November 2001 - cypherpunks-legacy

RE: Cypherpunks IQ Test
by Aimee Farr 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

Mike: Are you often the victim of mercenary females? > -----Original Message----- > From: mmotyka(a)lsil.com [mailto:mmotyka@lsil.com] > Sent: Monday, March 05, 2001 3:28 PM > To: aimee.farr(a)pobox.com > Subject: Cypherpunks IQ Test > > > It's an obvious setup. The woods are part of a defense installation, > apple is filled with coke, the girl is underage, the woods are full of > trigger happy fibbies. > > You hit the ground and roll into the brush, drawing on the way. You > attempt to locate opponents and identify the safest route away from the > situation. > > Mike > > > >CYPHERPUNKS IQ TEST > > > >QUESTION #1. > > > >You are walking through the woods alone. A beautiful unclothed woman > >magically appears in front of you. She holds out an apple. > > > >1. Please darken in the correct choice using a Number Two pencil: > > > >(a) you bite the apple. > >(b) you take the woman. > >(c) you run away. > >(d) a and b, but not c. > >(e) b and c only. > >(f) all of the above. > >(g) none of the above. > > > >2. Please justify your answer: > > > > > >___________________________________________________________________. > > > > > >Just curious.... > > > > -Aimee

2 1

More on "new physics"
by Tim May 06 Jul '18

06 Jul '18

Someone sent me a private note. I have deleted his name for this public reply. > Tim May wrote: > > >> The "new physics" stuff is quite different. It is scorned in a way >> that plate tectonics was not, and for good reason. Folks should visit >> Bearden's site. http://www.cheniere.org/correspondence/index.html > > I did. Oh, dear. > > Not sure what is supposed to be denoted by "Tesla physics", but Tesla's > work with power transmission via HF is fascinating, even if there was > apparently no practical or safe use for it. No one disputes the outstanding work Tesla did on a.c. transmission. And anyone who has seen or used a Tesla coil knows how real it is. "Tesla physics" is all the cruft that has developed around some of his more obscure (and late) writings, usually mixed together with stuff Tesla could not have known about at the time of his death. To wit, the stuff about zero point energy and perpetual motion machines. And, sometimes, mixed together with the usual nutcase stuff about the Hollow Earth theory (zeta reticulans colonizing the hollow earth, Greys, underground UFO bases, secret Nazi weapons, etc.). Tesla is a hero to these "new physics" nuts, even though nothing Tesla ever worked on or built contradicts in the slightest way the predictions of Maxwell's theories. They take Tesla's very real contributions and some of his weirder theories (though none of them so weird as the Hollow Earth/antigravity/time reversal theories of modern nutters) and say that this means "They laughed at Tesla, they laugh at me!" BTW, I was/am an early ("angel") investor in a company doing work on ultrawideband transmissions. Some of the works Bearden cites, like those of Barrett, are familiar to me and others with this company. Saying that there is a role for ultrawideband pulse technology, a la spread spectrum and beyond SS, is NOT the same as saying there are confirmed "problems" with electromagnetic theory. There may be, and there are a handful of folks doing "foundational" work in E&M, but, so far, there are no indications that their foundational work is changing any engineering calculations. Quite the contrary, in my view. Electromagnetic theory basically "works"--to many decimal places of accuracy. Circuits work as expected, antennas work as expected, and there are no "unexplained observations" (as usually exist before a new theory arrives). There may be some _semantic_ issues, e.g., does a square wave or impulse "really" have components that were sent out _before_ the square wave or impulse? (A Fourier decomposition of a square wave starting at time t = 0 has "sine wave components" spread out over time and adding up in such a way as to give the square wave, or the impulse, or any other signal. Some think this means deep and mysterious things are happening, something having to do with time travel and reversing the aging process, blah blah blah. Henning Harmuth may write fairly eloquently about the "dogma of the circle" and how the Fourier decomposition of a signal into (allegedly) a near-infinite series of sine waves is "not real," but for all intents and purposes it all works. And the "new physics" people like Bearden go way beyond what Harmuth and Barrett are talking about: they bring in "curved space-time" and gravitation and antigravity and the ultra-weird notion that aging can be reversed by "pumping the conjugate time-axis of the Minkowski manifold" (OK, I made this up...don't have time to lift one of Bearden's direct quotes...and this will help train me in the jargon if I ever become a "new physicist."). Nut cases like Bearden have the patter of physics down. Very few actual physicists waste their time dissecting and refuting Bearden for obvious reasons. I urge readers of this list not to waste time on this stuff. --Tim May, Citizen-unit of of the once free United States " The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. "--Thomas Jefferson, 1787

5 22

Request for Web Browser Information
by dstoler＠globalpac.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

I would like to know the information my browser makes available to web sites. I use both Netscape and Internet Explorer. Obviously web sites can determine my IP address for any given session; they can also look at cookies left by themselves and other sites. Can anyone point me to where I can learn exactly what other information is made available (browser version?, OS version?, system name?, user name?, etc.)? Thanks in advance. David

2 1

None
by Anonymous 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

2 1

Colorado Cypherpunks meeting
by nates＠netcom.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

2 1

Welcome to cypherwonks
by Majordomo＠Lists.EUnet.fi 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Welcome to the cypherwonks mailing list! If you ever want to remove yourself from this mailing list, send the following command in email to "Majordomo(a)Lists.EUnet.fi": unsubscribe cypherwonks Stanton McCandlish <mech(a)eff.org> Here's the general information for the list you've subscribed to, in case you don't already have it: This is the Cypherwonks mailing list Below is The Cypherwonk Charter, by L. Detweiler, Cypherwonk Janitor The cypherwonks are a splinter group from the cypherpunks also interested in promoting and implementing cryptographic technology. However, we have unique ideas on how to successfully implement these radical new capabilities to ensure privacy without encouraging criminal behaviors like forgery and `online predation'. We are also interested in a far more ambitious goal of `technological progress' that transcends a mere obsession with privacy and anonymity. The cypherwonks believe that many aspects of a identification and government are necessary and crucial for any social stability (particularly related to judicial and law enforcement systems), and are quite alarmed at talk about a `cryptoanarchy' resulting from the mere implementation of software protocols -- although we realize that radical new forms of government may appear with these new technologies, embodied in one term `Electronic Democracy'. We believe that while sometimes the `majority' can become a `tyranny', in general the idea of voting as a civilized way of resolving proposals and `one person, one vote' are sacred, and we are interested in implementing systems that promote interaction and collaboration among motivated and enthusiastic members, whether within the cypherwonk organization or within their nations (cypherwonks, of course, try to think free of local prejudices, and globally). Cypherwonks understand that *trust* and *honesty* are inherent in all human endeavors, *particularly* communication. We recognize that people trust others not to reveal our private email unless given permission, we trust others not to use information from our mail or about their identities to adverse aims, we trust that systems delivering mail will not be corrupted by criminals, or if they get caught there will be serious consequences, and many other explicit and implicit variations. We know that there are many ingenious ways of minimizing the amount of trust required in unknown components such as with the use of cryptography or pseudonyms, and we seek passionately to invent and use them, but at the root level, email is an exchange between human beings who trust each other. Therefore, we hold a sense of ethics and morality in strong reverence, and even though we're not always precisely sure what they entail, we know that they exist and we strive for the right ideal. We abhor the idea that `it's not wrong if you can get away with it' or other variations of moral relativism. Cypherwonks are also extremely interested in promoting and implementing `digital cash', but believe that while invariably the state's taxes tend to become burdensome, few civilized, technological societies are free of them, and certainly we do not advocate tax evasion, `black marketeering', or any other subversive or illegal activities through cryptographic techniques, and even beyond this we seek design protocols that discourage these subversive aims in general, because of their toxic, fragmentary effect on social unity. Cypherwonks recognize that our mailing list is extremely critical in coordinating our movement and our fellow members. It is our central nervous system. While the list is informal, we demand a professional atmosphere, and will privately object to people who are publicly rude or belligerent. But we are also extremely careful about what we say to each other in private, because people can be extremely influenced by what they receive in mail. We would be aghast and horrified to find that somebody viciously criticized someone in private mail based on public postings, for example. We place high value on being courteous to each other and minimizing disagreement where possible, forging consensus, and the art of diplomacy in surmounting political barriers. We trust each other on the list and in personal email. We wish to have an open, uplifting, inspiring, honest, representative, polite, respectful, egalitarian dialogue. We will never use the mailing list for personal or selfish reasons -- we strive to serve our fellow cypherwonks through our postings. We are what we claim to be. We abhor secrecy, `security through obscurity', and conspirational cliques. Cypherwonks are extremely interested in promoting some forms of anonymity. However, we do not necessarily believe that others are required to read anonymous postings. To the contrary, we believe that the individual should have the tools and freedom to filter his or her own mail based on real identities. In particular, we condemn the practice of `pseudospoofing,' the dangerous deception where a person builds up a pseudonym and misrepresents it as being that of a real person's identity. We police each other on the list to prevent it, and require a promise that our members refrain from it. While our trust can be betrayed, only those that are honest are true cypherwonks, and anyone who betrays our trust we consider a dishonist hypocrite, or worse, a tra *itor. Cypherwonks are extremely interested in building tangible systems. Engineers who love to discuss the nitty-gritty details of some scheme are at home on the cypherwonks list. We like to impress each other with our knowledge but at the same time state it in relevant and humble terms. We are not trying to win popularity contests with our postings. We are trying to accomplish ambitious endeavors. We are especially ecstatic to make connections with other cypherwonks interested in the same projects we are, and cooperating to build useful tools. We like to give status reports of our intermittent real-world meetings and

2 1

moderated cryptography list
by pmetzger＠lehman.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

Hello, all. I'm looking for a site willing to host a high-quality moderated cryptography mailing list which I am thinking of starting up. The list would be designed as a low volume, high readership, high quality source for 1) In-depth technical discussions of cryptography 2) Announcements of cryptographic products 3) Announcements of news items of interest to the cryptography community. 4) VERY limited numbers of postings on the social implications of cryptography, and I mean VERY limited. All postings would be explicitly approved by the moderator before going out to assure quality. Yes, that means fascistic restriction of your capacity for free speech, in exchange for not being overwhelmed with garbage every day. It is ultimately envisioned that should the list be a success I would try to move it to a moderated Usenet newsgroup. If you think that such a list is a Good Thing, and you can host it (which requires that you have a good internet connection and root access or similar on the machine in question), please let me know. I'll do all the work, and the crypto community will thank you tremendously. Perry Metzger

2 1

Re: Anarchy Gone Awry (fwd)
by Black Unicorn 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

This post is a perfect example why the two lists should be kept seperate and not merged. This sounds to me like it belongs on alt.politics.data- highway. -uni- (dark)

2 1

Re: CHAUM CHIMES IN
by cme＠ellisun.sw.stratus.com 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

>Date: 08 Sep 93 16:30:55 EDT >From: Sandy <72114.1712(a)CompuServe.COM> >Subject: CHAUM CHIMES IN >Message-Id: <930908203054_72114.1712_FHF95-2(a)CompuServe.COM> ..From: > SANDY SANDFORT Reply to: ssandfort(a)attmail.com [ . . . ] >Of course, the next letter to the editor calls for the adoption >of systems to track every vehicle at all times. The genius who >wrote the letter, thinks it would be a good way to prevent >nuclear, biological or chemical terrorism. Geeeeez. It was signed by Dorothy Denning, right? Actually, they should take that to its full conclusion. We need implants in every individual, broadcasting to the local surveillance agency, giving not only location but also every word spoken in the vicinity. It could also do a chemical analysis of the air in the neighborhood. It should also have a radiation counter. It should also monitor the host body, looking for signs of anger or sexual arousal? How else will we be guaranteed safe from mad bombers, rapists and child molesters? How else will our big budget LE agencies be able to protect us? I know. When it's finally adopted, worldwide, they'll call it the Ellison Plan. :-( - Carl

2 1

Stegno and DAT and digital music...
by Peter Wayner 17 Dec '03

17 Dec '03

In this week's Sunday NYT, Hans Fantel, their music guy, writes at length about the new "dithered" CD's and how the guys have improved the sound. He says that the original CD format was limited to 16 bits of sound because of costs. But many audiophiles reacted very negatively to the tinny, metalic quality to the music. For this reason, the companies have developed 20 bit DAT recording tape and then come up with ways to "dither" this into 16 bits. I am curious if anyone knows the details of these algorithms. Also, his point suggests that flipping the least significant bit of 16 bit music may not be imperceptable to some ears. If the classical music starts to sound tinny then there might be something subversive in the least significant bits. -Peter Wayner

2 1