Tomorrow is Sunday and that would usually mean a Sunday Shuffle post, but that won't be happening for some time. Tomorrow is the1st of April and for the 30 days of April I will be posting 30 posts in the 30 Days of Tragedy Challenge.
This challenge is the sister challenge of the 30 Days of Funny challenge the Playlist of which you can find here
This time round the posts will feature an array of Television shows, Movies and events that I have seen as tragic or as particularly saddening. I will try and avoid real world events but many of the television events I will feature will be linked to real world events so the real life tragedy of some posts is inescapable.
On May 1st I will post another playlist of all 30 videos which have been shared together with any notable entries that did not make the final list. I hope you enjoy the next month of posts.
The Way You Think
There are many things I have learned in life. Both through my own experience and through the experience of others. If you have ever had the pleasure of meeting me or at least getting to know me then there's one thing about me that you will have learned and that is that I am a great listener. There are many reasons for this but the root of this behaviour comes from my desire to learn.
When I was young I wanted to know everything there was to know about everything. As I grew I came to realise that learning everything about everything would be nigh impossible to achieve so my focus changed to learn everything there was to know about a few things in which I take the greatest interest.
I have long standing interests in computing and psychology - the former since 5 years old when I first learned to program and the latter since my teenage years when I was socially reclusive and watched everyone around me trying to figure out what made them tick. In both cases I have sought to further my knowledge, in the case of psychology this has been largely self taught partly through books and online reference but the majority of my knowledge comes from real world experience. I have listened.
I have listened to many friends and family members and yes even complete strangers. The former interest me as I can follow up and gather more feedback over time and take on board what the say. Make no mistake, if I ask you how you feel it is because I genuinely want to know. Strangers are a little more complex, not least because you have to begin with a generic template and develop in a short time a persona that matches theirs. You do have to ask questions but you also have to observe the person because a person will tell you so much more without saying a word. I have had complete strangers start conversations with me, on a bus, in a post office, in a supermarket and once or twice in the middle of the street where the tell me all sorts of problems. I have had someone tell me they thought their marriage was going to break up, I have had someone tell me they were in debt up to their eyeballs and even how much their mortgage repayments were. The point I am trying to make is that above all else there is one thing I feel people give me more than anything and that is honesty.
The point of this long winded post was to say that I have learned something from all this experience and this is drawn as I said from friends family and strangers and even my own personal life experience. I have learned that you can't change the way you think. You can change what you think about but you can't change the way you think about it. Now I know there will be people who will argue against me here and you are entitled to do so, I will even hear you out and take on board what you say if you think differently about this. The principle theory I have though is that you can't change the way you think and that you shouldn't try.
If you are inclined to look on the positive side of a situation then you will always be inclined to do so. If you are inclined to look on the negative side again you will always be inclined to do so. I believe it is futile to try and change this I think what you need to do instead is learn to accept who you are and learn not to let it control your life or to consume you. You may not be able to change the way you think but you can change what you think about.
Unfortunately everything I have just wrote will fall on deaf ears as far as those it applies to are concerned because what I have written is part of a learning process something that has to be experienced first hand to be accepted. If you have read this post and accept what it says and agree it's not because of any epiphany or sudden realisation of universal truth it is simply because you had already accepted this through your own experience before you ever read this post.
When I was young I wanted to know everything there was to know about everything. As I grew I came to realise that learning everything about everything would be nigh impossible to achieve so my focus changed to learn everything there was to know about a few things in which I take the greatest interest.
I have long standing interests in computing and psychology - the former since 5 years old when I first learned to program and the latter since my teenage years when I was socially reclusive and watched everyone around me trying to figure out what made them tick. In both cases I have sought to further my knowledge, in the case of psychology this has been largely self taught partly through books and online reference but the majority of my knowledge comes from real world experience. I have listened.
I have listened to many friends and family members and yes even complete strangers. The former interest me as I can follow up and gather more feedback over time and take on board what the say. Make no mistake, if I ask you how you feel it is because I genuinely want to know. Strangers are a little more complex, not least because you have to begin with a generic template and develop in a short time a persona that matches theirs. You do have to ask questions but you also have to observe the person because a person will tell you so much more without saying a word. I have had complete strangers start conversations with me, on a bus, in a post office, in a supermarket and once or twice in the middle of the street where the tell me all sorts of problems. I have had someone tell me they thought their marriage was going to break up, I have had someone tell me they were in debt up to their eyeballs and even how much their mortgage repayments were. The point I am trying to make is that above all else there is one thing I feel people give me more than anything and that is honesty.
The point of this long winded post was to say that I have learned something from all this experience and this is drawn as I said from friends family and strangers and even my own personal life experience. I have learned that you can't change the way you think. You can change what you think about but you can't change the way you think about it. Now I know there will be people who will argue against me here and you are entitled to do so, I will even hear you out and take on board what you say if you think differently about this. The principle theory I have though is that you can't change the way you think and that you shouldn't try.
If you are inclined to look on the positive side of a situation then you will always be inclined to do so. If you are inclined to look on the negative side again you will always be inclined to do so. I believe it is futile to try and change this I think what you need to do instead is learn to accept who you are and learn not to let it control your life or to consume you. You may not be able to change the way you think but you can change what you think about.
Unfortunately everything I have just wrote will fall on deaf ears as far as those it applies to are concerned because what I have written is part of a learning process something that has to be experienced first hand to be accepted. If you have read this post and accept what it says and agree it's not because of any epiphany or sudden realisation of universal truth it is simply because you had already accepted this through your own experience before you ever read this post.
Android
On this blog there is a page called Statistics which you can access by clicking the link above or clicking here: Blog: Statistics. These statistics are updated every Month, manually for the time being but that will change in the future to automatically updated statistics. There are other statistics that are far wider reaching they cover the life of the blog, since it was created. According to those statistics the 3rd most popular OS platform for reading posts on this blog is Android [after Windows and Mac in case you couldn't guess].
I happen to have an Android phone, and while there are many things I do use it for, reading blogs is not one of them - not least for the fact that most blogs are catered toward the desktop browser. This blog however does have a mobile template view which you should be presented with if you try and view it on a mobile device [I believe the full site view is still an option if you prefer it]. For those of you who subscribe through various services like Google Reader apologies but you are not counted in these statistics.
I have had an Android phone for 6 months now and I have to say what a pleasure it is to use and for the technophiles here is the phone I use:
The Samsung Galaxy S ii (White). I am I guess what you would call a heavy user. My phone bill is typically 10 pages long although the last two months were 17 and 23, which is a lot of calls. There are many things I love about Android but as it is my disposition to do so I feel the need to write a blog post that focuses on the bad points and things I don't like. I could list everything I do like but you have probably heard it all before and it would become quite tiresome.
The first main thing I don't like is partly the fault of Android and partly the fault of developers who create Apps for it. There is no close button on Apps so for the most part you find yourself pressing the Home key to return to the main 'desktop' if you will. The idea behind this mechanism from Androids point of view is that users should allow the device itself to manage Apps and allow it to close those in the background that aren't in use. The is nice in theory but doesn't work well in practice. Leaving a web browser open at a particular web page and in effect "abandoning" the App just does not feel right. The only alternative option in that scenario is to go 'back' through every page you have been to working down through the stack until you are clear and the App is terminated. As was my pet hate with Windows 8 and as was the remedy to both, Android also includes a task manager which I find myself using a lot.
I don't care much for the argument that I am being a control freak there is a plain and simple truth here that sometimes an App may "want" to do something and continue doing it but you the user want to quit it. The suer should not be denied explicit control and this functionality should be built in so that as a developer an App can receive its 'close' request and let it clean up before exiting, rather than being forced to close by a task manager - which will forcefully close the App and not wait at all for it to complete its housekeeping duties if it takes too long.
There isn't much I can say about the S ii in particular, as it has been said before by other reviewers smart phones are becoming more and more generic, they have varying specification but at the end of the day if they run the same version of Android there's not that much to set them apart, they may run at different speeds and get things done slightly quicker or have slightly better cameras but the interface and the Apps and all the rest will still be the same. What I believe Android has done for mobile phones is the same as what Windows achieved for PC's - to completely standardise the interface and cause uniformity. I deny that Apple achieved this with the iPhone as the iPhone is one device that also applies to iOS which again only runs on Apple devices, Single Brand Uniformity akin to Apple is not equal to Market Uniformity achieved by Android and Windows. They run on devices manufactured by many different companies, they all more or less look the same physically as do desktop PC's, they do not really diversify in terms of design, there are a few different form factors as there are with Android devices like Mobile v Tablets etc but ultimately a PC will look like a PC.
I find myself uttering a phrase which I know will make many people cringe but I have to say it as it is my view:
Android is the new Windows
I happen to have an Android phone, and while there are many things I do use it for, reading blogs is not one of them - not least for the fact that most blogs are catered toward the desktop browser. This blog however does have a mobile template view which you should be presented with if you try and view it on a mobile device [I believe the full site view is still an option if you prefer it]. For those of you who subscribe through various services like Google Reader apologies but you are not counted in these statistics.
I have had an Android phone for 6 months now and I have to say what a pleasure it is to use and for the technophiles here is the phone I use:
The Samsung Galaxy S ii (White). I am I guess what you would call a heavy user. My phone bill is typically 10 pages long although the last two months were 17 and 23, which is a lot of calls. There are many things I love about Android but as it is my disposition to do so I feel the need to write a blog post that focuses on the bad points and things I don't like. I could list everything I do like but you have probably heard it all before and it would become quite tiresome.
The first main thing I don't like is partly the fault of Android and partly the fault of developers who create Apps for it. There is no close button on Apps so for the most part you find yourself pressing the Home key to return to the main 'desktop' if you will. The idea behind this mechanism from Androids point of view is that users should allow the device itself to manage Apps and allow it to close those in the background that aren't in use. The is nice in theory but doesn't work well in practice. Leaving a web browser open at a particular web page and in effect "abandoning" the App just does not feel right. The only alternative option in that scenario is to go 'back' through every page you have been to working down through the stack until you are clear and the App is terminated. As was my pet hate with Windows 8 and as was the remedy to both, Android also includes a task manager which I find myself using a lot.
I don't care much for the argument that I am being a control freak there is a plain and simple truth here that sometimes an App may "want" to do something and continue doing it but you the user want to quit it. The suer should not be denied explicit control and this functionality should be built in so that as a developer an App can receive its 'close' request and let it clean up before exiting, rather than being forced to close by a task manager - which will forcefully close the App and not wait at all for it to complete its housekeeping duties if it takes too long.
There isn't much I can say about the S ii in particular, as it has been said before by other reviewers smart phones are becoming more and more generic, they have varying specification but at the end of the day if they run the same version of Android there's not that much to set them apart, they may run at different speeds and get things done slightly quicker or have slightly better cameras but the interface and the Apps and all the rest will still be the same. What I believe Android has done for mobile phones is the same as what Windows achieved for PC's - to completely standardise the interface and cause uniformity. I deny that Apple achieved this with the iPhone as the iPhone is one device that also applies to iOS which again only runs on Apple devices, Single Brand Uniformity akin to Apple is not equal to Market Uniformity achieved by Android and Windows. They run on devices manufactured by many different companies, they all more or less look the same physically as do desktop PC's, they do not really diversify in terms of design, there are a few different form factors as there are with Android devices like Mobile v Tablets etc but ultimately a PC will look like a PC.
I find myself uttering a phrase which I know will make many people cringe but I have to say it as it is my view:
Android is the new Windows
Language
We tend to think of language in a formal sense, e.g. one of the many languages of the world like English, Spanish, Mandarin etc, we think of the vocabulary, spelling and grammar as the definitions of language but the concept of language transcends there formal definitions.
As with programming languages you will find throughout the world that languages exist with varying degrees of popularity, active use, purpose and in some cases infallibility. However across programming and spoken languages one behaviour remains constant, that for any given term to exist and be used you need only have a declaration and a definition. In programming we state the type and the initial value but in spoken language we simply state the new word and its meaning. Once the declaration and definition have been made we use the words as part of our vocabulary.
Travel the world far and wide or even just browse the internet and you will see from country to country, community to community there are local declarations and definitions, again in programming this exists through scope, and just as in programming you can end up with local terms that have the same name as globals but have different meaning.
This whole post was motivated by a short clip on the radio the other day in which the DJ spoke in an Australian accent and rattled of a number of slang terms which once he implied the meaning to you simply moved on understanding exactly what he was saying even though 10 minutes previous the conversation would have made no sense at all.
I have always seen language as something fluid but this reminded me and made me think how in some ways language is a living thing, maybe not literally - or maybe "literally" is the right word.
As with programming languages you will find throughout the world that languages exist with varying degrees of popularity, active use, purpose and in some cases infallibility. However across programming and spoken languages one behaviour remains constant, that for any given term to exist and be used you need only have a declaration and a definition. In programming we state the type and the initial value but in spoken language we simply state the new word and its meaning. Once the declaration and definition have been made we use the words as part of our vocabulary.
Travel the world far and wide or even just browse the internet and you will see from country to country, community to community there are local declarations and definitions, again in programming this exists through scope, and just as in programming you can end up with local terms that have the same name as globals but have different meaning.
This whole post was motivated by a short clip on the radio the other day in which the DJ spoke in an Australian accent and rattled of a number of slang terms which once he implied the meaning to you simply moved on understanding exactly what he was saying even though 10 minutes previous the conversation would have made no sense at all.
I have always seen language as something fluid but this reminded me and made me think how in some ways language is a living thing, maybe not literally - or maybe "literally" is the right word.
Sunday Shuffle
Every Sunday I will post the first 6 songs my iPod throws up on Shuffle mode.
Space Trip Steps - Sonic Adventure 2
Ecuador - Sash
Jessie James - Cher
In My Eyes - Robyn
I'm Real - Ja Rule / J-Lo
Sun - Slusnik Luna
Space Trip Steps - Sonic Adventure 2
Ecuador - Sash
Jessie James - Cher
In My Eyes - Robyn
I'm Real - Ja Rule / J-Lo
The Rise of the Entrepreneur
During the most recent economic boom, time and again I heard the word Entrepreneur thrown around and witnessed many attempts at motivating a young generation to enter into business and try and make something of themselves. Arguably I think those attempts were in vain and for many reasons, but one reason more than any other took precedence as to why I believed this was in vain and that reason was that people were comfortable.
There is no greater discouragement to reach higher than complete comfort. We lived amid an economic boom and in those times people are content with progressing their careers, and relying on corporations etc to provide opportunities. To be an Entrepreneur you need to have ambition, motivation and above all else a desire to succeed at whatever cost. You need to be constantly thinking of ways you can advance and progress higher. When you see something that is going to waste you need to forget the idea of viewing it as rubbish and see it not for what it is but what it could be.
The Age of the Entrepreneur for this reason more than any belongs inescapably within era of economic tragedy / depression / recession / downturn / credit crunch - call it what you will. There is no greater encouragement to try and rise up than to strive to prove those wrong who label you as lost. It is in times of economic uncertainty when corporations turn their back on the people, cut jobs and opportunity is rationed that the Entrepreneur will rise. When the last man has said no when you ask for help, then you must face the inescapable truth - if you want it, you have to do it yourself.
To be an Entrepreneur is not for everyone, there are those in a time of economic uncertainty who will truly be lost, but that is not their fault - this is how Capitalism works. You cannot sustain growth indefinitely there must be a crash periodically to reset the base level from which grow. It is in these times of crash that transition is possible from working class to Upper class, true Upper class, not the delusion of Middle class. An economic bust is the moment when the greatest profits can be made. One need only be prepared beforehand:
On the 12th of March 2012, GAME Group [GMG.L on LSE] was valued at 1p per share. This is the lowest trade-able value a share can reach. To invest at this point is a 100% Guarantee of 0 loss in investment. As Administrators in the event of Administration pay off stakeholders and shareholders first any investment would be returned. If the company is eventually bought any rise in share price will increase your investment. On March 16th GMG.L was values at 3p per share. A £10 investment for 1,000 shares on the 12th would be worth £30 on that day. GMG peak worth was around £3 per share. Even if the company manages to reach a £1 a share in the future your 1,000 shares would be worth £1,000.
As above a similar pattern of ultimate low can be seen for other companies during the current economic period. RBS post nationalisation hit 10p per share there the peak price per share a few years ago was £6.60 a share. The same maths apply here. At 10p a share £100 would gather 1,000 shares, then when RBS returns to its boom in several years time if it reaches £5 a share you would have £5,000 worth of shares. The more money you have to invest at these low points the higher the eventual return. As far as GMG is concerned it may still be a considerable risk but at £10 there is not that great of a loss. RBS on the other hand is not that risky. Banks rarely fail, and when they do they are rarely allowed to fail completely, whether we the people like it or not Government will bail them out.
There is no greater discouragement to reach higher than complete comfort. We lived amid an economic boom and in those times people are content with progressing their careers, and relying on corporations etc to provide opportunities. To be an Entrepreneur you need to have ambition, motivation and above all else a desire to succeed at whatever cost. You need to be constantly thinking of ways you can advance and progress higher. When you see something that is going to waste you need to forget the idea of viewing it as rubbish and see it not for what it is but what it could be.
The Age of the Entrepreneur for this reason more than any belongs inescapably within era of economic tragedy / depression / recession / downturn / credit crunch - call it what you will. There is no greater encouragement to try and rise up than to strive to prove those wrong who label you as lost. It is in times of economic uncertainty when corporations turn their back on the people, cut jobs and opportunity is rationed that the Entrepreneur will rise. When the last man has said no when you ask for help, then you must face the inescapable truth - if you want it, you have to do it yourself.
To be an Entrepreneur is not for everyone, there are those in a time of economic uncertainty who will truly be lost, but that is not their fault - this is how Capitalism works. You cannot sustain growth indefinitely there must be a crash periodically to reset the base level from which grow. It is in these times of crash that transition is possible from working class to Upper class, true Upper class, not the delusion of Middle class. An economic bust is the moment when the greatest profits can be made. One need only be prepared beforehand:
On the 12th of March 2012, GAME Group [GMG.L on LSE] was valued at 1p per share. This is the lowest trade-able value a share can reach. To invest at this point is a 100% Guarantee of 0 loss in investment. As Administrators in the event of Administration pay off stakeholders and shareholders first any investment would be returned. If the company is eventually bought any rise in share price will increase your investment. On March 16th GMG.L was values at 3p per share. A £10 investment for 1,000 shares on the 12th would be worth £30 on that day. GMG peak worth was around £3 per share. Even if the company manages to reach a £1 a share in the future your 1,000 shares would be worth £1,000.
As above a similar pattern of ultimate low can be seen for other companies during the current economic period. RBS post nationalisation hit 10p per share there the peak price per share a few years ago was £6.60 a share. The same maths apply here. At 10p a share £100 would gather 1,000 shares, then when RBS returns to its boom in several years time if it reaches £5 a share you would have £5,000 worth of shares. The more money you have to invest at these low points the higher the eventual return. As far as GMG is concerned it may still be a considerable risk but at £10 there is not that great of a loss. RBS on the other hand is not that risky. Banks rarely fail, and when they do they are rarely allowed to fail completely, whether we the people like it or not Government will bail them out.
Privacy
So a while ago I wrote a post about Time and Timelines, within which I mentioned that I had recently begun purging my Facebook Profile of all posts older than a certain date. There are various motivations for this but the main reason is privacy.
In a traditional world, when you meet someone for the first time they know nothing of your past, what little they do know and learn over time is what you choose to share with them. There are a small number of people I value a thousand times more than their weight in gold, with whom I would share everything and answer any question when posed, but that level of confidence has to be earned. With people you are not that close to but you are still friends, your past for all intents and purposes would be a closed book. Extracts shared when necessary for the furtherance of your story.
Privacy is as much about your past and your future as it is about your present. Who you were and what you have done, should be treated with the same level as your present state. There should be no belief that what has happened in the past should be public knowledge as it has already happened, while from the point of view of a timeline that may make sense, from the point of view of an individual it does not. We are who we are because of out past, and we will be who we are going to be, as a result of the events in our lives that we choose to remember and allow to influence our decisions. Our past is not dead, our past lives on within us.
The longer you use the internet, the more information about you as a person is gathered. Up until a week ago Google held over 30,000 searches I had made, all of these where catalogued as Google's History service was active. I have since disabled Google History which now no longer stores these records, I have also chosen to clear my History wiping clean all those searches.
All of this was brought to light in the past few weeks as a result of Google Privacy Statement being revised. After reading a BBC News Article: Google Privacy Changes in breach of EU Law
I also found the link to Google's Dashboard very useful for reviewing exactly what Google currently holds.
In a traditional world, when you meet someone for the first time they know nothing of your past, what little they do know and learn over time is what you choose to share with them. There are a small number of people I value a thousand times more than their weight in gold, with whom I would share everything and answer any question when posed, but that level of confidence has to be earned. With people you are not that close to but you are still friends, your past for all intents and purposes would be a closed book. Extracts shared when necessary for the furtherance of your story.
Privacy is as much about your past and your future as it is about your present. Who you were and what you have done, should be treated with the same level as your present state. There should be no belief that what has happened in the past should be public knowledge as it has already happened, while from the point of view of a timeline that may make sense, from the point of view of an individual it does not. We are who we are because of out past, and we will be who we are going to be, as a result of the events in our lives that we choose to remember and allow to influence our decisions. Our past is not dead, our past lives on within us.
The longer you use the internet, the more information about you as a person is gathered. Up until a week ago Google held over 30,000 searches I had made, all of these where catalogued as Google's History service was active. I have since disabled Google History which now no longer stores these records, I have also chosen to clear my History wiping clean all those searches.
All of this was brought to light in the past few weeks as a result of Google Privacy Statement being revised. After reading a BBC News Article: Google Privacy Changes in breach of EU Law
I also found the link to Google's Dashboard very useful for reviewing exactly what Google currently holds.
Sunday Shuffle
Every Sunday I will post the first 6 songs my iPod throws up on Shuffle mode.
Man! I Feel Like A Woman - Shania Twain
Cry When You Get Older - Robyn
I'm Gonna Be Strong - Cyndi Lauper
Arrival - Daft Punk
Brahms Lullaby - Celine Dion
Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri
Man! I Feel Like A Woman - Shania Twain
Cry When You Get Older - Robyn
I'm Gonna Be Strong - Cyndi Lauper
Arrival - Daft Punk
Brahms Lullaby - Celine Dion
Anonymous OS
After reading a few news articles about Anonymous OS, a new Operating System supposedly developed by the Hacktivist group Anonymous, I thought I would write an opinion piece on the matter.
First off let's cover a few basics. The OS is not developed by Anonymous - at least not in an "official" sense. That in itself is a massive can of worms as Anonymous is a movement and therefore can't really be seen to have any centralised control. Despite that however they do have some degree of mutually agreed structure. There's an important distinction that needs to be drawn here between the true Activists and the sympathisers / fan-boys. The Activists are the founders of the movement the patriarchs of the Anonymous Cult if you will. They will express a certain degree of control and are by no means stupid. These people are educated in their field, whether that be formal or self-taught these are people who can run rings around anyone. These are the people responsible for the initial ideology behind Anonymous and they are the people who run a few Anonymous "Outlets" that make "Official" announcements and claim responsibility after key events occur. In the case of Anonymous OS, a number of these Outlets have publicly denied that the Operating System was developed by Anonymous.
Does that mean that "Anonymous" the movement did not develop this OS? No. It means nothing. As I said above Anonymous is a movement and any attempt at centralised control is futile. Those that originally founded the Anonymous movement cannot possibly be ignorant of this - why else would they have created their public outlets and chose to pass comment at all on these issues. The reason is because as a movement, as the collective grows so too must the level of anarchy and insubordination. Rifts and internal conflicts will inevitably ensue and fractions will break away and new movements started.
This is where Anonymous OS comes into play. Anonymous OS is an Operating System built upon Linux that gathers together a lot of tools that in essence can be used for hacking, although not marketed in those exact words, that is its purpose. If you are wondering why someone did not have the bright idea to call it Anonym-OS or something with similar word play, the answer is that that OS already exists. Anonym.OS is a BSD based Operating System.
Is Anonymous OS illegal? Technically no. This comes down to the analogy of the knife manufacturer vs the knife wielding maniac - that is to say, knives are not illegal, they are very useful, they have many different uses, in the hands of a surgeon a knife can save lives, but a knife can be misused and used to harm or in the extreme, kill. Does that mean knives should be banned from shops? No. Does it mean that knives are illegal? No. Anonymous OS although a very powerful knife in the wrong hands is still just a knife.
This is not the first Linux distribution that has been built to use these tools among others. There are some such as DEFT Linux - Digital Evidence and Forensics Tool-kit Linux, which is used by Police forces and various corporations for, as the name suggests, Digital Forensics. Some of its more useful features is the ability to analyse a formatted hard drive and recover files and folders even after they were deleted. DEFT again includes some of the utilities that are included in Anonymous OS, tools that can be used for Network Analysis, Packet Sniffing etc.
Should you install Anonymous OS? That is not an easy question to answer. I personally have not yet installed it and I doubt I will. A number of Security companies have stated the OS as containing viruses - and before you chime in with your mantra of Open Source being Virus immune that is not the case. There is absolutely nothing in Linux that prevents for example a keylogger from recording every keystroke, you do not need root privileges to be able to listen to the keyboard for input. Stick one inside something simple like one of the many free Games, one that allows network play and you will have access to the internet to be able to send the collected data to an online database. The belief that Open Source is virus free relies on one assertion - that the User will read the code of the source and verify it is safe - or that they "trust" that someone else "trustworthy" has read the source and said it was safe. The more mainstream Linux becomes the less technically minded the average Linux user will be and the less likely they are to ever read the source code.
The conclusion is simply that if you want to try Anonymous OS go ahead but I would advise you only do so if you know a bit about Linux and you can actually understand C/C++ source code. If you install it and it turns out it is riddled with viruses then I have no sympathy for you whatsoever.
First off let's cover a few basics. The OS is not developed by Anonymous - at least not in an "official" sense. That in itself is a massive can of worms as Anonymous is a movement and therefore can't really be seen to have any centralised control. Despite that however they do have some degree of mutually agreed structure. There's an important distinction that needs to be drawn here between the true Activists and the sympathisers / fan-boys. The Activists are the founders of the movement the patriarchs of the Anonymous Cult if you will. They will express a certain degree of control and are by no means stupid. These people are educated in their field, whether that be formal or self-taught these are people who can run rings around anyone. These are the people responsible for the initial ideology behind Anonymous and they are the people who run a few Anonymous "Outlets" that make "Official" announcements and claim responsibility after key events occur. In the case of Anonymous OS, a number of these Outlets have publicly denied that the Operating System was developed by Anonymous.
Does that mean that "Anonymous" the movement did not develop this OS? No. It means nothing. As I said above Anonymous is a movement and any attempt at centralised control is futile. Those that originally founded the Anonymous movement cannot possibly be ignorant of this - why else would they have created their public outlets and chose to pass comment at all on these issues. The reason is because as a movement, as the collective grows so too must the level of anarchy and insubordination. Rifts and internal conflicts will inevitably ensue and fractions will break away and new movements started.
This is where Anonymous OS comes into play. Anonymous OS is an Operating System built upon Linux that gathers together a lot of tools that in essence can be used for hacking, although not marketed in those exact words, that is its purpose. If you are wondering why someone did not have the bright idea to call it Anonym-OS or something with similar word play, the answer is that that OS already exists. Anonym.OS is a BSD based Operating System.
Is Anonymous OS illegal? Technically no. This comes down to the analogy of the knife manufacturer vs the knife wielding maniac - that is to say, knives are not illegal, they are very useful, they have many different uses, in the hands of a surgeon a knife can save lives, but a knife can be misused and used to harm or in the extreme, kill. Does that mean knives should be banned from shops? No. Does it mean that knives are illegal? No. Anonymous OS although a very powerful knife in the wrong hands is still just a knife.
This is not the first Linux distribution that has been built to use these tools among others. There are some such as DEFT Linux - Digital Evidence and Forensics Tool-kit Linux, which is used by Police forces and various corporations for, as the name suggests, Digital Forensics. Some of its more useful features is the ability to analyse a formatted hard drive and recover files and folders even after they were deleted. DEFT again includes some of the utilities that are included in Anonymous OS, tools that can be used for Network Analysis, Packet Sniffing etc.
Should you install Anonymous OS? That is not an easy question to answer. I personally have not yet installed it and I doubt I will. A number of Security companies have stated the OS as containing viruses - and before you chime in with your mantra of Open Source being Virus immune that is not the case. There is absolutely nothing in Linux that prevents for example a keylogger from recording every keystroke, you do not need root privileges to be able to listen to the keyboard for input. Stick one inside something simple like one of the many free Games, one that allows network play and you will have access to the internet to be able to send the collected data to an online database. The belief that Open Source is virus free relies on one assertion - that the User will read the code of the source and verify it is safe - or that they "trust" that someone else "trustworthy" has read the source and said it was safe. The more mainstream Linux becomes the less technically minded the average Linux user will be and the less likely they are to ever read the source code.
The conclusion is simply that if you want to try Anonymous OS go ahead but I would advise you only do so if you know a bit about Linux and you can actually understand C/C++ source code. If you install it and it turns out it is riddled with viruses then I have no sympathy for you whatsoever.
Wonderland
Sigh and breathe and fall asleep
For in our dreams we do not weep
In the land of slumber we stay
Until the dawn of the coming day
Dream a Dream per chance to live
For all the joy life has to give
Forget our troubles that cause us woe
Into a wonderland our mind does go
There in this place of magic and awe
There are no rules of house nor law
We do as we please as we wander so free
Free as a bird as life was meant to be
But there are things which may cause surprise
You may soon lose trust within your eyes
Things in this realm aren't as they appear
Objects of happiness can inspire great fear
This realm of beauty reverence and grace
Can become a brutal unforgiving place
A dream is a dream when it is free of care
Yet steep is the path from grace to despair
Nightmares are tortuous filled with darkness untold
Void of happiness so baron and cold
There in those depths the soul cannot hide
There you will find what you bottled up inside
This fate awaits those who do not share
Friends shine a light and will always be there
In those moments of darkness do not whine nor yelp
Light will be given, you need only ask for help
For in our dreams we do not weep
In the land of slumber we stay
Until the dawn of the coming day
Dream a Dream per chance to live
For all the joy life has to give
Forget our troubles that cause us woe
Into a wonderland our mind does go
There in this place of magic and awe
There are no rules of house nor law
We do as we please as we wander so free
Free as a bird as life was meant to be
But there are things which may cause surprise
You may soon lose trust within your eyes
Things in this realm aren't as they appear
Objects of happiness can inspire great fear
This realm of beauty reverence and grace
Can become a brutal unforgiving place
A dream is a dream when it is free of care
Yet steep is the path from grace to despair
Nightmares are tortuous filled with darkness untold
Void of happiness so baron and cold
There in those depths the soul cannot hide
There you will find what you bottled up inside
This fate awaits those who do not share
Friends shine a light and will always be there
In those moments of darkness do not whine nor yelp
Light will be given, you need only ask for help
Acceptance versus Exception
I have seen hatred and I have seen pain. I have seen people judge others and I have seen others in tears on the receiving end of this hate. I have seen people who have been to the lowest points that a man can reach all thanks to the hatred of others. All this I have seen and of all this I know one thing recurs - belief determines how we act. What we believe influences our behaviour more than anything else.
I have known acceptance and I have known love. I have known selfness sacrifice and unconditional love. I have known men who would pledge their life that you be kept safe. This determination is admirable, heart warming and at times it can bring a tear to your eyes - but it is that tear, so bitter to taste created from such love that stands as the greatest reminder that mankind can pursue hatred with the same determination. This determination through history has seen many atrocities carried out.
I have heard the word 'acceptance' thrown around in many circles, a word that is used politically with many connotations. This word has lost its true meaning and become synonymous with tolerance - that is to put up with something, not to like it or hate it but simply to tolerate it. That is not acceptance. Acceptance is much more than tolerance. Acceptance is the gratification and treatment of those you accept as equal to you. Acceptance is not to harbour resentment or disdain for what others do.
I have come to question if someone I know truly accepts me, or has simply made an exception for me. That is to say that they hold all the views they did before, the same vehement objection, the same condemnation and ultimately judgement they pass on others. In my case due to my sexuality. My sexuality has never been an issue, not one they have been vocal about, but their words and their beliefs in many things have brought me to question whether they accept me for who I am, or whether they have simply made an exception for me.
If the latter is true then I shed a tear and I do not know if I can continue a friendship. To make an exception as opposed to acceptance is to basically say:
That judgement to me is incredibly unfair and is anything but equal. To accept me is not to make an exception for me but to accept anyone that could be me. If my sexuality is the issue then you must come to accept my sexuality in general, not to do so, simply means that you continue to feel the same way, and ultimately deep down you feel the same way about me, you just don't say it or acknowledge it.
If you hate Gay people you hate me. If you think Gay people are going to Hell for their sexuality then you think I am going to Hell. There can be no exception, you cannot believe that all Gay people, except me, will go to Hell for their sexuality.
Just because you do not direct those views at me does not mean they do not hurt me. If you still hold them for others like me then they hurt me. And I pity you. I truly do for:
I have known acceptance and I have known love. I have known selfness sacrifice and unconditional love. I have known men who would pledge their life that you be kept safe. This determination is admirable, heart warming and at times it can bring a tear to your eyes - but it is that tear, so bitter to taste created from such love that stands as the greatest reminder that mankind can pursue hatred with the same determination. This determination through history has seen many atrocities carried out.
I have heard the word 'acceptance' thrown around in many circles, a word that is used politically with many connotations. This word has lost its true meaning and become synonymous with tolerance - that is to put up with something, not to like it or hate it but simply to tolerate it. That is not acceptance. Acceptance is much more than tolerance. Acceptance is the gratification and treatment of those you accept as equal to you. Acceptance is not to harbour resentment or disdain for what others do.
I have come to question if someone I know truly accepts me, or has simply made an exception for me. That is to say that they hold all the views they did before, the same vehement objection, the same condemnation and ultimately judgement they pass on others. In my case due to my sexuality. My sexuality has never been an issue, not one they have been vocal about, but their words and their beliefs in many things have brought me to question whether they accept me for who I am, or whether they have simply made an exception for me.
If the latter is true then I shed a tear and I do not know if I can continue a friendship. To make an exception as opposed to acceptance is to basically say:
"If we were never friends I would hate you because you are gay, even though I don't know you or anything about you"
That judgement to me is incredibly unfair and is anything but equal. To accept me is not to make an exception for me but to accept anyone that could be me. If my sexuality is the issue then you must come to accept my sexuality in general, not to do so, simply means that you continue to feel the same way, and ultimately deep down you feel the same way about me, you just don't say it or acknowledge it.
If you hate Gay people you hate me. If you think Gay people are going to Hell for their sexuality then you think I am going to Hell. There can be no exception, you cannot believe that all Gay people, except me, will go to Hell for their sexuality.
Just because you do not direct those views at me does not mean they do not hurt me. If you still hold them for others like me then they hurt me. And I pity you. I truly do for:
Sunday Shuffle
Every Sunday I will post the first 6 songs my iPod throws up on Shuffle mode.
I'm No Angel - Dido
4 Minutes - Madonna
Dreaming - Blondie
Redlight - Kelly Osbourne
Rain or Shine - Five Star
Chasing Cars - Booty Callers
I'm No Angel - Dido
4 Minutes - Madonna
Dreaming - Blondie
Redlight - Kelly Osbourne
Rain or Shine - Five Star
The Oxymoron Of Being Wild
Up in the sky there passes a bird
Its flight is swift not a sound is heard
It surveys the ground looking for its prey
All this it does every single day
A life of repetition is the life of the wild
Why then is that word applied to a child
It is said to be wild no order must exist
No straight line, your path is a twist
Run around free and deny all obligation
Chasing your whims for each mild sensation
Yet if you were wild your life would depend
On your ability to survive and for yourself to fend
To be wild is to have all cares for yourself
Leaving no tasks to thy proverbial elf
No one else does anything for you
To be wild is to be burdened this much is true
Its flight is swift not a sound is heard
It surveys the ground looking for its prey
All this it does every single day
A life of repetition is the life of the wild
Why then is that word applied to a child
It is said to be wild no order must exist
No straight line, your path is a twist
Run around free and deny all obligation
Chasing your whims for each mild sensation
Yet if you were wild your life would depend
On your ability to survive and for yourself to fend
To be wild is to have all cares for yourself
Leaving no tasks to thy proverbial elf
No one else does anything for you
To be wild is to be burdened this much is true
Questions
Time was, a question began with one of the key words - who, what, where, when or why, for example among others - and ended in a question mark '?'. However as the internet grows so too does our use of it and inescapably so too does our use of search engines. I question how much influence this has upon our use of language and in particular our use of search engines.
Time was, a question was well formatted and presented in a grammatically correct syntax. Now though our mentality over time is changing to use new terms and theories that dictate how we formulate questions. We are slowly making a question synonymous with a query - I do not mean a query in the literal sense, as that is the same thing more or less, I mean a query as in the computer term.
A query in computing terms is a direction intended to pull data from a database. A simple query takes the form of an action followed by the key data followed by the target followed by an optional condition. For example- SELECT title, year, director FROM some_source WHERE director = 'Steven Spielberg'; - this query for example listing all movies where Steven Spielberg has a directing credit.
Now in your mind, which are you more likely to in and ask Google:
Or
List of movies directed by Steven Spielberg
That's just a basic example of how we are changing the way we phrase questions. We may still think of the question first then process it into the query form but will this always be the case or are we experiencing the process of transition from our natural language roots of forming questions to a more computer logic based approach.
It is worthy of note here that many modern search engines have vastly improved upon their natural language processing, Google is an example. However in most cases including Google, these search engines ignore many common words and over time as you realise this you change whether or not you include them at all. Our use of search engines is a continual learning process. We learn how effective our approach is at finding the information we want. That learning process furthers our experience and subsequently influences our future behaviour.
While improved natural language processing may grow to become our salvation, at present it is not enough to be utilised by the main search providers. More and more online when we use sites we choose not to browse but go straight to the search feature to find what we want. We have grown into the mentality of asking for what we want and expecting to get it. We are also learning that like many language barriers between people, we have to communicate with search engines etc in a simplistic way.
As we learn that certain words are ignored, and we learn that it is more about telling a search engine what we want rather than asking it, we move away from traditional questions and into statements, formatted as a query.
Or
Dracula 1992 director
Time was, a question was well formatted and presented in a grammatically correct syntax. Now though our mentality over time is changing to use new terms and theories that dictate how we formulate questions. We are slowly making a question synonymous with a query - I do not mean a query in the literal sense, as that is the same thing more or less, I mean a query as in the computer term.
A query in computing terms is a direction intended to pull data from a database. A simple query takes the form of an action followed by the key data followed by the target followed by an optional condition. For example- SELECT title, year, director FROM some_source WHERE director = 'Steven Spielberg'; - this query for example listing all movies where Steven Spielberg has a directing credit.
Now in your mind, which are you more likely to in and ask Google:
Which movies has Steven Spielberg directed?
Or
List of movies directed by Steven Spielberg
That's just a basic example of how we are changing the way we phrase questions. We may still think of the question first then process it into the query form but will this always be the case or are we experiencing the process of transition from our natural language roots of forming questions to a more computer logic based approach.
It is worthy of note here that many modern search engines have vastly improved upon their natural language processing, Google is an example. However in most cases including Google, these search engines ignore many common words and over time as you realise this you change whether or not you include them at all. Our use of search engines is a continual learning process. We learn how effective our approach is at finding the information we want. That learning process furthers our experience and subsequently influences our future behaviour.
While improved natural language processing may grow to become our salvation, at present it is not enough to be utilised by the main search providers. More and more online when we use sites we choose not to browse but go straight to the search feature to find what we want. We have grown into the mentality of asking for what we want and expecting to get it. We are also learning that like many language barriers between people, we have to communicate with search engines etc in a simplistic way.
As we learn that certain words are ignored, and we learn that it is more about telling a search engine what we want rather than asking it, we move away from traditional questions and into statements, formatted as a query.
Who directed the 1992 film adaptation of Dracula?
Or
Dracula 1992 director
I have not only my experience in learning that this is becoming a growing issue but also I have feedback from Google and other sources for this blog alone that displays some of the terms you the reader have searched for when you clicked the link to this blog that Google presented. Even though there may be words within that query that Google ignores it still provides it for reference purposes. The number of queries that are simply a list of keywords vaguely alluding to what you were looking for [from a human perspective] versus the number of queries that form grammatically correct, natural languages questions is heavily biased on the part of the keyword preference.
Desire
You can plan your life, right down to the very last detail and you can try to follow that plan with as much faith as you can bring yourself to exhibit. All this you can do, but life always throws us a curve ball, something we can't predict or something which we never thought would happen to us - others yes, but never to us. Equally you can be in complete disarray, have no plan, no idea where you want to go, if you even want to go anywhere. What we want can often be one of the hardest questions we can ask.
I have said before and devoted an entire post to the question of "How are you?" and the complexity of the answer, but equally when confronted with the question "What do you want?" but more often than not, the answer can simply be "I don't know" - at least for me it is. Just as the question of how we feel can be answered with the idea of queues of priorities, the question of what we want can be answered again with similar queues and priorities. There will be immediacies, things we want right now, and there will be delays, things we want over time. However unlike the emotive queues posed in the previous post I am not sure these wants can be organised into priorities in the same way. I often find that my judgement is clouded that I put things I want in the moment before things I want in the long term, but then is that really how your wants should be prioritised, it can be true to say that things we want right now may be things that need to be taken care of, but then that beggars the question, is it really a want, or is it a need? - the distinction between want and need is a topic of debate in itself. For now suffice is to say that for me, wants are desires and needs are necessity, and therefore wants are not a priority, all wants would be of equal weight.
If all wants are of equal weight then when confronted with a choice of the immediate or of a long term want the natural choice is to opt to satisfy the immediate. There are a number of issues with that. Things you want for the long term are often things that would make you happy, for longer, whereas things you want in the moment are often things that will make you happy for a short time but ultimately leave you back where you started, wanting the long term desires with no immediate until another comes along.
All this it seems would be easily solved by ignoring all those immediate wants and focus on the future alone and the long term desires. I take issue with that however as I see this as dangerous. As Albus Dumbledore said to Harry "It does not do to dwell on dreams Harry, and forget to live" - I see focusing only on the future and long term desires, never satisfying the wants for things in the moment as being an abandonment of life. To dwell on the future and things we want in the long term - to dream - is to forget the moment.
How then do you strike a balance between the two?
I have said before and devoted an entire post to the question of "How are you?" and the complexity of the answer, but equally when confronted with the question "What do you want?" but more often than not, the answer can simply be "I don't know" - at least for me it is. Just as the question of how we feel can be answered with the idea of queues of priorities, the question of what we want can be answered again with similar queues and priorities. There will be immediacies, things we want right now, and there will be delays, things we want over time. However unlike the emotive queues posed in the previous post I am not sure these wants can be organised into priorities in the same way. I often find that my judgement is clouded that I put things I want in the moment before things I want in the long term, but then is that really how your wants should be prioritised, it can be true to say that things we want right now may be things that need to be taken care of, but then that beggars the question, is it really a want, or is it a need? - the distinction between want and need is a topic of debate in itself. For now suffice is to say that for me, wants are desires and needs are necessity, and therefore wants are not a priority, all wants would be of equal weight.
If all wants are of equal weight then when confronted with a choice of the immediate or of a long term want the natural choice is to opt to satisfy the immediate. There are a number of issues with that. Things you want for the long term are often things that would make you happy, for longer, whereas things you want in the moment are often things that will make you happy for a short time but ultimately leave you back where you started, wanting the long term desires with no immediate until another comes along.
All this it seems would be easily solved by ignoring all those immediate wants and focus on the future alone and the long term desires. I take issue with that however as I see this as dangerous. As Albus Dumbledore said to Harry "It does not do to dwell on dreams Harry, and forget to live" - I see focusing only on the future and long term desires, never satisfying the wants for things in the moment as being an abandonment of life. To dwell on the future and things we want in the long term - to dream - is to forget the moment.
How then do you strike a balance between the two?
Chrono Trigger
A few years ago, I and a good friend of mine were bonding over old games consoles and all the games we had played when we were younger. We spoke of the SNES one of my favourite consoles and his, and we shared our views on games we had both played. He introduced me to two games that had passed me by when I was younger, one was Chrono Trigger. I remember seeing this in a catalogue when I was younger but had no idea what it was about and misjudges the title to assume it was some sort of shooter game and as such wouldn't be in my interest.
Since the original SNES release, Chrono Trigger has also been released to Nintendo DS and is available on Amazon, to find out more click here.
Warning: This post contains spoilers, if you have not played the game and wish to do so, do not read on.
When I first played Chrono Trigger I immediately fell in love with it for the style of graphics, the in depth story and the progression of the plot. Above all else one of the great appeals of the game was its length. Not by any stretch of the imagination could you call it a short game. It took me a few weeks to finish it when I first played through it and even then I did not play through every adventure and side-quest the game offered.
The reason this game has been posted in this Tragedy Challenge is because of one of the pivotal plot points in the game. As long and in-depth as the game is, you form an attachment to the characters. The title character is called Chrono and throughout the game you follow him. His party expands to include other characters which you can switch at times. Chrono is the only member that is always present in the party however. So for the greatest part of the game you do form an attachment to him and a fondness for him, I would imagine even more so if you were a kid playing this game. Some time into the game, passed the midway point there is a key battle in the game. A battle which you cannot win, you have to lose no matter how hard you try you have to lose because it is part of the storyline that you do. When you lose the battle there is a cut-scene in which Chrono, our beloved hero of the game, dies.
The game continues for some time, you can finish the game having lost Chrono, for some time this appears to be what must happen. If you were to do so this would surely leave you rather grievous and melancholy. However there is a way in the game to 'resurrect' Chrono, although not technically a resurrection. Time travel focuses heavily in the game and through completion of a side-quest you can obtain a lifelike replica of Chrono, a cut-scene then shows the scene of the battle you lost temporarily frozen in which the real Chrono is swapped for the life-like doll thus saving the Hero's life so that he can rejoin the party and complete the main story with them.
Chrono Trigger was developed by Square, now Square Enix who also developed the Final Fantasy series of games, and if you are a fan of those games you will no doubt see a parallel drawn between this storyline and that of one of the FF games. All I would say is that Chrono Trigger in a way forms a precursor to that event, showing that Square had a predisposition towards creating games that would pull heavily on the heart strings of their players.
Since the original SNES release, Chrono Trigger has also been released to Nintendo DS and is available on Amazon, to find out more click here.
Warning: This post contains spoilers, if you have not played the game and wish to do so, do not read on.
When I first played Chrono Trigger I immediately fell in love with it for the style of graphics, the in depth story and the progression of the plot. Above all else one of the great appeals of the game was its length. Not by any stretch of the imagination could you call it a short game. It took me a few weeks to finish it when I first played through it and even then I did not play through every adventure and side-quest the game offered.
The reason this game has been posted in this Tragedy Challenge is because of one of the pivotal plot points in the game. As long and in-depth as the game is, you form an attachment to the characters. The title character is called Chrono and throughout the game you follow him. His party expands to include other characters which you can switch at times. Chrono is the only member that is always present in the party however. So for the greatest part of the game you do form an attachment to him and a fondness for him, I would imagine even more so if you were a kid playing this game. Some time into the game, passed the midway point there is a key battle in the game. A battle which you cannot win, you have to lose no matter how hard you try you have to lose because it is part of the storyline that you do. When you lose the battle there is a cut-scene in which Chrono, our beloved hero of the game, dies.
The game continues for some time, you can finish the game having lost Chrono, for some time this appears to be what must happen. If you were to do so this would surely leave you rather grievous and melancholy. However there is a way in the game to 'resurrect' Chrono, although not technically a resurrection. Time travel focuses heavily in the game and through completion of a side-quest you can obtain a lifelike replica of Chrono, a cut-scene then shows the scene of the battle you lost temporarily frozen in which the real Chrono is swapped for the life-like doll thus saving the Hero's life so that he can rejoin the party and complete the main story with them.
Chrono Trigger was developed by Square, now Square Enix who also developed the Final Fantasy series of games, and if you are a fan of those games you will no doubt see a parallel drawn between this storyline and that of one of the FF games. All I would say is that Chrono Trigger in a way forms a precursor to that event, showing that Square had a predisposition towards creating games that would pull heavily on the heart strings of their players.
Sunday Shuffle
Every Sunday I will post the first 6 songs my iPod throws up on Shuffle mode.
Cloud Number 9 - Bryan Adams
Waiter! - Shania Twain
Ain't Nobody Else Like You - Cass Elliot
Touchdown Turnaround - HelloGoodbye
Sale el sol - Shakira
Transcend - Cascade
Cloud Number 9 - Bryan Adams
Waiter! - Shania Twain
Ain't Nobody Else Like You - Cass Elliot
Touchdown Turnaround - HelloGoodbye
Sale el sol - Shakira
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