February 2003 - cypherpunks-legacy

A special excite game
by reinhold 03 Feb '03

03 Feb '03

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Re: "Touching shuttle debris may cause bad spirits to invade your body!"
by Tim May 03 Feb '03

03 Feb '03

On Sunday, February 2, 2003, at 04:11 PM, Sunder wrote: > > Far more than likely, the truth is closer that the Space Shuttles have > been performing ultra sensitive spy work - launching new spy > satelites, or > repairing them, and may have pieces of spy satelites on them. > > Let's see, we're going into war with Iraq, and we're sending up the > shuttle to do experiments on how furry weavols behave under zero > gravity... uh huh. But, but, but the Israeli Payload Specialist, the Colonel in the IDF who was on the bombing mission to take out the Osirak reactor in Iraq in 1981, certainly was not involved with any kind of surveillance satellite work! His sole duty was to investigate the effects of gamma rays on man-in-the-moon marigolds. That's NASA's story...and they're sticking to it. "Pay no attention to the Israeli Defense Forces spy behind the DOD curtain!" (Several times in the past we have only been told long after the fact that what had been billed as a "scientific mission" by NSA, er, NASA, was actually a military mission. Given that missions are very, very expensive and usually have somewhat-justifiable mission goals, the fact that this mission had no publically-disclosed goals except "science fair projects" suggests strongly why the Israeli pilot was on this particular mission. And Pakistan may be wondering what the Indian woman was doing.) --Tim May

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Re: punk and free markets
by Tyler Durden 03 Feb '03

03 Feb '03

Declan: Yes perhaps. I try not to think too much (I don't trust 'thinking' unless its mathematics or a good experimental setup), but I'll ponder for a while, to the extent that I am able.... -TD >From: Declan McCullagh <declan(a)well.com> >To: Tyler Durden <camera_lumina(a)hotmail.com> >CC: tcmay(a)got.net, cypherpunks(a)minder.net >Subject: Re: punk and free markets >Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 00:48:40 -0500 > >On Sat, Feb 01, 2003 at 06:33:50PM -0500, Tyler Durden wrote: > > name cypherpunks) has aspects of that character. But it always pisses me >off > > when I see the local jocks or other thoughtpolice come on out and >enforce > > whatever ideology it is desired we bow down to. > >"Jocks enforcing ideology" seems to me to be a concept coterminous >with "flaming the clueless." > >:) > >-Declan _________________________________________________________________ Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

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Re: "Touching shuttle debris may cause bad spirits to invade your body!"
by Tyler Durden 02 Feb '03

02 Feb '03

Tim May wrote... "Last laugh: CNN is carrying (10:06 a.m. PST) an "information" slug at the bottom of a Wolf Blitzer interview: "Columbia was traveling 18 times faster than the speed of light." Yes, "speed of light." " Yo Choate! Want to take a crack at this? Please explain using your theories how the shuttle can be traveling 18 times faster than light! -TD "Ain't I a stinker?" BB >From: Tim May <tcmay(a)got.net> >To: cypherpunks(a)lne.com >Subject: "Touching shuttle debris may cause bad spirits to invade your >body!" >Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 10:19:27 -0800 > >Journalists may as well be saying the above, saying that shuttle debris has >evil spirits which can come out if the debris is touched. > >Part of the dumbing down of America, and of journalism. (I just heard one >Fox News anchorbimbo referring to the Russian rocket launched today as >"bringing supplies to the space station.) > >The journalists are spouting the NASA line that shuttle debris may be "hot" >and may have dangerous substances. Right. As if the heat and spinning and >12000 mph turbulence hasn't scrubbed every surface of its volatiles. > >What they want is for people not to collect the pieces and hang on to them >on their fireplace mantles. Or to try to sell them at flea markets and >EBay. > >But the only way they think they can frighten people off is to utter >obvious gibberish about how the pieces are "hot" and "may be toxic." > >"DALLAS (AP) - From corrosive fuels to ammonia-like liquids, insulation and >plastics, space shuttle Columbia carried a witch's brew of toxic and >caustic materials designed to work in the hostile environment of space. > >"Authorities warned the public to stay away from shuttle debris because it >could be harmful. > >"Perry said either liquid oxygen from the shuttle's fuel system or liquid >nitrogen used to inflate the tires could be dangerous. " > >Right. Those charred and warped pieces of metal are going to have liquid >oxygen and/or liquid nitrogen on them...after the fall and after sitting on >the ground (not to mentioned being so "hot," other NASA droids and >reporters report). > >(Needless to say, any look at the images of the designated officials >picking up the bits of debris shows no HAZMAT suits, no welding gloves to >deal with the "hot" debris. The pickup crews are just wearing ordinary >coveralls and uniforms.) > >Last laugh: CNN is carrying (10:06 a.m. PST) an "information" slug at the >bottom of a Wolf Blitzer interview: "Columbia was traveling 18 times faster >than the speed of light." > >Yes, "speed of light." > >Speaking of journalists, why does Wolf Blitzer repeat this obvious lie >about the metal bits and pieces being tainted by evil spirits? Because >these so-called journalists are stooges for the state. > >A real journalist would just roll his eyes and say "Look, folks, NASA wants >these pieces to be aid in reconstructing the accident. There are no traces >of liquid propellants and deadly chemicals on these pieces. And they >certainly didn't stay hot for long. NASA is trying to get us to feed you >jive so you'll be properly frightened and won't touch them.?" > > >--Tim May, Occupied America >"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety >deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759. _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus

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Re: Flaming the Clueless
by Tyler Durden 02 Feb '03

02 Feb '03

Jesus H....(I assume the 'H' was instered to avert the condemnation of blasphemy)...quite a good post. Heard and duly noted. -TD >From: John Young <jya(a)pipeline.com> >To: cypherpunks(a)lne.com >Subject: Flaming the Clueless >Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 09:32:47 -0800 (PST) > >It's common for those accomplished in one field to believe that ability is >confidently transferrable to another, in particular for social, political >and religious matters -- and vice versa. > >Endeavors which require close, sustained concentration and logical >methodologies seldom help with challenges which require noodling, free-form >creativity, openness to disagreement, compromise. And vice versa. > >Disaster looms when a logical minded person gains political power and sets >out to arrange a nation into a perfect society as if a machine for sharply >controlled output. And vice versa when a muddled-headed dreamer sets out to >design and manufacture physical structures. > >Yet again and again this happens: logical nuts get into positions of >political power -- left, right and center, anarcho and theological -- and >all to often millions suffer, and multi-thousands are murdered. Or an >all-loving putz so narcotizes adherents to believe heaven on earth is at >hand that mass suicide occurs, not least by letting a logical nut >annihilate the willing victims. > >Cluelessness abounds, not only on cpunks but in all fields, almost as >commonplace as clueless flaming. Flaming the clueless is perfect proof that >flamers are no wiser than those they mimic. > >Never let an over-confident thinker run anything except bath water and >never obey a beloved mush-brain calling for war. Yet here we are, flaming >the clueless at hand as if whistling is courageous deep-thinking. > >Auto-didact, heal your ignorance, to be sure, a contradiction. _________________________________________________________________ STOP MORE SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

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Rocket Man
by Steve Schear 02 Feb '03

02 Feb '03

"Rocket Man" By Tom Rapp (from the Pearls Before Swine album "The Use of Ashes", 1970) My father was a rocket man He often went to Jupiter or Mercury, to Venus or to Mars My mother and I would watch the sky And wonder if a falling star Was a ship becoming ashes with a rocket man inside My mother and I Never went out Unless the sky was cloudy or the sun was blotted out Or to escape the pain We only went out when it rained My father was a rocket man He loved the world beyond the world, the sky beyond the sky And on my mother's face, as lonely as the world in space I could read the silent cry That if my father fell into a star We must not look upon that star again My mother and I Never went out Unless the sky was cloudy or the sun was blotted out Or to escape the pain We only went out when it rained Tears are often jewel-like My mother's went unnoticed by my father, for his jewels were the stars And in my father's eyes I knew he had to find In the sanctity of distance something brighter than a star One day they told us the sun had flared and taken him inside My mother and I Never went out Unless the sky was cloudy or the sun was blotted out Or to escape the pain We only went out when it rained My father was a rocket man He often went to Jupiter or Mercury, to Venus or to Mars My mother and I would watch the sky And wonder if a falling star Was a ship becoming ashes with a rocket man inside My mother and I Never went out Unless the sky was cloudy or the sun was blotted out Or to escape the pain We only went out when it rained My father was a rocket man He loved the world beyond the world, the sky beyond the sky And on my mother's face, as lonely as the world in space I could read the silent cry That if my father fell into a star We must not look upon that star again My mother and I Never went out Unless the sky was cloudy or the sun was blotted out Or to escape the pain We only went out when it rained Tears are often jewel-like My mother's went unnoticed by my father, for his jewels were the stars And in my father's eyes I knew he had to find In the sanctity of distance something brighter than a star One day they told us the sun had flared and taken him inside My mother and I Never went out Unless the sky was cloudy or the sun was blotted out Or to escape the pain We only went out when it rained "Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled." -- Richard P. Feynman

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Who owns stuff that falls onto someone's property?
by Tim May 02 Feb '03

02 Feb '03

Expect the first EBay auctions of debris from the "Columbia" to be a constitutional issue soon. (Actually, the censors at fascist EBay have probably already flagged any transactions which mention "space shuttle" and "Columbia" to be illegal thoughtcrime sales.) Many tons of debris, scattered over at least three states. The FedGov is already trying to claim control over the entire debris field. (Of course, those in the know would be interested in any debris which includes artifacts from Shen Zou 4, the module left in orbit by the Chinese satellite launch, said by Jane's to be a military surveillance satellite, China's first, and said to have been a recovery mission by the three payload specialists on the classified STS-107 misison. The possibility that the Chinese set a 3-kg explosive charge to detonate under accelerometer signals is...interesting.) Janes.com: "SZ 4 left its orbital module in orbit, where it will operate as an independent satellite for six or seven months, conducting Earth observation (perhaps military as well as civil), science and technical experiments. " But, of course, such speculations are now banned under orders of HomeSec Internal Security Directorate 117-4, so I am making no such speculations. --Tim May "Ben Franklin warned us that those who would trade liberty for a little bit of temporary security deserve neither. This is the path we are now racing down, with American flags fluttering."-- Tim May, on events following 9/11/2001

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Flaming the Clueless
by John Young 02 Feb '03

02 Feb '03

It's common for those accomplished in one field to believe that ability is confidently transferrable to another, in particular for social, political and religious matters -- and vice versa. Endeavors which require close, sustained concentration and logical methodologies seldom help with challenges which require noodling, free-form creativity, openness to disagreement, compromise. And vice versa. Disaster looms when a logical minded person gains political power and sets out to arrange a nation into a perfect society as if a machine for sharply controlled output. And vice versa when a muddled-headed dreamer sets out to design and manufacture physical structures. Yet again and again this happens: logical nuts get into positions of political power -- left, right and center, anarcho and theological -- and all to often millions suffer, and multi-thousands are murdered. Or an all-loving putz so narcotizes adherents to believe heaven on earth is at hand that mass suicide occurs, not least by letting a logical nut annihilate the willing victims. Cluelessness abounds, not only on cpunks but in all fields, almost as commonplace as clueless flaming. Flaming the clueless is perfect proof that flamers are no wiser than those they mimic. Never let an over-confident thinker run anything except bath water and never obey a beloved mush-brain calling for war. Yet here we are, flaming the clueless at hand as if whistling is courageous deep-thinking. Auto-didact, heal your ignorance, to be sure, a contradiction.

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Re: punk and free markets
by Tyler Durden 02 Feb '03

02 Feb '03

Tim May wrote... >Silliness. The name "cypherpunks" was a pun on "cyberpunks," a pun >suggested by Jude Milhon, a woman writer for "Mondo 2000" at the time. > >Being that there is no body which "decides" what our group is called, or >even that it _is_ a group, saying that someone's pun on top of someone >else's pun means some political ideology attached to degenerates like Sid >Vicious, the Dead Kennedy's, etc., is pure silliness. > >Whether even "cyberpunks" had anything substantive to do with the so-called >punk music scene is debatable, but cypherpunks certainly did not. The >political ideology of all musical "punks" I have met is decidedly leftist, >and not in the way libertarians often like. Rather, the leftists of British >socialism, of American Democrat statists, and of Trotskyites in general. Sometimes I keep asking myself if the author of statements like these is really pretending Guru-like to be clueless just to elicit a response. But it's obvious here that whoever "Tim May" is he's just about clueless. In the discussions about the meaning of the suffix "-punk" I don't remember seeing any suggestion that "Cypherpunks" had any connection politically or music-wise to punk music. The posts were meant to explore what quintessentially punk flavorings might be implied by the name or that may be reflected in the overall makeup of the list. And yes, I was aware of where the term originated from, and it was clear to me that the intent of the naming was to imply a sort of anti-establishment "don't give a crap we're going to code and unload crypto apps" attitude. And to some extent, the list (no, not a group, but a set of lists with the name cypherpunks) has aspects of that character. But it always pisses me off when I see the local jocks or other thoughtpolice come on out and enforce whatever ideology it is desired we bow down to. Hmmm...a song lyric comes to mind... "If you've come to fight, get outa here You ain't no better than the bouncers We ain't trying to be police When you ape the cops it ain't anarchy" (From "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" by the Dead Kennedys) _________________________________________________________________ MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus

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Encrypted hard drive enclosure for $139
by Declan McCullagh 02 Feb '03

02 Feb '03

http://fwdepot.com/thestore/product_info.php?products_id=331 http://www.del trontech.com/Enclosure/E3S/E3S.htm Interesting, but I'm confused about the "Real-time 64-bit/ 40-bit DES (Data Encryption Standard) Encryption/ Decryption with throughput of 712Mbit/ sec" Does anyone know about a stronger version of a similar device? -Declan

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