental DEA bust in a Florida airport after landing a fresh new cargo. Supposedly this was a bit of a snafu and they had to let him go on the hush-hush...(And I keep hearing there's video of that bust.) Oh, PERSISTENT rumours eh? So they must be true. The TRANSIENT sort are just a pack of lies. _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Passenger rail is for adventurers and bums
That's redundant in the modern US. Too bad; there needs to be a counterbalance to the right-wing control freaks, but the left just isn't up to it. Good comment. Indeed, the only thing the Democrats seem to stand for is that they aren't republicans. Meanwhile, the economics of the 'real' left leaves them with a big fat credibility hole right in the center, so no one listens to their politics either. -TD From: Steve Furlong [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Passenger rail is for adventurers and bums Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 18:31:03 -0500 On Friday 31 January 2003 12:40, Tim May wrote: On Friday, January 31, 2003, at 07:58 AM, Harmon Seaver wrote: (snipped) I understand your politics is lefty...this has been shining through for years. But your analytical skills are lacking. That's redundant in the modern US. Too bad; there needs to be a counterbalance to the right-wing control freaks, but the left just isn't up to it. -- Steve FurlongComputer Condottiere Have GNU, Will Travel You don't expect governments to obey the law because of some higher moral development. You expect them to obey the law because they know that if they don't, those who aren't shot will be hanged. --Michael Shirley _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: The Statism Meme
Tim May wrote... Even t.v. commercials are spreading the meme that Big Brother is our friend. Funny he should mention this. This very morning was watching the news and a commerical came on for a local monitored Burglar alarm system. It featured a Customed Superhero Alarmo (I think), going around the neighborhood interrogating garbage men, mailmen, even kids and dogs and crap. Basically, the guy was 'jokingly' depicted to have gone a little nutty and certainly facsist. And in the end there was an old couple looking on that LOOKED horrified but basically called to see if Alarmo could work for them to. That commercial was either written by a real nut or by someone who also doesn't like the way things are headed. -TD From: Tim May [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: The Statism Meme Date: Mon, 3 Feb 2003 20:16:05 -0800 OK, so I watch a lot of t.v., or at least have t.v. dramas on a lot. I'm struck by how many of them this year treat civil liberties as gone, either as old-fashioned or as just plain ignorable. * On the episodes of Law and Order (three different versions weekly, often repeated on other nights), the cops routinely roust citizens, shop owners, hotel clerks, etc. Warrants are the exception, and when they are produced, they are merely waved in front of the targets. Whether this represents reality is not the point--the point is that the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments are treated as technicalities to be violated at will. Cops, prosecutors, and judges violating the Constitution are not sanctioned. Those being violated never fight back, whether with shotguns or their own lawyers. * I just watched a new series called Miracles. A planeload of passengers is held without charges, without arrest warrants. One passenger is simply taken away by the NSA because he may have information of use to them someday. Again, maybe not plausible, but this shows the meme Americans are becoming conditioned to accept. * On one often execrable show called Judging Amy, Child Protection workers are shown bursting into homes and apartments, sans warrants of course. One memorable line was Yes, we can enter your home without a warrant...because we're not the police. * Even t.v. commercials are spreading the meme that Big Brother is our friend. G.E. has one such commercial where doctors are told: Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could just type in a name and see every medical treatment your patient has ever received?...with G.E.'s new software, you'll be able to. (paraphrase of their actual commercial) * Hate speech is presented on these cop and lawyer shows as being ipso facto illegal. These people think the Constitution gives them the freedom to spew hate. * Nearly all of the programs present the Internet as a place which needs government control. The lawyers and cops editorialize (actually, the script writers, of course) about how the Wild West atmosphere is a haven for terrorists, gun nuts, pornographers, and Islamic militants. Various plots on the court shows have involved ISPs being forced to spy on customers. * 9/11 changed everything is heard at least weekly. The judges cite it to justify unconstitutional measures, the prosecutors use it to justify warrantless searches and coerced admissions. Yes, I understand this is all fiction. Well, some of the scripts are based on actual events, including coerced confessions, warrantless searches, sneak and peek wiretaps, concentration camps in Cuba, etc. That so many of these popular programs have themes as I've described tells us what to expect. The statism meme is growing under hothouse conditions. --Tim May, Corralitos, California Quote of the Month: It is said that there are no atheists in foxholes; perhaps there are no true libertarians in times of terrorist attacks. --Cathy Young, Reason Magazine, both enemies of liberty. _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
RE: The Statism Meme
Don't count on EU, we're just as fucked, albeit with a slight delay. What about Italy? The Italians seem to be remarkably good at ignoring both the vatican as well as their government (which changes every few years and no wonder...do ANY Italians actually pay taxes?). And yet, Northern Italy has as high a standard of living as I've ever seen. _ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
Re: Putting the NSA Data Overwrite Standard Legend to Death... (fwd)
I've got a question... If you actually care about the NSA or KGB doing a low-level magnetic scan to recover data from your disk drives, you need to be using an encrypted file system, period, no questions. OK...so I don't know a LOT about how PCs work, so here's a dumb question. Will this work for -everything- that could go on a drive? (In other words, if I set up an encrypted disk, will web caches, cookies, and all of the other 'trivial' junk be encrypted without really slowing down the PC?) The reason I ask is that's it's very easy to imagine that, say, FedGroup X wants to take out some outspoken or otherwise questionable person by secretly introducing some kiddie porn or whatnot onto the drive. 15 minutes later they burst through the door and grab the PC. If I buy PGP off the shelf, will it make the ENTIRE drive encrypted? (And will I wait half an hour for Hard Drinkin' Lincoln to download?) -TD _ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Congressmen in need of composting: Manzanar fine with him
Holy sh*t is this guy stupid. Racist too. I guess anyone who doesn't look/sound/think like this MF is they. Better round up those blacks while we're at it. -TD And if I were to have him shot I'D be the one to go to jail! (Paraphrase of Mr Burns...) From: Major Variola (ret) [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Congressmen in need of composting: Manzanar fine with him Date: Thu, 06 Feb 2003 11:26:20 -0800 HIGH POINT, N.C. - A congressman who heads a homeland security subcommittee said on a radio call-in program that he agreed with the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=storyu=/ap/20030206/ap_on_re_us/congressman_prison_camps_7 Why don't they stop pretending and call it Fatherland Security Agency? t _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Dr. Evil and Mr. Idiot
The implications of this thing are possibly more disturbing than anything I've been exposed to in the last few months. At least a simplistic analysis would suggest that Downing street whipped up something really fast in order to support the US War Machine. Did they not have any publically statable data/facts/analysis on hand to support a possible war effort? (Perhaps they felt it really didn't matter.) -TD From: A.Melon [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Dr. Evil and Mr. Idiot Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 22:52:04 -0800 (PST) Sorry for occupying the bandwidth, this is just too good. I am also scared now, finding that men with guns are simply extremely cretenious, not just evil scheming bastards. http://www.channel4.com/news/home/z/stories/20030206/dossier.html Published: 6 February 2003 Reporter: Julian Rush The government's carefully co-ordinated propaganda offensive took an embarrassing hit tonight after Downing Street was accused of plagiarism. Read sample of the accused plagiarised text The target is an intelligence dossier released on Monday and heralded by none other than Colin Powell at the UN yesterday. Channel Four News has learnt that the bulk of the nineteen page document was copied from three different articles - one written by a graduate student. On Monday, the day before the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell addressed the UN, Downing Street published its latest paper on Iraq. It gives the impression of being an up to the minute intelligence-based analysis - and Mr Powell was fulsome in his praise. Published on the Number 10 web site, called Iraq - Its Infrastructure of Concealment Deception and Intimidation, it outlines the structure of Saddam's intelligence organisations. But it made familiar reading to Cambridge academic Glen Ranwala. It was copied from an article last September in a small journal: the Middle East Review of International Affairs. It's author, Ibrahim al-Marashi, a postgraduate student from Monterey in California. Large sections do indeed appear, verbatim. A section, for example, six paragraphs long, on Saddam's Special Security Organisation, the exact same words are in the Californian student's paper. In several places Downing Street edits the originals to make more sinister reading. Number 10 says the Mukhabarat - the main intelligence agency - is spying on foreign embassies in Iraq. The original reads: monitoring foreign embassies in Iraq. And the provocative role of supporting terrorist organisations in hostile regimes has a weaker, political context in the original: aiding opposition groups in hostile regimes. Even typographic mistakes in the original articles are repeated. Of military intelligence, al-Marashi writes in his original paper: The head of military intelligence generally did not have to be a relative of Saddam's immediate family, nor a Tikriti. Saddam appointed, Sabir Abd Al-Aziz Al-Duri as head... Note the comma after appointed. Downing Street paraphrases the first sentence: Saddam appointed, Sabir 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Duri as head during the 1991 Gulf War. This second line is cut and pasted, complete with the same grammatical error. plagiarism is regarded as intellectual theft. Sample text Government dossier: (page 13), published Jan 2003 Saddam appointed, Sabir 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Duri as head during the 1991 Gulf War. After the Gulf War he was replaced by Wafiq Jasim al-Samarrai. After Samarrai, Muhammad Nimah al-Tikriti headed Al-Istikhbarat al-Askariyya in early 1992 then in late 1992 Fanar Zibin Hassan al-Tikriti was appointed to this post. These shifting appointments are part of Saddam's policy of balancing security positions. By constantly shifting the directors of these agencies, no one can establish a base in a security organisation for a substantial period of time. No one becomes powerful enough to challenge the President. al-Marashi document: (section: MILITARY INTELLIGENCE, published sept 2002 - relevant parts have been underlined Saddam appointed, Sabir Abd al-Aziz al-Duri(80) as head of Military Intelligence during the 1991 Gulf War.(81) After the Gulf War he was replaced by Wafiq Jasim al-Samarrai.(82) After Samarrai, Muhammad Nimah al-Tikriti(83) headed Military Intelligence in early 1992(84) then in late 1992 Fanar Zibin Hassan al-Tikriti was appointed to this post.(85) While Fanar is from Tikrit, both Sabir al-Duri and Samarrai are non-Tikriti Sunni Muslims, as their last names suggest. Another source indicates that Samarrai was replaced by Khalid Salih al-Juburi,(86) demonstrating how another non-Tikriti, but from the tribal alliance that traditionally support the regime holds top security positions in Iraq.(87) These shifting appointments are part of Saddams policy of balancing security positions between Tikritis and non-Tikritis, in the belief that the two factions would not unite to overthrow him. Not only that, but by constantly shifting the directors of these agencies, no one
Re: DOJ quietly drafts USA Patriot II w/crypto-in-a-crime penalty
I always thought that breathing during the commission of a crime should result in an extra five to ten years in prison. Or, failure to inform authorities of your specific plans to commit a crime should result in an additional 5 to 10. -TD From: Declan McCullagh [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Greg Newby [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: DOJ quietly drafts USA Patriot II w/crypto-in-a-crime penalty Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2003 14:13:24 -0500 On Sat, Feb 08, 2003 at 10:36:35PM -0500, Greg Newby wrote: Under the new law, running shoes will be classified as burgler's tools if their use is not authorized or exceeds reasonable levels for leisure activity. I always thought that breathing during the commission of a crime should result in an extra five to ten years in prison. At least. -Declan _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Forced Oaths to Pieces of Cloth
Bill Frantz wrote... Except for the fact that one should not trust pledges that are made under coercion, I am reasonably comfortable with this edited version. It expresses the ideal nation that I wish the United States would become. Well, this is probably a lot better than nothing, particularly for a young person. But for someone older I would suggest that this is, to some extent, a dodge. Why? Because who is it you are pledging TO? The notion of the Pledge of Alleigiance as we know it is a public proclamation of one's affinities. And in this case, if no one in authority can make out that certain portions of the Pledge are not being stated, then I would argue that not stating them is almost as good as useless. It's kind of like a kid crossing his fingers behind his back while telling a promise, to negate the lie of the promise. -TD From: Bill Frantz [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Forced Oaths to Pieces of Cloth Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2003 10:57:14 -0800 At 6:55 AM -0800 2/9/03, Sunder wrote: And also freedom of religion. Forcing someone to say Under God for example. Back in the dark ages (the 1950s, and don't anyone get nostalgic for them), when the phrase under god was added to the pledge, I was a student in school. From what they had taught me, I knew then that this addition violated the establishment of religion clause. The solution I devised was to simply remain silent when this phrase was said. Unfortunately having started to question the relation between the pledge and the ideals of the country, I started to wonder why I was pledging to the flag, instead of the country. So over the years, I have a somewhat edited version (removed parts in brackets): I pledge allegiance to [the flag of] the United States of America [and to the republic for which it stands], one nation [under god], indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Except for the fact that one should not trust pledges that are made under coercion, I am reasonably comfortable with this edited version. It expresses the ideal nation that I wish the United States would become. Cheers - Bill - Bill Frantz | Due process for all| Periwinkle -- Consulting (408)356-8506 | used to be the Ameican | 16345 Englewood Ave. [EMAIL PROTECTED] | way. | Los Gatos, CA 95032, USA _ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: My favorite line from the DOJ's latest draft bill
I'm not so sure this emperor could handle psycedelics. Might break the robotic connections Arguably, 9/11 was a bad trip, and now we're completely freaking out. -TD _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: My favorite line from the DOJ's latest draft bill
Except that there are so few of those no one has ever been able to quantify/qualify them, so we don't know what that really consists of. When you say those are you referring to bad acid trips? (Don't tell me you've never had one!) I'll grant, however, that bad trips seem to occur much more on 'cid than on natural substances. But I'll also point out that its on the bad trips where the Emporer's New Clothes are most obviously yanked away, and we SEE that all the stuff we thought held us together was more or less arbitrary or self-defeating. Unfortunately, some folks are so dependent on those illusions that they can not handle their removal, even for 4-8 hours or so, so they freak. -TD PS: It was along these lines that my comparison of a bad trip to 9/11 was meant. From: Harmon Seaver [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: My favorite line from the DOJ's latest draft bill Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2003 19:11:43 -0600 On Mon, Feb 10, 2003 at 06:31:56PM -0500, Tyler Durden wrote: I'm not so sure this emperor could handle psycedelics. Might break the robotic connections Arguably, 9/11 was a bad trip, and now we're completely freaking out. Except that there are so few of those no one has ever been able to quantify/qualify them, so we don't know what that really consists of. -- Harmon Seaver CyberShamanix http://www.cybershamanix.com _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: My favorite line from the DOJ's latest draft bill
Harmon Seaver wrote... As far as actual LSD goes -- none. And I did a couple hundred, anyway. Towards the end (and after it was suggested on the Senate floor that bad drugs be created and distributed on the streets to freak out LSD users), many things were sold as LSD which were not. I recall having some very strange experiences which caused me to decide to stop taking LSD. That's interesting, actually. I remember getting some very high purity windowpane, and the effect was even calming. The bad trips seem to have been associated with acid-mixed-with-speed in general. But then again, taking 'cid and wandering the streets of New York City has to be a lot more bad-trip-inducing than taking it in more rural settings. (And, there are some personality types that I know really couldn't handle LSD. These are the ones that need constant control over their social surroundings.) And very clearly remember someone locally who died in the emergency room after freaking out on the same batch of acid that seemed quite weird to us, they gave him thorazine and it killed him. Obviously it wasn't LSD. Indeed there are tons of questionable anti-drug propaganda stories out there. Like claims that Ecstacy is dangerous, despite the fact the RIGHT NOW there's probably millions of kids around the world high on it, and probably none of them will die. (The danger almost certainly comes from the fact that petty mobsters and whatnot make it in their basement.) As for LSD driving people batty, I believe it, but then again those it drove batty I think already had the seeds of battiness down deep before hand...acid was basically just miracle grow on those seeds (and LSD-induced battiness requires a LOT of acid). Then again, a HighSchool buddy of mine took it about 300 times in HS and college and he remains as blase as always. -TD Stuy's High! _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
RE: The Wimps of War
why should the U.S. concern itself with making investments in Iraq not directly related to creating and maintaining oil extraction and transport facilities? This is a continuation of the mythology that extrapolates post-WWII US presence in Germany and Japan (you know, those Americans really help the countries they beat in war) to the present day. Actually, it occurs to me that the only people who still believe this may be Americans. From: Lucky Green [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: The Wimps of War Date: Wed, 12 Feb 2003 01:21:18 -0800 Steve wrote quoting: PAUL KRUGMAN And though you don't hear much about it in the U.S. media, a lack of faith in Mr. Bush's staying power a fear that he will wimp out in the aftermath of war, that he won't do what is needed to rebuild Iraq is a large factor in the growing rift between Europe and the United States. And this matters how? Why would Bush, or for that matter the Europeans, care about rebuilding (what?) in Iraq? Other than the minimum investments required to prevent the population from rising up against their future leaders, why should the U.S. concern itself with making investments in Iraq not directly related to creating and maintaining oil extraction and transport facilities? --Lucky _ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Re: My favorite line from the DOJ's latest draft bill
By the time that people were mixing speed with it, actual dosages were much less (adding amphetamines to 250mic LSD is fairly pointless) and today most, from what I hear, are around 75-100 mic. In the early 80s I remembering getting some of the famous Goofy blotter, rated around 125 ugm. Microdots were around 35ugm. Hardly. Well, wandering around anywhere is not a good idea -- set and setting are extremely important. Well, wandering around in Soho NYC back when all the avante-garde galleries were there was quite a trip...some of these galleries were desgined already to be immersive, so that plus LSD really allowed one to leave one's normal psychological space and step into an alien one. This isn't exactly an obvious step on the path towards ego-destruction, but it does open one's mind up to ideas and modes of being that one's normal nature would have never truly encountered. Yup - increase their dose. Best thing that could happen to the world would be the development of a benign airforce that sprayed a fog of lsd/dmso on areas like Palestine. Real LSD, that is. Or better yet, psilocybin. 8-) Well, I'm not so sure. Surely you must be aware of the stories of Villages in Spain and wherever receiving a bad batch of ergot-infected bread, and then going collectively wacky, with suicides and whatnot. Some people really aren't in a place where they can handle losing control and seeing through all of their most cherished beliefs like wet tissue paper. Palestinians locked in a daily struggle with life and death might not take too well to being raptured all of a sudden. (BTW, ever read The Transmigration of Timothy Archer by PK Dick?) Obviously it wasn't LSD. I'm finding out this is apparently true with many drugs. Most heroin overdoses (as I have been informed by someone who ran a detox ward) are actually reactions to crap mixed in with the Herion (or once in a great while a dealer giving a hated customer an unexpectedly pure dose). The toxicity of Herion isn't very high, particularly for someone who's been building up a tolerance for a few years. (Crack's a different storyreally bad for the heart.) So the moral of this story is that illegalization of most drugs is what kills people! Perhaps we have underestimated the wisdom of the CIA! (Or are they the ones who initially put crap in the drugs they smuggle?) -TD _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
M Stands for Moron? You gotta be kidding...
Eric Cordian wrote... Continuous math is a dead end. So are strings. Yo! Superstring theory is only continuous math because the proper mathematical theory describing strings didn't exist. In the past, physics has sometimes lagged (ca 1900) sometimes led (Newton) the development of the needed mathematics. If Superstrings ends up describing everything, it will be apparent that Ed Witten was right: Superstrings is really 21st century physics that we accidentally stumbled upon in the 20th century. In other words, progress is slow precisely because the math is so friggin' hard. As for Superstrings being dead, I'd suggest that quite the opposite is true, though a lot of the research in strings over the last decade has been done by mathematicians. Read Hawkings' recent Universe in a Nutshell...as some Superstring proponents have long suggested, it seems we are now coming very close to experimental verification of one tiny part of this massive theory. The manifold folks are never going to produce anything which obsoletes the big general relativity book by Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler, which will live forever as the apex of predictive power of the manifold approach to spacetime dynamics. I don't think any Superstring researcher believes that (at least the ones I've spoken to don't, and I have spoken to some of the older big figures). Hell, the whole point of Superstrings was to find a way to reconcile General Relativity with a QM view, and Superstrings is still a very nice candidate. Hell, Witten himself said something like The development of General Relativity probably occurs in nonhuman civilizations as a corrollary to Superstrings. The discovery of General Relativity on Earth prior to Superstrings will probably be regarded as an historical accident. The M in M-Theory stands for Moron. Uh, no. Even if M-theory has nothing to do with reality, it will yield interesting mathematics for decades. Remember, these branches of physics are ferociously mathematical. Morons never get anywhere near these fields. Even I, a genius among mere mortals am a near-Moron in the presence of people working in these fields. (Want an example? I thought that generating the confluent hypergeometric functions using contours in the complex plane meant you were hot shit mathematically. Math-physicists refer to something like this as arithmetic.) -TD _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
Re: M Stands for Moron? You gotta be kidding...
Eric Cordian wrote... Perhaps it is so friggin' hard because you are trying to do the equivalent of modular exponentiation with Roman numerals. Well, you're kind of missing my point. You said that 'M' was for Moron, and I was pointing out that the Morons working on this theory are in some ways some of the most mathematically proficient people on the planet (and some are just plain old great physicsts). I'd point out the geat lessons to be taken from Kuhn's structure of Scientific Revolutions (with which I largely disagree, however). Basically, that those of us who sit on this side of a revolution not only often disagree with the new approach, we often don't even believe its actually science. That could be the case here. (Feynman didn't think Superstrings was physics as he knew it, but he was also fully aware that some of his most respected colleagues were working on it). (In fact, I would have thought a member of the OTO, no strangers to alternative thinking, would be a little slower to declare that Superstrings was for morons.) Manifolds are second countable Hausdorf spaces in which every point has a neighborhood homeomorphic to the open ball in R^N. I see no evidence that the Universe may be infinitely magnified and still remain manifold-like. If the small scale structure of the universe isn't manifold-like, then a theory which says it is an 11-dimensional manifold is not a great leap over a theory which says it is a 4-dimensional manifold. I don't fully get your argument here, but I never claimed to be a mathematical physicist. If you are familiar with Kaluza and Klein (aparently useless pud-pulling when it was developed), you'll understand that string theory arises directly from the notion that the small scale topological structure of space time is entirely different from the large scale one. Those extra 7/8 dimensions (depnding on how you count) never unfolded and are only visible at Planck scales. Remember that Einstein, in the days when gravitation and electromagnetism were the only known forces, spent a lot of time trying to incorporate electromagnetism into general relativity by making it the skew-symmetric part of a non-symmetric metric tensor. Einstein found inventing the math to do this friggin' hard. It was also friggin' wrong. Uh, but the fact that it was wrong doesn't make Einstein a moron. (And also, saying that a physical theory is wrong might arguably be like saying that a Picasso painting is wrong, if you are a Kuhn true believer!) I didn't say it was dead. I said it was a dead end. Are you sure that's what you typed? Make me a machine that does something of practical value, for which string theory predicts the machine will work, and general relativity and the standard model predict the opposite. Well, you seem to have some odd ideas about the goals of Superstrings. Being able to re-extract the standard model as a low energy simplification was and is a main goal for superstrings, as far as physics is concerned. Some headway is being made, too. As for predicting the outcome of experiment, give it time. A few measurable predictions are now being made, but remember the main domain of superstrings are energies that correspond to 10^(-43) sec after the universe began. A brute-force accelerator approach would require a ring larger than the galaxy, so some cleverness will be in order. Make me something that levitates, or transmutes, or forks off child universes, or generates traversable wormholes, or takes pictures of particles that can only exist if the universe is made up of strings. Child universes are actually kind of predicted by inflation theory, which does not require superstrings per se. I generally discount greatly any math or physics argument which has to appeal to nonhuman civilizations in search of profundity. You seemed to have missed the point. You seemed to be claiming that the goals of superstrings included proving that General relativity is wrong, and my point here was to show that one of the main and most brilliant proponents of Superstrings (Witten) considers precisely the opposite as being true. General relativity is a simple extension in which Lorentz invariance is a local instead of a global property, and gravity and accelerated frames are locally indistinguishable. Yes, and Saint Peter's dome is a straightforward application of a paintbrush. Just as non-linear physics is like non-elephant biology, If I understand you correctly, this is a great phrase (I'll have to steal it). But we're good at solving linear equations. Many nonlinear equations may not have solutions that we can write down with pen or paper, (or even simulate on a computer for that matter)...ah well. M-Theory is a distraction, like injecting opiates, or arguing on Usenet. Yikes. I understand the concept of having an opinion, but somehow I think your arguments on this issue would not be very quick to discourage
Re: Hacking the Bush War Machine
Tim May wrote... Sure, the North Koreans are practicing extortion: send us more money and Hennesy cognac or we will rattle our sabers. Both Kim Il Sun (or was that his dad's name) and Saddam Hussein want one thing with weapons of mass destruction: power. They know that by having some big, scary weapon somewhere there'll be a little more respect at the bargaining table, particularly where the Americans are involved. So neither one really have any plans to use them, at least not in any way that would cause them to get nuked themselves. Saddam gassed the Kurds to keep control of his own territory. He's not some crazy true believer looking for Matyrdom (got too much of a good thing goin' here). Likewise, May's commment about delivering an intercontinental nuke. When I heard North Korea's got a nucular bomb, my response was, So what? Are they going to deliver it on the back of truck? Seems to me Kim Il Sun would probably use that one Nuke like the recent mass starvations there: Give us a Billion dollars in aid or I'm dropping this bomb on Pyongyang! Ah well. We gotta burn off some military inventory SOMEHOW. Why NOT Korea? -TD From: Tim May [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Hacking the Bush War Machine Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2003 16:09:31 -0800 On Thursday, February 13, 2003, at 01:21 PM, Blanc wrote: From Tim May: It's our duty as hackers to hack this war machine and shut it down. Well, I'd like to see *that*. But you know, if N.Korea throws a nucular at us, a gun will be as useful as ducked ape. (and how long are people supposed to stay taped up in their room, they haven't said, either. And where would the bad gas go - over to somebody else's neighborhood?) Last point first. You're uneducated about how chemical agents drift and disperse. Mustard gas, phosgene, even VX, disperse quickly. Simple physics of diffusion. I had one nitwit over on misc.survivalism assuming that the prepare for a 72-hour disruption, the standard earthquake/flood/hurricane advice, meant that we were supposed to seal ourselves up in an airtight room for 72 hours. The nitwits and chimps amused themselves yammering about how long the air would last... As for nukes, even if a DPRK rocket could make it to the West Coast, what would it hit? Guidance of a ballistic (think carefully about what ballistic means) missile is very difficult. The U.S. had to spend tens of billions of dollars getting precise mascon and geomagnetic maps of the earth before they could plausibly target within a 10 mile CEP (circular error of probability). Slight deviations in the earth's crustal makeup, even ocean depths, cause ballistic objects to diverge from ideal trajectories. Anyone, besides the yes men at the CIA, think the North Koreans have access to such maps--or if such maps have even been made of the the NK-U.S. path--as well as access to gyroscopes, precision thrusters, and so on? DPRK has not even come close to launching even a single satellite. And if they do, so what? Missiles could reach many countries from many other countries for several decades. Did Russia go into a meltdown panic when Japan got missiles? Sure, the North Koreans are practicing extortion: send us more money and Hennesy cognac or we will rattle our sabers. If anything, it's for the South Koreans and the Japanese, and maybe the Chinese, to deal with this. No reason whatsoever for U.S. taxpayers like me to either give in to their extortion demands or to pay for another war with them. Don't fall for the recent crap. It depresses me to see list members repeating the Big Lies. --Tim May Gun Control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her panty hose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound _ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Re: The burn-off of twenty million useless eaters and minorities
Tim May wrote... It was clear to me at the time that the focus on black pride was destructive of _real_ pride. Against my better judgement, I find myself agreeing with this statement on one level. However, it should be noted that the Black Pride movement of the late 60s and early 70s was a necessary reaction to years and years of negative messages sent towards the notion of being African American. Black Pride was probably the most valuable for nothing else than being a political movement that asserted that asserting such a thing was possible or desirable. However, this notion of Black Pride eventually on some levels reinforced an almost ghettoization of black culture, both by blacks as well as Whites. As a simple example, we still use the term African Americans to refer to 'black' folks (which seems to mean any person with even a single gene inherited from the African continent), even though the relationship between black folks and Africa is probably not any closer than black folks and Europe. (Likewise, White folks partake daily of the fruits of African culture in our lands, the most obvious example being music.) So we still maintain that there's American culture, and then there's African American culture, a dichotomy that is reflected in the equally racist notions of black and white people. The sad thing is that this marginalization/ghettoization extends even to the absolute highest arts. A couple of years ago I caught Wayne SHorter and Herbie Hancock, and their performance was as abstract, complex, and multi-hued as anything this overly cutlured NYC boy has experienced. And I don't remember seeing a single black face in the audience. So now Jazz is white, despite its profoundly African roots, while many (of course not all) black folks are willing to settle for either overproduced muzaky trash, or mindless rap (Not that all rap is mindless by the way, but less and less of it is of the caliber of Public Enemy or Grandmaster Flash.) I would presume that one reason for this has to do with the fact that real Jazz is no longer perceived by most black folks as being black, so it is largely ignored. However, that this pack mentality for many black folks exists should be no suprise, as there's strength in numbers and as my father says, Where there are two or more Americans gathered have ye a lynch mob. So its dangerous in this country to be marginalized, for to be marginalized means to be largely disempowered. It's something of a mistake, tis true, but its probably the universal human reaction to years and years of oppression and hate. I think of it as evolution in action. Of course, sometimes evolution needs to be helped along a bit. Uh, Ok whatever. I'd point out that the genetic diversity of African Americans is such that they are probably genetically superior to most whites. Don't think that being fantastic at sports is some indication that black folks are merely big, dumb graceful animals. If those same kids had the same drive to excel in mathematics or science, they'd do extremely well. In the 80s I worked in one of the toughest High Schools in the country, in Brooklyn. One of my students was brutally murdered, and throughout a semester several would be out sick due to being atacked with knives. (This was in addition to fireworks being set off regularly in the halls, gang fights, rampant vandalism and recreational fires and so on.) And yet it was quite clear to me that the intelligence level of these students was by no means much less than that of whites at good high schools (I attended a famous Science and math HS in NYC.). The sad thing was that these kids really had never been exposed to the why of education, and asked me regularly about the basic math I was teaching them: Why do we have to learn this? We'll never use this in real life. More than this, they couldn't even really conceive of a life without the ubiquitous violence and filth around them. There was no real reason to do well or get a good job. In the end, it not only felt futile to work there, it was depressing. Was this black people's fault? Nah. It's all of our fault. -TD _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
Re: The burn-off of Tom Veil
zmag.org and commiedreams.org gets you blacklisted, as it indicates that one is of the so-called progressive, leftist commie totalitarian persuasion. Blacklisted! Sniff sniff...I'm hurt! Does this mean I'm kicked out from the yearbook committee too? And do I have to tear up my Cypherpunks membership card? The only important point to make here, is that it doesn't really matter what the political persuasion is of someone who contributes to anything nominally Cypherpunkish. If they are promoting/using/developing/suggesting strong crypto apps, certain types of thought-control will eventually be thrown off as a result of such apps. (Of course, there are those who believe that something like an anarchic/libertarian society must arise as a result, but one's BELIEFS are largely irrelevant.) As for quoting zmag (which I do), it's silly that this indicates a necessarily leftie/pinko/commie slant. Chomsky, a frequent contributor, has described himself as basically anarchic in his political leanings. More importantly, however, is the fact that Chomsky often develops some very strong counter-arguments to US agit-spew. However, if quoting zmag means I'm a commie pinko faggot, sobeit. -TD _ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Re: The burn-off of Tom Veil
Tom Veil wrote... Did you read my full paragraph? Quoting zmag was not the only criteria I mentioned. Sorry, sir. Next time I'll try harder to decypher your dogmatic rantings. Noam Chomsky is no true anarchist. Chomsky is a commie pinko totalitarian. Well, since you put it that way, it's GOT to be true. Chomsky denied the Cambodian holocaust, and is on record as having praised North Vietnam as some sort of democratic worker's paradise. He has defended, rationalized, and denied acts of terror, mass-murder and slavery. No, and this is probably worth the attempt at rational discussion. First of all, however, it's important to realize that Chomsky is not merely a 'commie' version of yourself. He's not arguing the yes to your no. With respect to the Cambodia issue, Chomsky is pointing out how US agit-prop and media take advantage of our lack of certainty with respect to the real numbers. Chomsky estimates that only 800,000 are verifiable via publically accessible documentation. This is a very different thing from saying only 800,000 died. Here's Chomsky on the issue: Whether these estimates are right or wrong, no one knows, and no one cares. There is a doctrine to be established: we must focus solely on the (horrendous) crimes of Pol Pot, thus providing a retrospective justification for (mostly unstudied) US crimes, and an ideological basis for further humanitarian intervention in the future -- the Pol Pot atrocities were explicitly used to justify US intervention in Central America in the '80s, leaving hundreds of thousands of corpses and endless destruction. In the interests of ideological reconstruction and laying the basis for future crimes, facts are simply irrelevant, and anyone who tries to suggest otherwise is targeted by a virulent stream of abuse. That runs pretty much across the spectrum, an instructive phenomenon. But one consequence is that no one can give a serious answer to the question you raise, because it is about US crimes. As for the Cambodia issue, I think the US government's complicity in 'inadvertently' bringing the KR into power is a good precedent for what we're doing in the Middle East. (What I still can't understand is how the CIA could not have known that Lon Nol could not have held back the KR, while Sihuanouk understood the issue. The only possible explanation is that the CIA was blinded by knee-jerk anticommunism and would not tolerate Sihoanouk's interaction with them, even though they were are force that should not have been ignored, particularly when armed by the Chinese.) More importantly, however, is the fact that Chomsky often develops some very strong counter-arguments to US agit-spew. So does Kevin Alfred Strom. Yes, but the difference is that Chomsky is not an idiot (though zmag doesn't have as many nice big jpegs as Strom's site, so maybe they are just a bunch of silly commies). In the end, Chomsky is more important then wrong or right. Even if every position Chomsky takes is somehow wrong in the grand sceme of things, if you're going to disagree you should study Chomsky carefully, study the sources he quotes, then open your yap. (I would suggest that Osama bin Laden is another such source.) As for being blacklisted, that's OK, I'm not looking for a job in a trailer park right now (I'll keep my job on Wall Street, thank you). -TD _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Say Bush is Nuts, Go to Jail
Damn. Some odd details there. Crap I'm getting paranoid. Wait, I may be paranoid but that doesn't mean I'm wrong. So the guy was known to belong to an Anti-Pallestinian group, and this was known to the SS folks prior to him being arrested. So apparently, they were watching this guy. Gulp. But then again, are they going to arrest all 250 million of us? Declaring anyone who's anti-war (or anti-Bush) an automatic terrorist doesn't look like its going to fly after all, but I could be wrong. -TD From: Eric Cordian [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Say Bush is Nuts, Go to Jail Date: Wed, 26 Feb 2003 11:53:44 -0800 (PST) http://santafenewmexican.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=2144dept_id=415763newsid=7071930PAG=461rfi=9 - ... According to Andrew J. O'Connor, 40, a former Santa Fe public defender, two city police officers removed him from the school's library about 9 p.m. Thursday while he was using a computer. They Mirandized me, handcuffed me and took me to the police station where two Secret Service agents from Albuquerque interrogated me for hours, O'Connor said. ... While he was at the library, O'Connor said he had a conversation with a woman wearing a button that read, No war with Iraq. We talked with each other about that, and I said I think Bush is ... out of control, O'Connor said. ... -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Durdenian Analysis of Bush's radio address
Let me attempt some deconstruction here: It will be difficult to help freedom read: the US take hold read take over in a country that has known three decades of dictatorship, secret police, internal divisions, and war. read: in a country where cities are filled with snipers and boobytraps. I *think* he's talking about Iraq. Oh, he's DEFINITELY talking about Iraq. Here's the analysis: Bush is starting to lay a face-saving foundation for NOT attacking Iraq, just in case it becomes obvious the whole world's going to bum-rush his show. The explicit spinning sound bite will go like: We have decided that democracy in Iraq may not be achievable now. In particular, we have weighed the possibility of launching a costly and difficult urban campaign that may require many American lives and have decided that the price of attempting to free people who do not want to be free is too high. (Perhaps the UN should one day deploy troops in the US to protect the US's citizens from a power-mad dictator that's in charge of history's most effective military machine...) -TD _ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Re: Man decapitated while fleeing police
This sure sounds like bullshit. How could a body be decapitated falling on a fence like that? The human body just ain't all that fragile. We're probably going to find out the guy's got a few dozen entries wounds in his back, in attempt to alter the man's course as he fell towards the fence. -TD From: Anonymous [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Man decapitated while fleeing police Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 18:05:11 +0100 (CET) This sure sounds like bullshit. How could a body be decapitated falling on a fence like that? The human body just ain't all that fragile. R. A. Hettinga [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/metro/atlanta/0203/16suspect.html [ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 2/16/03] Man decapitated while fleeing police By LINDSAY JONES Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer *Atlanta/South Metro community page A narcotics traffic stop on the Downtown Connector turned deadly Saturday afternoon when a man climbed over the interstate railing, fell about 35 feet and was decapitated on a wrought-iron fence, Atlanta police said. Officers in a marked car stopped the man about 4:30 p.m., as he drove south on the interstate above Auburn Avenue. The man, who has not been identified, stopped his vehicle and tried to flee by climbing over the railing, Lt. Danny Agan said. Police still are investigating whether the man jumped or fell off the raised interstate. This is a new one for me in 29 years, Agan said. The decapitation shocked people who work in the neighborhood. Gary White, an income tax preparer, came out of his office when he heard the commotion. It's surreal, White said. Agan said narcotics officers had been trailing the man for much of the day. Agan did not know if the officers who tried to arrest the man would be placed on administrative leave. This is not something normally covered under the [standard operating procedure] of the department, he said. -- - R. A. Hettinga mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/ 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA ... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience. -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
Re: Who Owns the News
Funny. Some time ago I saw some Israelis murder a Palestinian kid on numerous stations, Fox among them. Well, the cynical part of me chalks this up to the fact that there's some vague pro-Palestinean sentiment brewing, and they don't want to get caught with their pants down. -TD From: James A. Donald [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Who Owns the News Date: Sat, 01 Mar 2003 19:41:33 -0800 -- On 1 Mar 2003 at 11:25, Eric Cordian wrote: FOX recently fired two reporters after they refused to change the facts of a news story. Fox said to them, We paid $13 billion for these stations, and we'll tell you what the news is. In a unanimous decision, the 2nd District Court of Appeals overturned a $425,000 jury award to another FOX reporter who was fired after refusing to alter the facts of a story. THe judge ruled FOX had a right to lie, deceive, and mislead. MSNBC just fired Phil Donahue after a marketing report outlined a nightmare scenario in which MSNBC was perceived as giving a forum to anti-war sentiment while all other networks were engaged in patriotic flag-waving. You are making all this crap up. For example Donahue was fired because few were watching him sneer at them. Liberals cannot succeed in talk shows because they hate and despise their audience. He was getting about one quarter the audience of the competion. The nightmare scenario that MSNBC was so alarmed by was that no one was watching him vomit hatred over his audience. Much the same for all your other stories When CNN tried to cover the Palestinian side of the Mideast Conflict, Israel threatened to drop CNN and pick up FOX instead. CNN caved instantly. All CNN copy is now required to be reviewed by upper management in Atlanta before broadcast, and anything that isn't pro-Israel is killed. Funny. Some time ago I saw some Israelis murder a Palestinian kid on numerous stations, Fox among them. Channel surfing last night I saw bits of a long boring documentary where the camera followed various Palestinians around in their daily lives, depicting the distressing effect on the Palestinians of various Israeli collective punishments. Not sure what station it was on. Terribly earnest public good stuff. Sure the press is biased, but there is plenty of stuff that is very far from pro Israel, even on channels that are openly pro Israel, such as Fox. --digsig James A. Donald 6YeGpsZR+nOTh/cGwvITnSR3TdzclVpR0+pr3YYQdkG mmaHCD9F1B++2Aq7X7ytnGlqgDM6kFzF3Ua7X2Ke 4bHENQyj656gmwUnwj85NQSorfvZ2KiZtsroyXrdv _ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
Cavium Security Processor
Anyone have any comments? This seems to be of only occasional usefulness. You'd need a chip for every POS/PPP/HDLC connection in the SONET signal. This could be a single connection (unlikely, OC-192c is rare), or hundreds (DS-1s? If not, 16 STS-3cs). -TD SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Cavium Networks, the cost and performance leader in security processing today announced the NITROX II family of In-line Security Macro Processors that eliminates the security processing bottleneck by providing a range of true bump-in-the-wire processors with performance ranging from 2 Gbps to 10 Gbps of IPsec or SSL security protocol processing. The single chip NITROX II family equipped with high performance, streaming SPI-3 and SPI-4 interfaces complements Caviums award-winning NITROX Lite, NITROX and NITROX Plus family of security processors, which started shipping in production volumes in 2002. The NITROX II family of processors will be used in a wide range of multi-gigabit networking equipment such as routers, switches, web-servers, server load balancers, firewalls, SANs, and VPN gateways, enabling a secure and authenticated Internet. IPSec VPNs are mainstream, and SSL-based VPN products are starting to ship in volume, said Jeff Wilson Executive Director, of Infonetics Research. All types and sizes of organizations are rolling out encrypted network services. NITROX II, with its in-line functionality and wide performance range will enable networking vendors to quickly integrate cost effective, wire speed security into existing networking equipment and meet the market demand of wide-spread security deployment. Existing security processors that off-load IPsec security protocol processing are look-aside architectures that sit off a host CPU or NPU. This look-aside architecture requires a substantial number of host processor cycles to do packet parsing, classification, lookups and management for the traffic between the host and the security processor, so the host CPU or NPU becomes the performance bottleneck. Cavium's NITROX II with its built-in capability to sit in-line between the MAC and the host processor completely off-loads security processing from the host processor and eliminates this bottleneck. Cavium Networks Inc. _ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Cavium Security Processor
Maybe they actually plan on making their money from selling those SDKs! (Perhaps they hope for some trickle down from the all the $ startups get for making Powerpoint slides.) And I see they don't really have an architecture suitable for SONET-mapped services...gotta be 1GbE or 2GbEs maped over OC-48 or a single 10GbE (802.11 WAN). -TD From: Mike Rosing [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Tyler Durden [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Cavium Security Processor Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 07:53:13 -0800 (PST) On Mon, 3 Mar 2003, Tyler Durden wrote: Anyone have any comments? This seems to be of only occasional usefulness. You'd need a chip for every POS/PPP/HDLC connection in the SONET signal. This could be a single connection (unlikely, OC-192c is rare), or hundreds (DS-1s? If not, 16 STS-3cs). -TD From http://www.cavium.com/newsevents_Nitrox2PR.htm: Product pricing at 1KU lot quantities ranges from $295 for the CN2130 to $795 for the CN2560. The NITROX II Software Development Kit is priced at $9995. Not priced for a huge number of implementors. They probably hope to sell a few hundred develoment kits and maybe 10,000 to 100,000 chips. They don't even put their data sheets online. Maybe they're just a scam? Patience, persistence, truth, Dr. mike _ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Cavium Security Processor
Bill Stewart wrote: This really is an appropriate scale for a device - if you want to encrypt individual data streams on an OC48, you do that at the edges before feeding them to routers or muxes, so your PPP comment isn't relevant. It's an IPSEC processor, which says it's handling a combined big fat IP stream on a router/switch, not a bunch of layer 2 encapsulations of individual IP streams, so it's for people like big ISPs and big hosting centers and big LANs. If you're trying to do link encryption on arbitrary muxed SONET, that's a job for a physical layer raw-bits link encryptor, not IPSEC. OK, I have to admit that my knowledge decreases exponentially after SONET hands of the signal. But basically I was thinking about Packet-over-SONET (POS), which is PPP encapsulated HDLC framed IP. So after the POS link was terminated, I imagined that this little device would basically now look at the raw IP and do some pre-processing before the packets hit either an NP or switch fabric. However, in the vast majority of commercial POS links, they're not mapped over a pipe as big as STS-48c...they'd be mapped over STS-3c or below. This would mean the device is not super-suitable for most SONET-mapped applications. But I guess that's OK...it's not supposed to be. It's really geared for MAN/WAN Ethernet (which once in a while is mapped over SONET). But it always pisses me off when GbE=WAN in marketing product literature. Nobody actually runs GbE outside their TSB (Tall Shiny Building) or campus...yet (and to date there's no strong indication they will). From: Bill Stewart [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Tyler Durden [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Cavium Security Processor Date: Mon, 03 Mar 2003 14:14:15 -0800 At 11:23 AM 03/03/2003 -0500, Tyler Durden wrote: Maybe they actually plan on making their money from selling those SDKs! (Perhaps they hope for some trickle down from the all the $ startups get for making Powerpoint slides.) And I see they don't really have an architecture suitable for SONET-mapped services...gotta be 1GbE or 2GbEs maped over OC-48 or a single 10GbE (802.11 WAN). and some time around then, also wrote You'd need a chip for every POS/PPP/HDLC connection in the SONET signal. This could be a single connection (unlikely, OC-192c is rare), or hundreds (DS-1s? If not, 16 STS-3cs). I don't know the SPI-3 / SPI-4 interfaces, but it sounds like this is meant to sit on the electronics side of things, not the optics, which you'd handle on separate components. Devices that say 2-10Gbps are usually either talking about GigE (2Gbps for bidirectional) or OC48 or up to OC192 / 10GigE (though that really needs 20Gbps to cover both directions.) This really is an appropriate scale for a device - if you want to encrypt individual data streams on an OC48, you do that at the edges before feeding them to routers or muxes, so your PPP comment isn't relevant. It's an IPSEC processor, which says it's handling a combined big fat IP stream on a router/switch, not a bunch of layer 2 encapsulations of individual IP streams, so it's for people like big ISPs and big hosting centers and big LANs. If you're trying to do link encryption on arbitrary muxed SONET, that's a job for a physical layer raw-bits link encryptor, not IPSEC. _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Cavium Security Processor
Goody goody! Telecom geek talk! (Any chance you're female, curvy, and about 5'8? What are wearing right now.) Anyway, Bill Stewart wrote... You'd be surprised - we're seeing tons of interest in it at ATT, partly because of MAN vendors like Yipes and OnFiber (who bought Telseon) and partly because GigE boards cost $59 at Fry's and Cisco 12000's are ~$100K. (yes, yes, I know there are significant technical differences, but you can get long-distance fiber NICs for about $1-2K, and the LAN switches really are as cheap as $300 or so.) Well, I can see Enterprises extending their LANs with ethernet switches + cheap optics, but that just won't fly with the service providers, or OPS costs will eat their lunch. Hence reliability, NEBs, and protection capabilities will bring ethernet-based MAN costs up to meet SONET, where costs have been dropping dramatically. (The 10GbE MAN PHY that has a lite version of SONET framing will be where we see Ethernet start actually displacing circuit switching in the Metro market.) Some of the metropolitan area equipment really is GigE (half or full duplex), Although its seems quibbling to point it out, half duplex GbE would only exist, theoretically, on copper, and that won't carry a GbE very far. (Plus, did IEEE even bother defining a half duplex GbE?) while some is only OC12 (622 Mbps), and most of the wide-area stuff is really OC12, and the major cost of running fiber access is getting right-of-way and digging up the streets, so why not crank it as fast as possible? Yes, I've thought that we might get to the point where everything is OC-48, and if you don't need the bandwidth don't use it. High-speed access used to mostly be T3 and OC3 going into metro SONET muxes, but there's increasing amounts of Ether and DWDM and some CWDM (4-8 wavelength OC48/GigE), CWDM is really going to kick some booty, I predict. Particularly when your LAN guy can take an old Ethernet switch with GBICs or SFPs and slap in CWDM lasers (the MUXs, etc...he can buy off the shelf). DWDM has been and will be confined to niche applications in the Metro, only to where there's no more fiber and they can't get permits to lay more. The other fast local bandwidth market that's been emerging is Storage Area Networks. Fibre Channel and some of the other computer-to-disk-farm standards are now able to get distances of 20-50km on fiber, so we're seeing things like Wall Street mainframe farms that have disk drives in New Jersey data centers, Hence the success of companies like Adva. (But won't SANs soon go over IP?) of ones now, so I'm not sure how fast the investment is going now, but in early 2002 it was pretty aggressive. That's not as much of an IPSEC market, but the people running those computers do have enough data to fill pipes going to other locations, and the incentive to keep it encrypted. Well, here's where my knowledge goes bye-bye. What if you have a Cogent-like service provider, dumping everybody's traffic onto one big, fat pipe. Can IPSec be of use here? (In other words, will IPSec ensure that any customer's traffic will be protected from any other customer sharing that pipe? I thought it was pretty much all-or-nothing, which might make that cheap not too useful for anything but fancy enterprize gear...) -TD _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: CAPPS II protest - Vandalizing collaborating airlines
Vandalism is wrong. Yeah, ain't that a shame? Sure is fun though! Education isn't. Well, some of the proposed ideas may be more efficient, but they don't exactly express my rage accurately... -TD Next time you fly, you could leave some flyers in the terminal. They'll get cleaned up, and when the TSA transition from merely pawing through your briefcase to reading the papers, that stack of Boycott the TSA Stooges flyers will probably get noticed, and of course there's the problem that if you're not flying Delta, you've got to word your flyer more creatively Think you're preserving your privacy by not flying Delta? Think Again! Those Boycottdelta.com folks may be picking on the latest new collaborator, but your airline is also giving your flight information to Convicted Perjurer Ex-Admiral Poindexter's Total Information Awareness Office Back when I was occasionally flying through O'Hare a few years ago, and they started alternating announcements about how you shouldn't leave your baggage unattended or it would be confiscated by the police, it was really tempting to print up some flyers about how Unattended Luggage Will Be Collected by Chicago's Hire-The-Homeless Program (with optional signature The Mgt...) _ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Anarchy, and confusion
Anarchy doesn't mean chaos, with people killing each other at will. No? But what about... I read what some of you folks here write and all I can say is that I hope you are inside the fireballs when the freedom fighters take out the Great Satan. Ah. It's all so clear when you put it like that. In all seriousness, Chomsky has pointed out that international trade functions in what is largely an anarchic fashion, and things work...OK, for the most part. As for me, I'm not convinced that the social and physical technologies are yet in place (or developed!) so as to allow for what we in 2003 might label anarchy. -TD From: Tim May [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Anarchy, and confusion Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 13:08:29 -0800 The confusion about anarchy and what it means is common. We see it here. Perhaps some of us have not done enough to try to educate people. Mostly, I think we have already written enough and if people will not think deeply about the issues, will not read at least _some_ of the readily-searchable (with Google, even) archives, and will not read some of the basic articles and books, then further blathering from us will not help. Anarchy is all around us. We write what we want, at least until Ashcroft and Bush get PATRIOT III passed by acclamation, and this is an anarchy (without a top authority -- an arch). We pick our restaurants by anarchic means. Anarchy doesn't mean chaos, with people killing each other at will. Folks need to think about what monarch means (one top), about what oligarch means, etc. Here's a very practical example: medical malpractice. Much in the news, debated daily. Bush Himself spoke out this morning (or, as he put it, We gotta open a can of Texas whoop-ass on those trial attorney bad boys!). This is a situation where an anarchic, voluntaristic, polycentric law solution is obvious: let people choose doctors and hospitals based on how much malpractice they will pay: Hospital Alpha and its doctors have this policy: If you have any complaints whatsoever, if you stub your toe going to the toilet, or if your baby dies in childbirth, we will pay you multiple millions of dollars for your mental anguish. Of course, we will charge you $65,000 for a baby delivery, $750,000 for heart transplant, and we don't take VISA or Mastercard. Hospital Beta and its doctors have this policy: We use this group to adjudicate disputes about health care. If you choose to use us, you also choose them to adjudicate disputes. Our rates reflect our less outrageous payouts than the Hospital Alpha system. A baby delivery will cost you $3000, assuming no complications. A heart transplant is $63,500. You may die during the operation. Life is tough. You agree to the adjudication described above. We wish you well. This is what a society based on _contracts_ would allow. Free choice. Instead, contracts are toilet paper and free choice is a joke. Anarchy means an arch means free choice means responsibility for choice means noncoercion. But I don't expect most of you yahoos, those who have never read Hayek or Friedman or even Rand to grasp these points. The connection with crypto is obvious. Crypto means never having to let Big Brother intervene in contractual negotiations. Which is where crypto anarchy comes from. (That, and the pun on hidden, as with Vidal's denunciation of Buckley as a crypto-fascist.) I read what some of you folks here write and all I can say is that I hope you are inside the fireballs when the freedom fighters take out the Great Satan. --Tim May If I'm going to reach out to the the Democrats then I need a third hand.There's no way I'm letting go of my wallet or my gun while they're around. --attribution uncertain, possibly Gunner, on Usenet _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: .sig
Republicans are like The Rock and Democrats are like Stone Cold Steve Austin, and elections are like WWF Slap Down. It's fixed, get it? The contest is not between Dems and Repubs, it's between government and the governed. Nice! GOTTA steal that quote (if only there were another board that gave a crap...) -TD From: anonimo arancio [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: .sig Date: 5 Mar 2003 00:43:51 - On Tue, 4 Mar 2003 14:33:59 -0800, you wrote: At 1:08 PM -0800 3/4/03, Tim May quoted: If I'm going to reach out to the the Democrats then I need a third hand.There's no way I'm letting go of my wallet or my gun while they're around. --attribution uncertain, possibly Gunner, on Usenet Would the converse read? If I'm going to reach out to the Republicans then I need a third hand. There's no way I'm letting go of my wallet or my freedom while they're around. It seems to me that right now, my wallet is at risk due to the rise in federal debt, whether by depleting my savings through inflation, or by higher future taxes to pay the debt. The attack on freedom, lead by the Republicans, has been commented on so frequently here I don't need to add more. If you think your wallet is less at risk with Democrats making the tax law, or if you really think we are having inflation now (versus the risk of deflation), or that the Democrats will keep your taxes down in the future, then you need to run out and take voting lessons so you can make yours count. In your spare time, find a Democrat, or anyone else, who will stand up and be counted and fight against Patriot II, also known as the Repeal of the Bill of Rights without State Ratification. Good luck, all of them, Democrat, Republican, and Independent, are busy being panicking cowards right now. Maybe, you can figure it out. Here is a hint. Republicans are like The Rock and Democrats are like Stone Cold Steve Austin, and elections are like WWF Slap Down. It's fixed, get it? The contest is not between Dems and Repubs, it's between government and the governed. _ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Re: CAPSII protest...
OOOH! One wonders if a bad enough air sickness on a crowded flight could turn a plane back...(And if I say airline sickness I don't need the quotes.) Hummif it happened a dozen times within the span of a month do you think they'd notice a pattern? -(the REAL) Tyler Durden From: Michael Motyka [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: CAPSII protest... Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 12:12:42 -0800 (PST) Yes Tyler, there is something nasty you can do that will not get you nabbed. It requires the following equipment : airline ticket ( aisle seat ) large pizza with the works quart of yogurt one dozen raw oysters one package of MMs ipecac syrup ( or a wafer-thin mint ) Just imagine the effect if almost every flight had one (:or more:) passengers barfing buckets of primordial goo soon after takeoff. Works just as well for trains and buses. It requires massive participation and a large, but not necessarily strong, stomach. I think it expresses quite well how recent events affect us all. This may be a new form of civil disobedience. I hereby place it in the public domain for the benfit of all mankind. I wonder if there's a lab test for ipecac? (: -- _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Give peace a chance?
Someone should go into that same mall with Support the War in Iraq T-shirts to see if they also get thrown out. What pisses me off is that its probably just some powerless little pion enforcing what they feel is the current accepted, noncontroversial stance. It could be that 90% of the people oppose the war, but if TV convinces the pion that the war is supported by Americans, then an anti-war stance is now labeled controversial. From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Give peace a chance? Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2003 21:08:39 -0500 Apparently Give peace a chance is dangerous, subversive speech, not to be tolerated in polite company http://www.msnbc.com/local/wnyt/m276307.asp?0ct=-302cp1=1 _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: CAPSII protest... or, speakers must not be actors
and continue to provoke conspiracy to fuck with interstate trade/travel Yeah...was a little drunk when I wrote that. That should clear up right after I convert to Islam! -TD _ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
NYT on CAPPS II protest
This is from today's New York Times. Apparently, either 9/11 is starting to recede in people's memories, or there's a collective sense of distrust growing wrt what this adminstration's been trying to do. -TD The travel industry and civil liberties groups are sharply objecting to government plans for a new airline passenger screening program, saying it could subject Americans to intensive background checks without adequate controls on how the information was used. The proposed program, an upgrading of current profiling systems, would involve electronic checking of the credit records and criminal histories, along with checking whether the passenger is on watch lists of suspected terrorists. The screening would be done by the federal Transportation Security Administration. Based on the results, each traveler would be assigned a risk level. Those deemed to pose a danger would be barred from flights. The critics worry how the information about other passengers whose risk rating will appear in encrypted form on boarding passes will be used and protected from abuse. The infrastructure for the new system is to be tested on Delta Air Lines flights through three undisclosed airports beginning later this month. Transportation officials said yesterday that no personal information about travelers would be collected during the 120-day test beyond what is used in current screening systems. But travel managers are unhappy about the plans. People are very concerned, said Mark A. Williams, president of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, a group of 2,500 travel managers, agencies and industry executives from more than 30 countries. I hate to use the word offended, but they feel it is an invasion of their personal privacy. James Loy, the retired admiral who heads the Transportation Security Administration, said last week that the system was being designed to serve our national security without sacrificing individual privacy. In a statement announcing that the government had hired Lockheed Martin to develop the system under a $12.8 million contract, Admiral Loy said: Concerns about privacy are understandable. As we address such concerns, we believe that the public will come to have a higher comfort level in air travel. The program has so angered some passengers that a movement is brewing on the Internet for a boycott of Delta if it carries out the test of the system, known as CAPPS II, for Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System. Delta officials yesterday acknowledged receiving numerous e-mail messages and calls of protest. We take it seriously, said Catherine Stengel, a Delta spokeswoman. She said the airline was referring all the complaints to the Transportation Security Administration, part of the Department of Homeland Security. Mr. Williams, who also manages travel for PricewaterhouseCoopers, said that a survey on Monday of members of the Association of Corporate Travel Executives showed that 82 percent of the 255 respondents considered the program an invasion of privacy. The same percentage said they would not trust the government's handling of personal data that would be collected. A government proposal on the program said that the data would be retained for 50 years. The survey also showed that 64 percent of respondents thought the program would discourage commercial flying, while 79 percent said that they would avoid flying on any airline that uses the system. Several civil liberties groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Center, have voiced concerns, saying the program may be illegal under existing privacy laws. Robert Johnson, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, disagreed. Not a single database will be outside the bounds the law allows, he said yesterday. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the privacy information center, said his group might ask Congress to block the program. We're not talking about border control, he said. This is about who gets on a commercial airline. It could be someone flying from Des Moines to Providence. These are U.S. citizens. _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
Re: Give cheese to france?
I'm ashamed to be on the same list with you statists and fascists. Lot's I don't get here. First of all, stating one perhaps should have the right to wear whatever T-shirt you want in a mall isn't necessarily statist. There are, possibly, non-state-originating arguments in favor of such a notion. More than that, there CERTAINLY are ways in which such a right could be enforced sans state. More than that, what's all this about dousing hating, and whatever about supposed statists and fascists, just because they wrote something on the friggin internet? If I believe that George W. should be king and Lord of all who gives a crap unless I actually try to DO something about it? Talk is cheap. Even laws are cheap...I don't get too worked up over fascistic laws and violation of the constitution or watever until someone actually starts trying to restrict my 'rights' (whatever the hell that actually means). -TD From: Tim May [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Give cheese to france? Date: Thu, 6 Mar 2003 19:21:52 -0800 On Thursday, March 6, 2003, at 02:11 PM, Major Variola (ret) wrote: Besides, the publicity has been great. I was told that after it made news, 150 women wearing the same T-shirts showed up at the mall. The security guards locked themselves in their offices. Probably messed their pants, too. If people didn't leave my property when told to, and the actual police would not expel them, then I would consider it morally justified to start shooing those 150 bitches. Sometimes people don't understand anything except bullets. My defense would be that it was my property, they were trespassing, and the police refused to do their job. Frankly, many of you on this list really need to be doused with gasoline and then lit. I'm ashamed to be on the same list with you statists and fascists. The Eurotrash nitwits are the worst. It's as if they were born in Communist countries and never shook their early training...which, come to think of it, is probably likely. --Tim May I'm ashamed to be on the same list with you statists and fascists. _ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Someone explain...Give cheese to france?
Tom Veil wrote...
These fuckards really need to learn what private property is.
('Fuckards'. I like that. GIMMEE.)
Alright. There's something I'm not getting here, so the Libertarians on the
board are free to enlighten me.
Let's take one of my famous extreme examples. Let's say a section of the New
Jersey Turnpike gets turned over to a private company, which now owns and
operates this section.
So...now let's say I'm black. NO! Let's say I'm blond-haired and blue eyed,
and the asshole in the squad car doesn't like that, because his wife's been
bangin' a surfer. So...he should be able to toss me off the freeway just
because of the way I look? (Or the way I'm dressed or the car I drive or
whatever.)
The way I see it is there's private property, there's public property, and
then there's reality with lots of stuff in between.
-TD
PS: And don't get all huffy. I'm actually asking a question, not trying to
make some huge point...yet.
_
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Re: Using time-domain reflectometry to detect tamper attempts on telecom cables
I'm sure I read about a way to do fiber, or that someone had developed a device, that only involved removing a bit of the covering, not cutting into the fiber at all. Yes, there is such a device, and I've used one. The only problem with them is that the amount of attenuation that results from the tap is not very repeatable, but I'd bet there are military grade ones used terrestially that will consistently be undetectable. Remember, a few dB in an optical network can mean the difference between 'acceptable' operation (10e(-10) BER) and nearly complete dropout of the optical signal, initiating a protection switching event. (They also squeeze the fiber in a distinctly anisotropic way, which creates PMD which can kill an OC-192 signal in worst cases.) Undersea, I've heard that NSA uses splices, and that NSA has its own sub for that purpose. (And the company I used to work for did some work on undersea NSA optical projects, so I tend to believe the rumors I heard there.) -TD _ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Using time-domain reflectometry to detect tamper attempts on telecom cables
Well, I know that NSA has its own undersea network, but I can only take a fairly crude guess as to what it might look like. SInce it was several years ago, I guess I won't be getting into too much trouble mentioning some NSA work I participated in. It was not classified (though they probably wanted it to be, but we were one of the ultimate fiber optic consulting groups that just happened to be civilian, and NSA had an emergency). On one occasion, they had us testing reflective modulators used undersea (which take a signal in, modulate it, and reflect it back out the same port). So they were probably doing some optical FDM on top of exisiting commericial signals. On another occasion we were debugging some OC-3 electronics that were flaking out undersea, due to the non-MilSpec components their vendor was using. So the obvious guess here is ATM. So I suspect that NSA runs a parasitic OC-3 ATM network optically on top of existing commericial OC-192. They can probably select up to 155 Meg of eavesdropped traffic to send into undersea AAL3 VCs and dredge back up over to be Echeloned. (Of course, that OC-3 ATM network could merely have a been a control network for something far more complicated, which come to think of it might be more likely. I doubt they'd let us see so many components if it was possible to guess what their network was by seeing them.) -TD From: Thomas Shaddack [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Dave Emery [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Using time-domain reflectometry to detect tamper attempts on telecom cables Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2003 07:39:36 +0100 (CET) But getting the bits from under the ocean somewhere back to Fort Meade without being detected must be more interesting. Can't they hire their own fiber in the cable, splice it, and feed the preprocessed data in there? It probably is true that the right wavelength laser will penatrate water for some limited distance so a link could be set up from a bouy near but below the surface to a sensitive telescope in earth orbit. I heard copper vapor lasers would do, that they are used for eg. intersubmarine communication. But can't confirm nor deny this. ...as there was no overlap of traffic on multiple wires. What techniques are used to pick the data from the mix of the signals from the cables with more wires? Doing this for a sonet ring carrying 10 gbs or so as some undersea cables now do seems rather challenging - at the very least how one would follow changes in channel allocations and traffic loading would seem very problematic. And intercepts that are weeks or months old would be very much less interesting in most cases than near real time intercepts - particularly of targets like terrorists. It's being said that NSA is losing its grip on communications, to their great joy. It must make them mad. Hee! :) ...maybe the era is coming when even the US will be forced to play fair? _ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Give cheese to france?
Read some of the sources. Few of you social democrats here have done so. Poo-poo on such sources. I can't believe that someone supposedly trined in physics really believes such sources to be of a huge amount of value. I know I'll take heat for the following statement (deservedly--I admit it's a huge bias), but as a physicist myself, any political or social science is for me highly suspect if it does not rely upon mathemtical expressions and can not make quantifiable predictions. And for the most part, we've never seen that. What I mean is that we can state all the political and economic theories we want, but in the end I doubt they have much relevance to reality. So I've never really gone out of my way to dig deeply into such sources. Social theories always seem quaint to me...they may have some real relevance at the time of conception, but technology (for one) takes such wild turns that many ideas which seem obvious at one point are almost useless a few years later. Like, imagine what even the most brilliant of late medieaval philosophers might have said about the future of fortifications. Many of such statements may have been insightful and correct at the time they were formulated, but they also probably could not have taken into consideration the existence and implications of gunpowder, which would wipe out the notion of a fortification (in the castle sense) just about completely. Strong crypto is one form of gunpowder from the late 20th century. And while we can gesticulate about the probable implications, in the end I doubt anything that is said now will hold much relevance to the world as it will stand 30 years from now. So right now the only really valid philosophy is coding itself, and the generation of apps and structures based on this new gunpowder (which like gunpowder can't be put back in the can). This will (along with many other technologies) change the world into something we probably can't even imagine right now. And the only people who will be seen as having been correct in any sense will be those that developed technologies that will be used in the future. What we SAY will seem quaint and irrelevant. (Hey! Where's my flying car and domestic robot?) -TD _ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
Sell inverse floaters to france
Kevin Horne wrote... By the way, one piece of evidence that economics is maturing into a real science is that it is becoming usable by engineers; in particular, it has been applied to investment analysis and portfolio theory, resulting in significant improvements in investment performance. Oh, that! That's kind of different. I used to do some work in evaluating funds comprised of mortgage-backed securities sprinkled with derivative securities. We used the Ho-Lee model (I later had one of my strangest interviews with the very same Ho). Indeed, such models are extremely mathematical, but this wasn't exactly what I was thinking about. (The models are not 'predictive' in the sense of predicting the econmy, but rather predicts the value of certain derivatives as a function of interest rates over time. The model actually generates a future price for every even remotely likely scenario, and then describes the output spread in terms of volatility wrt interest rates.) (Actually, there are some computer-based trading firms that leverage minute instabilities of price, buying/selling huge numbers of shares to make big $$$. They certainly have teams of engineers/physicists/financial engineers building these models.) -TD _ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
Blacknet Delta CAPPS II Boycott?
Just wondering... Would there be an easy blacknet way to offer those t-shirts that would be un-shutdownable? Also, as an added (perhaps necessary) benefit, the ability to protect (through anonymity) those that ran the site? Plus, another thought occurs to me. Is it possible, perhaps, via Blacknet for the site operator to put up the site for a predefined time period, during which it is impossible even for the site operator to take it down? How would that work as a legal defense? (Sorry Delta. My site is on an autonymous Server and even I can not shut it down until its expiration date on 6/22/03. Indeed, I do not even know where the server or service provider is.) -TD From: Bill Stewart [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: CAPPS II pilot at San Jose - Delta to CAPPS II Boycotters: No more Coffee Mugs Date: Sun, 09 Mar 2003 22:42:40 -0800 Breaking news - The three airports in Delta's pilot project include San Jose. --- Last week Bill Scannell [EMAIL PROTECTED] announced the BoycottDelta.org protest against Delta's collaboration with the CAPPS II pass-law pilot project. Among other publicity activities, BoycottDelta.org had T-shirt for sale on CafePress.com, but Delta has filed a intellectual property complaint to stop them, in spite of the Supreme Court's position that parody is protected, and if you've seen the BoycottDelta.org logo, it's clearly just parody. - Delta Shuts Down BoycottDelta Shop CAPPS II Collaborator Stops T-Shirt Sales, Continues Privacy Invasion Austin, TX (8 March 2003) -- BoycottDelta, an on-line website advocating a total boycott of Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) until the airline stops all cooperation with a test of the CAPPS II program, had its on-line 'BoycottDelta Action Tools' store closed down as a result of an intellectual property rights violation alleged and filed by Delta with the store's host, CafePress.com . The store sold t-shirts, coffee mugs and stickers affixed with the BoycottDelta logo, allowing activists to show their support for the campaign. The BoycottDelta logo consists of an all-seeing eye within a red and blue triangle. All BoycottDelta products were sold at cost. BoycottDelta founder Bill Scannell expressed astonishment with Delta's move. Delta Air Lines has been deluged with thousands of emails and calls from their customers over the past week complaining about their CAPPS II testing, and the best Delta can come up with is to say 'don't wear a t-shirt'? This is corporate arrogance at its finest. Over 200,000 unique visitors have visited the BoycottDelta website since it went live on the 3rd of March. Alternate sources of BoycottDelta protest tools are being identified. A new on-line store will be launched shortly. The Google cache of the store can be seen at: http://216.239.57.100/search?q=cache:HSkdQ1hc4coJ:www.cafeshops.com/boycottd elta+boycottdelta+action+toolshl=enie=UTF-8 _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
Re: Someone explain...Give cheese to france?
Tom Veil wrote... Otherwise, if the company really wanted such a dickheaded policy, then yes, it would be their right. Of course, it would also be your right to organize a boycott, take an alternate route, or build your own spur route. This is the general gist of the arguments and so far I'm not convinced. Here's my play-by-play: Of course, it would also be your right to organize a boycott, Seems impossible. Only a boycott with a nationwide information campaign would likely have much of an impact: trucks come from all over the country to cross the George Washington Bridge via the turnpike. Also, there are large numbers of individuals and busses that MUST cross the GWB to get people to work. I really doubt people are going to stop going to work for this boycott. (And this is assuming the operating company gives a damn about the boycott. If there's no toll on the road, then the private company gets paid by the state even if no one rides it. So actually, a boycott lowers the maintenance expenses on the road.) take an alternate route, Well, let's assume there IS no alternate route. And in this case that is partly true. Or at least, any alternate routes would be quickly jammed if the boycott was even remotely successful, with the result being that there are still large numbers of people using that road. (And of course, like above the operating company might actually LIKE people not using their road. Hell, maybe they engineered this whole event for that purpose...) or build your own spur route. Assuming I could amass the capital, there's the strong likelihood I wouldn't be able to get the zoning permits and whatnot. People are getting tired of perpetual roadwork in some towns. (This of course could headway into the traditional Libertarian handwaving arguments with respect to natural resources...What Global Warming? Prove it!) Sorry. Lotsa easy answers and big holes in logic with these arguments. -TD _ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Social democrats on our list
Your oxygen is tresspassing on my private property. Any oxygen that does so becomes mine to do with as I please. Actually, I'm imagining Tim sitting at his window with a shotgun and some high-tech oxygen detector... _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Brinwear at Benetton.
Nice post. I guess it's just a matter of time before someone is charged with disabling the RF signature of one of these tags. I'd guess that here in the US, the rule will be if you bought it you can disable it, but prior to that you're not allowed to jam it. Humm...one wonders if there's already some common electronics that emit in the same range as the scan, or if when defective (wink wink nudge nudge) will jam such a signal. -TD From: Thomas Shaddack [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: cypherpunks [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Brinwear at Benetton. Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2003 18:16:25 +0100 (CET) Seems the trend is here. We can thank Benetton for providing us with a playground for live tests of the capabilities and limits of the system. We have several ways for countermeasures. Passive countermeasures are shielding or tag destruction. We can locate the transceiver, then enclose it in a Faraday cage. Or we can locate the tag and physically remove or destroy it. Or we can irradiate the entire object with powerful-enough electromagnetic radiation. Active countermeasures can involve jammers, creating a RF privacy sphere. One of the possibilities is a virtual tag that will respond to read attempt with randomly generated signal strong enough to drown all other tags in it. Or, to generate forged signatures, making the reader think it is receiving a genuine signal, over which we have control; allowing us to change our wireless appearance on-fly, even copying the tag signatures of other people as they pass around, temporarily borrowing them. The sky is the limit of possibilities here. Part of the indirect passive countermeasures toy chest is a device that will alert its owner when the RF read beam is detected, and allow pinpointing its source. The changes we are about to expect are moving the battle to another stage. Let's get familiar with the new weapons about to hit the battlefield, and devise the appropriate strategies. _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Switzerland: Another hit for phone privacy
Anybody with a brain, being a de-facto criminal or only a de-jure one, will find some of the ridiculously easy ways to acquire one without giving out a name, ... Well, what they should do is obvious. Post a big sign at the point of sale saying Use of phone cards for terrorist activities is illegal and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. -TD From: Thomas Shaddack [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: cypherpunks [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Switzerland: Another hit for phone privacy Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 03:06:58 +0100 (CET) Summary: Members of al-Qaeda were using prepaid cellphone accounts purchased in Switzerland. Swiss goons figured it out, and now Switzerland wants to register buyers of prepaid cards. My note: It will hurt only the low-grade people. Anybody with a brain, being a de-facto criminal or only a de-jure one, will find some of the ridiculously easy ways to acquire one without giving out a name, or with fake identity. The only difference will be an anonymous surcharge, if you will know whom to ask. Another feel-good, grossly ineffective measure. If it wouldn't be so disgusting, I'd laugh. And the cards will be prone to be smuggled. Even if the Authorities would manage to clamp down on the physical movements of goods (if they can't stop tons of easy-to-smell drugs, what success is expected with thumbprint-sized plastic cards with tiny chips), it is possible to crack out the Ki (secret key number) from the SIM card, then send it away by an encrypted mail and/or steganographed into a picture, and use it to clone a new card in the place it is about to be used. With simple software for changing IMEI, a phone that allows it (older Nokias typically should), and a couple of Ki numbers, one phone and one card and one laptop can offer enough of wireless identities. If anything, Twist (or how they changed the name after T-Mobile took over and screwed with things) (www.t-mobile.cz), Go (www.eurotel.cz), and Oskarta (Oscard, www.oskarmobil.cz) prepaid cards are quite common here. (Warning: Oskar tends to not use old COMP128, so the method of cloning of their cards is unknown yet. They also AFAIK don't have good roaming, T-Mobile is rumoured to be better. OTOH, Oskar is cheaper. OTTH, they tend to have weird coverage.) Wondering if any changes of this are planned to happen here. I am sure Standa Gross (our Minister of Internal Affairs) and his Grosstapo thugs would have multiple orgasms if they would get this. (And what are we about to expect when we'll finally join EU, and European version of FBI (EBI) will get formed and starts pressing through EU-wide regulations (as it's already happening, see www.statewatch.org, or details about ENFOPOL, reportedly established with the guidance of FBI, http://www.heise.de/tp/english/special/enfo/default.html )). Links (Google News keywords: pre-paid mobile swiss): http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=105sid=1689727 http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNewsstoryID=2369135 http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/59/29660.html Quote: It's an American habit, to immediately make new laws the moment something bad happens. (Mark Pieth, professor of law and criminology, Basel University) _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Brinwear at Benetton.
If I build the mugger's little helper, a PDA attachement that scans for real prada bags, then perhaps the RFID tag will be removed at the counter after the first lawsuit. Nice! Possibly, it might not even be necessary for the Little Helper to read the tag, only detect its presence. Counterfeit bags probably won't have the tag, and if they do (and the copies are good enough), the mugger won't care. I'm also wondering about sending a fake tag signal to the Benneton detector. How many fake tags could a cleverly designed gizmo shoot out at the detector, and in how much time? If a signal indicating 100s of items are passing through hits that detector a couple of times a day for a week or so, they'll definitely take it off line. (And I'd doubt they use any crypto or authentication-type coding on those tags...do they?) -TD Brinworld my ass! From: Adam Shostack [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Trei, Peter [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Brinwear at Benetton. Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 10:51:03 -0500 On Thu, Mar 13, 2003 at 10:22:14AM -0500, Trei, Peter wrote: | Some research is being done in RSA Labs to produce more | privacy-enhanced protocols for RFIDs, but it's a long way from | publication, and its unclear what would motivate a tag manufacturer | to include them. The biggest motivators I can see are law and liability. If you can make the case to Europe's data protection commissioners that these tags will be linked to individual information, and can then be used to track people, then perhaps the tags will include privacy tech of some sort. (Although Ari presented at FC this year, and pointed out just how few gates there are to work with.) The other motivator is liability. If I build the mugger's little helper, a PDA attachement that scans for real prada bags, then perhaps the RFID tag will be removed at the counter after the first lawsuit. (Naturally, we'll sell the mugger's little helper as a tool for undercover counterfeit investigations. We can't help that the street finds its own uses for things.) Adam -- It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. -Hume _ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
Re: Give cheese to france?
James Donald wrote... On 11 Mar 2003 at 9:35, Tyler Durden wrote: Does it mean that such observations are invalid just because Marx predicted them? Actually, I didn't write that, though I quoted it. Marx was both untruthful, and spectacularly in error. Marx was primarily an economist, and a lot of what he had to say bore listening to. And there's a core there that I believe is probably correct. For instance, despite your examples, there are industries where consolidation is occuring, and in ways that closely resemble what Marx predicted. A good example is the silicon chip industry. How many top-line fabs still exist (ie, capable of 0.38um and below)? The cost of such fabs is now in the billions, so there are only a few companies that can afford it. Amongst piles of other things, Marx predicted exactly this. (Again, however, this doesn't mean I find Marx's predictions all that appealing, nor is communism-as-it-has-existed any system I'd want to live under again.) If commies actually believed what they said, if they still believed the prophecies, then they would still be working at labor organization, rather than at conspiracy. Well, here's where your rant sideswipes reality at its closest. Today's Marxists definitely seem, by and large, to be more interested in ideology and banner-waving than in helping, say, Haitian workers receive a living wage. When the commies of the world start drop-shipping rifles to striking miners in Bangladesh, then I'll be interested. Ever since Lenin, a core principle of communism has been to know the truth, and to lie about it. Pooey. Here's where you seem distinctly skewed in your thinking by the Soviets. The Chinese communists have a much more interesting history, The lying probably doesn't really get going in China until about 1960 or so. The Chinese communists (particularly prior to 1949) were an absolutely necessary force in China from the 1920s until the mid 50s. (And this is probably not because they were communist per se, but more that the Chinese communists represented an imminently Chinese clustering of ideals and pooled resources in reaction to a murderous occupation by the Japanese and collusion by Chiang Kai Shek.) The point is, Chinese communism didn't have lies as a core principal. The lies came much later. -TD _ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Bennetton Blacknet Credit Cards?
Peter Trei wrote... The tag cost is already down to under a dime. When it's under a nickle, these things will be in everything. Think about them in books. Yikes. Makes me wish I had some kind of untraceable credit card. What the heck does that 'RA Hettinga' character do, anyway? Can we get a Cypherpunks Visa or what? -TD From: Trei, Peter [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'Mike Rosing' [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Brinwear at Benetton. Date: Fri, 14 Mar 2003 13:22:44 -0500 Mike Rosing[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED] They don't want to deactivate them. Go back and read the SFGate article I linked in my initial post. They want to recognize when a loyal customer returns, so they can pull up his/her profile and give then personalized treatment. And what happens when the personalized treatment is cold sholder because of buying the competitions product? My bet is they'll just issue an rfid card and not use the inventory control for that purpose. Connecting inventory control to customer preferences can't be done without an alternate device. I can see how the grocery store will want to track your purchases over time to give you discounts on other products, and sell the info to various competing interests. Discount stores will also do the same thing, but the bar code tags already give that info. rfid doesn't add anything, it just gets in the way of store security (why keep track of *every* item purchased by *everybody* to prevent theft of CD's???) What I'm trying to say is that the info the stores want on you is already there and in use. The rfid helps track items without the bar code, and in places you can't read a bar code (like when lots of items are in a box). It can also be used for theft prevention. But you need to disable it to prevent having to deal with goods bought the week before in a store on the other side of the world. If the stores *don't* use the rfid's for security, and they can already use the bar codes for inventory, what good are they? Bar code readers are much cheaper than rfid readers and so is the paper tag that holds the bar code. There's no economic sense for the rfid tag in the first place. Patience, persistence, truth, Dr. mike You're not thinking this through. As the item goes through the door (in either direction) the check is made Is this individual tag on this store's 'unsold inventory' list?. If so, raise the alarm. The tags are not fungible; they each have a unique number. When you purchase an item, it's tag number is transfered from the 'unsold inventory' list to the 'Mike Rosing' list, or, if no link to a name can be found, 'John Doe #2345'. As you walk up to the counter, the tag in your jockey shorts is read, and you are greeted by name, even if you've never been in that store before. What's more, for stock control, they have 'smart shelves', so they can also say 'Mary, go get some more black hipster jeans in 34x34 and put them out - the shelf says it's empty. As for RFID tags vs bar codes - you missing out the labor cost differential - RFID tags can be read by a fixed reader at several feet, while bar codes must be indvidually scanned. The tag cost is already down to under a dime. When it's under a nickle, these things will be in everything. Think about them in books. Peter Trei _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: [1st amend] NYT: MTV refuses antiwar commercial
Yeah, despite the probable issues, I want to see big-breasted, bikini-clad springbreak chics on MTV while smokin' a doobie, not be all harshed-out by reality. I WANT MY MT-V! -TD From: Sunder [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [1st amend] NYT: MTV refuses antiwar commercial Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 08:38:25 -0500 (est) As deplorable and heinous as MTV's actions are, go back and read the 1st Ammendment. MTV is not a government run channel. The 1st doesn't apply to it. Now - if say Fox News - who claims to be Fair and Balanced refused it, while accepting - say US Army/Navy/Marines ads, etc. that might be an interesting development. But it still wouldn't fall under the 1st. --Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos--- + ^ + :NSA got $20Bil/year |Passwords are like underwear. You don't /|\ \|/ :and didn't stop 9-11|share them, you don't hang them on your/\|/\ --*--:Instead of rewarding|monitor, or under your keyboard, you \/|\/ /|\ :their failures, we |don't email them, or put them on a web \|/ + v + :should get refunds! |site, and you must change them very often. [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.sunder.net On Fri, 14 Mar 2003, Major Variola (ret) wrote: What are the issues when media doesn't take ads? Private media (e.g., a newspaper, a web site) can't be compelled to say, or not say, anything by the state, and so can freely exercise arbitrary editorial control over adverts. What about when the medium is a State-granted monopoly of a resource like RF spectrum? Or cable infrastructure?Should *these* media channels be *compelled* to accept any privately-funded ads, first come first served, *because* of this State-granted monopoly? MTV refuses antiwar commercial http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/13/business/media/13ADCO.html?ex=1048573024ei=1en=292aa6fe6f1edbc8 _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Idea: Sidestepping low-power broadcast regulations with infrared
Steve Schear wrote... A detector that is only sensitive to this spectral region has the capability to operate in the daylight, even while pointing at the sun, and pick up little background radiation How much are UV receivers (note, not the same thing as a mere UV detector)? Gotta be kinda expensive, I would think (ie, in the 4-digit range), but I could be wrong. And preferably, it would be nice if it could run up to 11Meg/sec or so. Seems to me if one wanted broadcast, operating in the 1550-nm range and then using good old EDFAs might work, if one had the right kind of omnidirectional IR 'antenna' (or whatever such a thing would be called). Then of course, the broadcast cost would be kind of expensive (say $5000), but the detectors could be cheap ($100 or less). The only drawback here is fog (1550nm doesn't go too good through fog, but rain and snow are apparently fine). -TD From: Steve Schear [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Thomas Shaddack [EMAIL PROTECTED], cypherpunks [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Idea: Sidestepping low-power broadcast regulations with infrared Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 08:40:05 -0800 At 03:13 PM 3/17/2003 +0100, Thomas Shaddack wrote: Using a powerful high-frequency modulated infrared source (eg, a bank of LEDs) located on a highly visible place, it couldbe possible to facilitate local community broadcasts, effectively sidestepping all FCC regulations. Better to ignore low power regs and challenge the FCC to demonstrate for each and every such station that their signal measurably interferes at receivers in another state with another station. Interference at receivers within the same state as the low power transmitters is not a valid constitutional basis for FCC regulation. Regarding LED broadcasts, you should consider RF modulated mid-UV lamps. There is a wide swath of spectrum from 230 to 280 nanometers created by the ozone layer. Little sun light in this frequency range, the only significant natural illumination source, reaches most parts of the earth. A detector that is only sensitive to this spectral region has the capability to operate in the daylight, even while pointing at the sun, and pick up little background radiation. A detector operating in this wavelength region need not be directional and will have an increased performance by orders of magnitude because of the reduction of the background noise. Furthermore, precise alignment of the transmitter and receiver is dispensed with since a detector does not have to operate in the line-of-sight but can function in a wide field-of-view mode to sense radiation scattered by the modulated UV signal. Multi-watt transmitters can be constructed from inexpensive, commercially available, Ar-Hg discharge lamps. Data rates can easily exceed 100s kbps (megabit data rates have been reported). By selection of different Hg isotopes in the lamps multiple channel operation is possible. Reception using inexpensive, solid-state, sensors is assumed. See U.S. Patent 4,493,114. steve _ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
Re: Fatherland Security measures more important than Bennetton tags!
This ain't Singapore, now...it's NYC. You can (and always will) be able to buy a Metrocard with cash at the remaining token booths. And while I'd bet many have cameras (for anti-token booth-type crime, including setting the booth on fire), I really doubt they'd be able to accurately track an individual that didn't want to be tracked. Unlike, say Hong Kong, you don't swipe your card to leave the system...you only swipe upon entry. And you can have as many cards as you want. And then, there are still many unattended exit points that have no cameras (and in many of those remote points, the installation of cameras would eventually be met with graffitti or vandalism). The NYC subway system is just too big to monitor. Which leads me to a mini-rant. NYC has been described as statist by some on this list, but despite the laws and whatnot, in many ways its fairly anarchic out here. Cops tend to leave you alone unless you're robbing or killing somebody. Other than that, for the most part its don't ask/don't tell. Prostitution is left alone unless the locals raise enough fuss over it. Drugs get the occsional bust, but the vast majority are left alone if its discrete. Now don't get me wrong...there are plenty of exceptions. And if you f with the cops, your going to get your ass kicked. But keep a low profile, don't screw with anybody that doesn't want to be screwed with, and you can do almost whatever you want. (Even taxes aren't a problem if you're willing to deal with the hassles of avoiding paying...) -TD From: Sunder [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: stuart [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Fatherland Security measures more important than Bennetton tags! Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 12:08:41 -0500 (est) Some of this is already in place. If you don't buy your Metrocard with cash, they have records of who you are. It's basically an ATM that takes ATM cards, credit cards (and some take cash also.) If you pay the machine by cash, you can be sure your face is linked to your Metrocard - since it's an ATM, they have to record who uses it. If you've signed up for the Mail Ride thing for the LIRR, they've got your metrocard linked already. Not sure about the booths, wouldn't surprise me though. You can still buy preset cards from newsstands - YMMV. Also, don't forget that each metrocard has it's own serial number. If you're not just a casual user, they can figure out around where you live because you use it twice. Once from home, once from work. Further, if you take them up on their offer to refresh the amount there - which they try to get you to do by making it so you always have a few extra cents left over on the card, there's another chance you might just use a credit card, etc... If there are cameras near the turnstyles, it's easy to spot who swiped which card and where they go based on timestamps. Of course face-card links aren't card-identity links, but if you're wanted, they're more than good enough. --Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos--- + ^ + :NSA got $20Bil/year |Passwords are like underwear. You don't /|\ \|/ :and didn't stop 9-11|share them, you don't hang them on your/\|/\ --*--:Instead of rewarding|monitor, or under your keyboard, you \/|\/ /|\ :their failures, we |don't email them, or put them on a web \|/ + v + :should get refunds! |site, and you must change them very often. [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.sunder.net On Sat, 15 Mar 2003, stuart wrote: What's to link? All that can be linked is that a metrocard was bought in one place, be it a subway station, deli or whatever, and then used somewhere else, the subway or bus. Hundreds of metrocards are bought at every station every day, used once, and tossed in the trash. (Actually, most of them get tossed on the train tracks.) All that can be linked is that one anonymous person, along with dozens of others, bought a metrocard and got on the subway a few minutes later, and then vanished into the crush. _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Idea: Sidestepping low-power broadcast regulations with infrared
Steve Schear wrote... I haven't checked but assume they should be relatively cheap. For example, I'm assuming this device isn't too expensive and the sensor itself should be available for a few $10s. http://www.ame-corp.com/UVB.htm Perhaps I misunderstand what you would want to use this device for. Remember we need to detect bits, not just the presence of UV/IR or whatever. It's got to be able to react quickly, and hopefully quickly enough that the electronics behind it can be off-the shelf, and probably Ethernet or SONET-capable. (Think 10/11 Meg, or 155Meg and beyond...) And because I've never heard of UV-based communications, I would assume that such a receiver would be quite expensive, even at lower bitrates. However, if you go with the standard tele/datacom wavelength bands (850nm, 1310nm, 1550nm...), prices get VERY cheap, even at bandwidths up to OC-48 (2.5 gig). With both the 1550nm as well as 1310nm-band, you have the added possibility of optical amplifiers (Raman at 1310nm, Erbium-Doped fiber amplifiers at 1550nm), and pretty much unlimited power (cladding-pumped fiber amplifiers can output in the 2 to 5 watt range and beyond). Oh, and it should be mentioned that several companies have already commercialized free-space point-to-point line of sight optical communications at these bandwidths and these wavelegnths, so the only thing you really need is the wierd antenna, and I'd bet there's something out there already you could use. -TD And preferably, it would be nice if it could run up to 11Meg/sec or so. I don't think you will be able to get anywhere near multi-megabit data rates with inexpensive, omni-directional, optical systems. But that's needed for broadcast of entertainment .mp3 sterams. Seems to me if one wanted broadcast, operating in the 1550-nm range and then using good old EDFAs might work, if one had the right kind of omnidirectional IR 'antenna' (or whatever such a thing would be called). Then of course, the broadcast cost would be kind of expensive (say $5000), but the detectors could be cheap ($100 or less). The only drawback here is fog (1550nm doesn't go too good through fog, but rain and snow are apparently fine). Fabrication of efficient, high-power,isible wavelength emitters and sensors using nano-imprinting technologies should be feasible today. The advantage of this approach is that it need not employ materials using their bandgaps but simply resonant structures similar to RF circuits. steve _ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Fatherland Security measures more important than Bennetton tags!
Well, i thought that the general gist of your post was that in many cases it would be possible to determine the comings and goings of CitizenUnit A in the New York City subway system. My needless reply was to voice some scepticism on this in the general case, and to disagree in the case of someone who really doesn't want to be tracked taking the subways. -TD From: Sunder [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Tyler Durden [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Fatherland Security measures more important than Bennetton tags! Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 14:27:43 -0500 (est) Right, which is why I said the following: If you don't buy your Metrocard with cash... and Of course face-card links aren't card-identity links, but if you're wanted, they're more than good enough. Please DO read the entire message before needlessly replying. --Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos--- + ^ + :NSA got $20Bil/year |Passwords are like underwear. You don't /|\ \|/ :and didn't stop 9-11|share them, you don't hang them on your/\|/\ --*--:Instead of rewarding|monitor, or under your keyboard, you \/|\/ /|\ :their failures, we |don't email them, or put them on a web \|/ + v + :should get refunds! |site, and you must change them very often. [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.sunder.net On Mon, 17 Mar 2003, Tyler Durden wrote: This ain't Singapore, now...it's NYC. You can (and always will) be able to buy a Metrocard with cash at the remaining token booths. And while I'd bet many have cameras (for anti-token booth-type crime, including setting the booth on fire), I really doubt they'd be able to accurately track an individual that didn't want to be tracked. Unlike, say Hong Kong, you don't swipe your card to leave the system...you only swipe upon entry. And you can have as many cards as you want. And then, there are still many unattended exit points that have no cameras (and in many of those remote points, the installation of cameras would eventually be met with graffitti or vandalism). The NYC subway system is just too big to monitor. Which leads me to a mini-rant. NYC has been described as statist by some on this list, but despite the laws and whatnot, in many ways its fairly anarchic out here. Cops tend to leave you alone unless you're robbing or killing somebody. Other than that, for the most part its don't ask/don't tell. Prostitution is left alone unless the locals raise enough fuss over it. Drugs get the occsional bust, but the vast majority are left alone if its discrete. Now don't get me wrong...there are plenty of exceptions. And if you f with the cops, your going to get your ass kicked. But keep a low profile, don't screw with anybody that doesn't want to be screwed with, and you can do almost whatever you want. (Even taxes aren't a problem if you're willing to deal with the hassles of avoiding paying...) -TD From: Sunder [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: stuart [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Fatherland Security measures more important than Bennetton tags! Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 12:08:41 -0500 (est) Some of this is already in place. If you don't buy your Metrocard with cash, they have records of who you are. It's basically an ATM that takes ATM cards, credit cards (and some take cash also.) If you pay the machine by cash, you can be sure your face is linked to your Metrocard - since it's an ATM, they have to record who uses it. If you've signed up for the Mail Ride thing for the LIRR, they've got your metrocard linked already. Not sure about the booths, wouldn't surprise me though. You can still buy preset cards from newsstands - YMMV. Also, don't forget that each metrocard has it's own serial number. If you're not just a casual user, they can figure out around where you live because you use it twice. Once from home, once from work. Further, if you take them up on their offer to refresh the amount there - which they try to get you to do by making it so you always have a few extra cents left over on the card, there's another chance you might just use a credit card, etc... If there are cameras near the turnstyles, it's easy to spot who swiped which card and where they go based on timestamps. Of course face-card links aren't card-identity links, but if you're wanted, they're more than good enough. --Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos--- + ^ + :NSA got $20Bil/year |Passwords are like underwear. You don't /|\ \|/ :and didn't stop 9-11|share them, you don't hang them on your/\|/\ --*--:Instead of rewarding|monitor, or under your keyboard, you \/|\/ /|\ :their failures, we |don't email them, or put them on a web \|/ + v + :should get refunds! |site, and you must change them very often. [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.sunder.net On Sat, 15 Mar 2003, stuart wrote
I for one am glad that...
Our leader understands the dynamics of peace. As he said last night, we are a peaceful people, and he understands that in order to secure peace, we need to aggressively defend the cause of peace, throughout the globe, by any means necessary. Likewise with American freedom. Terrorists and evil-doers throughout the world hate our freedoms, and think day and night about destroying them. That is why our leader, George W. Bush, understands that in order to protect our freedoms, special precautions are necessary. Of course, in order to secure our freedom, all citizens must actively support our government's efforts to secure this freedom. Anyone who does not obviously support American freedom is clearly opposed to it and must be stopped, or he will help our enemies take away our freedom. Both peace and freedom are in our leaders' strong fist, who protects both for us. Any attempt to pry open this clenched fist must be met with the most extreme forms of resistance imaginable. Think of George W. Bush kind of like your elder brother: he watches out for you and fights off bullies that try to hurt you. But if you criticize your elder brother, then there can be no hope for you: you are basically helping the enemy. Let us as responsible citizens of this free and peaceful nation pledge ourselves in the fight against evil. May God help us in our fight. -Tyler Durden _ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
Re: Idea: Sidestepping low-power broadcast regulations with infrared
I think you're on to something here. One quick thought that occurs to me is that for some of the gain, I see no reason forward error correction couldn't be used within the IP payload, at least for a few dB of gain (has this been tried?) Of course, the FEC probably won't help the header information very much, but doesn't IP broadcast use a small set of broadcast IP addresses? Thus, it might be possible for payload-based FEC to know a-priori what will be in the header and basically correct for it. Then there's simply the matter of the reduced bandwidth due to the FEC, but it might be possible for that to look just like good old Ethernet shared-bandwidth-based conjestion (but I'm no IP guy so I could be talkin' out my arse here). -TD From: Steve Schear [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Tyler Durden [EMAIL PROTECTED] CC: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: Idea: Sidestepping low-power broadcast regulations with infrared Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 14:45:15 -0800 Another possibility occurred to me. It might be possible to use the 802.11-like devices for this purpose. The problem for this application with Wi-Fi is its focus on high data rate and therefore low process gain. But there is no inherent reason why almost the same circuits (perhaps even the off-the-shelf PC cards themselves) couldn't be re-purposed for used at lower effective data rates and higher process gain for much greater range and interference immunity while still operating within the FCC Part 15 guidelines. As I recall most of the notebook cards have a max output of about 80 mW. Each of the 5 channels in the 2.4 GHz band can support up to 11 mbps. If you assume that you will use this for stereo broadcasting then only 128 kbps offers a pretty good quality .mp3 This is a data rate ratio of 85 :1 or about 18 dB. For every 6 dB of link margin improvement a signal's range is doubled. 18 dB should, all other things being equivalent, extend the device range by 8 times. (If data rates were lowered to those now common for PCS and used for that sort of purpose, link margins would expand by another 9-12 dB.) steve _ The new MSN 8: smart spam protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: I for one am glad that...
Patriot Keith Ray wrote... The US is also the world's foremost provider of economic aid. Whether the US is a bully or a peacekeeper really depends on your perspective. Yes, and the fact that the majority of this aid is in the form of munitions credits is proof of the fact that we Americans are willing to help other nations defend the cause of freedom throughout the world. Of course, it might be pointed out that the US has given aid to the likes of Saddam Hussein in the form of billions of dollars, much in munitions credits. But the obvious reponse to this is that, when we supported him, he was not evil, and had not yet turned away from freedom into darkness. Likewise with the Taliban, Argentina, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and so on. -TD From: Keith Ray [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: I for one am glad that... Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2003 13:39:59 -0600 Quoting Eric Cordian [EMAIL PROTECTED]: The US is one of many nations. Since the inception of the United Nations, and International Law, a nation may go to war only if it is attacked or in iminent danger of being attacked by another nation. The US is a signatory of the UN charter, and is consequently bound by it as if it were law. Military actions taken because of a perceived future threat to world peace can only be authorized by the UN Security Council. The UN authorized force in resolution 678 to uphold current and future resolutions. The UN voted unanimously to declare Iraq in violation of previous UN resolutions in 1441. The UN weapons inspector's reports detailed many omissions in Iraq's weapons declaration and failures to fully cooperate with inspectors. United Nations Security Council Resolution 678 (1990) 2. Authorizes Member States co-operating with the Government of Kuwait, unless Iraq on or before 15 January 1991 fully implements, as set forth in paragraph 1 above, the foregoing resolutions, to use all necessary means to uphold and implement resolution 660 (1990) and all subsequent relevant resolutions and to restore international peace and security in the area; United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 (2002) 13. Recalls, in that context, that the Council has repeatedly warned Iraq that it will face serious consequences as a result of its continued violations of its obligations; So-called terrorists hate not our freedom, but our meddling. This is no excuse for use of unconventional warfare against the US nor does it delegitimize the US's use of force to defend themselves. That is why our leader, George W. Bush, understands that in order to protect our freedoms, special precautions are necessary. George W. Bush is a raving lunatic, barking at the moon, lying through his teeth, and dragging the nation into another Bush family war. Ad hominem attacks against the President are irrelevant to the current discussion. As far as dragging the nation to war, 70% of the American people are behind him. Of course, in order to secure our freedom, all citizens must actively support our government's efforts to secure this freedom. Anyone who does not obviously support American freedom is clearly opposed to it and must be stopped, or he will help our enemies take away our freedom. More Freedom = Less Government. I support maximal freedom. By that reasoning, maximum freedom equals no government. Let's disband the police and military and see how long the US lasts. Let us as responsible citizens of this free and peaceful nation pledge ourselves in the fight against evil. May God help us in our fight. The US is the foremost international bully in the world today, pursuing an agenda of globalization on its own terms, during a brief period in which it enjoys complete and total military superiority. The US is also the world's foremost provider of economic aid. Whether the US is a bully or a peacekeeper really depends on your perspective. World government may be inevitable at some time in the future, but it would be idiotic to permit that world government to grow from the coalition of Bible Spewing Jesus Christers, and their Neo-Conservative handlers that currently have their greedy paws on America's military machine. Damn those free elections! Why can't we just agree to let you pick the world's leaders? Justice in the Middle East would be Sharon, Netanyahu, and two generations of the Bush family hanging in downtown Baghdad. After a fair trial and due process at the hands of the International Community, of course. This kind of statement works a lot better for Tim than it does for you. -- Keith Ray [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- OpenPGP Key: 0x79269A12 _ Add photos to your messages with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail
Re: Journalists, Diplomats, Others Urged to Evacuate City
Tim May wrote... (And this kind of chaos need not be a decapitation attack on the Seat of Government. A disabling attack on agriculture--such as contaminating the meat supply with hoof and mouth or mad cow--or a psychological attack on consumerism--such as 5 suicide bombers hitting crowded shopping malls--would have a big effect. The destruction of a few dams would have similar effects, but, fortunately for us, they are apparently well-defended, i.e., they are _not_ soft targets.) Well, I am not convinced. About the ever-present dangers of innumerable terrorists, that is. I mean, where the hell are they all? It's a giant country, with ungaurded borders extending for thousands of miles. It seems to me if there really were some vast army of terrorists waiting to kill us all out there, we should be seeing something happen about every other day. But as it the only terrorist attack (from non-US citizens, that is), was on 9/11/01. Were there ANY others? (Though I still think that plane that went down over Far Rockaway was obviously sabotaged.) Israel, of course, is a different story. But as Variola posted a few days ago, those suicide bombers grow up under very different circumstances. We don't have such circumstances here...yet. Those suicide bombers could see the possibility of direct and obvious pressure on local abusive forces that they had likely grown up witnessing first-hand. So what I am tempted to believe is that on September 11th, the vast majority of adult, mission-oriented Suicide bombers likely died in action. After that, it was easy to scare the population into accepting check points, lockdowns, the general loss of freedom, and 1.5 hour bus drives into lower Manhattan (such as I experienced this morning). You know what? There are no terrorists. _ MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus
