Category: Side Notes

It’s Not a Stack, It’s a Queue

In computer science a stack is a data structure that follows a first in, last out order. That is to say stacks work like magazines in firearms, the first round you place into the magazine is the last one that feeds into the firearm. The opposite of this is a queue, which follows a first in, first out order. An example of a queue is when you get in line at a restaurant, the first person in the line is the first person to get service. This is why the British refer to lines as queues for those who are curious.

During the complete wastes of time general assemblies at Occupy Minneapolis speakers are asked to go into the stack. What they call a stack is actually a queue though and this drives the computer scientist in me up a wall. Here’s a tip for those of you in the occupation movement, stop calling the speaking queue a stack. Incorrectly using terminology does not reflect well on the perceived intelligence of your movement.

Conversations with Madmen at Occupy Minneapolis

Although I’ve stated several times that a majority of the people at the occupation in Minneapolis are very nice there are also some absolute crazies hanging out amongst the crowds. Since I found myself in the area again I decided to stop by the Hennepin County Government Plaza and see if anything was happening. Needless to say there wasn’t anything happening so I decided to talk to a couple of the occupiers. I did have a couple interesting conversations but two people really struck me as being bat shit crazy.

The first crazy was a violent revolutionary. OK, that title is misleading because this guy was all talk and no walk meaning he wasn’t really violent, but he was advocating violent revolution. I will attempt to paraphrase my conversation with him. A group of occupiers were discussing tactics and this bozo, whom I’ll call Moe for lack of a real name, said we should be taking to the streets with molotov cocktails. According to Moe if they could get 1,000 people to start rioting the government would have no option other than collapsing… or something like that. What really struck me as moronic was when he brought up guillotines. I’m not sure what the recent obsession with guillotines is but it seems some people think lobbing off enough heads will eventually lead to positive change. At that point I raised the obvious question, how did he plan on overthrowing the government and murdering people when a large portion of the populace is armed and the state would simply call in the National Guard. He had no actual answer other than saying if there were 1,000 people rioting the state would have no choice but to list to the rioters. Obviously this bright bulb has spent a lot of time constructing his cunning plan. Either way I just want to make it clear that anybody setting up a guillotine in Minnesota with the intent of lobbig of peoples’ heads is going to be dealing with one really upset Minnesotan with a .308 rifle. This very upset Minnesotan will be shooting every asshole who attempts to operate the guillotine to kill another. Now that I think about it I’m sure there will be more than one Minnesotan involved in this dissuasion strategy.

The other crazy, whom we’ll call Curly, wasn’t malicious but simply stupid. I won’t waste your time paraphrasing the entire conversation which involved some kind of government conspiracy to engineer a stupid germ that will wipe out all people who haven’t received the immunization and other theories on the same level. Instead I’m going to concentrate on Curly’s idiocy in the field of economics and science. Curly is an advocate in ceasing all mineral extraction effective immediately. When he said this I pointed out the bloody obvious and asked him what we’re supposed to do without minerals as our entire society and technology base is dependent on extracted resources. After a brief stare of dumbfoundedness Curly asked what do we need minerals for. I pointed at the building around us, the watch on my write, the cell phone in my pocket, and the very tables the Occupy Minnesota food was sitting on. Then I brought up the fact that without minerals we could no longer build medical technology that saves untold numbers of lives every year. This is where Curly’s lack of basic knowledge came out as he said we have stem cells which can cure any and all ailments. I asked him how we were supposed to access and harness stem cells without advanced medical technology made possible by the minerals we extract and he was unable to answer. At that point I simply walked away less I receive brain damage from the statements he was making.

Somebody is boud to ask why I focused on the negative conversations instead of the positive ones. The answer is simple, the positive conversations don’t make for interesting reading so I’m not motivated to write them down on this blog. This post also serves as a reminder that there are some absolutely insane individuals out there who would love to see those they disagree with disarmed so they could start lobbing off heads with a guillotine.

Anarchism 101

While I’m a very difficult person to offend there are things to greatly annoy me. One thing that really irks me is the state and media’s obsession with scapegoats. You can guarantee anytime a terrorist attack occurs it will first be blamed on Islamic extremists and if it later turns out the act of terror was perpetrated by a Christian nothing more will be said about it. Another scapegoat used often by the state and media are anarchists every time a mass act of violence occurs:

City officials stressed that there were isolated incidents of violence led by groups of anarchists among the protesters.

I would be happy if the media would find new scapegoats whenever an otherwise peaceful protest has “isolated incidents of violence.” Pointing the finger at anarchists every time incidents like this occur is just passe. Although I realize nothing I write is going to change the status quo I do know most scapegoats are selected based on a poor knowledge of the selectee’s philosophy and beliefs. Lack of knowledge is a frightening situation for most people which is why lesser known groups are usually the ones targeted for persecution or to be scapegoats. Realizing that a majority of people hold a great deal of misconception regarding anarchism I’ve decide to write this brief (relatively) anarchism 101 post.

First let’s find a working definition of anarchism so we’re all stating on the same page:

Anarchism is generally defined as the political philosophy which holds the state to be immoral, or alternatively as opposing authority in the conduct of human relations. Proponents of anarchism (known as “anarchists”) advocate stateless societies based on non-hierarchical voluntary associations.

Like any movement anarchists argue incessantly about what the “true” definition of anarchism is. These ongoing arguments have lead to so many offshoots that one can not even begin to list them all but in general there are two camps of anarchist; collectivists and individualists. Generalizing greatly, collectivist anarchists would be most closely related to the usual understanding of communists while individualist anarchists would be most closely related to the usual understanding of libertarians. In fact the extreme definition of communism involves a society absent of a state where all decisions are made collectively by those involved while an extreme definition of libertarianism involves a stateless society where decisions are made by individuals through a free market system. I would like again to strongly emphasize that those definitions are greatly generalized and I wrote them simply for basic clarification purposes.

Collectivist anarchists consist of anarcho-communists, anarcho-syndicalism, etc. while individualist anarchists consist of anarcho-capitalists, volyntaryists, etc. There are also those who prefer not to pigeonhole themselves into specific subdivisions and thus describe themselves as anarchists without adjectives. As you can see the term anarchist can mean a great number of things and certainly does not lend itself well to being used to describe a group of violent protesters with little or nothing else in common besides their violent actions.

A lesser known fact about American history is that our country actually had anti-anarchist laws on the books. For the sake of this discussion let’s look at what qualified as an anarchist under United States law:

(a) aliens who are anarchists;
(b) aliens who advise, advocate, or teach, or who are members of, or affiliated with, any organization, society, or group, that advises, advocates, or teaches opposition to all organized government;
(c) aliens who believe in, advise, advocate, or teach, or who are members of, or affiliated with, any organization, association, society, or group, that believes in, advises, advocates, or teaches:

(1) the overthrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States or of all forms of law, or
(2) the duty, necessity, or propriety of the unlawful assaulting or killing of any officer or officers, either of specific individuals or of officers generally, of the Government of the United States or of any other organized government, because of his or their official character, or
(3) the unlawful damage, injury, or destruction of property, or
(4) sabotage;

(d) aliens who write, publish, or cause to be written or published, or who knowingly circulate, distribute, print, or display, or knowingly cause to be circulated, distributed, printed, or displayed, or knowingly have in their possession for the purpose of circulation, distribution, publication, or display any written or printed matter, advising, advocating, or teaching opposition to all government, or advising, advocating, or teaching:

(1) the ovethrow by force or violence of the Government of the United States or of all forms of law, or
(2) the duty, necessity, or propriety of the unlawful assaulting or killing of any officer or officers of the Government of the United States or of any other government, or
(3) the unlawful damage, injury, or destruction of property, or
(4) sabotage;

(e) aliens who are members of, or affiliated with, any organization, association, society, or group, that writes, circulates, distributes, prints, publishes, or displays, or causes to be written, circulated, distributed, printed, published, or displayed, or that has in its possession for the purpose of circulation, distribution, publication, or display, any written or printed matter of the character in subdivision (d).

Therefore United States law only covered violent revolutionary anarchists. As there are collectivist and individualist camps in anarchism there is also a divided opinion regarding methodology. In general there are two methods anarchists subscribe to for brining about a stateless society; violent and non-violent. Those who subscribe to the violent methodology would be the anarchists described by the media while those who subscribe to the non-violent methodology would be those who believe in changing society through education and agorism.

Now we have two general philosophies of anarchism; collectivist and individualist which each have two general camps of activists; violent and non-violent. An anarchist’s particular flavor of anarchism is determined by both his general philosophy and methodology along with other ancillary differences.

Simply put somebody who wears black clothing and a face mask, has funnily styled hair, and smashes windows doesn’t qualify as an anarchist. Anarchism is a philosophy not a lifestyle. When the state or media say anarchists started acts of violence you should take it with a gigantic grain of salt because it’s very unlikely that either police officers or reporters actually took the time to interview those who were inciting violence to discover their personal philosophies.

More Delusions of Grandeur

The occupiers in Oakland, California were evicted a couple of days ago by the police. Say what you will about the eviction, I’m not here to talk about that. What I want to discuss is the plan put forth by some of the Oakland occupiers to take back the park:

We propose a city wide general strike and we propose we invite all students to walk out of school. Instead of workers going to work and students going to school, the people will converge on downtown Oakland to shut down the city.

All banks and corporations should close down for the day or we will march on them.

While we are calling for a general strike, we are also calling for much more. People who organize out of their neighborhoods, schools, community organizations, affinity groups, workplaces and families are encouraged to self organize in a way that allows them to participate in shutting down the city in whatever manner they are comfortable with and capable of.

Ah yes, the call for general strike has begun. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of a general strike consider yourself lucky. A general strike is a method, usually associated with collectivists, where change is obtained by everybody simply refusing to show up for work.

People participating in general strikes obviously lose money for the day and may lose their job. Needless to say the risk of participating in a general strike is high and the potential reward is oftentimes low in comparison. Those who were evicted from the park are now asking everybody to potentially risk being fired in an attempt to reclaim the park. With the way the post is written I almost think the author believes a great number of people will join his cry to join the general strike. The author actually believes this strike has a chance of shutting down the city and frankly this belief is assine.

These occupations do not have the support of a majority of the population. Because of this believing a call for a general strike by the occupiers can grind the city to a halt is delusional at best.

Snowflakes in Hell Becomes Shall Not Be Questioned

Longtime gun bloggers Sebastian and Bitter have completed the remodeling and rebranding of Snowflakes in Hell. Say hello to their new site, Shall Not Be Questioned.

While I’m not digging the name change (personally I liked the name Snowflakes in Hell) I can understand their reasoning for doing it. Still I would like to congratulate them on the successful move.

Fear of Police and the Collectivist Mentality

In my previous posted I promised a followup post describing an observation I made at the OccupyMN event. Namely that there is a high level of paranoia amongst occupiers that other occupiers may be government plants or informants. I find this mentality fascinating and I’m not sure if this is due to the occupiers living in a police state already or if it’s a side effect of the collectivist mentality. I’m leaning towards the latter as the same mentality doesn’t seem to run through various tea party gathers.

Saying such concerns is a potential side effect of collectivist thinking is a rather bold statement without some explanation. If you look at the history of collectivist societies such as the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, or Cambodia under Pol Pot you’ll notice they always end up becoming police states at some point. Part of this is because collectivism requires members of the society to think alike. As soon as you have members whom with to diverge from the collectivist society norms problems rise up. Most collectivist societies started indoctrinating children at a very young at and either arrested dissidents as enemies of the people or just outright killed them. This type of atmosphere breeds paranoia as everybody is told to watch everybody else. When your government is telling you to spy on your neighbor and visa versa the only outcome and be extreme paranoia.

During the OccupyMN meetings I’ve attended I’ve noticed many accusations being thrown around proclaiming another occupier as a police informant or government plant. Hell I’ve been accused of being a plant, although that’s kind of funny because if I’m a plant I’m a pretty poor one (the way I dress when I go to the OccupyMN event makes me stick out like a sore thumb). One lady to left the tent committee meeting in a huff Friday night was instantly accused of going to the police. I’ve also noticed a couple of occupiers informing others to watch so-and-so because he or she is likely a snitch. These accusations seem to be tossed at anybody who isn’t willing to perfectly conform to the “collective.” I’d be shocked if a secret committee hasn’t been established to weed out snitches and plants.

In a collectivist society the most destructive accusation that can be made is usually one of non-conformity. Collectivists fear being ostracized from society and fear people not part of the collective infiltrating and propagandizing against the collective. Therefore accusing somebody of being a snitch would be an accusation that the target isn’t a member of the collective. The accusation could be seen as incredibly destructive by members of the collective and a good way to silence those who disagree with you.

This will be something I’ll invest some more time into researching.

For Delayed Release

EDIT: 2011-10-07 14:39: I was informed by Mr. Rothman that my assumptions in regards to this rant were entirely incorrect. I’ll leave the post up to a testament to my ignorance but feel free to disregard the mess of text below.

On many of these occupy[x] ([x] being any location) websites the posts often start with, “For immediate release.” What the fuck is the purpose of throwing that in there? If you’re posting something on your website it’s been released.

Throwing “for immediate release” at the beginning of a post publicly available for all on the Internet to read seems like an attempt to look professional but without knowing what the fuck you’re doing. I bet the kid writing these posts is thinking, “I should say this is for immediate release otherwise people might think I meant to release this in a couple of hours and messed up.” The phrase “for immediate release” is usually for internal use and notifies an editor that the article is of a time critical manner and should be released immediately.

For instance if a school bus full of children was set ablaze and pushed over a cliff onto a retirement home which was built right next to an animal shelter that specialized in cute kittens and puppies the editor would say the accompanying story was to be released immediately. The immediately released article would normally not contain the words “for immediate release” though. If you want people to take your movement seriously then you’re going to need to sound better than a bunch of high school children with bad attitudes. There has to be at least one grammar nazi in your organization, pass all articles to that person for review before throwing them up on your website.

Yes, I realize this gripe is minor and ultimately pointless but it bugs me and this site is my personal ranting platform at times.

My First Apple Computer

I guess being in the technology field I should have expected the immense amount of news regarding Steve Jobs’s death to flood every channel of communications I have available to me. This news has actually interrupted my process of finding, reading, and writing about various articles of interest so you’re dealing with less than optimal posts today. In luie of having normal A Geek With Guns content to post I’m going to perpetuate a meme that’s been going around, I’m going to talk about my first Apple computer.

While others can talk about their experiences with an early Apple II or one of the first Macintoshes, I only jumped on the Apple ship after they shipped OS X 10.4. Before that I really had no use for Apple computers as I found their operating system lacking and the available software sparse. When 10.4 shipped I finally believed the operating system to be a competent and fully featured UNIX system and I had been looking for a good laptop running some flavor of UNIX for some time by then. At the time Linux was still unusable as far as I was concerned for laptops (suspend never worked correctly, battery life was usually half of what you could get in Windows, driver support for various Wi-Fi cards was non-existent, etc.).

Needless to say I ended up buying a PowerBook G4. My first PowerBook was one of the last in the line (model identifier was a PowerBook5,6) and came equipped with a measly 1.67GHz processor and an 80GB hard drive. The bloody thing ran though and gave me few headaches. I used it for most of my school work and eventually it filled the role of everything except gaming (which I used to do far more of when I was young). While I still own the machine it really is of little use considering how woefully underpowered it is. Still, it’s fun to bring it out of storage once in a while and power it up for nostalgia sake.

Still, from that humble laptop I eventually purchased the first model Mac Pro to replace my aging desktop. While I spent most of my life vehemently hating Apple computers the quality of their new operating system and hardware won me over. Now most of my machines are Apple manufactured and I can say they have given me far fewer headaches than previous machines I have owned. Hell Apple won me over in the phone market even though they perform practices that I find detestable (yet their phones do what I need which is what is really important in my opinion).

Be Sure of Your Target

As Tam points out you should always be sure of your target:

BILLINGS, Mont. — A hunter attacked by a wounded grizzly in a Montana forest was killed not by the bear, but by a gunshot fired by a companion trying to save him, authorities said Friday.

[…]

The shot was fired by 20-year-old Ty Bell, also of Winnemucca, as he attempted to stop the bear’s attack. No charges are expected, Bowe said.

Although I commend Mr. Bell for putting in the effort to try to save his friend I must say, ultimately, the outcome ended up being the same. Actually scratch that, there is a chance his friend would have survived the grizzly’s attack.

With that said if I’m ever being mauled by a grizzly feel free to step in and help, I’ll not ridicule you regardless of the outcome. I take that back, I’ll ridicule the shit out of you if I die.