Delicious seafood pasta dish—includes squid—from America’s Test Kitchen.
As usual, you can also use this squid post to talk about the security stories in the news that I haven’t covered.
Read my blog posting guidelines here.
Clive Robinson • January 1, 2021 5:44 PM
@ SpaceLifeForm
You have four W’s in your URL…
So,
https://www.twitter.com/cjcmichel/status/1345095237186809857
Intetresting the US abandons anonymous shell companies on the same day the UK gains the freedom to become a money laundering capital of the world…
Coincidence may be but an astounding one nether the less.
SpaceLifeForm • January 1, 2021 6:02 PM
@ -, Clive, Anders, Moderator
Good catch.
So, not only should name field be restricted to 7-bit ASCII, it should also be html and markdown parsed.
Or, easier way, 7-bit ASCII with no special characters except dash or underscore.
And, as I said earlier, no leading or trailing whitespace.
Remember, 7-bit ASCII is valid UTF-8.
Algo:
Trim leading or trailing whitespace.
Not 7-bit ASCII, reject.
Any non-allowed special chars, reject.
JonKnowsNothing • January 1, 2021 6:17 PM
@SpaceLifeForm @Clive @All
re: Airplane Travel and COVID-19 infections
iirc(bad) Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, there were some discussions in the blog about How The Airlines Could Clean Contaminated Planes.
An interesting MSM article on why people currently get COVID-19 while flying.
Rules vary by airline and by country but it seems that in the USA at least, all health forms are just personal statements, which do not have to be true.
So, folks are able to fill out the form, get on the plane, cough and wheeze through the flight, refuse to wear a mask etc. Some airlines or airports have those therm-readers looking for temperatures but that doesn’t seem to actually do anything.
It maybe that domestic and international flights have different rules depending on destinations. I’m fairly certain that I’ve read that AU and NZ require multiple negative tests but people still arrive sick. Evidently those tests aren’t WAI either.
So, it clears up some questions about how you can still get sicko while flying if (and only if) the airlines actually do what they say they do: Deep Clean, Better Air Filtration-Ventilation, Standard COVID-19 Protocols (Masks, etc) and that the flight crew is clean too.
Turns out the airlines do None of the Above too.
So, in short, the passengers are sicko, the crew is sicko and the plane is contaminated.
I’m not sure but it might be a good petri dish to test out the effectiveness of the vaccination you get. This or going back on a ship cruise.
ht tps://www.latimes.com/business/story/2021-01-01/covid-19-airplane-sick-on-plane-cdc
(url fractured to prevent autorun)
SpaceLifeForm • January 1, 2021 6:29 PM
@ Clive
You have four W’s in your URL…
s/attribution/obfuscation/
Goat • January 1, 2021 11:33 PM
I host a static site on netlify and constantly preach static sites, while disabling javascript in my webbrowsing. I have started to realise that the jamstack revolution starts with a j(means js) and powered by a CDN it leads to worse privacy implications in general. The security of a static site is gaurenteed to be a lot better but javascript leads to a hole that sucks all the benefits and brings insecurity as a norm. Though I use no js and my csp doesnt allow for embed, images etc. I am worried that this cdn
culture indeed may lead to recentralisation of the internet, especially since cloudflare has started cloudflare pages and made this sign up page.
What are your views on this jamstack stuff. How do you go about hosting your websites?
lurker • January 1, 2021 11:56 PM
@JonKnowsNothing, re infection via airplane.
NZ claps all arrivals straight into isolation for fourteen days with tests at day three and twelve. A positive test puts the victim into quarantine for a further fourteen days. Arrivals from UK and some other places are currently tested immediately on arrival.
There have been several notable cases of groups travelling together having multiple positive tests during the initial 14 days, in spite of negative tests pre-departure. The govt has resisted efforts by vested interests to allow free entry with a negative pre-departure test. They will not say outright that pre-departure tests may be badly done or falsely certified, but that there are too many opportunities to become infected post-testing.
Clive Robinson • January 2, 2021 2:07 AM
@ lurker,
The govt has resisted efforts by vested interests to allow free entry with a negative pre-departure test. They will not say outright that pre-departure tests may be badly done or falsely certified,
I’m not saying the NZ Gov should do this, but as it’s been as similar has been done before…
In the UK, quite a few years ago there was an issue with illegal immigrants ariving inside truck loads and on aircraft and the Channel tunnel[1].
The solution seen at the time was a fine of ~8000USD / illegal migrant and potential confiscation and sale at auction of vehicles involved. With at one point ten such vehicles being fined/day French lorry drivers started taking unsuccessfull political action (the main cause of the problem was actually the EU Schengen Agreement that France only started asking for changes to after terrorist atrocities in France and Belgium).
I do not know if it was entirely effective against trucks[2], it certainly created a new “Security Product” market. But the airlines certainly stepped up measures and clamped down hard and in some cases reportedly brutaly so, dragging people back to aircraft to take them back to the point of embarcation.
So there is a template system already in operation should the NZ Gov decide to examine such an option.
I know it sounds unfair but the “vested interests” are making profit by not taking the necessary precautions. It’s a typical “race for the bottom” market and as I’ve noted on many occasions in the past the only way to stop such markets is by enforceable regulation. In essence you change the market dynamics much to the horror of those with “hands off views” and usually the result is better for both customers and suppliers (see auto safety after WWII upto the present).
[1] There was a thriving industry to get on board lorries coming across by ferry and train from the EU continent due to the criminal activities going on. For instance in and around the Sangatte center in France,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1536470.stm
But the criminals became experts at getting past by far the majority of lorry security systems including cutting and joining of 6mm diameter steel cables that had been winched tight and had “tamper proof/evident seals” added.
anon • January 2, 2021 2:08 AM
re: nameless shell corporations, the law is relatively toothless because it exempts small (ha) companies and non-profits… another case of one rule for ye, one rule for me.
JonKnowsNothing • January 2, 2021 5:42 AM
@lurker @Clive
re: Free Entry on Negative COVID-19 Test
As you pointed out, the tests aren’t worth the paper they are printed on (or the electronic storage).
There have been several recent incidences of aircrew and pilots arriving in COVID-Free countries and starting an outbreak. In one case, the pilot was pre-symptomatic and adhered to the required 3 day aircrew quarantine and then went walkabout with a friend. It was that fast.
Now some countries are planning on full isolation for aircrews because the “vested interests” are not looking after their “own interests”. They are looking after $$$ and not Business Viability.
For countries that Did Lock Down Right and are now enjoying 100% freedom of movement and commerce, the “vested interests” are very interested in polluting those desirable locations with faked certificates of health.
Then there are the problems of the cargo container fomite infections. In the smattering of reports, nearly all cases came from the USA. In the not too far distant future a good number of such cases will be coming from Europe and NU-UK.
afaik No one has put any blocks on private jets.
Early on, a group of wealthy oligarchs traveled from the UK, chartered a private plane and private helicopter for an uninterrupted vacation skiing in France. The French police blocked them from exiting the plane and sent them back. iirc they tried several routes but they were blocked each time.
About the same time, a ultra-wealth Brazilian socialite, took her private jet to a ski party in the Alps and brought back COVID-19 to her family and household and started one of the first outbreaks in Brazil. At that time, she said her “right to ski” was worth more than the right to life.
Vested Interests are more than Big Business, they are small people with tiny brains and too much bling.
Anders • January 2, 2021 6:37 AM
@Clive @SpaceLifeForm @MarkH @ALL
hxxps://berthub.eu/articles/posts/reverse-engineering-source-code-of-the-biontech-pfizer-vaccine/
Clive Robinson • January 2, 2021 11:52 AM
@ Anders,
I see some problems with “reverse engineering” comment.
This for instance,
“Some lingo here. RNA molecules can only be read in one direction. Confusingly, the part where the reading begins is called the 5’ or ‘five-prime’. The reading stops at the 3’ or three-prime end.”
Is an “over simplification” of the process. The “read only one way” is down to the five-prime lead-in and three-prime close out, think about start and stop bits in asynchronous serial or the unique lead in of zeros or ones in sychronous serial communications.
The actual truth is that the statment is true only for “linear RNA” there is an eight-prime as well where the RNA folds to form a ring. This is found in some of the tinyest of pathogens called viroids, thst exist without a capsoid or lipid coating. In theory the tinyest of pathogens are proteins called prions that are darn right odd if I renember correctly only occure in about 1 in 10^13 mutations and they take several decades to show up in your brain via the likes of CJD/Mad Cow and the most commonly encountered is Scrapie in sheep, though some think demential and other cognative decline may have a similar underlying pathogenesis (some also think that common use organo-phosphates make prions more probable).
Oh speaking of numbers,
“Each RNA character weighs on the order of 0.53·10²¹ grams, meaning there are 6·10¹ characters in a single 30 microgram vaccine dose.”
Is just wrong… I suspect it’s a lost in “computer parsing” rather than an error by the author.
SpaceLifeForm • January 2, 2021 2:45 PM
cholecalciferol
Clive Robinson • January 2, 2021 3:20 PM
@ SpaceLifeForm,
cholecalciferol
You are getting more abstruse this year…
But to get into the spirit of such cholestorol you need to give it a generous shot. But if you want to jump over the week then I raise you “Calcifediol”…
Anders • January 2, 2021 3:28 PM
@Clive @SpaceLifeForm @MarkH @ALL
hxxps://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/finland_reports_first_adverse_reaction_to_coronavirus_vaccine/11722156
They don’t yet reveal what’s happened, but there’s already some death reports
from other countries (Israel, Switzerland) possibly linked to vaccination with Pfizer vaccine.
SpaceLifeForm • January 2, 2021 5:15 PM
@ Clive, JonKnowsNothing, Anders, MarkH
I previously was not abstruse.
But, it was disappeared yesterday. Along with someone’s else post not related.
Intake –> Liver –> Kidneys –> Health
lurker • January 2, 2021 6:21 PM
@Clive, JonKnowsNothing
From 20210115 NZ will require negative PCR test within 72 hours prior to boarding, from UK & US. The mandatory 14 days isolation on arrival still applies, so this is just belt and braces stuff.
https://covid19.govt.nz/travel-and-the-border/travel-to-new-zealand/#pre-departure-covid-19-test-requirements
Clive Robinson • January 2, 2021 6:42 PM
@ SpaceLifeForm, Anders, JonKnowsNothing, MarkH,
But, it was disappeared yesterday. Along with someone’s else post not related.
Yes I noticed it this morning. The 100 comments page showed the start of it but when I clicked on the link it was not displayed on this page.
From what I remember[1] the first comment on Friday was some spamer hoping to “log roll” his book via the name field. Somebody had almost immediately flagged it up for @Moderators attention as unwanted advertising or some such.
So judging by your comment hash number it would have been very close, possibly next so it could have been “finger trouble” these things do happen despite the best intentions.
@ Moderator,
Does the new blog software actually deleate the comments or just move / mark them so they are not publicly available?
[1] Yes, seriously folks, I do try and read every comment in order from the 100 comments page. As others are kind enough to read my comments I try to do the same for not just them but everyone.
Anders • January 2, 2021 7:05 PM
@Clive @SpaceLifeForm @MarkH @ALL
Sorry, next link requires javascript, but is worth reading
hxxps://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/nso-groups-breach-of-private-data-with-fleming-a-covid-19-contact-tracing-software/
Clive Robinson • January 2, 2021 7:27 PM
@ ALL,
Once upon a time long long ago jokes and other amusements used to slip in on the Friday Squid.
Well it’s been a few years…
Now this is not exactly information security related but is physical security and “crime evolution in progress” so if you have had the same bird feeder problem…
And the guy behind this has apprared on this blog before if you remember the “glitter bomb” getting stolen from the porch.
Any way hopefully a smile or two,
Anders • January 2, 2021 7:45 PM
@Clive @SpaceLifeForm @MarkH @ALL
Germany BSI security evaluation of VeraCrypt
hxxps://sourceforge.net/p/veracrypt/discussion/general/thread/1a04e8bf82/
ResearcherZero • January 3, 2021 12:16 AM
File this under world security.
“He told me that [Bannon] was indeed the previous tenant who caused such drama,”
hxxps://americanindependent.com/steve-bannons-porn-and-meth-house-you-have-no-idea-what-kind-of-evil-stuff-went-on/
Probably the excessive amount of cocaine that went up his nose, if you are wondering how you arrive at the idea
that to ‘tear everything down is a solution to everyone’s problems’.
hxxps://thetab.com/us/2017/02/28/whats-wrong-steve-bannon-face-61724
“The Con”
Now that may just be tabloid crap, but the excessive amount of cocaine is not.
That’s Bannon’s stuff and his values, destroy everything, fill the smoking whole with waffle, adulterate the product, make deals on the side and fill your own pockets while everyone is busy cleaning up the mess.
Meanwhile Trump had been in Russia trying to make a deal because, you know,
‘everyone understands the color of money’.
Trump has raised almost enough money to start paying off some of his debts.
However all of that will get lost in the noise as everyone tries to pick up the pieces. At least Putin would of got a good laugh out of it, psychological warfare is all about destroying societies from within.
Clive Robinson • January 3, 2021 4:28 AM
@ ResearcherZero,
Such behaviour is indicative of a mind set that tends to wards being sociopathic and is not at all uncommon in or around national level politics.
It arises from two basic issues,
1, Non acceptance of rules.
2, Inability to control impulses.
The former gets them into politics and drives them up the greasy pole. However the level of impulse control kind of defines their ceiling, because people do talk thus those with a detectives nose be they journalists or guard labour follow the bad smell back to it’s source and have a habit of shining the bright light of day/exposure on it.
Winter • January 3, 2021 5:34 AM
@Clive
“Such behaviour is indicative of a mind set that tends to wards being sociopathic”
Steve Bannon a psychopath? I must admit that I am not surprised.
He started his career at Goldman Sachs, then worked as a producer in Hollywood, then co-founded Breitbart, then ran the campaign of Trump.
Is there a better way to meet psychopaths? Can you find people with such a career who are not at the top of the Psychopathy Spectrum Test?
Clive Robinson • January 3, 2021 7:22 AM
@ Winter, All,
Can you find people with such a career who are not at the top of the Psychopathy Spectrum Test?
Doubtful, but how do you in effect prove it?
There are a couple of test that if filled out without “cognative adjustment” will give a strong indicator.
However a psychopath can appear to have emotion and empathy and even warmth and friendliness if it furthers their goals. Thus the smarter ones have studed such tests and know what answers to give or rationalisations to make to appear “warm fuzzy cuddly people persons” whilst quietly counting up your vertebra to find the best place to stick the knife in and use it as a rung on the ladder upwards to their chosen goal, which may not be obvious.
Goat • January 3, 2021 8:15 AM
re:” Sorry, next link requires javascript, but is worth reading”
The sad state of the current internet..
Why?
Probably because of jamstack a lot more, wordpress installs still mostly work without js(though commments etc dont work mostly). It surprises me this new idea that should have solved some problems actually leads to more client heavy websites and re centralisation of the internet through discourse. Those who couldnt afford dynamic hosted static anyway so I wouldnt count that.
That said the solution to me seems to be use css, its powerful. Html mostly does everything. Why do we need to load a bunch of things the users dont need.(to exploit them for money) Server side logic is rarely needed and must be used only when required. Though I am not qualified as web devs are I can even say “ all visitors do not support js until they load it”
Goat • January 3, 2021 8:19 AM
A major correction I wrote disqourse, I meant disqus
Winter • January 3, 2021 8:39 AM
@Clive
“Doubtful, but how do you in effect prove it?”
My comment about GS was probably too negative. It never appeared. Sorry for that.
Proving it might be possible with reaction time tests like those used in unconscious bias tests. Fooling reaction time tests is very difficult, if possible at all.
Winter • January 3, 2021 9:11 AM
@Anders
“Germany BSI security evaluation of VeraCrypt”
Not yet been able to read it. But the Executive Summary tells what I already expected:
1) Like TrueCrypt, VeraCrypt is secure at rest.
2) It is unsafe when mounted, no surprise
3) Coding style is ideosyncratic, like TrueCrypt, and shows there is only a single developer
4) VeraCrypt uses most of the (tried and tested) code of TrueCrypt
In short, VeraCrypt succeeds in what it sets out to do. Complaints about coding style should be seen as an invitation to contribute.
Clive Robinson • January 3, 2021 12:17 PM
@ Goat,
The sad state of the current internet..
I replied with a bit of history as to why “jamstack” is effectively devoid of meaning and the evils of overly developed dynamic content. Thus why WebDevs and Marketing thus love it, whilst most are left scratching their head…
And of course the evil to privacy and security that CloudFarce and others CDN’s are.
But it appears to have vanished…
Not fair I’d put a whole load of cynicism into it as befitting my some what more than middle aged status 😉
Clive Robinson • January 3, 2021 12:20 PM
@ Winter,
My comment about GS was probably too negative
Is that possible with Goldiggers-in-Sacks 😉
Winter • January 3, 2021 12:31 PM
@Clive
“Is that possible with Goldiggers-in-Sacks”
I would not have thought so. GS are the living example of “only the stupid become criminals, smart people go in finance”.
But maybe my words were misunderstood?
Anders • January 3, 2021 2:43 PM
@Clive @SpaceLifeForm @MarkH @ALL
What may be wrong with Pfizer vaccine.
hxxps://science.sciencemag.org/content/371/6524/10
Anders • January 3, 2021 3:34 PM
@Clive
One of my posting has also disappeared.
I like the old blog much, MUCH better…
Coming here with 3 GHz processor live Linux,
javascript enabled, CPU load is 100%
Unbelievable!
Wanderer • January 3, 2021 6:21 PM
I read this article about weaponized prions on Rense.com https://archive.is/7c6wG It made me shudder because I remembered I had read an article from early on in the pandemic that discussed a link between the coronavirus and prions. I have found that article, it was from back in April in the science section on Forbes. https://archive.is/3KVSN
Prions are proteinaceous infectious particles. They cause brain diseases like Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The article on Forbes discusses the possibility that the coronavirus spike protein has these prions in it.
The article on Rense discussed the possibility that these prions are in the vaccine but what if they did not get that quite right…
We know the mRNA vaccines send instructions to human cells to cause them to make a piece of the virus spike protein. This is supposed to trigger the immune system to create antibodies to recognize it. The immune system should therefore be primed to attack the coronavirus spike protein if infection occurs but what if that protein piece the vaccine instructs our cells to make is the prion that was discussed in the Forbes article back in April….
If the mRNA vaccine instructs our cells to make the prion we would be using our own cells to create the pathogen that causes mad cow disease.
Goat • January 3, 2021 6:48 PM
Thankyou @Clive the dissapearence seems unfortunate, the new software seems to have many bugs.
SpaceLifeForm • January 3, 2021 11:07 PM
@ Clive, JonKnowsNothing, Anders, MarkH, Goat, Moderator
The WP software has the capability to move comments to a spam folder, and keep them there for X days before they are auto-deleted. This allows easy recovery of comments that were inadvertently marked as spam.
I do not believe that functionality is enabled.
I’m starting to wonder if this site is not already hacked.
SpaceLifeForm • January 3, 2021 11:19 PM
@ Clive, JonKnowsNothing, Anders, MarkH
Back to Vitamin D.
I lost the link, but I recently read about giving existing Covid-19 patients Vitamin D, leading to positive outcomes.
That completely makes sense because of how important Vitamin D is to the immune system.
You have all seen the case curves, and how much flatter the curve was during Northern Hemisphere Summer.
People got more Vitamin D from the Sun during the summer. Now that it is crappy out (cold, cloudy), they are not getting the Vitamin D they need. Unless they take a supplement.
I submit, that Vitamin D (which is not a traditional vitamin BTW), is needed to be widely used to get control of the Pandemic.
Where do bats get their Vitamin D from?
SpaceLifeForm • January 4, 2021 12:11 AM
@ Anders
And you see that polyethylene glycol (PEG) is in common.
Here, the doctor immediately recognized he was going into anaphylactic shock, and pulled out his EpiPen.
hXXps://www.nbcboston.com/news/coronavirus/boston-doctor-who-had-allergic-reaction-to-moderna-vaccine-describes-experience/2266946/
Winter • January 4, 2021 12:54 AM
@Space
“Where do bats get their Vitamin D from?”
I seem to be unable to post the link, but Bats seem to not need Vitamin D for bone metabolism.
Clive Robinson • January 4, 2021 1:10 AM
@ SpaceLifeForm,
I tried to reply to your Vitanin D but it got “auto-moderated” (you’ld be forgiven for thinking someone is trying to kill this blog)
So sorry untill I find a way to think of a way around the block…
JonKnowsNothing • January 4, 2021 1:27 AM
@All
Seems quite a few tried to respond to the Bats and Vit D topic. Mine is sitting in moderation too.
Maybe it’s the links but I break all of mine so maybe they are doing a backup or some maintenance. (Trying to be positive)
Running something like this blog, with very active exchanges (which are more like forum topic posts) isn’t easy. There’s a good deal of manual effort needed and depending on the platform and hosting systems there can be other limitations too.
Hopefully there’s a fix.
Funny how we’ve been discussing fixes and non-fixes and here we are…
Clive Robinson • January 4, 2021 1:43 AM
@ SpaceLifeForm,
Sorry first bit got through, other bits have it’s claimes got held in moderation…
So it might be mote than one thing. So links / length / time between posts…
I hope it’s not length because the meaningful comments are usually several paragraphs unless there is a pithy saw that is well known such as “requires eternal vigilance…” and those quickly get trite.
JonKnowsNothing • January 4, 2021 2:12 AM
@Clive @SpaceLifeForm @All
It might be something as simple as: running out of allocated space / storage / number of allowed posts per day/period or hosting provider limitations.
btdt on all of those and they bite hard when you hit your allocated max.
If you have ever tried to run a small mailing list, you run into all of that fast. There are governors for all sorts of parameters: size of letter, frequency of send, number of items per hour/day/week. If you are a Big Dog you get Supersized pipelines but if you are small potatoes you have to struggle with sending out a few hundred and not hit a spam trigger.
Then there is the problem of someone backdooring into your allocations and sucking up your bandwidths for their not-good purposes.
btdt too.
Wanderer • January 4, 2021 2:25 AM
Further reading regarding my previous post: https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202003.0422/v1
@SpacelifeForm:
The benefits of the supplementation with Vitamin D3+K2, Magnesium, NAC, Isoquercetin, Vitamin C, a Vitamin B-complex or Vitamin B6 and Vitamin B12, Curcuma and Piperin, Melatonin, Zinc, Vitamin A, Selenium (and then some) have been known since February 2020 when the relevant mechanisms of action have been first described in English in a broader relation to this virus (and the proactive intake of those supplements mentioned significantly lessens the probability of a severe disease progression), thus your post (besides from being incomplete) and the mainstream media are more than 10 months behind schedule, both of which is no coincidence.
It might be wise to ask oneself as to why exactly that is the case and what else one might have missed along the way or about which correlations and causations one might be ill- or under-informed without one’s knowledge all the while maintaining the self-perception of erroneously thinking of being informed.
This blog has been nothing but always without exception behind the curve on the virus and most related issues right from the start, which can easily be seen when reading through the posting history of the more frequent users here. As such it has failed to live up to its self-proclaimed forward looking wisdom it often arrogates to itself in other fields, mainly technical ones.
The extent to which critical voices have been shouted down and repeatedly outright censored here during the past year has been atrocious at best and is a disgrace to open-mindedness, rationality, logic and any form of scientific discourse or factual discussion, when in fact it was at times so extreme that it amounted to nothing less than self-censorship.
Last but not least dear spacelifeform, maybe unlike you:), this specific virus (with its plethora of very specific characteristics) has certainly never ever naturally resided in any kind of bat species on its own, either before it got released into the wild or outside of a laboratory until it got released (it would be more likely to be struck by lightning exactly while hearing one won the lottery on an average, slightly overcast day in the central US).
There really aren’t that many plausible options remaining, the virus is either an unfinished bioweapon which got accidentally/intentionally released, or a virus used for research purposes which got accidentally/unintentionally released into the wild due to human error. In either case the virus described as SARS-CoV-2 is, very simply speaking, most likely a chimera of a betacoronavirus, HIV (and a few carefully selected extras) and has been created during gain of function research in a laboratory whose members have published multiple papers regarding GOF research into coronaviruses during the last 15 years, thus absolutely no coincidence there. Nothing about the way that virus came into being is natural and still claiming otherwise is disingenuous to malicious and reeks of ill-intent.
Winter • January 4, 2021 2:38 AM
@Wanderer
“In either case the virus described as SARS-CoV-2 is, very simply speaking, most likely a chimera of a betacoronavirus, HIV”
This is simply not true. SARS2 is a relative of SARS2 and related to other Coronaviruses in bats. HIV is a completely different virus phylum, related to Coronaviruses like an Oak tree is related to a tree shrew.
This comment is simply disinformation rejecting science.
Winter • January 4, 2021 2:42 AM
Correction:
“SARS2 is a relative of SARS1”
Wanderer • January 4, 2021 6:34 AM
Biological weapons lab leaked coronavirus, claims US official
Wanderer • January 4, 2021 6:41 AM
‘Growing body of evidence’ shows COVID-19 leaked from Chinese lab: US official
Wanderer-20200104 • January 4, 2021 6:47 AM
‘Growing body of evidence’ shows COVID-19 leaked from Chinese lab: US official
China lab leak is the ‘most credible’ source of the coronavirus outbreak, says top US government official, amid bombshell claims Wuhan scientist has turned whistleblower
David Rudling • January 4, 2021 7:01 AM
@Clive Robinson, @SpaceLifeForm, @JonKnowsNothing and others
Re processing of posts.
I just posted a comment on today’s post by Bruce and immediately got:-
“Thank you for your comment
Your comment has been automatically approved and will appear on the post page”
Which it did within 2 minutes.
Is this what you guys normally see?
andyf • January 4, 2021 7:02 AM
@Wanderer
Matthew Pottinger, a deputy national security advisor appointed by Trump.
I’m kinda surprised that TheTimes published the story[1] without pointing out the extreme unreliability of Trump appointees. Of course no evidence to support this was presented.
If you believe this then I have 11780 votes in Georgia you can buy.
[1] Well as much as I could see before the paywall.
Winter • January 4, 2021 7:19 AM
@andyf
“Of course no evidence to support this was presented.”
Of course not. The RNA sequence of SARS2 has been studied at length and in depth. If there was anything odd in it, that would have been noticed.
They can trace back the different introductions from day 0 in different regions using the RNA sequences. If you insert anything non-coronavirus into such a sequence, it sticks out as a lighthouse flashing.
Clive Robinson • January 4, 2021 7:23 AM
@ David Rudling,
If the submit successfully goes through.
Otherwise you get a near identical page that has “held for moderation” embedded in it.
Thus the question as to what is triggering the hold. It does not appear to be a single iten like number of html links, length of post, frequency of posts, or even posts to a single thread on it’s own, and the list of things thus combination of things to try is largish.
Obviously it is difficult to test blind and more fully without creating upset either for readers or @Moderator(s). Which I do not wish to do.
Goat • January 4, 2021 10:01 AM
@spacelifeform re:I’m starting to wonder if this site is not already hacked
It is very strange how the new software is working. I am beggining to think that this site is pushing the limits of wordpress somewhat and needs django or flask 😉
lurker • January 4, 2021 12:08 PM
@Wanderer: the growing body of evidence you reference may dissipate after January 20
@Clive, Ors: I always get the “Your post has been automatically moderated, and will appear…” which it does sometimes immediately, the longest wait 5 minutes. Now, if it’s AI moderation you guys know the drill, you have to learn to speak the bot’s language before you can teach it yours.
SpaceLifeForm • January 4, 2021 3:49 PM
@ David Rudling, Clive
Even if it does not immediately go into moderation, it still may be 5 minutes before it appears. If you wait 5 minutes, force reload, it will usually be there.
Just had a thought about when it may automagically go into moderation.
A post from an ip address never seen before.
Very likely on mobile.
Clive Robinson • January 4, 2021 4:03 PM
@ SpaceLifeForm, David Rudling,
A post from an ip address never seen before.
No my tests so far do not apprar to indicate that.
Even if it does not immediately go into moderation, it still may be 5 minutes before it appears. If you wait 5 minutes, force reload, it will usually be there.
No not on these occasions, unless the @Moderator actually does something once auto-moded they cause apparently permanent, issues
End of part one.
Clive Robinson • January 4, 2021 4:21 PM
Lets try a pt.3 as py.2 got caught.
I suspect there might be a timer lock out as well… My pt.2 has got chomped by modding.
But it might also leave something in the browser window such as a cookie of some irregular kind.
So I’m going to wait 20mins or so from pt.1 posting to see if this gets past moding.
Oh the trigger length I’m not sure on but under the window length appears OK.
Clive Robinson • January 4, 2021 4:30 PM
So par.3 made it…
So keep each part around the window length and wait 15min has worked.
I’m not going to try any more tests for now as hopefully @Moderator or @Bruce will catch up with the cached backlog.
But I will at some point be investigating those strange javascript downloads.
Tatütata • January 4, 2021 4:48 PM
I would honestly like to know what was so offensive with my comment to cause it to be rejected, by man or machine.
It was on topic (CCC annual congress), and I’m not in the habit of attacking people.
What gives?
Clive Robinson • January 4, 2021 5:10 PM
@ Tatütata,
I would honestly like to know what was so offensive with my comment to cause it to be rejected, by man or machine.
That’s a question a number of other regular posters would like answering as well…
@ Bruce, as the lady says,
What gives?
Over to you, I guess.
JonKnowsNothing • January 4, 2021 5:36 PM
@Clive @All
re: It’s taking the longest path…
Many eons ago in the murky depths of time… I ran into a nasty tech-fault. A particular program did distributed “emails”, it ran well for a day or two. Then, SURPRISE! no one got their distributed mails (which were quite important).
It didn’t take long to find out what was wrong: the drive was full. The curious part was why the senders were getting “CONFIRMED RECEIPTS” when the drive was full. Turns out a teenny-problem in the protocol was ignored by the vendor. They did not test to see if there was room on the drive for the incoming notices and auto-sent the confirmation while the message hit the vapor-bit-overflow-into-never-never-land.
The short solution was to increase the size of the drive while the employees desperately contacted every single one of their customers by phone, asking them “did you send us anything?”.
The not much longer version was to yank that distribution program from production as the vendor was not able to or unwilling to fix the error.
It wasn’t that the drive was full that was the Bad News, that was easy to fix, it was the “CONFIRMED RECEIPTS” when nothing was actually logged to the system.
fwiw: afaik quite a few postings have not gone into the vaporware bucket. Mine are less important than Clive’s. I surely hope those get found soonerish.
SpaceLifeForm • January 4, 2021 6:17 PM
@ David Rudling, Clive
I believe there are two separate issues.
Comments that never get to moderation and comments that get to moderation but disappear from there.
It is probably Akismet. It’s a racket.
hXXps:/ /www[.]web-development-blog.com[/|why-we-dont-use-akismet/
“Apparently, not only does it send some legitimate comments to the spam folder, it doesn’t let some comments even into the system.”
SpaceLifeForm • January 5, 2021 12:35 AM
@ David Rudling, Clive
So, I googled (akismet false positives), and have been reading for 6 hours.
Likely, a big factor causing a comment to be marked as spam is more than one link, even obfuscated.
The rest is AI black box magic. It may be that the spambots have confused the anti-spambots AI at this point.
SpaceLifeForm • January 5, 2021 1:05 AM
@ David Rudling, Clive
I think it is important to note what you saw when you submitted the comment.
Did you see Approved, or Moderation, or was it silent and just went back to the page?
Did you do Preview or skip that?
As we discussed months ago wrt to markdown, it may be a similar issue with the filters and the order they are applied.
One of the links I was reading earlier was interesting. A WP blog site was experiencing large false positives by Akismet. So, they turned it off, but still getting false positives. It turned out (after lots of testing) that is was another WP plugin called WordFence.
Clive Robinson • January 5, 2021 3:36 AM
@ JonKnowsNothing,
They did not test to see if there was room on the drive for the incoming notices and auto-sent the confirmation…
I would like to say this is rare or atleast uncommon, but it’s not.
As a result over the years I’ve seen it so many times one way or another you getvto recognise certain symptoms. Such as,
the vendor was not able to or unwilling to fix the error.
It’s a deep seated failing of ignoring return values and moving any and all error correcting to the left or input side. Thus the entire business logic is written as though errors are already caught at the left and no exceptions can come from the right. Such code once written is very very difficult to put propper error handling in and most programers would just rather “crash out” than put in the required handling.
The error/exception handeling by the way when done to an acceptable level is 60-80% of the code size thus you can see the incentive to not do it.
Clive Robinson • January 5, 2021 4:15 AM
@ SpaceLifeForm, David Rudling, Moderator.
1) I see “accepted” and if I hit the return to link and it will not be shown to me, which I’ve mentioned before, even refreshing the page from the browser does not always pull it up. However go to another page such as the 100 comments and then back again and it is there.
2) As I’ve also mentioned in the past I see an error page about the server being overloaded or I’m trying to post to many comments. Neither of which is true as far as I can tell. This suggests there might be issues in the server side software.
3) Just these past couple of days I’ve seen the “awaiting moderation” message. And all the very odd behaviour I’ve ttied to characterize without being too anoying about it.
Part.1 end.
Curious • January 5, 2021 6:07 AM
Off topic:
Using Win 10, when I turn off my room’s light switch, Win 10 plays some kind of audible sound clip, some kind of “doodootledoo” sound. Why would Win 10 react to me turning off my light switch? My computer does not have wifi installed, so why would turning off my ceiling lights set off some sound in Win 10? The ceiling lamps are low powered (9W low wattage), but afaik the “bulbs” are not LED’s which is apparently known to interfere with electronics. The bluetooth antenna I have is normally not installed. Even if there is some electronic interference going on, I don’t understand how this can happen at all.
Another weird thing is that my Wifi headless phones often turn themselves on when I place my mobile phone next to the turned off headset on a table.
My dislike for using a computer is growing stronger every year.
Clive Robinson • January 5, 2021 6:19 AM
@ Curious,
Why would Win 10 react to me turning off my light switch?
Because some idi@t at MS can code it in as a feature.
I’m guessing you have a web-cam or other way said software developer can spot a sudden change in light.
Sancho_P • January 5, 2021 8:05 AM
@Curious, Clive Robinson
I’m on an old 27” iMac, and while it doesn’t play sounds, the display brightness smoothly goes up and down and changes color with ambient light, the sensor is built in on top of the display next to a mic.
Likely Mi$o has “enhanced” that feature by a trigger and system sound?
SpaceLifeForm • January 5, 2021 12:00 PM
@ Clive, Moderator
Yes, your link made it thru.
Interestingly, a couple of hours ago, I got this error:
429 Too many requests
You have been rate-limited for making too many requests in a short time frame.
Clearly buggy. It appears that 9 hours is a short time frame. I should have slept longer.
Clive Robinson • January 5, 2021 1:48 PM
@ SpaceLifeForm,
Just tried to say I’d seen 429, four times but it auto-modded.
Clive Robinson • January 5, 2021 1:51 PM
@ SpaceLifeForm, Moderator,
Yet that went through. As far as I can tell the only thing that might have triggered the auto mode is I’d copied @Space’s 429 block.
SpaceLifeForm • January 5, 2021 3:03 PM
@ Clive, Moderator
Test. Try blockquuote on this:
I think, therefore I am.
vas pup • January 5, 2021 5:32 PM
FBI found Ghislaine Maxwell using mobile phone data
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-55546322
“The document, first reported by the Daily Beast, forms part of a search-warrant application, to find and arrest Ms Maxwell, who had a relationship with Epstein in the 1990s.
It reveals how US authorities obtained a warrant to grant access to GPS and historic location data on the phone, registered under the name “G Max”.
The FBI then obtained a further warrant to use a “stingray” device to send and receive signals from nearby phones.
The size of a briefcase, the technology helps to give a more accurate location of a phone and identifying information.
But the method is controversial as it can also gather information about the phones of bystanders nearby.
“The obvious concern is that the phones of those not intended to be targeted could be located,” Prof Alan Woodward, from the University of Surrey, said. “What happens to that data is unclear. However, presumably as you need to take a few measurements in order to locate a phone, you shouldn’t need to retain data on a phone that is not being targeted.”
vas pup • January 5, 2021 5:36 PM
Just got message: post was approved, but it does not show up.
I guess it was removed by source, i.e. me – not bbc tech.
1&1~=Umm • January 6, 2021 2:15 PM
@ ALL,
I hope what is happening currently in DC settles down before people get dignificantly hurt,
MarkH • January 6, 2021 3:27 PM
@Umm:
A woman was reportedly shot inside the Capitol building and is receiving emergency treatment.
This is the natural consequence of authoritarianism.
MarkH • January 6, 2021 3:30 PM
@moderator:
I must second Clive, about the recent problems with commenting.
Whether it’s a breakdown in site functioning, or a spam filter run amok, it’s a big disincentive to legitimate comment.
Curious • January 6, 2021 4:33 PM
I posted another longer comment earlier today, but it isn’t showing. Good thing I saved the text.
Winter • January 6, 2021 5:19 PM
@1&1~=Umm & @All
“I hope what is happening currently in DC settles down before people get dignificantly hurt,”
Reports are now that the wounded woman died. Sad news indeed.
Meanwhile, the Democrats seem to have won both seats for the Senate in Georgia.
Some time ago, I posted a list I got after searching for “What does a narcissist do when he loses control?”
The comment was later removed by the moderator. But you can find such lists a dozen a dime.
At the moment, with this violent siege of Congress, Trump has ticked all the boxes. All of them.
If Trump goes down, he takes the GOP with him. that is what narcissists do.
Anders • January 6, 2021 5:28 PM
@ALL
Bad news…
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/06/us/washington-dc-protests
SpaceLifeForm • January 6, 2021 7:08 PM
If the twitter account is now disabled, the 25th Amendment is probably in play.
Impeachment should occur by 3AM tomorrow (2021-01-07) to prevent other problems because 25th Amendment process is not instantaneous.
Clive Robinson • January 6, 2021 7:16 PM
@ Winter
Guess what I quote a Nebraskan Senator for doing a “chease eating surrender monkey” comment and it gets auto-moded.
JonKnowsNothing • January 6, 2021 7:24 PM
@All
Well well… Interesting times indeed. Wish the blog was working better lots of interesting info+opsec happening-happened.
One good thing: someone saved the Electoral College Ballots by scooping them off the desk on the way to the huddle-up rooms.
We had a discussion about backups and catastrophic recovery systems. In more than one incident it was one person grabbing the important item on the way out: book, ledger, tape, disk, prototype and in this case The Ballots.
Clive Robinson • January 6, 2021 7:30 PM
@ SpaceLifeForm,
… the 25th Amendment is probably in play.
I wish… But todays stupidity that as a consequence has caused the death of a woman, will have cost him GOP support.
Though if the VeeP becomes POTUS pro tem is the person who steps into the VeePs shoes obligated to carry out the same duties that got the baboon like behaviour that got POUTUS banned?
SpaceLifeForm • January 6, 2021 10:39 PM
@ Clive, Anders
It’s certainly uncontaminated by cheese….
http://montypython.50webs.com/scripts/Series_3/61.htm
No. No IRC. Less secure than here.
I’ve sorta have noted my plan for secure comms. WIP.
Listening to your brain waves reflecting off the ionosphere…
I connect lots of dots every day. Decades.
SpaceLifeForm • January 6, 2021 10:52 PM
@ Clive, Anders
You may have noticed that President Pence is wearing a blue tie.
Balanda • January 6, 2021 11:02 PM
I’ve been a long time follower of this blog and the robust debates between knowledgeable contributors. Sadly the posts have now degenerated into spam and advertising, making the blog less enjoyable and less informative.
I think it’s time to explore new sources.
Saw this item today.
hXXps://www.theregister.com/2021/01/06/whatsapp_terms_change/
WhatsApp users must agree to share their personal information with Facebook if they want to continue using the messaging service from next month, according to new terms and conditions.
JonKnowsNothing • January 7, 2021 1:52 AM
@Clive Winter All
re:Back on the Mink Farm…
While the Evolutionary Fodder continues to spread NUK-COVID among themselves at the fastest possible rate.
Down on the farm in Canada a report of Mink-COVID on two farms. No Farm Workers tested positive for COVID.
If you give that a go over again, the report says the mink did not get it from the humans and the humans did not get anything from the mink.
Ergo: The mink got COVID by osmosis (or a wild source).
@Winter
re:Elijah Schaffer and his band of “revolutionaries”
Clearly M. Schaffer doesn’t read, doesn’t read books, doesn’t read history and he clearly hasn’t a clue what a “revolutionary” is, does or looks like.
Sad, he could have gone to college and learned something. Instead he went to a You-Buy-It-We-Sell-It-Diploma-Factory (1) and must of specialized in Stupidity.
1) note Azusa Pacific was once upon a time a decent small college, in a small but decent area of outside of Los Angeles CA. It was bought out during one of the many strip-education-to-the-barebones-neoliberal-phases and it was sold to a Diploma Factory. These Diploma Factories were used by Friends of Friends to entice (see defraud) potential students into taking out huge Federal Guaranteed Student Loans that are forever debt. (see Betsy DeVos current Sec of Education Trump).
Prior to being stripped down into Diploma Churns, such smaller colleges offered legitimate education options for those thousands on thousands of people who cannot qualify or afford placements at Standard, Harvard, Yale, Berkeley and other high-toned universities.
1, NUK = New UK = Nuke / B117 Variant and similar N501 variants
ht tps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_DeVos
(url fractured to prevent autorun)
Winter • January 7, 2021 2:36 AM
@Jon
“Clearly M. Schaffer doesn’t read, doesn’t read books, doesn’t read history and he clearly hasn’t a clue what a “revolutionary” is, does or looks like.”
I understood that all knowledge is suspect in the ideology of Trumpism. If you have facts, they might be ideologically false (called “Fake”). You never know when some facts you know might become a liability in Trump’s eyes.
I have read about how this works. In “Cultural Revolution” times in China, the foreign embassies kept two book cases with “Writings of Mao”, one with those writing that were currently allowed, and those that were currently considered subversive.
Quoting from the wrong publication of Mao could lead you in prison or worse. However, not being able to quote the right publication of Mao could do the same.
SpaceLifeForm • January 7, 2021 2:47 AM
Finally. 306-232.
Clive Robinson • January 7, 2021 2:53 AM
@ Winter,
“I think I found the quotes”
So you did come across the words of Sasse proving that his knowledge of European history was not what it could be.
Unless of course Ben was ironically being very truthful about the changes in the power system. Maybe he does see himself as a noble and Melania as Marie-Antoinette and the others who ended up on the
SpaceLifeForm • January 7, 2021 3:10 AM
@ Winter
I believe that computer was one of her staff.
But, yeah, not good.
I’m sure Nancy Pelosi knows very well to logoff when she leaves. Being a member of the Gang of Eight.
The good thing is that idiots are idiots.
Clive Robinson • January 7, 2021 3:22 AM
@ Winter,
But we already knew that there are many people within the Republican Party that defend the democracy and the constitution of the USA.
Some do which can be seen as a plus, but some as we know, realy don’t care as they are only in it for what benifits them (which is true of both sides).
The news in the UK appears to be saying that the count has been accepted at last.
Which leaves the scary question of “What next?” is history going to have to record.
JonKnowsNothing • January 7, 2021 3:28 AM
@Winter SpaceLifeForm All and Sundry
re:Logging out during an emergency
fwiw: Most emergency instructions state something like:
GO – GO NOW – DO NOT HESITATE – DO NOT STOP FOR A LATTE
The legal problem is the dude took a picture of the screen, posted it to social media, implicating that he was aware of his location and that he had opportunity to read something that is “not on his distribution”. It’s not yet certain he did not punch Enter or observe another doing the same; there are similar images of people peering into screens and phone button arrays and notes scattered on desktops.
I think the staffer is to be commended for leaving as directed.
If you’re worried about the PC being online better to ask:
* Why didn’t IT shut down the system?
That’s what the BIG BUTTON is for.
MarkH • January 7, 2021 3:49 AM
If this came through moderation …
The vanishing of comments with (as far as I can understand) no objectionable content is too much for me. I invest time trying to ensure that what I write is factual and clear.
Meanwhile, pure spam comments continue to sail through unmolested!
So, to my esteemed interlocutors, MarkH is signing off for the present.
Hopefully the comment system will be revived ere long.
JonKnowsNothing • January 7, 2021 3:58 AM
@Winter
re:Quoting from the wrong publication
iirc(badly) There is a new high-tech shibboleth program in China. It’s a big combo deal: you have to log n-hours in approved social media, log n-hours in approved educational programming, log n-hours of “thumbs up” type activities and incur no “thumbs down” demerits.
On demand you can be asked to regurgitate the required approved information in the appropriate approved manner.
The beauty of this multi-directional system is that they can adjust the (new) appropriate message(s) centrally.
Personally, I would fail such a regime because my brain would explode… It would be like having to talk (or rather listen) to William F Buckley 7x24x365…
In regards to Trump’s Putche Cadres, no worries, they wouldn’t have understood Buckley’s first syllable.
ht tps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibboleth
ht tps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_F._Buckley_Jr.
ht tps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_F._Buckley_Jr.#Language_and_idiolect
Brilliant guy who spoke a form of English that no one else understood.
His postprandial conversations exceeded volumetric capacity.
(url fractured to prevent autorun)
JonKnowsNothing • January 7, 2021 4:01 AM
@MarkH All
I got 2 in row through! If this goes thru that’ll be 3d base….
Winter • January 7, 2021 4:58 AM
@Jon
“Brilliant guy who spoke a form of English that no one else understood.”
I looked at his Wikipedia page. Does sound to me as a guy who valued impressing the audience more than communicating with the audience.
Clive Robinson • January 7, 2021 5:57 AM
@ MarkH,
The vanishing of comments with (as far as I can understand) no objectionable content is too much for me. I invest time trying to ensure that what I write is factual and clear.
I understand both your sentiment and that it pains you to have to say it.
I was once told the essence of good managment is to ensure people are both correctly and timely informed.
Unless I’ve mised it I see no information from @Bruce/@Moderator which is unlike @Bruce.
Goat • January 7, 2021 6:20 AM
@MarkH +1 , It seems like some AI has been put in place.. I am taking all steps to escape AI black boxes so I sign off
Ai cant replace humans, it would.
Clive Robinson • January 7, 2021 7:42 AM
@ Goat,
It seems like some AI has been put in place.. I am taking all steps to escape AI black boxes so I sign off.
I understand your feelings, and I have certainly experienced the problems this Auto-moderation is causing.
At the very least it’s going to cause the discourse he to either get “dumber than an ox driven pump” or so fractured and irritating that people will not want to read through it. Neither bodes well for the future of this blog, and the auto-moderation realy needs to be striped out/back.
Clive Robinson • January 7, 2021 7:48 AM
@ Winter,
Local (Dutch) news sources point out that the Pentagon seems to have put Trump out of the command loop, working with Pence instead.
It depends on who you believe, orher news sources say Trump is talking to/at the military frequently.
Thus it might actually be a whole lot worse, Trump could be telling them to stand down / keep out of it for some reason.
Mind you as far as I remember the National Guard Troops are under State control not Pentagon.
Winter • January 7, 2021 7:55 AM
@Clive
“Mind you as far as I remember the National Guard Troops are under State control not Pentagon.”
I read that the DoD has to accord National Guard deployment in Washington DC. And the DoD talked to Pence, not Trump.
Anders • January 7, 2021 8:23 AM
@Clive @SpaceLifeForm @MarkH @ALL
I’m also worried how this blog behave so i’d
like we have some backup not to lose contacts
if anything happens to this blog. Some time ago
i left inside one comment my email address, feel
free to leave me your email address by sending me
a small note, luckily one of you already did it
and spam bot’s haven’t pick it up either…
Thanks.
Clive Robinson • January 7, 2021 9:01 AM
@ Anders,
I’m also worried how this blog behave so i’d like we have some backup not to lose contacts if anything happens to this blog.
Careful what you wish for…
Back some time ago this blog was an email list. You might just end up running a new one.
Though I should note I’ve not had a personal Email account for quite a few years now, it was more trouble than it was worth as was social networking. So SMS is about all I use these days appart from an alternative protorype I’m still glacially slowly working on (still trying to work out a Rendezvous Protocol that does not leak data to the server in the middle).
This is probably sort of “old news” here but a recent article at USA Today:
Did you know that Google has been tracking and recording your every move, including your photos’ location data? If you use Google Photos, prepare to be shocked when you see all the data the company has collected about you.
Curious • January 7, 2021 9:34 AM
Adobe has a Flash Player End of Life message. (Dated December 2. 2020)
https://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/end-of-life.html
So as I understand it, because this piece of software was so buggy and problemetic to one’s computer security, I think I remember that it was recommended by other people to have it uninstalled a long time ago.
JonKnowsNothing • January 7, 2021 10:22 AM
@Winter Clive All
re:Washington D.C. isn’t a state, there is another state called Washington.
They are not the same.
Just to be clear…
Washington D.C. where the US Capitol is, has different rules and regulations for many things, including law enforcement actions.
* National Guard is State Controlled
* Capitol Buildings are Federal
* City streets are Local
* Park Areas have a different set of LEAs (Federal and Local)
* Interior Capitol Buildings may have other LEAs (Secret Service, ATF, DEA etc)
Normally any rally that includes someone like the President is heavily vetted before the event. The grounds are swept, sniper points picked and manned and any attack avenues are blocked or monitored (storm drains).
That only a small staff was left to manage the mob is rather surprising. Under normal procedures the Feds work with the Locals to make sure everything ends “nice”. Although, in places like Portland, Oregon, things do not always end up nice, the city and feds plan accordingly.
During the putche, you can see a number of different agencies acting within their jurisdictions. The police outside and the ones protecting the congress are not from the same agencies.
Washington D.C. is similar to Canberra and other national districts in setup.
Other than ceremonial duties, US Military is not allowed to have active deployment inside the USA. The Military Guards often seen are on Federal Property, including Embassies.
Any local military-type deployment is done by the State controlled National Guard.
The only LEA that the President might have use directly is Border Patrol / BORTEC.
Although in a putche, all the rules get broken.
ht tps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_metropolitan_area
The area includes all of the federal district and parts of the U.S. states of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. It is part of the larger Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area.
ht tps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C.
A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the district since 1973. Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D.C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the
House of Representatives, but the district has no representation in the Senate. District voters choose three presidential electors in accordance with the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961.
ht tps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra
Canberra does not have a local council or city government like other Australian cities. The Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly performs the roles of both a city council for the city and a territory government for the rest of the Australian Capital Territory.
(url fractured to prevent autorun)
JonKnowsNothing • January 7, 2021 10:40 AM
@Winter
re: William F Buckley … a guy who valued impressing the audience “
M. Buckley was well known for this tactic. Anyone who listened or engaged in debate with him expected it and dealt with it.
Just to be sure that the info doesn’t drop though Swiss cheese holes, William F Buckley was THE neoliberal in the USA for the most part of his life.
His contributions to the current state of affairs should not be underestimated. His ideas became the foundations of current policy. The economic voodoo came from the Chicago School but Buckley gave it form.
Later, when the Republicans took a harder right turn, he found himself to the Left-of-Center in the Republican Party. A situation that was a surprise.
The current form of the Republican Party has no place for people like him, but they hang on, as there isn’t any where for them to go. They will not be joining the Democrats even though the Democratic Party Policies are now more in tune with Buckley’s ideas than the ideas of Teddy Roosevelt or even Lydon Johnson.
Clive Robinson • January 7, 2021 11:29 AM
@ Anders,
Some would say “not a day to soon”.
My thinking is it’s several days to late for four people.
Nobody deserved to die yesterday, and those that have probably taken a death sentence back to their families, were fooled into their behaviour, and now others will pay.
However the architect of all this misfortune is going to walk away with a sizable fraction of a billion dollars in his pocket.
There are indeed “High crimes and low crimes”, and as always the majority are poorer for both.
Clive Robinson • January 7, 2021 11:42 AM
@ JonKnowsNothing,
I’ve been to both Washington State (King County) and Washington District of Columbia. I liked King County in both summer and Winter, and well Redmond and Seattle wern’t that bad 😉
Some of the cops in Redmond were supprised when an English accent from under a lifted hat wished them “A good morning and a pleasent day” on it’s “morning constitutional” but they smiled back so all was well with the world.
Whilst the “states” with their “counties” and “cities” are fairly easy to understand, DC was a place I hated more than I ever did New York (where I found living with cockroaches just a little bit to much). Hence I spent so little time there I never got the hang of the place.
Anders • January 7, 2021 11:45 AM
@Clive
Yes, but as i pointed out i don’t want to talk here about Trump’s persona.
Controlling who has access to social media and who not is a way to control
those who consume social media – you can direct them, channel to them “right” news, “right” views etc, you can make politics. Who says that in the similar way someone else is not cut off from social media so that right politics win?
Let’s forget Trump, no matter how bad he is, he is still THE President, last days, but still.
For me this all reminds Soviet time censorship – KGB has total control over all written media and TV, no contacts with western countries allowed (especially HAM-s), even typewriters were numbered and you need to register it officially (like guns today – you must have permit for it). If unregistered typewriter was found – you were in BIG trouble.
And in similar way – if senior member of Soviet government fell into disfavor, he was cut off from the communication. I see similarities here.
Winter • January 7, 2021 12:19 PM
@Anders
“For me this all reminds Soviet time censorship – KGB has total control over all written media and TV, no contacts with western countries allowed”
The man is trying to overthrow the constitution, grab absolute power and calls for violent attacks on elected politicians.
And you compare silencing the calls for violent insurrections to the KGB silencing dissent?
Where is your sense of proportion?
JonKnowsNothing • January 7, 2021 12:27 PM
@Anders Clive and All
re: Banned from Access Rules
Facebook, Twitter, Apple etc etc etc have two way protection
1) indemnity from content traversing their systems
2) indemnity for corporate actions on accessing services (EULA/TOS)
iirc it’s all part of Section 230 although there are so many places that these two items can fall into there are likely other parts and rules that apply.
Facebook and Twitter are businesses. In the USA businesses can say who they will allow access to their services and under what conditions.
* Like driving a car: It’s not a right, It’s a privilege
Facebook and Twitter et al have been using the same area to run “hands off” on some accounts. Sometimes these are being used by LEAs to trap-n-trace persons of interest (capture more incriminating data). Sometimes it’s for their own internal political views (because they get a tax break or other benefit).
* It’s a business and what they do is business.
It has zero do to with Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Ideas and Freedom to Assemble.
Coordinating an “assembly” is supposed to be a protected action. Coordinating a putche is not.
It’s also well documented that Freedom of Speech is not Unlimited Speech. There are limits which change with the generations.
ht tps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_dirty_words
The seven dirty words are seven English-language curse words that American comedian George Carlin first listed in his 1972 “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” monologue
ht tps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myron_(novel)
warning: it is very naughty: ymmv
Myron is a novel by American author Gore Vidal, published in 1974. It was written as a sequel to his 1968 bestseller Myra Breckinridge. The novel was published shortly after an anti-pornography ruling by the Supreme Court; Vidal responded by replacing the profanity in his novel with the names of the Justices involved
(url fractured to prevent autorun)
Winter • January 7, 2021 12:52 PM
It seems more politicians are becoming worried about the man with the bigger button. I read more articles calling for invoking art 25.
They might have gotten advice on how narcissist react to failure and loss.
Hands up who thinks Trump would not dare or have moral objections to pushing the button?
Anders • January 7, 2021 12:58 PM
@Winter
You don’t read what i’m writing.
Forget Trump.
I’m interested who calls the shots?
Yesterday there was in the news that group of powerful
CEO’s calls to start 25th amendment. Twitter is business.
FB is business.
What i’m concerned here that next time social media
shuts down someone’s access who’s decisions business
leaders don’t like.
JonKnowsNothing • January 7, 2021 1:13 PM
@Clive MarkH SpaceLifeForm Winter All
re:extreme spread of NUK-COVID and other N501s: Carry Distance
There are more MSM articles about “unexpected” outbreaks of COVID-19 in areas which have good or extremely good COVID-19 protocols.
I am getting uncomfortable with the dearth of science data about what’s happening.
general examples:
* A care home with superior COVID-19 protocols (masks, restrictions, cleaning, containment, testing)
* Sudden “unrelated” out breaks or clusters with no direct contacts to other clusters.
* Well defined protocols at hospitals not preventing outbreaks in other areas both distanced and close.
I’m sure others have read similar MSM stories.
While there are lots of places where any of these protocols could be breached there is an aspect that we’ve talked about here before: Carry Distance
Locally there is an unfortunate incident. Summary from MSM
A health care person came to the hospital during the holiday wearing an inflatable costume. They were there a short time, cheering up folks and left. Within a few days everyone on the ward was sick including the one wearing the costume. More folks got sick and one has since died.
Blame was not assigned but fingers pointed at the costume wearer and the inflatable costume blowing COVID-19 around the ward, down the hall and into other parts of the hospital.
I do not agree that the wearer of the costume was at fault. But the extreme infectious quality of the cluster including persons not on that ward but near by needs more analysis.
* The person with the costume was pre-symptomatic. This means they had already been exposed and likely so had the others on the ward.
* The air-inflation of the costume was blamed for spreading it all over. This means that the air pump was blowing COVID down the all, all over staff, out the doors and into the reception areas as the person walked around passing out holiday cheer.
* Most of these wards have ventilation and pressure controls to prevent stuff escaping out of the rooms and hallways into the wider areas.
* Everyone on the ward was masked, PPE including the costume wearer.
* COVID-19 was already present in the same areas (Hospital).
Zho..
What’s bothering me is that the basic masks and PPE even at hospital levels is no longer sufficient.
It is absolutely the case that California is inundated with COVID-19 so there’s a lot of virus load and the hospitals are stacking sick people like cord wood anywhere they can using a simple hospital sheet over the person as a COVID-19 barrier while waiting for a non-existent ICU bed.
However, reports from other locations, countries also indicate breaches in containment.
The culprit maybe in the Air Circulation Systems and the new variants are not only easier to get but easier to spread. If it’s been blown around farther and landing on more items, desks, chairs, clothing, there is more opportunity to pick it up from other sources.
26-30ft may no longer be safe. And fomite contamination looks to be on the rise.
ref: The South Korean Study on Restaurant A/C contamination transmission.
JonKnowsNothing • January 7, 2021 1:32 PM
@Anders Winter All
re What i’m concerned here that next time social media shuts down someone’s access who’s decisions business leaders don’t like.
* Nearly every country that has internet can do this already.
* Nearly every company that has an internet product can do this already
* Nearly every company using such technology has the ability to do this already.
The only folks not on the list are users of such services. Their only recourse is None.
Who can shut down the spigot?
Depends on the country:
* Top Political Dogs, Top Law Dogs, Top Military Dogs, Top Local+City Dogs
Pretty much any of those can invoke an emergency clause that will shut down
* internet, networks, phone systems, at a country level, region level, local level and specific user level.
Time to learn cursive writing because folks in the USA cannot write cursive anymore. Which is why the message scrawled on the file folder by one of the visitors, is barely legible.
We don’t believe in masks and we don’t believe in education and we don’t believe in penmanship.
There’s a lot we don’t believe in.
tl;dr Old Joke
A Texan was visiting Arizona and went to see the Grand Canyon. Asked what he thought about it, he replied.
“I know someone who can fill it in for you…”
ht tps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Canyon
Winter • January 7, 2021 1:47 PM
@Anders
“I’m interested who calls the shots?”
By definition the powerful.
Clive Robinson • January 7, 2021 3:28 PM
@ Anders,
if senior member of Soviet government fell into disfavor, he was cut off from the communication. I see similarities here.
Down the ages there has been an uneasy relationship with those who claim they are on power and those that carry their message.
Kings used to have to rely on other nobles, priests and such.
Later politicians have had to rely on a mixture of old and new such as priests and the press.
There was good reason why the seniors were known as “The Press Barons” in effect they were the new “king makers” and breakers who had to be both courted carefully and treated with a light touch. Look at the power Rupert “the bear faced liar” Murdoch had and before that Robert Maxwell, both people who had extreamly unpleasant if not criminal behaviours left almost entirely alone.
Later the good times for politicians the press under legal control as television became the dominent first news source.
And now you have the Internet and social media and those who control one heck of a lot more than politicians.
Have you ever thought about why, I tell people truthfully I do not want to participatr in social media?
A little studying of history should suffice.
Power these days is even more about
“Who Controls the message”
Oh and who holds the balance of power “Kings-Barons-Church” “Kings-Parliments-Church”, “Parliments-Church-Guilds” where the Guilds are now international Corporations. The Church had for a while lost out. Though as @Winter will tell you the Church has been diversified into cults and cults of personality run by sociopaths with narcissistic behaviours. But what you might call the “Traditional Churchrs” are fighting back I know you want to avoid personalities but remember the Vice President and others in the now outgoing administration are “Church first and foremost, Party a long way second, and the people, well they are just votes to get by any means fair or foul”. In this respect the likes of William Barr would be happy if the US was a theocracy with his chosen puppet as God Head and him standing as high priest. Whilst they appeared to hate Iran, they very much wanted to emulate it.
Clive Robinson • January 7, 2021 3:51 PM
@ JonKnowsNothing, SpaceLifeForm, MarkH, Goat,
Have you noticed that the aloeablelength appears to have increased?
Anonymous • January 7, 2021 6:14 PM
@ JonKnowsNothing, Anders, Clive, MarkH, Goat, ALL
Hang in there. Do NOT give up.
Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, give up.
Ignore the mysterious disappearing comments.
Ignore the random auto moderation that goes to /dev/null
Just keep paying attention. As I know you all do.
Winter • January 7, 2021 8:30 PM
I see interviews with Republicans that the events in the Capitol were orchestrated by antifa. No, not by Trump and his followers.
https://newjersey.news12.com/trump-supporters-point-blame-at-antifa-for-violence-at-capitol-protest
And to show that truth, Trump’s followers will be back, with guns, they say.
Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.
lurker • January 7, 2021 8:49 PM
@Clive: And fomite contamination looks to be on the rise.
An auto-parts distribution network appears to be responsible for a number of widespread cases in Nth-east China.
JonKnowsNothing • January 7, 2021 10:09 PM
@Lurker Clive Winter
re: Auto parts fomite
A very interesting story.
One version mentions that the virus survived due to cold weather in China. I did not see a description of what parts were contaminated other than it was At the Factory. Normally the only part of a car supply chain that is outside is the finished car. So these parts that were “cold” were shipped to quite a few places.
A while back, there were some energetic discussions about cold + fomite + virus-fragment.
It’s cold in the USA, even in California. There’s a lot of cold chain supply boxes being passed into high viral load areas (1).
1, Previous discussions on the viability of cold chain continuity. Several failures have occurred.
* deliberate removal of vaccines from freezers
* cold chain breaks during transit
* freezer failure after delivery
ht tps://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/31/wisconsin-health-worker-deliberately-spoiled-500-covid-vaccine-doses
A more uplifting story and another cautionary tale of catastrophe plans that failed.
ht tps://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-04/freezer-broken-california-town-had-to-use-or-lose-vaccine-shots
Its freezer kaput, this NorCal hospital had two hours to give out 600 vaccine shots
At 11:35 on Monday morning, senior staff at Adventist Health Ukiah Valley Medical Center in Mendocino County were holding their first 2021 executive meeting when the hospital pharmacist interrupted: The compressor on a freezer storing 830 doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine had stopped working hours earlier, and the alarm meant to guard against such failure had failed.
But by the two-hour deadline, every dose had found a patient.
(url fractured to prevent autorun)
@Winter
“I see interviews with Republicans that the events in the Capitol were orchestrated by antifa.”
I think that will be refuted rather easily. There is pictures and technology to identify people. At some point, sooner rather than later, enough people will have been identified to establish an acceptable sample. What is there already, 60 arrests?
The sample will be representative of the participants, much like polling is representative of the electorate. It isn’t going to be like 100% of identified people are right-wing extremists, while all unidentified people are antifa.
What is really lacking here is the old story of the boy who cried wolf. The story goes that the boy kept carrying on falsely, and then wondered why he wasn’t believed later.
Well, the same principle applies here. There has been enough false conspiracy theories that there is no reason to believe the next one. I’m still waiting for proof that Obama’s birth certificate was fraudulent, and that he was never lawfully president.
I see this story on the protests.
hXXps://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2021/01/insurrectionists-social-media-presence-gives-feds-an-easy-way-to-id-them/
“Both local police and the FBI are seeking information about individuals who were “actively instigating violence” in Washington, DC, on January 6. While media organizations took thousands of photos police can use, they also have more advanced technologies at their disposal ,,,
Neither would an agency need actual photos or footage to track down any mob participant who was carrying a mobile phone.”
So, when this latest conspiracy theory of antifa being involved with the violence at the capital is totally debunked, when does it become time to permanently discredit these conspiracy theorists and their future imagined conspiracies?
PSA • January 7, 2021 11:14 PM
The FBI asks everyone to NOT use Twitter to report information or intel, but to use the phone or website.
Repeating. Do NOT use Twitter to send information to FBI.
Winter • January 8, 2021 12:14 AM
@AL
“when does it become time to permanently discredit these conspiracy theorists and their future imagined conspiracies?”
I vaguely remember about conspiracy theories in the ol Babylonian empire. But I suspect the best time to start discrediting conspiracy theories would have been at the founding of Jericho.
Clive Robinson • January 8, 2021 4:12 AM
@ Lurker, JonKnowsNothing, Winter, ALL,
RE : auto-parts distribution network China and fomites.
One of the problems we have is that all we hear about with new mutations of COVID -which Africa appears to have yet another one- is,
1, How infectious it is.
2, How virulent it is.
But next to nothing on,
3, How robust it is.
We know that some viruses can survive apparently indefinitely in human terms if you take the temprature down low enough.
And it actually does not have to be that cold for things to matter. Because for biological agents there is a marked difference in how you freeze them as it effects how the ice crystals form and the sizes and shapes and how much water is not frozen (see superchilled water and it’s strange properties).
All through this pandemic we hear about anomalies in infections often to do with fish or poultry/meat that is bulk frozen for food transportation through borders.
Yet little research has apparently been done. Further the two surface tests that have been carried out others have claimed there is experimental fault with due to lighting amongst other things.
On the assumption a Western Nation goes into full lockdown at it’s borders, in many cases food will still have to cross. The fact that over a year in the research in this area is at best minimal concerns me and it should others. Because vaccination is a race against mutation and vaccination is slow where as regional quarantine is fast.
Winter • January 8, 2021 4:58 AM
@Clive
“We know that some viruses can survive apparently indefinitely in human terms if you take the temprature down low enough.”
Modeling the Inactivation of Viruses from theCoronaviridaeFamily in Response to Temperature and Relative Humidity inSuspensions or on Surfaces
The prediction of the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 on fomites is essen-tial in investigating the importance of contact transmission. This study collects avail-able information on inactivation kinetics of coronaviruses in both solid and liquid fo-mites and creates a mathematical model for the impact of temperature and relativehumidity on virus persistence. The predictions of the model can support more ro-bust decisionmaking and could be useful in various public health contexts. A calcu-lator for the natural clearance of SARS-CoV-2 depending on temperature and relativehumidity could be a valuable operational tool for public authorities.
ht tps://aem.asm.org/content/aem/86/18/e01244-20.full.pdf
Clive Robinson • January 8, 2021 5:45 AM
@ Winter,
If you remember I tried to post the words of a Nebraskan polotico the other day, that got blocked.
I’m wondering if it was the “naughty word list” coughing on,
“Americans aren’t arsonists.”
If you see this then the answer is either no or the problem has been sorted out.
Winter • January 8, 2021 6:06 AM
@Clive
“Americans aren’t arsonists.”
I wonder, aren’t they?
The statistics say 31,000 fires in 2006 causing 305 deaths.
ht tps://www.fire-extinguisher101.com/article0803-arson.html
Clive Robinson • January 8, 2021 6:46 AM
@ Winter,
Modeling the Inactivation of Viruses from theCoronaviridaeFamily in Response to Temperature and Relative Humidity inSuspensions or on Surfaces
I’ve read through it –not a good thing with aging eyesight on a mobile phone screen– and it’s of interest as a meta-study.
However the temprature range is only 4-68 C (39-154F) which could be found around a home or food preperation area (inside a fridge to outside of a full on hot water tap).
What concerns me is the transition or phase change temprature of ice to water. The curve given in the paper implies that it would have effectively flattened below 4C but I suspect that to be not the case.
Thus if you handle meat that is cubed or minced that has come direct from -18C of a reasonable quality freezer the contact with your hand is going to rapidly transition from -18 to the low 10C or less in a period of seconds where the viability time of a betacorona virus is measured in considerably longer periods.
Thus we need data on the inactivation period of a betacorona virus at -6, -18 and -25 C and without light as is found in low grade freezers through to longterm freezing for transportation and the like.
As I’ve mentioned before frozen fish is tradded as a commodity in blocks that can be upto seven years old by the time they get put into food preperation.
Clive Robinson • January 8, 2021 7:03 AM
@ Winter,
I wonder, aren’t they?
A good question, the actual figure is probably higher.
I wonder if it will change significantly for the 2020 figures… A downturn in economics and living conditions has been noted before to correlate with arson.
In many places municiple buildings are not insured, as the price across a city would not normally be justifiable against the cost of employing full time repair and maintainence staff. I suspect the same is true of US State and Federal buildings.
lurker • January 8, 2021 12:05 PM
@PSA: are times so desperate that the Feds need to remind the Plebs of the plainly obvious: Twitter is a broadcast medium; both Feds and Plebs should prefer to share in a less public fashion?
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Sidebar photo of Bruce Schneier by Joe MacInnis.
SpaceLifeForm • January 1, 2021 4:26 PM
Told ya! Re: Why the veto happened.
2021: “It’s a start, keep going!”
THE U.S. JUST BANNED ANONYMOUS SHELL COMPANIES
hXXps://wwww.twitter.com/cjcmichel/status/1345095237186809857