Mark E. Smith

Website: fubarandgrill.org

Recent Actions
Comment Threads

Recent Actions

Commented on A Bad Dream
"Eh. I doubt people are so schizophrenic that they’ll take up arms against the people they keep voting into power." Exactly. "For my own part, I have always reproached the políticos for standing in the elections because that was tantamount...
Commented on A Bad Dream
"...hammered Al Qaida so hard that they're dysfunctional..." Much of the Syrian opposition to Assad in Syria is Al Qaeda, they often fly the Al Qaeda flag, many are Al Qaeda from Afghanistan, and Obama has been supporting them and...
Commented on A Bad Dream
The US Democratic and Republican parties have what are called "super delegates" who can overrule the will of the majority of ordinary delegates in selecting presidential candidates. Merely having the support of a majority of voters, and therefore of a...
Commented on A Bad Dream
@#130: Mitch, by "coup" would you be referring to something like the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln or of John F. Kennedy? Both were elected, but they were removed from office not by the ballot but by the bullet. A republican...
Commented on A Bad Dream
Mitch, it isn't just national security and privacy issues that Obama is sacrificing. He is also sacrificing the lives of innocent men, women, and children (collateral damage) in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and Syria. It really is similar to...
Commented on A Bad Dream
My apologies, Charlie. I'm an anarchist and if certain statists like Libertarians happen to oppose voting, that's not because I espouse Libertarian views. I'm an election boycott activist but not for the same reasons as those who belong to any...
Commented on A Bad Dream
Perhaps liberals would have been perfectly happy without a war in Iraq, but they were also perfectly happy with Obama expanding the wars and using drone bombs in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the assassination of Gaddafi and the bombing of...
Commented on A Bad Dream
Sorry, typo--that should be (WHINSEC)...
Commented on A Bad Dream
The characteristic of many dictatorships is that they were installed by US military force or with US support, that they sent their military and police officers to the School of the Americans (WHUBSEC)for training where many were put on the...
Commented on A Bad Dream
The very first essay in my little book Consent to Tyranny: Voting in the USA is entitled "The Fable of Lanova Messiah." I wrote it some years back about the perils of electing good politicians to a bad system: http://fubarandgrill.org/node/1431...

Recent Actions from Mark E. Smith

Comment Threads

Brett Dunbar commented on A Bad Dream
They haven't assumed that only one email address is linked to a specific physical address. They have made the assumption that many email addresses can be linked to a specific physical address, which is often true. In many cases an email address is linked directly to a broadband ISP account linked to a specific physical location. So if a user uses their ISP provided email address you know where they live. Patterns of usage can be very useful. If you identify one person involved in organised crime or terrorism you can then use the records to identify their acquaintances in...
paws4thot commented on A Bad Dream
In another case, police went to the wrong house looking for a child who had threatened to harm itself, after obtaining incorrect information about the internet address being used. That's a direct assumption that the child in question must have sent the specific message in question from a specific street address which need not have been the case. Everything else you say is correct (at least for values of correct referring to establishing that X regularly communicates with Y rather than establishing the locations they are at when they do so)....
Brett Dunbar commented on A Bad Dream
It was an assumption that it was likely to have been sent from that location, presumably home, which was worth pursuing under the circumstances. It wasn't effective in the event but that doesn't mean it was inappropriate as it was a highly likely location and an emergency situation. They had information that a minor was intending to hurt themselves, an emergency situation, and a probable location so they pursued it. It isn't really any different from any other emergency, you act on the information you have....
paws4thot commented on A Bad Dream
I'm way too used to people sending and receiving e-mails and web posts on smartphones to make that assumption any more. And since the subject of age has been raised in this general context of social media, I'm 51 on Monday....
Brett Dunbar commented on A Bad Dream
That's a mistake, it holds enough to a worthwhile assumption. Especially in an emergency like this. Sometimes ending up at the wrong address is fairly normal for any emergency service. Email addresses often are associated with a specific physical address. While the email account is accessible remotely home is still the most likely single location. If you are accessing the internet through your broadband account (ADSL, Cable, FTTC &c.) you have to be at a specific location....

Responses to Comments from Mark E. Smith

Common Misconceptions About Publishing—a series of essays about the industry I work in.
How I Got Here In The End —my non-writing autobiography, or what I did before becoming a full-time writer.
Unwirer—an experiment in weblog mediated collaborative fiction.
Shaping the Future—a talk I gave on the social implications of Moore's Law.
Japan: first impressions — or, what I did on my holidays
Inside the MIT Media Lab—what it’s like to spend a day wandering around the Media Lab.
The High Frontier, Redux — space colonization: feasible or futile?
“Nothing like this will be built again”—inside a nuclear reactor complex.
Old blog—2003-2006 (RIP)

Mark E. Smith

Recent Actions

Comment Threads

Following

Buy my Books

Quick Stuff

Specials

Merchandise

About This Page

Propaganda

Categories

Monthly Archives