July 2001 - cypherpunks-legacy

overflight payments
by Reese 13 Jul '01

13 Jul '01

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/1997/int/970616/special.flight_or_fri.html I acknowledge the point, as I am willing to place more value in Time than cubatrade.org or cubaonline.org - though I think you should have included a url while you were copying and pasting, or just the url itself. Reese

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Taxifornia becomes interplanetary menace (fwd)
by Eugene Leitl 13 Jul '01

13 Jul '01

-- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://www.lrz.de/~ui22204/">leitl</a> ______________________________________________________________ ICBMTO : N48 10'07'' E011 33'53'' http://www.lrz.de/~ui22204 57F9CFD3: ED90 0433 EB74 E4A9 537F CFF5 86E7 629B 57F9 CFD3 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2001 20:45:13 -0400 From: Eliezer S. Yudkowsky <sentience(a)pobox.com> Reply-To: extropians(a)extropy.org To: "extropians(a)extropy.org" <extropians(a)extropy.org> Subject: Taxifornia becomes interplanetary menace http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20010710/tc/life_satellites_dc_1.html == L.A. May Be Shot Down in Bid to Tax Satellites By Dan Whitcomb LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles officials seeking to impose property taxes on space satellites were brought back down to Earth on Tuesday when a state board moved toward declaring satellites beyond the reach of even the tax collector. But Los Angeles County Assessor Rick Auerbach said he was not yet ready to scrap the proposed tax and would consider a court challenge if he finds that the California State Board of Equalization has circumvented state or federal law. It was Auerbach who determined that eight communications satellites owned by Hughes Electronics Corp.(NYSE:GMH - news) and currently in geostationary orbit 22,300 miles over Earth's equator were taxable as movable property that was currently out of state, similar to construction equipment. That decision prompted county officials to consider an assessment on the communications satellites, which are each worth up to $100 million new. But State Board of Equalization members appeared to short circuit that plan on Tuesday when they voted 5-0 to ``fast track'' a rule that satellites cannot be taxed, even though Hughes, a unit of GM (NYSE:GM - news), is based in Los Angeles. The decision came after presentations by Hughes and Auerbach and directs the board's staff to draft a rule declaring the satellites nontaxable. Board members would vote on that proposed rule in the coming months. George Jamison, a Hughes vice president, said the firm was relieved and pleased by what he called the ``good common sense'' of the board and said they considered the proposed tax a very bad idea from the start. HUGHES: TAX IS 'LUDICROUS' ``It's ludicrous, absolutely,'' Jamison said. ``It's the type of issue, quite frankly, that causes the company to consider relocating its base of operations to a more business-friendly environment.'' The satellites are not launched from California, do not pass over California while in orbit and will never return to the state, instead becoming space junk, he said. ``We think the ruling is important,'' Jamison said. ``These spacecraft are not be in the state of California, have never been in the state of California during their useful lives and will never be in the state of California in the future.'' Auerbach conceded that the board members ``have made up their mind already that the property is not taxable,'' but said the issue was not necessarily dead because he had researched the case and found legal opinions supporting his position. ``I'll have to see what basis they have for the rule,'' Auerbach said. ``If I believe it's improper (under the) U.S. Constitution and and state statutes my option is to go to Superior Court.'' ``I have to keep an open mind,'' Auerbach said. ``Based on the opinions I have I think it still looks taxable.'' Auerbach insisted that he was not pushing for a tax on the satellites but was simply doing his job and trying to determine whether they should be taxed. ``I'm neutral on the whole thing,'' he said. ``My job is to make sure all property that's taxable gets assessed and I'm going to follow the law. If the law says its not taxable it's not taxable. If it is taxable I will assess it.'' ==

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Promozione
by Lucia 13 Jul '01

13 Jul '01

Informativa ex art. 10 della legge 675/96 sul trattamento dei dati personali. La dopshop ha raccolto il suo indirizzo e-mail da fonte pubblica per trattarlo a scopo promozionale,comunque nel rispetto della legge 675/96 e quindi nelle misure di sicurezza e riservatezza dalla stessa previste.Secondo quanto previsto dall'art. 13 della legge,potete richiederne la cancellazione rispondendo a questa e-mail con ogg. reccessione. _________________________________________________________________

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Thought-A-Day
by Fountain Of Inspiration 13 Jul '01

13 Jul '01

California is a fine place to live--if you happen to be an orange. --Fred Allen ====================================================================== Your name has been recommended to receive thoughts of wisdom from Fountain of Joy. These thoughts will be delivered, free of cost, to your desktop,everyday, for an initial evaluation period. We believe that the meaningful insights of these carefully selected thoughts will make your life peaceful,successful & happy in a way you had never imagined before. However, if you desire to unsubscribe, reply to this email with 'remove' in the subject line. Director, Fountain of Joy (A Non-religious Organisation)

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Acts of the Apostles, recommended.
by Eugene Leitl 13 Jul '01

13 Jul '01

-- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://www.lrz.de/~ui22204/">leitl</a> ______________________________________________________________ ICBMTO : N48 10'07'' E011 33'53'' http://www.lrz.de/~ui22204 57F9CFD3: ED90 0433 EB74 E4A9 537F CFF5 86E7 629B 57F9 CFD3 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 11:23:44 -0700 From: glen mccready <gkm(a)petting-zoo.net> To: 0xdeadbeef(a)petting-zoo.net Subject: Acts of the Apostles, recommended. Resent-Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 11:23:52 -0700 (PDT) Resent-From: 0xdeadbeef(a)petting-zoo.net Forwarded-by: Nev Dull <nev(a)sleepycat.com> From: Christopher Sandstrom Small <christopher.small(a)sun.com> At USENIX last week, just inside the door at the vendor exhibition, there was an apparent loony set up at a folding table with large, multi-colored, hand-printed signs on poster board inviting people to buy a copy of a book titled "Acts of the Apostles". The signs looked like standard (sic) psychotic ramblings: * Learn how Gulf War Syndrome was caused by collusion between Digital MicroSystems and Scientists working in the Bowels of MIT!!! * The Author of This Book is the recipient of the Society of Technical Communication's Award of Distinguished Technical Communication and Brazil's Rei do Lixo medal! (If you know any Portuguese, you'll note that "Rei do Lixo" translates as "King of Trash".) The bearded, disheveled looking guy sitting behind the table (John Sundman, the author) was saying to everyone who passed by "Buy my book! Buy my book! Only $15 for an autographed copy!" (OK, for the USENIX crowd he was not at all disheveled -- longish hair and beard, sure, but he was wearing a shirt with a collar.) So I figure he's probably not dangerous. I walk over, and see that the book has been reviewed on Slashdot, geek.com, newstrolls, and salon.com (!). It's compared positively with Neal Stephenson's work. I pick it up and start to skim through it. It looks pretty good. What the hell, it's only $15. I fork it over, he signs a copy for me, and hands it to me. After all, how often do you get to read a book inspired both by Vannevar Bush and Ted Kaczynsky? Or one that both Borders and Barnes and Noble mis-file under "Christian Theology"? My wife zips through the book in a couple of days, then I start to read it, and I discover that the damn thing is a good read. There _is_ a familial resemblance between his style and Stephenson's. It read very much line Interface, or Cryptonomicon, if Stephenson had written one of them as his first book. Sure, there are some problems. It definitely reads like a first book (see Stephenson's "The Big U" -- also recommended). It could use a copy editing pass, and some tightening up here and there. And some of the references to people and entities I know or know of are none too well concealed -- Ken Olson, Esther Dyson, Doug Engelbart, Xerox PARC, Digital Equipment Corp ("Digital Data"), Sun Microsystems ("Stanford Microsystems"). Mosaic Technologies ("Mosaic Technologies") (may it rest in peace) (or pieces -- you'll understand if you've ever seen any of the hardware we shipped). Even if I hadn't met the guy, and read about the torturous path he took from professional geek to self published author (see http://www.wetmachine.com/links/index.shtml) the book is well worth the $15 risk, especially if you liked Interface and Cryptonomicon. And after reading his personal story, I'm very tempted to send him a check for a dozen copies and give them out to all of my geek^WCryptonomicon-loving friends. (I'll at least be buying a copy for my father-in-law, a retired physicist and big Stephenson fan.) You can read the first 13 chapters on-line, at http://www.wetmachine.com/acts/index.shtml. You can read reviews at http://www.wetmachine.com/reviews/index.shtml. And if the above sounds good, you can order a copy from Amazon.com or the author directly, at http://www.wetmachine.com/order/index.shtml. (My guess is that he makes less money if you buy it from Amazon.com, but benefits from having documented sales figures.) - Chris (N.b. I have no financial interest in sales of this book. I'm motivated by enlightened altruism -- I'd like the guy to sell enough copies to write a second book.) -- Christopher Sandstrom Small | 781.442.8644 Network Storage Technology Office | Sun Microsystems

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Chandra Levy Special
by George＠Orwellian.Org 13 Jul '01

13 Jul '01

John Walsh is doing a one hour special tomorrow. His theory is that it's a serial killer. Apparently *two* other Washington interns have turned up dead.

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China: the Olympic Ideal
by George＠Orwellian.Org 13 Jul '01

13 Jul '01

China just got the next full Olympics. One of our (USA) congressman objected because the Olympic creed involves (I forget exactly) freedom/human dignity. The BUllSHit administration had no comment because "we don't get a vote anyway". Yeah, and Daddy Bush invaded Kuwait to protect democracy.

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Re: General Ashcroft makes his move
by A. Melon 13 Jul '01

13 Jul '01

Those 3 things you mentioned violate the First on at least two counts, free speech and press, and also the "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" part --- the obscenity and kid porn stuff is pure Judeo-Christian bigotry. Whose to say other religions wouldn't teach the opposite? Like the worship of Ishtar (Easter) for instance, whose scriptures have Her saying "My father taught me the kissing of the phallus". Or read "Coming of Age in Somoa" by Margret Mead. George(a)Orwellian.Org wrote: Jimminy Critic wrote: # # Where is that boundary condition in the amendment? Saying "felons # may not own firearms" is certainly an infringment. Rights don't # come from the state after all (see 1st two para's of the DoI). # # Amendment II # # A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of # a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, # shall not be infringed. Gee, how pure and simple. What is your position on the First Amendment and: o "obscenity" o child pornography o generated non-child child pornography

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save the children!
by Declan McCullagh 13 Jul '01

13 Jul '01

FOREIGN AFFAIRS Save the Children News conference to call upon the United States to accept limits on the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons. Participants: Christine Knudson, Save the Children; Jo Marie Griesgraber, Oxfam America; Lincoln Ndodoni, World Vision and Adotei Akwei, Amnensty international Location: National Press Club, Zenger Room, 14th and F St., NW. 9:30 a.m. Contact: 203-221-4187 **NEW**

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Re: Meatspace,
by Faustine 13 Jul '01

13 Jul '01

On Tue, 10 Jul 2001, Faustine wrote: > Jim wrote: > > >Ghandi. Womens Sufferage (US). Jim Crow Laws (US). Vietnam. Civil Rights > >in the 60's. > >The point being, there are plenty of historical precidence where this sort > >of behaviour has led directly to the change desired by the protestors > >against a much better armed and entrenched foe. > > It depends on which sort of behavior you mean--none of these causes > believed in violence at all! >Um, you should review the 60's groups like the SDS and such. Exactly: those weren't the groups that made the real impact when it actually came to getting down to business and changing policy. Blame MKULTRA or whatever you want, but the bottom line is that they fell apart (and had their members killed or put in jail) whereas groups who didn't espouse violence continue to this day. And while >Ghandi certainly didn't believe in violence the same can't be said for the >rest of the Indian freedom movement (not all hailed to Ghandi). Without Ghandi, British policy would have taken a far different turn. Violence hasn't exactly been a stunning success for the IRA, has it. >As to >women sufferage, you need to do some more research there as well, not all >women are pascifist. they burned more than bra's... Guess you totally missed what I was trying to say about the Pankhursts. >You paint with too broad a brush (typical of the indoctrinating education >of the day - going all the way back to when I was a kid in the 60's) Oh come on. Address my points, don't insult me. We can get as specific as you like--there are too many issues here to cover them in adequate detail in a couple of posts. > Back in the day, anarchists used to assasinate people. >Every ilk assassinates every other ilk if given the oportunity and the >personality. Not Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Susan B. Anthony, Bobby Kennedy and and the vast majority of the people who espoused the causes you mentioned above. The ones who made the real difference--the ones who immediately come to mind every time we think of their cause--didn't espouse violence. If you want to talk about Che and Mao and Chairman Gonzalo, that's another story. > What came of it? >>The Indians are a free country. You and blacks can vote. Not because of the anarchists decision to espouse violence, which the point of the above question. If you want to talk about tactics of anarchists today, why not draw on examples from other groups who espoused violence, rather than comparing them to groups which largely used peaceful tactics. Apples and oranges. >The reality is, your example of the 'troops in the street willing to gun >'em down' (a paraphrase) is apt. The only thing stopping them is knowing >that the majority of people don't believe it. They still believe in the >'kindly policeman who's there to help you' of their youth. After Rodney King? the LAPD scandal? Abner Louima? Mumia? Patrick Dorismond? Not anymore. Ever see statistics on the way people perceive racial profiling? Maybe the "kindly cop" stereotype still holds in whitebread middle America, but the rest of the nation is getting a clue. >Want to see the other side? Kent State. True... > The Sacco and Vanzetti case. Here's an > uncomforably familiar bit on that--just fill in new details and it's as > contemporary as ever: >>One case does not a generalization make. Who said it did? I thought it was interesting to note how it paralells quite a few different cases today. Anyway, I certainly think it's more relevant to the effects of the tactics of anarchism than bringing up Ghandi. > Ouch. There's a real lesson there! >Yeah, you need to study history more. Who doesn't? Anyway, I wasn't bringing it up to score debate points or some childish thing like that, why counter it that way. Too bad you didnt see anything interesting there-- I really do think it's really worth considering, especially in light of the whole "counterterrorist mania". >You're trying to sit on the fence and at the same time stand on both sides. Not really, it's a complex set of issues. Why don't you say a little more in detail about why "spirit" is a more central issue than tactics, that ought to be interesting. ~Faustine.

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