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701

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

« Last post by dr_andus on October 28, 2013, 07:58 AM »

However, if it is all true, then the current POTUS, who might already be under serious public scrutiny for foul-ups on his watch, has apparently been outed by his own public statements being contradicted by his own government functionaries, showing him up as having been lying over the matter of the NSA surveillance at least, if not some other stuff as well.

-IainB (October 28, 2013, 07:11 AM)

Lying is part of everyday diplomacy of negotiating conflicting demands; we all do this in our daily realities, so it's unrealistic to expect that somehow politicians should never ever lie.

I think the more interesting issue is that the security apparatus thought they can subdue this new technology (the internets and wireless tech) and abuse it for their own purposes, and it's now the very pliability and versatility of the same technology that exposes their malfeasance (defined as the breaking of the constitution and the moral code--or at least its semblance--of friendship with allies). Now suddenly it doesn't look all that clever to be using information technology for absolutely everything--just because you can.

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General Software Discussion / Re: notepad2-mod: custom code folding for txt files?

« Last post by dr_andus on October 27, 2013, 07:02 AM »

Jackpot! Thank you 4wd. Folding works. I specified the comment syntax (everything after #) as bold headings and any word suffixed with : gets color background.

-Nod5 (October 27, 2013, 04:14 AM)

Would you mind sharing the file (if it doesn't contravene any legal or moral code)?

edit: I also got curious on markdown text editors. Turns out there are lots of them. But I'll stick to the newfound notepad2 formatting for now.

Most of those are for Macs, iOS or the web. I haven't come across that many decent Markdown editors for Windows. I tend to use WriteMonkey for now.

703

General Software Discussion / Re: notepad2-mod: custom code folding for txt files?

« Last post by dr_andus on October 26, 2013, 06:41 PM »

dr_andus: I really want to stick to plaintext .txt files. They just work, on any platform. With space/tab indentation the notes would still be nicely readable everywhere, only with some additional fold/unfold commands when reading in Notepad2-mod or other texteditors with folding.

-Nod5 (October 26, 2013, 04:36 PM)

Let us know if you come up with/find something like that, I would be also interested. In the meantime I also thought of NoteTab's outlining feature, but that creates a .otl file and is a two-pane outliner, not folding in a single-pane.

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General Software Discussion / Re: notepad2-mod: custom code folding for txt files?

« Last post by dr_andus on October 26, 2013, 04:08 PM »

3. Use different software.

-Shades (October 26, 2013, 11:21 AM)

This may not be what you're looking for, but Noteliner can be used as a fairly basic single-pane outliner (ignore the colours, tables, and Gantt chart in the screenshots, those are optional), and you can save its outlines as text files, where the hierarchy is preserved via tab indentation.

705

N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Re: Year Planner

« Last post by dr_andus on October 15, 2013, 04:42 PM »

Oh, is that where Seinfeld got his idea from? OK, then, as long as there is an option to switch her off 

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N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Re: Year Planner

« Last post by dr_andus on October 15, 2013, 11:36 AM »

I would also be interested in this. I tried SSuite's Year Planner, but I can't get it to display the events as colourful dots in the annual view (as in their screenshot) for some reason. Maybe it's my system (Win7, 64-bit).

Something like this would be good for implementing the Jerry Seinfeld productivity method. I'd imagine there could be others who might be interested in something like this. Basically you'd want a simple colour-coded indicator (a dot or a big X) to represent the "chain" of identical daily tasks that have been accomplished. According to this method at least, one would only want to track 3 or 4 big tasks a day (such as "write," "clean," "gym").

For annual calendar I use one of the gadgets in Google Calendar, but sadly all it displays is the dates... I like the simplicity of Classic Calendar, but it's monthly and there is no colour-coding of accomplished tasks...

707

Living Room / Re: Cross-platform apps?

« Last post by dr_andus on September 21, 2013, 07:44 AM »

hadn't encountered Workflowy, so I had a look at that. Doesn't have a functional Android app, which means it is out for me atm;

-Dormouse (September 21, 2013, 06:51 AM)

How about WorkFlowy Agent?

I've noticed some reviewers talking of it as an Evernote/Onenote equivalent, but I've always seen outliners very differently and have tried a stack of them on my desktop.

-Dormouse (September 21, 2013, 06:51 AM)

I don't think the Evernote/Onenote comparison is a valid one, as WorkFlowy is a text-only minimalist app.

WorkFlowy to me primarily is a task manager, then note-taker, and then outliner. It is probably most useful to those for whom these three functions tend to overlap, i.e. writers.

The key benefits of WorkFlowy to me are:
- ability to take notes in the form of a hierarchical outline (as opposed to a flat list);
- ability to zoom/focus/hoist into any task within the hierarchy with one click and shut out the rest of the noise;
- ability to keep old notes in their original hierarchy and not have to delete them to clear the deck;
- ability to take notes on the go (iPod Touch, iPad);
- automatic sync across platforms;
- outline items having inline notes;
- good export options (plain text, formatted text, OPML);
- its minimalism.

I've become a big fan of WorkFlowy as it allowed me to consolidate all my task lists (before I used 3 or 4 different to-do apps simultaneously and it was a mess). It's a tab in my Firefox that's always open besides Google Calendar on my PC.

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Living Room / Re: Cross-platform apps?

« Last post by dr_andus on September 21, 2013, 06:14 AM »

Are there other apps that people would recommend?
Local storage is vital, not just stuff kept in the cloud; I don't have access to the internet all the time.

-Dormouse (September 21, 2013, 05:55 AM)

Are you just talking about any cross-platform apps in general? I don't have any Android devices, so cross-platform for me is working with an XP netbook, Win7 desktop, iPod Touch, and an iPad. My most frequent apps that I use across all of those would be (in decreasing order of frequency of use):

- Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Drive, Google News, Google Contacts
- WorkFlowy
- Dropbox with various writing apps (Nebulous Notes, iA Writer)
- Passwords Plus

I'm not sure if I should include in this category those apps that require import/export to exchange data (no direct cloud sync with PC app), but here they are:
- CarbonFin Outliner on iOS and PC browser (exporting to Natara Bonsai on Win)
- iThoughtsHD on iOS (exporting to Freeplane on Win)

709

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

« Last post by dr_andus on August 30, 2013, 03:27 PM »

Or maybe it was just the secret budget they were after

The CIA's budget is the most expensive, $14.7bn (£9.5bn) out of $52.6bn in total for 16 intelligence agencies...

...the CIA's budget has grown more than 50% since 2004.

The files also reportedly show the budget of the National Security Agency (NSA), America's electronic spying organisation - it apparently requested $10.8bn for 2013, making it second only to the CIA.

The CIA and the NSA have also launched "offensive cyber operations" to hack into or sabotage enemy computer networks, according to the files.

The documents reportedly refer to China, Russia, Iran, Cuba and Israel as "priority" counterintelligence targets. Israel is an American ally, though it has previously conducted espionage against the US.

The NSA is denying one part of Friday's report - that the agency planned to investigate up to 4,000 cases of possible internal security breaches before Mr Snowden made his disclosures to the media.

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

« Last post by dr_andus on August 30, 2013, 02:30 PM »

Something doesn't add up... Earlier I wondered whether security agencies were just going through the motions in pursuing Snowden or he indeed had some incredibly important documents with him.

Details that emerged from the UK High Court today suggest (or at least the security agencies suggest) that Miranda had 58,000 encrypted documents on his hard drive, which they suspect contain the names of UK agents. If that was true (and presuming that names of US security agents are also on the list), then it would explain the fervour with which Snowden and everyone who is suspected to be related to him somehow (including Bolivia's El Presidente) is being pursued.

However, Greenwald said that Snowden gave him around 20,000 documents. So where did the rest come from? And how could a contractor like Snowden possibly get access to identities of UK and US agents? If he really did, then it would be a massive cock-up on somebody's part within the NSA, and the CIA, and MI6 etc. On the other hand, this could also be a white lie to justify the "going through the motions" in order to deter future whistleblowers.

Here is the quote:

In his statement, Robbins claimed the encrypted material included personal information of UK intelligence officers, any compromise of which would result in a risk to the lives of them and their families and the risk they would become recruitment targets for terrorists and hostile spy agencies. The hard drive seized from Miranda contained approximately 58,000 highly classified UK intelligence documents, the compromise of which "would do serious damage to UK national security and ultimately risk lives".

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

« Last post by dr_andus on August 27, 2013, 07:37 AM »

This would explain a lot.

-dr_andus (August 27, 2013, 04:44 AM)

I got a 404 there.

-Renegade (August 27, 2013, 05:32 AM)

Sorry, fixed it now.

712

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

« Last post by dr_andus on August 27, 2013, 04:44 AM »

I saw somewhere that Russia says they didn't want Snowden, but that he was indeed on his way to Cuba when (I think?) they denied him so he got stuck.

-TaoPhoenix (August 26, 2013, 03:33 PM)

This would explain a lot. But it also signifies an end of Fidel's Cuba as we knew it. What sort of leverage could the US use over them, considering the over half a century of economic blockade etc?

I suppose there has been a thawing of relations recently with the US and maybe they didn't want to jeopardise that? But it also shows that Russia wasn't able to convince Cuba to take him, which is quite a reversal of roles between the US and Russia vis-a-vis Cuba.

713

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

« Last post by dr_andus on August 19, 2013, 04:54 PM »

Some lame denials of the US's involvement in David Miranda's ordeal:

"There was a heads up that was provided by the British government, so this was something we had an indication was likely to occur."

The White House declined to comment on whether Mr Miranda's name was on a "watch list" maintained by the US Transportation Security Administration.

It also declined to comment on whether the US was given access to Mr Miranda's laptop or anything on the laptop.

The US can't go after Snowden, so now it goes after anyone connected to the Snowden affair. This seems to suggest that a) there are still some very sensitive data in Greenwald's possession that they would prefer he didn't publish, or b) they know that the cat is out of the bag but the bureaucracy needs to go through the motions to set a deterrant to future whistleblowers and meet out 'justice,' or c) both of the above.

But it needs to be some incredibly important material if the UK government was ready to risk being labelled anti-free press and engage in the kind of intimidation of journalists for which they usually lambast Russia and other less 'democratic' nations...

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

« Last post by dr_andus on August 18, 2013, 04:49 PM »

"David Miranda, partner of Guardian interviewer of whistleblower Edward Snowden, questioned under Terrorism Act."

Again, this is just taking matters too far, just like with the Bolivian president's airplane. But at the same time this is scary that this is happening in a 'democracy,' very likely at the behest of another 'democratic' nation. It's difficult to read this in any other way than as an attempt at intimidating a journalist. This whole "free press" and "free speech" thing is just a thing of the past.

But they obviously had zero suspicion that David was associated with a terrorist organization or involved in any terrorist plot. Instead, they spent their time interrogating him about the NSA reporting which Laura Poitras, the Guardian and I are doing, as well the content of the electronic products he was carrying. They completely abused their own terrorism law for reasons having nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism: a potent reminder of how often governments lie when they claim that they need powers to stop "the terrorists", and how dangerous it is to vest unchecked power with political officials in its name.

And here is another, more potent quote from Greenwald:

This is obviously a rather profound escalation of their attacks on the news-gathering process and journalism. It's bad enough to prosecute and imprison sources. It's worse still to imprison journalists who report the truth. But to start detaining the family members and loved ones of journalists is simply despotic. Even the Mafia had ethical rules against targeting the family members of people they felt threatened by. But the UK puppets and their owners in the US national security state obviously are unconstrained by even those minimal scruples.

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

« Last post by dr_andus on August 11, 2013, 11:22 AM »

So this is all puppet theater. Since there is no breakthrough they can announce, it's better to not have a public get together at all, rather than announce the meeting was a failure and yielded nothing.

-40hz (August 11, 2013, 11:09 AM)

I agree with that to a certain extent. However, I wouldn't completely discount the agency of the top leaders. In the case of Russia, Putin is a quasi absolutist monarch. If he does not want something happening within his apparatus, it probably won't happen. So you can get things done, can speed things up, by talking to him directly, face to face.

On the other hand, Obama is a much weaker leader domestically (not having a control over congress). He was supposed to have much bigger sway internationally, but it doesn't seem to be happening, especially by not being able to communicate with another major powerful leader directly.

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

« Last post by dr_andus on August 11, 2013, 03:55 AM »

How is he making the moves that Snowden wanted him to make?  I think that's reading a bit much into Snowden and what he wanted, other than a discussion on the matter.    The move with Russia had little to do with Snowden's stated goals, nor with the information released- other than tangential.  It was to avoid a conversation that he didn't want to have, and now has a very good excuse to back out of, and snub the Russians in the process, before the G20 summit.

-wraith808 (August 10, 2013, 06:24 PM)

OK, maybe that wasn't the best way to put it. What I was trying to say is that Obama is being made to make moves that he doesn't really want to make (that are not the best moves for him), such as having to go on to talk shows to say there isn't a domestic spying program, having to propose new measures and deal with new legislation to reign in the NSA, and having to cancel his Moscow meeting. Obviously Russia is part of the game now, but initially it was Snowden's decision to reapply for temporary asylum that has led to the cancelling of the trip.

As for Obama cancelling a trip because he feels uncomfortable talking to Putin or that there is nothing to agree on - I don't buy it. There is Syria, there is Iran, there is Afganistan, nuclear disarmament etc., etc. Loads of very urgent issues on which Obama can only make progress if he talks to Putin. Cancelling the trip seems to me partly a move to please Republican Congressmen, partly to appease the NSA and the like, partly to show that the US is a superpower than can cancel meetings with the Russians. Though ironically it comes across as a sign of weakness, as the Russians are just lying back and say, "We don't care, it's not us who desperately wanted this meeting anyway," which just reveals the limitations of the US as a superpower...

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

« Last post by dr_andus on August 10, 2013, 06:08 PM »

Hmmm...

Obama cancels Moscow meeting with Putin over Snowden

Russia says Obama hurting himself by canceling summit over Snowden

-wraith808 (August 07, 2013, 06:19 PM)

It seems to me it's another +1 to Snowden. Obama seems to be making the moves that Snowden wanted him to make, which is strategically not a situation you want to be in as a US President...

And another +1 (or potentially +100 or more) to Snowden for actually setting the agenda for legislative change on the NSA etc. and for forcing Obama to have to go on talk shows...

Obama is starting to look more and more like a foreign policy lightweight, and not a very strong strategist either. Maybe he is good at speeches and domestic issues, but many big international issues (Syria, Iran, nuclear disarmament) are being put on the back burner because of this asylum tantrum, while he is forced to respond to developments unleashed by Snowden to his domestic audience.

718

General Software Discussion / Re: The Non-Notepad(MS) Thread!

« Last post by dr_andus on August 02, 2013, 01:47 PM »

No I hadn't. But that is a standalone editor (right?).

-Nod5 (August 02, 2013, 01:31 PM)

Yeah. I thought I'd just mention it, in case it hits the spot.

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

« Last post by dr_andus on August 02, 2013, 11:52 AM »

It seems that others are looking at it in a totally different way.

The Sheremetyevo chapter may be over, but the saga itself will continue. Already, there have been calls by US congressmen that Russia should be held accountable for granting Snowden asylum. There is also little doubt that US president Barack Obama will now cancel his planned trip to Moscow in September.

-wraith808 (August 02, 2013, 11:12 AM)

I'm not so sure about this. It depends on who is talking. If it's some right-wing Republican Congressmen who are traditionally Russia-bashers and don't have much stake in the matter and want to cause discomfort to the Obama administration, sure, they'll call for cancelling the trip. They might even be doing it on behalf of the administration (by proxy), to exert some pressure.

The Obama administration is choosing its words much more carefully. They obviously need to show their displeasure, but cutting planned talks would hurt the US administration more than the Russians. It would be a win for Republicans vs. Obama administration, not US v. Russia.

With Snowden, the Kremlin did the moral thing – and the moral thing also happened to be the only thing the Kremlin could do in this instance.

-wraith808 (August 02, 2013, 11:12 AM)

I don't believe for a moment that the question of morality ever came into it for Putin... It might be more about not wanting to lose face on the world stage and in front of Russian public. It's now over to Obama. He has to decide whether he can lose face at home and abroad, or stay pragmatic and get on with business with the Russians, after a bit of grumbling...

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General Software Discussion / Re: The Non-Notepad(MS) Thread!

« Last post by dr_andus on August 02, 2013, 11:35 AM »

But I have no word autocomplete in autohotkey files in Notepad2-mod. Does anyone here have that working?

-Nod5 (August 02, 2013, 11:15 AM)

Have you looked at SciTE4AutoHotkey?

721

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

« Last post by dr_andus on August 01, 2013, 07:25 PM »

And it's a brilliant move on the Russians' part because there is not all that much the US can do about it. Cancel Obama's visit? It would just call further attention to the cause of that cancellation, which is again the NSA, spying on US citizens etc., etc. Bad PR move.

Plus the US seems to need Russia more than the other way round:

But senior State Department officials said they don't expect the meeting to be canceled because the U.S. wants to address with the leaders a "broad range of topics that are important to U.S. national security interests," including Afghanistan.

Officials say that the U.S. can push Moscow only so far without jeopardizing U.S. interests in other areas. The U.S. needs Russia to help keep pressure on Iran over its nuclear program, including maintaining sanctions, for example. "We can't go overboard," a senior administration official said.

And this was the most interesting bit to me:

Thursday's development caught many in the administration by surprise, an administration official said.

Really? Maybe they should start reading some online forums and stuff... I mean what's going on in the State Dept? Or is that the White House that calls the shots in this affair? Either way, there has been some incredible dilettantism on display. If US-Russia relations will suffer as a result of all this, it will be a self-inflicted wound. I'm glad they messed up with apprehending Snowden, but it's alarming to see such lack of strategic and tactical thinking on the part of the word's super power...

722

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

« Last post by dr_andus on August 01, 2013, 06:55 PM »

Here's some analysis of what might be behind the Russian decision:

The decision is backed by almost twice as many Russians as those against it and those who view Snowden’s role as positive outnumber negative assessments three to one. While the case risks derailing U.S.-Russian relations, it gives Putin a chance to rally support at home and deflect attention from his own human-rights record...

“His main propaganda message domestically will be that things are similar everywhere: the CIA and the FBI violate human rights just like everybody else.”

Putin, who used Russia’s oil-powered wealth accumulation to build support for his 13-year rule, is facing an economy that threatens to slide into recession.

While Russia lacks the economic power that China or the West wield, it strives to be treated as an equal and the Snowden affair gave Putin an opportunity to show that...

Returning Snowden to the U.S. “would undermine Russia’s bid to promote globally an image of a major geopolitical player offering an alternative to the western-dominated world.”

The U.S. refusing to allow Snowden to seek asylum in a third country left Russia with little choice.

While Putin himself was taken hostage by the events to a certain extent and the decision to grant Snowden asylum is “absolutely irrational” from the perspective of international relations, Russia “decided to make use of Snowden” to put pressure on the U.S. “The pressure is to show that we weren’t born yesterday." “That’s the Russian sentiment on everything, whether it’s Iran, Syria or relations with China.”

723

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

« Last post by dr_andus on August 01, 2013, 10:26 AM »

Snowden has been smuggled out of Sheremetyevo Airport, presumably with the FSB's assistance. As I've argued, Snowden continues to be a symbolic asset for the Russians. They gain more out of grandstanding with Snowden, than from simply trading him. There is not much Obama can realistically offer in exchange, considering his lack of leverage over Congress.

The immediate issue was to save Obama from the embarrassment of having to arrive at Sheremetyevo Airport while Snowden was also there. I wouldn't be surprised if Snowden would 'decide' to go on holiday in a remote region of Russia during the G20 summit...
 

724

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

« Last post by dr_andus on July 26, 2013, 12:23 PM »

The American FBI and Russian FSB security services are "in talks" over US fugitive Edward Snowden, according to the Russian president's spokesman.

That is one strange admission, to so publicly declare that the horse-trading is being conducted by the security agencies... I imagine it goes something like this: "If you give us Snowden, we'll not arrest the following 20 Russian spies we know about on US soil..."

However, Dmitry Peskov repeated Russia's position that it would "not hand anyone over".

The question is whether this statement is part of the horse-trading strategy, or a statement of principle (i.e. handing Snowden over would set a dangerous precedent, leading to other extradition requests).

725

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

« Last post by dr_andus on July 26, 2013, 11:37 AM »

Another ridiculous twist in the saga: you'll never guess who wants to give Snowden a new passport now...

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a letter sent to the Russian minister of justice this week that the United States would not seek the death penalty against Edward J. Snowden, and would issue him a passport immediately so he could travel back to the United States. (...)

“We believe these assurances eliminate these asserted grounds for Mr. Snowden’s claim that he should be treated as a refugee or granted asylum, temporary or otherwise”

This is an implicit acknowledgement by the US govt that their previous strategy of revoking the passport had spectacularly backfired. Somebody is eating humble pie now in the White House or the State Dept...

The question now is whether 40hz's theory gets justified and the Russians hand Snowden over. I still do not believe that that would happen. The Americans would need to offer a massive trade in exchange (such as repealing the Magnitsky bill, which I just can't see happening).