January 2013 – meditationatae

กุ้มใจ (Goom Jai) song

กุ้มใจ  by  อัสนี & วสันต์  . (Thai song).

cnn fast facts on Martin King

Not sure the 1999 civil trial of Loyd Jowers is mentioned; not that it matters to me, anyway because …

On the trail of a hacker (sysadmin Clifford Stoll)

Clifford Stoll traced a persistent hacker at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. NOVA episode: “The KGB, the Computer, and Me”, from around 1990. It’s an interesting story …

banks and the underworld

Long article about underworld connections at Nugan Bank, BCCI, Barings involving Michele Sindona and many other shady characters, up to 1994-1995.

Histoires a dormir debout

C’est sur les banques S&L etats-uniennes, Bush Sr, la mafia, le “deal” Iran-contras … annees 1980s, reportage autour de 1990-1992. En video, heure 1 de 2.

Nassim Talen on C-Span2 BookTV, 2007

Interview and conversation with New York Times writer on Taleb’s life and particularly his “best-seller” book “The Black Swan”. Very interesting program from BookTV, and I highly recommend it.

Air date was August 28, 2007.

N.N. Taleb’s prepared remarks for US Congress, 2009

This is hard to find, but I did find it (a Black Swan?) 🙂

video aus der Photoeffekt, Teil 1.

Einstein erklart der Photoeffekt bei ungefahr 1905. Das ist fundamental: Quanten Physik, Photon und Max Planck. Video aus deutsche Sprache, Teil 1 von 2.

The Eureka Stockade, by Raffaello Carboni

In December 1854 in Eureka, State of Victoria, rebellious miners who had made a stockade were defeated in battle by police and troops.

There was a Gold Rush. The miners didn’t want to pay much per month for a mining license. The author of the book linked to above was a pan miner there and writes about his perpspective on the Victoria State Gold Rush of 1851-1860. He came over from Europe.

The Australian Gold Rush, around 1850-1860

I linked to a book on the Gold Rush as lived in Australia around 1850 (credit to Google for digitizing the book and making it available for browsing at Google Books). The story is confusing, mostly it seems because the Big Gold Rush of 1848 was in California, so Australians left to do mining in faraway California. But then, within 10 years or so, gold was found within roughly what is now the State of Victoria, Australia; this led to the rapid expansion of Melbourne (Port something), Victoria. The (present) value of the gold mined for Britain is of the order of 500 billion pounds Sterling. So, they say it paid for Britain’s debts.

Also interesting is the story of Flinders, who circum-navigated Australia in the early 1800s. Around 1810, an expedition from Sydney was sent to find a place for a colony for convicts. The party arrived at a sand island North-East of present-day Brisbane. One of the party saw a whiter man…

Turns out he was a westerner who had been marooned on this island for 7 months and lived/cohabited with Australian aborigines. I think this led (through transmitted info. on geography) to the “discovery” or discovery of the Brisbane River.

initrd problems

Fedora-related GNU/Linux systems installed on disks often have an initial boot environment where the real filesystem isn’t mounted, because the root filesystem isn’t yet known… So, a temporary “virtual” filesystem like somesuch initramfs is created by fiat on an emulation of a hard disk based in random access memory, more commonly known as a “RAM… Continue reading initrd problems

discussion at LWN on Fedora and LVM

According to the article at LWN, there was a debate going on between Fedora developpers on whether or not to continue having LVM-On as default in the installer for Fedora 18. The article by a pro-LVM-by-default developer appeared October 31, 2012.

LWN is a “high-profile” Linux newslestter/news-site. As such, it attracts a number of informed readers, I think. What’s of particular value to me is the pros and cons debated in the article and the multiple comments.

Having had problems with a /dev/sda2 partition that was home to my home directory, and an lvm2 thingy, and not being able to mount it apparently because initrd and/or initramfs and/or linux kernel don’t work together, producing an unbootable system, I just started to wonder about the suitability of LVM for simple disk/partition layouts.

I *strongly* recommend taking a look at the LWN article and comments linked to above.

blog post on LVM volume recovery without backups…

LVM is the logical volume manager, or something like that, in Linux and related operating systems. Volume groups have metadata. Logical volumes can be quite intricate: see Wikipedia article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logical_Volume_Manager_%28Linux%29

for more exotica. The article at the link above is from someone that had messed up lvm metadata, a lost volume, no backups and still recovered the whole volume or volumes on his hard drive(s). Others commented that he’s their saviour or hero. So, it seems like a useful post.

inception: new hacker tool

Inception is a hacker tool that uses Firewire IEEE 1394 to connect to nearby unsuspecting and unattented computers. It’s a very stealthy attack, more so than stealing data with USB memory sticks …

Linux lament, by Tom

Unforeseen problems are pretty common some day with Linux. I’ve got to know and use “dracut” a bit today. So, this quote of Tom resounds with me: ” Question three: what is dracut? I’ve googled this a bit, and i’m not much
the wiser. It’s a toolkit for building some sort of Linux boot something.
It’s not as good as Debian’s equivalent.”

The first nontrivial zero of the Riemann zeta function to 5000d accuracy

1/2 + 14.1347251417346937904572519835624702707842571156992431756855674601499634298092567649490103931715610127792029715487974367661426914698822545825053632394471377804133812372059705496219558658602005555667258360107737002054109826615075427805174425913062544819786510723049387256297383215774203952157256748093321400349904680343462673144209203773854871413783173563969953654281130796805314916885290678208229804926433866673462332007875876179200560486805435680144442465106559756866590322868651054485944432062407272703209427452221304874872092412385141835146054279015244783383542545334400448793680676169730081900073139385498373621501304516726968389200391762851232128542205239691334258322753351640601697635275637589695376749203361272092599917304270756830879511844534891800863008264831251691127106829105237596179774318151707135453167754951538289378490364747097270199484855322092535743579092261252477365955180169752334612139773160053541259267474557258778014726098308089786007125320875093959979666606753783812148919088649 7727755442065653205240518014555969571766749307938258921816715288417312213746562285111619107121302807337095263771470940958469085316918313101583671180858572432135184662075245713950983792265279386340744291221460200081308831631574043699975625668654812723688089037999763217340166707780708319020096148642936865738095177312964933874465865128833829078587019595168978993767030147170590385296209655806493701675278436014480557841745671999232417757114207503878568246404546712315778790873586364190970810441863738236357336993974297063488483703162878312941902579785176632710461062875894803968571664932516555939883389986301441951367373998761513665597263640144127152149715290446163775941741265898315901875869031709465393859961579790600905692693630184321220238329216024523391864985317809616127051240153619472349426944647687231090272700934010760950063824718245275764060102676060746842528968859425125073964948941144370964869322535545025201085600441669446401868910551713873265600956878056892324028409264963274646766970941 7123435783867723671200831716578626767432361364144670475245681080053633156879239843300294892430230238531881092778696354249951338422552468522513247398242775392855168395053196219586386944579813213893618952496083434934319676651851435408478325554145390639203491391296591899559241108106186142966596623163004768139185830358988655913668236371301778810822239431933821948725234653889550837338552307092459119468606214730554730665198363402443336561716115366051712143531958666365886884769070717556055946201654531190040886949084370089027756111774784411521148795341640617449896141468545941824686654359977664715139386884175598899477798178318084919043675684528503884387870576068784497970438665811802278645870559541369938372752412114853880178043120145115555633850882542631397082186422261390191109879764517606363162152027822181606278733674557027357178610076818703587924183226995804244718358968410076320347143563068881048151155574802642813833705653839349738965195045729409604026568192914365341453743066382894844626661359 7778752105420049670804227861371602795565401373321944665601075982500079200988632249884599586017339116745572635105743530962398527180558895066102608005583781643401838047612330830277795253067678796101626023798017162517940209414614617841359194535677809154303584573096618800300591442878014258950629232993811548653652600049736748824470025761548593274952162298988656441324206418205244545198885175978738917881054076400329759775807233267773777086097237828385371290302534789220982027635443711396898560294805788982657437973628619833952488284523427222064992882415918492794546362869159073668719152692926975552600810912570656814663279665658506665657893627101382245283072677654439549684389662539283180301860955906429295779421535790628499514344977185525824942828571626359388909917740409667143881191432176686554879937765150823955740493109068768154251099340251202201607254849054067041237812662309857952785650273445727985666387954475832954892148367607377478862437703236150957744992569958005154234028105289988775815741112 6965544106682684452830294191745471613974503760015681366427546694724435387726021318961442575093580244123020982169212260123395872635042037633764412828962203904397557456654769664007542528151282212965106764741805138825937744031584524336240413019472215840997281922926521406259776862971471504808244248137648966893007942971715238617898508593896055380986125496306761189619235466312548737598766097854162682820033445170396410774421564273871471668743023912121461180434486125166477497342669799228436801539716421990548623622933023762720343616182018507201484666556017769042014318055100196884301537320619364319434859565791746270690430538000649320293754412339615370518406002927490897265844180660961969484680325506449960800780877992649020469704237502883180949837387209394829900740955529793331090342925919961998108598964403325977017510457513842125678370000130134213997272699649569815823953389758746961587928115722978991871002499866294260959228538342492687952782234470497904921649639685165893034265447395197362635103515*I

Sterling Seagrave on Edward Lansdale

Edward Lansdale was a Cold Warrior in Asia, starting in the Philippines.

Jim Garrison’s response to NBC network

Jim Garrison was a District Attorney in New Orleans in the 1960s. He was skeptical about the conclusions of the Warren Commission. The NBC network gave him the opportunity to give a response to media stories. The video lasts 27 minutes.

book: “The Assassinations: Probe Magazine on JFK, MLK, RFK and Malcolm X”

With a foreword written by Judge Joe Brown.

a book by Philip Melanson

Another book about the assassination of Martin Luther King, entitled: “The Martin Luther King Assassination: New Revelations on the Conspiracy and Cover-Up, 1968-1995” .

attorney Richard A. Sprague: better than Columbo

Video of a 45-minute talk.

Article by Martin Hickman of the Independent

Sir Brian Leveson has submitted his ~= 1987-page report. Journalist Martin Hickman writes that, after several months of taking testimony and writing, Sir Brian was headed for Australia to “relax” (as of 29 November 2012).

So, the Leveson Inquiry Report is out, obviously. Unless I’m mistaken, journalist Martin Hickman is co-author with Tom Watson of the book: “Dial M for Murdoch”. Over at the Guardian, the review and comments on the book: “Dial M for Murdock” have been quite positive, meaning that this is an important book, one worth reading. So, I expect to follow more of Martin Hickman’s work for the Independent.

the mission from Moscow (2010)

BBC story on FBI allegations against 10 people for spying for Russia. It seems not much spying happened. It’s a BBC story of June 2010.

“Under Color of Law” lecture by Julian Bond

At Case Western University (School of Law) in the Ford Auditorium. Date: November 11, 2010. The Battisti Memorial Lecture.

Speaker: Julian Bond, former State of Georgia elected representative, former NAACP Chairman, etc.

abusive transfer pricing: accounting “con” …

Heather A. Lowe of the GFI (Global Financial Integrity, a research and advocacy organization in Washington, DC) wrote an article in the Huffington Post about creative accounting loopholes that allow:

quote<<

one unnamed, multinational American tech company generated up to 55 percent of its revenue within the United States while only reporting that 10 percent of its pre-tax income was generated domestically — reducing its tax bill and increasing its net profits. In fact, abusive transfer pricing enabled Google to avoid $3.1 billion in taxes from 2007 to 2009 and enabled Pfizer to dodge roughly $1 billion in taxes in 2009 according to Bloomberg News.

>> unquote

That’s a very strange system. So, the Tax codes are complicated *on purpose*, and Public Laws affecting taxation are worse than cryptic crossword puzzles. The US is not alone in this; but just to say, IRS and Tax code is all collated under United States Code : Title 26 – INTERNAL REVENUE CODE.

If you finish reading that, please drop me a note 🙂

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26.

100 chapters … sections with numbers in the 9000s … >>

TITLE 26 / Subtitle K / CHAPTER 100 / Subchapter C / § 9834

[the end]

US is not alone, tax heaven also in UK ! and Cayman!

About: Raoul (King case)

Sense0fthis mentions a CNN report that lead Sense0fthis to read William Pepper’s book: “Orders to Kill”. Sense0fthis tells what he/she makes of “Raoul”, and the State’s case (1968-1969) against James Earl Ray in the matter of the Martin Luther King assassination.

A study on modern conservatism and the US South

Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, so it always seemed strange to me that the Red States tended to vote Republican. Of course, there was Reconstruction after the US Civil War.

In his book on political science that also touches on the Dixiecrats (Southern voters that were disenchanted with the Democrat Party in the era of Civil Rights and de-segregationism), Joseph E. Lowndes (the author of the book published by Yale University Press) covers a lot of complex material, unfamiliar to Canadians like me.

Judging from the References and from browsing the text on the Governor Wallace supporters, it seems to me at first glance to be a helpful and useful contribution to understanding of the Southern vote in the 1960’s and afterwards.

video on the Martin Luther case (Part II)

This continues the narrative in Part I that was the subject of the previous post. In Part II, people who were near Memphis, TN when King was shot are interviewed. Archival footage is shown. Former Ambassador Andrew Young and King family members are interviewed. Also, William Pepper, who represented the King family in a wronful death civil lawsuit from 1999. Lastly, Leroy Fletcher Prouty is also interviewed.

video on Martin Luther King (Part I)

They show archival footage of MLK and in particular his unequivocal opposition to the Vietnam War. There are also interviews with members of the King family and others. Part I of two.

trailer for Americathon

This is one of the few movies that I know of prominantly featuring bankruptcy. In this comedy, the US goes bankrupt and the President comes up with the idea of a telethon to raise money for the country.

Book by James Earl Ray on King assassination

As promised.

HSCA activities&report, 11/17/1978

Preview of November 17, 1978 article page A1 article on the deliberations of the House Select Committee on Assassinations. The full article is behind a pay-wall. Please see my post about Dr. Pepper where he says that an article on the Alton (Ill.) bank robbery and the Ray brothers appeared on November 17, 1978 in the New York Times. The dates match. In any case, this here at the link above is only a preview of the full article on page A1 of date.

about the Alton bank robbery, Illinois, 1967

Quote:

“On November 17, 1978, the New York 11mes published a front-page article by Wendel Rawls, Jr., stating that the results of a Times investigation agreed with the conclusions of a separate investigation by the HSCA that the Ray brothers, including Jerry, were guilty of robbing the Alton bank. “

And quote:

“Assistant Attorney General Heymann and Alfred L. Brantman, chief of the General Crimes Section of the Criminal Division, forcefully declined to consider any prosecution, declaring that “there is no existing or anticipated or other evidence to link John Ray or James Earl Ray to that robbery.” “

(Very interesting, Dr. William Pepper .)

the plot to kill MLK

Video discussion, 25 minutes.