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distractorman's comments
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distractorman  ·  3345 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Sustainable development goals - United Nations

Peace back in 16th place lumped together with some other crap. Says it all about their priorities.

distractorman  ·  3345 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: China and Russia Challenge the Dollar

The Dollar is not immune to challenge. If we want a global free market every country (as well as non-countries) should be able to challenge the status of the USD as a reserve currency.

distractorman  ·  3346 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: United States claims russias first strikes were not isis targets

Russia has more interest hitting ISIS than not. USA has more interest in discrediting the Russians than hitting ISIS.

Engineering wise ICE engines really are hitting their limits. There is only so much you can squeeze out of an interrupted combustion before reliability starts to suffer.

Getting more power out of ICE is easy, getting more efficiency is not easy at all. The current alley of improvement seems to be increasing the compression ratio, the higher the ratio the higher the efficiency. The limitation here seems to be the piston getting too hot and melting. It is the only component in the engine that can not be cooled sufficiently. Heat pipes inside the piston might help but haven't been tried afaik.

distractorman  ·  3346 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Tesla’s Model X Has A Bio Weapon Defense Mode Button (Seriously)

That thing is so obviously designed for soccer moms.

distractorman  ·  3414 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Cables released by WikiLeaks show a Saudi Obsession with Iran

The 73' petrol crisis and the subsequent introduction of the petrodollar should throw some light on that.

Basically US provides all their military equipment and forces them to trade their petrol for USD only and no other currency. So the military and the money is controlled by the CIA. The rest is what we see on the news.

distractorman  ·  3414 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Teenager Invents Pancreatic Cancer Detection Test!

Last time a teen invented something it transpired there was a team of Phd's behind the project and the teen was just there for the PR angle.

Nobody cares for an ordinary startup any more. If you want to get in the headlines you need "Teen invents X"

distractorman  ·  3414 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: 10 reasons not to upgrade to Windows 10

I'm kinda glad I jumped out of that boat long ago. Not being imposed corporate whims feels really nice.

distractorman  ·  3414 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Portuguese scientists discover why pendulum clocks swing together.

If the clocks are hanging on the same wall it is possible that the structurally transmitted vibrations would be more effective than acoustic waves.

distractorman  ·  3423 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: My approach for a keyboard layout with 10 keys - Update!

More utilization for the thumbs! Asetniop uses only the spacebar for the thumbs - the most functional the digits. You have improved the usefulness by an order of magnitude by simply increasing the number of buttons for the thumb. It approaches what the Ergodox keyboard did to the standard QWERTY layout. I like this.

Next question would be how to implement 4 way navigation for games and such. Please please please do not do what the Vim editor did. HJKL for 4 way navigation is a horrible idea IJKL is much more sensible.

distractorman  ·  3426 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: From Britain to Beijing: how governments manipulate the internet

There have been several techniques circulated on the net, most originate from the Snowden leaks I suppose. Several of which I've witnessed being applied on Reddit. It is pleasing to see that Hubski is resistant to some of these by virtue of its design.

    Forum Sliding
    If a very sensitive posting of a critical nature has been posted on a forum - it can be quickly removed from public view by 'forum sliding.' In this technique a number of unrelated posts are quietly 'prepositioned' on the forum and allowed to 'age.' Each of these misdirectional forum postings can then be called upon at will to trigger a 'forum slide.'

    The second requirement is that several sockpuppets exist, which can be called upon, to ensure that this technique is not exposed to the public. To trigger a 'forum slide' and 'flush' the critical post out of public view it is simply a matter of logging into each account, both real and fake, and then 'replying' to prepositioned postings with a simple one- or two-line comment. This brings the unrelated postings to the top of the forum list, and the critical posting 'slides' down the front page, and quickly out of public view.

    Although it is difficult or impossible to censor the posting it is now lost in a sea of unrelated and useless postings. By this means it becomes effective to keep the readers of the forum reading unrelated and non-issue items.

    Consensus Cracking

    A second highly effective technique (which you can see in operation all the time at [1]) is 'consensus cracking.' To develop a consensus crack, the following technique is used.

    Under the guise of a fake account a posting is made which looks legitimate and is towards the truth is made - but the critical point is that it has a VERY WEAK PREMISE without substantive proof to back the posting. Once this is done then under alternative fake accounts a very strong position in your favor is slowly introduced over the life of the posting. It is IMPERATIVE that both sides are initially presented, so the uninformed reader cannot determine which side is the truth. As postings and replies are made the stronger 'evidence' or disinformation in your favor is slowly 'seeded in.'

    Thus the uninformed reader will most likely develop the same position as you, and if their position is against you their opposition to your posting will be most likely dropped. However in some cases where the forum members are highly educated and can counter your disinformation with real facts and linked postings, you can then 'abort' the consensus cracking by initiating a 'forum slide.'

    Topic Dilution

    Topic dilution is not only effective in forum sliding; it is also very useful in keeping the forum readers on unrelated and non-productive issues. This is a critical and useful technique to cause a 'RESOURCE BURN.' By implementing continual and non-related postings that distract and disrupt ([trolling]) the forum readers they are more effectively stopped from anything of any real productivity.

    If the intensity of gradual dilution is intense enough, the readers will effectively stop researching and simply slip into a 'gossip mode.' In this state they can be more easily misdirected away from facts towards uninformed conjecture and opinion. The less informed they are the more effective and easy it becomes to control the entire group in the direction that you would desire the group to go in.

    It must be stressed that a proper assessment of the psychological capabilities and levels of education of the group is first determined to determine at what level to 'drive in the wedge.' By being too far off topic too quickly it may trigger censorship by a forum moderator.

    Information Collection

    Information collection is also a very effective method to determine the psychological level of the forum members, and to gather intelligence that can be used against them. In this technique in a light and positive environment a 'show you mine show me yours' posting is initiated. From the number of replies and the answers that are provided much statistical information can be gathered.

    An example is to post your 'favorite weapon' and then encourage other members of the forum to showcase what they have. In this matter it can be determined by reverse proration what percentage of the forum community owns a firearm, and or a illegal weapon.

    This same method can be used by posing as one of the form members and posting your favorite 'technique of operation.' From the replies various methods that the group utilizes can be studied and effective methods developed to stop them from their activities.

    Anger Trolling

    Statistically, there is always a percentage of the forum posters who are more inclined to violence. In order to determine who these individuals are, it is a requirement to present an image on the forum to deliberately incite a strong psychological reaction. From this the most violent or outburst-prone members of the group can be effectively singled out for reverse IP location and possibly local enforcement tracking.

    To accomplish this only requires posting a link to a video depicting a local police officer massively abusing his power against a very innocent individual. Statistically of the million or so police officers in America there is always one or two being caught abusing their powers and the taping of the activity can then be used for intelligence gathering purposes - without the requirement to 'stage' a fake abuse video. This method's effectiveness is directly proportional to the level of abuse contained in the video.

    Sometimes it is useful to 'lead' the forum by replying to your own posting with your own statement of violent intent, and that you 'do not care what the authorities think!!' inflammation. By doing this and showing no fear it may be more effective in getting the more silent and self-disciplined violent intent members of the forum to slip and post their real intentions. This can be used later in a court of law during prosecution.

    Gaining Full Control

    It is important to also be harvesting and continually maneuvering for a forum moderator position. Once this position is obtained, the forum can then be effectively and quietly controlled by deleting unfavorable postings - and one can eventually steer the forum into complete failure and lack of interest by the general public. This is the 'ultimate victory' as the forum is no longer participated with by the general public and no longer useful in maintaining their freedoms.

    Depending on the level of control you can obtain, you can deliberately steer a forum into defeat by censoring postings, deleting memberships, flooding, and or accidentally taking the forum offline. By this method the forum can be quickly killed. However it is not always in the interest to kill a forum as it can be converted into a 'honey pot' gathering center to collect and misdirect newcomers and from this point be completely used for your control for your agenda purposes.

    Breaking the Banhammer

    An agent may come to the forum in question with an anti-authoritarian, anarchist tone. This seems legitimate enough at first glance, as any research or activist forum is certain to be aware of the corruption of "The System", and those in charge of it. However, by directing this anti-authoritarian attitude towards the very moderation team who are there to ensure that research and activism can take place, they attempt to undermine the authority of and respect for the moderation team. "You mean you're banning people? Aren't you about free speech, the constitution?" Etc. This is a technique known as "Occupatio", and presents the moderator with a catch-22; either ban the troublemaker and lend credence to the claim that the moderation team is hypocritical, or don't ban him and continue listening to him complain about how the site's staff is hypocritical.

    If there are other agents on the forum, and the moderators ban the troublemaker, they may begin hurling accusations of "witch hunts" and "McCarthyism" at the moderators, attempting to rile the userbase into a shitstorm against the moderators. Divide and conquer.

    Conclusion

    Remember these techniques are only effective if the forum participants DO NOT KNOW ABOUT THEM. Once they are aware of these techniques the operation can completely fail, and the forum can become uncontrolled. At this point other avenues must be considered such as initiating a false legal proceeding to simply have the forum shut down and taken offline.

    This is not desirable as it then leaves the enforcement agencies unable to track the percentage of those in the population who always resist attempts for control against them. Many other techniques can be utilized and developed by the individual and as you develop further techniques of infiltration and control it is imperative to share then with HQ.

Source

I was more interested in how they represent timelines from an infographic design perspective. Not much to talk about on that front.

distractorman  ·  3426 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: New strongest material in nature

The mineral being needle like means the creature doesn't need to 'sharpen' its teeth. They come sharp as a property of the mineral structure. Very interesting.

I came here from Voat. It is not a direct clone. Voat offers considerable improvement over Reddit. For example you have only 10 upvotes/day until you collect 20 upvotes from your posts. You also need 100 upvotes to be able to downvote anything. After your first 100 karma the restrictions are relaxed but there are still upper limits.

This forces users to be better behaved and almost eliminates vote brigading and spam. It is an improvement but definitely nowhere near the sophistication of Hubski. For example they still need moderators which always skews the discussion and creates undue workload.