The Pareto Principle tells us that just about everything can be split along an 80-20 ratio.
Specifically 80% of events are caused by 20% of the causes, or as Pareto originally noted, 80% of stuff is owned by 20% of the people.
The world is going into a period of history where we are going to starve to death. You've probably read about peak oil and the way we are using non-renewable resources at an ever increasing pace. High oil prices are an attempt to reduce consumption to put this period of starvation off.
When will it happen? I'll get to that, but, my predictions are only as good as the data I accumulate.
So, knowing this, what are the 20% doing? In my opinion they are trying to build a global hierarchy where they are able to continue to live lavish lifestyles while the other 80% starve and die.
Personally, I think Obama Care is going to help this along by reducing the ability of the average person to afford health care. Long story, but, essentially Obama Care is going to end up making health care an individual responsibility.
To accomplish this global "new world order" or hierarchy the first thing that has to happen is a reduction in the standard of living in developing countries. Not an equalization because this would require that the majority of leaders and powerful business owners in the world help lift the populations of their nations to the standard of living enjoyed by the United States.
Instead the standard of living in the United States and other 1st world nations must be reduced and the 80% need to understand that they are not entitled to a good standard of living no matter how hard they work. The standard of living must be determined by the 20%.
Is this some global conspiracy? Not exactly, its just a lot of people working toward a similar goal driven by similar motivations. Is a marathon a conspiracy?
The world can support about 4-6 billion people.
What is the time frame? I put together a basic analysis and my curves crossed around 2070. Don't put a lot of faith in that since I don't know everything. I'd give it a plus or minus twenty years minimum.
I don't see a "hard" world government, more like a "soft" or "loose" co-operative group of powerful people in constant flux like all powerful groups. A few powerful people at the very top and probably one person probably slightly more powerful than the others.
By not creating a single world government the 20% can maintain a "government" by group rather than submitting to a single leader.
Right now the 20% making up global leadership and power are already working together, have been since sometime after WW2. This isn't new, it just has to change global politics and economics enough to secure their positions in a world that can not support its population.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Manifest Destiny
Manfest Destiny was a political plank in the platform of the Democratic party developed in the 1830s and 1840s justifying the expansion of the United States into the west and even into Canada and Mexico.
The Democrats were trying to push the boundaries of the United States into both Mexico and Canada. In 1844 the Democrats wanted to expand into Canada and developed the campaign slogan "5440 or Fight" as part of their campaign for Manifest Destiny. 5440 referred to the 54th parallel in Canada. The campaign slogans died out when the people of the United States refused to extend into Canada or Mexico. In the 1850s the Republican party began and by 1860 the people of the United States elected a president far more concerned with internal politics of slavery than the external politics of expansion. Manifest Destiny was dead.
The Monroe Doctrine was a political policy developed in 1823 by the United States to end imperialism by European nations in the Americas.
For some reason the Monroe Doctrine is often associated with Manifest Destiny. I'm not sure why, probably by political propagandists trying to convince people that the United States is an expanding empire.
The Monroe Doctrine has been used to protect commercial investments by United States citizens.
Some people claim this is what happened with the Panama Canal. I'm not so sure about that, the canal has resulted in the ability to reduce shipping costs of Asian goods into South American, North American and the Caribbean as well as reducing the cost of shipping goods produced in these regions to Asia.
There have been other uses of the Monroe Doctrine that are questionable, but, the Panama Canal benefits the entire world.
I read a lot of different things and I realized that most people read primarily fiction and what non-fiction they do read is very limited to specific ideologies in specific areas. Rather than educating themselves broadly they educate themselves very narrowly.
This is not a problem with the United States, this is a problem with the world.
People become frustrated and they attack someone, anyone, to relieve their frustrations. It almost always ends up being that no matter how many times people revolt they always end up putting people in power who oppress them and then they revolt again.
If I had a choice there would be no governments. There would be no governments. People would live in small agricultural villages. Commerce would be conducted using sailing ships and caravans. Anyone who tried to establish any form of political control would instantly die.
That ain't going to happen. People want someone to tell them what to believe, what to do.
The Democrats were trying to push the boundaries of the United States into both Mexico and Canada. In 1844 the Democrats wanted to expand into Canada and developed the campaign slogan "5440 or Fight" as part of their campaign for Manifest Destiny. 5440 referred to the 54th parallel in Canada. The campaign slogans died out when the people of the United States refused to extend into Canada or Mexico. In the 1850s the Republican party began and by 1860 the people of the United States elected a president far more concerned with internal politics of slavery than the external politics of expansion. Manifest Destiny was dead.
The Monroe Doctrine was a political policy developed in 1823 by the United States to end imperialism by European nations in the Americas.
For some reason the Monroe Doctrine is often associated with Manifest Destiny. I'm not sure why, probably by political propagandists trying to convince people that the United States is an expanding empire.
The Monroe Doctrine has been used to protect commercial investments by United States citizens.
Some people claim this is what happened with the Panama Canal. I'm not so sure about that, the canal has resulted in the ability to reduce shipping costs of Asian goods into South American, North American and the Caribbean as well as reducing the cost of shipping goods produced in these regions to Asia.
There have been other uses of the Monroe Doctrine that are questionable, but, the Panama Canal benefits the entire world.
I read a lot of different things and I realized that most people read primarily fiction and what non-fiction they do read is very limited to specific ideologies in specific areas. Rather than educating themselves broadly they educate themselves very narrowly.
This is not a problem with the United States, this is a problem with the world.
People become frustrated and they attack someone, anyone, to relieve their frustrations. It almost always ends up being that no matter how many times people revolt they always end up putting people in power who oppress them and then they revolt again.
If I had a choice there would be no governments. There would be no governments. People would live in small agricultural villages. Commerce would be conducted using sailing ships and caravans. Anyone who tried to establish any form of political control would instantly die.
That ain't going to happen. People want someone to tell them what to believe, what to do.
Friday, June 14, 2013
Greek Fire
I was just watching the movie "Time Line". One of the things that interested me the most was Greek Fire, a weapon primarily used in naval battles.
Personally I think Greek Fire was a form of Potassium Sodium, created right on the ship using a very simple reactive still/pressure cooker. The molten potassium sodium was ejected through a tube at the front of the ship.
Typically the reaction which creates potassium sodium, which reacts violently with water, is continuous, but, suppose there was no relief valve or outlet for the boiling potassium. The pressure buildup would cause an ejection of the potassium sodium until it "burped". The system would need some kind of valve at the outlet tube to allow pressure build up.
Maybe once I get my anthropology degree I will see if I can find funding to build such a system using ancient materials and technology.
I think I can cast the pressure cooker/reactive still using a lost wax investment casting process. The pressure relief valve could be something as simple as a heavy copper ball contained at the top, maybe even with some kind of spring. The valve could be a tapered investment cast bronze or brass system using copper seals with a screw at the bottom which tightened the valve against the copper seals.
I know a very cool professor who is an expert in the casting field who might be able to help.
I know it sounds like I just gave away everything, but, it would take an engineer like myself with the support of a chemical engineer and a casting expert to pull this off. It has not happened in many years and I doubt if it is going to happen any time in the near future.
And this idea is now copyrighted :-) If some jerk steals it I can establish I published it first.
Personally I think Greek Fire was a form of Potassium Sodium, created right on the ship using a very simple reactive still/pressure cooker. The molten potassium sodium was ejected through a tube at the front of the ship.
Typically the reaction which creates potassium sodium, which reacts violently with water, is continuous, but, suppose there was no relief valve or outlet for the boiling potassium. The pressure buildup would cause an ejection of the potassium sodium until it "burped". The system would need some kind of valve at the outlet tube to allow pressure build up.
Maybe once I get my anthropology degree I will see if I can find funding to build such a system using ancient materials and technology.
I think I can cast the pressure cooker/reactive still using a lost wax investment casting process. The pressure relief valve could be something as simple as a heavy copper ball contained at the top, maybe even with some kind of spring. The valve could be a tapered investment cast bronze or brass system using copper seals with a screw at the bottom which tightened the valve against the copper seals.
I know a very cool professor who is an expert in the casting field who might be able to help.
I know it sounds like I just gave away everything, but, it would take an engineer like myself with the support of a chemical engineer and a casting expert to pull this off. It has not happened in many years and I doubt if it is going to happen any time in the near future.
And this idea is now copyrighted :-) If some jerk steals it I can establish I published it first.
Moronic script kiddies
Script kiddie morons are the biggest problem in hacking today.
I used to have a pretty open FTP server, still do although now it is so hidden no one can find it. Nothing special, least amount of security I could get away with. There are guys who run similar servers using Live distros so moronic script kiddies can't trash the system. I tried that, the system rebooted itself every few hours and that worked okay. Eventually I went with a different system that I am obviously not going to discuss here.
One guy I know actually hard wired a small, hidden, computer into a hotels network. The system runs on a live distro, read only disk. Very cool system, he has access to it, and the network.
Sometimes I run a bit torrent server, not often anymore. Script kiddies kept hacking the system using the security holes in bit torrent. That usually wouldn't bother me since I didn't keep any files, except legal bit torrent files, on that system, but, they kept trashing the system. I didn't feel like installing a second DVD drive on the system to run a read only system. I wiped that system and use it very rarely these days.
I don't have any data worth stealing on any computer. The only reason to hack my system is so someone can gain experience in hacking. The problem is losers who gain access to a system and then trash it for fun, like kids breaking into a house and smashing everything.
So what?
The problem is that people become really annoyed when someone breaks into their home and trashes stuff. That means the law enforcement community has to do something to catch these guys. In the process computer security becomes better and better.
Why is that a problem?
Because people have to learn. Sure, a lot of us build our own home networks, wooden boxes with stacked motherboards and power supplies. Then we practice various techniques in metwork management and security. Facebook stole that idea and improved it to create the Open Compute which is very cool.
The problem is our networks are only as good as we are and when we start off we really are not that good. Once we get the basics down we learn more by doing basic stuff on web networks, web servers and web workstations.
As security becomes better there are fewer openings for hackers to learn without getting caught.
Eventually there will be a crossing of script kiddie idiocy and law enforcement capability and when that happens more morons will be arrested and fewer people will learn to hack. Skilled hackers will become more cautious of working with young hackers because they don't want to get busted.
That sounds good, Darwinian even. Kind of, the problem is that even those who become the best, especially those who become the best, make more mistakes and learn more.
What will happen is that only people who are so detailed oriented they make no mistakes and take no chances survive.
This means that the creative hackers, those who learn from taking chances and break open new frontiers will be eliminated before they get a chance to become great.
Eventually hacking will stagnate.
How do I know this? Because history repeats and morons refuse to learn from history.
How long will it take? Not that much longer, another five or ten years probably, maybe as long as twenty but I doubt it.
The nice thing about that is when it happens guys like me will be able to install servers that use the most basic security. FTP servers using common passwords, proxy servers, PTP protocols which allow mesh networking creating anonymous nodes.
Sure, there are tons of those systems out there today and moronic script kiddies are screwing them up all the time.
I used to have a pretty open FTP server, still do although now it is so hidden no one can find it. Nothing special, least amount of security I could get away with. There are guys who run similar servers using Live distros so moronic script kiddies can't trash the system. I tried that, the system rebooted itself every few hours and that worked okay. Eventually I went with a different system that I am obviously not going to discuss here.
One guy I know actually hard wired a small, hidden, computer into a hotels network. The system runs on a live distro, read only disk. Very cool system, he has access to it, and the network.
Sometimes I run a bit torrent server, not often anymore. Script kiddies kept hacking the system using the security holes in bit torrent. That usually wouldn't bother me since I didn't keep any files, except legal bit torrent files, on that system, but, they kept trashing the system. I didn't feel like installing a second DVD drive on the system to run a read only system. I wiped that system and use it very rarely these days.
I don't have any data worth stealing on any computer. The only reason to hack my system is so someone can gain experience in hacking. The problem is losers who gain access to a system and then trash it for fun, like kids breaking into a house and smashing everything.
So what?
The problem is that people become really annoyed when someone breaks into their home and trashes stuff. That means the law enforcement community has to do something to catch these guys. In the process computer security becomes better and better.
Why is that a problem?
Because people have to learn. Sure, a lot of us build our own home networks, wooden boxes with stacked motherboards and power supplies. Then we practice various techniques in metwork management and security. Facebook stole that idea and improved it to create the Open Compute which is very cool.
The problem is our networks are only as good as we are and when we start off we really are not that good. Once we get the basics down we learn more by doing basic stuff on web networks, web servers and web workstations.
As security becomes better there are fewer openings for hackers to learn without getting caught.
Eventually there will be a crossing of script kiddie idiocy and law enforcement capability and when that happens more morons will be arrested and fewer people will learn to hack. Skilled hackers will become more cautious of working with young hackers because they don't want to get busted.
That sounds good, Darwinian even. Kind of, the problem is that even those who become the best, especially those who become the best, make more mistakes and learn more.
What will happen is that only people who are so detailed oriented they make no mistakes and take no chances survive.
This means that the creative hackers, those who learn from taking chances and break open new frontiers will be eliminated before they get a chance to become great.
Eventually hacking will stagnate.
How do I know this? Because history repeats and morons refuse to learn from history.
How long will it take? Not that much longer, another five or ten years probably, maybe as long as twenty but I doubt it.
The nice thing about that is when it happens guys like me will be able to install servers that use the most basic security. FTP servers using common passwords, proxy servers, PTP protocols which allow mesh networking creating anonymous nodes.
Sure, there are tons of those systems out there today and moronic script kiddies are screwing them up all the time.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Limbo: A Movie Review
I rented a DVD from Netflix called "Limbo".
I don't usually review movies because everyone and their kid brother reviews movies and travel and blah, blah, blah, but, I write what I want to write so shoot me. Just do it from a distance because up close I will take the gun and shoot back :-)
If you plan on watching the movie don't read this review because it will screw the movie for you. If you want a reasonable review read Roger Ebert's, although we have totally different opinions. We both agree that the acting was great. He thinks the director was great, I think the director was a putz.
This movie sucked. The movie drags like a turtle pulling a trailer. Give it 2 out of 5 stars.
The acting was great. The visuals were great. The plot was ridiculous. The back story leading up to the plot was okay and in some cases very good.
The movie starts out at a wedding where the leading lady is singing the worst possible wedding song. This first scene sets the tone of the movie, totally unbelievable. The brides father would have come over, or sent someone over, and told the band to play something else. If it had been my daughters wedding I would have been kicking the band off the stage, physically, literally, kicking. If you watch the movie you'll understand. That said, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio has a good voice.
The leading man is David Strathairn and he was really believable in this movie. Let me tell you how good he is. Kris Kristofferson plays a bush pilot involved in the drug business. David Strathairn is trapped on an island with a woman and a sick girl. Kristofferson lands. Strathairn has a talk with Kris and finds out bad guys sent Kris to find Strathairn and the woman and girl so they can kill them. David Strathairn makes letting Kris, the drug dealing bush pilot, fly off to go get the bad guys seem almost reasonable.
Not quite, but almost.
Any reasonable person trapped in that situation would have fought with Kristofferson to keep the plane there. The radio might work, there might be things they can use. So what if they can't take off the plane makes a crappy boat all by itself. Think about it for a couple seconds and any reasonable person would have done anything they could to stop that plane from leaving them. David Strathairn's acting is so good it makes letting Kristofferson leave seem almost reasonable.
The movie ends "cut to black". I thought to myself, the director either couldn't figure out how to end the movie or they ran out of money. I am leaning toward the director couldn't figure out how to end the story.
By the end of the movie the plot was so ridiculous the only possible ending that could have made sense would have been that Kristofferson was busted almost as soon as he landed and flipped on the bad guys, telling the cops where the people were trapped on the island to cut a deal. That was the only reasonable ending I could come up with.
If it had been me, I would have ended the movie with watching the plane land, a boot very much like the killers stepping out of the plane, pan up to a very native looking cop-pilot. The last scene would have been the plane flying away from camera while Vanessa Martinez (Mastrantonio's daughter) narrates about Kristofferson flipping and ends the story with something uplifting about how she wrote the story.
I have to say that Vanessa Martinez was very good in this movie. I never noticed her before and watching her in this I will be keeping an eye out for her. Anyone who can act as well as she can will accomplish something in Hollywood.
Overall the movie was a waste, but, if you enjoy good acting and you can imagine a decent ending (or just imagine mine) the movie might be worth watching.
But, I wouldn't recommend it.
I don't usually review movies because everyone and their kid brother reviews movies and travel and blah, blah, blah, but, I write what I want to write so shoot me. Just do it from a distance because up close I will take the gun and shoot back :-)
If you plan on watching the movie don't read this review because it will screw the movie for you. If you want a reasonable review read Roger Ebert's, although we have totally different opinions. We both agree that the acting was great. He thinks the director was great, I think the director was a putz.
This movie sucked. The movie drags like a turtle pulling a trailer. Give it 2 out of 5 stars.
The acting was great. The visuals were great. The plot was ridiculous. The back story leading up to the plot was okay and in some cases very good.
The movie starts out at a wedding where the leading lady is singing the worst possible wedding song. This first scene sets the tone of the movie, totally unbelievable. The brides father would have come over, or sent someone over, and told the band to play something else. If it had been my daughters wedding I would have been kicking the band off the stage, physically, literally, kicking. If you watch the movie you'll understand. That said, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio has a good voice.
The leading man is David Strathairn and he was really believable in this movie. Let me tell you how good he is. Kris Kristofferson plays a bush pilot involved in the drug business. David Strathairn is trapped on an island with a woman and a sick girl. Kristofferson lands. Strathairn has a talk with Kris and finds out bad guys sent Kris to find Strathairn and the woman and girl so they can kill them. David Strathairn makes letting Kris, the drug dealing bush pilot, fly off to go get the bad guys seem almost reasonable.
Not quite, but almost.
Any reasonable person trapped in that situation would have fought with Kristofferson to keep the plane there. The radio might work, there might be things they can use. So what if they can't take off the plane makes a crappy boat all by itself. Think about it for a couple seconds and any reasonable person would have done anything they could to stop that plane from leaving them. David Strathairn's acting is so good it makes letting Kristofferson leave seem almost reasonable.
The movie ends "cut to black". I thought to myself, the director either couldn't figure out how to end the movie or they ran out of money. I am leaning toward the director couldn't figure out how to end the story.
By the end of the movie the plot was so ridiculous the only possible ending that could have made sense would have been that Kristofferson was busted almost as soon as he landed and flipped on the bad guys, telling the cops where the people were trapped on the island to cut a deal. That was the only reasonable ending I could come up with.
If it had been me, I would have ended the movie with watching the plane land, a boot very much like the killers stepping out of the plane, pan up to a very native looking cop-pilot. The last scene would have been the plane flying away from camera while Vanessa Martinez (Mastrantonio's daughter) narrates about Kristofferson flipping and ends the story with something uplifting about how she wrote the story.
I have to say that Vanessa Martinez was very good in this movie. I never noticed her before and watching her in this I will be keeping an eye out for her. Anyone who can act as well as she can will accomplish something in Hollywood.
Overall the movie was a waste, but, if you enjoy good acting and you can imagine a decent ending (or just imagine mine) the movie might be worth watching.
But, I wouldn't recommend it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
