Recent Posts

2401

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on October 02, 2013, 01:08 AM »

It has been said that rather than complain, it's better to be constructive, and in that vein, and in the spirit of this thread, i've decided to make a flowchart for DC member Renegade, to print out and keep next to his monitor.
 (see attachment in previous post)

-mouser (October 01, 2013, 06:49 AM)

Ok ok! I'll try harder. Seeing a government shut down was just too funny. There's soooo much room for mockery and ridicule! If that's not temptation, I don't know what is! I still can't stop laughing whenever I think of it! (Super-powers of not peeing and pooing pants while laughing, ACTIVATE!)

And that chart was just HILARIOUS~!  

But don't worry about Stephen not being jazzed. Been pestering him on and off for a while on Skype & FB.

Oh, and there are more traffic jokes and ridicule posted downstairs.

2402

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2013, 10:27 PM »

Here's the AMA:

http://www.reddit.co...anine_gibson_of_the/

http://www.reddit.co...ibson_of_the/cciybnk

A major reason why those in power always try to use surveillance is because surveillance = power. The more you know about someone, the more you can control and manipulate them in all sorts of ways. That is one reason a Surveillance State is so menacing to basic political liberties.

http://www.reddit.co...ibson_of_the/cciy580

<<How do you answer the accusations that Snowden is a Chinese or Russian spy, or that they stole the secrets from him?>>
Ask any person making this absurd, ludicrous accusation for a single shred of evidence that it's true, and then marvel as they stutter and spew fabrications.
As for Snowden v. Rogers, there is no question that the latter lied. There is no technical limitation whatsoever on the NSA's power to read whatever emails which analysts with a terminal target.

Hehehee! The burden of proof is on the person making the claim. Neat and simple.

More there of course.

2403

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2013, 06:47 AM »

It's been going on since at least 1975. Well, different equipment and capabilities, but same steamy pile.

9/11 was just the best thing ever to happen as it let them justify, or try to justify the worst abuses of privacy in history -- and that was just the dinner mint. They got wars and all kinds of goodies out of it.

2404

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2013, 03:37 AM »

http://www.reddit.co...own_everyone/ccir4ow

BWAHAHAHAAHA!  

Remember not to wipe your browser history or cookies. Now that we're shut down its up to us to spy on ourselves.

2405

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2013, 03:10 AM »

I'm sure I can't be the only one falling off my chair laughing my ass off at this:



 

And don't come back!

2406

Living Room / Re: silly humor - post 'em here! [warning some NSFW and adult content]

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2013, 03:08 AM »

Why does this remind me of Stephen?

And he's been rather absent lately.

2407

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2013, 03:01 AM »

Not sure where to find more info though... But if that's correct, it's a good chance to ask questions of one of the most informed people on the planet when it comes to spying on you.

-Renegade (September 30, 2013, 10:42 PM)

And here's more info!

http://www.theverge....rdian-reddit-ama-nsa

As you can see in the tweet above, the Ask Me Anything session will begin tomorrow, October 1st at 1PM ET. We'll be watching. Will you be asking?

https://twitter.com/...s/384842183888879616

RT @guardianUS: TOMORROW, 1pm ET: @janinegibson & @ggreenwald host a Reddit AMA. Questions about #NSAFiles? Bookmark: http://trib.al/DSYE1pN

2408

Living Room / John McAfee reveals details on gadget to thwart NSA (Decentral)

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2013, 01:22 AM »

I like John McAfee more and more all the time. He is constantly ascending to tech demi-godhood.

http://www.mercuryne...ls-gadget-thwart-nsa

John McAfee reveals details on gadget to thwart NSA

John McAfee lived up to his reputation Saturday as tech's most popular wild child, electrifying an audience with new details of his plan to thwart the NSA's surveillance of ordinary Americans with an inexpensive, pocket-size gadget.

Dubbed "Decentral," the as-yet-unbuilt device will cost less than $100, McAfee promised the enthusiastic crowd of about 300 engineers, musicians and artists at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.

"There will be no way (for the government) to tell who you are or where you are," he said in an onstage interview with moderator Dan Holden at the inaugural C2SV Technology Conference + Music Festival.

And if the U.S. government bans its sale, "I'll sell it in England, Japan, the Third World. This is coming and cannot be stopped."

...

McAfee said the idea for the device came to him well before computer analyst and whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked National Security Agency documents that exposed widespread monitoring of U.S. citizens' phone calls and Internet communications.

But with Snowden's actions, "it became the right time" to make it real, he said.

...

There seemed to be intense interest Saturday in McAfee's current plans. One man asked whether Decentral essentially creates a "dark Web," or part of the Internet that can no longer be accessed by conventional means.

Yes, he said.

Will the privacy it affords allow criminals and others to evade the authorities, another wanted to know.

"It will of course be used for nefarious purposes," he said, "just like the telephone is."

I love that last line.

2409

Living Room / Re: Hating on new Google Maps

« Last post by Renegade on October 01, 2013, 01:05 AM »

Well, one nice thing is that it preloads data for larger roads and map items then loads details after you scroll to a new location, so that speeds up some things.

2410

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2013, 10:42 PM »

I really want to spin this off into its own thread, but instead I'll just use a BIG FONT!

http://www.reddit.co...n_iama_tomorrow_101/

Glenn Greenwald is doing an IAmA tomorrow (10/1).

Not sure where to find more info though... But if that's correct, it's a good chance to ask questions of one of the most informed people on the planet when it comes to spying on you.

2411

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2013, 10:34 PM »

A CEO who resisted NSA spying is out of prison. And he feels ‘vindicated’ by Snowden leaks.

-wraith808 (September 30, 2013, 10:10 PM)

I remember reading about him before. Just another chapter in the long and storied tradition of using the justice system to achieve political ends.

The NSA declined to comment on Nacchio, referring inquiries to the Department of Justice. The Department of Justice did not respond to The Post's request for comment.

Oh gee. I wonder why.

NSA = New Sturm Abteilung

The DoJ represents anything but justice now. They're a sick, decaying mockery.

2412

Living Room / Re: Alice in Wonderland Rabbit Hole Math Thread!

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2013, 10:09 PM »

This post and related is about the cases in RPG dealing with what is the perfect right curve to level up, monster stats, gold/weapons/magic/___/___ goodies ratios both layout and realtime speed, character vs combat, and more.

-TaoPhoenix (September 30, 2013, 07:09 PM)

The correct answer is to switch to Hero System to expand the possibilities and accomplish most of it during character generation. Both simpler and more complex, but that's what happens when your game is designed by an engineer. 

-Vurbal (September 30, 2013, 10:05 PM)

Hahaha! 

The Hero System is excellent! Takes forever, but give you the best fine-grained control of just about any RPG system out there.

2413

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2013, 07:34 PM »

When you are faced with total confusion, it's not all bad to entertain Black Sheep theories. I am struck by the changes in tone vs two other people I feel did almost the same "work", Julian Assange and Bradley Manning. Except it's like The System ran dry shutting those stories down old school style, and finally the deep social threads are in place where Snowden is ... doing something. And not in jail.

And that colossal cognitive dissonance is kinda eating me. I'm slightly to (which?) side of you politically/rhetorically, but we're sorta kindred in our general distrust of pablum. So I have this long running sense from a table gaming perspective (both Magic the Gathering and Chess and a little bit of card Solitaire theory in the mix!) that there's X missing fragments of info that aren't making correct sense of the "tableau".

-TaoPhoenix (September 30, 2013, 07:01 PM)

+1

I have one rant/argument about strong atheism that in the abstract applies broadly to other areas, including "conspiracy theories". I'll frame it as such here.

These are 2 very different beliefs:

A) I do NOT believe that Edward Snowden is acting as an intelligence agent for the sake of destabilizing the government.

B) I believe that Edward Snowden is NOT acting as an intelligence agent for the sake of destabilizing the government.

A is a weak belief.
B is a strong belief.

Strong negative beliefs don't really make much sense most of the time. Unless there is evidence that is existentially incompatible with it, they're simply nonsense.

For example, I am sitting at my desk. Sitting and standing are mutually exclusive. So, the following strong belief makes sense:

I believe that I am not standing.

Still, it's rather stupid as it would make more sense to say:

I believe that I am sitting.

Positive statements are better than negative statements.

For that particular theory about Snowden, while we may not believe it, it doesn't make much sense to have a strong belief unless there is clear evidence that is existentially incompatible with it (evidence that is mutually exclusive from it), which we do not have.

And whether by systemic flaws or design the Media isn't (easily findable?) pointing those out (often enough?).

-TaoPhoenix (September 30, 2013, 07:01 PM)

Probably a bit of both - systemic flaws and by design. There are decent alternative media outlets, though it can be difficult to find them, and sometimes you have to sort some chaff.

2414

Living Room / Re: The LED lights in your home could be spying on you!

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2013, 07:14 PM »

If I understand the video correctly, the LED would need to be modified with a microphone and a circuit to encode the source into the light frequency carrier. Then someone with equipment that can capture the light frequencies can extract the sound information, right?

I guess my point is that the LED bulb would have to be 'bugged' for this to work.

-mwb1100 (September 30, 2013, 07:02 PM)

Correct. A microphone is needed to pick up the sound, which is then placed into the light where the light serves as a carrier wave.

It would need to be purposefully done, but if you check the setup he has, it's relatively simple and can easily be done by anyone with access to the needed tools/equipment.

Lesson learned: Sunlight is Edward Snowden's friend.

2415

Living Room / Re: NASA puts first Curiosity Rover scientific papers behind a paywall?

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2013, 06:41 PM »

D__ch_b_gg_ry. Would you like to buy a vowel?

-Renegade (September 30, 2013, 06:04 PM)

You have a way with words, Ren.

-wraith808 (September 30, 2013, 06:21 PM)

Wh_, th_nk y__!

2416

Living Room / The LED lights in your home could be spying on you!

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2013, 06:19 PM »

Grab your tinfoil hats and rejoice! You were right all along! They ARE out to get you!

An LED light can be used to spy on someone and hear everything that they are saying in their home. Don't believe? Here's your proof!

But who are "they"? Pfft! Silly question! The ILLUMINATI of course~!

2417

Living Room / Re: NASA puts first Curiosity Rover scientific papers behind a paywall?

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2013, 06:04 PM »

The only ambiguity in the case of these Curiosity papers is that not all of the authors are US Government employees, and thus the work is, I am told “co-owned” by the authors. I’m not sure what effect this has on the ability of Science magazine to assert copyright in the work, since, at best, they are doing so at the behest of only a subset of the authors. The law makes it clear that its intent is to direct the US government authors to place the work in the public domain, and that any agreement they enter into to restrict access to the work is invalid. This is why I view the practice of taking works authored (and funded) by the US government and placing them behind paywalls to be illegitimate.

Perhaps the contracted authors claim copyright in the vowels?

D__ch_b_gg_ry. Would you like to buy a vowel?

2418

Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?

« Last post by Renegade on September 30, 2013, 11:52 AM »

http://www.everydaym...-using-bitcoins.html

Just 

But not the first part. The first part is all

The RCM part is just

What has been dubbed as "mint chip" is exciting since it's being undertaken by the government

Exciting? 

2419

Mini-Reviews by Members / Re: Interfaith Explorer (FREE) - Mini-Review

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2013, 09:29 PM »

Instead, just use more typical text processors of your choice (see the various threads) and then you can do anything else you normally would to a text file!

-TaoPhoenix (September 29, 2013, 01:51 PM)

Kind of, but not really. Check this:



You search for "murdered" but get "murderer" returned. Stemming is a great tool that you won't get in a text editor unless you are searching through files using regular expressions and know how to properly stem words yourself. It's quite a bit more effort to go through. It was one of the first things I noticed in there as it's such a great feature to have.

2420

Living Room / Re: Dead Drops - Release your inner P2P spy! :D

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2013, 09:18 PM »

The security implications are there, but it still seems kind of fun.

2421

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2013, 09:15 PM »

So @Renegade, how much cream and sugar do you have in your coffee? I drink coffee by the mug-full and prefer milk, not cream - just a dash, and of the skimmed variety, not full cream.
Sugar, I like maybe a level teaspoon-full in the mornings, and at most a half teaspoon-full in cups of coffee after that. I love coffee.     
I didn't know this was going to be a discussion about coffee. How nice!

-IainB (September 29, 2013, 09:03 PM)

Hahaha!  

Milk here too. Once in a while I like steamed/foamed milk in my coffee. But not drip coffee for me. Nosiree! Watered-down espresso. Americano. With a bit of sugar to take the bitterness out. Sometimes malt extract, but then I run out of malt extract and am back to sugar. Never artificial sweetener though. I tried stevia, but prefer malt extract.

Did anyone see the last Dancing with the Stars? There's a new show out now as well, Masters of Sex. Haven't seen that one yet...

2422

Living Room / Re: Knight to queen's bishop 3 - Snowden charged with espionage.

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2013, 09:10 PM »

Then there's this alternative:

http://gawker.com/na...en-truther-513470303
"Specifically, Wolf wishes to convey her "creeping concern" that Snowden "is not who he purports to be." Who is he, then? Signs point to his being one of them. You know: THEM.
...
""He is super-organized, for a whistleblower"—so organized, his methods resemble those of "high-level political surrogates."
"He conveys his message "without struggling for words." Again, like a political surrogate. "
"...Julian Assange is careful to keep lots of lawyers around him, unlike Snowden, who is suspiciously well organized and composed, except for his failure to get a lawyer. Because Julian Assange is the genuine article, not like Snowden, and whistleblowers who are the genuine article "don’t tend ever to call attention to their own self-sacrifice," which is a thing that Julian Assange would never dream of doing in a million years. "

-TaoPhoenix (September 29, 2013, 02:40 PM)

She could be right. I rather doubt it, but it is possible. Panopticon? They can't look everywhere, so if people think they are, they modify their behaviour? Trauma-based behaviour modification?

While I rather doubt it, there's nothing wrong with entertaining possibilities.

The NSA and its cohorts have done worse. e.g. Charles Taylor was a CIA asset/agent - look what he did in Africa.

2423

Living Room / Dead Drops - Release your inner P2P spy! :D

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2013, 01:09 PM »

Found this:

http://deaddrops.com/

‘Dead Drops’ is an anonymous, offline, peer to peer file-sharing network in public space. USB flash drives are embedded into walls, buildings and curbs accessible to anybody in public space. Everyone is invited to drop or find files on a dead drop. Plug your laptop to a wall, house or pole to share your favorite files and data. Each dead drop is installed empty except a readme.txt file explaining the project. ‘Dead Drops’ is open to participation. If you want to install a dead drop in your city/neighborhood follow the ‘how to’ instructions and submit the location and pictures.

Seems pretty cool. Worth having a look.

2424

Screenshot Captor / Re: Where are comments stored?

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2013, 02:37 AM »

FWIW, XnView has search (Tools-->Search) that includes searching EXIF but when I tried the SC comments they are not EXIF, at least not to XnView

-rgdot (September 29, 2013, 01:42 AM)

EXIF is an area where I've consistently found software sorely lacking. There are GREAT libraries to help out with it all, but... their implementations in different programs are often lacking.

2425

Screenshot Captor / Re: Where are comments stored?

« Last post by Renegade on September 29, 2013, 12:49 AM »

Sorry for the late reply -- it's a great idea to have a tool that will search screenshot captor comments.

The comments should be in the EXIF field for comments.  I think "Description" may be the name of the EXIF field.
To confirm I uploaded an image file to: http://regex.info/exif.cgi

Regarding making a new tool -- i wonder if there aren't already good existing tools for this, since any tool that will search EXIF fields in images should work to search screenshot captor screenshots.

-mouser (September 29, 2013, 12:02 AM)

I don't know of any that do it.

From a quick look, I found some gallery software for web sites that can search metadata, which isn't really what I'm looking for.

Viewers that I've used don't do it. (Tried a few and tired of playing with image viewers.)

To be honest, I'm not going to put another second into looking. It's just too painful. In the time it would take me to actually look for software, compare and test, I could write it myself.

If anyone knows something that works nicely, I'd go for that, but I'm simply tired of looking for software and finding that there's nothing out there that does what I want - it's a perpetual exercise in frustration.

Most software does not work as advertised unless the stars are all aligned properly, there's a full moon, no cloud cover, sufficient rain without clouds, and you've got enough chickens to sacrifice.

Yes - I'm migrating to a LAMP stack server... pain pain pain pain pain...