Via, of course, the always wonderful xkcd…
Let our digital overlords get their digital mandibles on this:
I suppose this is as good a time as any to send props to one of the really important books of my teenagerhood, John Brunner’s The Shockwave Rider — dystopian cyberpunk-before-there-was-cyberpunk at its finest.
Remember, everyone — the only way to be sure a secret is safe is if only two people know it…and one of them is dead.
And with that, over to you folks. Play nice(ish)
Violet
I tore a muscle in my calf this weekend and am in a great deal of pain. Ice and stretching and foam rolling and anti-inflammatories but it still hurts. I can’t really walk.
Yatsuno
That. Rulz.
wmd
THe Shockwave Rider was cited by the creator of the Morris worm as inspiration. The ending of the novel could give one hope depending on one’s view of humanity.
Far more dystopian is another Brunner novel The Sheep Look Up. Not much hope in that one.
Gin & Tonic
That gives me an idea…
Villago Delenda Est
@Violet:
Ouch! Sucks! Get better soon!
ranchandsyrup
@Violet: Youch! That sounds painful. Feel better, Violet.
Villago Delenda Est
The only secure computer is one that is in its original shipping container, unopened.
And even that is questionable, as if it has been preloaded with Windows, it’s probably already infected with something.
Litlebritdifrnt
Followed a WonkBlog link to a pic of what a supermarket would look like if bees go extinct (as you know CCD and the plight of the bees is a big concern for me)
http://io9.com/if-bees-go-extinct-this-is-what-your-supermarket-will-513604512
In the comments was this
I pray to the FSM that this is a spoof, cause if this is a real comment by a real person we really are fucking doomed.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
@Villago Delenda Est: Truth!
PsiFighter37
Goddamn, the worship of this asshole Snowden at GOS is really grating on my nerves. He’s revealed absolutely nothing that anyone who knew about FISA or the laws that are on the books should be surprised about. Now he he says some clever quip about Dick Cheney (which, granted, was not bad form on his part at all), and they’re basically clamoring to be the first ones to bed him now that his stripper yoga girlfriend (or whatever she does) got a major sad on the Internet.
I hope he enjoys his 15 minutes before the Chinese decide that their labor camps could use a little racial diversity.
Villago Delenda Est
@Litlebritdifrnt:
That’s your typical teatard mentality at work. Poe’s law makes it so hard to determine what it really was intended to be, though.
scav
If that system of computers becomes sentient, with luck we can attract the attention of The Doctor and he’ll sort things. Should we add cats in hats to err on the safe side?
j
YES! to that book. It was one of my favorites (still is) in about 1980 or so. I mentioned it to a friend that summer and years later after he cot his degree in computer science he ripped it apart using his new knowledge.
He completely lost my original point, and now he is one of those semi-retired NSA geeks, teaching cyber security.
I also liked the little genius dogs called Natty Bumppo as a sop to RLS.
pokeyblow
@j: RLS, or JFC?
Elie
@Violet:
Violet — do you KNOW for sure that you tore a muscle? Make sure you are right and about its extent. Is it getting really black and blue and swelling up badly?
Also — it does hurt — a lot. Ice and immobility . You should go get pain assessment by your doc to see if you need real drugs and to make sure that the injury is not more complex. You want to heal uneventfully above all and get good direction about rehab (which you will need)
lamh35
Buzzfeed published embargoed transcripts of PBO’s interview with Charlie Rose, which is a big no-no in the industry, and Chuck Todd was not pleased!
lamh35
Um, I have never been able to “boog-a-loo”. Shoot I sure wanted to back in the day though.
Chak Khan – I Feel For You
http://youtu.be/04yCea2HOhY
Ted & Hellen
Fuck off, every last one of y’all fuckers
different-church-lady
Well, I was debating about waiting on this, due to the “play nice” request. But since PF37 already went there…
…Hey, you know what? Fuck this guy:
Right — because “potentially” our own police are in the habit of flying planes into skyscrapers, or trying to bomb airline flights, or leaving pressure cooker bombs around at major sporting events. Because “our own police” usually kill 3000 people in one good go.
No, seriously, fuck you Snowden. I don’t give a shit if you thought you were killing Big Brother, you’re still a complete asshole. Fuck you and the the plane you rode out on.
I honestly didn’t have a firm opinion on the man himself until I started reading his rantings. I am still reserving my judgement on his actions. But he himself is an god-damned jackass. I believe I can safely deem him to be a wretched human being based on that one statement alone.
pokeyblow
@lamh35: So I momentarily confused Chaka Khan with Cheryl Lynn. But this is nice, and you made me think of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWgDV3a6Ow0
lamh35
@PsiFighter37: The dude sure thinks highly of himself doesn’t he.
I think it’s funny that Snowden and defenders say Snowden is NOT the story and that’s true, but sure looks like Snowden wants to be the story more than anything else.
pokeyblow
@different-church-lady: Dick Cheney wants your phone number.
Ted & Hellen
@PsiFighter37:
Wow. Really now, why are you so jealous of this guy? Answer honestly now…
different-church-lady
@pokeyblow: Speaking of wretched human beings…
danielx
Cat rescue alert, Indianapolis area….a friend of mine’s never-to-be-sufficiently-damned neighbor moved and left behind a very sweet and timid female tabby. Friend loves her, but has animal allergies and can’t keep her long. If there’s any interest, please msg one of the front pagers who can contact me via email. Otherwise this poor feline is going to the shelter….
David Koch
@PsiFighter37:
As opposed to their previous worship of John Edwards, Patrick Fitzgerald, Anthony Weiner, and Manning?
pokeyblow
@different-church-lady: Your church must not be a very loving place.
So full of hatred, so devoid of hope. Was it always like that?
Omnes Omnibus
@Ted & Hellen: He just wants your admiration, obviously.
Ted & Hellen
The way over the top, personal hatred of Snowden here is kind of freakishly bizarre in its white hot intensity…what the fuck is really up with you Botsplainers?
I mean if you want to talk about egomaniacs, what kind of egomaniacal levels of blood thirsty ambition does it take to lust for the most powerful office in all the world, deem yourself worthy of it, and then campaign like the soulless douche you have to be to win these days? Cause, um, based on that alone I’m pretty sure Barack is a hundred times more self-revering than Edward Snowden.
The wittier and smarter he reveals himself to be, the more you hate him.
Losers.
David Koch
If this nsa pgm is so wrong, then why is liberal Messiah Elizabeth Warren supporting it?
pokeyblow
@Ted & Hellen: Mozart was an egomaniac, Emily Dickinson was a virtual shut-in. Shakespeare a cipher. And little is known of pokeyblow.
It is unimpressive that folks here think a judgment on Snowden’s character is more important than a judgment on the appropriateness of living in a surveillance state.
bill d
@PsiFighter37:
The silence of the DK staff RE: Snowden, save two, is really rather telling and amusing.
The Friendly Libertarian
T&H is the only one on here who gets it.
The rest of you are just bitter than the hypocrisy of the Federal Government is being revealed to the whole world. Snowden left for China because he cannot get a fair trial in the USA, and would be subject to torture.
Roger Moore
The only truly secure secrets are the ones that nobody knows.
PurpleGirl
That is a great cartoon, simply brilliant.
Who’s a good virus? You are! Yes, you are!.
Omnes Omnibus
@The Friendly Libertarian: Don’t ever change.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Ted & Hellen:
With all due respect go fuck yourself. Snowden has proved himself a traitor, he has betrayed your country and now mine. You have obviously never been entrusted with your countries secrets, you release them and people die. Fuck you again. He is fucking with peoples lives. I hope he rots in whatever hell he believes in.
Soonergrunt
@Ted & Hellen: And you said all that completely unironically.
Fucking hilarious, that.
The Friendly Libertarian
@Litlebritdifrnt:
You would have made a great Party loyalist in the USSR. Such is the banality of evil.
Baud
@The Friendly Libertarian:
I thought it was anality of evil.
different-church-lady
“All trolls on deck!”
trollhattan
@The Friendly Libertarian:
Here’s hoping you two, er, three really enjoy your nuptials. Are you registered at Macy’s?
Roger Moore
@lamh35:
Maybe that will give people second thoughts about passing embargoed material to BuzzFeed. If they can’t keep a secret, stop asking them to.
different-church-lady
@efgoldman:
Naw, guy couldn’t sing when he was young either.
Villago Delenda Est
@Ted & Hellen:
There has got to be a fire somewhere with your name on it that you can jump into and die.
Please make finding this fire a priority.
Thank you.
NickT
@trollhattan:
It’ll be an interesting wedding when the bride and groom are literally the same troll.
different-church-lady
GAME ON!
David Koch
@bill d: Markos was on Stephanie Miller last week to talk about immigration, and then she unexpectedly asked him about the nsa, he got all flustered and evasive and started rambling that no one cares. Hilarious.
pokeyblow
@different-church-lady: Why so bitter?
Life is unfair. It’s been unfair to you. That’s not going to change.
Acceptance, accommodation, inner peace. Treat each day as a challenge to get through, each bedtime a success.
You can’t really hope for any more.
Emma
Always, always, distrust the people who start throwing the word “evil” around. Of such things inquisitions are made.
Villago Delenda Est
@efgoldman:
Treason in this country, at least, has a very specific set of predicates, as outlined in the Constitution, precisely because in England (and later Great Britain) it was used as a catchall crime for anyone who looked at Authority the wrong way.
Which is precisely how garbage like Gramps and Huckleberry Closetcase view it.
Suffern ACE
Well this is going well. Frankly, the only solution to this issue is to round up the security state dissenters and put them to work rebuilding Detroit. And round up the snowden bashers and put them to work restoring the damage done to big sur by that facebook guy’s wedding.
So much to be done. So little time.
different-church-lady
@pokeyblow: I’m curious to know why you chose to respond to that comment. Do you consider yourself to be a troll?
Villago Delenda Est
@Emma:
I’d say that Dick Cheney and his spawn fit that particular term nicely, though.
NickT
@Emma:
“An eeevil petting zoo?”
pokeyblow
@Roger Moore: Chuck Todd, a proud heir to Tim Russert, whose rule was “everything is off the record, unless my source clears me to publish what he/she says.”
Emma
@Villago Delenda Est: Oh yeah. IIRC they threw it around a lot. Which is sort of my point.
Litlebritdifrnt
@efgoldman:
Look it up
He is revealing information to the Chinese Government via the Hong Kong media, he is recently revealing information about surveillance that the UK used against the Russians. He is by any interpretation attempting to “seriously injure the [parent nation]” I don’t care what his motivations are, he is a traitor.
scav
Thread’s gone multiplex with all the usual sources of wide-screen projection.
wmd
@Litlebritdifrnt:
The secrets he has revealed are not the kind that when revealed cause people to die. No informants were given up, the methods revealed were partially known prior and the additional information doesn’t make the surveillance less effective (until policy changes, which many feel is the correct outcome). Our intelligence apparatus is not above reproach, and the effectiveness of oversight looks pretty damn weak. Snowden may be a douchebag, but his leaks are shedding some small amount of light on policy and (lack of) oversight that needs it.
I’ve had a clearance and kept secrets about Soviet era SAMs and US CM. Was quite amused that the USN produced a ball cap for one CM, which depicted enough information about the CM that the hat had to be classified and the personnel involved in the test had to return their hats to be shredded and burned.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Friendly Libertarian:
You need to find your fire, too, neo-feudalist scum.
Emma
@NickT: Lord, I’d forgotten that! Thanks, I needed a giggle.
pokeyblow
@different-church-lady: Not at all. I like this blog, but have somewhat unorthodox (per the commentariat) views about Obama’s choices in office. But you’ve attacked me and aligned yourself with those who put energy into throwing stones my way, specifically calling me a troll.
Be a nice person to me, and I’ll be nice to you. Be an asshole to me, and I’ll respond angrily.
I know things look different from different perspectives, but this seems straightforward to me.
PurpleGirl
@danielx: Can’t get the picture. Is it on a public page? (I am logged in to FB.)
different-church-lady
@pokeyblow: I’m curious: when did I “attack” you? We had a minor disagreement about a word. Are you so thin skinned that you viewed that as an attack?
Hoodie
@The Friendly Libertarian: My understanding is that libertarians have no friends, only interests. So what do you stand to gain from blowing T & H? Freedom? Good luck with that. Governments are hypocritical by nature, they get to do shit they tell you not to do. In saecula saeculorum.
NickT
@Hoodie:
Auto-fellatio.
wmd
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Look it up in the US Constitution Article 3, section 3):
Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.
Snowden may be guilty of violations of the Espionage Act, but he did not “make war on the United States”, nor adhere to enemies.
I may have been trolled.
pokeyblow
@different-church-lady:
pokeyblow says:
June 15, 2013 at 10:13 pm
@different-church-lady: Do you think I’m a troll too?
ReplyReply
different-church-lady says:
June 15, 2013 at 10:15 pm
@pokeyblow: It’s hard to tell: every time you post I just hear insects buzzing.
Kathleen
@lamh35: Thank you! I always appreciate the great You Tube lniks that are shared. The problem is I have ADD and keep seeing “bright shiny squirrels” that I want to click and end up spending 1-2 hours on You Tube (OOO, Gap Band!!! OOOOO, Sheile E,!!!) And, yes, I wish I could do those moves!
pokeyblow
@Kathleen: Shalimar. A Night to Remember.
Howard Beale IV
Too bad that Multics is a historical footnote in computer security.
Then again, maybe retro-computing might be the answer once this generation dies off. After all, how many people understand the architecture of long-dead computers like, say, the RCA Spectra 70, or the Burroughs Medium Systems-too bad you couldn’t find a copy of their OS’es to run, let alone an emulator…..
Litlebritdifrnt
@efgoldman:
The US is the parent nation, he is attempting to seriously injure it, anyone who thinks otherwise is hopelessly naive.
different-church-lady
@pokeyblow: So, you are thin skinned. I shall have to remember to refrain from humor with you in the future.
Howard Beale IV
@Ted & Hellen: Which is worse:
The sinner, or the sin?
David Koch
@wmd:
is Jonathan Pollard a traitor?
Israel isn’t an enemy of the u.s., yet, the usual suspects call Pollard a traitor all the time
Odie Hugh Manatee
@PsiFighter37:
Daily Snowjob, I mean Kos, has been totally unreadable since GG launched the Snowjob Affair. It’s like a reverse teabagger site, the other side of a nightmare. I quit participating at that place in 2005 and haven’t regretted it one bit. I’ve been reading LGF for some time now and they have been a voice of reason in a sea of stupid since GG made this story happen. I’m thinking of signing up there but really don’t care that much for sites that let users rate others posts.
I hear that GG is going to be appearing at Soshulismpalooza next month in Chicago. I wonder if he has the stones to show up there or if his ‘appearance’ will be via the internet. It’s a tossup; is he a chickenshit or is he willing to possibly be a martyr?
Tough choice.
j
@pokeyblow:
Yup, yer right./ I was “thinking” with my fingers.
Cooper it is.
schrodinger's cat
Austerity Cat Returns and he is on ICHC’s voting pages.
BTW when you post on Balloon Juice, Tunch collects all your data and meta-data and meta-meta-data. Big Kitteh is Watching You.
pokeyblow
@different-church-lady: I just answered your question.
If you remember, efgoldman and poor Raven were all over me, calling me a troll, based on nothing going on in that thread, but rather their prior impressions. You and I had some friendly exchanges earlier, so I earnestly asked you whether you thought I was a troll.
trollhattan
@David Koch:
You. Again. With this.
Pollard is absolutely a traitor and is in prison for the rest of his life, having earned every second.
Full stop.
Ted & Hellen
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Here we see the Botsplainer’s tendency toward authoritarianism and trust in government’s word above all else. Which, after the last 12 years of U.S. government lies, deceit, and war is either precious or appalling. Never does it cross this Bot’s mind that Snowden may well be the patriot and Obama the traitor. All perspective lost, the Bot has cast its lot with totalitarianism in stars and stripes.
The “go fuck yourself” as a retort is an added bonus, though its value has plummeted due to constant overuse.
pokeyblow
@efgoldman: God help me, if you’re my spokesperson.
Can the service at least send someone over who speaks English fluently?
The Friendly Libertarian
@Ted & Hellen:
+1
Mnemosyne
@wmd:
Snowden claims he has a “phone book” with the names and locations of CIA agents all over the world. Will you change your opinion when he releases that, or will people have to somehow “prove” that agents can get killed that way?
Howard Beale IV
@wmd:
Outsourced to the Wall Street Journal:
Now subsitute ‘privacy’ with ‘treason’. QED.
different-church-lady
@Odie Hugh Manatee: It is truly frightening to contemplate that Charles Johnson’s BS detector has become more finely tuned than the stars of the GOS rec list.
The Friendly Libertarian
@Mnemosyne:
I’d feel no different than if he published a phone book of Gestapo or Statsi names. No difference between that and the CIA at the end of the day.
different-church-lady
@pokeyblow: And I earnestly made fun of you for doing so.
[shrug]
Soonergrunt
@wmd: NBC News reported today he let out that NSA was decrypting the communications of the President of Russia as late as a couple of years ago.
Cryptography is an extremely expensive technology. Decryption is even more expensive. This is one of the reasons that nations tend to keep using the same technology for as long as they think they can get away with it.
If that story is true, and he did in fact give that away, (which I don’t know one way or the other) then whatever advantage this nation had is now gone. The Russians, not being particularly stupid, will have moved on to whatever the next encryption technology is available in their pipeline. That could take months or more likely years to crack, barring the help of of a spy or two–speaking of which, the Russians, not being particularly stupid, are probably looking for any spies right now, and can start by narrowing their search to anyone who had access to the particular encryption technology that was compromised.
Now, of course, like so many of Snowden’s “revelations,” this too could turn out to be bullshit, in which case it’s cool.
j
@Ted & Hellen: Yes, and Obama won by almost 10 million votes over McCain and Snowbilly Snookie, while life long failure W had to be appointed by a cadre of GOP fascists who decided to commit treason for the sake of their political party; but keep playing that game. Proceed,
Mnemosyne
@The Friendly Libertarian:
No wonder you sided with Dick Cheney when he outed Valerie Plame — after all, outing her was just like outing a member of the Stasi.
pokeyblow
@different-church-lady: That’s good. I’ve never called you a troll, and I haven’t said I heard buzzing when you post. So détente is fine with me, with hope for friendship.
wmd
@David Koch: Pollard was convicted of Espionage Act violations, not treason. And what I know of his actions he was not a traitor – he didn’t adhere to any enemy of the United States.
Probably the phrase enemy of the US is not very meaningful since we don’t have declared wars anymore. What is the meaning of enemy under War Powers Act military action?
PsiFighter37
Oh, and I also put Snowden in the same pool with Bradley Manning, for whom I have never understood why he’s been built into some kind of great hero. Two peas in a pod who think that because they have access to classified data, it’s their God-given right to publish it.
I really loathe Manning more; Snowden is too clever by half, and people will realize he didn’t reveal anything important. Manning basically rendered a shitload of work done by career State Department employees totally fucking worthless. He has less than zero sympathy in my book, and I simply don’t understand why people in the blogosphere love him to death.
Ted & Hellen
@Mnemosyne:
Hey stupid: It seems kind of relevant that he has NOT “released that” and yet here you are bitching about him doing so.
Liar. Decepticon. Misdirector.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@different-church-lady:
I know, talk about having the world flipped on its head.
different-church-lady
@trollhattan: Maybe. But technically, he was convicted of espionage (via plea bargain), not treason.
Ted & Hellen
@j:
Please explain coherently what this has to do with my comment to which you babbled…thanks.
wmd
@Mnemosyne: He’s going to release that? Doing that could cause harm to US agents and contractors and so far he’s been careful not to do so.
different-church-lady
@Ted & Hellen: Well, thank goodness there are no promised “further revelations” coming then, yes?
Mnemosyne
@wmd:
He’s threatening to release it. One wonders what the price he’s negotiating for it is.
Suffern ACE
@Litlebritdifrnt: you really are beginning to sound like one of those pasty couch clutchers on the right who whine every time Obama says he wants to close Gitmo that somehow that is an affront to our values and a slap in the face to every soldier who ever captured an inmate there. It’s not becoming. It’s maudlin.
The NSA is part of the largest military in the world and has lots of powerful defenders who are connected enough to get invited on any TV show or any any media outlet. I don’t think it’s worth shedding those kind of tears when it gets a flesh wound.
different-church-lady
Yes… seven game series, with all games decided by one goal, with a two-night, eight OT final game. Stanley Cup awarded in July, penalties carry over into the following season.
Mnemosyne
@Ted & Hellen:
Ah, yes, your temporal disorder raises its head again: if Snowden hasn’t released the information yet, that means he’ll never release it, because he hasn’t released it yet.
wmd
@Soonergrunt:
Russia and pretty much any other country knows that one time pads are the only secure encryption. We don’t have access to diplomatic pouches so it is possible to change one time pads.
Anyone using encryption also knows that the fact of using it means you think it is worth keeping the content secret, so there is value in decrypting it – it isn’t like Russia would believe their encryption isn’t subject to code breaking.
I can’t talk about this much more without revealing things I will not divulge.
MikeJ
@different-church-lady:
And the loser gets Don Cherry’s suit?
Howard Beale IV
@Mnemosyne: If he indeed have a NOC list, that may be his trump card-and the NSA, if they indeed had the proper auditing in place, would know that he accessed it and be able to verify that he has a copy of it. If they DON’T know that he accessed and has a copy of a NOC list, then what does that say about the NSA?
Now think about that. If I wanted to be the ultimate Fed ratfuucker, I’d tell my fellow spooks who are aligned with me that Snowden did indeed have a NOC list, and let the chips fall where they may, but not before I recall all of my own assets in the field. If my assets are back home on US soil, my ‘alinged’ spooks would be less likely to fuck them over (at least those in the compact).
wmd
@Mnemosyne: What’s your source for this?
ruemara
Alright, I think we know now that Snowden also paints and is pinging his ip from somewhere in the states.
David Koch
@different-church-lady: wasn’t GOS thoroughly discredited during their wacky defenses of Edwardsgate and Weinergate?
There are so many other blogs out there, I can’t believe any bothers with the loony toons at dk.
different-church-lady
@MikeJ: With Don Cherry still in it.
pokeyblow
@efgoldman:
efgoldman says:
June 15, 2013 at 10:01 pm
@raven:
A troll because it’s a fucking troll.
Also too.
ReplyReply
Howard Beale IV
@PsiFighter37:
Manning revealed his trove well after it was discovered that the government lied about the pretext-and when it was discovered that cover-ups happened, you have a choice-stay silent and be a silent participant with its internal consequences, or speak up and risk the external consequences.
wmd:
Ya mean the AUMF? Post-WW II the US has NEVER declared war on anybody.
different-church-lady
@David Koch:
Depends on who credulity is under consideration, yes? I certainly know that the raw logical failings, technical naivety, and wishful thinking during the Weiner thing made me realize there were a lot of folks over there living in a fantasy land, but I thought it was just a pocket. Since the election it’s shifted so completely it now resembles an inverted-Infowars.
It’s nothing but rubbernecking for me now — “What idiotic things will they come up with today?
Soonergrunt
@wmd: I understand how the game is played. People who have actual knowledge can’t even engage in speculation games. And I also know that if they were using OTP and our people were decrypting those messages…
I hope NBC got it wrong.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@wmd: “I can’t talk about this much more without revealing things I will not divulge.”
Awww, c’mon! You could always kill us afterwards.
Howard Beale IV
@Soonergrunt:
But if NBC didn’t get it wrong-then what?
wmd
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Anybody heard from General Stuck?
Or is that not funny?
trollhattan
@different-church-lady:
Mea culpa on that detail.
What I recall is he shopped around among several nations and found a willing buyer in Israel. And like a good ally, rather than alerting the US “Hey, you’ve got a guy selling secrets.” they paid–what was it, cash and jewels?–for Pollard’s treasure, several times.
I’ve little doubt President Santorum would declare “It’s Medal of Freedom time.” and call the whole thing a big misunderstanding.
Confess I don’t see much, if any parallel with Snowden. Although a pet phoenix is at least as cool as a few gemstones.
wmd
@Howard Beale IV: No, I’m talking about the War Powers Act. AUMF was (partially) required because Bush wanted to act for a longer time period than he could using his authority under WPA.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Ted & Hellen: I realize your ego likes to think that we’re picking on you because we’re secretly jealous, but, in all honesty, that’s not why we do it. Nor do we think highly of Snowden.
Howard Beale IV
@trollhattan:
Dig the irony: Phoenix was released as an album in 1979 by Dan Fogelberg, whis also included the song ‘Face the Fire’.
Haydnseek
Another Brunner fan! In the mid ’70’s, I managed to persuade my contemporary fiction prof to add Stand On Zanzibar to the required reading. Most of the people in the class loved it, and it stimulated a lot of interesting discussion. The fact that it was entertaining as hell didn’t hurt……….
Howard Beale IV
@wmd: We’d need to seriosuly dig into the War Powers Resolution (as opposed to the War Powers Act) to ferret that out.
Soonergrunt
@Howard Beale IV: Then most likely we had an asset in place who was risking his or her life to give us that information. This person is either safe in the US (or a trusted nation) or on the run, or being interrogated ruthlessly. The Russians haven’t changed all that much from the USSR days, and piano wire is cheap, so that’s that.
Maybe that agent (the locals that CIA turns are referred to as agents. CIA refers to their own people as Officers*) assisted in turning other agents. Those assets are now in danger as well.
I know that it’s possible to actually break one time pads, (and theoretically, at least one can apply what one learned on pad 1 to decrypting pad 2 to try to make that easier,) but to do it in a timely manner, when the information contained therein is still useful, you almost HAVE to have a copy of the otp, and the only way you get that is to compromise the security on the pads themselves. The list of people who have access to presidential OTPs ought to be rather short.
The NBC story implied that the decryption of Medvedev’s communication was happening while he was at a conference, and was used in the negotiations there.
And I’ll reiterate that I don’t know, and have no way of judging, whether or not the story was accurate or correct.
Omnes Omnibus
@Howard Beale IV: Phoenix is also a Romanian prog rock band.
j
@Ted & Hellen: Your stupid comment, which you babbled incoherently was about Obama having an ego because he ran for president.
Yeah, he put his ideas out there and the people agreed with him by a factor of almost 10 million votes.
Snowden took it upon himself to be a self proclaimed savior of the universe, doing it in the shadows, and then springing it when he was told to. (And I still think he’s just a front man unwittingly playing the usable dupe.)
Get your nose out of the air and come down from your high horse for a bit.
Soonergrunt
@trollhattan: I had a professor at OU named David Edger, who was a CIA Case Officer for 30+ years, and he said flat out that CIA was CERTAIN that Israel traded the US secrets they got from Pollard to the USSR for dissident Jews being allowed to emigrate.
It’s my completely uninformed speculation that the main thing keeping Pollard in jail at this point is probably a demand by the US that Israel publicly admit that’s what happened as a requirement for his release.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@wmd:
Ah HA! You!
Seriously, no word on Stuck. I hope that changes and that he’s OK.
@Howard Beale IV:
So does this mean that Snowden really meant that if he was a spy then he would be in Beijing petting Dan Fogelberg?
Ted & Hellen
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
Who asked you?
Who’s this “we” you find necessary to use as a self identifying pronoun? Are you legion?
pokeyblow
@j:
Case 1: Someone runs for President of the United States, and a commenter infers that that person has a sizable ego.
Case 2: Someone reveals the activities of the US NSA, and a commenter infers that he is a “self proclaimed savior of the universe” [sic]
Can you spot the hyperbole?
danielx
@PurpleGirl:
It should be, but here’s another pic on Flickr…..
j
@Howard Beale IV: Even more ironic teh band “Phoenix” recently released its second album, and the lead singer is married to Sofia Coppola, AND they are from Paris, which is in FRANCE!!!
Here’s something from their last album, because frankly, I think the new one kind of sucks, and they are pushing it too hard like it’s another Coldplay yawnfest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BJDNw7o6so
different-church-lady
@pokeyblow: I look forward to creating more absurd passive-agressive reenactments of Alphonse and Gaston with you in the future.
Haydnseek
@wmd: I can’t talk about General Stuck without revealing things that I will not divulge. You’ll just have to trust me. You will be discreetly contacted in due time. The document in the diplomatic pouch is super duper double secret. Please destroy before reading.
Violet
@Elie: Saw a doc today. He checked me out and I didn’t snap a tendon or anything. Just mostly likely small tear to the muscle. Some bruising, but that could be from massaging it out over the weekend to keep it loose before I could get in to see the doc.
I have a therapy program and will be going back again this week and then twice next week. I have to do my part (am icing as I type this) and then hopefully it will heal.
It definitely hurts and putting weight on it is a challenge, but I don’t think it’s the type of thing that will require surgery or anything.
Thanks for the good wishes, everyone.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Violet:
Best wishes!
Ami I too late? ;)
jake the snake
@wmd:
Don’t forget “Stand On Zanzibar”. All three should be read, however, I wouldn’t recommend reading them back to back to back.
Unless you enjoy terminal depression.
John M. Burt
@Litlebritdifrnt: One of my kids ate a lot of guacamole as part of his baby food. One of his first words was “Moee”.
His first child is being born today, and we still call avocadoes “moees” around here.
Metavirus
surprise! Shockwave Rider not available on kindle. and you can own the paperback for the low-low price of $17.10! what a value.
considering the post-nuclear holocaust worlds of online books and movies, i’m really amazed that the digital landscape for music tracks settled out as well as it did.