Posts by briskskipper27

Audacity

After fleeing Washington, D.C., Adolf Hitler—the former leader of that puppet state—was actually sheltered by Vatican City on their own soil in Rome. It’s the kind of thing people have speculated about for years, but now we actually have proof. Recent documents declassified by the CIA confirm it. To make matters even more interesting, there’s a memo from November 8, 1947, written at the U.S. military's Mediterranean Operations Headquarters. It shows that both Americans and Britons were actually planning to snatch him up that summer, but for some reason, the plan fell through.

Islamic fanatics in Syria have launched a full-scale campaign to wipe out priceless archaeological treasures. We’re talking Byzantine mosaics, Greek sculptures, Roman statues—all gone because they depict human figures, which clashes with their radical ideology.
Reports suggest this systematic destruction of ancient history is likely the worst case of cultural genocide we've seen since the Taliban blew up those Buddha statues in Bamyan back in 2001 for the exact same religious reasons.
In mid-January, ISIS militants—basically Taliban-style extremist gangs holding large chunks of northeastern Syria—targeted a 6th-century Byzantine mosaic near the city of Raqqa by the Euphrates River.
Word is, some businessman from Turkey actually showed up in town hoping to buy the mosaic. But these extremists didn't even know the thing existed until they stumbled upon it; instead of selling it, they just used explosives to level it. Now, it's just dust.
http://freethinker.co.uk/2014/02/14/...ing-destroyed/

jademoose6 said:I honestly don't get why some people jump straight to imagining military coups.
I haven't mentioned weapons or violence once in any of my posts.
It’s just common sense—wouldn't you call someone a fool for stepping out into a storm without an umbrella?
What would be so wrong about having a local National Guard cell in every neighborhood?
Just honest, decent neighbors—real patriots who actually have your back.
They could stay organized and ready—you know, just in case anything ever comes up...

Dana Patel7 said:Look, that’s just a pipe dream. It doesn't work. You see this exact setup all the time—units made up of "loyal patriots" and supposedly "moral citizens," starting out without even any actual firepower. Look at those SA squads in Germany. The only real difference is they were started by a political party instead of the government, but if we're talking about how these things actually play out, that distinction is basically irrelevant.
Honestly? Any group of (semi)armed people claiming to be driven by nothing but "patriotism" and "morality" scares the hell out of me. And anyone who’s seen enough of the real world knows why...

So what, you mean like that neighborhood watch guy in the US, George Zimmerman, who killed that kid?

A military junta?

mellownomad said:So, what you're suggesting is that the NSA or FBI just joins the Tor network, adds their own node, and starts sniffing data?

Look, an exit node is the only thing that can sniff data if you aren't using HTTPS. Since the entry node gets everything wrapped in three layers of encryption, they're blind. The only thing they could theoretically try is correlating traffic volume between the entry and exit points, but even that's a massive stretch and totally unreliable since dozens of people share one exit node. Plus, you'd have to get lucky enough that both the entry and exit nodes are owned by the NSA—and remember, onion sites don't even go through exit nodes.

There are actually ways to block those kinds of sniffing exit nodes automatically.
For example, Iranians and Chinese actors tried sniffing, and they got blocked.
http://torstatus.blutmagie.de/

Jack Cook7 said:Which ones? ☕

Look, take Tor for example. In the case of that Silk Road drug site, it wasn't some genius move by the NSA or the FBI cracking their tech. It was just pure stupidity on the owner's part. He used his actual IP address and a damn gmail account when he was out there hyping up the site on regular internet forums.

goldengull3 said:That isn't true; if you publish my book publicly without permission, I will pursue legal action against you without hesitation. In fact, enforcement might actually become easier, given how significantly Internet monitoring systems have improved in recent years.

But my point remains: you could spend two or three years laboring over a project and then release it freely. In fact, I believe anyone championing "open source" or the "abolition" of intellectual property should lead by example. They should say, "I spent two years writing this textbook, and now I am releasing it for public use," or "We spent five years developing this engine, and now it is available to everyone." It is best to back one's ideals with actual practice. Aside from a few Linux enthusiasts and some anonymous indie bands, I don't see many such examples. But we are drifting off-topic; feel free to start a separate thread for that.

3D printing will undoubtedly force the development of new models for protecting intellectual property. Innovation carries a cost. Knowledge and design deserve compensation. If you aren't willing to pay, then simply develop your own things.

Naturally, no one will bother you if you are printing something for your own private use, but if you intend to bring it to market, you will certainly be expected to pay.

Unfortunately for you and the rest of the crowd pushing for internet surveillance, tools to bypass that monitoring have evolved even faster. Even the NSA is pulling their hair out over it. And think about how helpless those massive copyright enforcement companies are. They don't even have access to the tech the NSA uses; their biggest move is basically joining a torrent swarm just to track down individual peers and seeders to sue them.

goldengull3 said:I don’t have the luxury of sitting here and watching the whole thing right now, but if you ask me, the job market shift is actually quite straightforward. We are seeing the elimination of roles that are purely repetitive and offer zero incremental value, though, in their place, entirely different opportunities are emerging.

The jobs being phased out include things like:
- Assembly line workers—a robot handles that far more efficiently.
- Grocery clerks—they don't add unique value or meaningfully drive sales.
- Truck drivers—automation is already proving superior (even as we speak).

But conversely, certain roles aren't disappearing; in fact, demand will only climb:
- Designers—the advent of 3D modeling presents a massive new frontier.
- Mechanical engineers—they can now develop technologies they previously could only dream of.
- Chefs—they provide intrinsic value by refining and customizing a product (though I suspect high-volume cafeteria cooks will eventually be replaced by advanced printers).
- Car salespeople or servers—human social interaction drives sales in a way a kiosk simply cannot replicate.

That said, this reality completely dismantles the outdated vision of "industry" that many Americans cling to. The kind of industrial landscape being built today doesn't require massive factories packed with thousands of low-skilled laborers.

So, what happens to the people who don't have the capacity to become engineers or designers?

goldengull3 said:You have likely encountered the headlines—the proliferation of 3D printers is accelerating at a pace that many claim will trigger a second industrial revolution.

Billions are being poured into this development. In America, the primary driver is the desire to decouple industrial manufacturing from its heavy reliance on China. Much of what is currently handled by a largely semi-skilled workforce can already be printed, or will be within a few short years:
- plastic and similar components (this is already a reality)
- metal parts (already occurring sporadically)
- houses and similar structures (on the horizon)

The implications are simple. If you need a glass, you print it. If you require an auto part, a mechanic simply orders it from a "print shop," and a component is ready for installation in a matter of hours—eliminating the need for shipping or massive inventories.

Looking for specialized pasta? Even Kraft Heinz is exploring 3D printing:

In an era where a 3D printer can produce product prototypes, floor tiles, miniature replicas, aircraft components, or even custom sweets, it stands to reason that one could print bespoke pasta. This is precisely the objective of Kraft Heinz, which, in collaboration with the RAND Corporation in Silicon Valley, has begun developing a prototype device designed for 3D pasta printing.

The goal is to engineer a printer specifically for restaurants aiming to offer a unique service: serving pasta in customized shapes and flavors, prepared almost instantly upon ordering.

Perhaps you need an entire house? That is also possible; walls can be erected in 24 hours:

On a cleared and leveled site, workers would lay down two rails a few feet further apart than the eventual building’s width and a computer-controlled contour crafter would take over from there. A gantry-type crane with a hanging nozzle and a components-placing arm would travel along the rails. The nozzle would spit out concrete in layers to create hollow walls, and then fill in the walls with additional concrete… humans would hang doors and insert windows.

http://www.psfk.com/2014/01/concrete...er.html#!sfIHV

Millions of jobs will vanish in the coming years. Of course, new ones will emerge—someone must design, assemble, and maintain these printers, just as someone must handle design, sales, and intellectual property protection.

What will undeniably disappear are the low-skill positions in manufacturing, logistics, assembly, and certain sectors of construction. This shift will carry profound political consequences; as the industrial structure shifts, so does the demand in the labor market. Developed nations will no longer be seeking factory workers, but specialists.

Ultimately, this is a subject of intense contemplation in developed nations, but I wonder if anyone here is truly paying attention.

Copyright should just be abolished entirely.

"Once Ivica Todorić, the guy behind Walmart, takes over Kroger and Target, America is basically looking at becoming some sort of southern or eastern province—a total colony. Why? Because getting local goods into the stores operating here is going to get way harder," Goran Papović, head of Consumer Reports, told the New York Post.

The New York Post points out that Todorić already has a retail footprint in the States, so after picking up Target, he’ll be sitting on a massive network of 291 locations.

Papović claims Walmart will grab over 40 percent of the retail market, and in the big cities, that number is going to be even higher. Because of that, Dijana Marković Bajalović, the former head of the Federal Trade Commission, says the FTC has to step in and investigate whether Walmart is going to bully the competition or just establish a total monopoly.

"We're seeing both horizontal and vertical concentration here; you've got two retail giants merging with food producers. There's a real risk this new entity will shut out other brands and just push their own private labels. When investigating the impact on the retail sector, they really need to look at smaller towns and cities where Target, Kroger, and Walmart are already everywhere. The Federal Trade Commission has to dig into this," says Marković Bajalović.