Big Brother vs the First Amendment | Establishing Secure Communications - Part 3/4

» This page is PART THREE, continued from » Part Two. It was split into FOUR pages in order to adhere to principles of web site optimization. Here you go...

» Young Ed Snowden: Courageous NSA Truth Teller (Verax)

You shouldnt be surprised to learn that I feel a sense of kinship with Ed Snowden. Yes, there are the obvious reasons ..

The Whistle of Truth.. such as a distaste for the government snooping up my butt and peeking over my shoulder.

.. but my sense of brotherhood goes beyond the obvious.

First, I like that he is (only) 29. Aaron, who was martyred for the cause earlier this year, was 26. So was Bouazizi.

Jesus was only 33 when the government nailed him to a tree. Young, no? (Young and strong. Lots of hiking .. and deep knee bends.)

[ Bouazizi is the young man who torched himself in the streets of Tunisia ..

.. over frustration encountered there, dealing with a corrupt government bureaucracy.

That was (quite literally) the spark that ignited the Arab Spring Revolutions ..

.. fires which continue to burn in the Middle East today, and which continue to spread to other nations.

Here is a pattern that you will, I'm sure, see more of » poor young boys getting fucked by rich old men produces social unrest.

Speaking of social unrest .. if Bush sent us into Iraq .. in order to bring 'democracy' to the people of Iraq (.. one of his many-splendored reasons) ..

.. then why wouldnt we want to help the people in neighboring Syria .. to help them liberate themselves .. from an oppressive regime ..

.. lead by a dictator who uses chemical weapons on his own people? (another one of the infinitely varied reasons that we used to invade Iraq and depose Saddam)

Or maybe we didnt go into Iraq to bring anything to anybody.

What's that smell? (Sniff, sniff.) Smells like .. the dung of hypocrisy. Must be a farm nearby.

Dr. J Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) | Father of the Atomic BombUpdate .. I have looked into the Syrian conflict a bit more and it seems very tricky.

Proceed with caution. Both Russia and China are standing up for the dictator ..

.. tho he seems far too soft-spoken to be a dictator. So I suspect others are running the show in Syria.

Dude, I looked up the Biblical term » Armageddon, and Google maps shows it being a mere 25- or 30-mile bike-ride away to Syria. For what it's worth.

But there has definitely been 'convergence' there. Rather global convergence. Coincidence?

In the context of Snowden, anyway, China and Russia appear to be on the SAME SIDE. No? I mean, regarding both Snowden and Syria.

Dear Goverments of the World (the 'nations'), we do not want to live in a post-apocalyptic world .. like the kind in that movie » Book of Eli with Denzel.

That would suk. Really suk.

The greatest mathematician of all time ran the numbers and said that we're good to an absolute maximum of 2060. In other words, 47 years.

He ran those numbers more than three centuries ago. </update>

Do you notice any patterns? All three men were/are in their twenties, all taking a stand in the name of their generation .. in the only way left them.

Since I have a second grader .. I am naturally concerned about the world we are leaving for our next generation.

My generation appears to be living high on the hog .. with its record level of debt (growing every minute .. of every day) and leaving the bill for our kids to pay.

» The Aloha Spirit on a Sportster in Paradise

Snowden lived in Hawaii. (He even pronounced the name of the state like a real Hawaiian.)

Diamond Head, Waikiki, HawaiiI lived in Hawaii (the Aloha State) for two years (.. tho half that time was spent underway).

So "the Aloha spirit" is something to which I can relate.

It was while I was in my twenties, also, when I was there. (I landed at Honolulu International one week after my 21st b-day.)

I had my Sportster there in Hawaii. [ The military shipped it from Hemingway's Idaho. ]

The Dog liked to ride it, too. (.. my roomie, who went on, a few years later to study at Columbia (.. Industrial Engineering).

Most impressive however, is what he got from reading the Core curriculum. The Dog can handle himself with ease in just about any discussion. With grace. Even when disagreeing, he shows how he can see your side, and makes you feel intelligent.

Some years later, the Dog earned a Masters degree from USC .. in Safety. Which cracks me up .. cuz, if you knew the Dog when *I* knew the Dog .. uh, safety is not something that readily comes to mind. Feel me? =)

[ Young Ed Snowden reminds me of the Dog, because they are both thoughtful and articulate. ]

I replaced the Sportster's stock wide-grip handle-bars with 'suicide' bars (handles closer together). Stick both your arms straight out and there are your grips. 1,000 cc's. Black.

Nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarineLots of torque. Soo much torque. Not so much speed, as » power (torque).

When I reflect back on the glory days of my youth, when I was both bulletproof and invincible ..

.. I see myself on a black Sportster, cruising Kam Hwy in Oahu, on my way past Ala Moana ..

.. having just returned from operating a nuclear reactor on a military-grade ballistic missile submarine.

Not to mention running reactor water chemistry control there. Ego's ville.

"Who's your daddy?" I say to the Polynesian girl sitting in the convertible Ferrari next to me at the light.

"You are, of course," she says as I speed off down the road.

"Correct answer," I think to myself.

I won't even mention the sunglasses or the golden Waimea tan.

On the Sportster, my rice-burner friends would invariably leave my ass in the dust ..

.. but they always wanted to take the Sportster for a spin.

"What is this I keep hearing about Harley's legendary torgue? This putt .. that I keep hearing so much about?"

And I found their rice-burners dangerously-fast. You are at freakish speeds in 2 or 3 seconds .. not unlike you find with a Porshe 911/930 turbo. I call it "the slingshot effect".

[ Update 04 Dec - Certainly understandable how the death of Paul Walker occurred. He had a Porsche Carrera GT.

Dude, Porsche does not need to add any extra letters to the names of their cars. When they start adding extra letters, it's a warning.

It's like signing a waiver that you understand this thing is loaded .. and that you release the manufacturer from all liability.

When I returned the keys to my buddy's (George's) 930 Turbo .. I said, "Nice. Very nice. Too nice."

I could see that the thing would be so easy to get away from you. It was like a missile. A freaking rocket-powered missile.

Paul Walker (1973-2013)And you know how much I like performance.

George said that the guy he bought the car from used the phrase, "It's like driving a backwards dart." .. to describe the experience.

Because the heavy engine is mounted in the rear, and the light front end feels like it comes up off the ground when the slingshot kicks in.

It genuinely feels as tho the front wheels are NOT ON THE GROUND.

I could see right away that the car was too fast for me .. just like those rice-burner motorcycles that friends let me take for a spin around the block.

Something seemed to say » "Dude, owning one of these is like asking to be a grease spot" (.. to borrow a phrase from Vincent Vega).

But the fact that Paul Walker himself was not the one driving when the GT crashed .. reminded me of » Julie Allen.

In other words, you have to give him credit for that.

Paul's car was a half-a-million dollar car. George's car was not nearly that expensive, but still rediculously fast.

George ended up putting a lot of money into that car. Maintenance & repairs.

</end_04dec_update> ]

Thought I had died and gone to heaven there. (Paradise, literally.) Watching the sun rise over Diamond Head. "Pinch me."

I have always appreciated performance technology. I mean, it is a very cool thing .. for a young man in his twenties .. to start-up a reactor plant on a nuclear submarine (military-grade) ..

.. with a crew of 10 other dudes in their early twenties, from all over the nation, operate it as necessary, and then shut it back down when the ship returns to port. Flawlessly.

The reactor plant felt like MY reactor plant .. like OUR reactor plant .. turning mass into energy .. in accordance with » E=mc2. You can FEEL the power. The humming. The vibration. The noise. The roar. Home sweet home (.. for 4 years, anyway).

Tom Hanks as Viktor Navorski in The Terminal (by Steven Spielberg)» A Thoughtful & Articulate Young Man

But mostly .. I relate to Ed Snowden because he is thoughtful. Obviously thoughtful.

And articulate enough to convey that thoughtfulness.

Intelligent. Principled. And courageous enough to confront the enormity of another government bureaucracy run amok ..

.. even tho an execution [ "He slipped on a banana peel, honest. And he apparently landed on a bullet. Three times." ] would really surprise few honest souls.

[ How many of our government officials today do you think would be willing to die for our country? Precious few.

Heck, they won't even take responsibility for their oWn fuck-ups. "Blame it on the little guy. Find a private who we can pin this on." (Because we can, and because we don't take responsibility for our own fuck-ups.)

"And we do everything we can to avoid serving in the military when our own number comes up." ]

Nietzsche was thoughtful. Dostoevsky was thoughtful. Tolstoy waas thoughtful. Einstein was thoughtful. Aaron Swartz was thoughtful.

Snowden also seems to have been a migrant-worker of sorts. I myself was a Migrant Nuclear Worker for many years. Snowden appears to have been a Migrant Intelligence Worker. (Intelligence sounds much cooler than nuclear reactors.)

••• today's entry continues here below •••

Regarding work as a contractor, who can easily be laid off (due to "Reduction-in-Force Staffing") .. long before before I had completed my degree (BSc), they were paying me top-level wages of a Senior Radiological Engineer.

I kept saying, "My brother is a freaking surgeon. I should really take the next layoff and go finish my degree."

My boss said, "I went up to the hill this morning and talked to the man about you and he says I can give you another $5 an hour if you stay. So uh, you might wanna think about it."

Porsche 911 at hairpin turn on the coast[ I wasnt trying to persuade them into giving me a raise. I already had phat cash.

For quite a while there .. there was no higher pay-rate .. and I still hadnt even finished my degree (yet).

A course-here and a course-there takes a long-ass time to finish a 4-year degree. You havent lived until you've raced to a college class .. which begins at 7PM after working a 12-hour day, 6AM to 6PM. So you've been up since 4:30 or 5.

On days that I began with a morning run, I would set the alarm for 3:30 .. and run down the MIDDLE of the road. No cars on the back-streets of San Clemente at 3:30. How sweet the night-blooming jasmine smells at that hour. ]

And like the young Mr. Snowden, I was a contractor, too .. the whole time that I worked commercial nuclear power. Never once did I work (directly) for the Utility. (Tho yes, they tried to persuade me to jump from my contracting ship.)

I liked the way that (how), while working for a Contractor (as a contractor), you need to prove your worth, your value, every day. With the Utility, mediocre or even poor performance is sometimes protected by unions and collective bargaining ..

.. whereas, on the flipside, inspired performance can be discouraged (by peer pressure). "Dude, knock off that Captain America shit. You're making us look bad."

I have never been in a union (.. other than Western Union.) 

Laura PoitrasMy motto was » "Exceed expectations." If you do a good job and dont complain, they try to keep you around (.. based on their budget). 

I was at a plant once where they down-staffed from 95 to » 4. And I was one of the 4.

"I'll work this weekend, boss, if you can't find anybody else." [ Then we went right back up to 100. ]

When you get out of the Navy and begin work in the commercial nuclear industry, you think you've died and gone to heaven.

"Dude, you just gave me a check yesterday. What is this one for?"

Another observation is Snowden's apparent lack of concern over (mere) physical appearance (.. seeing he did not shave before going on camera) ..

.. and other things that I cannot yet accurately put into words. But they will come to me and I will update this entry as they become more clear.

There is something comforting in knowing that there are other people out there who feel the same as you. Kindred spirits. I get that warm, comforting feeling every time I talk to the Dog (Dogbrother) ..

.. like a return to sanity, however temporary the respite might be (.. calls that Big Brother, no doubt, has a record of).

Ed even seems to fancy athletic girls. [ I met the Bug's mom while running the beach .. back before she was the Bug's mom, of course .. at Crystal Cove there in Laguna (3 miles, each way). ]

"Hey! Didnt I see you here last week? You certainly look fit." And she was teaching yoga long before yoga became trendy.

Vladimir Putin and President Obama at G-20 in Mexico 2012» Update | China & Russia

Update - Both China and Russia have stood up for Snowden. That must be a huge head-trip. Wow.

Speaking of head-trips .. Ellsberg [ the man who WAS the man ] says that » YOU are the man!

An extraordinary thing .. no matter how hard you try to play it down. Truly extraordinary.

I mean .. he would know, right? Ellsberg holds a PhD from Harvard, where he also did his undergrad work (.. graduating » summa duma cuma puma).

I would say .. that makes you da man. What does it feel like .. out there on the world-stage? .. front-n-center .. out there on the bleeding edge?

Sounds gnarly, I must say. Like riding the big waves. =) I am naturally wary of fame (.. as I'm sure was Dostoevsky).

Jesselyn RadackUpdate » with some promising news. Very promising. Encouraging.

That must make your heart feel good. Vindication? </update>

[ Isnt Harvard's motto » Veritas? My brother graduated from rival Yale, and my best friend, the Dog, graduated from Columbia ..

.. another Ivy League school ..

.. so I've seen the Ivy League rings, along with their school mottos. ]

It looks like Ellsberg also studied at Cambridge for a year on a Woodrow Wilson fellowship.

Oh. And here is an even BIGGER head trip » John Lewis, the last remaining speaker to share the platform with Martin Luther King during his I-have-a-dream speach ..

.. came out with words of understanding .. for Snowden.

Wow. John Lewis is a living legend. Does that not feel like you are rubbing elbows with history itself?

This article here is also enlightening.

» When the Right People Stand Up for You

I want to tell young Ed Snowden .. about the time I got promoted .. to second-line supervision ..

.. a position which includes plenty of management and administration and even some political skills .. all revolving around the technical shit.

Anyway, a (small) group of people, after a month or so, started saying rather unkind things about me (.. tho never to me, directly). So I went to one of my bosses and expressed my concern.

Harvard Ring with School Motto: VeritasAfter listening intently, he suddenly burst out laughing .. like what I had said really tickled him.

And he said, "Dude! Welcome to the club. That means you've made it! They did the exact same thing to all of us."

[ That's when I started getting invited to all the right parties .. the Saturday morning bike rides.

Jazz concerts at Humphreys-by-the-Bay. Even Thanksgiving dinner. You know. ]

It took me a while to come to grips with what he said .. but the lesson I learned was that ..

.. when the right people stand up for you .. it doesnt much matter who gripes about it.

After the promotion, I also became privy to the decision-making process. I could now see WHY they had been making some head-scratching decisions.

Some of their decisions were still 'lacking' .. but at least now I could see why. (And yes, I worked to anticipate and remedy .. where I could. Things I would term as 'administrative dysfunctions' .. often due to power struggles beyond my realm of influence.)

So I would imagine that you also are gaining insight .. into the reasons WHY things are the way they are (.. as unattractive as they might be).

What you have been able to accomplish thus far .. and HOW you've done it .. seems truly remarkable .. would you not admit?

I try to put myself in your shoes and imagine what it must be like .. and it seems downright surreal.

How about this article, that says » "The ruling was the latest development to show the seismic impact of the disclosures by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor, on the secrecy that has surrounded both the agency and the court."

A "seismic impact." I think, is a big one.

Dilawar | BT 421» Dilawar's Sirocco

My intuition tells me that you can get milage by directly confronting and engaging Cheney in debate.

Debate him on survellience, yes .. but keep walking him toward Torture. (His weak spot.)

The hot, dry winds of justice blow in strange ways. They sometimes pick up moisture along the way.

Position yourself so those winds are at your back (.. for better milage) and give them moisture.

It's difficult for a government person to defend a government program when they are known torturers of innocent people .. and then refuse to accept responsibility for their own fuck-ups ..

.. but rather try to pin them on lowly enlisted folk. The distortions will become increasingly clear.

When Jupiter aligns with Mars, you will be able to get him to cede up a Nixonian faux pas of his own. [ Notice how similar the mind set. ]

If they want to play the data-collection game .. and retain everything we do and say .. then we can play that game, too.

Cheney goes back to Nixon. Nixon is actually a big part of the reason why Cheney is who he is.

Much national good can be done by revisting some of our government's more monumental fuck-ups. (Lest Obama forget that torture is a crime.)

Ozymandias | Look on my works ye mighty and despairIf the United States engaged in torture, as everyone who has looked into the issue seems to agree ..

.. then why no formal National Mea Culpa? Valid question, no?

Why do they choose rather to persecute our brothers? For relatively piddling bullshit.

Keep Cheney talking. (Just like Frost did with Nixon.) Give him all the rope he wants. He will do the rest. He will defend the contemporary Nixonian Black Ops to the death (.. because that is his baby).

Small steps .. so as not to scare him away. There are many historical spotlights that you can train on him .. and focus as you see fit. (I would go for maximum contrast, myself.)

[ Oh. Special news bulletin. We interrupt your regularly scheduled broadcast .. to bring you this Special Report.

Devoted daughter jumps in. Nice. This will be very revealing. The money. The politics.

I would not consider myself a political junkie, reluctant at best. (Nasty shit that it is.) But this here with Liz is juicy shit. This is downright secure-line shit, dawg.

By the way, remind me to finish that story for you » CALL ME. But honesly, this here with Liz » far more juicy.

I mean » you cannot make up this shit. That is the #1 thought I came away with, thinking, after every secure-line call.

Don't think however, that I don't respect devoted children. (Double-negative, I know.) Oh contraire.

» Monolithic vs Granularity | Windows vs Linux

Remind me also, while I'm at it, to parallel and pattern-match here [ republican-wyoming interface ] .. regarding (concepts of) » monolithic vs granularity .. windows vs unix and the respective pro's and con's of each approach.

In our digital age, I think, we need to focus our attention there .. and optimize the 'mix' .. in order to take advantage of much potential .. by retweaking the mix to be less-fucking-monolithic ..

Dick Cheney and daughter Liz Cheney.. which means, by analogy, Liz would lose. Correct?

Because the way to extract the most power from digital technology ..

.. far as I can tell. And yes, I have been looking .. is » functional modularity.

More specifically » the ability, the knack, to wield .. a functional modularity. I am purposefully being vague because I am not very clear myself.

But sometimes, I have found .. that if I throw down a marker .. to revisit later, in greater detail .. it sorta becomes clear on its own.

So if it's something I want to explore, I "set a marker" (my own phrase) .. by mentioning it.

This is a completely different topic, but recurring enough to explore further.

If I were to try to put my (distant) intuitions into words .. it would be that we-the-people need to become functionally informed (politically speaking) .. or we're fucked. No?

Otherwise Big Brother will have no other option .. than to be himself.

That is why I am interested to see how Liz plays out. In other words, the Geek-in-me would prefer to see the smaller, more modular Wyoming prevail (not the right word, but you get my gist) over monolithic Washington money and power.

More popcorn, please. =)

Because .. if we leave it to Washington, we are so fucked. That is my intuition.

So ergo, the bottom-line, from my unix model would be that .. we the people need to become politically proficient. No? By wielding an array of increasingly modular skills.

In a way, my site itself employs this very concept .. by making use of the hyperlink.

This is a very intuitive feeling .. that I honestly don't 'get' myself. But I'm sure there are those who do. Very sure.

Dick and Liz Cheney (daughter)But it takes courage .. to stand up to the big, bad monolithic monster (.. can feel myself waxing abstract) ..

.. because you KNOW there will he hell to pay .. for rejecting .. the big, bad, strong, monolithe.

Because *that* is what the monolithes do. (I think I just made a new word.) Even when they look like bullies. Especially when.

And monolithic things tend also to be very much about » loyalty. Which means they are duty-bound .. to trick-fuck those who would spurn their affections .. especially their most romantic kind. 

That is why you don't want to be a Republican in Wyoming right now.

I have been to Wyoming a few times. When I was living in Idaho. Amazingly beautiful state.

I can't imagine how anyone living there wouldnt feel fortunate. Like they're living in God's country.

Community-Style Ski-Week with Lots of Fun People at » Grand Targhee in Wyoming

From the Navy's Nuclear Training site in Idaho (where I spent 9 months), you can actually SEE the outline of the backlit Tetons (100 miles away, ~14,000 feet elevation) during sunrise (.. after working all night long).

My ski-week at Grand Targhee might be the single coolest experience of my entire 6 years enlistment in the military. Remind me to tell you the story.

Lots of guys rented a chalet there .. for an extended period, as people came-n-went each week. Lots of yummy food, too (.. such as the truly magnificent turkey the girls cooked one day).

Bob Marley (1945-1981)Snowed every night (late-December). People sleeping everywhere. Roaring fireplace.

A loft here, loft there. Talking all hours of the night (.. in muted tones) ..

.. yet somehow soothing and even strangely comforting. Somebody is awake and standing watch.

Plenty of libations. Let me tell you .. or maybe I shouldnt. Lots of steam to blow off.

Lots of bottles. Dead soldiers. (I am not much of a drinker, myself. One & done.)

One girl brought along her two adorable daughters (white-blond hair), ages 3 and 5, who would cuddle up with you on the couch and in front of the huge fireplace after a long day of skiing.

Long before I became a parent, I had to admit, "This is very cool."

More than any other .. that experience made me miss being a parent .. when I wasnt. But you have to be ready .. right?

And I sometimes have trouble with the hormonal-instability (insanity) thing. I never had a sister. That's my rationale.

Well, Eva said she'd be my sister. So I should amend. But that was after I had grown up. (Tho you couldnt ask for a better sister. That was very cool of her .. to offer. I was touched.)

[ Anchor_for_Best_Vacation_Ever.

This might be a good place, perhaps, to mention .. that my #1 very-best vacation, ever .. was some years later .. in Yosemite ..

.. with Wendy, the Film School girl .. and her two kids (a girl and a boy) .. and their friends .. hiking and driving around Yosemite ..

.. listening to Bob Marley's classic » Legend. Felt like the hand of God hovered closeby. Very close.

And who is not ready to take over the world .. after a few weeks like that? .. listening to Get Up, Stand Up (at t=20:25). The kids' music, yeah.

Yosemite at sunset, Half DomeThe ultimate feel-good music. Positive Vibrations.

Ranked #46 by Rollingstone.

Only certain types of music are worthy to accompany the magnificent vistas ..

.. you find at every turn in Yosemite. Legendary music.

That is why I like the new » Legend remix [ preview. ] .. because it takes a prophetic voice from the past ..

.. and dresses it up in comtemporary clothes .. as a way of paying homage to the man .. and what he stood for.

To celebrate his artistic gifts and humanitarian spirit anew. In a day when we-the-people neeed guidance, badly.

Because, for many, it seems like the good times rolled to a stop in 2008. And only for Wall Street has the rolling recommenced .. for some reason.

Bob Marley's Legend Cover (1984), released 3 years after he diedRegarding Legend .. you can totally sense the respect. Almost a reverence, no? [ At t=55:45 ]

Sure, Rolling Stone may rank it #46, which is certainly respectable ..

.. but many of the faithful will tell you that Bob Marley gets his own category ..

.. which is another discussion, entirely.

I'm sure they selected the title for a reason. And I have never heard anyone insinuate that the title was, in any way, over-reaching. Have you?

At big rock-concerts, they play reggae music between sets, cuz the easy, groovin' vibe chills out the restless warior.

Reggae music is more > tribal .. than most other music. You can *feel* the tribal-ness in its beat.

Yes, it's a peaceful beat .. but you can also feel its power .. its sense of indignation at unrighteousness.

When the naturally peaceful become agitated, you got problems .. because it takes a lot to piss them off.

» Beyond Titles & Labels

Notice how, in the new making-of-remix video, they » start talking first and *then* present the title.

I use that technique myself, with the entries that I craft on the home-page, for which I use Dreamweaver, which gives me more control.

But when I shift over to long-term, pre-templated formatting .. it puts the title at the very top (.. giving it more importance than it really deserves). And I do not possess the mojo to modify.

Tho I cannot accurately describe why it feels right to start with content. "The title is not as important as what is going on under the title .. so let us put that first." 

And all the different sections, very often, melt into each other, anyway.

I always come up with my titles » after .. the text/gfx have been laid out. Sure, I throw up a provional, but usually revisit. Sometimes radically.

The remix that RAC did of » Could You Be Loved. [ preview. ] I mean, ALL the remixes rock .. but that one reminded me of (the pattern) what Michelangelo did (in his 20's, no less) ..

.. with that piece-of-rock that nobody wanted .. the one which eventually became » David.

At t=45:00, he says » "I just got these demo tracks .. with parts missing. Let's see what I can do. I had to re-create several parts. Everything you hear has been played .. on one instrument or another."

Legend Remix (2013)The 'A' is RAC stands for » Artist. Obviously an accurate acronym.

Could You Be Loved is the song they performed at the 2013 Grammy's (on Feb 10) ..

.. as part of the tribute.

My favorite was Thievery's remix of Get Up, Stand Up. He killed it.

The Rastafarian must have paid him a visit in his dreams.

Sounded outstanding on the new Sennheisers. The bass. [ preview. ]

What I heard from Rob during that song was » "I get it. Watch me get it. I will show you how I get. Did I get it? You know I got it. I know you know." =)

"I get the message Bob Marley left."

The beat that comes on the word » half .. in the verse » 'Alf the story has never been told .. wow. He gets it.

You can actually hear the cry of Bob Marley's soul .. the way that Mr. Thievery mixed it .. better than you can in the original .. like he is crying out to God for help. (I know that cry.)

My favorite part however, is where he sings » "In the morning .. in the night." 

That takes me to good places. Something inside joins in and sings along with the Rasta-man.

And I especially enjoy Rob's transitions .. to different little riffs. And notice how he starts with » now you see the light.

Most interesting was Photek's remix of » One Love.

You have to believe that the Rastafarian himself would have liked it. I'm sure that ALL the remix artists must all have felt like Bob was talking to them. A prophetic voice from the past. Must have been a trippy experience.

Did I hear correctly that Lee Scratch Perry was actually on the original recording of Punky Reggae Party? Can that be?

Michelangelo's David (1501-1504)I dont know anybody for whom Stir it Up is not a special song .. that evokes good things.

With ALL these guys, you totally get the feeling of artistic competence.

(Whether you can even appreciate it, no?)

And I bet they're all self-taught. Just like all the best coders ..

.. like the best developers, like the best programmers.

Geeks totally respect that .. cause they know it doesnt come easy.

I mean, it looks like these guys are seated at the console to a rocketship .. ready to blast off. To who knows where.

I wonder if they feel as tho they have become a part-of-history .. Bob Marley history .. which has rich roots .. that speak to new generations.

You have to be » the real deal .. in order to pull off the multi-generational influence gig.

Pretty Lights. What a character. "Now I gotta use this." Exodus.

While backpacking In Yosemite, Lani's boyfriend used to SING to me on the trail » "Send us another brother Moses," which is one of the lyrics to Exodus.

He was an Eagle scout, who taught me many cool things .. such as how to poop in the woods. A totally worthwhile experience. That I would highly recommend.

The book of Exodus itself contains one of the most remarkable verses I have ever read. A fearful thing. Fearful for who?

Half Dome Jump off x4 | Dont try this at home, kids | 1,444 meters = a jumo of 4,737-feetI can only imagine what a drive thru Yosemite must be like .. with the updated remix.

The original Legend came out (in 1984) three years after Marley's death ..

.. just like Hemingway's heirs did with » Moveable Feast twenty years prior.

Notice a pattern? Both were released posthumously. Both have been either restored or revised via remix .. after a 'generation' had past. Why is that?

Because they are both » loved. Obviously. Tenderly.

[ I've had people tell me » "Your friends .. really love you." So I naturally feel fortunate. ]

And both continue to speak .. to new generations.

Of all the songs on the Legend compilation, the earliest recording date is 1973 .. for Get Up, Stand Up and two other songs.

A biblical generation, I read somewhere, is equal to 40 years. That makes 2013 = 1 generation (exactly) since Legend's earliest inspiration.

For some historical perspective .. 1973 was 10 years after Kennedy was assassinated .. and only five after MLK. (Sorta like us now in our time-perspective to the 2008 meltdown.)

A pattern had developed. And not a pretty one .. specially if you were a black man.

JFK (1917-1963) at the beach So .. when he sings the verse » "How long shall they kill our prophets?" who do you think he is thinking of?

There were more assassinations. RFK. Malcolm.

[ The first time I saw Spike Lee's Malcolm X at the theater (OC), I had to leave early.

So, a few weeks later, I returned to see the rest.

Would you believe that both times, I was given tickets for a different movie.

When I mentioned that he had given me tickets for the wrong movie  .. the dude said, "It's okay. Go ahead."

Twice. (Yes, same theater.)

Data point. Reality data-point. The other 'alf. ]

Not everybody was feeling the peace & love of the 60's. Viet Nam. Man on the moon.

So it has been 1 generation since Legend's seeds were first sewn. Can you feel it?

Speak on, brother .. cuz every good Rastafarian knows » Proverbs 4:20-22.

Do me a righteous flavor and watch » THESE » TWO videos, consecutively .. because they make for such a gREat contRAst ..

.. beyond the scope of today's entry, but a topic both valid and note-worthy. A topic to which we can return, later-gator.

Ahwahnee Hotel in YosemiteBoth videos capture » the MAKING-of-something.

See if you can tell the difference between the two ..

.. and determine what lies at the ROOT of the essential-differences.

Every culture parades their triumphs, their heros, their prophets, their martyrs.

And you know how I like to draw interesting contrasts .. for you to consider ..

.. my favorite being the contrast you get when you compare corruption with freedom. I also would like to contrast compassion with cruelty.

Both Dick Cheney and Bob Marley were born in the 40's .. within a few years of each other. 

Legend itself was released in 1984, which is something of a coincidence .. given the title of today's entry.

Hopefully now, you can see why .. I took such a long detour down a seemingly unrelated path.

Didnt I tell you that this would be a good place .. to mention my #1 most favorite vacation, ev-vuh.

I would hope that the entire Marley family, all together, would be able to spend a few days at the Ahwahnee ..

.. because the surrounding grounds have that same sacred feel ..

.. and go for long walks around the perimeter-path that circles the area. Bring along a good set of earbuds.

Oh! Did I mention that we hiked to the top of Half Dome? Eight miles each way.

Vertical like you wont believe. Not one, but » TWO .. world-class waterfalls. Advil is your friend. Then check out some of the other sacred sites nearby.

</end_best_vacation_ever> ]

In due time their foot will slipI know nothing about Liz's politics. Is she a proxy for dad?

To what degree? Regarding which issues?

From her photos, she certainly looks like a very nice person.

Is this the gay daughter? I liked the way Cheney split with Bush on gay rights.

"Fuck off, George. You homophobe."

I have always respected him for that. Because it felt genuine, and not political. Like he was actually capable of humanity for a moment.

Heck, even Bush Sr got off the gay porch.

I voted for Bush the first time, cuz I figured Cheney could take care of biz. But then he turned into Darth Vader.

If you really sit down and think about it for a moment, Cheney made Darth Vader look like a bleeding-heart pussy. (Unfortunately.)

"The gloves are coming off," .. on innocent skinny kids. Nice fucking work, tough guy.

At least, Lord Vader mind-fucked people who probably deserved it (.. for signing up with his sorry ass).

I must say .. when I think of Cheney Jr running for the senate in Wyoming .. I am somehow reminded of the scripture that says » "In due time their foot will slip."

To be honest, I cannot see how this might be so .. but, I can almost hear a voice saying, "Watch closely."

Where did I put the popcorn?

One of the (many, varied, and constantly changing) reasons that Bush used to invade Iraq is to bring "freedom" (really Kapitalism) "to the people of Iraq".

But you don't seem to understand that people need TRUST .. in any governing system.

And when they see shit like what we saw at Abu Ghraib and with Dilawar .. it makes them say, "I might not know which system is best .. but I sure-as-hell know that this shit aint right."

Jerry SanduskyI mean, come on .. you dont need much of an IQ to see that.

And we-the-people would like to change that. So stand the fuck by. And quit fucking up our country.

But the Jerry Sanduskys of the world sometimes continue for many years, decades, even .. doing very bad shit ..

.. which people don't want to see .. because it is so fucking ugly .. that they cannot bear even the thought of it.

No, we the American people are not angels, but we are sure the fuck better than you torturers. ]

As a result, the party-line has grown .. 'inefficient' (Not the right word, either.) .. which size tends to do.

Or hey, maybe she represents the new breath so badly needed. (Uh, seems unlikely .. given the photo above).

Either way, it becomes (naturally) a question of a benefit/concern for me-n-mine vs the GOOD OF THE COUNTRY.

How are you good for the country? and especially Wyoming? (And not just Washington.)

Venus FlyrapShe will come bank-rolled. Phatly bank-rolled. Because Washington is where the money is.

And she will likely come armed with markers from daddy.

So it will be interesting to see the current market value of those markers.

To the degree that we-the-people have political elements that are BAD for the country ..

.. we somehow need to call attention to that (truly anti-patriotic) behavior.

Because the slide continues .. far as we-the-people can tell. We the serfs.

</end_cheney_jr_senate_sidebar>

Say hi to Putin for me. The land of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. Lenin and Stalin. Dichotomies abound.

[ And give my best to Laura. An impressive lady. ]

Regarding you stay at the Moscow airport .. I must say .. I can relate .. to the bizarreness .. of the variety that comes only when "governments" gets involved.

[ Were not governments involved when Viktor Navorski had his extended stay in the Terminal? Yes, I think they were. And that explains a lot of both the comedy and the heartbreak of the movie. ]

I dont think it coincidence that the concept of asylum carries with it the notion of insanity.

Learn to appreciate the humor in such situations .. go in that direction .. because that will give you perspective ..

.. and there is HUMOR .. in the perspective. [ Because it seems like it could be easy to get dark, at times. ]

You can get great insight into this notion of perspective .. by reading Pevear's intro to Notes from Underground.

Here is some humor to help you along » when you walk out in Russia, you should open a business called » NSA-like Analytics. I will think up a good byline later. Something about proctology.

Daniel Ellsberg | The Pentagon Papers 1971 | The Right of the People to KnowPerspective (on a thing) could also be viewed as » distance (.. from a thing). But, when you are UP IN a thing ..

.. and the thing is gnawing on your ass .. it can be difficult .. to get distance (perspective).

Paul seems to suggest that the dude who suffers righteous persecution .. gets the grace to handle it.

Notice that he is talking about this (righteous persecution) coming as a result of » his revelations.

Have you-yourself not given us-the-people some rather astounding 'revelations' lately (June 6th)?

And isnt this the very reason why you are being sought and persecuted?

Yes, I know they are different revelations .. but the pattern is still the same .. is it not?

The devil, it would seem, doesnt much care for revelations .. specially not of the variety that contain the truth. (Veritas.)

"There he is! The truth-teller! Grab him! Quick!" They probably consider you something of a demon. 

In keeping with the tenets of web site optimization, today's entry has been broken into FOUR PAGES. The final page is posted here » Big Brother vs the First Amendment | Establishing Secure Communications - Part 4/4.

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This page contains a single entry by Rad published on May 23, 2013 5:23 AM.

Big Brother vs the First Amendment | Establishing Secure Communications - Part 2/4 was the previous entry in this blog.

Big Brother vs the First Amendment | Establishing Secure Communications - Part 4/4 is the next entry in this blog.

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