December 2017 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Re: USA: National Security Strategy, Juan's Wet Dream -- OFF-TOPIC (James Donald is a creep)
by jamesd＠echeque.com 29 Dec '17

29 Dec '17

I wrote: > Veganism has been cool for a very long time. Indeed, the lies on > saturated fat were manufactured back in the forties to give "scientific" > endorsement to veganism, much as the lies on anthropogenic global > warming were manufactured to give "scientific" endorsement to demonizing > the technological and industrial civilization that white people created. Little background here. Before World War II, England, rather than America, was dominant in the anglosphere, and from the restoration of Charles the second to end of World War II, the Royal Society socially enforced the scientific method, awarding status to people who followed it, and denying status to people who failed to follow it. The King was the fount of all honors, mortal and divine - which means his job was to regulate status competition, so that wins at status were awarded for prosocial, rather than antisocial, activity. In the early days of the Royal Society, some people objected, objected very strongly, to status being awarded in this fashion, and organized a mob to thump those who received status in this fashion, whereupon Charles the Second sent soldiers to physically back up the Royal Society, thumping those who objected to the status awards as if they were disorderly stray dogs, treating them like beggars, gypsies, whores and thieves, punishing them in ways that reduced their status, rather than martyring them. Thereby ensuring that he held on to the role that his father lost, as the fount of all honors mortal and divine. And, while the Royal Society was in charge of defining and enforcing the scientific method, science agreed that saturated fat was good for you, and eating animals was good for you. When Britain lost World War II and America won it, Harvard got the upper hand over the Royal Society, and introduced "peer review", which means that an anonymous committee of "scientists" decide official truth behind closed doors on the basis of secret evidence, rather than following the scientific method. Since then, the output of "science" has generally been an indicator of what is high status, rather than what is supported by the evidence, saturated fats being a spectacular example of "scientists" treating evidence, experiment, and data with total contempt. And thus the output of "science" reveals that veganism was high status until recently, but has recently lost status, because chicks now have high status, chicks like slim men with big muscles, and slim men with big muscles are invariably meat eaters. As a result "science" is now discovering that eating tasty animals is good for you.

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Re: Are cryptocurrencies ready to handle large number of transactions?
by Steven Schear 29 Dec '17

29 Dec '17

Clearly they are not, yet. The problems are somewhat multi-dimensional and the way forward isn't assured. If some counters wanted to scale a "Bitcoin-like" chain to handle, on-chain, the average transaction volume of PayPal (about 120/sec.), quite a coup, it would require (by my reckoning) a block size of about 64 MB. The Bitcoin Unlimited people are planning to test blocks much larger. Clearly, this would likely result in considerable miner concentration, unless, as Garzik's recently announced Bitcoin United (which includes a "our" Escher feature) takes over Bitcoin Corey's mantle. On Dec 25, 2017 8:21 PM, "James A. Donald" <jamesd(a)echeque.com> wrote: On 12/26/2017 12:58 AM, Michalis Kargakis wrote: > Not a ready implementation yet but the mimblewimble protocol solves a lot > of the scalability issues plagued in other blockchains. > > https://scalingbitcoin.org/papers/mimblewimble.pdf > https://github.com/ignopeverell/grin/blob/master/doc/intro.md > Maybe I am understanding this imperfectly, but this hides how much you are paying, and thus how much you have, but does not hide whom you pay it to. Suppose HHitler create an evil fascist website, and requests donations in mimblewimble coins. Let us call the public key advertised on that evil fascist website HHitler. Ann buys mimblewimble coins on an exchange, using US$, and has to give her true name and an image of her true face. Won't the mimblewimble blockchain show that Ann gave an unknown amount to HHitler, whereupon antifa goes around and kills some girl whose face superficially resembles that of Ann, and then the judge lets them off as well intentioned good guys? As the judge recently let off a black man who killed a white man and then took his wallet, and subsequently claimed, without racist inconvenience of actually needing to produce any evidence, that the white man had called him a n****r --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus

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USA: National Security Strategy, Juan's Wet Dream
by grarpamp 29 Dec '17

29 Dec '17

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-… http://beyondthemarquee.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/902274_1015333238419… https://img00.deviantart.net/580e/i/2012/043/5/a/giant_hammer___drow_by_zep… https://i.pinimg.com/236x/f8/83/87/f883877b2cc9804048c3ef982500e86e--harly-… Found some holiday gifts for my friend Juan ;)

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Fwd: [Cryptography] Two articles on what is and isn't money
by grarpamp 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

A patron tries to pay with cash at the West 40th Street location of Dos Toros Taqueria, only to learn that only credit or debit cards are accepted. The Two Forks chain also does not take cash. Visa recently offered select merchants a $10,000 reward to switch away from cash transactions. “I was shocked,” said David, a 66-year-old accountant who popped into Dig Inn for lunch a few hours before Ms. Bryant. (He declined to give his surname because “I’m a private person.”) “This is very unusual to me.” “My reaction was ‘Jesus, a New York City restaurant that records all its revenue? How can they stay in business?’ ”the credit card companies, who make a commission on every credit card purchase, applaud the trend. Visa recently offered select merchants a $10,000 reward for depriving customers of their right to pay by the method of their choice.He was told he could not pay with cash. He handed over his credit card. There was a problem with the card reader, or maybe the Wi-Fi. In any case, the machine was down. The cashier apologized and said the ice cream was on the house. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: John Levine <johnl(a)iecc.com> Date: Tue, Dec 26, 2017 at 3:53 PM Subject: [Cryptography] Two articles on what is and isn't money To: cryptography(a)metzdowd.com NY Times: Cash Might Be King, but They Don't Care As restaurants in New York stop accepting cash, they are surprised how few people care, or even notice. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/25/nyregion/no-cash-money-cashless-credit-d… FT: Israeli regulator becomes latest to crack down on bitcoin Israel bars bitcoin trading companies from Tel Aviv stock exchange because "Nobody knows what stands behind this." On the other hand, they're considering a digital shekel for mobile payments. http://click.notice.ft.com/f/a/Z3B0L0Bul4__oT5GvASd6g~~/AAAAAQA~/RgRcJTWpP0… R's, John _______________________________________________ The cryptography mailing list cryptography(a)metzdowd.com http://www.metzdowd.com/mailman/listinfo/cryptography

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Echoes of Eyeball Series: Forensic Architectures
by grarpamp 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

http://www.forensic-architecture.org/ Project Forensic Architecture (FA) is a research agency, based at Goldsmiths, University of London, that undertakes advanced architectural and media research on behalf of international prosecutors, human rights organisations and political and environmental justice groups. Forensic Architecture is also an emergent field we have developed at Goldsmiths. It refers to the production and presentation of architectural evidence – buildings and larger environments and their media representations. Background As contemporary conflicts increasingly take place within urban areas, homes and neighbourhoods have become targets, and most civilian casualties occur within cities and buildings. Urban battlefields have become dense data and media environments, generating information that is shared on social and mainstream media. Many violations, undertaken within cities and buildings, are now caught on camera and are made available almost instantly. The premise of FA is that analysing IHL and HR violations must involve modelling dynamic events as they unfold in space and time, and creating navigable 3D models of environments undergoing conflict, as well as the creation of filmic animations, and interactive cartographies on the urban or architectural scale. Aim These techniques allow us to present information in a convincing, precise, and accessible manner crucial for the pursuit of accountability. Architectural analysis is also important since it enables new insights into the context and conduct of urban conflicts. FA has a track record in providing unique and decisive evidence in high profile human rights investigation about incidents that other methods cannot engage with. We often undertake collaborative investigations with partners. These can include human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, Centro para la Acción Legal en Derechos Humanos, B’tselem, Al Mezan and Migeurop. We have also worked with international prosecutors and offices such as the UN Special Rapporteur for Counter Terrorism and Human Rights, as well as reporters from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. We share our work with the public via leading research and cultural institutes. Our main beneficiaries are always the victims of human rights violations and communities in conflict zones. Context The widespread possession of cheap digital recording equipment, the development of satellite communication, the public availability of remote sensing technology and the ability to disseminate information instantaneously through the internet have made urban conflict more complex, but also generate enormous amounts of data that can be used as potential resources for monitoring. Available in real-time, these sources challenge the evidentiary practices of Human Rights Law and IHL, which has traditionally been grounded in witness interviews conducted well after the fact. But these transformations also lead to secondary conflict, about veracity of online content and the disputed interpretations of news and social media websites. The establishment of new forums of international jurisdiction such as the International Criminal Court mean contemporary forums have themselves become dense media environments, where screen-to-screen interaction replaces face-to-face deliberation. The combined urbanisation and mediatisation of conflict makes FA’s pioneering work an urgent and indispensable new practice for human rights investigations. FA seeks to respond to these challenges by developing new modes of media research and new ways of presenting investigations of urban and architectural environments. Public Work In recent years FA has successfully tested its methodologies in a number of landmark legal and human rights cases undertaken together with and on behalf of threatened communities, NGOs, prosecutors and the UN. [see all Investigations] Our work has also generated a robust debate in human rights, architecture and legal circles. The UN Special Rapporteur for Counter Terrorism and Human Rights commissioned FA to analyse the destruction of buildings targeted by drone strikes [see Drone Strikes] as well as patterns of destruction in towns and villages resulting from drone warfare in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Gaza. This work was undertaken with the Bureau for Investigative Journalism [see BIJ Drone Strikes in Pakistan]. We developed unique “data pattern” cartographies for Waziristan and Gaza [see Gaza Platform], and undertook a number of presentations in high courts in Israel, Italy, and France. In 2014-2015 FA collaborated with Amnesty international on reports on the 2014 Gaza conflict [see Rafah, Black Friday]. In 2012, FA was invited to produce architectural evidence for the genocide trial of former Guatemalan military dictators Luca García (July 1978 – March 1982) and Ríos Montt (March 1982 – August 1983) in the National Court of Guatemala, and in the Inter-American Court for Human Rights. FA provided digital architectural models and animations to support a petition brought by the Palestinian village of Battir against the security barrier (wall) in the Israeli High Court, helping to win the case in 2015 [see The Wall in Battir]. Using LIDAR scanners and ground-penetrating radar we undertook a complete forensic survey of the former WW2 concentration camp of Staro Sajmište in Belgrade (2013) [see Living Death Camps]. We worked with Migeurop in relation to the death of migrants in the Mediterranean [see Left-to-Die Boat]. Francesco Sebregondi (Forensic Architecture) presenting the White Phosphorus report in the UN Office at Geneva, 12 November 2012. Photo: Forensic Architecture. Public Reception FA’s evidence files, taking the shape of models, drawings, maps, web-based interactive cartographies, films, and animations have also been exhibited in leading cultural and art institutions [see Exhibitions]. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London purchased some of our visual material for their permanent collection (2015). FA’s impact was further consolidated by academic reviews [see Forensis review in Society and Space, in Radical Philosophy], mainstream media reports [see Press] a documentary film produced about our work [see Architecture of Violence], numerous academic reviews, and was presented in several keynote lectures [see Lecture at UniSA Nelson Mandela, Lecture at Peter Wall Institute of Advanced Studies].

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UFOs: US Defense Dept Videos and Black Money, Alien Tech, To The Stars
by grarpamp 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

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NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography Round 1 Submissions Posted
by grarpamp 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

https://csrc.nist.gov/Projects/Post-Quantum-Cryptography ~93 zipfiles Background In recent years, there has been a substantial amount of research on quantum computers – machines that exploit quantum mechanical phenomena to solve mathematical problems that are difficult or intractable for conventional computers. If large-scale quantum computers are ever built, they will be able to break many of the public-key cryptosystems currently in use. This would seriously compromise the confidentiality and integrity of digital communications on the Internet and elsewhere. The goal of post-quantum cryptography (also called quantum-resistant cryptography) is to develop cryptographic systems that are secure against both quantum and classical computers, and can interoperate with existing communications protocols and networks. The question of when a large-scale quantum computer will be built is a complicated one. While in the past it was less clear that large quantum computers are a physical possibility, many scientists now believe it to be merely a significant engineering challenge. Some engineers even predict that within the next twenty or so years sufficiently large quantum computers will be built to break essentially all public key schemes currently in use. Historically, it has taken almost two decades to deploy our modern public key cryptography infrastructure. Therefore, regardless of whether we can estimate the exact time of the arrival of the quantum computing era, we must begin now to prepare our information security systems to be able to resist quantum computing.

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JTRIG GCHQ: Uncovering British spies web of sockpuppet social media personas
by grarpamp 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-9233-uncovering_british_spies_web_of_sockpuppet… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9YhFiZnHkE The Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG), a unit in one of Britain’s intelligence agencies, is tasked with creating sockpuppet accounts and fake content on social media, in order to use "dirty tricks" to "destroy, deny, degrade [and] disrupt" enemies by "discrediting" them. In this talk, we reveal some of that content, in relation to infiltrating activists groups around the world, including during the Arab spring and Iranian revolution.

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Secret Things: Bohemian Grove
by grarpamp 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bohemian+grove https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_Grove >From secret UFO's to secret clubs, they're out there ;)

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[WAR] Ron Paul: “I’m just hoping our [USA govt.] system comes apart as gracefully as the Soviet system.”
by Zenaan Harkness 28 Dec '17

28 Dec '17

Those who observe are in no doubt about, significant, changes very approaching - already past the horizon and staring at us down the barrel. Good luck, Ron Paul: US On Verge Of Soviet Style Collapse http://yournewswire.com/ron-paul-us-on-verge-of-soviet-style-collapse/ Ron Paul says a year of apparent economic growth under President Donald Trump is “a bit of an illusion” and that the American political system is on the verge of coming apart in a way that is similar to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. … “We’re on the verge of something like what happened in ‘89 when the Soviet system just collapsed,” he said. “I’m just hoping our system comes apart as gracefully as the Soviet system.” Press TV reports http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2017/12/27/547001/Ron-Paul-Libertarian-Soviet… : The former Republican lawmaker from Texas said he does not necessarily believe the US will break into separate countries, but instead forecasts a complete overhaul of US monetary policy and an end to what he considers the US “empire” overseas. “We have ownership of these countries, but it’s not quite like the Soviets did,” he said. “I think our stature in the world and our empire will end, and that’s when, hopefully, the doors will be open and [people will] say, ‘Hey, maybe these libertarians have some answers to this.’” Paul said “the country’s feeling a lot better, but it’s all on borrowed money” and that “the whole system’s an illusion” built on corporate, personal, and governmental debt. “It’s a bubble economy in many many different ways and it’s going to come unglued.” …

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