Metadata and Freedom

Metadata is Important

The NSA uses communications metadata for intelligence, but big tech also records it for “Business Intelligence”, imagine how this information being sold in an open market can affect you.

When it comes to telephone calls, nobody is listening to your telephone calls.” Instead, the government was just “sifting through this so-called metadata.

Barack Obama


The Director of National Intelligence made a similar declaration.

The program does not allow the Government to listen in on anyone’s phone calls. The information acquired does not include the content of any communications or the identity of any subscriber.

James Clapper


In the opinion of Kurt Opsahl
Electronic Frontier Foundation.

What they are trying to say is that disclosure of metadata—the details about phone calls, without the actual voice—isn’t a big deal, not something for Americans to get upset about if the government knows. Let’s take a closer look at what they are saying:

They know you rang a phone sex service at 2:24 am and spoke for 18 minutes. But they don't know what you talked about.

They know you called the suicide prevention hotline from the Golden Gate Bridge. But the topic of the call remains a secret.

They know you spoke with an HIV testing service, then your doctor, then your health insurance company in the same hour. But they don't know what was discussed.

They know you received a call from the local NRA office while it was having a campaign against gun legislation, and then called your senators and congressional representatives immediately after. But the content of those calls remains safe from government intrusion.

They know you called a gynecologist, spoke for a half hour, and then called the local Planned Parenthood's number later that day. But nobody knows what you spoke about.

Sorry, your phone records—oops, “so-called metadata”—can reveal a lot more about the content of your calls than the government is implying. Metadata provides enough context to know some of the most intimate details of your lives.


Government and Big Tech give no assurances that this data will never be correlated with other easily obtained data.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Declaration_of_Independence_(1819),_by_John_Trumbull

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/06/why-metadata-matters

Wikipedia’s Bias and the Murray Gell-Mann Effect

Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park, coined the term after meeting the famous MIT physicist Murray Gell-Mann to describe the act of feeling skeptical as you read a magazine or newspaper article about an area in which you have expertise and then completely forgetting that skepticism as you turn the page and read about something you know less about.

Murray Gell-Mann was an American physicist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles, discovering and naming “Quarks” he developed the “Strangeness theory” and the “Eightfold way theory”.

The story is that at a dinner party Michael Crichton overheard Murray Gell-Mann ponting out this skepticism, and discussed it with him, after that he decided to use the famous scientist’s name to imply greater importance to himself and to the effect, that it would otherwise have.

Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward — reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them.

In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.

Michael Crichton

Media carries with it credibility that is totally undeserved.

In ordinary life, if somebody consistently exaggerates or lies to you, you soon discount everything they say.
In court, there is the legal doctrine of falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus, which means untruthful in one part, untruthful in all.
But when it comes to the media, we believe against evidence that it is probably worth our time to read other parts of the paper. When, in fact, it almost certainly isn’t. The only possible explanation for our behavior is amnesia.

Michael Crichton



Michael Crichton, the full talk.

Wikipedia is the largest and most influential encyclopaedia in the world,

But unfortunately it does not have an effective neutrality policy.
Articles written about political and religious controversial points of view are blocked for open editing, and are highly manipulated by an elite of journalists who are in charge of determining the “Consensus” they see fit independently of the actual consensus of editors and users.

Wikipedia’s algorithm ponders more weight to people who write and edit more articles: journalists; and their followers, generally more journalists who represent a very specific point of view.

Even when the editors of this controversies try to keep a neutral tone to convince all readers that the articles are fair, examples of the contrary are embarrassingly easy to find. (See the link to Larry Sangers article below).
The control of the narrative of this issues by this groups severely damages the possibility inclusion of points of view different from the opinion of this elite. In many cases the contributions and expert wording of scholars who directly research issues and carefully argument their conclusions need to pass through this journalists/activists censorship and opinion, manipulating and in many cases re-wording them before being incorporated.

You would think that scientific issues would not have this problem, for every issue you can list all the peer reviewed studies, the studies that were successfully replicated and what are their conclusions, but politicised science articles (climate, race, sex) suffer from the same activism as other political and religious issues.

A huge flaw in Wikipedia is the policy to have a single article for each issue whose consensus is determined by a biased referee, making it impossible to be neutral. Competing articles for the same issues and pondering their importance by the number of contiubutors, editors and users will genuinely reflect consensus and would be.

Maybe you have not noticed it, and these are two possible explanations:,
1.- Because the Murray Gell-Mann effect.
2.- You are a part of the echo chamber that this activists are trying to reach.

Larry Sanger, Wikipedia’s Co-Founder, wrote a very good article with examples of this problem.

Monopoly

The idea that monopolies are consequences of a free market is an economic fallacy that was promoted by Karl Marx and is still widely accepted today.
With free markets (laissez-faire) there would be no laws to prevent businesses to enter into any industry. By definition, coercive monopolies can only form under statism, i.e., through government intervention into the economy by: special franchises, licenses, subsidies, and legislative actions, which provide privileges to specific organizations, individuals or groups. [1]

In the United States, utility companies have been granted a franchise for exclusive distribution of electricity over specific territories. [2]
PanAm airlines used political influence to prevent competition.[3]
In 1913, the American Bell Telephone Company was granted a government sanctioned monopoly. [4]
In the United States, AT&T functioned as a government-granted monopoly from 1913 until 1984.

The viciousness of the antitrust laws.

Under antitrust, no businessman can objectively comply with the law. For example, if a businessman charges prices higher than his competitors, he can be tried for “price-gouging” or “intent to monopolize.” If he charges the same price as his competitors, he can be tried for “collusion.” If he charges less than his competitor, he can be tried for “unfair competition.” [5]

No private enterprise can establish a coercive monopoly, because it is precisely the freedom of the market that would break it up. In the 19th Century attempts were made to corner the market in various commodities and, invariably they ended with the failure and the bankruptcy of the man who had attempted to establish a private monopoly.
A coercive monopoly can be established only by law. That is by means of a special government privilege granted to one producer or one company.
If you look into their history, both in the USA and in Europe, you will find that there has never been a coercive monopoly that had been created by collusion or conspiracy of free enterprises on the free market. It has always been created by an act of government.

Ayn Rand

The sources of almost all monopolies and oligopolies are direct and indirect government intervention.
The only law that you would need to reduce the extent of monopoly is to guarantee free trade.

Milton Friedman


The doctrine of “social responsibility”, that corporations should care about the community and not just profit, is highly subversive to the capitalist system and can only lead towards totalitarianism. [6]

FEE Foundation for Economic Education
Clichés of Progressivism #41 – “Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company Proved That We Needed Anti-Trust Laws to Fight Such Market Monopolies”

Footnotes

[1] Nathaniel Branden, The Vision of Ayn Rand, p.375
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Utility_Holding_Company_Act_of_1935
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pan_Am
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_System
[5] Ayn Rand, Capitalism The Unknown Ideal
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism_and_Freedom

Think Different

Walter Isaacson, in his authorized biography Steve Jobs untruthfully attributed the Crazy Ones script to Steve Jobs himself.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

Rob Siltanen



This script was part of the Think Different campaign 1997-2002. The slogan Think Different was created by Craig Tanimoto, an art director at Chiat\Day. The full text of the various versions of this script were written by creative director Rob Siltanen and copywriter Ken Segall, along with input from many on the team at the agency and at Apple.

While Jobs initially called the Crazy Ones script shit, and was blatantly harsh on the commercial, he thought the creative concept was brilliant, and then changed his mind.
Steve was highly involved with the advertising and every facet of Apple’s business. But he was far from the mastermind behind the renowned launch spot.. Steve Jobs didn’t create the advertising concepts.

Rob Siltanen



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_different
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12869482
By Apple logo Think Different.png : derivative work: Stoopkitty (talk) 19:55, 31 January 2011 (UTC) – Apple logo Think Different.png
Public Domain.

Lane Splitting

Motorcycle lane splitting is a practice that has been common on roads and highways as long as there have been motorcycles and traffic. California has become the only state in the U.S. that has made lane splitting legal. California Vehicle Code 21658.1 defines lane splitting as “driving a motorcycle between rows of stopped or moving vehicles in the same lane including on both divided and undivided streets, roads and highways.” This section became effective Jan.1, 2017.

The MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) and the AMA (American Motorcyclist Association) endorse lane splitting, given the long term success in California and the University of California study by Berkley researchers showing that it enhances motorcycle safety. “A motorcycle’s narrow width can allow it to pass between lanes of stopped or slow-moving cars on roadways where the lanes are wide enough to offer an adequate gap. This option can provide an escape route for motorcyclists who would otherwise be trapped or struck from behind. There is evidence (Hurt, 1981) that traveling between lanes of stopped or slow-moving cars (i.e., lane splitting) on multiple-lane roads (such as interstate highways) slightly reduces crash frequency compared with staying within the lane and moving with other traffic.” There has been recent enthusiasm for lane splitting and/or filtering in other states.

The University of California at Berkeley published a report in May 2015 that concludes that motorcyclists who split lanes in heavy traffic are significantly less likely to be struck from behind by other motorists, are less likely to suffer head or torso injuries, and are less likely to sustain fatal injuries in a crash.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) published “Lane Splitting General Guidelines”. Meant to bring awareness and promote safety among California’s motorists.

https://news.berkeley.edu/2015/05/29/motorcycle-lanesplitting-report/
https://www.msf-usa.org/
https://americanmotorcyclist.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurt_Report
https://www.chp.ca.gov/programs-services/programs/california-motorcyclist-safety

Judo, the mental equalizer

Judo is a modern martial art, (it means “gentle way”) it was created as a physical, mental and moral pedagogy in Japan, in 1882, by Jigoro Kano and later evolved into a combat and Olympic sport
Judo techniques enable a weak and small man to overcome a large and strong man because they are based on scientific principles such as leverage and balance.

The first thing to learn is never to oppose strength to strength. If you do that the stronger man will inevitably win.
Remember that when he is on balance he is strong, but off balance he is weak, providing you have retained your own balance to take advantage of his weakness.
The second principle you should understand and think about is the action of levers. You know how much easier it is to lift a heavy object by putting a crowbar under it.

Judo teaches us to use the opponent’s forces against him, such as gravity and momentum. The understanding of this concepts have proved to be very effective not only in combat, but in negotiation techniques as well as many other aspects of life.

Holy springs and holy water: underestimated sources of illness

Holy Crap!

Holy water at religious shrines and churches in Austria is often contaminated with fecal matter and bacteria, researchers have found, advising the faithful not to drink it, especially in hospital chapels.

Scientists at Vienna University medical school’s Institute of Hygiene and Applied Immunology came to the conclusion after analyzing the water quality at 21 “holy” springs and 18 fonts at churches and chapels at various times of year.

Only 14 percent of the water samples from holy sources showed no fecal contamination, and none of the springs could be recommended as a source of drinking water, the study presented to a conference in Vienna this week found.

Kirschner, A.K.T., M. Atteneder, A. Schmidhuber, S. Knetsch, A.H. Farnleitner, R. Sommer. Holy springs and holy water: underestimated sources of illness? Journal of Water & Health 10.3: 349-357 (2012)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22960479
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-water/holy-water-in-austria-unsafe-to-drink-researchers-idUSBRE98H0AG20130918 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2419851/Not-pure-Most-holy-water-contaminated-faecal-matter-harmful-health.html

 

 

 

The Influenza Vaccine

Flu vaccines are available either as:
  1. Trivalent or quadrivalent injection (TIV or QIV), which contains the inactivated (dead strains) form of the virus.
  2. A nasal spray of live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV, Q/LAIV), which contains the attenuated or weakened form of the virus.  Cold Adapted, it can only cause problems in your nose where it is cold, when it goes deeper where it is warm it will not cause problems.
There are huge misconceptions and conspiracy theories:
  1. The flu vaccine do NOT cause flu. Feeling dizzy and uncomfortable after the vaccine is due to your immune system reacting to the virus and creating antibodies. You are not sick.
  2. Thimerosal/mercury does NOT cause autism.
  3.  Vaccines do NOT cause autism.
  4. Vaccines ( even in volume) are NOT bad for the immune system.
  5. The flu vaccine is NOT a government conspiracy.
Efficacy of the flu vaccine:

Usually between 60% or 70%

Studies show that in a vaccinated group of 100 subjects, 1 gets infected and in the control group of 100 subjects 4 get infected.

In general benefits outnumber risks greatly.

Benefits:
  1. Herd immunity
  2. Reduces sick time.
  3. Reduces medical visits
  4. Reduces hospitalizations
  5. Reduces Deaths
  6. Protects again complications
  • Pneumonia
  • Bronchitis
  • Asthma
  • Ear infections
  • Sinus infections
  • Bacterial infections
Risks:
  1. Some pain in the arm is not that uncommon for a few hours
  2. Febrile seizures (1 in a 1000, it produces no long term problems)
  3. Guillain-Barre syndrome (nerve disease) – In 1976 there was an extra case among 100,000

 

Why do you need to get a flu shot every year? by TEDed: https://youtu.be/FZ_jNGKCIWs

Get your flu shot! it’s not about you, OK? By HealthcareTriage: https://youtu.be/iXociKUJXu8

How the flu shot works (and why you should get it) by Seeker: https://youtu.be/JBEkdRx6b5s

The trouble with this year’s flu season (2018) by SciShow: https://youtu.be/8Ch48o4og8E

Two flu vaccines by Khan (TIV and LAIV): https://youtu.be/4mXv-Pa4CMM

Flu vaccine risks and benefits ny Khan: https://youtu.be/2h09oj26_H0

 

Bitcoin is free speech

Thanks to the first ammendment Bitcoin cannot be banned in the US as other countries did.

In 1993, PGP encryption software author Phil Zimmerman faced criminal charges because the government said that encryption is as dangerous as guns or bombs, but after MIT press printed the source code in a book to the make the point that PGP’s code is protected speech, the government retracted and he was never indicted.

In 1995 in a landmark case Bernstein v. Department of Justice, mathematician Daniel Bernstein sued the U.S. government on First Amendment grounds for blocking publication of his encryption program. This case resulted in establishing code as speech and changed United States export regulations on encryption software, paving the way for international e-commerce.

Read More:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/04/remembering-case-established-code-speech

Cartesian Skepticism

René Descartes 1596–1650 was a French scientist, mathematician, and philosopher, and he was one of the key figures in the scientific revolution.

The Cartesian coordinate system was named after him, and he is credited as the father of analytical geometry, used in the discovery of infinitesimal calculus and analysis.

René Descartes is the originator of Cartesian skepticism (a form of methodological skepticism), that puts all beliefs, ideas, thoughts, and matter in doubt.

He offers the following analogy:

A person had a basket full of apples and, being worried that some of the apples were rotten, wanted to take out the rotten ones to prevent the rot spreading. How would he proceed? Would he not begin by tipping the whole lot out of the basket? And would not the next step be to cast his eye over each apple in turn, and pick up and put back in the basket only those he saw to be sound, leaving the others?

Those who have never philosophized correctly have various opinions in their minds which they have begun to store up since childhood, and which they therefore have reason to believe may in many cases be false. Now the best way they can accomplish this is to reject all their beliefs together in one go, as if they were all uncertain and false. They can then go over each belief in turn and re-adopt only those which they recognize to be true and indubitable.

Cartesian skepticism is also known as Cartesian doubt, methodic doubt, methodological skepticism, Universal Doubt, or hyperbolic doubt.

Many elements of his philosophy have precedents in late Aristotelianism, Descartes laid the foundation for 17th-century continental rationalism, later advocated by Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Leibniz, and opposed by the empiricist school of thought consisting of Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume.

The “Discourse on The Method” is a philosophical and autobiographical treatise published by René Descartes in 1637 and is best known as the source of the famous quotation:

“Cogito ergo sum”

“Je pense, donc je suis”

“I think, therefore I am”

Pope Alexander VII added Descartes’ works to the Index of Prohibited Books in 1663.

 

https://books.google.com/books?id=p0x_1Rb_hn8C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
https://www.biography.com/people/ren-descartes-37613
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-epistemology/#1.4
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9_Descartes 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_on_the_Method 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartesian_doubt 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Alexander_VII 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_Librorum_Prohibitorum 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critique_of_Pure_Reason