Periodic Dosage of Xah (三教九流十八班 —— 李杀)

Jeremy Hammond, a hacker, got 10 years.

Jeremy seems to be a good person. The “crime” he got 10 years for, is the 2012-13 Stratfor email leak, published by wikileaks. The leaked info is full of government spy stuff.

I care. but in our complicated modern society, it seems there's little one can do. One either minds his own survival, or become a full time activist or politician.

the obsession of efficiency of stirring coffee and fluid dynamics

every time i stir coffee, i can't help but think of turbulence, and the most efficient way to stir.

turbulence, for example, you can see the fascinating aspect of it, when a ink drops into clear water. That's not exactly turbulence, but diffusion or such, but still, the concept is fluid dynamics.

now, efficiency of stirring… for example, when you mix with a chopstick. Is it more efficient if you just keep going circular, or is it better to go side by side… or circular with reverse direction per circle… then we need to define what we are allowed to do. For example, is it minimum energy spent, or minimum motion of the tip of chopstick, or other. And, we have to consider speed. What speed are we allowed. Also, when thinking about this, you have to consider the size and shape of the cup, vs the size and shape of the stirring thing, ⁖ it can be a stick or spoon (long thing spoon or wide bottom spoon…).

then, my mind went into the most efficient way to stir with consideration of the ease to remember that fact. For example, if way A is most efficient, but way B is close but far more easy to remember, then, with B should be the right choice with respect to practicality. lol.

this isn't just stirring coffee, but whenever i need to mix things. And, when i see concrete mixer, design of the middle spindle of cloth washing machines, or consider the shaker bottle used by bar tenders to mix drinks.

so yeah, shake. For example, when i have a bottle of Starbucks coffee, often you need to shake. So, i have to consider the most efficient way to shake it. One way, is to hold the bottle, then twist your wrist. Another way, is to shake it vigorously up and down as do bar tender with their shaker. So, if minimum energy is our goal, which way is more efficient?

a piece from the now dead Aaron Swartz https://aaronsw.jottit.com/howtoget

Aaron mentioned suicide, in 2008.

online, you don't know how fucked up some admirable people actually are.

Aaron, being a celebrity, he's got a gaggle of programers following him. If Aaron farted something, the entire programing community is in concurrence. Hacker News Reddit idiots.

it has become my nature, my mission, to despise any celebrity and anything fart from the hacker news reddit shit. Mostly because they are brainless farts.

this piece by Aaron is also quite idiotic. Yeah, get the job he's got, then jump off the bridge.

What's Aaron like in real life? a piece of cock. you can smell it from a thousand miles.

but, i'd say, he's like what he is is mostly inborn. It's his nature. Perhaps, he's pre-ordained to kill himself since he's born.

so, it looks like the idiot Sarah Palin is on the news again….

every time i see her, i can't help but think how idiotic she possibly could be. And that George Bush. Though, i think one person i highly respect, Camille Paglia, seems to have voiced support of Sarah. I don't understand.

but anyway, let's assume Sarah and Bush are clowns of high order. Then, it's a interesting question, whether politics thru-out history are like that? and to what degree?

from what i know of Taiwan politicians, i think it's equally farcical.

i don't have expertise in history to say more, but it seems it's like that almost everywhere most of the time. (well, probably only in modern times, since in older time it's kings and the average citizens don't get to see the ruler's everyday life idiocy.)

since we made conclusion before evidence, let's just go on a bit.

it seems, it has to do with some complex social reasons and human nature…

anyhow, am thinking, first of all, politicians are those who are interested in power and or leadership. It is not usually of people with expertise or knowledge. People adept at leadership also usually require human skill, meaning, influence others, make others like you, support you. To some degree, it's a manipulative power to begin with. (as opposed to, being the scientifically optimal choice for the supporters's advantage)

the other thing am thinking is that, politicians are like that in part due to the general crowd being stupid. It's like this. You have a crowd, and statistically you can divide their IQ or know-how into sectors. By definition, the vast majority, 80%, will be below the 20%. (LOL. we have a stat fiat here!) So, politicians need to make the 80% happy. This is how things necessarily work in democracy.

nevertheless, it's interesting to know if in the whole American history, how do people see the politicians, what nature are they, are they stupid, selfish, and circus like?

since i became minimally acquainted with US politics since 2000, it's pretty much all circus like. Shallow issues, drama ….

don't bother with info that came passively

If something is on TED, don't believe it, don't watch it, don't lend your mind to it.

a more stringent theorem is: don't ever read any thing that came to you passively, such as on social networks. Read, Seek, things only yourself.

but won't that take away 90% of things you'd be learning? Yes, and that reflects the poverty of the state of your brain.

Intro of Ayn Rand and Her Philosophy, in Comics Strips

there's this character, named Ayn Rand, with her culty objectivism.

Her height of fame is around 1950s to 1970s. (she's born 1905, died 1982, aged 77). Though, she is somewhat popular among hacker type programers. I first heard of her around year 2000 by programer colleagues.

Her idea, that selfishness ＆ capitalism are supreme, i much agree with. However, this “objectivism” smelled cult to me. Though i never knew much of her, other than that she wrote some novels called 〈Atlas Shrugged〉. amazon

there's this fascinating 66 pages intro/bio about Ayn Rand, at http://activatecomix.com/162-1-1.comic by artist Darryl Cunningham

it's a bit long, but is a very good, condensed intro and bio about Ayn Rand and her ideas. Highly recommended.

if you have time, you can also checkout Wikipedia:

• Ayn Rand
• Nathaniel Branden
• Barbara Branden
• Alan Greenspan

on the idiocy of comments of blogs of the tl;dr syndrom

xah's edu corner, extempore❕ episode 2013-10-03T11:47:17-07:00

there's a pesky problem of online comments. actually there's lots, but one am addressing today is the “tl;dr” syndrom.

as a online writer, often you get senseless comments to your blog/post/essay, where the answer is right in the article. People didn't bother to click the link, or, they did but just spend 10 seconds to scan it.

this happens to me often. On ranty or opinion oriented pieces, it's more understandable, but sometimes it happens on short technical programing piece.

if the article is long, it's understandable. but sometimes people ask questions that is specifically and intentionally answered by a short article.

it's hard to battle the problem.

you can tell them gently “did you read it” or “it's answered in the article”, but often even that is a bit too rub on one's nose.

it's a social problem of the online era… i wanted to comment on the grand scheme of things of human history but am not sure what to say. It's … must be something in history too, related to human nature, the nature of discussion, conversation. In digital age, this easily happens, because most human animals more enjoy conversation than some formal discourse. Before digital age, people have to write in by snail mail to comment on editorials. That is hard, so the comment is high quality. Each will take several hours to do, counting the careful reading of the article.

anyhow, i myself am susceptible to this silly behavior. Sometimes, when reading a post of interest, i want to comment on it. But, sometimes the article is long, and i don't really have time to spend a hour to read it among the ten thousand tweets posted online daily.

so the question is, to comment or not comment?

if the author i support, i usually tend to comment anyway. Because, in general, to support a writer, it's better to have comment than none, even if the comment is low quality.

ad-blocking and consequences

xah's edu corner, ad-blocking and consequences, extempore! episode 2013-10-01T16:48:36-07:00

so, there's this issue of ad-blocking.

there are these open source freedom loving folks, by day sings freedom of humanity, by night steal movies and blocking ads by the chant of the like of info wants to be free.

so, lots of them use ad-blockers (while, putting Google ads on their blogs).

one can give lectures about it all day, but as human animals, it won't work. However, it seems vast majority of people (outside of the hacker circle), are not bothering with ad-blockers, so all the sites on the web are currently safe.

but, it seems, it might get worse, if not already very worse. Many went with membership only (as in porn).

so, the consequence is that, sooner or later, nobody will create content. What you'll have is content the likes from hacker idiots, where, links are broken, things won't work.

that's quite a interesting scenario actually. I guess it already happened, where, daily people posting thousands of links to these crass sites, where they all repeat and refry the same info. (⁖ vast majority of major news outlets, and also all the gif animations stolen from somebody's video on youtube… You know? for example, Time mag used to be real quality mag, but now their site is 99% of garbage, counting random photos (none original), cute things, random gossip, just like every other site)

ok, now i've thought about this, i guess nothing much worse would happen. Because i was thinking there's some point where something would happen.

ok, but anyway, am writing this originally to say something i learned. That is, there's a counter to the calamity scenario. That is, these content creators will start to mix in ads with their content, so there's no telling of which content is ad, which part if any is not.

again, that's already happening. for quite a number of years. There's text ad links… where the so-called blackhat CEO sell/buy links. For example, if you write blogs, people will pay you to have their link on your site, without any indication it's a ad or paid link. This market is huge, and the money you get per link is some ten times than actual ad.

ok, so it's actually all happening already, nothing special here.

now, the interesting question is what will happen if this gets worse and worse.

humm…. i can't think of anything particularly standing out. I guess then that people will start to buy books instead, and again this seems also been happening. namely, amazon kindle.

prison life = great work?

took 15 min and read about prison life. I don't think i wanna be.

i always had a fascination with prison life. I mean, quite a few great mathematicians, author, did great work in prison.

so, i have idolize it as a environment to horn your character. Solitary confinement, with the most basic subsistence. Which, is not much different from the life i lead.

but, modern prison, isn't like that, i don't think. But actually, i am not sure in older times it's better. So, how's it possible for several historical figures doing great work in prison? dunno. For one thing, it's statistically rare. So, it's like someone won lottery. Sure it happens, but would happen to you as you'd hit by a asteroid…

2013-09-07T20:51:54-07:00

i heard a loud boom. 1 sec later, again, then again. Power's gone, for the whole blocks of neighborhood. no power = death

this is Mountain View, California, USA. 2:15 afternoon.

3 loud booms outside. Electricity out. All neighbor you've never seen came out. Firemen came first, then PG＆E. Fixed on 2013-09-07T20:51:54-07:00.

perhaps around half mile radius's electricity's out. Not sure what's the cause, probably some tree cutter. The PG＆E guy i asked said the circuit breaker jumped (something like that).

in modern society, in a city, when power's out, it mean, death.

all refrigerator ceases function. That means, all food'll go rot. Not just in your home, but all super markets.

there's no stove to cook neither (unless you are of the richer that uses gas fire stoves).

hot water's gone too.

and, while was enjoying Bach and sipping coffee and coding great code, boom, no more computer. No more internet. And, this means, the coders ceases functioning, and thus website starts to bitrot.

when the sun sets, pitch dark Becometh my sight. Basically, all activity after sunset is gonna be done for.

and not to mention zombies…

White American Atrocity on American Indians

1864

The Long Walk to Bosque Redondo - Under the military leadership of Kit Carson, the federal government forced 8,000 Navajo men, women, and children to walk more than 300 miles from their ancestral homeland in northeastern Arizona to a newly-designated reservation at Bosque Redondo in northwestern New Mexico. The march ended in confinement on barren lands, as well as malnutrition, disease, and hunger. For four years they endured life in this desolate area under virtual prison camp circumstances. In 1866, the Navajo signed a treaty allowing them to return to their traditional homes to begin rebuilding their communities. In return, the Navajo were forced to promise to remain on the reservation, to stop raiding white communities, and to become ranchers and farmers. In 1868, the government finally returned the Navajo to their homeland.

On June 11, rancher Nathan Hungate, his wife and two little girls were slaughtered in Chivington, Colorado by Indians.

On November 29, 750 Colorado volunteers of the 3rd Colorado Cavalry, under the command of Colonel John Chivington (a Methodist pastor), attacked a Cheyenne and Arapaho village at Arapaho in retaliation for the Hungate's. The soldiers scalped the victims, then sliced off women's breasts, cut out their vaginas, cut the testicles from the men, cut off fingers, raped dead women in relays, and used baby toddlers as target practice. 163 Indians were killed; 110 of them were women and children. The dead were left to be eaten by coyotes and vultures. On the way back to Fort Lyon, the soldiers wore the sliced breasts and vaginas atop their hats or stretched over saddlebows. Weeks later, soldiers paraded through Denver, waving body parts of the dead. After two congressional hearings, Colonel Chivington was driven into exile, and Colorado Governor John Evans was removed from office.

above from 〔Native American Timeline - Page 3 @ http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-timeline3.html〕

This incident is called Sand Creek massacre. Quote:

The Sand Creek Massacre (also known as the Chivington Massacre, the Battle of Sand Creek or the Massacre of Cheyenne Indians) was an atrocity in the Indian Wars of the United States that occurred on November 29, 1864, when a 700-man force of Colorado Territory militia attacked and destroyed a village of friendly Cheyenne and Arapaho encamped in southeastern Colorado Territory,[3] killing and mutilating an estimated 70–163 Indians, about two-thirds of whom were women and children. The location has been designated the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site and is administered by the National Park Service.

Source seems to be: 〈United States Congress Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, 1865 (testimonies and report)〉. See: John Chivington.

also of interest: Scalping, quote:

Scalping is the act of removing the scalp, or a portion of the scalp, either from a dead body or another living person. The initial purpose was to provide a trophy of battle or portable proof of a combatant's prowess in war. Eventually, in the US, the act became motivated against Native American peoples primarily for financial reasons; payment received per “Indian” scalp acquired.

Although scalping in the United States is often associated with frontier warfare in North America, it actually has a historical basis throughout the world long before Columbus arrived. The earliest being in Eurasia in prehistory. There is no precedence of Vikings being scalped when they arrived in the Americas nearly 500 years before Columbus. The act of scalping in the modern era was practiced by colonists, frontiersmen as well as Native Americans, across centuries of violent conflict. Some Mexican (e.g., Sonora and Chihuahua) and American territories (e.g., Arizona) paid bounties for enemy Native American scalps.[1] Contrary to popular belief[citation needed], scalping was far from universal amongst Native Americans.[2]

Star Trek, is one of the idiotic scifi show. Well, most scifi are like that.

y'see, it's ultimately a show, and a TV show. To sustain a show, you need to have audience, and to sustain audience, foremost you need to please people, show what they like to see, as opposed to what really is, or real intellectual work.

as a show for people, all its aliens are just human animals with a mask. A little bigger head here, a little horn there, but all human down to spine.

human animals, like to please themselves. They imagined, the universe is like them, and the evils and good is our evil and good.

and, not to mention, Star Trek foremost embodies the US American mindset. It pleases and tickles this group of human animals, in particular.

Star Trek, is in contrast to some other scifi, say Dune, or Neal Stephenson's stuff.

• The Saga of Star Trek
• Neal Stephenson at Google Talk 📺

WE'RE RACIST AND PROUD

this is what happens when the American bleeding hearts push their views, on social networks such as g+ twitter, we see daily posts of their bullshit about racism, equality, help the poor, feminism, gay rights, fuck. (and, most of these people, are unwilling to really help those in need. They just need to sate their psyche need. Nor are they willing to risk their well-being to challenge the status quo. They mostly just sing along with social trends. )

on the other hand, it cannot be helped. Human animals, is a perpetual power struggle. There's not really a goal, but a process. The power struggle is a psychological process that we are programmed to fulfill. I must WIN. What i win is irrelevant.

Here's info about the pic from Michael Pate's post:

Proud Racist Renee Vaughan, Associate Staff Director (Austin), spent many weeks of her childhood in the Gila National Forest with her family, and so has a deep appreciation for the world’s places of natural beauty. Her hobby is urban and landscape photography. A graduate of the University of North Texas, she began organizing with TCE in August of 2004. Renee is passionate about empowering people to lead their leaders toward more just social and environmental policies, and views the grassroots canvass as a crucial political tool in making real change.

For some reason, her bio is missing from http://www.texasenvironment.org/spotlight.cfm but you can still read it here http://web.archive.org/web/20130514101301/http://www.texasenvironment.org/spotlight.cfm

“best friend”, what a contemptible concept

“best friend”, what a contemptible concept.

the concept of “friend” in general implies there is also the concept of “enemy” or “non friend”. At its root, lies the fact that not all human animals, are compatible, friendly, helpful to each other. It implies certain tit-for-tat with benefits.

most people, especially US Americans, readily embrace the concept of friends, but downplay the unavoidable incompatibility and cut-throat competition of human animals.

friend or foe is often a thin line. It is not necessarily compatibility, but may be opportune.

g+ discussion

See also:

• Jacques Derrida (1930 〜 2004), who wrote The Politics of Friendship. amazon
• Cosmopolitanism

thx to Joe Corneli.

Modern Hipster Obsession

today, the super popular Oatmeal comics has this piece: 〔The terrible and wonderful reasons why I run long distances - The Oatmeal 2013-07-15 By Matthew Inman. @ theoatmeal.com…〕

it's a long one, some 10 pages in 5 parts.

in the end, he linked to his blog about his toenail falling off. See photo here http://theoatmeal.com/blog/ultramarathon

that's strange and pretty sick to look at. Is toenail problems some sort of common problem for marathon runners?

it's a enjoyable comic, and inspiring. However, if you are like him, it's call pathetic. Running obsession like that as he does is a symptom of psychological problems, just as body builders or gym goers that he dissed.

and, now the Xah American say. In rich countries, such as US, the online hipsters worry about being fat. People do “try-something-new-for-30-days”, people invent foodies, yelp, these hip and well-fed and got-nothing-to-do folks, tries to live a healthy living, wholesome life, tries to help blacks, tries to save the world, tries to not be fat and ugly. But they, ‘tis they, who could not diss with their money, who will not shut up in disagreement, could not help a stranger near by, could not do without their 4-wheel drive luxury trucks, could not put away their fancy devices.

give your money to me. Paypal to xah@xahlee.org

#Philosophy, Extreme Utilitarianism on the Dead

#philosophy

just got a idea. We need to create a society, where dead is regarded irrelevant, period.

no eulogies, no hating or admiring of the dead (such as Hitler, Lincon, past heroes, kings, great artists, anything)

the gist of the theory is some aspect of extreme utilitarianism.

i got this inspiration now because someone's tweeting about people hating some dead guy, as taught in school. e.g. you spit on some bastard's grave, who have done your country wrong. And such act, and the emotion associated with it, is a waste of time.

so far, without further research/thinking, i think that MOST of acts, behaviors, emotions, in relation to the dead, is a futile, useless, one. It is somewhat similar to admiring God.

also, i guess the above might probably be already covered, ⁖ as a idea by some philosophy or movement in some region or history…

2 pages on my site of 〈The Unabomber Manifesto〉 hit reddit, at http://www.reddit.com/r/sjsucks/comments/1by3nk/an_interesting_read_it_applies_to_sjws_very/

• FEELINGS OF INFERIORITY (Industrial Society and its Future)
• OVERSOCIALIZATION (Industrial Society and its Future)

Debt First 5 000 Years

Philip Pilkington: Let's begin. Most economists claim that money was invented to replace the barter system. But you've found something quite different, am I correct?

David Graeber: Yes there's a standard story we're all taught, a “once upon a time” — it's a fairy tale.

What actually happens instead?

… this is what anthropologists observe when neighbors do engage in something like exchange with each other, if you want your neighbor's cow, you'd say, “wow, nice cow” and he'd say “you like it? Take it!” – and now you owe him one.

〔What is Debt? – An Interview with Economic Anthropologist David Graeber 2011-08-26 By David Graeber. @ www.nakedcapitalism.com…〕

David Graeber. 〔《Debt First 5 000 Years》 @ amazon〕

Google AdSense Ban

Google is banning me left and right. Now, this page GNAA Weev Troll Song (Kesha — TiK ToK), they say is violating their AdSense rules.

Here's other moral-sensitive songs. Sensitive Songs Index

I started to put Google ads in 2005. Within one month, they ban'd me, probably because i say fuck George Bush in front page. See: Google AdSense Ban on XahLee.org

So, since 2005 to 2011, i did not run any ads.

In 2012 July, i separated out my articles to different domains, so that all my none-controversial articles (which is about 95%) can benefit from ads.

Then, Google ban'd my xaharts.org for ads. See Google AdSense Ban on Ancient Asian Goddess Sculpture Page and now is warning me about that troll song.

the moral here is, if you wanna make money, stay in line! Or, be one of those unscrupulous ad-ridden SEO site or a spammer!

What Are Some Reasons that You Do NOT Intend to Vote?

i think i voted once only, and that was i think the CA governor recall ~2003. (or was it something after that, some regional CA thing, i forgot)

at that time, i did spend huge amount of time to study ALL the issue, every item on the ballot, in detail.

though, in general i think voting is futile, for many reasons:

• Doesn't matter who win, things are likely to remain the same, or move by modern society's complex forces.
• It really take some education to understand modern society's political/economic/social issues. e.g. a degree with focus on social sciences. I think for average people, including me, or average college graduate, the issues and policies are effectively incomprehensible (unless you are fresh out of social science courses).
• What politicians say and do, are pretty much completely unrelated.

TED2012: The only way to learn to fly is to fly

If you want to understand how, ask yourself this question, “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” It's an uncomfortable question, because it forces you to realize that the fear of failure holds you back. The path to new and innovative things always contains failure, but we're constantly afraid of it — we have to get over that fear. Dugan quotes Clemenceau, “Life gets interesting if you fail, because it means we've surpassed ourselves.”

from:

• TED2012: The only way to learn to fly is to fly 2012-02-29 By Regina Dugan. @ blog.ted.com…