Amazing footage of a black-eyed squid (Gonatus onyx) carrying thousands of eggs. They tend to hang out about 6,200 feet below sea level.
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.
Read my blog posting guidelines here.
As this is random hour.. Could you fix the links in your atom feed so the link in the feed do not contain /feed/atom/ at the end?
It’s not the end of the world of course, but thought I’d ask… for all I know it’s my reader (claws-mail) 😉
VIVID =/= COVID • January 26, 2024 6:45 PM
Q1: Why and how are certain people splashing the restroom sink water so high up on the mirror above the handwashing stations?
Even for tall people, the spatter patterns go way above anything accidental.
Q2: What are the implications for restroom assault statistics, considering that it might be more difficult to ambush someone if the ordinary restroom mirror allows them to witness and respond to the assailant creeping up behind them?
Q3: Is it just me, or SWAT team members?
Q4: How long has this been going on?
chaff, tartan and burberry • January 26, 2024 7:56 PM
https://i.pcmag.com/imagery/articles/07reqQWPNnVlgvGG3dINsSw-2.fit_lim.size_768x.png
This ^ seems unlikely, right? (not you, Clive; you are most definately likely, so no need to police us, we are okay to click with our filters on. Hey man, nice shot!)
echo • January 26, 2024 8:01 PM
https://www.ft.com/content/29fd9b5c-2f35-41bf-9d4c-994db4e12998?sharetype=blocked
Financial Times.
A new global gender divide is emerging.
[…]
One of the most well-established patterns in measuring public opinion is that every generation tends to move as one in terms of its politics and general ideology. Its members share the same formative experiences, reach life’s big milestones at the same time and intermingle in the same spaces. So how should we make sense of reports that Gen Z is hyper-progressive on certain issues, but surprisingly conservative on others?The answer, in the words of Alice Evans, a visiting fellow at Stanford University and one of the leading researchers on the topic, is that today’s under-thirties are undergoing a great gender divergence, with young women in the former camp and young men the latter. Gen Z is two generations, not one.
[…]
Outside the west, there are even more stark divisions. In South Korea there is now a yawning chasm between young men and women, and it’s a similar situation in China. In Africa, Tunisia shows the same pattern. Notably, in every country this dramatic split is either exclusive to the younger generation or far more pronounced there than among men and women in their thirties and upwards.
[…]
It would be easy to say this is all a phase that will pass, but the ideology gaps are only growing, and data shows that people’s formative political experiences are hard to shake off. All of this is exacerbated by the fact that the proliferation of smartphones and social media mean that young men and women now increasingly inhabit separate spaces and experience separate cultures.
And:
https://news.yahoo.com/americas-gender-war-105101201.html
Something strange is happening between Gen Z men and women. Over the past decade, poll after poll has found that young people are growing more and more divided by gender on a host of political issues. Since 2014, women between the ages of 18 and 29 have steadily become more liberal each year, while young men have not. Today, female Gen Zers are more likely than their male counterparts to vote, care more about political issues, and participate in social movements and protests.
[…]
But while women were rallying together, many Gen Z men began to feel like society was turning against them. As recently as 2019, less than one-third of young men said that they faced discrimination, according to Pew, but today, close to half of young men believe they face at least some discrimination. In a 2020 survey by the research organization PRRI, half of men agreed with the statement: “These days society seems to punish men just for acting like men.”
It increasingly feels like Gen Z men and women are living on different planets, each guided by the belief that they are navigating uniquely hostile terrain — and understanding why is crucial to bridging the gap.
These surveys are mostly a summary of a range of high level pressures. It’s a repeat run of the 1980’s in some ways with some differences. There’s legacy top down pressures and legacy in group out group pressures public policy and politicians with partisan vested interests aren’t addressing. The second article goes into more detail.
There are no simple solutions to complex problems, and any initiatives today can take years or decades to feed through. If there is a single point I would pick which is problematic it would be the rise of the hard right post financial crash – they sell simple solutions to complex problems which aren’t solutions at all. They’ve also got a little more clever with their messaging and post-internet are more joined up domestically and internationally. There’s also a fair bit of billionaire and dodgy state dark money sloshing about to fund this. Another problem is the hardening of polarisation, persistent use of wedge issues, and bothsiding media who are badly prepared to deal with the threat.
If there are two issues I would pick as a counter it would be women need more individuation and less in group out group identification – not everything is a woman’s issue; and men need more sense of community and be less concerned about hierarchical position. All of the problems which raise from a lack of this are well documented. There have been policy initiatives to counter this but in the UK at least corporate governance and promoting public services and a sense of economic wellbeing have been absent for most of the past decade.
You’d have to go back to the early part of the 20th century to find similar dynamics operating. Few people realise how rapid changes were back then. In less that the space of a decade Victorian attire gave way to the modern lounge suit and dress. The horse was replaced by the car. The beginnings of health and safety, and the welfare state began to emerge. A short period of boom was followed by the last gasp of imperial ambitions and a kickback of modernity and the world was at war not just once but twice.
Where we are at is worrying but the public policy initiatives are there. They are known knowns. We just have to do it. A generation of high status high net worth individuals dying off will be helpful as will sidelining their single issue “think tanks”. More community and equality sounds, omg, so socialist but from another point of view it’s enlightened self-interest. Rebuilding a consensus which works for everyone makes more sense to me than zero-sum games.
I know everyone rolls their eyes at gender studies and feminist economics (yes, it is a thing) but there’s a lot of interesting new developments in both fields and a lot of useful overlap with “men’s issues” and, yes, security policy for the pedants. It does require less of a singular point of view and more of a multi-polar point of view though.
If there’s two personal things I think men and women can do is 1.) Men stop seeing themselves as the only rational actor in the room and 2.) Women stop seeing everything through a social-autobiographical lens. It’s really really really hard to do this in the work place and socially but it needs discussing and needs best practice guidelines developing and practice. It can be done but also needs institutional buy-in and structural factors addressing. I’m not saying it’s the solution to the question posed by the linked surveys but it’s a start, and it’s going to be a struggle as indicated by the surveys but better start now than when the negatives feed through when people are hitting middle and senior management or people are going to have more security issues to worry about.
AI IT • January 26, 2024 8:06 PM
Computers Make Mistakes And AI Will Make Things Worse — The Law Must Recognize That
“…one aspect of the scandal has attracted comparatively little attention: that the laws of England and Wales presume that computer systems do not make errors, which makes it difficult to challenge computer output. National and regional governments around the world where these laws exist need to review them, as there are implications for a new generation of IT systems — namely those using artificial intelligence (AI). Companies are augmenting IT systems with AI to enhance their decision-making. It is inconceivable to think that this is happening under legal systems that presume computer evidence is reliable. Until such laws are reviewed, more innocent people are at risk of being denied justice when AI-enhanced IT systems are found to be in error.”
Full article: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00168-8
Cyber Hodza • January 26, 2024 8:22 PM
Could high energy demands be AI’s bottleneck
Data gold rush: companies once focused on mining cryptocurrency pivot to generative AI
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/jan/27/tech-companies-shift-generative-ai-chatgpt
JonKnowsNothing • January 26, 2024 8:46 PM
@chaff, tartan and burberry, All
re: Open link URLs
It has been a topic on this blog for sometime about clickable URLs. “we are okay to click” is very poor security advice and shows you know very little about how the links actually work. Or perhaps you are enticing people to click for other reasons.
URLS are not secure, not securable, not safe and not what you think they are.
There’s a lot behind the scenes and most of it is bad-for-you.
It is recommended you do not click any links, on blog pages, in emails, in text messages as they are all hackable and can carry 0-click exploits, in which case you are already done… well done.
It’s a bit harder to find the source with HAIL everywhere but most posts will indicate a decent path to find the source reference.
URL Spoofing is quite common.
===
ht tps:/ /en. wik ipedia.org/wiki/Spoofed_URL
h ttp s:// en .wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoofing_attack
Stochastic Parrot • January 26, 2024 8:51 PM
“I would love to see OpenAI take accountability for everything that ChatGPT says because they’re the ones putting it out there,” she said without hesitation, even though it has been long debated who should bear the blame – developers or users, when technologies backfire. She sternly adds that “They are the ones who set up the means to spill synthetic information into the ecosystem. So far, there’s no accountability for that, and there should be.”
Source: https://analyticsindiamag.com/linguist-emily-m-bender-has-a-word-or-two-about-ai/
vAxjHR8B6ew • January 26, 2024 8:59 PM
interesting article about online malware sources (comparison):
the main idea (for Clive(s)): porn is not at the top of the list(!):
https://youtube.___/watch?v=vAxjHR8B6ew
“___” = choose your own youtube country code.
I ain’t gonna dot commit for ya.
sincerely, vAxjHR8B6ew
JonKnowsNothing • January 26, 2024 9:08 PM
All
re: UlezGate (1)
In the UK, there are low emission zones (ulez) where no big smog producing vehicles are allowed. London has one of these zones.
It seems that some people must pay a daily registration fee or maybe they do not need to pay this fee.
Some people from EU, visiting London in compatible no-fee-need cars, were tagged and fined thousands for “violation of ulez” parking. Except these vehicles were not in violation.
The UlezGate part, shows up in how Transport for London (TfL) got a hold of the EU drivers information and processed large fines with increasing penalties for the EU drivers.
Since BREXIT the UK no longer has access to the EU licence plate sharing system: Eucaris.
London outsourced collection and fines to a company called Euro Parking. Euro Parking gets a financial incentive for every fine they place and collect. They do not have access to Eucaris either.
So it seems that Euro Parking did a lot of under the table dealings, bribery and shenanigans to get the databases. One set was acquired from Belgium, another from Italy.
===
1)
HAIL Warning
h ttps:/ /www .theguardi an.com/uk-news/2024/jan/26/eu-citizens-ulez-fines-data-breach-tfl
EU states accuse TfL of huge data breach over clean air zone penalties, with many given to compliant vehicles
Transport for London (TfL) has been accused by five EU countries of illegally obtaining the names and addresses of their citizens in order to issue the fines, with more than 320,000 penalties, some totalling thousands of euros, sent out since 2021.
Since Brexit, the UK has been banned from automatic access to personal details of EU residents. Transport authorities in Belgium, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands have confirmed … that driver data cannot be shared with the UK for enforcement of London’s ultra-low emission zone (Ulez)
ht tps://w ww.theguar dian.com/environment/2024/jan/26/how-belgian-mp-michael-freilich-turned-sleuth-to-solve-london-ulez-fine-mystery
echo • January 26, 2024 10:05 PM
“Ulezgate” and “licensing” NHS data to Palantir are examples of intended and unintended consequences of the Tory party donor class and nutjobs hijacking government. Notwithstanding the Met being slow to prosecute politicians and white collar crime (due to disincentives including abuse of public office and throttled funding) there’s an increasingly long list of people who deserve jail time. We don’t have a government. We have an authoritarian kleptocratic regime. It’s a bit abstract for some people but on top of this the Tories agenda to duck jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights and introduce charter cities by the backdoor is more than a little worrying.
I’m more worried about this than getting paranoid over link clicking. The threat envelope and risk assessment isn’t worth my bother. If anyone has to be eyerollingly paranoid do a search on a quoted text sample and click on the result, or type a link in manually, or use a separate machine. The point being a long list of professional rectitude is an excuse to get nothing done. Focus on what can be done without being one size fits all copycat patronising. The reason why I say this is I see it pop up so many times in established practice and inferred in documentation to the detriment of a client it’s not funny. Why does it happen? Overdoing institutionalising behaviour and poor application of formal risk assessment. Professional reputation and aversion to legal action kicks in and people circle the wagons and go up their own bureaucracy.
Back to the politics there’s a couple of other Post-Brexit and post-truth shoes dropping. Food standards and customs issues will be kicking in as the timer runs out. This will cause food import and export problems i.e. supply issues and business viability issues. The EU is also dealing with supply of medical products due to demand and production and supply chain issues disrupted in part by increased demand and geo-political disruption. They’re creating a huge wall around the EU to secure production and supply. The UK is now outside the single market and that’s going to kick in soon after.
Hands up who has followed parliamentary discussions by the Women and Equalities Committee? BMJ/Lancet published articles on post-Brexit post-pandemic medical item supply? Current implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention)? Latest medical best practice guidance? Latest protocol consultations? Latest Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidance? What’s emerging about institutional and normalised bad behaviour by significant elements in police forces. (Yes, another documentary is about to drop.) Nope. Thought not.
I’ve wrapped myself up in knots here but the general point is that point of view and method and what information you’re looking at can change the picture somewhat. I think a point I’m getting at is that (male dominated) government and institutions and random actors view themselves as the only rational actor in the room and this can blind them and lead to all manner of mess to clear up.
echo • January 26, 2024 11:38 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8c-5rs19gU
‘An 80 year old woman was the first to get accountability from [The Orange *&%$ Gibbon] ’: Lisa Rubin
And:
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/14/trump-made-a-bundle-of-cash-selling-nfts-financial-filings-show.html
[The Orange *&%$ Gibbon] made a bundle of cash selling NFTs, financial filings show.
To be fair many good men and good women played their part in getting satisfaction for the client. I just find the contrast of imagery between an 80 year old woman and the fantasy world the defendant encourages (as demonstrated by the image in the second older article) quite funny. It condenses in a loose way books by Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Jason Stanley is worth a read too.
(Name substituted to dodge search engine inquiries by pests).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSaYgxqbl_k
How Authoritarian Leaders Rule and How They Can be Defeated with Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpCKkWMbmXU
The Big Think.
Jason Stanley.
The 10 tactics of fascism.
If there’s one critical issue in both the UK and US it’s the role of campaign advisors. I think too many bad habits have crept in there influenced in part by polarising dogmas such as pushed by Newt Gingrich or divisive campaign advisors like Lynton Crosby and their heirs. And of course Murdoch et al. Doing away with truth in media law, or captured and weak regulators only reinforce this. The donor class and lobbyists skew things harder behind closed doors.
I think job titles and technology (whether big tech or law or any codified or computational thing) go so far. It’s always about people. People are always the weak point. People and by virtue of this society is what we are here for. I always think that gets lost in “chasing the code” or “efficiency” or “purposeful action”. None computational sentiment or tacit knowledge gets crowded out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcT488Brm0Y
‘[The Orange *&%$ Gibbon’s] showing extreme weakness’: Is he afraid of debating a woman?
And:
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a45638898/rishi-sunak-one-year-on/
After one year as Prime Minister, here’s everything Rishi Sunak has done for women
The right wing and legacy arrangements with technical and military spheres typically have problems with women usually manifested personally or with policy tilts and focus. That problem is replicated through organisations and into younger men and women as per surveys. The take from this is it’s solvable and bad actors can be firmly rejected by best practice and society. Long term, I think, this is a win.
ResearcherZero • January 27, 2024 1:44 AM
APT29 compromised a “legacy, non-production test tenant account that did not have multifactor authentication (MFA) enabled” then “compromised a legacy test OAuth application that had elevated access”
“Midnight Blizzard used residential proxy networks, routing their traffic through a vast number of IP addresses that are also used by legitimate users, to interact with the compromised tenant and, subsequently, with Exchange Online.”
“The actor created additional malicious OAuth applications. They created a new user account to grant consent in the Microsoft corporate environment to the actor controlled malicious OAuth applications. The threat actor then used the legacy test OAuth application to grant them the Office 365 Exchange Online full_access_as_app role, which allows access to mailboxes. Midnight Blizzard leveraged these malicious OAuth applications to authenticate to Microsoft Exchange Online and target Microsoft corporate email accounts.”
ApplicationImpersonation allows a caller, such as a service principal, to impersonate a user and perform the same operations that the user themselves could perform.
“They utilize diverse initial access methods ranging from stolen credentials to supply chain attacks, exploitation of on-premises environments to laterally move to the cloud, and exploitation of service providers’ trust chain to gain access to downstream customers.”
‘https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2024/01/25/midnight-blizzard-guidance-for-responders-on-nation-state-attack/
one service account access to every mailbox in a database
“For Exchange on-premises, you should create a management scope that limits impersonation to a specified group of accounts. If you do not create a management scope, the ApplicationImpersonation role is granted to all accounts in an organization.”
“For Exchange Online, you should create application access policies to limit the scope of the impersonation. If you do not create an application access policy, then the full_access_as_app permission is granted to all accounts in a tenant.”
‘https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/exchange/client-developer/exchange-web-services/impersonation-and-ews-in-exchange
We do not do routing policy at microsoft etc… blah blah blah
hijack our system [here], [here] and [here]
and you can do redirects right [here]
–
‘https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/threat-intelligence/2024/01/malicious-ads-for-restricted-messaging-applications-target-chinese-users
Clive Robinson • January 27, 2024 4:27 AM
@ echo, ALL,
Re: Gen Z devided
“It’s a repeat run of the 1980’s in some ways with some differences.”
You need to look at history a little closer.
It’s not a recent thing or an 80’s thing, it’s a cycle or more acurately a saw-tooth that rises in peace and falls rapidly in war.
It’s why some of us have been warning WWIII could be approaching over the horizon.
Around the time Gen Z etc were comming into the world the tensions between East and West were rising and people were predicting that a new World War would start around Germany as the last two had.
As East/West Germany was on the border with Berlin tucked and divided behind it, to many myself included the East German Guard Labour behaviours under the East German dictator and his wife looked likely as a place where the spark would ignite the powder.
The only thing that kind of gave us hope is what had happened in 1950/61 in Berlin which resulted in the Berlin Wall, Berlin Air Lift, and US Pres aproximately saying he was a doughnut in German.
The tension built and built. I had reason to be in Germany on several occasions during the build up to the wall coming down and whilst I and many were concerned, oddly the Germans I chatted to were not. I was in West Berlin on busines when the wall came down. The days before the Germans were jubilant almost festive because of the behaviours of other nations either side of East Germany “turning a blind eye” to East Germans leaving across their boarders and “going the long road home” to their families.
Then it happened nobody realy knows who swung the first sledge hammer, but things got busy. And even us young able visitors took our turn (which is why I’ve a chunk of the wall in my back garden).
The preaaure was vented the Soviet system colapsed, and if we had all been a little smarter maybe what happened in Belarus would not nor the Ukraine.
Anthropologists say “War is inevitable” due to “mating privaledges” due to lack of prospective female mates.
War kills of mostly unmarried men bellow the age of 30, thus changes the ratio of women to men fqvourable for peace to return.
Gen Z are those under 30 where unmarried men have been rising.
If the Anthropologists are correct politics won’t matter a damn we will “Go to War”.
Something we should think about, and maybe as I’ve said before take a good long look at German Reunification and the removal of Apartheid in South Africa, as well as also why Yugoslavia and Rwanda were such disasters. Because there obviously lessons there if we can find out what they are and learn from them, then maybe, just maybe we can head off disaster.
J-H • January 27, 2024 8:33 AM
League of Legends is the most popular online MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) game, with several spinoff games and a total of over 150 million registered players. The maker, Riot, is wholly owned by the Chinese company Tencent.
As of next month, in order to play any of the LOL games, players must have Vanguard installed on their PCs and running. Vanguard must run at boot, and requires full root access.
In other words, it’s a rootkit.
We are supposed to trust that a company known to sometimes have bugs, which had a data breach last year, and which is owned by a Chinese company and thus vulnerable to influence by one of the top 5 bad actor nations on the internet, will not use root access with frequent (weekly) patches and updates to ever
a) Accidentally distribute malware or open up user vulnerabilities due to a bug or
b) Mis-use root access to PCs to gather data not related to the game.
Many US government employees (including active duty military) log on to their work e-mails from home using a PIV (Personal Identity Verification) card and reader. I can’t imagine allowing this rootkit to run while logging onto military networks is a good idea. I haven’t seen anything yet about the USG issuing a warning on the topic or forbidding logging on to computers that have Vanguard installed/running.
This seems like it’s a pretty big deal.
JonKnowsNothing • January 27, 2024 10:27 AM
@J-H, All
re Anti Cheating SW HW
Lots of game mfgs are looking into “anti cheating” devices. Some are external devices, while others are software mods, plugins etc.
Players don’t like anything that “holds them back” and are pretty clever in Min-Max advantages. There’s lots of discussion of what sort of advantage (aka balance) you can really have in a computer mediated game.
So, at least some players have to be unequal. Usually called a LowRank, where HighRank can one-shot them for a win.
It depends on the way the game is designed, a battle arena or a lane control or capture the flag, are all PVP versions that require some players to be disadvantaged.
Disadvantaged players, aka speed bumps, won’t hang around long unless they can get past the speed bump stage quickly. Facing veteran players with external advantages does not improve the process.
So, game mfg have been checking their financial reports on how to entice more players to join up. One of their views (not shared by all) is that players with access to external mods, add-ons, devices that give a boost to their game play, provides an advantage not built into to their game design. Basically, it skews the game outputs.
How each mfg decides to implement or ignore this condition will depend on how much their income is derived from players funding the game (subscription, ingame purchases, official add-on items).
That a game mfg wants to install a rootkit, is understandable from their POV. A player can find a different game to play, and many will do that.
Or they play on a dedicated game system and do not use it for Top Secret MilSpec work.
It’s of greater importance to eSports games, where such game mechanic cheats might earn a $Million prize.
echo • January 27, 2024 1:03 PM
@Clive
You need to look at history a little closer.
No I don’t, Clive. I’m focusing on a subset to keep things focused on a particular set of variables which are largely a 20th Century and onwards phenomena. This is your problem Clive. You spent so much time with maths and physics and in the army you’re not onboarding other factors. You’re head just in the right place because you’re not onboarding cultural and social changes because you’re at the other end of the demographic. When someone is talking about one theme do not upend it with another theme.
I’m well aware of the arc of history. Shall we go back to Roman law or the Vikings? Prattling on about Hitler would have people scratching their heads although, yes, that time period and philosophies were mentioned or implied. People in some problem domains have been warning about a repeat run and have been promptly ignored because of a repeat run of the 1980’s. Like, in the 1980’s women were banned from front line duties and LGBT people were excluded completely. Onboarding in part let alone whole really only happened in the 21st Century and even that is rolling back in some places. All of those elements are precursors and that’s before the conditions for another world war. Some people were warning about this after the financial crash. I have since learned others were warning about problems when the West let Putin off the hook over Chechnya and a few other other issues around that time. If there is potentially one deciding factor according to former Eastern bloc experts the issue is Russia post-Soviet collapse never dismantled KGB internal policing. Politically Russia never moved much past the Stalin era.
Politically I’m focusing on the issue of managing the demographic skews and the public policy initiatives which need to be followed. That’s the whole point of mentioning the theme in the first place!
With regard to gender population imbalances in the Netherlands the state pays for disabled people to visit sex workers on accessibility and safety grounds. (Dating while severely disabled can be tough and there are also safeguarding issues around relationships.) The only reason a right wing man, as people have joked, would object is because they don’t want to meet them on the way out as they are in the way in. Yet, more uptight countries want to peddle the so-called “Nordic model” as fix to “protect women” failing to note the overlap between anti-abortionists and “trad wife” and pro Nordic model advocates is nearly 100%. Surveys indicate states with proportional representation tend to be happier places, and states where women have a high degree of representation at a political level tend to be well run and satisfaction rates are high. They also tend more towards less income inequality. This tends to offset the “crisis of masculinity” and more extreme right wing tendencies. As you might notice this all tends to reduce the chances of internal strife and war.
There’s a fair gender split on worldview and emotional responses in raw data which tend to fight each other. They’re resolvable via public policy and education but the political impetus needs to be there. Currently it’s not. In the UK and US Blair and Clinton-Bush flunked it. Gen Z are feeling the pressure now. I don’t feel the solution is more business as usual neo-liberalism. I also feel that fixing this is a big signal to authoritarians, Putin included, that they’ve lost.
The “war on woke” and transatlantic backscratching by the Tories and GOP is the big weakness. It’s a repeat run of 1930’s Germany and they’re not hiding it. A fair portion of people in power lived through the 1980’s which is the major pinch point and the media pattern pushed by the Murdoch and other right wing inclined press is a repeat run of then, when they honed their skills, not helped by clickbait polarised data raping social media platforms which give them a largely unregulated personal reach. You can even lift articles from the time and just swap out the names of the targets and they read paragraph for paragraph the same. Tory party campaign directors like Lynton Crosby and the extremely murky Isaac Levido deserve special mention. While Putin et al are a pain fixing problems on the home front is an easier reach than going kinetic.
The point is you have to step outside of your field and listen to other experts. The number of times I’ve heard top down silo’d job titles say “it’s complex” or “not relevant” when what they really mean is it’s outside their single specialty and they’re not used to working with multiple fields or taking a holistic view. (This isn’t helped by the default being “man” and any difference of opinion is “political” and the subject matter obsession becomes a “conversation stopper”. And yes I have provided citations and given names of domain experts to consult only to be hit by a wall of crickets and their oh so considered published view is a lukewarm treatment which missed the point even when their focus had shifted to give it attention. It’s not unlike being “mansplained” by a random at a conference who is waving a book around not noticing that the PhD they are conversing has the same name as the name on the book cover because they’re a woman! The, erm, “I’m the author” and being met with a boggled look before continuing onwards is a classic experience of women at academic conferences. And if it happens to them?… And yes I have had a man lecturing me on one of Schneiers books he had just bought and no I don’t need to read the book because I already knew the subject matter in it before it was written which was crashingly obvious from the discussion!! And yes I’ve been laughed at by “senior” barristers when discussing information theory as it pertained to court rules and unlawful data leakage even when a woman who happened to be a Professor and whose PhD was in the topic I was discussing spoke up to back me up and said I was correct!!!! Dear God… Men!!!!!)
&ers • January 27, 2024 1:53 PM
@ALL
hxxps://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/963210.html
hxxps://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1751179676716814794
Screenshots:
hxxps://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/1acbf91/ukraines_main_intelligence_directorate_cyber/
lurker • January 27, 2024 3:07 PM
@ResearcherZero, All
Midnight Blizzard (also known as NOBELIUM) is a Russia-based threat actor
Scary, but
Privilege should be scrutinized more closely if it belongs to an unknown identity,
…
If you do not create a management scope, the ApplicationImpersonation role is granted to all accounts in an organization.
…
If you do not create an application access policy, then the full_access_as_app permission is granted to all accounts in a tenant.
IOW after 40 years in the business MS still sell their products wide open OTB. MailServer 101 is not for them, it’s for the customers, if they want …
Some years ago when we were merged with a larger unit and our Novell server closed down, I was reprimanded for not using Outlook or OWA. At least Eudora stripped off CalDAV and vCards and gave access to non-Outlook mail accts.
&ers • January 27, 2024 3:12 PM
@Sir Clive @ALL
hxxps://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/01/26/us-nuclear-bombs-lackenheath-raf-russia-threat-hiroshima/
Clive Robinson • January 27, 2024 3:15 PM
@ echo,
“No I don’t, Clive. I’m focusing on a subset to keep things focused on a particular set of variables which are largely a 20th Century and onwards phenomena.”
If you don’t have the foundations straight then what you build on them is effectively a waste of time.
You have your foundations wrong, thus anything you do at the level you are talking about is the equivalent of puting a sticking plaster on a broken bone.
Your “I’m right because I’m more wordy and espousy and bossy than you” attitude might impress others initially but when it meets the logic and reason of science and what is built on those foundations you end up looking embarrassed.
Just go pink around the ears and we can all move on to more things more germane.
Mr. Peed Off • January 27, 2024 3:27 PM
Big Tech has already earned enough revenue in 2024 to pay all its 2023 fines
Last year, we published an analysis showing that fines against Big Tech for breaking the law are far too small even though authorities are empowered to levy larger ones. Government penalties are supposed to be the mechanism to force compliance with democratically approved laws. But for monopolistic tech giants, they’re a cost of doing business and easily ignored.
In fact, ignoring them is sometimes exactly what these companies do, according to our updated analysis. Their disdain for elected governments is all the more troubling considering how easy it is for Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, and Microsoft to pay up. Combined, Big Tech earned enough revenue in the first seven days and three hours of 2024 to pay off all $3.04 billion in fines from last year.
Why is this a problem? Because unaccountable tech platforms are the biggest privacy abusers. Their data collection capabilities are unmatched and easily co-opted by governments to manipulate and repress their citizens. If surveillance continues to be a profitable business model, privacy and human rights will always be at risk.
I seem to have lost the link to the above article. (*&^%$#@!)
Some here might find the following article interesting:
echo • January 27, 2024 3:50 PM
There’s been studies on the differences between top game players and the rest. I won’t look this up but like a lot of sport the differences are small and make a big difference in the outcome. In eSports (FPS) there are slight neurological differences at the top. People at the top also tend to hold a steadier aim as well as having a higher degree of situational awareness which results in more one shot kills.
Away from competitions with fixed hardware platforms For those with the money things like 4K screens and the latest fastest graphics card (to reduce latency) and lowered screen settings allow them to spot another persons avatar instead of it being lost in the nose. A 4K versus 1080p screen can mean the difference between an avatar looking like a random pixel or the enemy.
I’ve also seen similar results with car simulators e.g. professional drivers and professional eSports gamers and enthusiastic amateurs. Again, the differences at the top are slight. The difference in lap times was less than five seconds.
Modern consumer level car simulators using the correct car model and a laser sampled racetrack map and consumer level chairs and steering wheel and peddles providing feedback are, according to professional drivers with access to simulators provided by their manufacturing sponsor are close enough to the real car there’s no effective difference apart from the G forces in a real car. It’s also possible in a home set up (if you have the money) to DIY a display which is on par with industrial level screens using projectors and curved screens or, if you have insane disposable income, the same off the shelf hot swappable modular panel displays as used in the current military F35 simulator.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq9dYJuwloI
When A 23,000 HOUR DayZ DUO Enter A LAST TEAM STANDING EVENT!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUuByspP4F8
A 27,000 HOUR Duo Play Chernarus Featuring TheRunningManZ – UNEDITED
I found this (two videos from the two different player’s POV) interesting as I wanted a closer look at strategic and tactical skills, and the differences between individuals and genders.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyjoqNpaVfk
I Took Part In An ALL FEMALE DayZ PVP Event – UNEDITED
The gendered social dynamics replicate a loose experiment asking a group of young women to judge the body weight of other women in this group who were all different sizes and shapes. The response was more about building rapport which not only hijacked the ability to accurately judge body weight but also the amount of the time dedicated to social glue versus the defined task.
Peer reviewed papers indicate when gender is factored out of intellectual pursuits men and women come out equal, pretty much.
The earlier links on politics and Genz are getting traction on social media. More than the the Bar Council position paper which came out of a few months ago on tackling workplace bullying, annoyingly. (Reports and scientific papers tend to get near zero traction on social media unless it attracts populist interest.) Ugh. The media and social media… They really lack the experts to guide discussion. Having a discussion about multivariate topics is hard at the best of times. More so with a polarised vested interest Greek choir and algorithmically enhanced headbanging.
Currently reading a notable person expressing exactly this kind of opinion on another subject…
JonKnowsNothing • January 27, 2024 4:35 PM
@echo, All
re: Gender bias in eSports
There is certainly a visible lack of representation in upper levels of eSports. I don’t know if the same is true for all esports where M+F compete in the same arena. Gender segregated sports have a different distribution of players.
Generally and unscientifically, more F are playing eSports than years ago. They are very good players and can reach top ranks. Computers in the main, level the playing field for many physical skills (strength, stamina) but do require a lot of intense focus.
As you have indicated, the quality of rig matters. In eSports competitions, the HW is standardized, the accessories are standardized (headsets, mouse, controllers) and the list of acceptable mods is the same for all teams/player.
PVP games are both single player, group teams, combination groups and a mix. All depends on the Time of Day (timezone) and the number of players logging in to play. Players tend to gravitate to an avatar-toon-class that suits their personal internal preference in how the game sets up The Trinity (DPS, HEAL, TANK). It would be wrong indeed, to think F players only play healers or light armor classes.
In eSports, things are starting to balance out on the gender scale mostly because more people have access to the hardware needed to run the games at basic levels. You don’t need at $20,000 game rig to enjoy PVP games. You might need a $50,000-$100,000 rig if you want to compete at international eSports level, which is why there are big eSports sponsors.
There are lots of factors that go into competitive computer multiplayer games. Getting the playing field even-er is the overall goal for mfg, which they address regularly (updates) keeping their subscribers and fans happy.
Clive Robinson • January 27, 2024 4:53 PM
@ &ers, ALL,
With regards the cyber attack (and recent Petro Chem industry issues attributed).
According to the rules of war laid down in various treaties attacks on civilians and civillian infrastructure is a “War Crime”.
However since WWII attacking both infrastructure and civilians has become “normalised in war”. Back in WWII the excuse was “both sides were doing it due to imprecise targeting from bombers that had by todays standards inadiquate navigation”. As we know one side effect was “creep back” where bomb aimers released early so the effect was a form of unintended wide area bombing. This later became a “desired feature” and the US in particular put “carpet bombing” in their war doctrine as an advised tactic.
Whilst cyber-attacks are technically not acts of war currently but ordinary crimes equivalent of vandalism or graffiti and interstate criminal resolution is suspended in active conflict that is not an issue as such.
But it needs to be said that both Russia and the Ukraine are quite a bit behind the curve when it comes to reliance on ICT when compared to the likes of North America, non communist areas of the Far East and parts of Europe.
I’m worried that Politicians will down play the risks of cyber-attacks based on the Russian attack on the Ukraine and what has since happened.
History suggests that if any advantage is seen in such criminal behaviour then it will become war-doctrine and thus used against the civilian population.
The US in particular and the UK nearly as bad are as always about three meals away from disaster and due to gross stupidity by the likes of neo-con mantras and the supply chain about three days away from “not in the shops”.
Prior to lockdown we had warnings with KFC changing it’s logistics company their supply chain went into compleat melt-down in the UK and significant issues arose like spolige due to frozen and fresh food items ending up in the wrong places and just left till “unsafe” so had to be taken out of the supply chain making the chaos worse.
We saw similar supply chain issues during the entirety of lockdown without the loss of ICT so we have proof –if needed– that it’s a “two part problem”. This was confirmed by the Colonial Oil pipeline in the US when the largest pipeline got shutdown by just ransomware in almost unrelated systems.
The fact arising is due to managment stupidity much of the US is at best four days from chaos and turmoil that can be started by “an army of one” from “the other side of the globe” and it would currently be highly unlikely that the actual actor their alegiance/flag could be determined.
Look up the history of the Washington sniper event to see what was in effect less danger than just being a pedestrian at other times.
What caused the issues was perception that has in other places been called “long gun fever”, and responsible for a cascade of physical medical issues as well as mental ones.
As was wryly pointed out to me once,
“An army may march on it’s stomach, but in the field that means they crouch above a hole with balls dangling as a sitting target. They can not do one without the other”.
The point is fear that’s “ever present on the mind” causes significant and usually undesirable changes in behaviour, and once one does it the inverse of “low hanging fruit” kicks in and every one does it. So eating, craping, washing, moving sensibly all go out the window and it becomes first endemic then stampedes into pandemic if those at the top of the hierarchy don’t get a grip quickly.
The thing is “those at the top” being “Strong men” are doing almost the exact opposite of “getting a grip”…
The likelyhood of increasing cyber-attacks is probably a “foregone conclusion” and not taking appropriate action or making it worse is not the way to go.
In the UK we’ve just had a senior in the military point out to the polititions that come war with Russia, we are due to politicians not in a good place and that Conscription etc has to be a consideration but there is nothing on the table by way of a plan etc.
It’s a fair point but the usual muck rakers have been stiring it up with amoungst other things biased question opinion polls (watch out for YouGov they are a closet politicaly right-wing friendly organisation due to “their chosen clients” as a previous senior revealed, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jun/08/polling-firms-yougov-tweak-polls ).
The thing is that it’s “nudge politics” you ask questions not to gather opinion but to create an impression that is then used as a leaver to move the debate in a desired direction or to make obsfication easier.
Anyway see for yourself,
echo • January 27, 2024 5:02 PM
If you don’t have the foundations straight then what you build on them is effectively a waste of time.
Oh for God’s sake… Pay attention and knock it off with the mirror propaganda.
The arc of progress is there even if the thin end of the demographics are throwing a snot so the problem should solve itself. We just need to wait you out. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY7GPBSyONU
NATO-Russia war: Can it really happen?
I had a ding dong with Anders when he stepped outside of his field and latched onto an MSM article instead of reading the full analysis I told him about. While useful within its own orbit Anders does have tunnel vision with none military stuff.
Today, I was reading an analysis by a Harvard law expert on the bit Anders didn’t want to hear (a precursor to the leak of Project 2025) and she is screaming her head off. (N.B. The groups involved with creating project 2025 have been penetrated which is where we are getting the information from, such as the 10GB email leak, on top of earlier network analysis which a lot of reports documenting far right activity are based on even though they grab all the credit for themselves.) I won’t link to her current comments but I’ll link to a broader political US based overview she published.
https://www.damemagazine.com/2021/11/11/divisions-in-america-are-even-worse-than-you-thought/
Divisions in America Are Even Worse Than You Thought.
“The situation is more dangerous than people believe”. Yes, Anders. We’ve been telling you only like Clive you’re listening to the wrong stuff.
I’ve also read comment off people saying “Sunak is more right wing than people suppose”. Well, yes. We’ve been telling you that too.
I think Anders gets the geopolitics fairly right but like I said he keeps missing the domestic political picture and its dynamics. And that’s why the survey I linked to highlighting Genz issues needs more understanding focus than you are qualified or able or willing to give. And that’s why in the UK “Conservative Friends of Russia” and in the US GOP headbangers need to be dealt with head on. It’s not, as Anders asserts, just about “funding for Ukraine”. It’s a domestic power play of which the military issues whether NATO action or Ukraine are secondary. That’s the bit you don’t get.
A lot of the authoritarians in play in Africa, South America, and Middle-east are copycatting from the GOP playbook and stimulated by the UK Tory party (which is also had a negative impact on Europe, Canada, and Australia as right wing and far right actors got some wind in their sails.
That’s where Anders leans into the geopolitics and break from the International law based order and discusses the Russian drive for bilateralism and misses playing up to the “war on woke” by passing swinging policies to normalise right wing social attitudes i.e. legalising wife beating and introducing anti-LGBT laws which is a critical strategy in building soft alliances and copycat behaviour which reinforces this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKt5AsI0AvM
Dr Stephen Hall – How Authoritarian Regimes Learn from Each Other Spreading Intolerance like a Virus.
My main interests are more on some particular domestic policy issues but this video discusses the spread of authoritarian and far right behaviours. There’s a lot of videos which don’t explicitly focus on what I’m interested in (which is annoying) but a fair number which focus on the general subject areas which have overlap. Neither Anders nor yourself seem to have spent much time watching them!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9l4PYBD0_o
Ian Garner – Generation Z – Russia’s Fascist Youth Movement Perpetuates the Idea of Eternal Tyranny.
This might be another interesting one.
So please do some reading around and take an interest in other subjects before throwing rocks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TISfuRyWhw
Robin Horsfall – Are we Underestimating how Destructive and Long-lived Moscow’s Aggression could be?
I’m not sure if this is the correct video or if it’s one of the other discussions with him but if Robin Horsfall (ex SAS and Operation Nimrod) can take an interest in the rough subject area even if his interest is limited to social media disinformation and the so-called “war on woke” then so can you!
Clive Robinson • January 27, 2024 5:50 PM
@ echo,
“Oh for God’s sake… Pay attention and knock it off with the mirror propaganda.”
Oh dear gaslighting again…
You are the one throwing around crap, you get a little bounce back and major histrionics hissy fit comes flying in.
Sorry that crap belongs on the midden that surrounds you.
&ers • January 27, 2024 6:09 PM
@ALL
How cheap drones have changed the battlefield.
hxxps://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/25/how-drones-froze-ukraine-frontlines
lurker • January 27, 2024 6:23 PM
@echo
“We’ve been telling you only like Clive you’re listening to the wrong stuff.”
Saint Monday Raceday preserve us! Right? Wrong? Shades of grey will not be admitted?
Jelo 117 • January 27, 2024 6:24 PM
@ JonKnowsNothing
There are lots of factors that go into competitive computer multiplayer games.
Does anyone run vast numbers of game sequences with statistical variations on player inputs, so as to finely sample game unfolding space, then use this to play ? Or more, use LLM trained on this data to play ?
Of course, it’s against the spirit and the rules of the games …
CarpetCat • January 27, 2024 6:49 PM
I’ve never seen such rude response on what purports to be a civilized discussion niche. Writing that you merely must bide the time until Clive departs is despicable and the nadir of disrepect.
&ers • January 27, 2024 7:03 PM
@Sir Clive
re : serving/drafting
It’s interesting to follow how this turns out to be in Ukraine.
Problem is that young people there don’t want to fight, saying
it’s not their war. Main reason – huge corruption in government.
Older people accept this corruption and have used to it as a part
of the system, but young people who speak English, have seen Europe
want full democracy and abandon that oligarch system. So they don’t
want to risk their lives and health so that other can get rich and
drive in fancy cars at the same time they are in trenches.
There’s new draft law on its way
hxxps://kyivindependent.com/cabinet-of-ministers-submits-draft-law-on-mobilization-to-verkhovna-rada/
So it is an interesting situation. West can give a lot of money and weapons, but they can’t give the soldiers, Ukraine has to find them by themself.
And there’s a lot of “draft dodgers”, who use the corrupted system.
hxxps://www.thedailybeast.com/the-real-reason-thousands-are-fleeing-conscription-in-ukraine
And yet another problem – current fighters on the front don’t look very
friendly at those who enjoy their time in city cafe currently. They have
expressed that they don’t want to be with them in the same trench side by side.
echo • January 27, 2024 9:14 PM
@Clive
“Oh dear gaslighting again…”
Apart from pushing some points with supporting argument and links where appropriate? Everything from critiquing job titles who hide behind maths and physics, to providing links to some of the very latest research or surveys, to recalled from memory links to material swimming in the same pond? If I’m oblique at times the reasons are as stated. It’s impossible to discuss some subjects with people who are not experts so I swerve around them. Even if I do post anything related I have noticed this gets ignored because men’s brains cannot parse “women’s issues”. That’s assuming men put weight on women’s opinion in the first place. (See also the Sunak link.)
Please do know off the DARVO, Clive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIs3HbJwTIY
What it’s like to be a woman that criticises the Tories online.
A notch up from “woman has opinion”…
@&ers
To repeat myself from an earlier comment people have no problem fighting when they have to. Tory government and media sabre rattling over introducing conscription is not going down well in what is seen as a naked attempt to gerrymander an election and/or put yourself on the line while the Tories are looting the country and public services and healthcare and welfare systems are on their knees. Current polling reflects this. The Tories are potentially facing a Canadian style wipeout for a reason.
I would be very careful with amplifying any stories in the UK (or Ukraine for that matter) which promote antipathy. This plays into Russian hands.
Russia ran quite the operation in “Londonstan” with oligarchs and with the Tory party. MI5/MI6’s openly acknowledged policy of creating an international hub of dodgy activity so they could gather intelligence backfired. The Russia report remains suppressed while the Tory party “Conservative Friends of Russia” was closed down and one member, perhaps for unrelated reasons given they are a “Marjorie Taylor Greene” style wingnut (and are a Tory so dodgy in other ways too), is currently under investigation.
Putin’s strongman “family values” schtick has been described by experts as a geopolitical “tool”. The GOP who are full of Christofascist nationalists have, in their mind, a friend. Putin is playing to this and a divided and polarsied nation and the old “it’s only a bit of land and someone else’s so doesn’t matter that much” schtick.
Antipathy or war fatigue or “they’re all the same” is a tool the right like to promote as an election strategy whether the Tories, likely the GOP too and, certainly, Russia is taking advantage where it can of this.
Reports from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and Justin Bronk also of RUSI who makes an occasional appearance on Ward Carroll’s channel, and commentary on Silicon Curtain including contributions from Chatham House (in spite of there being a howlingly bad misogyny scandal at Chatham House) are worth following up on. Jake Broe (for a US centric POV) and Ukraine Matters and Military & History and Ryan McBeth are worth looking up too. All this is available on Youtube.
echo • January 27, 2024 9:35 PM
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/tories-rigging-general-election-rules-31984142
Tories are ‘rigging General Election rules’ as voting watchdog slams reform attempts
The independent Electoral Commission slammed the plans, comparing the proposals to a cricket team “telling the umpire how to enforce the rules of the game”.
The Elections Act 2022 brought the Electoral Commission under government control… Much like the US GOP the Tories can only win a majority under a rigged electoral system. They’re bricking it in the face of a general election so have to rig it more and open the door to filthy money buying an election.
The watchdog concluded that the revamp had broken election laws covering donations and fined the Conservative Party £17,800. Since then Tory MPs have unveiled a draft document containing a new “strategy and policy statement” for the Commission.
It includes a long-time government policy of tackling voter fraud, a crime so rare that statistically it doesn’t exist. But there is no mention of more pressing threats to elections, such as AI deepfakes or disinformation.
During a recent by-election the Tories spent £135,000 on social media advertising to support attacks on London mayor Sadiq Khan and the ULEZ policy he is now responsible for and a policy which the Tories themselves created. See also: Cambridge Analytica et al.
No surprise they’re not in a hurry to counter AI deepfakes and disinformation. It’s actually much much dirtier than this as a fair chunk of “war on woke” content sloshing about on social media as a “wedge issue” is pushed by government statements and policies which have no statutory basis and no force in law. Ditto right wing legacy media coverage which uses loopholes in the law and captured regulators to get away with it.
The aim was supposedly to crack down on fraud – but there were just 50 allegations between 2010 and 2018 and only two convictions. The election laws come alongside restrictions on protests and strikes.
Yes, we have all noticed this…
echo • January 27, 2024 10:09 PM
<
blockquote>
https://twitter.com/GBNewsSpin/status/1751333623607750893
On Holocaust Memorial Day, a GB News presenter lobbies for the state execution of mentally disabled criminals, doubling down on earlier comments
Akua says “I don’t wanna pay for him” adding “It would be kinder to do this than lock him up on sedation”
“If he were an animal, he’d be put down” – before proceeding to smirk like a psychopath
Sick. Evil. Beyond the pale.
[VIDEO]
<
blockquote>
With regard to my earlier links to Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Jason Stanley. This is the creeping environment under the Tories. Where is OFCOM? This comes after persistent and deliberate public policy erosion of disabled people’s rights and benefits.
This is disappointing that GB News got a woman from a minority to front this but that’s how the hard right wing and far right roll today. They employ or recruit “useful idiots” who are used for the optics or cover and then thrown away when they are no longer of any use. In fact I was reading today about a “useful” idiot who did the rounds of The Spectator and Daily Mail and that’s exactly what happened as people reported. They have been turned on by pop up far right aligned activist groups then skewered by the same media. I also read yesterday in the US a “useful idiot” who had been a favourite of GOP politicians rigging debates and forcing laws through and aligned media seems to have been dumped so are pivoting their grift. The “told you so” takes a while to sink into some people’s brains.
ResearcherZero • January 28, 2024 1:05 AM
Devices seized. Using a list of schools and responsible for hundreds of incidents.
‘https://www.wired.com/story/torswats-swatting-arrest/
Ismar • January 28, 2024 2:08 AM
@echo – what waste of time and energy – writing so much and yet saying so little
JonKnowsNothing • January 28, 2024 3:43 AM
@ Jelo 117, All
re:
@JKN: There are lots of factors that go into competitive computer multiplayer games.
@J: Does anyone run vast numbers of game sequences with statistical variations on player inputs, so as to finely sample game unfolding space, then use this to play ?
Yes, they do, but probably not how you think.
In computer generated, especially large scale MMORPG games (1) there are complex sequences called “raids”, with 6-12-24-40+ players in a group, playing against computer generated sequences (aka PVE) (2) to achieve a series of increasingly difficult tasks and overcoming increasingly complex puzzles or fight sequences.
Raids are generally the most complex sequences that Devs can envision and their failure rate is very high. Getting all the steps correctly garners a reward chest with loot that is considered by the players to be high quality or extremely rare or impossible to acquire without completing the raid sequence.
So orchestrating 12 players though a long sequence (2hrs or more average) where at any point a failure will set you back either to step 1 or a removes the very rare bonus items from the reward chest is a project that groups of players will focus on reverse engineering the optimal play sequence though each section.
It’s not enough just to survive a sequence for this group, they want the Min-Max time to completion which garners another set of bonuses, like completing the sequence in under 2hrs. There are also options for both speed and difficulty that can be elected and the reward chest will be enhanced accordingly.
What is done, is to record the sequence and analyze all the visual and audio clues present. This requires many runs for each of the 12 players and for every player class (heal, dps, tank), as each class has many abilities. Different fight setups will be tried and each raid group will define their own particular placement and fight sequence order.
After many tries, these groups can run an entire sequence with little difficulty, provided all the players are familiar with the timing and placement. Having new players fill in makes failures much more likely so these groups tend to be more restricted in who they invite as a substitute.
Example: tl;dr
In one sequence (of 6 or more sections), after surviving a long gauntlet run through the halls while being swarmed at various parts, you arrive at the 1st Boss, which is generally the easiest fight. You have 1hr to complete the fight or you have to start over. After each success you have a 2hr window to get to the next boss, or you have to start over from the beginning.
When the door opens, all 12 players must get into the room before the gates shut. If you do not get in fast enough you are locked out for the fight and locked out of the reward chest for that fight. Each of the 12 players is assigned a location in the room and an order in which to execute skills and battle maneuvers.
The speed of the fight increases quickly, to deplete the health and abilities of the players, knowing how to conserve each member is critical to success. If any player is defeated it becomes much more difficult to win. In this case, the Boss garners a “soul reap” buff and after about 5 becomes invulnerable.
At critical times, the Boss calls for reinforcements which enter from various doors around the room, each of these has special abilities and can heal the boss and kill all 12 players in one stroke. Players are assigned by class to take down these “adds”.
After a number of adds are taken down, the Boss gains an entire new set of skills and the players must swap positions quickly or they will be soul-reaped.
All through the sequence there are “tag lines”, visual clues like flashing flames or animation positions (raised fist), that indicate a particularly powerful attack.
* “You cannot enter here! You face death!”
* “Insignificant wretch.”
* “Such a shame to come so far only to fail.”
* “I sense a seed of doubt in your heart!”
* “Another soul in despair? Here then, let me free it.”
Once they have fully analyzed the sequence, they will run this in “farm” mode.
The Devs, of course, are not to be outdone for long, and rewrite many sequences. Depending on the game design, some will be down graded in difficulty while others will be upgrade to more extreme challenges.
===
1)
h ttp s://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MMORPG
2)
h ttp s:/ /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Player_versus_environment
echo • January 28, 2024 4:01 AM
Oh crikey I forgot about this film. “Terry Talks Movies” talks about a new movie called The Beekeeper. The movie opens with a phishing attack against an old lady whose life savings including money she has collected for charity is stolen which causes her to end her life. One of the characters in the movie is based on a real life crook who ran these kind of organised scam operations. “The Beekeeper”, played by Jason Statham, goes off in search of justice. There’s also a conspiracy theory abuse of power thing to top it off. A mini review is in the linked segment. It is what it is isn’t it?
I’m not remotely a fan of real life cops but, sheesh, there are some horrible things which happen out there. I’ve watched some youtubes of organised phishing scammers being caught on their own CCTV. It’s so banal and they’re so dehumanising. My sympathy goes to their victims especially those who aren’t rich. Seriously, anyone who steals from poor people deserves a stiff finger wagging from the judge.
I know it’s only an action movie but I hope it helps encourage policymakers and CEO’s to take security and decency more seriously from day one.
echo • January 28, 2024 5:01 AM
@ResearcherZero
You are missing the point. Foundations is not meant in a political sense, but technically.
I’m not missing anything I assure you politically or technically. The comments are what they are. Don’t read anything else into it.
I’m familiar with the kinds of things you mention. It’s all part of the background and there’s points of similarity in the UK as you note. I only have a partial eye on Australia – similar kinds of problems with court procedures and slackness by social workers has been a thing. There’s ongoing problems in the UK not dissimilar to this I’m keeping my eye on which involves politics and technical discussions. There was also far right activity in Australia and New Zealand a few months ago which got my attention which also involves the UK and Ireland. It’s just not the kind of thing worth the bother of discussing in detail on here for reasons stated in a previous comment this week.
I’m not sure what else I’m supposed to say.
Clive Robinson • January 28, 2024 8:28 AM
@ JonKnowsNothing,
Re : Bnk’o Mo’n Pop
You might remember back in in the early days when the official numbers were little more than lies or overly hopefull guestimates as stacks built up like cordwood, I said keep an eye on “excess deaths”…
Well,
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MPvy6pl2oAo
We still need to. But remember there is a fiddle in the system, these are based on the average for the last five years, so in reality these are percentage increses so in actual hard numbers represent an exponential growth…
Clive Robinson • January 28, 2024 10:26 AM
@ &ers,
Re : Is that cold wind blowing a draft?
I’ve held of responding because I was waiting on the Perun Vid,
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rvCL15fsphE
It dropped a an hour or so ago and I’ve watched it all so you don’t have to (but you should).
Go to 50mins in where the discussion is on manning on both sides and you will learn some interrsting things.
But also have a look behind the math that one of your sources “The Daily Beast” is using for it’s story. You will find that far from being sensational it’s about what you would expect at a two year point on a “meat grinder” war.
The thing is even TDB seniors claim “Gonzo journalism” and “fast breaking” “hard punching” stories. This “first person feal” may not be partisan but neither is it objective or well researched.
Basing a story on one or at most a couple of lets be honest quit biased people who feel they have to justify out of hundreds of thousands might give lots of colour but does it paint the landscape or just a single flower well off of it’s patch?
Don’t get me wrong there is very definately a place for First Person Journalism, but you have to remember that the,
“Personal Rights v Social Responsabilities”
Issue would you say that “the orange lumpen primate”[1] is “representative” of the whole US? How about the “Blinken Denkenimkopf blind eyed Isaiah”[2]?
No me neither. Great Gonzo meat to chew both the fat and gristle of though.
[1] What can I say… that won’t get me instant automod and lifetime ban?
[2] Isaiah of the book in the Bible is reputed to have sent a letter with the following accusation,
“this is the word that GOD has spoken concerning him: Fair Maiden Zion despises you, She mocks at you. Fair Jerusalem shakes Her head at you. Whom have you blasphemed and reviled? Against whom made loud your voice And haughtily raised your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!”
Which is not a good Diplomatic or Statesman like thing in a modern secular world, except in a very few peoples heads…
&ers • January 28, 2024 1:30 PM
@Sir Clive @ALL
hxxps://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/28/ukraine-unearths-40-million-embezzlement-scheme-involving-its-military
I have no words. They fight for their independence, existence,
and then some just steal.
JonKnowsNothing • January 28, 2024 2:37 PM
@&ers, @Clive, All
From a USA folk song: Pretty Boy Floyd by Woody Guthrie
Yes, as through this world I’ve wandered
I’ve seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen.Woody Guthrie wrote the “Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd” in March of 1939
Clive Robinson • January 28, 2024 4:32 PM
@ &ers,
“They fight for their independence, existence,
and then some just steal.”
Yup it’s what we call “Disasyer Capitalism” and it goes on in some way in every war the longer and more desperate the war the worse it gets.
In the UK we are taught a myth about WWII and how “every one pulled together” it’s quite untrue…
Why do you think people came out of it with a standard of living ten times what they went in with?
If it was not low end crime like shop owners fiddling the rationing system, to works canteens saying they had more workers coming through than they did so “that little extra” coul go home to Ma, or Gran. Then there were the Pig Clubs where a pig would die mysteriously. Claming eggs floating or tomatoes were squashed. And so many more ways to get “food on the table”.
Then there was petrol rationing some like Drs got a special ration that had a supposadly unremovable blue die in it (much like pure grain Alcohol into the US these days as “window cleaner”). Back then they had no “reverse osmotic filters” but somebody discovered that the truely awful “National Wiltion bread” that quite litteraly had “Knowt taken out” thus very high in bran would take the blue dye out. Thus a new red dye could be added and the petrol sold with a little discount but getting the all important ration vouchers, that could be reused to get legitimate petrol to “cover” the illegal activities.
At every level of society those that were not in uniform and even those that were, had their own “perks of the job” or “entitlements”[2]… One such trick was magnatized washers stuck on the underside of weigh scales pan by sleight of hand[1] that grocers did. And the perks as they got larger became the mainstay of the “Black Market”.
It swallowed up something like 20% of the war budjet and prosecuting crime is expensive and those in those nice safe jobs could also get “entitled” for looking the other way… And so it goes on.
At worst it got bestial[3] in some places…
[1] Call it the modern version of “The Miller’s Thumb”. Back when we had windmills people used to bring their grain to be ground on a weight for weight basis. The flour scoop was supposed to hold an exact weight of dry flour. It was a round scoop with a flat back plate and round handle. If you held it as you should with the handle in a closed fist you got the full measure of flour. However if the Miller held it such that he griped the handle with his fingers but with his thumb over the back plate into the scoop then you got a “short measure” OK a thumbs worth of flour does not sound much but it mounts up and could be as much as 2% of the flour. What a grocer could do was put the empty weigh pan on the weigh scale and zero it whilst the customer watched. Then whilst steadying it with his hand he had had in his pocket he slipped the magnatized washer out of sight on the weigh pan. Then adjusted the balance not holding the pan. Then whilst pouring the contents of the weigh scale out into a bag etc his fingers slipped the magnet off again, so that the now empty pan weighed the same back on the balance as when zeroed…
Other Miller’s tricks involved droping bits of crushed “soft chalk” into the input hopper. Yes it would wear out the dressing of the stones, but again ment the miller had a larger share thus more flour to sell…
When you study industrial archaeology as a hobby, you get to hear all the tricks including watering down the salt, a once very valuablw comdity. Even people “carving nutmegs” and leaving them in with ground mace –outer husk– to take up the smell and flavour if the fake was licked. Even today the market in fake saffron (orchid stamenes) is very high as the real thing realy is worth more than it’s weight in gold. In the victorian era adding a little “caustic lye” to milk would remove the buterate that made it smell rancid as it went off. Caustic Lye was believe it or not a standard ingredient in some kitchens… You know that brown look on bagels and pretzels, that happens not from heat but “lye wash”. So the same trick could be done with orher pastries like pie casing, making them look cooked using less than half the fuel and thus having uncooked meat in the pie… Oh and adding mashed potatoe to wheat flour when the price of wheat was too high for the regulated “Penny loaf” (see “horse bread” as well). Then there was “piss n lead sugar”… White Lead was used in paint and clothes dying. Though labourious to make it was less expensive than sugar. As white lead tastes sweet even though dangerously toxic it got used as an adulterant…
[2] I talk from time to time about “the self entitled” who are often sociopaths. They believe themselves to be “smart” because they had in their eyes got themselfs into a “cosy job with opportunities” rather than getting slaughtered on the battlefield. Thus they felt “entitled” to carry on being smart at other peoples expense…
[3] We know in Russia that canabilism could make you money. Basically bodies of the dead got “butchered and sold” to others as cheap meat, much as horses did. It got so bad in some places that heads were openly on sale as were hands and feet and you will find photos taken in open markets… Trust me when I say the Victorian London story of “Sweeny Todd” the barber was not entirely made up. People especially “freshly fallen young women” who had been “debauched” would just disapear. Not all as suicides “into the river” Thames to get washed up near Tower Bridge that used to have it’s very own mortuary to put the bodies in…
Clive Robinson • January 28, 2024 5:01 PM
@ JonKnowsNothing, &ers,
Re : Woody Gutherie and son.
‘Woody Guthrie wrote the “Ballad of Pretty Boy Floyd”’
He wrote the words, but not the music. Woody was musically illiterate and could not read or write sheet music.
But he was prolific, whilst not quite a song a day there was certainly a song a week.
He knew by heart many “traditional songs” and would hum them in snatches and phrases to get the music for his songs that he would play and sing.
His son Arlo who’s mother came from the Ukraine carried on the family tradition untill what feels to me quite recently, with Pete Seger who sadly passed a decade ago. I’ve been lucky enough to see them live a couple of times when I could “Wear a younger man’s clothes”.
Arlo did not sing as much as he could when in concert because he also tells stories that are beyond value about his and his fathers life. Also Arlo has a large family now and most have “Gone in the family business” one way or another. It’s a toss up which song Arlo is most known for “Alice’s Restaurant” or “This land” but as many many children get taught the latter,
echo • January 28, 2024 5:01 PM
Catherine Cox: It’s time to finally give family carers support they need by voting ‘Yes’ in the referendum
Voting ‘Yes’ will put pressure on the government to give tangible supports to carers – though the language in the new Article leaves a lot to be desired.
And:
The Commission is of the view that constitutional reform is necessary in order to address stereotyping concerning the roles and responsibilities of women and men in the family and in society and encourages the Government to call a referendum on Article 41.2 of the Constitution of Ireland without delay.
And:
https://www.irishlegal.com/articles/opinion-what-does-article-42b-mean-for-disabled-people
Opinion: What does Article 42B mean for disabled people?
And:
I have no words. They fight for their independence, existence,
and then some just steal.
Ireland has been quite the success story over the years. They invested EU grant funding well (unlike Greece who were promptly dumped all over after the financial crisis by the European Bank which follows the German model arguably somewhat unfairly) and have made a lot of progress with addressing historical abuses by the Catholic church, and improving human rights including women and LGBT people. The constitution while arguably well meant has been problematic since day one. It’s now up for change but in fixing one problem they may be creating another problem for disabled people. “Strive to support” is not the same as “will support”. But… It’s a little trickier than this.
As with any constitutional change there are ramifications some of which may require a legislation roadmap. There’s also other constitutional level mechanisms such as human rights treaties and the courts and statute and, of course, implementation.
Let’s hope they handle it better than the Brexit idiocy (or how the US bungled replacing the Electoral College with the popular vote).
&ers
Or Ukraine government supports security services going after bad people.
In the UK the Tories have morphed into an authoritarian kleptocracy with far right leanings. Sunak is an alumni of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) a right wing libertarian think tank based in Tufton Street. Investigations into abuses of power and fraud are happening more in spite of them. On the issue of war I have suspected for some time that Ministers deserve little credit for supporting Ukraine and are simply absorbing the glow from the Ministry of Defence and RUSI and Chatham House who are the ones actually doing the work.
@Clive
Thank you for promoting one of my sources even if you never said thank you and behave like you discovered Perun.
Perun is good but there is a problem. Perun is a man who talks about things in a man way about man things. Not a problem in itself. I can’t fault his content or presentation but… I dislike the term “patriarchy” and, really, no man wants to read the comments on social media after the release of the GenZ report. I understand why they are being said and tend to agree. The problem, as with formal treatments by men about man things, is the perspective and communication and priority split. This is where your “certified professional” maths and physics breaks down. Heuristics and multivariates and complex systems of systems are a thing. Something continues in a straight line unless it is acted upon by an external force. This is where language like “likely” and “probably” become a thing.
Now go back and examine the constitutional issue and skim the discussion document. This is illustrative of the kind of crap I have to deal with. It’s a world away from the slick rational powerpoint and more a war of attrition.
You mention the Daily Beast – a tabloid. It’s coverage of some issues is more on point than alleged “rational actors” like The New York Times or Guardian.
And this is why I take exception with you swinging “certified professional” and maths and physics around like a gatekeeper and, yes, slagging off entire industries of people who have precisely zero executive power. You need to row back on that.
And also please knock off the bragging about your sex life. There’s only so much “man as hero of the story” and “woman as ornament” I can put up with. And the gripe I have about censoring everything down to “tech” when it’s convenient is that tech is an end result not a goal in itself and operates within a context. Any idiot can do tech as it’s a very limited endeavor. It’s the history and context and outcome which I’m interested in not job title does tech so they can beat me around the head with it.
JPA • January 28, 2024 5:26 PM
@Clive
“Something we should think about, and maybe as I’ve said before take a good long look at German Reunification and the removal of Apartheid in South Africa, as well as also why Yugoslavia and Rwanda were such disasters. Because there obviously lessons there if we can find out what they are and learn from them, then maybe, just maybe we can head off disaster.”
You might find the book Out of the Melting Pot Into the Fire by Jens Heycke.of interest on this.
Clive Robinson • January 28, 2024 6:39 PM
@ echo,
Re : The loonie to the left…
“And also please knock off the bragging about your sex life.”
Tell me what medications are you on?
Because you are begining to make LLM’s look sane, intelligent and rational.
You are the one for ever braging about lipstick, cloths and how you use them on men to get your way through doors etc etc etc… Ad infinitum.
Yes I mention “friends” and sometimes “family” but that is what they are “just friends” and “just family”.
Yes surprise I have friends and unless asked otherwise I use traditional pronouns as taught when I was young. It actually happens that a I’ve more friends that are women than men and always have done, but it does not mean that I’m romantically or physically involved with them or want to be in a “we” state.
Also I’ve spent a big chunk of my professional life pushing STEM to women and helping them progress in science and engineering where they are woefully under represented. If that is a crime in your view…
Yes “I” use “first person” as well as “her” “third person” but rarely “we” “second person” which is why your “sex” accusation would be funny if not for what it actually says about you.
I avoid exclusively talking about things in “third person” as it’s not just creepy to readers, but also for your information continuously doing so is one of those “flags” the mental health proffession pick up on for “Disociative Identity Disorders” and worse. They also pick up on increased usage of “first person” as it’s been found to be an indicator of not just depression but suicide risk in adolescents and what were once called “artistic/creative/fey types”. As for talking in “second party” there is a lot about that currently as an indicator of false intent leading to “cancel culture” and “Strong Man” nonsense.
Interestingly, of recent times non public use of “third party” in “private thoughts” or “denken im kopf” is now becoming considered an effective way to deal with stressors and eliviate “brain fog”. Thus “not being able to keep it in” both literally and physically as some do says quite a bit about them.
But as for “hero of the story”, seriously have you actualy looked at the scat you spray out to make the midden you try to crow from?
To quote you “You need to row back on that.” And also “knock off the bragging”. Your words and failings publically writ large.
JonKnowsNothing • January 28, 2024 6:53 PM
@Clive, @&ers, All
re: Borrowed tunes
He knew by heart many “traditional songs” and would hum them in snatches and phrases to get the music for his songs that he would play and sing.
One advantage of global interactions versus local village-to-town interactions is that we can trace many aspects of “traditional songs” to their origin. In some cases traditional songs are not considered to be the property of anyone in particular, sort of an open season for anyone to use. With modern tracking it is now possible to link songs and words to a particular person(s).
Writing new words to old songs, or using the theme of a song to generate a new version is a common practice, although today, if you know you have borrowed from someone, it is best to give credit to them for that.
The Sinking of the Reuben James by Woody Guthrie, was a lost moment in history where the USA could have entered into WW2 6 weeks earlier than the Bombing of Pearl Harbor event that eventually led the USA into the war. There are complex reasons why the USA withheld direct assistance although individuals opted to go fight anyway.
The chorus line is a rousing group sing-along in unison.
Tell me what were their names, tell me what were their names,
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James?
What were their names, tell me, what were their names?
Did you have a friend on the good Reuben James
Which contrasts with the dark message of the event
It was there in the dark of that uncertain night
That we watched for the U-boats and waited for a fight.
Then a whine and a rock and a great explosion roared
And they laid the Reuben James on that cold ocean floor.
There are reports, that it was hoped, that this song and the loss of lives would propel the USA to action. It didn’t.
It’s still a great song, simple, straightforward, anyone can bop along, not complex, no fancy orchestration needed. Just open your throat and bellow.
===
ht tps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sinking_of_the_Reuben_James
http s://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Reuben_James_(DD-245)
At dawn on 31 October 1941, she was torpedoed near Iceland by German submarine U-552 commanded by Kapitänleutnant Erich Topp. Reuben James had positioned herself between an ammunition ship in the convoy and the known position of a German “wolfpack,” a group of submarines poised to attack the convoy. The destroyer was not flying the ensign of the United States and was in the process of dropping depth charges on another U-boat when she was engaged. Reuben James was hit forward by a torpedo meant for a merchant ship and her entire bow was blown off when a magazine exploded. The bow sank immediately. The aft section floated for five minutes before going down. Of a crew of seven officers and 136 enlisted men, plus one enlisted passenger, 100 were killed. That left only 44 enlisted men and no officers who survived the attack.
ht tps:/ /en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich_Topp
h tt ps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Philbrick_Webster
echo • January 28, 2024 7:12 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuTQbOo3Y30
Vape-o-nomics: Why Everything is Addictive Now
I think this is interesting when you look at politics, the media, social media, and workplace and social behaviours being driven by addiction. Post “big data” and more deregulation and “market forces” people have become hyper focused on day by day polling, focus group testing of policy announcements, formulaic advice by PR advisors, micromanaging of budgets, hitting targets and performance league tables, and fast trading, and fast fashion, and so on and so forth.
The video essay itself is very focused on issues pertaining to the tech industry not broader behavioral and regulatory and social issues. It’s just been niggling for some time that the kind of commoditised view or gamification or behavioral psychology kind of thing has had governance and public policy and customer impacts, and how the “everything is a consumer bubble” thing has become a common reality.
This is especially interesting when you consider (usually right wing) political parties increasingly don’t have an electorate they have a base.
I’m not a psychologist or sociologist so know I’m talking various shades of crap. It does make we wonder though how this semi-hidden mechanism shapes our reality and perception of reality.
https://www.nct.org.uk/baby-toddler/games-and-play/screen-time-for-babies-and-toddlers-evidence
What are the official guidelines?
In the UK, neither the NHS nor the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) have any detailed guidance for screen time among babies and toddlers yet. But they do recommend an upper limit of two hours per day for all children. The UK’s Chief Medical Officer suggests a ‘precautionary approach’ balanced against the potential benefits of using screen devices.
Interestingly, American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines recommend a zero screen time rule (except for video calls) for children under 18 months. For toddlers aged 18 to 24 months, they suggest a limited amount of screen time. And for two- to five-year-old children, one hour a day. They say screen time should involve educationally appropriate content that children watch with a parent.
The UK’s Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) criticised the American guidelines. They argue that they’re not all based on strong evidence.
And:
For 1-year-olds, any screen time during their first year – as opposed to none at all – was associated with a 105 percent higher likelihood of later displaying high instead of typical sensory behaviors related to low registration at 33 months.
For 18-month-olds, each additional hour of screen time per day was associated with a 23 percent higher chance of later exhibiting high sensory behaviors related to sensation avoiding and low registration by 33 months.
And among 2-year-olds, every extra hour of daily screen time was associated with a 20 percent higher likelihood of high sensation seeking, sensory sensitivity, and sensation avoiding within the following year, the study found.
Trauma under the age of three tends to stick for the rest of someone’s lifetime.
This wouldn’t be the first time the UK has skimped on research or sat on dated guidance. As for one size fits all “certified professionals” ignoring PHD’s and WHO endorsed international best practice for political reasons… Oh, and NICE has backdoors in its process which allows “certified professionals” and politicians to get their fix in before the first draft is published.
The current Tory government has zero interest in mental health. NHS mental health is woefully underfunded, they’re pulling the rug on disabled people suffering from sometimes severe mental health problems, and the mental health impact of government policy is never considered so there’s no knowledge or pushback against the kinds of problems illuminated by the essay on addictive behaviour based systems.
I’m old enough to remember when quality of life and ergonomics in the workplace were a thing. I haven’t heard this for decades. It’s all been replaced by continuous election cycles.
Sydney Australia • January 28, 2024 8:09 PM
I’m drawing this to the attention of host @Bruce Schneier as I think it’s worthy of its own post. Encapsulating the values of this blog ( in my estimation)
Tech Independence.
Extremely granular step by step instructions to create your own server from scratch. In order to break dependence on platforms and the cloud.
It’s written by Derek Sivers who some of you may be familiar with.
Best known for creating CD Baby online music marketplace well before any of the other forums existed
Tangentially, also by the author:
Here is a list of the hardware, software and tech services he uses. Which is interesting.
He wrote a short article about the virtues of Open BSD and why he relies on it
Would love your feedback on any of the above
Ismar • January 28, 2024 8:18 PM
@Clive – thanks for sharing that PERUN channel
Found the analysis very informative and interesting
echo • January 28, 2024 8:24 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwhaPPzD9oQ
VLAD REACTS: Anders Puck Nielsen on RUS-NATO WAR
This is interesting. Following on my previous disagreement with Anders (linked in a previous post) and in general that the key security issue is not military security but political security Vlad Vexler’s view is that it’s not an issue of “disagreement by experts” over (grey zone) military action by Russia against, say, Finland, the Suwalki Gap (a fictional corridor between the Konigsberg enclave and Russia), or the Baltics but regime security.
Vlads starting position is different. I’m more concerned about governance and human rights and maintaining the international law based order. Vlad focused more on maintaining institutions. It’s the same thing in a way just a different starting point.
The Heritage Foundation backed Project 2025 and Tufton Street are behind a lot of the current political stresses and so-called “war on woke”. Putin relishes this division hence his “family values” schtick with emphasising male dominance by legalising wife beating and his pogrom against LGBT people. The GOP and Tories are more cute but are playing from the same libertarian and far right aligned playbook. Both the GOP and Tories lose on the popular vote and both are in a last gasp effort as the demographics (previously linked to) is heavily against them. Instead of reform they have become more polarised. Both have become infested with far right nationalistic nutjobs. Both are heading for the bin of history as long as they continue down that path.
Vlad has a nasty habit of being dogmatically in favour of academic freedom and supports but isn’t very familiar with the mechanisms underlying attacks on women’s rights and LGBT rights which is incredibly annoying but probably a significant reason why he doesn’t join the dots with this.
While we must remain alert to military threats I feel especially after the past week of sabre rattling and panic in the media I agree with Vlad there is a fair chance that the probability of direct NATO-Russia engagement is currently low. I’m not an expert and have no access to classified so take this as you will.
The right wing response which led to Gulf War 2 and the “War on Terror” and the “war on woke” (and Brexit) has done a lot of damage. No I’m not soft on defence or a “lefty” but I think on balance this is true. It’s also fixable.
ResearcherZero • January 28, 2024 8:57 PM
data leak, admin privilege escalation, and RCE
“Binary files containing cryptographic keys used for various Jenkins features can also be read” …and possibly decrpyt secrets (credentials, SSH, source and build artifacts)
Some workarounds are available to mitigate some or all of the impact if you are unable to immediately upgrade:
‘https://www.jenkins.io/security/advisory/2024-01-24/
‘https://www.sonarsource.com/blog/excessive-expansion-uncovering-critical-security-vulnerabilities-in-jenkins/
–
Hordak Giuliani finally works out why Trump was in some 4000 civil court actions.
‘https://www.businessinsider.com/rudy-giuliani-claims-unpaid-fees-donald-trump-in-bankruptcy-filing-2024-1
“Among those who remain close to Mr. Giuliani, there is bafflement, concern and frustration that the former mayor, who encouraged Mr. Trump to declare victory on election night before all the votes were counted, has received little financial help. …the decision, as several people familiar with the matter noted, was always the former president’s.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/19/us/politics/giuliani-trump-legal-finances.html
Hordak now owes a total of about $989,000 in unpaid taxes and a total of $151,787,859.98 in liabilities.
‘https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysb.319064/gov.uscourts.nysb.319064.1.0.pdf
Trumpetor has always been impatient and overconfident, never making contingencies based on the chances of his plans going awry. It also seems unlikely he would trust his followers.
There’s also the fact that he’s a proficient lawfare user, which could be a huge factor in how he maintains his form. After all, it was Hordak’s magic that helped him to overcome the pain of his acidic rebirth.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/28/us/illinois-trump-ballot-insurrection.html
“You think you are the victim?” ~ said He-Man
‘https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-walks-out-courtroom-e-jean-carroll-defamation-trial-2024-1
(Lawfare is the strategic use of legal proceedings to intimidate or hinder an opponent.)
Clive Robinson • January 28, 2024 9:36 PM
@ Sydney Australia,
Re : Not our host, but as you asked nicely 😉
“Would love your feedback on any of the above”
Shock horror for some,
OpenBSD has no bluetooth…
Which as bluetooth is a cess pit[1] of security vulnerabilities, over complexity, and more side channels overt and covert than a mile wide and deep thicket of brambles infested with nettles, is perhaps a good thing 😉
OpenBSD is some people claim “slow” the reason is that it does not avail it’s self of insecure tricks. Which I regard as a good thing. As a side effect it is lean and if you have hardware from last century that is not full of insecure “go faster stripe” nonsense from 2005 onward as I do again it is a good thing.
One downside for some is it is more Command Line focused than other OS’s, as this keeps insecure complexity down…
[1] I’ve had the misfortune to work with bluetooth and yup I can confirm that metaphorically it has a bad case of security halitosis… Also as a dentist will tell you a blue tooth (actually grey) is not something you would willingly go about getting as it’s intrinsic damage that just can not be fixed and can cause rot etc… So it’s aptly named to that point.
ResearcherZero • January 28, 2024 10:52 PM
“It turns out that if you skip the Microsoft account sign-in step and only create a “local account”, your data is encrypted but the encryption key is stored on the drive unprotected.”
Any thief or whoever that gets their hands on your drive can get into your data by just decrypting it using the key sitting next to the encrypted data, “unprotected”.
‘https://www.g1a55er.net/Windows-Local-Account-Unprotected-Key
To backup the recovery key requires administrator access.
‘https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/operating-system-security/data-protection/bitlocker/faq
“It is recommended to store the recovery key separate from your computer, and make additional copies to be safe and have available if ever needed to recover the encrypted drive with. If you delete all saved recovery keys from a computer, the computer name will also be removed.”
‘https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/39888-delete-bitlocker-recovery-key-onedrive-microsoft-account.html
(incidentally Windows has been uploading your bitlocker keys to Microsoft’s servers for years, previously via g.live)
–
‘https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/25/mozilla_apple_google_browser_wars/
Messages integration limitations, browser data import limitations, default browser setting and checking limitations, origin-based domain limitations, browser extension limitations, and beta testing limitations, Some Android features launch Chrome instead of the user’s default browser, Some Windows features launch Edge instead of the user’s default browser.
‘https://mozilla.github.io/platform-tilt/
–
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) has made a provisional determination that “.INTERNAL” should be reserved for private-use and internal network applications.
‘https://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/proceeding/proposed-top-level-domain-string-for-private-use-24-01-2024
–
‘https://nishtahir.com/i-looked-through-attacks-in-my-access-logs-heres-what-i-found/
For Frodo • January 28, 2024 11:26 PM
Micah Lee has made his new book available for free via HTML. You may also purchase it.
= Here’s his blog:
= Here’s the book:
Hacks, Leaks, and Revelations:
https://hacksandleaks.com/
https://hacksandleaks.com/contents.html
“Micah Lee is a journalist, security engineer, and software developer. He’s the author of Hacks, Leaks, and Revelations, and he’s in charge of infosec at The Intercept.”
= His “About” page @ The Intercept:
https://theintercept.com/staff/micah-lee/
= His book (in paperback, etc.) @ Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Hacks-Leaks-Revelations-Micah-Lee/dp/1718503121/
ResearcherZero • January 29, 2024 1:07 AM
@echo
Shouldn’t your anger be focused on the likes of Johnson, Trump and Morrison, and their ilk i.e. men who have actually abused and raped women, engaged in embezzlement, fraud, blackmail, bribery and other misconduct? Rather than just throwing around accusations, which look to be assumptions dragged out of nowhere, unless I missed something?
You would be surprised how many of the contributors on this forum have faced their own injustices and challenges, which are quite significant if you bothered to take the time to get to know them, or read some of their comments. Some of them have had more than their fair share of hard times either recently or in the past.
The internet is not good at conveying emotion, intent, or sarcasm. People can be a little abrasive sometimes, but there a few people on the planet who can say they haven’t at some time. I used to be exceptionally good at burning people. Those who really deserved it who did appalling things, but at times I said some pretty nasty things to those I loved the most. Usually because they were being prats, but still totally uncalled for.
Otherwise could you get the lid of this pickle jar, because the lid is stuck on tight?
(Now I know why they were on special.)
Actually scratch that. I banged and ran it under hot water. 🙂
lurker • January 29, 2024 2:53 AM
@Clive Robinson
sharing Theo’s dislike of bluetooth
lack of BT is the only reason I don’t use OpenBSD for my daytime rig.
lurker • January 29, 2024 2:54 AM
@ResearcherZero, ALL
The browser wars isn’t just about rendering engines. If you want to make a browser that handles DRMed streaming media you need a licence for the special DRM widget, but the najors won’t sell a licence to a FOSS developer.
‘https://blog.samuelmaddock.com/posts/google-widevine-blocked-my-browser/
lurker • January 29, 2024 2:58 AM
@Sydney Australia
Derek Sivers’ server is running in the cloud. Modbot seems not to like my explanations of how to avoid the cloud …
Clive Robinson • January 29, 2024 3:24 AM
@ JPA, ALL,
Re : Lessons from Elitisam and Genocide for the first world.
Thanks for the recommendation. Jens Heycke is an interesting person, but his name in the written form does not immediately trigger memory but when spoken it does and the brain went “Tech Bro?” and yes it’s the same person “retired to more important things”.
I had a quick hunt and there is a podcast,
“Multiculturalism and Lessons From the Rwandan Genocide”
With Michael Shermer on the “Skeptic” site,
If nothing else people will realise there is a very real and very nasty difference between “Soft Multiculturalism” and “Hard Multiculturalism”
As those who’ve read a few of my comments over the years will know I’m in favour of “bring and share” immigration of “breaking bread together” of the “melting pot” not the “silo and own” of applying capitalism to culture thus condeming to the horrors that follow.
Again thanks for the heads up.
ResearcherZero • January 29, 2024 4:12 AM
@lurker
DRM policy is quite annoying, superfluous and often eventually removed by developers.
It’s an attempt like seed patenting by corporations, but often does not work. Which is why many of them are now moving to the cloud. To gobble up even more data and wall it off.
‘https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/25/plant-patents-large-companies-intellectual-property-small-breeders
–
“Every single criminal in Russia now knows he is a vulnerable 33 year old with an absolute ton of bitcoin.”
Along with one Mikhail Borisovich Shefel
‘https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/01/who-is-alleged-medibank-hacker-aleksandr-ermakov/#more-66177
“Viewing the HTML source of these placeholder pages shows many of the hidden comments in the code are in Cyrillic.”
‘https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/01/using-google-search-to-find-software-can-be-risky/
Oligarchs have thrown lawyers and money as curveballs to exert influence and thwart cybercrime prosecutions.
‘https://www.sentinelone.com/labs/labscon-replay-send-lawyers-garchs-and-money/
–
“We don’t want to be in that coal bucket. We want to be in that clean energy bucket.”
‘https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/jan/25/propane-industry-rebrand-fuel-as-renewable
Oil and gas can’t be hoarded by fossil fuel companies. It at least must be be sold.
Interested in buying some propane instead? We’ll burn all that pesky methane.
https://news.sky.com/story/vast-scale-of-methane-leaks-from-fossil-fuel-production-and-landfill-sites-exposed-13023354
“100% methane free [propane] unlike Natural Gas”
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDlyH6yeL5U
‘Electricity is dangerous. Fill your house with gas!’ 😀
These chumps gas on about gas and how to sell it as “eco friendly” for an entire hour.
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMfkKewj0H0&t=142
Clive Robinson • January 29, 2024 4:25 AM
@ ResearcherZero, lurker, ALL,
Re : Root of trust, the hardest secret to keep.
From the article on Jenkins,
“Binary files containing cryptographic keys used for various Jenkins features can also be read”
We rely on secrets to keep our information secure, and loss of a “root of trust” is often a devastating loss, giving rise to a break where just about everything is vulnerable.
Whilst asymetric crypto can help reduce the risk of loss it’s very far from perfect, especially when the root of trust has to be stored in some way such as in a script that gets run “on the clock” or “auto-magically” as the need arises.
Even “Hardware Security Modules”(HSM) don’t solve the problem, just make an attackers life a little more difficult.
It’s a major problem we tend not to give the attention it requires as we move from “all on the box” to “all on the network” with part or all of the “network shared” and thus by definition “untrusted”.
The question is can we “secure and mitigate” sufficiently?
A HSM using “Zero Knowledge Proofs” looks a likely idea, untill you realise “How do you authenticate to the HSM?”. You thus get into a Turtles all the way down issue. Also HSMs have proved not to be all that secure in the past…
Winter • January 29, 2024 11:32 AM
@PaulBart
Rooster and hens differ in several aspects.
So you treat people like chicken? And why should Roosters earn more than Hens?
In a “Free Market” society, people should be paid according to their productivity. So, why should women be paid less than men for the same production?
But is the problem not that “income” is based on power, aka, Might is Right? And men get paid more because they can “beat” women into submission? [1]
[1] And they do so organized as one man will protect another when a woman dares to protest.
echo • January 29, 2024 12:57 PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kyHPKRJRg0
Professor Gerdes Explains.
What Has Jonathan Fink @SiliconCurtain Learned From His Interviews?
I got a chance to interview Jonathan Fink @SiliconCurtain for a second time. His interviews are some of the best on YouTube, but you cant conduct 377 interviews with the likes of Ben Hodges, Jake Broe, Konstantin Samoilov, Mark Hertling, Operator Starsky, John Sweeny, Ryan McBeth, and Anders Puck Nielsen without learning something. So I asked Jonathan what he has learned along the way.
I’m not remotely a fan of Gerdes. He’s politics is so far to the right he makes me come out in a rash but this is a good interview with Fink who provides a good roundtrip of the Ukraine war and politics in the US and UK, and a snapshot of Russia lighting fires geopolitically.
I’ve also caught a few other channels this week discussing NATO versus Russia. Too many, I think in critiquing Russia have the whiff of throwing their hands in the air and reinforcing the Russian message. I’m not going to link to this.
Personally, I don’t see why Russia should split NATO by trying it on with a “place which doesn’t matter” or hybrid warfare or using “Russian speaking people” as an excuse. While I’m not an expert on the military or diplomatic issues involved with a response I just see Putin like some thug who wanders into a cafe and sits at your table staring while he pinches chips (French fries for Americans) off your plate. For all the talk that’s all Putin is.
After listening to Fink I’m still of the mind there are no right wing solutions to the problems which are almost always invariably caused by the right wing. You have to have balance and regrowth from the ground up. War like inequality is a failure of the state and international order. It’s worse in a way with authoritarian extractive economies. They don’t depend on an electorate to function and the money papers over the cracks. Ditto gerrymandering and abusive governance and anti-competitive rent seeking monopolies inherent in neo-liberalism. It’s another reason why relying on GDP and interest rates is a bad idea. It’s where the pressures which create internal conflict and war come from. In fact the design pattern of the EEC later EU is based on countering this. The EU treaties are fundamentally a security treaty with monitoring of governance and social investment tacked on. It’s not just about more money and a bigger market.
There is no way on this planet Russia could join the EU. Ukraine is on the path but there’s no guarantee. They still have work to do to match the criteria which they are to their credit doing. Like, Poland with lingerings of Soviet orthodoxy got a slap over governance and human rights and Hungary which is leaning backwards to Soviet times got a slap and is lining up for a bigger slap.
It’s not too different in the US. Take away a states vote and federal money and access to the market and the mostly gerrymandered Republican states would crumble. Give the big mouths in Texas a trial run for a year and watch them come crawling back deciding good governance and human rights and equality matter.
A strong and diverse society allows a strong and diverse economy and in turn a strong defence posture. Huge amounts of “security” are dependant on social and governance factors before technology kicks in which is why I, personally, believe too much of “security” discussion gets it the wrong way around. The focus on tech misses the rest of it. Likewise I feel only seeing war as a military problem is the wrong focus.
lurker • January 29, 2024 11:11 PM
@ResearcherZero
If this has been going on after the “end” of the Cold War, then it points to a failure of Western democracy. Every four years we elect a new team who refuse to learn from history, meanwhile the other side with institutional long term objectives, continue on their trajectory.
lurker • January 29, 2024 11:23 PM
@Clive Robinson
You won’t need that DIN socket on your neck, Mr M’s Neuralink works via “wireless”
‘https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-68137046
emily’s post • January 29, 2024 11:39 PM
Don’t worry, the back door is bAIked in.
“ChatGPT is leaking private conversations that include login credentials and other personal details of unrelated users, screenshots submitted by an Ars reader on Monday indicated.
…
The precise root causes of this type of system error vary from incident to incident, but they often involve “middlebox” devices, which sit between the front- and back-end devices. To improve performance, middleboxes cache certain data, …”
ResearcherZero • January 30, 2024 1:45 AM
@lurker
You put the report on the minister’s desk. You put the report on the minister’s desk again. You hold a security meeting. Another security meeting. Maybe on the third attempt someone shows up, eats the crisps and says, “but how do you know that any of this is true?”
You then start wheeling in trolleys and fill the room with boxes.
“But how do you know this is not just disinformation?”
Then you explain the process of verifying and confirming information from the most sensitive HUMINT and SIGINT programs, the many times it was all re-verified, what TS SCI is, how many years it has taken and how many previous meetings took place prior in a skiff with the most senior brass and agency directors.
Then for the next decade or so the report/reports are ignored until…
When it happens usually clarifies the picture and the urgency. Most people’s family and friends act no differently. Even if a car is parked down the road with two armed goons in it.
ResearcherZero • January 30, 2024 1:52 AM
If there is no other house for a mile, and they have been there for three days, it might be a sign. If it’s the same car, with the same people in it, that shot at you last time, it’s probably them. But don’t get your hopes up that anyone will listen. Remain pragmatic.
Clive Robinson • January 30, 2024 2:07 AM
@ lurker, ResearcherZero, ALL,
With regards,
“Every four years we elect a new team…”
The word “elect” is a weasel wored much like the NSA incorrect usage of common words.
Because “elect” implies some kind of “freedom of choice”.
If you stand back from the nonsense you see you realy do not have “freedom of choice”.
You are asked to chose between a group of self entitled “chimps in suits” that have been forced on you by other self entitled people you have no control over.
Does that sound “fair?” does it give “freedom?”, after die thought I suspect you will come to the conclusion of “No” in both cases.
Can we do better, yes we can, but are we prepared to take on the responsability?
Sadly I suspect not, way to many people have invested not in what is actually important but the “Razzmatazz” of the “chimps tea party” and it’s “bun fights”. Designed and sofar successful in hoodwinking the majority.
Clive Robinson • January 30, 2024 4:16 AM
@ emily’s post, ALL,
Re : AI is Surveillance on steroids.
Would you believe me if I said I was not surprised ChayGPT –and I assume all other LLM / ML AI– is hemorrhaging private presumably confidential information like a “T-Shirt Cannon” at the US superball stadium?
As I’ve indicated LLM AI is very probably what Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft at the very least are going to use to slurp up more PPI to sell to Data-Brokers, Palantir, LEO’s, Debt-agencies and worse, a lot worse.
I’ve been told that if you have Win 11 or CoPilot type apps enabled and internet connectivity then you will have all of your data “pulled” by Microsoft into their systems where they will profitably “loose it” in ways and to places and peoplw that we as “ordinary individuals can not imagine”…
And todays “catch phrase for AI”
“Befriend, bewitch, and Betray.“
Clive Robinson • January 30, 2024 4:35 AM
@ lurker, ALL,
Re : Hellon Rusk breaking it bad.
“Mr M’s Neuralink works via “wireless””
I’ve heard rumours that Neuralink is in practice “A primate slaughter house” with bodies cranked out like sausages from a machine.
If this is true or not or only slightly exaggerated I realy do not like the sound of that implanting procedure.
The wires might only be “hair thin” but how big was the tool that had the mechanical strength to get pushed into brain matter. And in making the hole what did it carve up in the process?
You realy don’t want a “Strokes R Us” machine chomping through your brain…
Then to have it working wirelessly… I once said of implanted meddical electronics for the heart that in theory they could “breakdance you to death” which is why a certain GWB Executive era member had his pacemaker radio interface disconnected…
I guess the question is how much are the FDA creaming in in the way of fees on this?
Winter • January 30, 2024 8:46 AM
@PaulBart
I would love to respond, but Marxists despise truth and facts.
Then it is a good thing there are next to no Marxists here.
Al • January 30, 2024 12:27 PM
Bruce Schneier predicts a future of AI-powered mass spying
https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/podcast/2024/01/bruce-schneier-predicts-a-future-of-ai-powered-mass-spying-lock-and-code-s05e03
This week on the Lock and Code podcast…
If the internet helped create the era of mass surveillance, then artificial intelligence will bring about an era of mass spying.
That’s the latest prediction from noted cryptographer and computer security professional Bruce Schneier
if you have Win 11 or CoPilot type apps enabled and internet connectivity then you will have all of your data “pulled” by Microsoft.
I run CoPilot in an unregistered Win 11 in a VM, logged on only with a local account. I’m managing to get the VM to run fine allocating only 2GB of memory. I’m not going to let one run on my host. That said, I’m not going to ask it anything that is sensitive. It is primarily good for fixing Windows.
The sensitive stuff goes into a LLM running locally on my PC. For under 6GB of memory, I am impressed with what it spits out, even if it isn’t always correct. A local AI is where it’s at.
Researcher • January 30, 2024 11:29 PM
pizza
‘https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/01/ars-technica-used-in-malware-campaign-with-never-before-seen-obfuscation/
–
privilege escalation
‘https://blog.qualys.com/vulnerabilities-threat-research/2024/01/30/qualys-tru-discovers-important-vulnerabilities-in-gnu-c-librarys-syslog
–
Operation to take down Volt Typhoon staging.
‘https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-disabled-chinese-hacking-network-targeting-critical-infrastructure-sources-2024-01-29/
–
NSO appears to be trying to rebrand itself as being on the side of the “good guys”
“Foreign agents working for NSO Group have also recently reported contacting officials at the Executive Office of the President and Congress as part of these efforts.”
NSO has spent a total of $3.1 million in lobbying Washington since 2020. Of that, at least $897,000 was spent in 2023 alone, with payments for the final months of the year still being reported.
Digital rights defenders have stressed that the retention of the national security exemption in the provisional agreement text enables EU governments to potentially deploy spyware against journalists outside the protective framework of EU law. Worth an estimated $12 billion as of 2022, the global spyware industry is likely to continue to do everything it can to stay in business
‘https://www.wired.com/story/nso-group-lobbying-israel-hamas-war/
ResearcherZero • January 30, 2024 11:41 PM
@Clive Robinson
There is freedom of choice, you just have to book an appointment, with the appropriate gatekeeper. They might listen to your request. They might even listen, or show up. If it’s about a bi-election they will definitely at least listen. Boris listened to Putin.
ResearcherZero • January 30, 2024 11:50 PM
@Clive
It doesn’t necessarily require your own ballistic missile system. A vast archive of information that could be released publicly would be of assistance, but don’t release all of it.
ResearcherZero • January 31, 2024 12:05 AM
They tend to arrest you if you release all of it:
In the US Congress, House Resolution 934, introduced on December 13 by Rep. Paul A. Gosar, an Arizona Republican, expresses “the sense of the House of Representatives that regular journalistic activities are protected under the First Amendment, and that the United States ought to drop all charges against and attempts to extradite Julian Assange.”
*Whereas the charge under the CFAA was despite the fact that said intelligence analyst already had access to the mentioned computer, that the purported breaching of the Defense Department computers was impossible, and that there was no proof Mr. Assange had any contact with said intelligence analyst;*
*Whereas, in 2019, Mr. Assange was charged with an additional 17 counts under the Espionage Act for alleged obtainment and disclosure of classified national defense information;*
*Whereas no other publisher had ever been prosecuted under the Espionage Act prior to these 17 charges;*
*Whereas Mr. Assange could face up to 175 years behind bars, effectively a death sentence, for these charges;*
*Whereas the successful prosecution of Mr. Assange under the Espionage Act would set a precedent allowing the United States to prosecute and imprison journalists for First Amendment protected activities, including the obtainment and publication of information, something that occurs on a regular basis;*
Whereas First Amendment freedom of the press is essential to promote public transparency and is a crucial safeguard for our Republic;
‘https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/934/text
“It has been too long. And in my view, as I’ve said before, I see nothing is served from the further incarceration of Mr Assange.” ~ Australian PM
‘https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-01-10/assange-lawyer-says-us-extradition-suicide-risk-if-appeal-fails/103300784
@ResearcherZero
With over 200,000 civilians killed in the Iraq war of 2003, I think the U.S. and U.K. both lack the “clean hands” needed to legitimize the prosecution or incarceration of Assange. There is no proportionality between 200,000 deaths and attempting to hack a password. It’s nothing but a political prosecution.
Clive Robinson • January 31, 2024 1:48 AM
@ ResearcherZero,
Re : Boys and their toys.
“It doesn’t necessarily require your own ballistic missile system.”
You know hpw to take the fun out of things…
Snot-Fair, Snot-Fair…
ResearcherZero • January 31, 2024 3:58 AM
@Clive
You could instead lie. Play a fiddle and head down to Georgia like in this Primus cover…
THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA ♪
HE WAS LOOKIN’ FOR A SOUL TO STEAL ♪
HE WAS IN A BIND ‘CAUSE HE WAS WAY BEHIND ♪
AND HE WAS WILLING TO MAKE A DEAL ♪
‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9uk9IcoQ0w
ResearcherZero • January 31, 2024 9:20 AM
WPA3 deauth failure after 11 hours on certain chipsets. Pi and others, Broadcom, Infineon, CYM, Cypress…
‘https://rachelbythebay.com/w/2024/01/24/fail/
&ers • January 31, 2024 12:01 PM
@ALL
It’s a Movie Night! Prepare your popcorn!
hxxps://cybernews.com/tech/mschf-tests-copyright-limits-barbie/
Clive Robinson • January 31, 2024 12:32 PM
@ ResearcherZero,
Re : The Devil… (Not Suitable For Work).
There is another version call it a spin off, though tripping down might be more apropos,
“The Devil Went to Jamaica”,
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TL8api3iVYw
I played it for my son when he was younger, he laughed so much tears flowed from his eyes and he could hardly breath…
lurker • January 31, 2024 2:29 PM
@ResearcherZero
11 hours of keep-alive pings should be enough for your adversary to do something with. OTOH WPA3 might not have been designed for always-on point-to-point communications, we’ve got cables for that.
ResearcherZero • February 1, 2024 1:13 AM
@lurker
For some reason they decided to remove ethernet ports from as many things as possible. Perhaps it is too difficult to disable unused ports and other hardware for some people. Maybe some people are baffled with wiring CAT plugs or where to put the cable (in your ear obviously)?
“How do I connect to your router,” they ask?
“Don’t you have wireless? LAN, WAN, what is that?”
Personally I use a large rubber mallet, a ballpoint hammer and a claw hammer. At least I get the urge each time I see a device missing it’s required physical network port.
–
Routers Roasting on an Open Firewall; The compromised devices the botnet uses include Cisco and DrayTek routers, NETGEAR firewalls, and Axis IP cameras
‘https://securityscorecard.com/blog/threat-intelligence-research-volt-typhoon/
”https://www.cisa.gov/resources-tools/resources/secure-design-alert-security-design-improvements-soho-device-manufacturers
…among other things, pre-operational reconnaissance and network exploitation against critical communications, energy, transportation, and water sectors
‘https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/china-s-hackers-have-entire-nation-in-their-crosshairs-fbi-director-warns
EoL Cisco and NetGear routers
‘https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/us-government-disrupts-botnet-peoples-republic-china-used-conceal-hacking-critical
–
How this malware fetches the payload is pretty interesting, the backdoor also, using custom variations of old tecniques along with newer ones:
“the icon of the LNK file was set to the Microsoft Windows default icon for drives. This was likely done to entice unsuspecting users to double click the file, ultimately triggering the functionality embedded in the LNK file.”
This then launches a hidden powershell script that downloads and decodes an additional payload. (the malicious string hidden on Vimeo then Ars)
coronausb
This component monitors and infects removable drives. It creates a hidden folder in the attached removable drives, moves existing data into the newly created folder, and creates a deceptive LNK shortcut that is made to look like the default Microsoft Windows drive icon.
hiddenfolder
This empty_character mechanism results in the generation of the Hangul Filler character (E3 85 A4) which visually shows up as a whitespace making the directory path appear as “D:\” —There is also a mechanism to replace any existing explorer.ps1 script on any detected USB drives with a new version.
(Hangul Filler is a special Unicode character (U+3164) used in the Korean writing system, Hangul. It is typically not possible to use a whitespace as a file or directory name in Windows. However, using the Hangul Filler character, which is rendered as a whitespace, this restriction can be bypassed)
‘https://www.mandiant.com/resources/blog/unc4990-evolution-usb-malware
lurker • February 1, 2024 2:25 AM
@ResearcherZero
re: Bonfire of the Routers
MSM is reporting that volt-typhoon used “old and outdated” routers. Presumably they mean ones that are happily chugging along, but have been EOLed by the makers thus get no updates … Oh, wait, SOHO routers don’t get updates, do they?
echo • February 1, 2024 4:38 AM
George Conway just made a $100 wager (2x $50 wagers) with Brynn Tannehill (an author and a technical analyst with RAND) on a wager she would like to lose. That might be an interesting talking point in two years if we’re all around to see the outcome.
Winter • February 1, 2024 5:56 AM
@echo
George Conway just made a $100 wager (2x $50 wagers) with Brynn Tannehill
Who are George and Brynn, what did they wager on, and why should I/we care?
In short, could you give us some context when a simple search comes up with lots of Conway’s none of which combine with a Tannehill?
Winter • February 1, 2024 6:42 AM
@lurker, ResearcherZero, All
Re: Volt Typhoon’s botnet
The Register has a stab at the story:
Congress told how Chinese attackers plan to incite ‘societal chaos’ in the US
https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/01/china_attack_warning/
“The fact that PRC hackers are targeting our critical infrastructure, water treatment plants, our electrical grid, our oil and natural gas pipelines, our transportation systems — and the risk that poses to every American requires our attention,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House Select Committee on competition with China.
To conclude:
“Technology manufacturers must ensure that China and other cyber actors cannot exploit the weaknesses in our technology, to saunter through the open doors of our critical infrastructure to destroy it,” she added. “This has to change.”
Now, the Texas Freeze has shown how much American manufacturers and their clients actually care about American Critical Infrastructure.[1] I doubt Chinese actors even need to intervene for this Infrastructure to collapse.
[1] The headlines this summer and winter were all about the surprise the Texas grid did not collapse, and how close it came to actually collapsing.
‘https://www.forbes.com/sites/anandgopal/2024/01/13/texas-freeze-ercot-can-do-better-than-counting-on-failure-prone-gas/
echo • February 1, 2024 9:29 AM
I read about the Chinese threat earlier. Regardless of what threat or who it is or isn’t from it’s agreed there is a problem and it’s generally agreed there are solutions. As for myself I’m fed up with various bigmouths in the US going on about it like a repeating record. Just pull your finger out and sort it out. The attention seeking porkbarrel carnival gets boring. But but wah wah. SHUT UP!!!!! The rest of us manage to fix it or avoid the problem in the first place without that amount of song and dance. Who needs the ear ache?
Also if anyone doesn’t know who Conway or Tannehill are or have half a guess about what the wager was about I’m assuming it’s a bad faith inquiry especially when delivered with a snotty tone.
Clive Robinson • February 1, 2024 10:18 AM
@ Winter,
Re : Toys out the pram time again.
Whilst I can not say anything about a wager, I can make a couple of assumptions.
First there is a “Brynn Tannehill” who is a transgender writter and actavist who had their millitary career ended by the “Orange Orangutan” and his pets in SCOTUS,
Likewise there is a “George Conway” soon to be –if he survives– the divorced husband of Kellyanne Conway who apparently has some candid things to say about his performance or lack there of, and his Putin / Russian Orthodox Church style views that he brought to the “Orange Orangutan” executive.
Something tells me that he is not just a looser but a sore one so I suspect like others “blessed by the orange one” if he looses any bet he will go bankrupt rather than pay up… So much for the faux-strong-man nonsense they exude like a foul miasma of things departed that refuse to do the decent thing and depart,
“Cause neither heaven nor hell will have them.”
For good reasons by the plenty.
I think you can probably guess who of the two I’m more sympathetic too.
emily’s post • February 1, 2024 8:24 PM
Re: volt-typhoon, power grid failures, but I’m an influencer!, pandemics … and all that
They seem to all be addressed by the same maths, viz. zero forcing graph optimization.
https://www.ams.org/journals/notices/202402/noti2874/noti2874.html
ResearcherZero • February 1, 2024 11:39 PM
@lurker
There are so many old devices and routers (handed out by ISPs), along with plenty of old unpatched EoL servers chugging away. Many devices are never patched, or only sometimes after someone publishes reports specifically mentioning the manufacturer and model.
Often older devices are not supported with automatic dating or the function is disabled.
Many consumers and businesses are unaware of firmware, or the possibility of patching it, and many areas lack services capable of competently performing such hardware maintenance.
Many of these consumers are not monitoring logs anyway, or aware of them.
–
added check for null pointer to prevent crashing windows domain event logs
‘https://blog.0patch.com/2024/01/the-eventlogcrasher-0day-for-remotely.html
thought to be a nation state
‘https://blog.cloudflare.com/thanksgiving-2023-security-incident
–
likely to add new vulnerabilities to it’s arsenal
‘https://www.akamai.com/blog/security-research/fritzfrog-botnet-new-capabilities-log4shell
–
Includes a rootkit (hides reg and folders – requires removal via another environment).
Spreads using 135, 137, 139, and SMB (445) and creates connections on ports above 10,000.
‘https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/purplefox-malware-infects-thousands-of-computers-in-ukraine/
echo • February 2, 2024 12:14 AM
With regard to people had their chance to do their research and polish their positions before hitting publish: To clarify.
George Conway bet the Orange *&%$ Gibbon would be in jail within two years. Brynn Tannehill is more pessimistic and bet him he wouldn’t. She also bet that the Orange *&%$ Gibbon wouldn’t pay out on E. Jean Carroll nor New York (within two years).
Brynn Tannehil is a respected analyst and is employed as such. Any other activity including her going public about her status is a side gig due to current politics being an existential threat to her existence. I note Clive and his tactless big mouth missed that and fairly deliberately I guess.
I don’t agree with Conway’s politics but credit where it’s due. Unlike Barr who is now on a major reputation washing exercise he didn’t take the coin. He also called out the monster when he saw it and could see a reputation destroying client a million miles away. So more of Clive’s big mouth jumping the gun again.
See also: appeal to authority and category error and cognitive bias. Tsk.
Clive Robinson • February 2, 2024 12:45 AM
@ echo,
Oh dear the Spanish windmills are quivering in their sails.
You realy are such an embittered old stalker, accusing others of what you try to do, but so badly…
The menu for you,
https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/drugs-and-treatments/antipsychotics-a-z/overview/
Clive Robinson • February 2, 2024 2:09 AM
@ Winter, ALL,
With respect to what some “bumby numpy numpty” calls “a side gig”
“Any other activity including her going public about her status is a side gig due to current politics being an existential threat to her existence. I note Clive and his tactless big mouth missed that and fairly deliberately I guess.”
Read Brynn Tannehil’s prefered occupation she was denied as I indicated,
https://www.flyingmag.com/grounded-transgender-naval-aviators-quest-to-return-to-service/
If you search by her name it’s one of the first articles on the first page of the search results.
However if you read it, I think it’s clear what Brynn Tannehil would prefere to be doing as an occupation and the apparent cause of it’s loss Kellyanne Conway is apparently pushing.
As for the “existential threat to her existence.” I would say that “existential” is one of those “Oh I’m a person so Dramatica” words often thrown around by an outsider trying to look “in crowd”. When coupled with threat, it has a distinct meaning of extreamly adverse “Systemic Risk” not to individual or personal risk thus it’s used with the likes of “nuclear war”, “climate change” and similar that potentialy is detrimental to all of humanity and life on this planet. Something you would expect an actual insider to be cognizant of…
As for “didn’t take the coin” I did not see any refrence to George Conway doing “Pro bono publico” for the Orangutan Exec, but he did do so for Paula Jones.
Perhaps another “Dramatica” moment for someone?
Though some apparently think George Conway has taken 40 pieces of silver for at a minimum his reason to at the late stage decline an administrative position in the Orangutan Exe with the statment of the Exec performance as being,
“like a shitshow in a dumpster fire”
And his later legal comments about a then clearly off of the rails situation, that was publically obvious to anyone looking in from outside.
Which begs the question, was he just faster off the mark than someones comment might suggest with,
“Unlike Barr who is now on a major reputation washing exercise”
To be honest I was trying to avoid “draging out the dumpster fire” and thus the risk of a flame war in effect burning down our hosts house, unlike others, who appear to revel in such self dramatics and self aggrandizing that is akin to non altruistic immolation attempts as their repeated past behaviours have made all to clear…
ResearcherZero • February 2, 2024 6:03 AM
@Clive Robinson
Outside of mathematics and physics, there is a special kiosk where they ask you to identify a ‘trend’ in some data and if you cannot draw it on a graph, they give you a special pass where you can avoid conscious bias. I kept drawing a line so they kicked me out and would not approve one. I tried a wig but they caught me straight away.
It is probably a paradox outside of the confines of both science, culture and art.
If I was some omnipotent, space faring being, I’d pop some specimens on a planet and see if they could figure it out, given a few millennia and the required resources. I’d even throw in some free cobalt and uranium just to make things interesting.
Clive Robinson • February 2, 2024 6:56 AM
@ ResearcherZero,
Re : The only reason to visit is anthropology but of whom 😉
“If I was some omnipotent, space faring being, I’d pop some specimens on a planet and see if they could figure it out, given a few millennia and the required resources.”
There is that old religious line of,
“God made man in his likeness”
I actually believe the opposit, but lets just assume it’s true for a moment.
One of the things mankind has that so far we’ve appatantly not found the equivalent of, is a “sense of humour”. Now… We can assume if a deity did make us then the deity has a sense of humour as well (and anyone who knows anything about the human condition would need one 😉
Could “aliens” be using us like “rats in a maze” except rather than problem solve, come up with new jokes and other items to amuse?
If it were true and with the “All things under heaven and Earth” philosophy it might just be,
“Who would get the last laugh?”.
Winter • February 2, 2024 7:24 AM
@Clive
Now… We can assume if a deity did make us then the deity has a sense of humour as well
That idea has sprung up earlier, eg.,
‘https://www.krissinclair.com/the-humor-of-god/
‘https://onwardinthefaith.com/does-god-have-a-sense-of-humor/
It seems that Christians are wrestling with the idea of God having a sense of humor a lot. Somehow, people without a sense of humor seem to have difficulty with their god having it in spades.
Maybe the idea that having fun is a good thing in the eyes of (the) God(s) is what horrifies these “faithful”.
Clive Robinson • February 2, 2024 11:29 AM
@ Winter, ALL,
Re : Religion should be fun, else what’s it for?
“Somehow, people without a sense of humor seem to have difficulty with their god having it in spades.”
As I noted above about a sense of humor,
“anyone who knows anything about the human condition would need one”
So would it be proper argument to flip that to,
“anyone without one, knowns nothing about the human condition.”
Which would make them deficient in ways we now call the “Dark Pentad” (up from Triad in a decade “ask not for whom” it will include next 😉
And as I’ve noted in the past most such people are atracted to the top of hierarchies with the belief that “they are entitled”[1] in some way and will “present” to others a distorted view to feel the hero or victim etc…
Which together actually should rule them be “cast out” all together from any position of authority.
What such people can not stand is their behaviours being called out. This makes them worse.
Appatently they find significant self benifit in victimizing people as it gives them the only pleasure in life they want. Call it Schadenfreude or Spite, they seek self gratification by it.
So expect to see considerable push back, admitting that a deity might have a sense of humour destroys their pleasure making, as it makes them feel that they are being laughed at by the Universe, not something they can tolerate let alone alow as their ego does not get stroked.
It’s why they find the use of Religion so appealing as it alows them to “slip behind a defence of fundemental beliefs” or “A calling to God” that when analysed boils down to,
“The faux voices told me, the God Head, what should be done, don’t shot me I’m just the messenger”…
[1] Whilst reasoned out personaly and independently you will find that the evidence is not just piling up but more and more is being written about it on a daily basis. For example,
It is also why lesser types become Trolls,
In their cowardly way they think they have anonymity, thus security from pay-back…
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2017-08-08-cybercriminals-are-not-anonymous-we-think
bl5q sw5N • February 3, 2024 9:53 AM
@ Clive Robinson @ Winter
Christians are wrestling with the idea of God having a sense of humor
A little bit of history that may explain this …
“Christianity” has been an equivocal term since at least the early 16th century (and even since the early 11th century, but that’s another story).
The Protestant theology declared the novel doctrine of the “utter corruption” of humankind and the impossibility of correction even by God, who merely agrees to overlook faults. The Catholic theology (going back to the beginning) taught that while humankind is fallen, each individual through grace can be perfected.
Dourness and lack of humor is really confined to Protestantism. It is atypical of Catholicism. This all makes sense when the theologies are compared.
Psalm 46:10 “Have leisure and know that I am God”.
See also Josef Pieper, Leisure, the Basis of Culture
Winter • February 3, 2024 12:50 PM
@bl5q sw5N
Dourness and lack of humor is really confined to Protestantism. It is atypical of Catholicism.
Could be, although I never found much sense of humor in the writings of members of Opus Dei. I know about Calvinists, they seam to believe a smile is a sign of eternal damnation.[1]
I know nothing about the Orthodox churches.
[1] Calvinists believe in predestination, that your fate has been fixed in some form before you were born. So, depending on your cult, whether you sin or not might not matter for your final judgment. However, they never seem to really act on this believe.
Clive Robinson • February 3, 2024 4:34 PM
@ bl5q sw5N, Winter,
Re : Which way does a cruel wind blow?
“I know nothing about the Orthodox churches.”
If only others were so lucky…
In most religions that have hierarchical power structures you will find as in politics and sewerage farms,
“The scum floats to the top”
Some will say that is an an unpleasent thing to say. But does it make it any the less true?
Put simply, hierarchies concentrate power towards the top. Power is a currency beyond compare to certain mind sets as the UK Post Office Horizon scandle has shown after a quater of a century.
Thus the trick for those who desire and use such power is to know there is a significant risk attached, so do not wield it first hand, but at arms length or by proxie.
But as importantly so as not to be blaimed when the inevitable happens and the pitchforks and burning brands appear in peoples hands and it all goes bad. That way they can slip out of sight and wait for the huge and cry to burn out and settle, as those that can point to them get strung up etc. Then they reappear to carry on as before.
How do they do this? Well by appearing to be meak and mild possibly a little bit fussy, “just-so” or even “fuddy-duddy” in their ways. But always “the humble servant” or equivalent, that is almost always acting behind someone selected as a puppet to act as the fall guy. As the old saying has it,
“The real power stands behind the throne and wispers in the ear of he who foolishly sits upon it”.
We know this from eighth century France where the the Merovingian kings were little more than easily replacable figureheads (like Childeric III). But the real power rested with what we might call the “administrator” or “Mayor of the Palace” the Carolongians. Who apparently took religious piety very seriously as another screen to stand behind[1] resulting more than a millennium later in the current “Power Behind the Throne” nonsense in Russia etc[2].
The only thing such people fear other than being unmasked and held accountable, is being ridiculed.
Thus to then humor in any form is an afront to them personally. Hence they decry it in every way they can without being too obvious thus they will talk of “dignity” of others or others positions etc.
[1] Carolon is Latin for Charles from which the near two century Frankish dynasty aquired it’s name. It derives from the large number of family members who bore the name Charles, most notable of which was Charlemagne who became the Emperor of the reformed Holy Roman Empire after saving Pope Leo III.
https://www.britannica.com/question/How-did-Charlemagne-become-emperor-of-the-Holy-Roman-Empire
It was Pope Leo III’s actions that was the final step that caused the schism that gave rise to the East Orthodox and West Catholic churches. Need I say which side strongly supports Putin and “Strong-Men” nonsense to the point people are being killed just for saying they wish to be free of the malign influance?
[2] Whilst it’s Catholics in Russia being the power behind the throne, we see in the US a bun fight between various religious elements to do the same. The previous VP made it ubundantly clear it was “his church” he held in supremecy above all else. Which is not good for the citizens. In the UK we had similar nonsense with PM Tony Blair who surrounded himself with “Popists” before comming out of the closset a little while after standing down and becoming a Peace Envoy for the Middle East, and basically creating considerable harm that is now being played out,
So the blood of many thousands more on his hands, and tens if not hundreds of thousands more. Possibly even millions if the stupidity being pushed becomes WWIII which increasing numbers fear. Even Beelzebub could not hope for a more humble servant of chaos death and destruction.
bl5q sw5N • February 4, 2024 12:53 PM
@ Clive Robinson
hierarchies
In reality, there is nothing but hierarchy. All humankind are intrinsically followers, of something.
As Aquinas points out, in equality there is great disorder.
The only debate is then over what should be followed. Clearly, that will be that which is true. “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” Uniquely there is nothing in Christian teaching that is objectionable to reason, making it a strong candidate. But as Chesterton remarks, “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found hard and not tried.”
The fact that some have abused hierarchy says nothing about hierarchy as such. A proper hierarchy is a good, and does not disturb or impinge on other goods. In fact it naturally serves every other rank in the hierarchy. “The greatest among you will be the servant of all.”
Winter • February 5, 2024 2:12 AM
@bl5q sw5N
As Aquinas points out, in equality there is great disorder.
That might be a nice conclusion for a theological man, but does not hold up if you look outside of you favored holy scriptures.
Historically, “disorder” is not related to the level of hierarchy. It is strongly related to the collapse of strong hierarchy, indeed. But that is the point of strong hierarchies, they always collapse in a spectacular way.
We saw that , eg, in the old Christian hierarchy that fell down in the religious wars that killed half the population of central Europe. Or the slave hierarchy that lead to the US Civil War.
bl5q sw5N • February 5, 2024 5:56 AM
@ Winter
a nice conclusion for a theological man
Aquinas is making a philosophical point not a theological one.
It’s only pseudo-hierarchies that “collapse”. They are incorporate unreasonable and unjust elements. They would be expected to fail as they embody contradictory elements. “And every one that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, …”
The European Christian, i.e. Catholic hierarchy as such was good, although those in it may have been bad and abused it. It had its own intrinsic remedy in its own doctrine. The Protestant attack on it was unjustified and based on irrational principles. Likewise, the US slave states economy was a false hierarchy and destroyed itself.
Winter • February 5, 2024 8:18 AM
@bl5q sw5N
s only pseudo-hierarchies that “collapse”. They are incorporate unreasonable and unjust elements.
Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely
All hierarchies are at risk to become abusive an corrupt.
So all your hierarchies in real existence were in the end pseudo-hierarchies. Which makes the term an empty one.
Looking back in history, the more egalitarian societies are also the less abusive and less corrupt.
bl5q sw5N • February 5, 2024 9:57 AM
@ Winter
All hierarchies are at risk to become abusive an corrupt.
As stated earlier, it not that a good hierarchy or law becomes abusive, it’s that it may be used abusively or lawlessly, on defiance of its intrinsic character.
History shows the more egalitarian the society, the more abusively totalitarian it becomes. In the limit, there is simply identity; everyone is forced to be the same, there is no “other”, no individuality, and therefore no “good of the other”, that is, no justice. The line for the guillotine forms to the right. Tumbrels leaving every 15 minutes.
Winter • February 5, 2024 10:22 AM
@bl5q sw5N
History shows the more egalitarian the society, the more abusively totalitarian it becomes.
Please, show us the data.
bl5q sw5N • February 5, 2024 11:19 AM
@ Winter
data
Revolutionary France, any socialist/communist country
Winter • February 5, 2024 11:29 AM
@bl5q sw5N
Revolutionary France, any socialist/communist country
These started all from strongly hierarchical societies with a class of serfs or near serfs without any rights. The disorder after the revolutions was in all cases part of bloody civil and external wars between the old and new orders. In all cases, these wars were some of the bloodiest known, killing sizeable fraction of the population.
In all cases, these war ended in strongly hierarchical societies. In none of these cases an egalitarian society was even temporarily realized.
Revolutionary nor Napoleonic France nor the Soviet Union, nor Maoist China, nor any of the other examples was egalitarian in any realistic sense. They were all dictatorships or tyrannies.
Try again.
bl5q sw5N • February 5, 2024 12:16 PM
@ Winter
nor any of the other examples was egalitarian in any realistic sense. They were all dictatorships or tyrannies
Yes, egalitarian tyrannies. You are making the same point I made above just before your request for data. Truly egalitarian ~ truly tyrannical.
Winter • February 5, 2024 1:20 PM
@bl5q sw5N
Yes, egalitarian tyrannies.
Sorry, but you seem to be misinformed about these historical societies.
They were all strongly hierarchical with feudal relations between “barons”, “serfs”, and outcasts at every level. The fact that they made it sound like everybody was the same did not make it so. There was nothing egalitarian in these societies. Western EU countries tend to be way more egalitarian than the Soviet Union ever was.
But you do not want to see that, don’t you.
bl5q sw5N • February 5, 2024 1:40 PM
@ Winter
Sorry, but you seem to be misinformed about these historical societies.
Rather, your remarks seem to show you misunderstand what I wrote.
Winter • February 5, 2024 6:04 PM
@bl5q sw5N
Rather, your remarks seem to show you misunderstand what I wrote.
You wrote:
Yes, egalitarian tyrannies.
These societies all claimed that some people were worthless and should be banished from society. They were also highly stratified with classes, or castes, of people who were worthy, eg, party members, and others who were not, eg, descendants of enemies of the people, or minorities.
So, I would like to know how you conclude they were “egalitarian”.
bl5q sw5N • February 5, 2024 10:23 PM
@ Winter
historical societies
This what I was trying to say :
The societies before the various revolutions made no pretense of egalitarianism, and probably would have said one who preached that was mad (and they would have been right).
The revolutionaries made egalitarianism one of their pillars. They insisted on it, to the death. So égalité destroyed liberté. And there was no place for fraternité or société, since only identité as common human was allowed by the ideology. This insistence that there is no real “other” made the revolutionaries totalitarian.
It sounds paradoxical but freedom and the good of human social nature requires inequality and hierarchy, and this implies in turn that privilege is required for liberty.
Again, read Kolnai.
Winter • February 6, 2024 1:38 AM
@bl5q sw5N
The revolutionaries made egalitarianism one of their pillars.
Like Orwell wrote, it was All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.
These societies were like the USA, where a presidential hopeful declares “We’re not a racist country. We’ve never been a racist country.”. So now we should assume America has never been a racist country?
It sounds paradoxical but freedom and the good of human social nature requires inequality and hierarchy, and this implies in turn that privilege is required for liberty.
Now you are messing up words. Egalitarianism is about valuing every human equal.[1] No person is “worth” more or less than another person.
Equality is about interchangeability. Are people interchangeable on a certain aspect.
In an egalitarian society, people change roles, and power, when context changes. In hierarchical societies, people have power, irrespective of context.
To give an example, in the classroom, the teacher rules, on the sporting field the referee, and in the allotment the gardener. The same people can be ruling and be ruled in different situations.
Never wondered why Putin and Trump rarely lose a game in sports?
[1] Most definitely not in monetary value. More like “God loves every soul equally” if you are religious.
bl5q sw5N • February 6, 2024 12:47 PM
@ Winter
Egalitarianism is about valuing every human equal.[1] No person is “worth” more or less than another person.
In day to day informal and limited sense yes. But in revolutionary, socialist usage it means identity. The ideology constantly erodes difference.
Even in every day usage, the term is questionable. “Value” is subjective, something one assigns, but reality does not care what you think. Further, no two persons are ever the same in any way except in that they share the one human nature. We all rightly regard ourselves as irreducibly unique, so when we are counselled to “love our neighbor as ourselves” that includes acknowledgment of this irremovable singularity. This avoids the implicit error and injustice of “value equal”.
Winter • February 6, 2024 1:47 PM
@
But in revolutionary, socialist usage it means identity.
Identity is a romantic concept. That postdates the French Revolution and was not part of Hegel and communism.
Revolutionary “equality” refers to the Égalité of Liberté, égalité, fraternité. This is the equality of siblings as opposed to hereditary inequality. Nothing in Liberté, égalité, fraternité refers to the sameness of mathematical equality. The French égalité refers to the same level, or flatness, of inter-human relations. Not to people are the same in every respect. And it certainly does not refer to an identity.
That much for the propaganda, or ideology.
Everyone of these revolutions started and ended with a strongly hierarchically stratified society that never came even close to an egalitarian society. They all replaced the people in the old positions with new people, but kept the structures in place.
There have been, and still exist, much more egalitarian societies. And these have not collapsed in disorder.
See:
‘https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/egalitarian-political-institutions-index
Winter • February 6, 2024 2:13 PM
@bl5q sw5N
Even in every day usage, the term is questionable. “Value” is subjective, something one assigns, but reality does not care what you think. Further, no two persons are ever the same in any way except in that they share the one human nature
Indeed “Value” is subjective. It is always a value for someone. Egalitarianism tells us that the if all value is subjective, there is no objective difference in value between individuals. For the universe (or God/s if you want), no individual is more worthy than another.
Any hierarchy is therefore a social construction that can be useful, or not given the circumstances. And people are free to change it when they see fit.
When our Crown Princess went to school, she sat in class and obeyed the teacher just like any other student.
bl5q sw5N • February 6, 2024 8:27 PM
@ Winter
Identity is a romantic concept. That postdates the French Revolution and was not part of Hegel and communism.
In fact in the sense the term is used in revolutionary thought, it is found developing in Machiavelli, Hobbes, Kant, Rousseau, Hegel, and finally Marx.
It can even be seen prefigured in Plato Republic, which he wrote as a cautionary nightmare.
Winter • February 7, 2024 1:42 AM
@bl5q sw5N
It can even be seen prefigured in Plato Republic, which he wrote as a cautionary nightmare.
The consensus seems to be that the Republic describes Plato’s own political ideas.
Plato was an aristocrat who opposed democracy in Athens. Two of his uncles were part of the Thirty Tyrants [1] who were installed by Sparta after defeating Athens. The Thirty killed ~5% of the Athenian population in only 8 months of rule. Resentment that pupils of Socrates were among those thirty and their henchmen was likely a factor in Socrates’ death sentence.
Plato did his best to answer the question who should rule the Republic. It took 2 millenniums to realize that the real question is how to get rid of the rulers after they have outlived their usefulness.
In true aristocratic style, Plato never even considered that question.
[1] ‘https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Tyrants
Winter • February 7, 2024 2:33 AM
@bl5q sw5N
In fact in the sense the term is used in revolutionary thought, it is found developing in Machiavelli, Hobbes, Kant, Rousseau, Hegel, and finally Marx.
So, what does this identity in the sense the term is used in revolutionary thought does actually mean? It is not in the sense it is used in contemporary America. So, what does it mean?
Can you give examples?
bl5q sw5N • February 7, 2024 3:43 AM
@ Winter
consensus seems to be that the Republic describes Plato’s own political ideas
Every Socratic/Platonic dialogue is a questioning analytic process aimed at revealing to the interlocutor the hidden tyranny and deformation in their soul. Plato holds a mirror up to their psyche so they can see that they are the Gorgon, and so be healed. Needless to say, some refused to acknowledge the demonstration and went away with their viciousness intact, just as today. The Republic is just another of these demonstrations, dealing with the problem of politics.
what does it mean
The sense here of the term “identity” was explained above, viz.,
In the limit, there is simply identity; everyone is forced to be the same, there is no “other”
It express the essence of “the common man”.
Winter • February 7, 2024 5:03 AM
@bl5q sw5N
In the limit, there is simply identity; everyone is forced to be the same, there is no “other”
Your ideas about Plato are not exactly shared by all. But that is a different discussions.
This quote is again confusing “égalité” with “equality/sameness”.
Anyhow, your original statement in equality there is great disorder has nothing to do with these cases as there was no equality in any of them to devolve into disorder. They went from pre-revolution extreme inequality to per-revolution in-equality, straight to post-revolution inequality. There never was any “equality” or “égalité” along that way.
That these revolutions were smothered in blood was the result of civil wars, factional infighting, and bloody revenge campaigns. There never was “égalité” and the murderous purges were part of attaining and keeping absolute power by the winning factions. The tyrants were consolidating power by killing everyone who could become a danger to them. Not much different to what Putin is doing now.
bl5q sw5N • February 7, 2024 11:12 PM
@ Winter
This quote is again confusing “égalité” with “equality/sameness”.
Anyhow, … there was no equality in any of them
Identical sameness, all persons becoming the “common man” is what the French revolutionary égalité and Marxism demanded. Nothing is being confused.
Of course this is a vain ideal as it fundamentally contradicts intrinsic human nature. But that did not stop its proponents from attempting it.
You seem to characterize these periods as being like any power struggles. Contrary to what you say, the deaths were primarily attributable to enforcement of ideological purity. This totalitarian as opposed to merely tyrannical cause never occurred before.
Winter • February 8, 2024 6:29 AM
@bl5q sw5N
You seem to characterize these periods as being like any power struggles. Contrary to what you say, the deaths were primarily attributable to enforcement of ideological purity.
Not different from the slaughtering during the Inquisition, the Cathar Crusade, the original witch hunts, the 30 years war, European Pogroms, the extermination of native Americans, the fascist regimes in Europe, or the partition of India. No need to invoke “Egalitarianism” as the cause.
These other purifications (ethnic cleansings) were quite effective in a strongly hierarchical ideology.
bl5q sw5N • February 8, 2024 9:43 AM
@ Winter
Not different from …
While all those involved terrible injustices and destruction, they were still only concerned with specific differences and points of conflict and were self limiting.
Egalitarianism/socialism/Marxism attacks humanity as such and has no limit. As Solzhenitsyn says, don’t say anti-communism in [1]:
Here is why I say that this word was poorly selected, that it was put together by people who do not understand etymology: the primary, the eternal concept is humanity. And communism is anti-humanity. Whoever says “anti-communism” is saying, in effect, anti-anti-humanity. A poor construction. So we should say: that which is against communism is for humanity. Not to accept, to reject this inhuman Communist ideology is simply to be a human being.
Winter • February 8, 2024 10:24 AM
@
While all those involved terrible injustices and destruction, they were still only concerned with specific differences and points of conflict and were self limiting.
You are now grasping at straws. There was ample ethnic cleansing (==purification) based on being “the wrong kind or human” before your supposedly egalitarian ideologies.
The death toll of the religious 30 years war was on par with the black death in terms of percentage of population involved, and based only on having the right religion. The Native American population was more than decimated based on being of the right race. The Albigensian crusade was nothing short of genocide based on being the right kind of Christian, as was the Armenian genocide based on religion and language. The Reconquista of Spain drove out everyone who was not a Catholic/Christian. The Irish famine killed or drove out half the population in a deliberate British policy to displace the Irish as a people.
Clive Robinson • February 8, 2024 11:33 AM
@ JonKnowsNothing, SpaceLifeForm, Winter, ALL,
Return of the floating petri dish?
Odlly for the newspaper concerned something not about political infighting at an important time for political infighting.
Does this make it serious?
Well just over 4years ago mysterious diseases on cruse ships flagged C19 in the US and other parts of the Western World.
Titled,
“CDC investigating outbreak on luxury cruise ship Queen Victoria”
In short the vessel Queen Victoria is on a 107night “world cruise”, about a month in it called into San Francisco with over 1000 people struck down by a supposadly mysterious gastro-intestinal disease.
The CDC has “investigated” briefly and the vessel sailed yesterday for Hawaii (a place that has lower medical resources available than Sab Francisco).
The obvious question arising of if the CDC don’t know, are they being irresponsible yet again as they were with COVID (which has probably killed millions and is still killing via long-covid and massively increased “excess deaths” that are climbing exponentially year on year).
Do we have anything to worry about?
Well I think the people in Hawaii are certainly going to feel a very undiserved impact as their scarce medical resources get an unwarented load thrown on it.
Likewise the 1000+ sick people on the ship (~970 crew and 140 passengers) who now have limited access to suitable or adiquate medical care for this.
As for those in San Francisco, keep your eyes wide open for “community spread”.
And likewise for the rest of us, keep a weather eye on the situation untill the,
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating an outbreak of over 150 cases of an unknown illness on the cruise ship Queen Victoria in the Pacific, the agency said Monday.”
At least the “unknown” but assumed virulent disease becomes “known” likewise it’s “transmission” vector.
Till then prudence would suggest if you are not already doing so, back to hand washing/sanitisation, masking up and keeping a distance.
Something you should be doing anyway. Whilst it did not stop covid, it did cause a flu varrient to become extinct.
But also keep an eye on the WHO and those nice new shiney “Political Powers” they grabbed post covid…
As they say “we live in interesting times” which is enough of a curse in of it’s self.
Stay warm, Stay safe, Stay healthy, but above all “Stay vigilant”.
Winter • February 8, 2024 1:13 PM
@Clive
over 1000 people struck down by a supposadly mysterious gastro-intestinal disease.
This screams norovirus,[1] a perennial problem of cruise ships. It is highly infectious.
Unless there is real evidence of something more sinister, I will treat it as such.
[1] back to hand washing/sanitisation, masking up and keeping a distance works for norovirus, but that virus transfers easily by way of soiled surfaces.
JonKnowsNothing • February 8, 2024 1:52 PM
@Clive, @Winter, All
re: Norovirus
Norovirus is so contagious that cruise ships clean light fixtures, walls, doors, door knobs, light switches and anything people or children might touch or reach. The light fixtures are touched by crew members cleaning or changing light bulbs. The walls are touched by cleaning crew scrubbing the walls from sticky finger marks and hand railings.
The rate of transfer is so high that once any member of the crew or passengers gets sick, a whole lot of other people will be sick pdq.
During post-C19 cruises by major cruise ship companies, they went to extraordinary lengths to make sure that everyone on board was Covid-Free. Pre-tests, isolation, private flights, more isolation. 3 days after leaving port, BAM! COVID hit. A last minute replacement for a crew member who did not undergo any of the precautions had C19. The cruise ended early and they had to get isolation permits to off load the sick.
Now, for C19 on board outbreaks, they hand out Paxlovid and given the current state of NoMasking, tell you to enjoy the cruise as soon as you feel better. With Paxlovid that’s ~3days. JN1 is infectious for ~10days after first symptoms.
JonKnowsNothing • February 8, 2024 2:06 PM
@Clive, @Winter, All
A friend recently went Cruising and traveling though Europe. I recommended that they use “a few grey cells” while in large public groups.
Clive Robinson • February 8, 2024 2:50 PM
@ Winter, JonKnowsNothing, ALL,
Re : Norovirus, is known.
“Unless there is real evidence of something more sinister, I will treat it as such.”
Two things to note,
1, Norovirus is very well known to the CDC and they can test for it incredibly quickly, so that suggests it’s NOT norovirus.
2, Norovirus is actually not a bit of “gyppy tummy” it’s actually quite serious. Not just can it make you seriously sick it can and does kill people every year and can cause life long sequelae including a significant shortening in life expectancy.
It’s why the UK NHS get very jittery about Norovirus and almost treat it like an epidemic each year. Where as the once killer covid (jury is out on JN strain) they are much more relaxed about.
But I’ve also been hunting about and quite a few articles are saying things like “120 Passengers”. So two immediate possibilities spring to mind…
1, The journalist s at “The Hill” have got things wrong.
2, Others of the MSM don’t give a stuff about “the people that serve.
So I dug a bit further and here it gets interesting…
1, The illness is very short lived so the “120 Passengers” is not the total but only those still ill when the vessel docked in port.
2, Other MSM are reporting only 19 staff.
Now due to the US MSM disregard for “Jonny Foreigner” and those low down on the “socio-economic ladder” I suspect that a couple or three things have happened,
Firstly the staff would almost certainly been pressured into going back to work well before they should have with any “food related illness” (ex ships officers tell some horrific bullying stories and the almost endless runs of infection through a ship likewise).
Secondly other staff would keep illness hidden so as not to be penalised / bullied by ships seniors.
Thirdly like the passenger numbers are low because they are being “under reported” for “various benefit reasons” (remember the meat packers threatend by a sitting POTUS with jail and worse because of his neo-con buddies were self entitled venal idiots?).
So I had a scan around and the staff ill figures reported by the few journalists that have are just 19… Which I find doubtful as far as honest reporting goes. Thus the question,
“Who is being less than honest, and more importantly why?”
To miss quote an army saying,
“Watch and learn, watch and learn.”
Let’s hope that it is nothing pathologically significant, but we already know what ever it is it’s fairly virulent. Likewise lets hope the infection vector is not airborne (though it probably is by the numbers infected).
This leaves the question of time from infection through various stages.
In times past infections induced fever and similar as a way to get people to huddle thus spread the disease easily. Covid had adapted to modern societal behaviour where you almost immediately isolate when you know you are ill to avoid passing it on, covid thus made you become significantly infectious before illness was readily apparent. An evolutionary step that shocked many in the medical etc professions. Thankfully covid mutated away from high pathogenicity, but as it’s still around there is a risk it will reverse that to some extent (apparently jury is out on jn strain).
Winter • February 8, 2024 3:17 PM
@Clive
Norovirus is very well known to the CDC and they can test for it incredibly quickly, so that suggests it’s NOT norovirus.
Did they report they did tests? The CDC is not a port authority, as far as I know.
Clive Robinson • February 8, 2024 3:48 PM
@ Winter,
“Did they report they did tests? The CDC is not a port authority, as far as I know.”
As far as I’m aware in such issues once involved the CDC takes primacy even over other Federal and State authorities.
If they did not do the tests then they would have been acting irresponsibly to the point of incompetence.
Worse letting the vessel leave port with a known highly infectious disease is potentially criminal.
Similar for an unknown disease… Thus there is something going on we are not being told at the very least.
If I was the Hawaiian authorities I would not give the vessel leave to enter the territorial waters let alone enter a harbour. But they will almost certainly get their arms twisted politically such is the stupidity that abounds in neo-cons.
As always,
“Reasonably prepare for the worst by riding or leading the curve, hope for the best only if you can trust the rest.”
Right now I’m low on trust, but due to expected issues in my life –needed surgery– I’m already way ahead of the curve currently (post operative not unreasonable expectations ment stocking up for 90days potential isolation again).
JonKnowsNothing • February 8, 2024 5:00 PM
@Clive, @Winter, All
re: What’s on the boat?
I have tracked some upswings in well known illnesses that have been in historic decline but nothing that wouldn’t be recognized.
Along with their co-partners on the animal side
plus the common outbreak of encephalitis and other diseases that are regional in scope.
H5N1 can make people sick by spill-back event. An infected sea gull or other bird(s) would be the source.
All of these have a known profile.
There is this event in California 07 2023:
===
ht tps://w ww.latimes.c om/california/story/2023-07-20/e-coli-hammers-a-california-town-sending-patients-to-er-and-shutting-down-restaurants
Clive Robinson • February 8, 2024 5:40 PM
@ JonKnowsNothing,
Re : fecal contamination is common as muck…
“E coli sickens California tourist town”
It’s not uncommon south of the equator to find the water supply contaminated even in expensive hotels.
Likewise places of natural beauty where tourists are not just allowed but encouraged to swim in lakes and pools.
Oh and don’t forget the ripe fruit vendors… Who prick the fruit all over and put it in ditch water etc to swell up so it earns more from passing trade tourists. Oh and the open the bottle for you trick… You can buy a bottle of water that is safe to drink and by only partly unscrewing the lid get the water out leaving an empty bottle with “safety tags” still in tact. Then you can fill it again with unclean tap water and screw the top down… Also you can as a vendor have a child assistant appear to “open the bottle for you” that is the safety tags are broken already and the bottle just picked up from rubbish etc. The bottle is refiled with unsafe tap water and put on the ice tray for the child to pickup unscrew and hand to you… Are you going to argue? If you do you get one of the other bottles with the tags still intact. But either way you end up with a belly full of animal waste etc.
Even in expensive hotels the salad stuff on your plate has probably been washed in contaminated tap water…
And people wondered why I never went to “tourist spots”… Or organised tours.
As they say in the US “541t happens” that does not mean you have to “eat 541t” or drink it…
Winter • February 9, 2024 1:43 AM
@Clive
Worse letting the vessel leave port with a known highly infectious disease is potentially criminal.
I can find many recommandations about norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships. They are pretty common. However, I cannot find anything about putting the cruise ships on quarantine.
These are the official guidelines from the UK:
‘https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7f0280ed915d74e6227e0f/2007_guideline_norovirus_cruiseships.pdf
Have not yet had the time to read it.
Winter • February 9, 2024 2:31 AM
@Clive
Re: Norovirus on Cruise Ships
I found the relevant passage for the UK Guidance for the Management of Norovirus Infection in Cruise Ships
5.3 Norovirus incidents rarely need the vessel to be confined to port unless there is evidence of serious circumstances prevailing for example, a suspicion of co-existing bacterial infection, a fatality or a concern as to the vessel’s response or facilities. However, if the OGC considers that a vessel may need to be confined in port for whatever reason the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) must be informed and thoroughly briefed as to the situation without delay so that the MCE can consider whether it needs to exercise any of its statutory powers. Similarly, if there are doubts about the vessels safety because of the sickness of key staff the MCA needs to be urgently informed. In both cases the MCA would then be fully integrated into the OCG.
[emphasis mine]
Winter • February 9, 2024 10:42 AM
@Clive
You are looking way to specifically.
If they think it is norovirus, they will follow the “norovirus” playbook.
If they think it is the plague, or Ebola, they will follow the relevant playbooks (ie, panic).
It seems they are keeping it to “norovirus”. If they are wrong, everyone will die, I assume.
JonKnowsNothing • February 9, 2024 11:31 AM
@Clive, @Winter, All
re: US CDC Cruise Ship Protocols
Here are some links to the CDC site with info on cruise ship protocols and the status of the outbreak on Cunard Queen Victoria ship.
The way the CDC catalogs their site, the pages might change, so you may have to re-enter the query: Cruise
Outbreak Updates for International Cruise Ships
The Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) requires cruise ships to log and report the number of
passengers and crew who say they have symptoms of gastrointestinal illness. Learn more about illnesses and outbreaks reported to VSP and find information about outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on cruise ships.When Do Ships Report Gastrointestinal Illnesses to VSP?
Medical staff on cruise ships under U.S. jurisdiction must send gastrointestinal illness case reports to VSP at specifc times:
1. Before arriving to a U.S. port from a foreign port. This report is required even when there are no cases of gastrointestinal illness. Cruise ship staff send this report between 24 and 36 hours before the ship arrives at a U.S. port.
2. When 2% or more of the passengers or crew have gastrointestinal illness. Cruise ship staff send this report any time the ship is in the United States or within 15 days of arriving at a U.S. port.
3. If 3% or more of the passengers or crew have gastrointestinal illness.
When Does VSP Post Cruise Ship Outbreaks?
VSP posts cruise ship outbreaks when they meet all of the following criteria:
• Are on ships under VSP jurisdiction.
• Are on ships carrying 100 or more passengers.
• Are on voyages from 3-21 days long.
• Are on voyages where 3% or more of passengers or crew report symptoms of gastrointestinal illness to the ship’s medical staff.
VSP may also post information on gastrointestinal illness outbreaks of public health signifcance that do not necessarily meet the above criteria.
===
ht t ps://search.cdc.gov/search/?query=Cruise&dpage=1
h t tps://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/
h tt ps://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/gilist.htm
Cunard Queen Victoria is an international ship-voyage
The ship also stopped in Florida.
h ttp s://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/outbreak/2024/Queen-Victoria-1-29.html
Clive Robinson • February 9, 2024 2:40 PM
@ Winter, JohKnowsNotging, SpaceLifeForm,
“If they think it is the plague, or Ebola, they will follow the relevant playbooks (ie, panic).”
No they may just play the political claim it’s “unknown” and downgrade any report and throw the play into the long grass…
So far they are keeping it figuratively at unknown and kicking it into somebody elses backyard …
“Welcome to sun, sand and lava, all hot stuff in the Hawaiian Islands, how may you add to our culture”.
Which actually bodes “not well”…
“It seems they are keeping it to “norovirus”. If they are wrong, everyone will die, I assume.”
I’m not aware of any 100% fatal diseases (other than death by lack of life) tough some do come close in some age ranges.
Time to be a little more than vigilant…
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Corton • January 26, 2024 5:34 PM
I’ve been an acquaintance of this blog for a while (under different aliases). I’ve never experienced “moderation” or censorship, until recently. In terms of transparency and democracy I think it would benefit us all to have a container/index of all the posts subjected to deletion on this same blog.