The United States was built on a tradition of entitlement. Europeans thought they were entitled to land that was already settled by Native Americans. Europeans felt they were entitled to the labor of slaves.
The United States government has spent hundreds of years telling other people how to live. From slavery to forbidding Indians from speaking their language to laws concerning sexual morality to pressuring other nations to accept U.S. policy using economics and threats of violence the United States has behaved much like an entitled and spoiled child.
Today that entitlement continues in traditions such as eminent domain and authorities taking what they please from citizens.
There is an anti-hoarding law that allows the government to take what it pleases in an emergency.
Huh?
If the cops want to seize something from someone right now they have to go to a judge to get a search warrant and they are only allowed to seize what is specified in the court order or search warrant. This is the due process required by the fourth ammendment.
In an "emergency", the "failure to prepare does not constitute an emergency" kind of entitlement emergency, the police do not need a warrant to seize property.
The idea is that people have no right to prepare for themselves and their loved ones because everyone, especially those in authority, are entitled to have what they believe they need to survive.
I expect what will happen eventually is that a national emergency will create a totalitarian system of law where authorities feel entitled and empowered to do what they please.
This is what many hackers do today, it is what Anonymous does. The difference between guerrilla warfare and being an entitled scumbag is discipline. Jack booted thugs loot from wherever they please and disciplined guerrilla soldiers don't.
I think the government of the United States is moving more and more toward the "entitled jack booted thugs" and farther way from discipline government. Others, like Anonymous, believe the same thing and they are attacking the entitled, jack booted thugs using the same rules of entitled elitism that the jack booted thugs have used against others.
Like the United States governments entitled elitists who attack whom they please without fear of reprisals Anonymous has done so in the past, kicking down the virtual doors of the cyber homes of those they disagree with to censor voices and destroy lives.
I don't see much difference between the two, they both have agendas and they are both don't care who they hurt to achieve them. Both do things I approve of an disapprove of.
Recently though, Anonymous seems to be moving to a disciplined organization attacking specific targets to achieve specific goals.
There is a story of a general who was very strict and an emperor who was very lenient. The emperor asked the general how to be respected. The general told the emperor to have people who did not obey him killed. The emperor became very strict while the general became forgiving. The people became angry with the emperor and killed him. They need a strong, kind leader and because the general had become so kind the placed him on the throne.
I don't know if this ever actually happened, but, it sounds good. If Anonymous, like the general in the story, can become a group people can trust to wield power and authority with discipline and justice, Anonymous could win this conflict because the United States government is corrupt and entitled.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Anonymous is being hypocritical again, but, in a "good" way.
Anonymous is being hypocritical again, demanding a free Internet while they work to censor the Internet. This time though they are going after a government website and not a University or an individual and that makes a difference to me.
There are times when violence and breaking the law are the only methods that can be used. The United States fought a war against slavery.
I know people claim it was a tariff war, or a war about states rights. That makes no sense. The South wanted tariffs to make their cotton competitive with cotton from North Africa and Europe. Who did the South want to buy their cotton? The textile mills in the North and in England. If the South formed a new nation and charged tariffs on imported cotton, how would that help them sell cotton to textile mills in the North? How was states rights going to help them sell their product?
John Brown had it right, a couple years later the nation fought a war against slavery.
Lincoln fought a war oppressing the South to relieve the oppression of slavery. Sometimes hypocrisy is a must, but, I don't believe burning Atlanta helped the cause. In fact Southern landowners made fortunes selling lumber to rebuild the city and went right back to oppressing Blacks after Atlanta was rebuilt.
Disrupting communication is censorship. Trying to pretend that attacks on communication resources are anything but censorship is stupid.
The difference between Lincoln or John Brown and Anonymous is that Anonymous is being very hypocritical, demanding a censor free web and then becoming the censors. Who they censor is very important.
I understand the thought behind the action. These people are not fighters, they are hiders. People who can't fight in the open, not even guerrillas.
They feel they need to do something and since the only thing they know is communications technology they are going to disrupt communications. A group against censorship that can fight using forms of censorship, disrupting communications and creating chaos.
They can also release data and allow people to study and learn for themselves. I doubt if people will, but, releasing data, the way wikileaks did, can help. My nephew was on a corporate security watch list released by wikileaks.
Like anyone else who commits an act of terrorism, a massacre at a theater or a school or an embassy or an office building, these people believe they have no other choice.
As long as Anonymous can focus on the disruption of government communications operations, like actual soldiers attacking an opposing force instead of terrorists attacking civilians or bullies preying on the weak, I believe that people can support them. It is an attack, a specific and well targeted attack.
The government has unlimited resources, but, we are not talking about quantity here. We are talking about quality. It won't matter how much money is tossed at Anonymous, they can be a multi-headed hydra.
There is a story of a king who hired a man to walk behind him during parades to remind the king that the king is only a man, subject to the rules of men. Against a decadent, immoral and disgustingly corrupt institution like the DOJ Anonymous is the reminder that the DOJ is not above the moral intent of law.
Laws written to create an adversarial system of justice that
protects the rights of people, not an adversarial system using money and power to usurp those rights.
A court clerk once told me, "we make the rules". Courts don't make rules, courts interpret rules. Attorneys with deep pockets count on money to prevent people from fighting them. These attorneys bully people who can't match government resources. Government attorneys break laws knowing the accused can't afford the fight and people without resources are railroaded into prison.
Guerrilla snipers target high ranking officers of the opposing forces. I believe that Anonymous would get the most mileage by hacking high ranking D.O.J attorneys as well as the DOJ institution. Not legal secretaries or their families or talking heads vomiting their political ideologies, Anonymous needs to launch specific attacks on the officers of as well as the opposing force.
It is hypocritical, somewhat. All wars are. Carpet bombing creates enemies. Specific targeting can reduce collateral damage and increase support. The less collateral damage, the more support.
Every target Anonymous chooses has to be specific and they have to get a handle on the scumbags in the ranks raping and pillaging the countryside, creating opportunities for the opposing force to re-establish themselves.
I love this attack. It is specific, it has goals, it is against an opposing force that has been deliberately misusing its authority for many, many years.
One again Anonymous has done something I believe in. I'm not saying it was right any more than I believed releasing the rape video was right. I'm saying that the USSC was a legitimate target in a guerrilla war against the misuse of government authority.
There are times when violence and breaking the law are the only methods that can be used. The United States fought a war against slavery.
I know people claim it was a tariff war, or a war about states rights. That makes no sense. The South wanted tariffs to make their cotton competitive with cotton from North Africa and Europe. Who did the South want to buy their cotton? The textile mills in the North and in England. If the South formed a new nation and charged tariffs on imported cotton, how would that help them sell cotton to textile mills in the North? How was states rights going to help them sell their product?
John Brown had it right, a couple years later the nation fought a war against slavery.
Lincoln fought a war oppressing the South to relieve the oppression of slavery. Sometimes hypocrisy is a must, but, I don't believe burning Atlanta helped the cause. In fact Southern landowners made fortunes selling lumber to rebuild the city and went right back to oppressing Blacks after Atlanta was rebuilt.
Disrupting communication is censorship. Trying to pretend that attacks on communication resources are anything but censorship is stupid.
The difference between Lincoln or John Brown and Anonymous is that Anonymous is being very hypocritical, demanding a censor free web and then becoming the censors. Who they censor is very important.
I understand the thought behind the action. These people are not fighters, they are hiders. People who can't fight in the open, not even guerrillas.
They feel they need to do something and since the only thing they know is communications technology they are going to disrupt communications. A group against censorship that can fight using forms of censorship, disrupting communications and creating chaos.
They can also release data and allow people to study and learn for themselves. I doubt if people will, but, releasing data, the way wikileaks did, can help. My nephew was on a corporate security watch list released by wikileaks.
Like anyone else who commits an act of terrorism, a massacre at a theater or a school or an embassy or an office building, these people believe they have no other choice.
As long as Anonymous can focus on the disruption of government communications operations, like actual soldiers attacking an opposing force instead of terrorists attacking civilians or bullies preying on the weak, I believe that people can support them. It is an attack, a specific and well targeted attack.
The government has unlimited resources, but, we are not talking about quantity here. We are talking about quality. It won't matter how much money is tossed at Anonymous, they can be a multi-headed hydra.
There is a story of a king who hired a man to walk behind him during parades to remind the king that the king is only a man, subject to the rules of men. Against a decadent, immoral and disgustingly corrupt institution like the DOJ Anonymous is the reminder that the DOJ is not above the moral intent of law.
Laws written to create an adversarial system of justice that
protects the rights of people, not an adversarial system using money and power to usurp those rights.
A court clerk once told me, "we make the rules". Courts don't make rules, courts interpret rules. Attorneys with deep pockets count on money to prevent people from fighting them. These attorneys bully people who can't match government resources. Government attorneys break laws knowing the accused can't afford the fight and people without resources are railroaded into prison.
Guerrilla snipers target high ranking officers of the opposing forces. I believe that Anonymous would get the most mileage by hacking high ranking D.O.J attorneys as well as the DOJ institution. Not legal secretaries or their families or talking heads vomiting their political ideologies, Anonymous needs to launch specific attacks on the officers of as well as the opposing force.
It is hypocritical, somewhat. All wars are. Carpet bombing creates enemies. Specific targeting can reduce collateral damage and increase support. The less collateral damage, the more support.
Every target Anonymous chooses has to be specific and they have to get a handle on the scumbags in the ranks raping and pillaging the countryside, creating opportunities for the opposing force to re-establish themselves.
I love this attack. It is specific, it has goals, it is against an opposing force that has been deliberately misusing its authority for many, many years.
One again Anonymous has done something I believe in. I'm not saying it was right any more than I believed releasing the rape video was right. I'm saying that the USSC was a legitimate target in a guerrilla war against the misuse of government authority.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Flashlight crap on other blogs.
I was just reading on someone else's flashlight blog that had a bunch of flashy pictures that explained a lot about the components in a flashlight and very little about flashlights. The writer explained that a good flashlight will always light and should never need to banged against your hand to work. Total Bullocks.
Once again all flashlights are about electrical connections. Any flashlight that depends on spring loaded contact will have corrosion issues and banging it against your hand can help it work.
WTF does that mean?
Most, not all flashlights, depend on wire springs that provide pressure to improve electrical contact between the various parts of the flashlight. The tension of the spring is important. The stronger the spring the more likely there is to be contact between the various components.
Lets look at a typical 2D cell flashlight, cheap, expensive, whatever. The vast majority have a wire wound, helical spring, at the "bottom", two batteries, a switch, a bulb holder with a metal plate on the bottom and a bulb.
Everything made of metal corrodes, slowly for some things, very slowly in the case of gold and iridium. The spring, the tops and bottoms of batteries, the metal piece on the bulb holder and even the body of the bulb. That corrosion creates resistance. The resistance causes the flashlight to stop working. People used to carry steel wool or a scrap of leather to clean flashlight connections. The corrosion resistance is better these days so people don't do that as much.
When you bang a flashlight against your hand, any kind or brand or expense of flashlight, the rubbing between the various components can scrap away corrosion and make the flashlight work.
Here is the funny part, corrosion depends on the materials used, the amount of humidity and if the moisture can reach the surface. A cheap flashlight with cheap batteries and a cheap bulb can end up having nearly "perfect" connections which prevent the corrosion from forming. An expensive flashlight with good batteries and a bulb can end up having poor connections. The issue is manufacturing variables.
Realistically the probability have having excellent connections is better with a well made flashlight, like a Maglite, good batteries like Duracells and Maglite bulbs is better than a cheap flashlight.
Lets toss in a way for you to build a really bright, long lasting LED flashlight fairly cheaply.
First thing you need is a decent AA flashlight with a standard PR style bulb. There are lots of these, buy one you like the looks of, that looks like it has a good switch.
The next thing you need is 2 14500 Li-ion batteries. These are 3.6 or 3.7 volts. These can run some money, I get mine on e-bay fairly cheaply. Get 4 and a charger if you use your flashlight a lot.
The last thing you need is a really good "3 watt" LED bulb. You can buy these on Amazon, SuperBrightLEDS.com or even at your local Walmart. The bulb will run you 15-20 bucks. Make sure you buy the bulb that handles up to 9 volts. Some are made for 3.6 volts max.
The 14500 batteries are the same size, about, as AA batteries but they put out twice as much voltage. Two 14500 will put out as much voltage, about, as five normal batteries 1.5v batteries. You could use a bulb from a 5 cell Maglite in your new flashlight and the plastic reflector would last minutes. The plastic reflector will melt. I'm told the Garrity G-Tech cheap AA flashlight has a metal reflector and if so that would be a good thing to have. I have not found one yet.
Put the "3 watt" led in the flashlight you purchased and then put the 2 14500 batteries in the flashlight.
My experience is that when using 7.2v or 7.4v the LED bulb will not melt a plastic reflector as long as you don't use the light more than about 30 minutes at a time and you let it cool between uses.
Once again all flashlights are about electrical connections. Any flashlight that depends on spring loaded contact will have corrosion issues and banging it against your hand can help it work.
WTF does that mean?
Most, not all flashlights, depend on wire springs that provide pressure to improve electrical contact between the various parts of the flashlight. The tension of the spring is important. The stronger the spring the more likely there is to be contact between the various components.
Lets look at a typical 2D cell flashlight, cheap, expensive, whatever. The vast majority have a wire wound, helical spring, at the "bottom", two batteries, a switch, a bulb holder with a metal plate on the bottom and a bulb.
Everything made of metal corrodes, slowly for some things, very slowly in the case of gold and iridium. The spring, the tops and bottoms of batteries, the metal piece on the bulb holder and even the body of the bulb. That corrosion creates resistance. The resistance causes the flashlight to stop working. People used to carry steel wool or a scrap of leather to clean flashlight connections. The corrosion resistance is better these days so people don't do that as much.
When you bang a flashlight against your hand, any kind or brand or expense of flashlight, the rubbing between the various components can scrap away corrosion and make the flashlight work.
Here is the funny part, corrosion depends on the materials used, the amount of humidity and if the moisture can reach the surface. A cheap flashlight with cheap batteries and a cheap bulb can end up having nearly "perfect" connections which prevent the corrosion from forming. An expensive flashlight with good batteries and a bulb can end up having poor connections. The issue is manufacturing variables.
Realistically the probability have having excellent connections is better with a well made flashlight, like a Maglite, good batteries like Duracells and Maglite bulbs is better than a cheap flashlight.
Lets toss in a way for you to build a really bright, long lasting LED flashlight fairly cheaply.
First thing you need is a decent AA flashlight with a standard PR style bulb. There are lots of these, buy one you like the looks of, that looks like it has a good switch.
The next thing you need is 2 14500 Li-ion batteries. These are 3.6 or 3.7 volts. These can run some money, I get mine on e-bay fairly cheaply. Get 4 and a charger if you use your flashlight a lot.
The last thing you need is a really good "3 watt" LED bulb. You can buy these on Amazon, SuperBrightLEDS.com or even at your local Walmart. The bulb will run you 15-20 bucks. Make sure you buy the bulb that handles up to 9 volts. Some are made for 3.6 volts max.
The 14500 batteries are the same size, about, as AA batteries but they put out twice as much voltage. Two 14500 will put out as much voltage, about, as five normal batteries 1.5v batteries. You could use a bulb from a 5 cell Maglite in your new flashlight and the plastic reflector would last minutes. The plastic reflector will melt. I'm told the Garrity G-Tech cheap AA flashlight has a metal reflector and if so that would be a good thing to have. I have not found one yet.
Put the "3 watt" led in the flashlight you purchased and then put the 2 14500 batteries in the flashlight.
My experience is that when using 7.2v or 7.4v the LED bulb will not melt a plastic reflector as long as you don't use the light more than about 30 minutes at a time and you let it cool between uses.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Archaeology and Abandonded Cities
I'm taking a class in basic archeology right now and I am throughly disgusted with all the theories about why archaeological sites were abandoned.
I can you why they were abandoned. There was a problem. Why problem? Essentially there are two reasons cities are abandoned, economics and disaster.
Economics means that previously available resources that provided for support of the city have declined or failed. Abandoned "boom" towns are created when, silver mines, coal mines, niter mines running out or the market for the resource disappears.
A disaster means earthquake, plague, volcanic eruption, anything which makes people feel as if they can no longer live in the area.
Political problems lead to revolutions, not abandonment. Detroit is not abandoned as much as some white supremacists like to pretend it is. Is Detroit thriving? No, but it isn't dead either.
To figure out why people abandon cities we need to look at why people abandon cities. Look at the ghost towns, the abandoned cities of today and we can learn why cities are abandoned. Once we understand the reasons why people abandon cities today we can systematically eliminate the various possibilities until only one remains.
There is another kind of disaster that I think probably caused the desertion of some major cities of the past, although, it would be difficult to prove. Population pressure causes pollution. I believe that the water supply of some ancient cities became polluted and caused what seemed to be a plague on the city. People left because they could no longer stay. Overtime the ecology cleaned up the problems.
Now that the basic inductive logic is over we can address some speculations.:-)
I'm not sure it would have taken very many people to die for people to leave. How many deaths does it take for a group to migrate?
Rome was all but abandoned because the water supply was destroyed. If population pressure polluted the water supply it could have driven people out of cities.
Population pressure also creates the potential for an actual plague.
Recently archaeologists have begun blaming a volcano for the abandoning of the Mayan population centers. I think it is possible that smoke or volcanic ash was the source of pollution that made required resources unavailable.
I can you why they were abandoned. There was a problem. Why problem? Essentially there are two reasons cities are abandoned, economics and disaster.
Economics means that previously available resources that provided for support of the city have declined or failed. Abandoned "boom" towns are created when, silver mines, coal mines, niter mines running out or the market for the resource disappears.
A disaster means earthquake, plague, volcanic eruption, anything which makes people feel as if they can no longer live in the area.
Political problems lead to revolutions, not abandonment. Detroit is not abandoned as much as some white supremacists like to pretend it is. Is Detroit thriving? No, but it isn't dead either.
To figure out why people abandon cities we need to look at why people abandon cities. Look at the ghost towns, the abandoned cities of today and we can learn why cities are abandoned. Once we understand the reasons why people abandon cities today we can systematically eliminate the various possibilities until only one remains.
There is another kind of disaster that I think probably caused the desertion of some major cities of the past, although, it would be difficult to prove. Population pressure causes pollution. I believe that the water supply of some ancient cities became polluted and caused what seemed to be a plague on the city. People left because they could no longer stay. Overtime the ecology cleaned up the problems.
Now that the basic inductive logic is over we can address some speculations.:-)
I'm not sure it would have taken very many people to die for people to leave. How many deaths does it take for a group to migrate?
Rome was all but abandoned because the water supply was destroyed. If population pressure polluted the water supply it could have driven people out of cities.
Population pressure also creates the potential for an actual plague.
Recently archaeologists have begun blaming a volcano for the abandoning of the Mayan population centers. I think it is possible that smoke or volcanic ash was the source of pollution that made required resources unavailable.
Designing the "perfect" flashlight
My perfect flashlight would have an aluminum body.
The battery holder would be attached to a sealed switch switch and the LED bulb using a slide in connector with contacts made of iridium. The battery holder could be a simple flat plastic rectangle like many battery holders are. It would hold a single battery. The end of the batter holder would have two short prongs hidden inside a protective hood. The battery box would slide into the flashlight from the bottom. I would think a 26650 or an 18650 Li-ion rechargeable. The battery box could slide into a charger. A second battery box that held two AA or AAA could be included.
The battery would drop in between two flat spring steel made from iridium. Nothing to do about the battery contacts except include a piece of scotchbrite in the body of the flashlight. The AA or AAA battery box could use cheap wire springs, but, flat iridium springs would work :-)
The LED would be able to use the body of the flashlight to dissipate any heat.
The bottom of the flashlight would be a slip on rubber end cap that would make the flashlight water resistant. The end cap could be something like the slip on tips for a cane or a walker, although it could be rectangular rather than round. Round is easier There would be a grove for an o-ring near the bottom of the body of the light. The water resistant seal would be between both the rubber of the end cap and the o-ring.
The switch would be in the body of the light near the bulb. It would have a cover of some kind so it could not be turned on automatically. If the flashlight were round it could have a friction twist cover that used o-rings to provide the friction.
That should make a ridiculously expensive flashlight that no one would buy because they wouldn't understand how cool it really is.
The battery holder would be attached to a sealed switch switch and the LED bulb using a slide in connector with contacts made of iridium. The battery holder could be a simple flat plastic rectangle like many battery holders are. It would hold a single battery. The end of the batter holder would have two short prongs hidden inside a protective hood. The battery box would slide into the flashlight from the bottom. I would think a 26650 or an 18650 Li-ion rechargeable. The battery box could slide into a charger. A second battery box that held two AA or AAA could be included.
The battery would drop in between two flat spring steel made from iridium. Nothing to do about the battery contacts except include a piece of scotchbrite in the body of the flashlight. The AA or AAA battery box could use cheap wire springs, but, flat iridium springs would work :-)
The LED would be able to use the body of the flashlight to dissipate any heat.
The bottom of the flashlight would be a slip on rubber end cap that would make the flashlight water resistant. The end cap could be something like the slip on tips for a cane or a walker, although it could be rectangular rather than round. Round is easier There would be a grove for an o-ring near the bottom of the body of the light. The water resistant seal would be between both the rubber of the end cap and the o-ring.
The switch would be in the body of the light near the bulb. It would have a cover of some kind so it could not be turned on automatically. If the flashlight were round it could have a friction twist cover that used o-rings to provide the friction.
That should make a ridiculously expensive flashlight that no one would buy because they wouldn't understand how cool it really is.
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