Germany’s states have voted to introduce federal legislation that would criminalize the act of providing technical infrastructure for so-called dark-web marketplaces where illegal activities take place.
Month: March 2019
A Mass Murder of, and for, the Internet
Before entering a mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand, the site of one of the deadliest mass murders in the country’s history, the accused gunman paused to endorse a YouTube star in a video that appeared to capture the shooting.
“Remember, lads, subscribe to PewDiePie,” he said.
To an untrained eye, this would have seemed like a bizarre detour.
But the people watching the video stream recognized it as something entirely different: a meme.
LINK: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/technology/facebook-youtube-christchurch-shooting.html
The Brabant Killers
In 1982, a group of offenders began striking the Brussels area of Belgium. It began with a series of small robberies, but – by the end of the year – had progressed to full-blown murder. Though their criminal career was still in its apparent infancy, the Brabant Killers – also known as the Brabant Gang and the Gang Of Nivelles – would go on to become Belgium’s most violent and mysterious criminals. Over thirty years later, their identities and motives are still unknown.
How a Bitcoin Evangelist Made Himself Vanish, in 15 (Not So Easy) Steps
In October 2017, a SWAT team descended on Jameson Lopp’s house in North Carolina. Someone — it still isn’t clear who — had called the police and falsely claimed that a shooter at the home had killed someone and taken a hostage. After the police left, Mr. Lopp received a call threatening more mayhem if he did not make a large ransom payment in Bitcoin.
To scare off future attackers, Mr. Lopp quickly posted a video on Twitter of himself firing off his AR-15 rifle. He also decided he was going to make it much harder for his enemies — and anyone else — to find him ever again.
Mr. Lopp, a self-described libertarian who works for a Bitcoin security company, had long been obsessed with the value of privacy, and he set out to learn how thoroughly a person can escape the all-seeing eyes of corporate America and the government. But he wanted to do it without giving up internet access and moving to a shack in the woods.
LINK: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/technology/how-to-disappear-surveillance-state.html
Would Human Extinction Be a Tragedy?
There are stirrings of discussion these days in philosophical circles about the prospect of human extinction. This should not be surprising, given the increasingly threatening predations of climate change. In reflecting on this question, I want to suggest an answer to a single question, one that hardly covers the whole philosophical territory but is an important aspect of it. Would human extinction be a tragedy?
LINK: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/17/opinion/human-extinction-climate-change.html
Christchurch New Zealand Shooter’s Manifesto and Video
The Christchurch mosque shootings were two consecutive terrorist attacks at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, during Friday Prayer on 15 March 2019.[6] The attacks began at the Al Noor Mosque in the suburb of Riccarton at 1:40 pm and continued at the Linwood Islamic Centre at about 1:55 pm.[7][8][9][10] The gunman live-streamed the first attack on Facebook Live.[11]
The attacks killed 50 people and injured 50 others.[12][13] A 28-year-old Australian man, described in media reports as a white supremacist and part of the alt-right, was arrested and charged with murder.[14][15][16][17] The attacks have been linked to an increase in white supremacism and alt-right extremism globally[18][19] observed since the mid-2010s.[20][21] Politicians and world leaders condemned the attacks,[22] and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern described it as “one of New Zealand’s darkest days.”[23] The government has established a royal commission of inquiry into its security agencies in the wake of the attacks, which are the deadliest mass shootings in modern New Zealand history.[24][25] – Wikipedia
Link to video and manifesto: https://thepsychopath.org/filez/Brenton_Tarrant.rar
If you’re not familiar with RAR files, look here.
Can You Spot a Liar?
Probably not. But here are some techniques grifters use, courtesy of Maria Konnikova and her new book about con artists.
In November, I came across a story that made absolutely no sense to me. A 33-year-old consultant named Niall Rice gave $718,000, little by little, to two Manhattan psychics who promised to reunite him with an old flame. How could someone be so gullible? Rice himself didn’t even seem to know: “I just got sucked in,” he told The New York Times later.
As it turns out, it’s much easier to fall for these types of cons than many people think. As Maria Konnikova, a psychologist and New Yorker contributor, explains in her new book, The Confidence Game, grifters manipulate human emotions in genius (and evil) ways, striking right when we feel lovelorn or otherwise emotionally vulnerable. I recently spoke with Konnikova about cons, why they happen, and if there’s any way to avoid becoming a fraudster’s next target. A lightly edited version of our conversation follows.
LINK: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/01/can-you-spot-a-liar/423588/
SCIENTISTS HAVE REVERSED TIME IN A QUANTUM COMPUTER
Scientists have demonstrated time reversal in a quantum computer, returning three qubits (the basic unit of quantum information) to their state a fraction of a second earlier.
LINK: https://www.newsweek.com/time-reversed-quantum-computer-1361215
Will Climate Change Cause Human Extinction?
In the last few days an alarming article making the rounds on social media has revived the idea that our species might be doing itself in by changing the global climate. The article, by vice.com’s Nathan Curry, minces no words in its title: “Humanity Is Getting Verrrrrrry Close to Extinction,” with the extra rs in the original.
LINK: https://www.kcet.org/redefine/will-climate-change-cause-human-extinction
The Rants of Francis E. Dec, Esquire
Assorted rants by schizophrenic Polish-American conspiracist/outsider artist Francis E. Dec, Esquire.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/teh_zer0/albums/72157625069384818
Welcome to the world’s single most comprehensive source of writings by Francis E. Dec! Below are housed Mr. Dec’s rants – illustrated by me – along with other correspondence written by the man throughout his life. While rants by Dec have been available online in the past, this web site is unique in that it contains material by Dec available nowhere else and which has never before been seenby his fans! Most, if not all of this new material was graciously donated to the Fanclub in late 2008. Dec’s legal correspondence, also available below, was dug up from various government archives during 2006 and 2007 by dedicated Decologist Ted Torbich!