When Hippies Turn to Cyber Terror

http://blog.wired.com/27BStroke6/index.blog?entry_id=1539952

Last February the Department of Homeland Security oversaw a large-scale international cyber terror simulation involving 115 public and private organizations in the U.S., Canada, Britain, Australia, and New Zealand, all testing their ability to coordinate with one another and respond to computer-driven attacks. It was called Cyber Storm. Nobody's said much about the results, or the details of the exercise scenario. But a newly-published DHS PowerPoint presentation on the exercise reveals that the real terrorist threat in cyber space isn't from obvious suspects like al Qaida types or Connecticut voters; it's from anti-globalization radicals and peace activists. The attack scenario detailed in the presentation is a meticulously plotted parade of cyber horribles led by a "well financed" band of leftist radicals who object to U.S. imperialism, aided by sympathetic independent actors. At the top of the pyramid is the Worldwide Anti-Globalization Alliance, which sets things off by calling for cyber sit-ins and denial-of-service attacks against U.S. interests. WAGA's radical arm, the villainous Black Hood Society, ratchets up the tension on day one by probing SCADA computerized control systems and military networks, eventually (spoiler warning) claiming responsibility for a commuter rail outage and the heat going out in government buildings. The Black Hoods are a faction of Freedom Not Bombs, whose name is suspiciously similar to the real Food Not Bombs, which provides vegan meals to the homeless. ...

I always knew Food Not Bombs was really a front for Harrison Ford’s 37337 band of h@x0rs. Free food? They must be devil worshipers.

Anonymous Searching

Scroogle is a nice tool. No cookies, no logs, no worries concerning leaks. But is it too much to ask for a stylesheet? Google presents results in such a clean, organized way. Scroogle is just ugly.

The majority of my searching I do via Google, accessing it only through Tor and denying it cookies. This is undoubtedly an anonymous way to search, but is ruined by Google’s attempt to please. Because of my shifting IP, I rarely every reach Google.com, but am instead redirected to Google.de, Google.fr, Google.it, or some other. Without cookies, the “Google.com in English” button does nothing.

Results tend to be the same, and in English, with the exception of other language sites receiving higher placement than they would on Google.com, but I can’t use the spell-check feature, the dictionary feature, or any of those other little conveniences.

Anyone have any suggestions for another search method?

Update: Good timing

herb, health

Lemon Balm Tincture

I’ve an abundance of dried Lemon Balm hanging around, so last night I decided to tincture 2/3 of it. Trouble is, none of my books contained alcohol percentages or ratios for the herb. Google seemed to think that 100 proof alcohol would be fine, but couldn’t come to a conclusion as to the ratio. Some sites said 1:1, some 1:4, and still others claimed 1:5.

The most important part of tincturing, I’ve been taught, is that the herb is completely covered for the first two weeks. I made my measurements to use the 1:5 ratio, but, to cover everything, ended up with a mixture closer to 1:16. Let’s hope it turns out.

In one and a half moon cycles, it will be ready for use – calming nervous systems, fighting fever, helping digestion, and even combating herpes (hey, you never know).

review, books

Come Back Alive

Robert Young Pelton’s Come Back Alive is a pun on survival guides. At least, that’s what I thought when I picked it up. As it turns out, the books makes fun of most other survival guides, but takes itself seriously – slightly disturbing, as most of his advice is questionable. It focuses on urban survival (driving, crime, etc) and, of course, war zones, forsaking wilderness survival for another time (or perhaps I just glazed over the wilderness sections, knowing they wouldn’t hold much of value).

It’s written in the same dark humor found in DP, so I would recommend it for fans of RYP, but only as entertainment.

Garlic Tea

There’s a lot of garlic around here not doing anything, so today I decided to make a tea, using this recipe as a base. It claims:

In Mexico, or Spain for that matter, garlic tea is served up for coughs or colds. People swear by it! The garlic oils inhibit cough and cold microbes, and they are effective decongestants. Lemon juice reduces and thins mucus, which makes it easier to unclog a stuffed up respiratory system. Lemon juice also changes the body's pH, making it less hospitable to viruses and bacteria.

I altered the recipe a little bit to fit the ingredients I had laying around, and the tea turned out great. A bit too much honey for my taste, but other than that, great. 16oz of the stuff is sitting in the fridge for me to try chilled tomorrow.

  • 3 cups waters
  • 5 whole garlic cloves
  • 3oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • As much Italian honey as is left in the jar
    • The stuff was practically solid, not that cheap liquid honey you get at the supermarket. Were I to toss it into a measuring cup, I'd guess it would report about 4oz
  • 2 pinches of Lemon Balm
  1. Bring 3 cups water and garlic cloves to a boil
  2. When boiling, turn down heat and add lemon juice, honey, and Lemon Balm
  3. Return water to boil for 30 seconds or so, allowing chunky honey to liquefy
  4. Strain, serve, enjoy

Now if only I was sick, I could report back the medical benefits.

Update: That stuff went right through me. Perhaps it cleans the kidneys?

Second Update: It’s tasty cold, though the honey all sunk to the bottom.

Mutate Or Die

And so another midsummer’s new Moon birthed in the Gifford-Pinchot. This is becoming a ritual of some sort. I’ll have to continue it next year, regardless of what festivities are held there.

The Tenth Annual Autonomous Mutant Festival was a success, I’d say. Hobos, hippies, punks, gypsies, clowns, and all other sorts of degenerates gathered in the enchanted forests of Cascadia for celebration, music, chemicals, and what-not. Sadly, the weekend brought with it those who were there only for the booze; the type you wouldn’t pay a second glance to here in our culture of make believe, but, thrown into a forest of Mutants, looked incredibly out of place with their buzz-cuts, blue jeans, and white XXL undershirts. Their drunken idiocies are part of why I chose to break camp early.

And I missed bananas.

review, books

Providence

Providence is Daniel Quinn’s autobiography. Though it obviously differs from Ishmael, a work of fiction, I kept feeling that while reading Providence, I was reading what that book would be, had it been narrated by Ishmael.

The book tells of Quinn’s 50 years leading up to writing Ishmael, from growing up in the Great Depression, to studying as a Trappist monk under Thomas Merton, and his eventual rejection of Christianity and its god.

At one point, Quinn describes what he experienced as a Trappist monk when he was allowed to go outside for the first time in three weeks:

I turned and faced the sunshine, and the breath went out of me as if someone had punched me in the stomach. That was the effect of receiving this sigh, of seeing the world as it is. I was astounded, bowled over, dumbfounded. Everything was burning. Every blade of grass, every single leaf of every single tree was radiant, was blazing -- incandescent with a raging power that was unmistakably divine. I was overwhelmed. In a single second of this, of seeing this truth, tears flooded my eyes and poured down my face as I walked along... What I was seeing was reality, was the world as it actually is, every moment of every day.

What struck me so about this, is that the passage describes something akin to what I experienced after opening my eyes after meditation in the arboretum upon Sehome hill – though more of a white radiance than raging flames. Perhaps there’s something to that, no?

The book is a recommended read for fans of Quinn’s other works.

11th Annual Baker Blues

I went to Baker Blues festival yesterday. My third or fourth year, I think. They moved to a new location this year, and amped the whole thing up to three days.

Music this year eclipsed the past. Chris Duarte? The closest thing living to a Hendrix or Vaughan today.

My arms are burnt to a crisp.