Writing Science Fiction

A couple of years ago while observing the relentless anti-Science diatribe coming from the conservatives. I came up with a Idea for a Science Fiction story, and it went something like this;

Many different Scientist had been ‘blackballed’ by the government in power, and removed from their jobs. Unable to work, they had taken any jobs they could get, pumping gas, fast food, and delivery people. Low pay, no respect, and no Science. While many had offers to work abroad in their fields, they were blocked from leaving the U.S. by being placed on no-fly and no-travel restrictions. The government did not want the brain drain, but they didn’t want the scientist from becoming active again, and casting doubts upon the U.S.

So here we are, science suppressed, and scientist restricted. So a group of Irish (where I currently reside) conspired with the Irish government (covertly) to create passports and travel documents for the scientist being held. Then an Irish person who could pass in appearance to a scientist, would enter the U.S. as a visitor, and assume the identity of the individual, and work their jobs, fill their roles and report to their parole boards. In the mean time, the scientists would use the created Irish identities to flee the U.S. and then sometime later the substitutes themselves would exit. The scientists would then be free, and able to resume their Scientific Research.

The story would then detail this activity for several different scientists…etc, etc, etc

Now, in the present, this is no longer a Science Fiction story, and not even really a Fiction of any sort. It is a sad telling of the near reality.

UPDATE: It’s already beginning – Make our Planet Great!

Election 2016: Fascism in America

In the current climate the urge to paint Donal Trump as the New Hitler is often the theme, however the ‘The Donald’ is more showman and trickster than absolute dictator. And as showman he will say and do anything that it takes to win. However winning is nothing, the show must go on and the next ‘Thing’ must be won. And should Mr. Trump become Mr. President you will see such a unification of Republican and Democratic Congressional resistance against anything dangerous, that Mr. President should pursue, than has ever been seen before, ever. The world is safe.

The same can not be said of Hilary Clinton. While she is often alluded to as being better than Donald, and forgetting any and all dirt that might be heaved around at the moment. Her belief that the Presidency is hers by Rights, that she believes that the presidency is owed her, and does not have to be earned by a popular vote, is the most condemning sociopathic belief imaginable. This is the root of Fascism, of entitlement of the elite (or self deluded elite), that assumes authority where it is not granted. But should Ms. Clinton become Ms. President the world could slip under such a dark shroud that any and all, real or perceived, enemies and threats to Hilary would fear for their lives. As to threaten Her Reign would be a personal and bloody thing. And the world would tremble.

And while I do favor Bernie Sanders in the next election, anyone (not GOP) plucked off the street could be substituted here, as a last effort to prevent the next disaster.

Whoops: Guess who won? But worst than that, the GOP retained both the House and Senate.

MicroSoft Weasel Words

The boys at the office have been experimenting with Redis at the office however the server they were using was a Windows Server, and therefore the Redis database was running on Windows. So I took a look at the ‘release notes’ from Microsoft and their ‘Lawyer Speak’ was all over it.

MSOpenTechâ„¢ Redis on Windows

We strive to have a stable, functionally equivalent and comparably performing version of Redis on Windows. We have achieved performance nearly identical to the POSIX version running head-to-head on identical hardware across the network. Aside from feature differences that help Redis take advantage of the Windows infrastructure, our version of Redis should work in most situations with the identical setup and configuration that one would use on a POSIX operating system.

Having seen this type of language from Microsoft before, in ‘Open’ products like LDAP and ODBC where Microsoft would alter the implementation specification standards to suit themselves, I am wholly obliged to translate their opening paragraph into English for those who don’t ‘get it’. The paragraph should read as follows:

Microsoft’s Proprietary version of Redis for Windows
We have not managed to achieve a stable, functional equivalent or comparably performing version of Redis on Windows yet. We have managed to produce performance almost as good as a POSIX version running head-to-head on identically throttled networks connections. Aside from the changes we had to make to enable it to work within a Windows infrastructure, our version of Redis (using a Microsoft infrastructure) could almost perform using a setup and configuration that looks like a Posix operating system.

Reads a bit differently doesn’t it.

I have warned the developers here not to implement a production system based upon Microsoft’s version of Redis. I do not have anything against Redis, just the dark hole MS expects developers to jump into again.

Water Charges

For those who haven’t got it yet, the Water charges are just another ‘Stealth’ Tax. It was NEVER intended to fund water services. It was an excuse to tax the people of Ireland, suggested to them by the Troikia to pay for the Bank Bailout.

If you think that 0.005€ per liter is magiclly derived from average water usage, to arrive at ~280€ per month you would have been shocked if it had been 1.00€ per liter to arrive at that same monthly figure had the usage data been lower.

Garth Brooks, victim of bad Business (Ireland)

The entire Garth Brooks debacle is an example of Irish ‘Wink and a Handshake‘ culture. I have absolutly no doubt that the concert series was ALWAYS for 5 shows, but that the promoter thought they could make more money by promoting only the first three, then adding on the additional two shows, with the full support and agreement of the GAA and Dublin City Council.

The promoter KNEW he could not get 5 nights, but thought that they could ‘work around‘ the issues in back room deals the the GAA and Councils. The issue is that they were NOT required to get a license BEFORE promoting the concerts.

This is the same issue that the building boom had, that collapsed the Irish Economy, get the planning permission AFTER you completed the building. Bass Ackwards!

Hiding in plain sight

In this age of ‘Big Data’ the masters are the ones who hide in plain sight. If you generate billions of media bits that must be parsed by the powers that be, the devil really is in the details.

During a stint in a fraud unit I learned that the trick wasn’t to read all the monitored data, but to build patterns of ‘normal’ for everyone monitored. If the patterned changed then something had changed, and an investigator was assigned.

Another article I keep remembering is an interview with with a ‘Ninja Assissan’ who was quoted as;

” I never sleep in the same bed two nights in a row (he had 5 bedrooms), and he never ate the same thing for breakfast (though he always ate what he wanted)

Hence the pattern he would generate would always be random, and therefore a consistent repeated event would be considered abnormal and a ‘red flag’ that something wasn’t normal.

So to hide, and maintain privacy would be to either overwhelm the bit watchers, or develop such a random lifestyle as to make normal pattern matching methods useless.

anyone want to be a Ninja Assissan?

UPDATE: Pattern Reconition

UPDATE 2: Global consumer data broker plans to reveal your data

If you Can’t dazzle them with data, baffle them with Bull Shit!!!

UPDATE 3: Just so you know: US government is hoovering data from Apple, Microsoft and Google servers

Skype security, and privacy

Communications and privacy will always be a concern, any protocol a computer can generate can be broken, the question is how long, and how important.

If your ego about your importance in the world is justified by others, then expect them to be listening. You can only slow them down.

For the rest of us, who are meaningless, no one will take the time to break through tissue paper to listen in on us. And we are safe enough.

If you seek real security, don’t use a computer to encrypt your message, find a better way.

The Banking Crisis is Our Fault!

I heard all the arguments, and if I were in a position to actually have made the decisions, or been allowed to tender an opinion on the actions taken. I know I would have made different choices. But in the end;

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE BANKING CRISIS!


We the people of Ireland are personally responsible for the crisis, for WE voted on the corrupt and idiotic government, the bad bureaucracy and bribed banked owned politicians who put us into this position. AS IN PERIOD!

WE ARE RESPONSIBLE!


There is no getting around it, so stop talking about a banking crisis, it’s a crisis of a democratic majority more concerned with trifling personalities, and historical artifacts that have no basis in fact. A Nonsensical political system that reenforces the rich, and dumps the poor and middle classes.

Gaddafi, the better deal for the western world.

If it hasn’t been apparent from the start. The western nations, via their corporate masters have deemed Gaddafi is the better choice to make deals with, regarding Libyan oil. Democratic governments are too, ‘open’ to he public. So in libya, the choice was clear, let the western leaders wring their hands, talk the talk, the let the revolution fail.

Simple, every government can pat themselves on the back for saying the right thing, while declaring that their hands were tied due to a ‘catch 22‘ situation, dammed if they do, dammed if they don’t.

The real question for the United States, what if the French had chosen NOT to intervene in the American Revolution?

Bow down before your corporate (interest) masters folks. Bend over, you are being given another drilling.

The 71 Fianna Fáil Royals, does not Democracy Make.

The 71 Fianna Fáil Party Royalty who are being allowed to decide on the issue of wither we remove a Corrupt and disgraceful Taoiseach, Brian Cowen is not a Democracy. It only represents the swaggering elitist thugs that have manhandled the Irish state into the ashcan of Europe and pissed away the sovereignty of Ireland and are therefore NOT entitled to make that decision.

An immediate General Election should be called and the ‘Heave’ should be given to the entire Fianna Fáil Gang by the people of Ireland in a true Democratic election.

The Woe of WiKileaks

George Carlin on the “American dream, outlines why WiKileaks is being assaulted. And why we have such rotten governments around the world.



Additional Material: Amnesia as a Way of Life: WikiLeaks Amid the “Careless People”