Societal Rage
So i was heading up the escalator at Pasila train station here in Helsinki.. The custom here, is that if you don't want to walk up the escalators, you stand on the right and ride it up. If you are in a rush, you take the left "lane". Simple things, nobody gets hurt.
Enter fat fucker. A woman walks up next to me on the left side, taking a few steps and then stops, blocking the left lane. So people, supposedly in a hurry, walk up to her, and ask (and i'm not shitting you) politely if she could let them pass. Her reply? "No. And you're not allowed to pass people on the left!". I start giggling like an idiot, and she starts giving me the evil-eye, which i promptly ignore and continued laughing. People pass her anyway, which was a feat on its own, because she was a fat bastard. I bet she does this every morning, and gives everyone the same old reply, just to.. i don't know? Make someone elses day just a little bit more difficult? Channel your own rage about being fat on other people? Maybe a little of both. I just find it hard to believe why someone would intentionally just try to piss people off. Makes no sense and just causes a stir.
Had someone been extra stressed out that morning, that fattie might have accidentally tripped and fallen down 10 meters of escalator. And i will add a picture here of my probable emotional reaction to that hypothetical scenario:
Sufficed to say, if you act like a prick, you deserve what's coming next. I'm not encouraging violent acts, by any means, but i'm also not saying i might not enjoy them. Convoluted enough? Good.
More assorted ramblings for week 21/2011
So this past week has kind of sucked ass in multiple ways, most of which i will describe as this post grows longer.
This week was spent learning about Horde 4, which was kind of a good start. But i dunno the rest of the week has been so-so. Yesterday i was going to attend a meeting that was supposed to start at 14:00, according to the mail the meeting organizer sent out the day before. So, a colleague drives me downtown, and since we were in a bit of a rush, we took the subway to the end destination. The problem? I had no more time on my "metrocard" which i thought i did. I figured, two stations, i can't be so unlucky as to be ticket-inspected.
Oh how wrong i was.
When i get to the station, and get off, i see the row of inspectors checking everyone getting off the subway, making sure they all have valid tickets. Most of them did. I did not. My own fault. Using my quick intellect (sarcasm here), i order a mobile ticket and walk up to the inspectors. My ploy failed, as the ticket has a timestamp, and the rule is that you need to have a valid ticket when you enter your departing station. So i was fined 80 bucks. This is the first time i've messed up, and the first time i've been fined. And i've been using public transport since i was seven!
Slightly miffed, i walk, fine in hand to the office where the meeting was supposed to take place. And then they tell us we are half an hour early. And we are like "Bitch, the mail you sent out says 14:00, not 14:30". And inside, i'm hurting, because i figure, if i came half an hour later, i would not have been fined.
Aaaand to top things off, the meeting was a total commercial bust, with scarcely anything worth my time. So a total fucking waste of time and money.
Today was time for the annual inspection of my car, which is mandatory in Finland. I was pretty sure it wasn't going to pass, since it already has about 160 000 km on the meter, and it has had it's share of problems. And oh how right i was. Turns out i have to fix three different items, then have it re-inspected within a month. And all this will cost me about 300 euro in all. Wonderful.
I just also paid the 1000 euro security deposit on the new apartment, so i'm not exactly swimming in cash. This sucks.
On the other hand, this time next week i should be typing away at the new apartment, all nice and clean and with fast connectivity. Bliss.
Oh also, my MRI results came back "negative". No, to everyone's shock, turns out i do have a brain! But nothing of concern. Two minor structural "differences" from the perfect theoretical brain, but nothing that merits any action, further inspection or concern. So i'm fine. Which is kind of a relief for me. I was kind of concerned, but then i'm a hypochondric of some degree.
Don’t push me now cause I’m close to the edge
Ok so today was one of those days. I figured writing about today's events would help ease the fucking throbbing pain and dull suffering feeling that I am experiencing.
First i woke up at like 6 AM because my girlfriend noticed her bus-card was .. lost.. at work or somewhere and she needed a ride to work, which starts at 7 AM. So i get up. Drive her to work. And since i'm a fucking retard, i decide to drive to work early. Get to work.Someone else is there too, in-fucking-credibly. And there's freshly brewed coffee! This day may yet be saved!
The morning is spent doing various administrative tasks, more or less routine stuff, nothing too exciting. Change a backup tape here, check on a storage system there..
Noon rolls around, and suddenly, a task which was supposed to have two weeks left, has to be done on friday. "On friday is good enough, it doesn't have to be "before friday", one of my bosses assures me. Great. Calendar already swamped, i desperately try to delegate. Then i come across a Solaris problem. I'm showing a new LUN to a server, and it's simply not seeing it. Google is full of "Oh run cfgadm -al and all your problems will be gone!". Well listen pal, they are not. devfsadm, devfsadm -C, devfsadm -c disk, luxadm probe.. whatever i do, the LUN is simply not showing up. And every god damn page is the same, try this fucking magic, it'll work, i promise! I would like to do a boot -r but as we all know, that's not always an option.
I try removing some un-used LUNs. That works fine! So it must be talking to the SAN! Re-add the same LUNs i just removed? Not showing up. Na-ha. So i guess i have my work cut out for me.
Don't get me wrong, i love a good conundrum. But sometimes these things just accumulate and fuck up your day.
Ok so, i leave the problem, which i hate doing, because i have to make it to the bank. The bank, which is supposed to serve the fucking working population, is open only between 8 and 16:30. This is when regular fucking people are at work. I guess physical banks are for pensioners and fucking bums, eh? The problem is, i had some cash that needed to be deposited, and there's no other way to do that, than to visit an actual physical bank, and talk to some dude, who will look at you funny because you walk in with a wad of cash, thinking you've stolen it from somewhere. "Where did you get this money, sir?". And i'm trying to think of something witty to say, but end up giving him the real explanation: it was just my birthday. I know it's their job to ask when the deposit is over a certain sum, so uh... terrorists i guess? can't deposit money to fund their illegal activities. And if i were a terrorist, i'd be sure to say "Oh these? They came from various drug deals and illegal arms trade"
So i deposit my cash, and go to the store, which i already know will end in fucking tears and disaster. Everyone and their grandmother is out shopping because it's a special fucking day: Monday! So i do my shopping, trying my best to avoid human contact, weaving and ducking inbetween the unwashed masses. I make it to the check-out where, to my dismay, the fat lady infront of me is trying to pay for her shopping with a piece of paper. So i shoulder-surf the paper and see that it's from the welfare bureau. I look at the check-out lady, who is ready to commit suicide because she has no idea on how to handle this as a payment method, clearly. I sympathize. I sold household appliances for two-and-a-half years when i was studying, and saw my fair share of those notes. They are a bureaucratic nightmare to handle.
So then, as the check-out lady finally figures it out, the fat customer-lady has the audacity to ask if she can swipe her bonus-card as well, and the check-out lady tells her she can't. So let me get this straight: She gets my money from the welfare bureau and then she wants bonus for her shopping too? I was nearing the breaking point.
I pay for my shoppings, which come out at less than i had expected; just about the only positive piece of news i've had all day. I pack my stuff. Prepare to leave. And then i see him: The Shadow.
The Shadow was an infamous nutcase from when i sold electronics back in the day, in East-Helsinki. He would drop by every now and then, wearing the same clothes, and an old casette Walkman (which i doubt played anything). He'd walk into the store, and find a customer who was discussing with one of our sales guys. He'd then smooch up real close to the customer, uncomfortably close, so that they get disturbed, and he'd say things like "That TV is cheaper in this other store!". He never bought anything, and we always threw him out, because we were not allowed to resort to physical violence.
So there he is, in the flesh: The Shadow. Wearing, probably, the same clothes, the same motherfucking walkman, and muttering to himself. I overheard just one sentence, which was nearly enough to throw me into a homicidal rage: "There's so many people here because they are playing hockey today on the TV!". He said this to nobody in particular, and walked at this unnaturally fast pace toward the exit.
I swear i just stood there with my groceries, staring blankly. I hope i wasn't drooling uncontrollably, but that may not have been far. I made it home, and after ranting about all this to my girlfriend, i had to come and write this down.
Nuclear Rage!
I've ranted about a number of things, and you might think i'm quite the cynical bastard. And you'd be right! Today's target is the big boogey-man of the month: Nuclear Power! Yes! Good old Mr. Atom!
The events in Japan following the M9.0 earthquake and the consequent tsunami caused major issues at the Fukushima nuclear powerplant. Radiation has been released. Water and soil in the local area has been contaminated. Meltdown has occurred. So should this be the end for nuclear power? Not if you ask me.
First of all, all of these words sound really scary to Joe-Average. Radiation! Meltdown! I'll add the echo effect in post-production. But if one has even a cursory concept of how nuclear power, or radiation works, it should calm you down somewhat. Meltdown is simply the process in which the fuel in the reactor is overheating, and causing the fuel to literally melt. This releases radiation. Radiation on the other hand comes in many different shapes and sizes. Elements that are radioactive are not stable and they have a half-life. For instance, the isotope of Iodine released from the reactor core was 131 if i'm not mistaken. This isotope of Iodine is very dangerous to humans because it gets stored up in the thyroid gland and causes issues. But this particular isotope also has a very short half life; 8 days. Which means that the isotope will not stay dangerous for long. That's not to say it can't cause damage, but it is to say that people on the other side of the fucking globe will not be affected.
What people can do if there is a release of Iodine-131 is to eat iodine supplements. The thyroid gland in the human body can fit an x-amount of iodine, be it of a stable or a (dangerous) unstable isotope. "Filling up" your thyroid gland makes sense if you are in the area that has a high chance of getting elevated doses of dangerous Iodine isotopes. It does not make sense to eat them in say Finland, or most other place in the world. Yet, we had people stocking up on iodine pills "just in case". And i'm willing to bet a number of people started eating them too, as soon as the news of the accident broke.
I'm not belittling the accident at Fukushima. I am belittling once again the idiots of our world. But i dunno.. does stupidity based on ignorance count? I vote yes.
A meltdown does not equal a nuclear explosion either. A meltdown sounds really bad, but all it really is, is elevated temperatures in the fuel rods which cause the fuel containers and finally the fissile material to melt, and release radioactive isotopes into the surrounding areas (usually still inside the core containment structure). The elevated temperatures were caused by failure of the cooling and redundant cooling systems due to the tsunami and earth-quake. The Fukushima plant was designed to handle up to 18 foot ( 6 meter ) waves, and the tsunami of the M9.0 earth quake exceeded this, thereby causing the facility to fail. Failure of the cooling system prevented water from cycling in the system, thereby increasing temperatures, melting zircaloy surrounding the actual fuel, creating hydrogen gas, and thereby pressure (which resulted in some spectacular releases of that pressure in the form of smokey puffs, partially destroying the building). Correcting this was accomplished using seawater pumped in with hoses and dropped from various aircraft.
But again, it's easy to also blame the media. Fear sells. Nuclear fear sells better. In this video (thanks BoingBoing for the link), a CNN news anchor goes apeshit on a meteorologist (who goes "oh boy here we go again.."), when the weatherman firmly asserts that no harmful levels of radiation are or will reach the US West-Coast. The news anchor tries desperately to keep the atmosphere of fear going. Sure, measurable increases in radiation are reaching the continental US, but measurable does not mean dangerous. Measurable means that you can detect if a fucking radioactive mosquito farted on the south pacific and the wind carried it to the general direction of the US. The type of technology used is so incredibly sensitive, and because of this fact we have good time to move people out of affected areas, when the increase in radiation is upcoming. It does not just happen. It's physics. There are rules for such things. No matter how afraid you are, the magical radiation will not enter your home, unless there are conditions that warrant that. There are distances, half-lives, dissipation, weather, and countless other factors that are all of critical importance. This is not guesswork.
Although, shit-points also go to Tepco, the power company responsible for Fukushima. In one report of radiation levels, they apparently misplaced a comma somewhere, and ended up reporting ass-crazy results. People who have problems dealing with numbers should not be involved with nuclear reactors. Media outlets who are speaking out of their assholes should not be on the air spreading fear. I don't want to suppress freedom of speech, but this kind of fear-mongering is fucking rediculous.
Should we stop using nuclear power because a power company failed to put in adequate measures of protection for their stuff? Hell no!
Out of the viable methods of producing power, nuclear power is still the safest, and provides us with the most power to fill the needs of industry and increasing urbanisation. Sure we can go back to coal only, but do you want to have a look at the number of people who died of fossil-fuel based pollution world wide last year for instance? While i don't have the numbers with me, coal production, logistics, handling and combustion is a major cause for concern world wide. Sure, no radiation, but killing people? Oh hell yes.
Ok, so the alternatives then. We have wind, which is cool. But to provide the amounts of energy that even a small western country such as Finland needs (we have a lot of industry, in proportion), we would need to fill up a vast space with wind power. Wind is also not predictable, and the initial costs vs. the amount of power derived from the finished product is not a happy number to look at.
Solar power then? Ok, let's just pick a state and fill that with panels and we'll be all done. Oh wait, that will cost insane amounts, and is not nearly suited for every place on the planet. Take Finland for instance. We have maybe three actual months of real summer and sunshine, and while new solar panels are better att charging from ambient light even when it is filtered through clouds, it does not make it effective by any stretch of the imagination. I think current solar panels are able to get a 20-25% conversion ratio of sunshine hitting the panel -> power. When we can up that just a bit, and make it suitable for places that do not have fucking sunshine, then we'll talk again.
Other alternatives include tidal- and other water based power generation methods, geothermal, even looking at making power out of magma (Iceland i think was looking at this), the fact is that at the current state, we do not have the technology and/or the money to just magically switch off our nuclear power plants and move to something green. It's just not feasible.
I'm not saying we should stop looking at alternative power, infact i encourage it. But what we can't do is make a five year phased plan and just shut all our reactors down, because 5 years is not enough time to do jack shit in terms of widespread development and deployment of alternative, renewable power sources. Period. 20-40 years, perhaps. But tomorrow? Keep dreaming. We keep using the still safe nuclear power, focus on securing our reactors against possible risks (everything can't be accounted for in any system, but we can at least try (I'm looking at you Tecpo!), and also focus on better ways to handle nuclear waste. On the side, energy companies commit to researching and developing *feasible* solutions for producing the amount of power that a country needs. Either that, or we shut down 50% of our industry, and then make a law that you can watch TV for one hour a day, no dishwashers and laundry can be done once a week. See how that feels for the average voter, who spends most of his life in front of the fucking televison. I'm not arguing that we can't make power using alternative techniques, but i'm saying we're just not there for the kind of large scale deployments that we need to support our industry and residential power usage.
End of rant.
Vendor Fandom
Why is it that people are so god damn in love with their favorite vendors? Is advertising to blame? Are geeks inherently just stubborn motherfuckers? Probably. Let's do a quick dive into this issue.
At work, i often find that people are stuck with one brand, one OS or one technological solution for one reason or another. I'm pretty much agnostic. I like to have the solution that works best for the problem. There are people at every company (i'm willing to wager) who are in a position to make decisions, and who make those decisions based purely on "what they think is right". Objectivity is simply not on the menu. Shit, i know a few people myself.
Sure, for like random Joe-Bob on the corner you can use your own biased opinion to say "Go out and buy X, it's good". But when you are working in a corporate environment, your own opinion can weigh in, but your personal fandom toward a specific solution or vendor, which are usually unfounded, should not be a deciding factor.
I'm guilty as charged: I used to think Cisco is the go-to solution for anything network related. Or EMC for storage solutions. What we should do is, look at the problem at hand: what does the client need done, and what's the budget. Then look at the solutions available using those as parameters. Then use past experience, peer reviews and other metrics to come to a more final conclusion. The process is often shortened to "I like Solaris, so we'll offer a Solaris based solution", even if it is not the best, performance- or feature-wise. The client comes to you, expecting that you have the necessary know-how to bring them the best solution. After all, that's why they came to you, and didn't do it themselves. So when you come up with your solution, and the client doesn't know better, he'll go for the solution because you said so. The question remains: Why did you say so?
A lot of other things factor in of course. How will the devices / solutions be supported? Does the service provider have the necessary people with the needed know-how to use the equipment being sold? Is it the most cost-effective solution, while still providing the minimum requirement? Decisionmaking is a process that can be very personified. One guy gives the go-ahead. He might be the IT-manager, or some senior sysadmin that people trust. I say that in most cases that trust should be evaluated. Especially the people who have been in the IT industry a long time tend to get really bogged down with what they like, discarding all other metrics when they make decisions. They are the guys who get the job done, sure, but what are the long-term costs of their input?
The other option is perhaps worse, where decisionmaking becomes this huge process, involving dozens of people, meetings, commitees, etc. But a simple review of what is being done, before someone hits the "Order!" or "Sell!" button could save the service provider and the client from a lot of trouble down the line.
The problem lies perhaps in organizational structure. The sales guys want to sell, because their salary is dependant on the deals the close. They don't have the technical knowhow. They ask the technical guys. The technical guys tend to be biased for the wrong reasons. In internal processes, the final go-ahead comes from the IT-manager, or equivalent person, who can overrule or veto any suggestion or decision made further down the line. Often to the dismay of everyone else. He's not the one who has to support the devices or products down the line. He just gives the final go-ahead.
Ok this is a very disorganized post, i realize this. But you may be able to dig out somewhat of a point that i'm trying to get across here. Pay attention to the decisions around you, and at least sometimes stop and ask why something is being done. Our industry is in one giant hurry to go somewhere, so perhaps stopping every now and then wouldn't be such a bad idea?
My review and thoughts on The Social Network
Alright, so on to other things from my previous "serious" posts. I finally rented The Social Network yesterday (on DVD no less. They were out of Blu-Rays. How passé). It was kind of a hard movie to get hold of. It seems a lot of people have been renting it recently.
The movie runs about two hours, but it felt a lot longer, for some reason. It basically tells "the story" of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, and the worlds youngest billionaire. I haven't read too much about the movie, so i'm not sure to which degree it represents the true story of facebook. In any case, i found myself laughing at times, but on the other hand, feeling very sad for the Mark character. Whether he is a douche in real life.. who knows? A few people maybe. I'm guessing a lot of NDA's have been signed, people have moved on and so on.
The technology in the movie is fairly accurate. The movie fires off with a bunch of tech-talk with Mark downloading images off Harvard univesity websites, and doing some scripting to grab other images. It felt authentic, and i didn't see any "in your face"-problems with the stuff that was happening on screen. Mark used a laptop with KDE, which was cool. It wasn't MovieOS 3.1 or something. He used editors to write code. He talked about Mozilla. Apache. MySQL. It was fun to watch for once; not having to cringe everytime the geek character opens his yapper.
The Mark Zuckerberg in the movie is portrayed as an obsessive, almost manic character. He talks fast, and i can see the thought-patterns forming in his head before he speaks the line. He sort of plays chess with whomever he is talking to, anticipating the underlying meaning (sometimes incorrectly, mostly not) and answering the underlying question, as opposed to the one asked. He is portrayed as verbally humiliating many people with his witty rhetorics. It's fun to watch. I could somehow relate to the character. I often find discussions boring, and people to be very hypocritical and careful when they are talking. It's boring to try to decipher what people are actually trying to say. Why can't we all just say what we mean, instead of what we think the other guy wants to hear? If you want to be a dick, be so to my face, and don't try to hide behind quick quips and facetious smiles. People see through those, you know?
I found myself out of breath many times, because of the speed at which the Mark character is talking. His mind works like a parallel processor, and it's fun to watch. His manerisms get him into a lot of trouble with other people, which is kind of the premise of the movie. "Make 500 million friends, but end up with a few enemies in the process too".
The character portrayed by Justin Timberlake was easily the second best in the movie. He played Sean Parker, co-inventor of Napster and various other internet ventures. Not to be confused with Shawn Fanning, also inventor of Napster, but entirely a different guy. The real life Parker has commented that he is nothing like the character in the movie, and that it is entirely a work of fiction. He does own 7% of Facebook, apparently, so he has been involved, but he commented that he wishes his life was as cool as it was portrayed in the movie. The Parker-character is an obvious comic relief, but also kind of an antagonist, a money-grabbing opportunist, drug user and troublemaker. I still found myself liking the portrayal a lot, and i think more highly of Timberlake having seen this movie. A great role.
All in all, it makes a good point. If you have certain characteristics, you are not easy to approach. You may be the most skilled hacker in the world, but if your people-skills suck, you'll die alone. Rich, but alone. The question is, do you want to live your dream, or be someone you're not? Facebook has over 500 million members. What started out as an "exclusive" invite only club, is now a common household name. And at the center of this company, valued at 25 billion dollars, is Mark Zuckerberg. Perhaps a lonely guy with more money than he can ever hope to use. Maybe he has lots of friends, and is nothing like the movie portrays him as? I think he's the sort of distant guy, who you hear talk about, you see in pictures, but who you never truly know. Kind of the personification of the American, capitalist dream. But still too distant to make out. A modern enigma.
Christian tradition disappearing in Finland
I say, good on you!
There's discussion in the Finnish media about tradition (read: christian tradition) disappearing in our schools. Some schools are downright outlawing songs and plays that portray christian values. Funny by the way, how the word christian, no capital C, is listed as misspelled in WordPress / Chrome.
This whole issue just makes me angry. And to top things off, one of our tabloid "news" "papers" have started a poll, where people can vote to either keep or abandon these christian traditions. At this time, something like 34 000 people have voted, which isn't a lot. They should have added boobs. Or something. And now the headline is "Removal of christmas traditions causes minor citizen uproar!". Free advertisement over an issue they have no control over, and that the majority doesn't really give a shit about. Good work.
Basically songs that come from christian hertitage, anything containing jesus, god, angels and other christian bullshit, are being removed from Finnish schools. Christmas celebrations are in no way affected, but the issue is that "tradition" is being trampled.
So my question is, do we need religion to have tradition? Do we need the bible to have morals? Scarily, i've heard that an atheist cannot have morals, because the bible, the word of god, is the only source that teaches morals to people.
I think not. We can still celebrate, and have all kinds of fun without religious context! It's like people want to continue old traditions just to continue them. How many people in Finland are actually Christians? I mean people who pray, go to church and read the bible? Not too many people i would wager. So what's the fuzz?
"My Daddy and his Daddy before him always dropped bricks on their cocks. So you, my son, will continue to do the same thing!"
-"But why Dad, why?
"Because it's always been done that way. Now get ready, here it comes!"
Wikileaks and the revenge of Anonymous
Let's get a few things straight. Anonymous is not an organized group. It's a bunch of people, mostly hailing from the online forum 4chan, who are out to do anything they damn well please. They are seldom politically motivated, and usually just do whatever feels like fun at the time. They do not have a leader. If Anonymous posts something, it's just.. a guy. A regular person acting as the voice of this internet flash-mob, if you can call it that.
Basically how it goes is: Someone thinks something needs to be done. They make a post on 4chan, and if this person is successful in rousing enough interest, something happens. This is a pure game of luck. Most of the time, people will call you names, and tell you to go have intercourse with your mother, or a goat. But sometimes, you can get enough people, critical mass, and then get them to do something.
Various things 4chan "anonymous" has done in the past, include: Posting threats on the door of a Swedish forum operator (a forum which allows the posting of child pornography) and videotape the proceedings, to placing pubic-hair inside various (mostly Scientology related) religious books in bookstores around New York. Now, this random "Eye of Sauron" has turned it's gaze upon those who seek to harm wikileaks.
Operation Payback is the name of this particular set of fun. Some anonymous created a tool called LOIC (low orbit ion cannon), which works on all platforms and makes participating in a distributed denial of service attack so easy, that you hardly need any skill at all. This is not hacking and most people using LOIC have no idea of what they are doing. Basically it has a nice GUI which allows you to type in a target website or IP, and then hit "Fire!", to start attacking the host. Just like in the movies. So far they have targeted the Swedish Justice department, taking down their site for a good while, disrupting mastercard.com, and even causing payment verification to fail according to some reports. Visa.com was next, after they announced their block of wikileaks. Amazon was on the menu today.
Basically it's just people doing stuff that seems fun. Like people demonstrating without really knowing what or who they are demonstrating for. They see it as fun, being a part of something bigger. Again: It's very vaguely co-ordinated, and a group of Anonymous can disperse as quickly as they gathered. Next week maybe they will paint penises on bus stops. Who knows.
I'm not quite sure these DDOS attacks are a good thing. First of all they are not hackers. They are script kiddies at most, and i would bet even they would be insulted if these people were given that name. Yes. I think Visa, and Mastercard, Amazon and Paypal, Easydns, and a number of other companies need to think very carefully about what they do, if they intend to keep their clients.
I do realize the government can do really scary things, especially the US government. But you need to keep in mind that the people of this world will not look at your cowardly actions for much longer. You need to draw lines, agreed. But do so across the board. And once you go down the path of censorship, there is no turning back. If you do choose that path, go all the way. But don't block one site, and leave others, like Paypal, still accepting donations for foundations supported by the Ku Klux Clan, an inherently evil racist group. You can't donate to promote freedom of speech, but you can donate to support racism and hate.
Am i the only one who does not find any sense in this?
The other half of me thinks that the attacks on these companies serve no purpose, and are no better than the people opposing wikileaks. Isn't preventing these sites from being accessed the same damn thing? Preventing these companies from exercising their own brand of freedom of speech? Though they have acted cowardly, and clearly under duress, do they deserve the same treatment. I haven't decided. But i do think there is an inherent "Lulz"-factor in all of this. Visa denies donations to wikileaks, and they are taken down, costing them money as well. While i don't condone clearly illegal activities (both those against wikileaks, and the companies mentioned), i don't feel sorry for them either. You reap what you sow.
Somehow there is a curious sense of justice and irony to all of this, dontcha' think?
Wikileaks and The Coming Revolution
God damn it! I kind of promised myself i wouldn't write this post, but i'll do it anyway!
So the topic of the past few weeks for anyone who has even tried to follow the news, has of course, been wikileaks. For those box-dwellers among you, Wikileaks is simly a site that accepts "leaked" information sent to them by anyone. The recent hubbub started when US Private First Class Bradley Manning (currently in prison) sent in what would later be called the "Collateral Murder" video. This video shows a US helicopter gunning down innocent people, among them, two children (who survived with serious injuries), and two Reuters Journalists, who did not survive the attack.
This leak did not go over well with the US government, and the game was on.
So the next big releases concerned "war journals" from Afghanistan and Iraq, detailing many of the reported incidents of casualties and other such events. In them, we can find out how many friendly-fire incidents there have been, and how many civilians have died since 9/11. Someone equated this to one 9/11-event every 8 months. And where are the memorial events for these people? Observances of silence? Haven't heard anything so far (no pun intended).
The thing that broke the proverbial camel's back was what has become known as "Cablegate". The release of over 250 000 variously classified US embassy communiques. Basically messages sent between various State leaders, US embassies around the world, and the US state-department.
Wikileaks reportedly received these from Pfc. Bradley Manning, though this isn't entirely certain, as far as i know. Wikileaks are releasing the cables in small increments, to give justice to the material being released. So far, around 1000 documents have been released. Which means there is a lot to go, and a lot of embarrassing moments various politicians.
The response so far has been US pressure against sites and service providers, such as Amazon, Paypal, Mastercard and Visa. I'll go into more detail later on. Basically they are thinking pretty one-dimensionally. Stop wikileaks.org, and stop the problem, right? Wrong. There are as of this writing over one thousand mirrors, providing the same content. Even though the US government is known for being pretty fucking stupid, they cannot seriously be this naïve. Once information enters the internet, it can never be taken out again. Ever.
So how did the US government think to stop this problem. Here are a few examples:
- Probably coercing Mastercard and Visa to stop taking donations to wikileaks. Wikileaks has lost a lot of money over this issue. Visa and Mastercard are both citing Terms of Service violations, but they have been vague at best, since there is still no idea of any law that Wikileaks might have broken *anywhere*. They are distributing already leaked material. Once it was leaked, it ceased to be private, and therefore, the only guilty party so far, is the person or persons who exfiltrated the data from "Secret" US government networks, such as SIPRNET.
- Secret in t his case meaning that about 3 million people worldwide have been granted access to the same data.
- Probably coercing Paypal to kill Wikileaks' account, and so deprive them of funds that people would have donated through paypal, which i previously thought was a pretty decent company. Not anymore.
- Note, that while wikileaks is in breach of Terms of Service, you can still donate money to such admirable organizations as the Ku Klux Clan through paypal. So get those dollars flowing people!
- Forcing Amazon to stop hosting wikileaks.org in their cloud service. Of course, the DDOSing of wikileaks.org placed significant stress on Amazon's infrastructure, but again, citing TOS violations are pretty funny.
- I can't even being to list all the similar items either on sale, or hosted at Amazon, providing equally "damaging" information, but Wikileaks was apparently different. Or then you just wanted to play nice with the Government bullies.
- Forcing various DNS service providers from hosting wikileaks DNS records, therefore making you unable to access wikileaks.org by name.
- This as we have seen is -- uh -- very effective. Over a thousand mirrors have cropped up so far, offering the same exact site as the now downed wikileaks.org. Also if a DNS server is removed, you can still access a site by its IP-address, unless they take more drastic measures, such as DDOSsing sites (such as wikileaks.ch, which is down from having to serve excessive requests). Speculation suggests the attackers are affiliated with the US government, who are waging a desperate and inane war against an "enemy" they do not comprehend.
- Telling various government agencies and institutions that accessing wikileaks or any of the published cables is illegal or against regulations. These include at least the state department, military institutions (like soldiers overseas fighting for this very country). Rumors are even abound that schools are suggesting or prohibiting students from discussing or writing essays on the subject. I will repeat that these are unsubstantiated rumors.
So where do things stand now? Julian Assange, the "leader" of wikileaks is now in Brittish Custody, and soon to be turned over to Swedish authorities for trial on two alledged sex-crimes he committed. Now, while most media sources speak of rape, this is not the case. Is a journalist someone who does not check their facts? I think not. Rape has never been the charge. In stead, the crimes is that when two people agree to consensual sex in Sweden, and during intercourse, your condom breaks, the woman can sue you. Two women did. Two very interesting women. One may or may not have CIA ties. The other, a noted feminist, studied an article on how to take legal revenge on men before suing Julian.
As soon as news of the arrest came out, talk of extradition to the US appeared. Curious. A bunch of idiots have suggested he might be tried for treason, and various other ludicrous crimes. How can a non-US citizen be accused of treason? Well, in works by various other idiots, is now a revamping of the old espionage law, that would give US authorities the leverage they need to prosecute pretty much... anyone anywhere for spying and causing harm to US interests. I have no doubt in my mind that the Swedish authorities will hand him over just gladly, bending over to the will of the US government. If Julian is extradited, which is very likely to happen (if he isn't assassinated first), he will probably never see the light of day again.
While my sympathies are with Julian and his family, taking him out of the equation will not affect Wikileaks in any way. In fact, it will only re-envigorate the cause. He would become a de-facto martyr for this "cause", if you can call it that. Wikileaks will live on as long as the people decide it will. And there is no amount of government hoo-haa they can pull out of their ass that will change any of that. If they want to do something, i suggest owning up to the diplomatic disasters they themselves have created over the last few decades. The age of diplomatic secrecy and fucking the people of this world in the ass is over. As in nature, either you adapt, or you die. In this case, we can't lose. Either governments will change to face this new reality, or they will crumble like a deck of cards.
Next in line is an exposé on the corrupted world of US banking! Rumors say it's Bank of America that is being targeted, with some 5 gigabytes of data leaked from the hard drive of a bank executive, supposedly revealing a culture of corruption, fraud and worse. I say go for it. If it costs us a re-collapse of the global economy, i say bring it. I am not afraid.
The world is in need of a decent shakeup.
Uncharacteristics.
I've taken to not writing anything about my personal life, but.. it's a late hour, and i'm feeling like shit, so i might as well use this as a kind of diary. I don't expect commentary. Not many people can understand what i'm going through, and that's just fine. This is mostly for me. So i can read about it later. Maybe i was also influenced by E to some degree to write this.
Since the breakup from my 6 year relationship with the first woman i really loved, I've gone through so many stages. I guess these are all in psych 104 or whatever, but it's another thing experiencing them on your own.
I thought i was set. A great kid, a son none the less, someone to carry on the family name. A beautiful wife whom i loved. A burgeoning career doing the thing i love the most. Years worth of un-replaceable experiences, good memories and immortal moments. A home.
Some people say that home is where you are. But when you've built something together, and one of the architects are taken away, it's no longer your home. It's just a storage place for memories.
Granted; good memories never fade. Bad memories stick around just long enough to teach us something, but they are gradually put aside. It's how the human mind works. The brain can't handle too much of the bad stuff, or it malfunctions and you become incapable of performing anything but the most basic tasks; if even those. I have what is called a high thresh-hold for activity or performance. I can take higher than average loads of crap, before i become unable to go to work, meet people, do things. Whether this is a good thing or not is debatable.
We've sat on the beach facing the Mediterranean, felt the fine sand under our toes, looking at the sunset. Feeling the salty breeze on our faces. Being happy, smiling and looking at each other. Ate rabbit stew up in a restaurant in a small village in the Sierra Nevada mountains, with an entré of Jámon Serrano. Climbed up to an old Moor castle. Climbed the Eifel Tower. Walked across Paris to reach the Louvré which looked a whole lot closer on the map. The gargoyles of Notre Dame. The steps leading up to the Sacre Coeur. Standing in the middle of Time Square. Looking across the bay toward the Statue of Liberty.
Sitting on the couch watching Eureka, or Alias or something. The small things. Saw the whole of Alias almost in sequence. And this was just a few months ago it feels.
Since i have partially eidetic memory, and a visual memory in general as well, i can't look at certain items anymore without feeling such deep sorrow. I remember where almost every DVD in my shelf was bought. When we first watched it. I had to replace about 3000 euro worth of furniture just to be able to live here. And here i am, still stuck in this 95 m2 appartment, with jack-all to do, and a brick where my brain should be. Just writing this makes me cry.
As i've concluded to so many people: all i have is a pile of good memories and the question of why.
Why do nice guys finish last?