Re: [Politech] John Gilmore on the homeless, RFID tags, and kittens
At 05:39 PM 4/1/04 -0500, Steve Furlong wrote: On Thu, 2004-04-01 at 16:21, R. A. Hettinga wrote: Tastes just like chicken? Can we change the subject? My girlfriend is Chinese, Does she have a chip implant? I've already eaten things that I wouldn't have considered to be food Ask her to shower first she doesn't like my cat Get a new girlfriend
Private U.S. Guards Take Big Risks for Right Price
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 I see in the following article the kernel of geodesic markets for force. Actually a sort of re-emergence, I suppose, remembering letters of marque, etc., and my idea about the decline in switching costs unwinding the development of human-switched hierarchical social networks, with microprocessor-switched geodesic networks creating diseconomies of scale, and cash-settled auction pricing replacing calculated transfer pricing. The idea is, if transaction and price discovery costs fall enough, private force companies that auction their services in a free market become better than the public ones that rely on confiscated tax revenue. I'd expect that sooner or later companies like Blackwater will start training recruits in competition with the armed forces instead of just hiring vets. Certainly there lots of special ops vets training civilians in combat shooting at places like Frontsite, etc, for self-defense, and local militarized police for forced-entry, etc, as part of the same cold-war spin-off process that created companies like Blackwater in the first place. The fact that the NYT, below, is falling all over themselves about Blackwater being corporatized is the icing on the cake, I figure. :-).. Cheers, RAH - http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/02/national/02SECU.html?amp;ei=5053en =3cdd2de47756be57partner=NYTHEADLINES_NATex=1081573200pagewanted=pr intposition= The New York Times April 2, 2004 SECURITY Private U.S. Guards Take Big Risks for Right Price By JAMES DAO OYOCK, N.C., April 1 - Nestled inconspicuously amid the pinelands and horse farms of northeastern North Carolina lies a small but increasingly important part of the nation's campaign to stabilize Iraq. Here, at the 6,000-acre training ground of Blackwater U.S.A., scores of former military commandos, police officers and civilians are prepared each month to join the lucrative but often deadly work of providing security for corporations and governments in the toughest corners of the globe. On Wednesday, four employees of a Blackwater unit - most of them former American military Special Operations personnel - were killed in an ambush in the central Iraqi city of Falluja, their bodies mutilated and dragged through the streets by chanting crowds. The scene, captured in horrific detail by television and newspaper cameras, shocked the nation and outraged the tightly knit community of current and former Special Operations personnel. But it also shed new light on the rapidly growing and loosely regulated industry of private paramilitary companies like Blackwater that are replacing government troops in conflicts from South America to Africa to the Middle East. This is basically a new phenomenon: corporatized private military services doing the front-line work soldiers used to do, said Peter W. Singer, a national security fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington who has written a book on the industry, Corporate Warriors (Cornell University Press, 2003). And they're not out there screening passengers at the airports, Mr. Singer said. They're taking mortar and sniper fire. The Associated Press identified three of the victims as Jerry Zovko, 32, an Army veteran from Willoughby, Ohio; Mike Teague, a 38-year-old Army veteran from Clarksville, Tenn.; and Scott Helvenston, 38, a veteran of the Navy. Blackwater declined to identify the dead men, but issued a statement: We grieve today for the loss of our colleagues and we pray for their families. The graphic images of the unprovoked attack and subsequent heinous mistreatment of our friends exhibits the extraordinary conditions under which we voluntarily work to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people. Though there have been private militaries since the dawn of war, the modern corporate version got its start in the 1990's after the collapse of the Soviet Union. At that time, many nations were sharply reducing their military forces, leaving millions of soldiers without employment. Many of them went into business doing what they knew best: providing security or training others to do the same. The proliferation of ethnic conflicts and civil wars in places like the Balkans, Haiti and Liberia provided employment for the personnel of many new companies. Business grew rapidly after the Sept. 11 attacks prompted corporate executives and government officials to bolster their security overseas. But it was the occupation of Iraq that brought explosive growth to the young industry, security experts said. There are now dozens, perhaps hundreds of private military concerns around the world. As many as two dozen companies, employing as many as 15,000 people, are working in Iraq. They are providing security details for diplomats, private contractors involved in reconstruction, nonprofit organizations and journalists, security experts said. The private guards also protect oil fields, banks, residential compounds and office buildings.
RE: [Politech] John Gilmore on the homeless, RFID tags, and ki ttens
Steve Furlong wrote: On Thu, 2004-04-01 at 16:21, R. A. Hettinga wrote: Tastes just like chicken? Can we change the subject? My girlfriend is Chinese, I've already eaten things that I wouldn't have considered to be food, she doesn't like my cat, and I don't want her getting any ideas. However, to answer Robert's question, cat probably wouldn't taste like chicken. Carnivore and herbivore meat tastes much different. I haven't eaten domestic cat, but I have eaten lion. Suprisingly, it was a light tender meat, resembling veal more than anything else. Tasted good. So who's top predator now? Peter Trei
RE: [Politech] John Gilmore on the homeless, RFID tags, and ki ttens
At 11:38 AM 4/2/04 -0500, Trei, Peter wrote: I haven't eaten domestic cat, but I have eaten lion. Suprisingly, it was a light tender meat, resembling veal more than anything else. Tasted good. Just out of curiosity, how did you verify that it was in fact that species? I mean, if you beat a monkey to death at your table, or buy a live civet, you see it before its served. I recently read about a firm selling what's that meat biochem assays on a chip. Useful for everyone from gourmets to kosher to customs. So who's top predator now? You're just a mobile incubator for E. coli :-) --- I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain to eat vegetables.
Re: Private U.S. Guards Take Big Risks for Right Price
At 10:46 AM 4/2/04 -0500, R. A. Hettinga wrote: The idea is, if transaction and price discovery costs fall enough, private force companies that auction their services in a free market become better than the public ones that rely on confiscated tax revenue. Only if they offer comparable services. Which they won't be able to, see below. I'd expect that sooner or later companies like Blackwater will start training recruits in competition with the armed forces instead of just hiring vets. The govt has a monopoly on certain tools of the trade. Now while a private army (Wal-Marmy?) can get some of these toys on the black (free) market, they either can't get the best stuff, XOR the USG has a problem since that means anyone can get it. Everything from surveillance to weapons. And crypto-wise, reputation will clearly be important here. But yes, obviously, easy communication leads to more optimal markets, for both goods and services.
Re: [Politech] John Gilmore on the homeless, RFID tags, and ki ttens
On Fri, Apr 02, 2004 at 11:38:07AM -0500, Trei, Peter wrote: Steve Furlong wrote: On Thu, 2004-04-01 at 16:21, R. A. Hettinga wrote: Tastes just like chicken? Can we change the subject? My girlfriend is Chinese, I've already eaten things that I wouldn't have considered to be food, she doesn't like my cat, and I don't want her getting any ideas. There must be a problem with the ds.pro-ns.net node dropping some posts. I've seen replies by several people to at least three posts in the last week that I never got the original one, like the above. However, to answer Robert's question, cat probably wouldn't taste like chicken. Carnivore and herbivore meat tastes much different. Chickens ain't herbivores, they are omnivores, and, in fact, prefer meat, bugs, etc. to all else. We always killed snowshoe rabbits for them in the Winter, and hung the carcasses just a bit off the ground so the chickens had to hop a bit to peck at it, which kept them warm. And if you've ever seen them go after a sick chicken, you'd know they are also cannabals. In fact, if you were to hit your head or otherwise pass out in a chicken house, they'd kill you pretty quick, or at least peck out your eyes, and then go as deep as they could. Likewise with any wound you had, say if you fell and hit your head badly. I haven't eaten domestic cat, but I have eaten lion. Suprisingly, it was a light tender meat, resembling veal more than anything else. Tasted good. A lot of old trappers I've know tell me they've eaten bobcat and lynx and that they were tasty, and a lot like chicken. -- Harmon Seaver CyberShamanix http://www.cybershamanix.com
Re: [Politech] John Gilmore on the homeless, RFID tags, and ki ttens
In a message dated 4/2/04 11:39:42 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I haven't eaten domestic cat, but I have eaten lion. Just out of curiosity, what kind of lion was it? Because after all we do know that curiosity killed the cat. Regards, Freematt-
RE: [Politech] John Gilmore on the homeless, RFID tags, and k i ttens (and lions and bears, oh my!)
Major Variola (ret) wrote: At 11:38 AM 4/2/04 -0500, Trei, Peter wrote: I haven't eaten domestic cat, but I have eaten lion. Suprisingly, it was a light tender meat, resembling veal more than anything else. Tasted good. Just out of curiosity, how did you verify that it was in fact that species? No direct proof. This was at a restaurant called The New Deal in SoHo, NYC, I think on Prince Street. Once a year they would carry a game menu for a couple weeks, and I went there with a bunch of friends. Among other things, we ordered rattlesnake, alligator, buffalo, venison, zebra, bear, and lion. I liked most of it - the alligator not so much, nor the zebra (partly because we got an unusual cut - the 'prarie oysters' :-). Were they faking it? The snake, buffalo, deer, and bear I had had before, and they seemed the real McCoy. We tried to order elephant, but they were out. If they were intent on fraud, would they have told us that? Out of curiosity, I asked about sources, and it turns out that, except for the rattlesnake and bear it all came from game ranches, mostly down in Texas. I know they also ranch lion down there. I don't know where they got elephant, but the source seemed more sporadic. At the prices they were charging, I'm sure they had no need to fake it. Peter
Re: Private U.S. Guards Take Big Risks for Right Price
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 At 8:59 AM -0800 4/2/04, Major Variola (ret) wrote: The govt has a monopoly on certain tools of the trade. Of course, that always hasn't worked right in other industries. The peculiar institution of geographic force monopoly will be an interesting test case. One could imagine how it would devolve, starting with licenses, like say, letters of marque... :-). Nozick argues force-monopoly naturally emerges from *any* force market, that, IIRC, associations will collude and eventually merge under peaceful circumstances, and, of course, if one fights the other, it takes the other's turf. Personally, I wonder if that's an artifact of human switched networks, though, but I'm supposed to say that. :-). And crypto-wise, reputation will clearly be important here. Ayup. See Pierpont Morgan, an old chestnut from my .sig file, below. But yes, obviously, easy communication leads to more optimal markets, for both goods and services. Indeed. Ronald Coase is your friend. Cheers, RAH -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: PGP 8.0.3 iQA/AwUBQG3HA8PxH8jf3ohaEQKNIgCg6/Jy5pRSc2SM2+3qqffx4uEXTC8AnA2J WAEMhMrtgaTfvFjXr+eu2Ow9 =HZFq -END PGP SIGNATURE- -- - R. A. Hettinga mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/ 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA ...Character. I wouldn't buy anything from a man with no character if he offered me all the bonds in Christendom. -J. Pierpont Morgan
Re: [Politech] John Gilmore on the homeless, RFID tags, and ki ttens
On Fri, 2004-04-02 at 12:55, Harmon Seaver wrote: Chickens ain't herbivores, they are omnivores, and, in fact, prefer meat, bugs, etc. to all else. Yah, ducks and geese, too. But factory chickens, which is almost all of the chicken most Americans eat, are fed mostly grain. A lot of old trappers I've know tell me they've eaten bobcat and lynx and that they were tasty, and a lot like chicken. Huh. The carnivores I've eaten had a distinctive taste, bitter or something. But I've never eaten any feline, so far as I know.
Shock waves from Fallujah
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 National devolution proceeds apace. Howie Carr is shocking Chris Wallace just now about partitioning Iraq into three countries, Kurdish (who will have oil), Shiite (who will have oil), and Sunni (who will not; geography's a bitch), all while putting a Sharon-Fence around the newly created Sunni-stan. Kewl. The Globe, below, doesn't know it, but they're advocating the same thing. Also cool. The legitimate aspirations of the Kurdish and Shiite people being irreconcilable with a unified Iraq, the assembled signatories declare... Cheers, RAH - --- http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/093/editorials/Shock_waves_from_Fal lujahP.shtml The Boston Globe THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING GLOBE EDITORIAL Shock waves from Fallujah 4/2/2004 THE SCENES of barbarism in Fallujah that have flashed around the world since Wednesday will reverberate in many quarters, not least among Iraq's Sunni Arab minority. Sunni Arabs, who predominate in Fallujah, belong to the group that ruled Iraq during Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. They now face the prospect not only of losing old privileges but of being dependent upon the benevolence of Shi'ites and Kurds, whose kin were massacred by Saddam and his agents. The burning and mutilation of the contract workers' bodies will likely affect US tactics in Fallujah and the rest of the Sunni Triangle. No doubt those horrific acts will also strain the patience of the American public with the daunting challenges of nation-building and democratization in Iraq. Civilians working for companies fulfilling contracts to rebuild Iraq's power plants, oil industry, roads, and other essential infrastructure may be deterred from continuing their work and will certainly demand more security. And UN officials who have been contemplating a major role for the world body in organizing Iraqi elections for January 2005 will have to question the wisdom of exposing UN workers to the kind of violence on display in Fallujah. But the principal effect of that violence inside Iraq will be to make the situation of the Sunni Arabs in the area around Fallujah even more tenuous than it has been. If the populace of the Sunni Triangle allows itself to be carried away with the bravado of Ba'athist and Islamist armed gangs -- accepting the delusion that the Sunnis can use guns and bombs to prevent the coming of a political order based on the principle of one Iraqi, one vote -- Sunnis themselves will stand to lose the most. If they frighten away UN election organizers and no legitimate electoral process can be safeguarded, the Sunnis will have brought themselves a step closer to one of the two perils most at odds with their interests: civil war or the split-up of Iraq. Americans are understandably appalled by the lynch mob horror of the Fallujah atrocities, but over the past few months most of the bombings and ambushes have been directed against Iraqis -- particularly police, local administrators, and political figures. This violence signifies not simply hostility to the US occupying power but resistance to the advent of a democratic system that would deprive Sunnis of an inherent right to rule. But if Sunni mayhem makes it impossible to preserve the unity of the Iraqi state, Sunnis will end up the biggest losers. Should Iraq break into three countries, the Kurds in the north and the Shi'ites in the south will have oil; the Sunnis in their triangle will not. And if the bombers and assassins succeed in provoking a civil war, they will discover that losing a civil war is far worse than relying on minority rights in a constitutional democracy. -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: PGP 8.0.3 iQA/AwUBQG3M+cPxH8jf3ohaEQKw/gCfd1H/3qT0adJcF5w/LqudKX5LjB4AnAxE bCeo0KsdVeq6EAIkTgjRDt9l =984G -END PGP SIGNATURE- -- - R. A. Hettinga mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/ 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA ... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience. -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
Re: Private U.S. Guards Take Big Risks for Right Price
At 03:04 PM 4/2/04 -0500, R. A. Hettinga wrote: Nozick argues force-monopoly naturally emerges from *any* force market, that, IIRC, associations will collude and eventually merge under peaceful circumstances, and, of course, if one fights the other, it takes the other's turf. Personally, I wonder if that's an artifact of human switched networks, though, but I'm supposed to say that. :-). The implementation tech shouldn't matter, latency throughput aside. Merging vs. fighting vs. stasis is a matter of physics, and game theory. Physics, because large entities have different properties (eg surface-to-mass ratio; inertia) than small entities. In the 40s it was a lot easier for the US to muster the resources for the Bomb than it was for say England. Similarly with spy satellites. In a cold environment large animals do better; in a modern tech environment high-investment entities do better. If you're maintaining territory, large pieces have less boundary to defend. Game theory, because the costs to the organism of the fight may be prohibitive. Which is why most animals bluff. And why China, Russia, etc won't be attacked. M.A.D. All your Taiwanese are belong to us. An interesting question is what happens when it doesn't take a large entity to have large force. The Colt revolver was an example of this equalization. So is a fission bomb. (However anyone could buy a Colt, soon eliminating that advantage. A. Q. Khan as a 21st century version? :-) What you get then, as Heinlein wrote, is a very polite society. (Xor one without a population growth problem :-) Sort of like the South when dueling was popular. Until the next leap in tech not accessable to all comes around. (Duelling with AKs would be pretty cool, eh?) Adding irrationality to game theory gets interesting too. Better dead than red changes the game. If you can sell your delusions about heaven or patriotism to warriors (and possibly the population that supports them) then the cost-benefit equation changes. Engaging the endocrines is pretty much all the bubblehead in D.C. has going for him. So what does this mean for the geodesic neo-Merc industry? It means that the US (and other large players) will keep shutter control on satellites, will pursue arms dealers, will bomb bomb-plants before they produce. The tanks that can shoot farthest will still be controlled. As will the night vision stuff, secure comms, etc. Note that shutter control can include accidentally bombing a chinese embassy in yugoslavia :-) In smaller terms, private security guards won't be getting fullauto weapons, high-end body armor, or the same bugging tech as the USG endorsed ones. PS: note that if the USG endorses a merc group too much, by allowing them (but not others) to buy the Good Stuff, the USG endangers itself. The mercs themselves needn't be American. Israel would be a good example. (How many Hellfires *does* it take to hit an old man in a wheelchair?) Plus you get the awkward political and military problems when your friends turn enemies. All this doesn't rule out proxy wars in backwaters (with official or merc troops), or underground mafia-style merc wars between factions overlayed on a government territory, but it does impose constraints on future mercs so long as the pre-existing nations continue to exist. Basically no one fucks with the elephants, and the lions are free to fight for territory, but mostly they'll bluff between themselves. (Unless they're desparate, in which case they'll probably lose.) And because you have to share your kill, there is a cost associated with merging territories.
Re: Shock waves from Fallujah
At 03:29 PM 4/2/04 -0500, R. A. Hettinga wrote: Howie Carr is shocking Chris Wallace just now about partitioning Iraq into three countries, Kurdish (who will have oil), Shiite (who will have oil), and Sunni (who will not; geography's a bitch), all while putting a Sharon-Fence around the newly created Sunni-stan. A fence is being considered around the Capital in DC also. The inhabitants think its to protect them, but some of us have other ideas... a national zoo or asylum? We could call it surdistan, or turdistan.
Re: [IP] U.S. may need to step in, says cybersecurity report
At 2:58 PM -0500 4/2/04, Jerrold Leichter wrote: Ahem. Did you notice the issue date and time? Damn. My only gotcha all day... April fool, indeed. :-) Cheers, RAH -- - R. A. Hettinga mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/ 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA ... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience. -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
Re: Shock waves from Fallujah
Bah -- none of these clueless idiots get it. The Shiites will start doing the same thing as soon as it becomes clear that they're not going to get any real election. The dimwit westerners keep talking about civil war, but the Sunnies and Shiites aren't. They both know full well who's trying to promote that agenda. That's not to say Iraq shouldn't be broken up, it probably should, just as the US needs to be broken up. On Fri, Apr 02, 2004 at 03:29:01PM -0500, R. A. Hettinga wrote: -BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 National devolution proceeds apace. Howie Carr is shocking Chris Wallace just now about partitioning Iraq into three countries, Kurdish (who will have oil), Shiite (who will have oil), and Sunni (who will not; geography's a bitch), all while putting a Sharon-Fence around the newly created Sunni-stan. Kewl. The Globe, below, doesn't know it, but they're advocating the same thing. Also cool. The legitimate aspirations of the Kurdish and Shiite people being irreconcilable with a unified Iraq, the assembled signatories declare... Cheers, RAH - --- http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/093/editorials/Shock_waves_from_Fal lujahP.shtml The Boston Globe THIS STORY HAS BEEN FORMATTED FOR EASY PRINTING GLOBE EDITORIAL Shock waves from Fallujah 4/2/2004 THE SCENES of barbarism in Fallujah that have flashed around the world since Wednesday will reverberate in many quarters, not least among Iraq's Sunni Arab minority. Sunni Arabs, who predominate in Fallujah, belong to the group that ruled Iraq during Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. They now face the prospect not only of losing old privileges but of being dependent upon the benevolence of Shi'ites and Kurds, whose kin were massacred by Saddam and his agents. The burning and mutilation of the contract workers' bodies will likely affect US tactics in Fallujah and the rest of the Sunni Triangle. No doubt those horrific acts will also strain the patience of the American public with the daunting challenges of nation-building and democratization in Iraq. Civilians working for companies fulfilling contracts to rebuild Iraq's power plants, oil industry, roads, and other essential infrastructure may be deterred from continuing their work and will certainly demand more security. And UN officials who have been contemplating a major role for the world body in organizing Iraqi elections for January 2005 will have to question the wisdom of exposing UN workers to the kind of violence on display in Fallujah. But the principal effect of that violence inside Iraq will be to make the situation of the Sunni Arabs in the area around Fallujah even more tenuous than it has been. If the populace of the Sunni Triangle allows itself to be carried away with the bravado of Ba'athist and Islamist armed gangs -- accepting the delusion that the Sunnis can use guns and bombs to prevent the coming of a political order based on the principle of one Iraqi, one vote -- Sunnis themselves will stand to lose the most. If they frighten away UN election organizers and no legitimate electoral process can be safeguarded, the Sunnis will have brought themselves a step closer to one of the two perils most at odds with their interests: civil war or the split-up of Iraq. Americans are understandably appalled by the lynch mob horror of the Fallujah atrocities, but over the past few months most of the bombings and ambushes have been directed against Iraqis -- particularly police, local administrators, and political figures. This violence signifies not simply hostility to the US occupying power but resistance to the advent of a democratic system that would deprive Sunnis of an inherent right to rule. But if Sunni mayhem makes it impossible to preserve the unity of the Iraqi state, Sunnis will end up the biggest losers. Should Iraq break into three countries, the Kurds in the north and the Shi'ites in the south will have oil; the Sunnis in their triangle will not. And if the bombers and assassins succeed in provoking a civil war, they will discover that losing a civil war is far worse than relying on minority rights in a constitutional democracy. -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: PGP 8.0.3 iQA/AwUBQG3M+cPxH8jf3ohaEQKw/gCfd1H/3qT0adJcF5w/LqudKX5LjB4AnAxE bCeo0KsdVeq6EAIkTgjRDt9l =984G -END PGP SIGNATURE- -- - R. A. Hettinga mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/ 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA ... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience. -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' -- Harmon Seaver CyberShamanix http://www.cybershamanix.com
