Re: Homeland Deception (was RE: signal to noise proposal)
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 Gil wrote: Faustine writes: best is write code, write code. The main thing is to DO something, whatever your skills and talents are. Spare everyone the hot air and just do it. What *you* say is hot air; what *I* say is policy analysis. But who's listening? It's all hot air until you start seeing results. I'm rather fond of the billions of taxpayer-dollars saved metric myself; others might be lives saved, strategic assets protected etc. Once again: what matters to you and what are you doing about it? I'll be the first to admit there are few things more intrinsically worthless and boring than policy analysis done for its own sake in a vacuum. It's just a tool to be put to USE, like any other. Tools can be shoddy or well-crafted, simple or complex--but at the end of the day, can you say you really got the job done with it or not. Despite anything certain people around here have said to the contrary, precision and accuracy in analysis matter: I'm sure they wouldn't have any confusion about whether it's better to arm themselves with a bag full of rocks or a FN Herstal 5.7mm Weapons System. Think about it. You have all these fucking idiots on Capitol Hill stumbling around making policy by the equivalent of whacking each other over the head with stones. Crude tools that--despite being messy, ugly and inefficient--get the job done, more or less. I say it's time for libertarians to step up to the plate and start training with the analytic equivalent of precision weaponry. ~Faustine. *** He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. - --Thomas Paine -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: PGPsdk version 1.7.1 (C) 1997-1999 Network Associates, Inc. and its affiliated companies. (Diffie-Helman/DSS-only version) iQA/AwUBPKN+//g5Tuca7bfvEQIesACg7Hyysg/3KyAVw3+thCM/da1KS+4AoKIs kip/pU0+G5qlCzYTGTi90xTC =cdAv -END PGP SIGNATURE-
Re: Homeland Deception (was RE: signal to noise proposal)
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 Gil wrote: Faustine writes: best is write code, write code. The main thing is to DO something, whatever your skills and talents are. Spare everyone the hot air and just do it. What *you* say is hot air; what *I* say is policy analysis. But who's listening? It's all hot air until you start seeing results. I'm rather fond of the billions of taxpayer-dollars saved metric myself; others might be lives saved, strategic assets protected etc. Once again: what matters to you and what are you doing about it? I'll be the first to admit there are few things more intrinsically worthless and boring than policy analysis done for its own sake in a vacuum. It's just a tool to be put to USE, like any other. Tools can be shoddy or well-crafted, simple or complex--but at the end of the day, can you say you really got the job done with it or not. Despite anything certain people around here have said to the contrary, precision and accuracy in analysis matter: I'm sure they wouldn't have any confusion about whether it's better to arm themselves with a bag full of rocks or a FN Herstal 5.7mm Weapons System. Think about it. You have all these fucking idiots on Capitol Hill stumbling around making policy by the equivalent of whacking each other over the head with stones. Crude tools that--despite being messy, ugly and inefficient--get the job done, more or less. I say it's time for libertarians to step up to the plate and start training with the analytic equivalent of precision weaponry. ~~Faustine. *** He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. - --Thomas Paine -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: PGPsdk version 1.7.1 (C) 1997-1999 Network Associates, Inc. and its affiliated companies. (Diffie-Helman/DSS-only version) iQA/AwUBPKN+//g5Tuca7bfvEQIesACg7Hyysg/3KyAVw3+thCM/da1KS+4AoKIs kip/pU0+G5qlCzYTGTi90xTC =cdAv -END PGP SIGNATURE-
Re: Homeland Deception (was RE: signal to noise proposal)
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 Morlock wrote: And whatever deceptive advantages might possibly come from the *public perception* of rampant incompetence and donutchompery, the drawbacks are Optimism may somatize one against dread of reality, but it will surely impair accuracy of predictions. Sure. But for the life of me I can't see where you ever got the idea I'm an optimist just because I don't think it's time to retreat to a bunker watch the whole world go up in flames. As bad as it may very well be now, you seem to be forgetting it could be a WHOLE lot worse. The more people who care about liberties give up and do nothing, the uglier it's going to get. Should the emphasis be on developing technology instead of fretting over laws? Actually, I agree. Like I said in a previous post, the only way you can counter math is with better math. If what you do best is write code, write code. The main thing is to DO something, whatever your skills and talents are. Spare everyone the hot air and just do it. Take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself: what are you doing that matters to anyone besides yourself? If all you're doing is going to a meaningless job for the paycheck, coming home, watching TV, puttering around and grousing on the Net, you're part of the problem--as useless and irrelevant as the faceless horde of sheep you despise. On that account, my conscience is clear. Maybe when I'm old and tired I'll give up and join you in the bunker. But unlike some of you, I'm not fooling myself that there'll be some magical Galt's Gulch safe-haven to get away to. I'm a libertarian realist. I believe in doing what I can in this world rather than ignoring history and human nature and pining away for an imaginary one. Unless you have some historical examples of well-concealed government competence ? In the main? Not particularly. But I could go on all week with case studies of incompetence, waste, and abuse which could have been avoided if only a decisionmaker-- interested only in staying elected-- had been persuaded to follow sound advice instead of bad. Say what you will, but I think chipping away at the state by facilitating privatization is a bigger achievement than than throwing rocks at pigs in a parade. I'd rather be able to know I did my part to save the taxpayer literally billions of dollars than know I cost the police department a couple of bandaids and a couple of man-hours to write up my criminal record. To each his own. ~Faustine. *** One of the chief sources of cultural paranoia is the ever-widening rift between the beliefs of people and their actual behavior, and the tacit assumption among these same people that this practice---this contradiction between idealism and practice---is a normal state of affairs. Lionel Rubinoff, The pornography of power -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: PGPsdk version 1.7.1 (C) 1997-1999 Network Associates, Inc. and its affiliated companies. (Diffie-Helman/DSS-only version) iQA/AwUBPKIT+fg5Tuca7bfvEQI3ngCfV6rJkX9F2XkhSOg83idmDwqH/AcAoI+l G7PVUTU9moLmgcJvA5Hye2lA =x/sW -END PGP SIGNATURE-
Re: Homeland Deception (was RE: signal to noise proposal)
On Tue, 26 Mar 2002, Aimee Farr wrote: Recursive is just writing backwards. No it doesn't, it means 'write again'; as in over and over. -- There is less in this than meets the eye. Tellulah Bankhead [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ssz.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.open-forge.org
RE: Homeland Deception (was RE: signal to noise proposal)
And I thought you were from Texas. ;) Hold it up to a mirror. (Well... it does make a point.) ~Aimee Recursive is just writing backwards. No it doesn't, it means 'write again'; as in over and over. -- There is less in this than meets the eye. Tellulah Bankhead [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ssz.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.open-forge.org
Re: Homeland Deception (was RE: signal to noise proposal)
On Tue, 26 Mar 2002, Aimee Farr wrote: And I thought you were from Texas. ;) Hold it up to a mirror. It's the same size it was before, only reversed. -- There is less in this than meets the eye. Tellulah Bankhead [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.ssz.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.open-forge.org
Re: Homeland Deception (was RE: signal to noise proposal)
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 Faustine: Aimee wrote: Well, I doan' kno' nuttin' 'bout no agents. That fact has been established. Careful parsing is the spice of life... :P So sayeth the academic-researcher-grad student pretext... :P ITS A CONSPIRACY -some poor idiot, right now But, you know, after pondering on that a bit...What if the lie was supposedly really secret stuff? You know, ME LUCKY CHARMS! I know the little boys and girls are after me lucky charms. If 3 or more agents happen to run in the door with me lucky charms, Sounds about right. Yep, they would be lucky and charming. Ha! Look, even if you like the idea of PSYOPS in Afghanistan (for instance), you have to admit whats surfaced in the media has been embarrassingly crude and ham-handed. I suppose the best you could hope for is that its really all part of a play the idiot and look ineffectual strategy while diverting attention from the real business at hand. Risky, at any rate-- since as any good poker player knows, the merest twitch of the eyelid risks being interpreted as weakness, causing your opponent to raise the stakes. Not good. Failing any evidence to the contrary, its likely just wishful thinking though. Im really not in the all feds are incompetent donutchompers camp, but more and more its looking suspiciously like the donutchompers have the upper hand. And whatever deceptive advantages might possibly come from the *public perception* of rampant incompetence and donutchompery, the drawbacks are deadly. Strength is good. I think Ashcroft and co. are making a HUGE mistake playing up the Christian goody goody schtick it plays straight into the Arab fundamentalist interpretation of the US; and the realists wont believe it (and wouldnt give a crap anyway. And never did.) Even more worriesome, though, is that some of them actually seem to believe it. America ought to deserve better than to be run by a bunch of simps. Emphasis on ought. By the way, did you catch the video of Ashcroft singing some cheezy maudlin patriotic gospel song at a theological seminary? At a fake press conference podium, yet. Surreal. Absolutely nauseating, made my blood boil. Didnt know whether to laugh or throw up... John Ashcroft SINGS! Let the Eagle Soar http://www.ifilm.com/ifilm/product/film_credits/0,3875,2424640,00.html AAAAAAaaaAAAGH! Ahem. Where were we. As someone once said, Id rather side with someone who burns the flag and wraps themselves in the Constitution than someone who burns the Constitution and wraps themselves in the flag. What shows that the snowers know they've slowly been snowed? Bet it keeps a lot of people awake at night, that one. Tricky, but fascinating. If anyone knows of any good links to counter-deception detection, drop me a line. Not sure how on topic it is, but something everyone here would do well to read about. Either that, or just default to not trusting anyone, ever. Works for me. Empathy skills in personal matters. You mean like gaydar for bullshitters? On a grand scale: 1. counterdeception teams - multidisciplinary, non-cultured, outsiders -- creatives, narratives, hoaxers, jokesters, emplotters, etc. Yeah but where? In the TLAs themselves? Consultants? Heres my card, Im with Flimflam Inc, an In-Q-Tel startup... Wheres the oversight? Getting a room full of natural-born bullshitters together sounds dangerous no matter whos footing the bill. And put a con in a room full of squares call it personal bias if you want to, but I know where Id put my money as to whod come out ahead. Hm, unless you consider the case of Hanssen, the genuinely square con. Just goes to show you the limits of pigeonholing and profiling. 2. devil's advocacy in the event stream Yep. Complacently blocking out opinions you disagree with is always a bad idea. 3. competitive analysis 4. MUST HAVE: highest-level precision black channels -- requiring nothing short of a resurrection. Close surveillance. Sneaky submarines are not good enough. Catch 22 re. the Deutch prohibition on working with scummy types. I think it points to the need to re-evaluate exactly what it is were trying to accomplish. 5. Cultural change -- a bit of British eccentricity; decision-maker sensitization Reminds me of the classic story about the time Herman Kahn was asked about Dr. Strangelove: Dr. Strangelove would not have lasted three weeks at the Pentagon... he was too creative. 6. Monitoring of foreign open source media and organizational theme variations (quantitative content and textual analysis; inferential scanning) Absolutely; open source analysis is for everyone. 7. Monitoring of internal organizational dissenters, noncomformists and the intuitives (instead of quashing them, solicit them) Hey, Im game. Be sure to file all this under the expectation of being conned category though. the niceties of good faith or bad faith I do believe Ill leave to the discretion of
