Book Club: Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy (8-10-18)

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Luke Ford

MP3: https://soundcloud.com/luke-ford-666431593/book-club-hackers-heroes-of-the-computer-revolution-by-steven-levy

From Amazon.com:

This 25th anniversary edition of Steven Levy’s classic book traces the exploits of the computer revolution’s original hackers — those brilliant and eccentric nerds from the late 1950s through the early ’80s who took risks, bent the rules, and pushed the world in a radical new direction. With updated material from noteworthy hackers such as Bill Gates, Mark Zukerberg, Richard Stallman, and Steve Wozniak, Hackers is a fascinating story that begins in early computer research labs and leads to the first home computers.

Levy profiles the imaginative brainiacs who found clever and unorthodox solutions to computer engineering problems. They had a shared sense of values, known as “the hacker ethic,” that still thrives today. Hackers captures a seminal period in recent history when underground activities blazed a trail for today’s digital world, from MIT students finagling access to clunky computer-card machines to the DIY culture that spawned the Altair and the Apple II.

Amazon.com Exclusive: The Rant Heard Round the World
By Steven Levy

When I began researching Hackers–so many years ago that it’s scary–I thought I’d largely be chronicling the foibles of a sociologically weird cohort who escaped normal human interaction by retreating to the sterile confines of computers labs. Instead, I discovered a fascinating, funny cohort who wound up transforming human interaction, spreading a culture that affects our views about everything from politics to entertainment to business. The stories of those amazing people and what they did is the backbone of Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution.

But when I revisited the book recently to prepare the 25th Anniversary Edition of my first book, it was clear that I had luckily stumbled on the origin of a computer (and Internet) related controversy that still permeates the digital discussion. Throughout the book I write about something I called The Hacker Ethic, my interpretation of several principles implicitly shared by true hackers, no matter whether they were among the early pioneers from MIT’s Tech Model Railroad Club (the Mesopotamia of hacker culture), the hardware hackers of Silicon Valley’s Homebrew Computer Club (who invented the PC industry), or the slick kid programmers of commercial game software. One of those principles was “Information Should Be Free.” This wasn’t a justification of stealing, but an expression of the yearning to know more so one could hack more. The programs that early MIT hackers wrote for big computers were stored on paper tapes. The hackers would keep the tapes in a drawer by the computer so anyone could run the program, change it, and then cut a new tape for the next person to improve. The idea of ownership was alien.

This idea came under stress with the advent of personal computers. The Homebrew Club was made of fanatic engineers, along with a few social activists who were thrilled at the democratic possibilities of PCs. The first home computer they could get their hands on was 1975’s Altair, which came in a kit that required a fairly hairy assembly process. (Its inventor was Ed Roberts, an underappreciated pioneer who died earlier this year.) No software came with it. So it was a big deal when 19-year-old Harvard undergrad Bill Gates and his partner Paul Allen wrote a BASIC computer language for it. The Homebrew people were delighted with Altair BASIC, but unhappy that Gates and Allen charged real money for it. Some Homebrew people felt that their need for it outweighed their ability to pay. And after one of them got hold of a “borrowed” tape with the program, he showed up at a meeting with a box of copies (because it is so easy to make perfect copies in the digital age), and proceeded to distribute them to anyone who wanted one, gratis.

This didn’t sit well with Bill Gates, who wrote what was to become a famous “Letter to Hobbyists,” basically accusing them of stealing his property. It was the computer-age equivalent to Luther posting the Ninety-Five Theses on the Castle Church. Gate’s complaints would reverberate well into the Internet age, and variations on the controversy persist. Years later, when another undergrad named Shawn Fanning wrote a program called Napster that kicked off massive piracy of song files over the Internet, we saw a bloodier replay of the flap. Today, issues of cost, copying and control still rage–note Viacom’s continuing lawsuit against YouTube and Google. And in my own business—journalism–availability of free news is threatening more traditional, expensive new-gathering. Related issues that also spring from controversies in Hackers are debates over the “walled gardens” of Facebook and Apple’s iPad.

I ended the original Hackers with a portrait of Richard Stallman, an MIT hacker dedicated to the principle of free software. I recently revisited him while gathering new material for the 25th Anniversary Edition of Hackers, he was more hard core than ever. He even eschewed the Open Source movement for being insufficiently noncommercial.

When I spoke to Gates for the update, I asked him about his 1976 letter and the subsequent intellectual property wars. “Don’t call it war,” he said. “Thank God we have an incentive system. Striking the right balance of how this should work, you know, there’s going to be tons of exploration.” Then he applied the controversy to my own situation as a journalism. “Things are in a crazy way for music and movies and books,” he said. “Maybe magazine writers will still get paid 20 years from now. Who knows? Maybe you’ll have to cut hair during the day and just write articles at night.”

So Amazon.com readers, it’s up to you. Those who have not read Hackers,, have fun and be amazed at the tales of those who changed the world and had a hell of time doing it. Those who have previously read and loved Hackers, replace your beat-up copies, or the ones you loaned out and never got back, with this beautiful 25th Anniversary Edition from O’Reilly with new material about my subsequent visits with Gates, Stallman, and younger hacker figures like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. If you don’t I may have to buy a scissors–and the next bad haircut could be yours!

Posted in Computers | Comments Off on Book Club: Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy (8-10-18)

The Jewish Urge To Schmooze

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Luke Ford

Frame Game Radio tweets: 1. This is a thread about SCHMOOZING. I was at a business lunch today with a fellow Jew and it suddenly hit me – one reason for Jewish success is *The Jewish Urge To Schmooze.*

2. Yes, I know I’ve developed a reputation for being a Jewish guy who relentlessly chronicles the abuses and corruption within the Jewish Affinity Network. But allow me to proudly explore a perfectly innocent and totally powerful aspect of Jewish success dynamics.

3. I’ve noticed a pattern to human communications that differentiates “the median Gentile” and “the median Jew”. It’s not universal. It’s a bell-curve, where Jewish instincts appear, ON AVERAGE, to be 1-2 standard deviations more inclined to “schmooze” than Gentiles.

4. First a definition of terms. The charitable definition is that schmoozing is “intimate, cozy gossip.” The cynical definition is that schmoozing is “manipulative sweet talk to get what you want.”

5. Now, THE MAGIC: SCHMOOZING IS NOT NETWORKING. Networking is professional. Schmoozing is personal. Networking makes formal pair-bonds. Schmoozing makes implied pair-bonds. Networking is a firm handshake. Schmoozing is whispering in your ear.

6. I’ve deduced that schmoozing involves two critical mechanisms. The first is *VULNERABILITY*. The second is *BENIGN VIOLATION*. Let’s explore these two dynamics in turn:

Posted in Jews | Comments Off on The Jewish Urge To Schmooze

Why Adopted Children Still Struggle Over Time

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Luke Ford

Greg Cochran writes: “I noticed an article in the Atlantic, about much higher rates of disability, behavior and learning problems, suspensions. Lower achievement on reading, math, and science assessment tests. They can’t figure it out.”

* Steve Sailer writes: In the postwar era, you’d sometimes see adoptions from higher class biological parents to lower class adoptive parents, as with Steve Jobs, whose genetic parents were grad students (and his biological father was the nephew of the Foreign Minister of Syria). His biological parents then had another child together, the accomplished novelist Mona Simpson.

Jobs’ adoptive parents were high school dropouts. But they had been checked over by the adoption agency and were extremely stable and made fine parents for him.

Jobs’ adoptive parents were so pleased with little Steve that they adopted a sister for him. I’ve felt sorry for her, being a presumably average girl whose conniving older brother is (literally) the World’s Greatest Salesman.

* GC: A Harvard faculty member told me that Chinese girls were the adoptee of choice among his colleagues.

Posted in Adoption | Comments Off on Why Adopted Children Still Struggle Over Time

Japanese Strategists

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Luke Ford

Greg Cochran writes: “In World War II. It’s not clear that there actually were any. This isn’t always mentioned in histories, but a lot of what Japan did in the Pacific made no sense at all.”

COMMENTS:

* The US Navy’s “island hopping” strategy involved establishing as few bases as possible, whose strategic location allowed the US to make the bypassed, Japanese-occupied islands irrelevant and unsustainable strategic absurdities. On the few occassions when the US dropped the “island hopping” strategy, e.g. McArthur’s ego-driven invasion of the Philipines, the result was a blood-drenched catastrophe. If the Philippines had not been invaded by the US, the Japanese forces there would have surrendered when Japan did in August 1945. Instead, there was a brutal, eleven-month, totally unnecessary battle for the Philippines that did not end until Japan’s total surrender in August 1945, cost untold numbers of American, Philippine, and Japanese lives, and ravaged the Philippine’s, including the total destruction of Manila.

Japan’s biggest mistake was thinking that its far-flung island bases in the Pacific could provide mutual military support to one another and then be resupplied by Japanese maru and submarines. In fact, the island bases were too far apart to support one another and unrestricted US submarine warfare and absolute air superiority ensured that their regular ressuply was a logistic impossibility.

* This seems to be a basic aspect of Japanese culture. An acquaintance was invited to Japan to act as a software consultant to the Japanese tech industries during their big 4GL push in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was ideal for this position since he was an experienced software engineer and had enough Japanese to get by. (For those who don’t remember, Japanese 4GL was intended to give Japan a permanent edge in computer technology. Despite the hype it turned out to be a total bust.) When my acquaintance returned after three years working in Japan he explained the Japanese failure. Their culture was totally unsuited to the give and take he thought necessary for efficient software engineering. He told us that there was a phrase he learned to dread. It would pop up after a subordinate had been given marching orders by a superior. Its essential meaning was, “Yes. I will attempt with all my power to achieve what you ask. But you and I both know this task is hopeless and doomed to failure.”

* Greg Cochran: “In WWI, the Germans were assholes. Judging from their actions and stated intentions, they would have been far harsher in victory than the Allies were – for example annexing Belgium, and parts of Northern France, along with all of Poland and huge chunks of Russia.

In WWII they were monsters.”

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Economists and Merkel’s migrants

Posted on August 10, 2018 by Luke Ford

Greg Cochran writes:

Someone polled a number of prominent economists whether the influx of refugees into Germany beginning in 2015 will generate net economic benefits for German citizens over the succeeding decade.

About half said yes, a little less than than half were unsure. 2% disagreed.

As of late 2017, the job status was as following:

~20% had any job.

~largely those were low-skilled jobs

Now you have to understand that Germany is a fairly plush welfare state, one that spends a lot of money on its inhabitants. School, medical care, housing, the whole ball of wax. In order to be a net contributor, you have to have a pretty high income. Even higher, if we’re thinking of someone being a net contributor over a lifetime – you have to consider retirement and old-age costs. The occasional gaudy acts of terrorism hardly help: protection is costly. Maybe it boosts GDP like an epidemic of broken windows?

Next, your typical Syrian or Afghani immigrant doesn’t speak German and doesn’t have a lot of human capital: he isn’t a fresh graduate of a German technical high school. If typical of his home country, he has an IQ in the 80s. He finds both beer and blood sausage abhorrent – fitting in is difficult.

The birth rates are very low in Germany and the big companies would like more skilled labor. But after a year, out of a million-some refugees, less than 100 got jobs in those big German companies.

So.. On this not-terribly-difficult, not-terribly rare kind of problem, economists are worse than useless. I could put it more strongly !

Comments:

* I’ve always been mystified by this nonsense, too, but whenever you ask economist like Caplan, Hanson, Cowen, Tabarrok, Easterly, etc, etc. They always come up w/ econometric papers proving immigration to be a net benefit. Anyone at Cato, Reason, Bloomberg. They all think alike. Depressingly to me, I think they are not lying; they rly believe it….

Even IQ realist economist Garrett Jones argues for more immigration. I once read that even Charles Murray believes immigration, whatever kind, is always a good thing.

Economist youngsters like Ben Southwood and Sam Bowman, who are HBD realists, also believe “free labour movements” are a net plus to GDP. Not just Poles and Chinese, Somalis and Syrians too. They will gladly show you papers by open border economists “proving” lowskilled to be a net benefit to GDP.

I never needed immigration-benefits-GDP papers or even IQ research, I can just visit my old neighbourhood and see its sorry state today…

* All of these guys accept the Von Mises argument as an axiom. That is, unless a society has reached maximum population size, more labor makes everyone richer. It’s a basic libertarian argument, that like most of libertarianism, only works in imagination land.

* According to von Mises it was a meaningless question whether immigration benefits the receiving population because he quite explicitly assumes that there is no real difference between populations.

* Von Mises was nuts. By the same logic, when a nation is attacked, it should worry just as much about casualties to the enemy as to its own forces… No country can solve its problems by importing an extra underclass.

* Prof. Heiner Rindermann? Ostracized since he honestly and scientifically answered a question about possible race differences in intelligence in a German radio interview, he is one of a few left psychometricians in Germany. When the migrant crisis hit its peak in autumn 2015, he wrote an article for the journal Focus that formally educated African Academics and engineers most likely would have an IQ around 93 according to his best estimates and numbers. That would just equal the average cognitive ability of graduates of the German Realschule (secondary high school with diploma but no qualification for higher/tertiary studies, normally completed with 16 years). Result: Everyone offended.

* Economists, like almost all academics and servants of the deep state, are mainly interested in their own economic status….Which would be harmed by telling the truth about 3d world immigration….

Posted in Economics, Germany | Comments Off on Economists and Merkel’s migrants

Theater Thursday: The Witch: A New England Folk Tale (2015) (8-9-18)

Posted on August 9, 2018 by Luke Ford

MP3: https://soundcloud.com/luke-ford-666431593/theater-thursday-the-witch-a-new-england-folk-tale-2015

Topics for tonight’s show:

* The Witch: A New England Folk Tale (2015)

* MPCDot.com: There will be blood.

* Steve Sailer: No Jail Time for Berkeley Bike Lock Philosopher Eric Clanton

* Heather Mac Donald: Sarah Jeong Is a Boring, Typical Product of the American Academy

* Mickey Kaus: “Illegal immig. hasn’t “continued to surge” (it’s normal https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migration …) but Trump’s utter failure to pass ANY immmig-control measures (wall/E-Verify/loophole closing) is stunning. Either he doesn’t know how to use Pres. power or chose not to.”

* Washington Post: Trump hits a wall on curbing illegal immigration.

* Heartiste: Female Xenophilia As Revenge Fantasy

* Why are modern men obsessed with self-improvement?

* Microsoft threatens Gab.ai.

Posted in America, Hollywood | Comments Off on Theater Thursday: The Witch: A New England Folk Tale (2015) (8-9-18)

(((Supply)))

Posted on August 9, 2018 by Luke Ford

Posted in Personal | Comments Off on (((Supply)))

Crime Stats

Posted on August 9, 2018 by Luke Ford

Johnny Walker writes:

https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/press/rhovo1215pr.cfm

During 2012-15, the rate of white-on-white violent crime (12.0 per 1,000) was about four times higher than black-on-white violent crime (3.1 per 1,000). The rate of black-on-black crime (16.5 per 1,000) was more than five times higher than white-on-black violent crime (2.8 per 1,000). The rate of Hispanic-on-Hispanic crime (8.3 per 1,000) was about double the rate of white-on-Hispanic (4.1 per 1,000) and black-on-Hispanic (4.2 per 1,000) violent crime.

Among black victims, 63 percent of violent victimizations were committed by black offenders, 11 percent by white offenders and 7 percent by Hispanic offenders. Among white victims, 57 percent of victimizations were committed by white offenders, 15 percent by black offenders and 11 percent by Hispanic offenders.

http://victimsofcrime.org/docs/default-source/ncvrw2015/2015ncvrw_stats_sexualviolence.pdf?sfvrsn=2

An estimated 32.3 percent of multiracial women,
27.5 percent of American Indian/Alaska native
women, 21.2 percent of black non-Hispanic women,
20.5 percent of white non-Hispanic women, and 13.6
percent Hispanic women experienced at least one rape
victimization in their lifetime.5

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3415834/

We analyzed data from adolescent women participating in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Bivariate associations and logistic regression models were assessed to examine associations among race/ethnicity, forced sex, and substance use behaviors.

The first multivariable model examined the risk for forced sexual intercourse by race/ethnicity, controlling for age (Table 2). The model was significant (X2(7)=34.29, p<0.001) and demonstrated a good fit (Hosmer-Lemeshow X2(8)=4.85, p=0.773). Compared with Asians, African Americans (OR = 3.12 [95% CI 1.53, 6.35]), Caucasians (OR=2.38 [95% CI 1.20, 4.72]) and Hispanics (OR=2.45 [95% CI 1.21, 4.96]) had significantly higher odds of reporting forced sexual intercourse.https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/09/the-question-of-race-in-campus-sexual-assault-cases/539361/

In the 2013–14 academic year, 4.2 percent of Colgate’s students were black. According to the university’s records, in that year black male students were accused of 50 percent of the sexual violations reported to the university, and they made up 40 percent of the students formally adjudicated.

During the three academic years from 2012–13 to 2014–15, black students were accused of 25 percent of the sexual misconduct reported to the university, and made up 21 percent of the students referred for formal hearings. Fifteen percent of the students found responsible for assault in those years were black. During that same three-year period, Asian students, who constituted a little more than 3 percent of Colgate’s student body in 2013, were more than 13 percent of the accused, 21 percent of those referred for hearings, and 23 percent of those found responsible. (The rest were white; no Hispanic students were accused.)

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5695602/

To illuminate the complexity of campus sexual assault, we collected survey data from a large population-based random sample of undergraduate students from Columbia University and Barnard College in New York City, using evidence based methods to maximize response rates and sample representativeness, and behaviorally specific measures of sexual assault to accurately capture victimization rates. This paper focuses on student experiences of different types of sexual assault victimization, as well as sociodemographic, social, and risk environment correlates.

For both women and men, the prevalence of any sexual assault was similar for all race/ethnicity groups compared to non-Hispanic White students with one exception. Asian students (women and men) were less likely to experience any sexual assault than non-Hispanic White students. For women only, differences emerged by type of assault. Asian women compared to non-Hispanic White women were less likely to experience penetrative assault (OR = 0.35, CI: 0.19–0.62), but not attempted penetrative assault (OR = 0.56, CI: 0.25–1.26), nor sexualized touching only (OR = 1.00, CI: 0.59–1.69). Black women were found to have increased odds of touching only incidents compared to non-Hispanic White women (OR = 1.99, CI: 1.05–3.74). There were no other significant racial or ethnic differences.

In California, Hispanics were arrested for forcible rate at 2.3x the Non-Hispanic White rate. Blacks were arrested at 6.3x the Non-Hispanic White rate.

Posted in Crime | Comments Off on Crime Stats

Steve Sailer: No Jail Time for Berkeley Bike Lock Philosopher Eric Clanton

Posted on August 9, 2018 by Luke Ford

News story:

Eric Clanton takes 3-year probation deal in Berkeley rally bike lock assault case

By Emilie Raguso Aug. 8, 2018, 2:14 p.m.

A former East Bay college philosophy professor who was charged with four counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon, causing great bodily injury, has taken a deal resulting in three years of probation for an attack at a Berkeley protest last year, court records reveal.

Eric Clanton had been linked by police to violent assaults with a metal bike lock during a “free speech” rally in Berkeley on April 15, 2017. Before his arrest, Clanton had been “outed” online, on the website 4chan, as someone who used a bike lock to strike a man in the head. The assault was captured in a video clip (below) that drew widespread attention and anger after it was posted on YouTube.

Wednesday, Clanton was supposed to have had his preliminary hearing, where a judge decides whether there’s enough evidence in a case for it to move ahead to trial. Instead, there was no hearing, and information about Clanton’s plea deal became available online.

According to Alameda County Superior Court records, Clanton entered a “no contest” plea Wednesday to one misdemeanor battery charge. The felony charges against him were dismissed, and an allegation that he had caused serious bodily injury was stricken. A misdemeanor charge that Clanton wore a mask during the commission of the crime also was dropped.

Clanton’s three years of probation begin Wednesday and last through Aug. 8, 2021.

Police said, previously, that Clanton attacked at least three people with a metal U-lock during the April 15 rally in and around Civic Center Park. Court papers later revealed that Clanton struck at least seven people in the head, according to authorities. One person received a head laceration that required five staples to fix. Another was uninjured but had a piece of a helmet broken off. A third was struck across the neck and back, police wrote.

Comments at Steve Sailer:

* I hope some attorney has reached out to those assaulted and is ready with a civil suit.

* Robert, Lord Crichton of Sanquhar, lost an eye when sparring with a fencing master of the name of Turner. When at the French Court some time after, the King, Henry IV, asked how he came by the injury and on being informed, inquired, “Does the fellow live?”

Eric Clanton hurt a number of people and they know who he is. Does he have anything to fear?

* Depends where in California. Getting an Alameda county jury to convict this guy is a very steep hill to climb. So he negotiated a sweet deal. Prosecutors don’t have time to waste on trying losing cases, especially in Alameda county.

* The feds can press federal charges and jail him for 10 years or more for denying civil rights with violence.

The perp was part of a far left terrorist group house and arrested with piles of weapons and drugs.

* The light sentence only makes sense if one of two things is going to occur.

1. The Feds do intend to pursue it. It is not unusual for a state to cut a sweet deal with a defendant if they have been advised by the Feds that they will also file charges.

2. He is a snitch. But a snitch only get a deal this good if he helps bring down someone with much more culpability than the snitch or he helps take down a criminal organization.

Absent one or the other, this is a legitimate miscarriage of justice. The type that should cause riots in the streets.

* Clanton was a part time community college instructor. He was fired after the riot. I doubt he owns a home. His car’s probably worth about $8,000 and he probably owes $6,000 on it.

No money.

Alameda county DA is one of the most pro criminal in the country.

* It’s been more than a year. The feds will never file violation of civil rights charges when the victim is White.

* Sessions is too busy trying to promote civil forfeiture and keep weed illegal to protect Trump’s base from political violence.

* I think I read it was a Nolo plea. So the prosecutor screwed the victims doubly. A guilty plea would make a civil suit easy, the Nolo plea means a civil trial must establish first the fact that Prof Commie committed the crime. And the trial would be held in Berkeley. Good luck with that.

* Probation can be a very strict. Some people prefer jail time just to be ‘free’ afterwards. I have no idea how strict Alameda County’s probation is but it can require drug and alcohol testing, limitations on travel ( without court permission), payments for your own supervision and community service work. Its not pleasant.

Posted in California | Comments Off on Steve Sailer: No Jail Time for Berkeley Bike Lock Philosopher Eric Clanton

Kris Kobach Surges Into The Lead (8-8-18)

Posted on August 8, 2018 by Luke Ford

MP3: https://soundcloud.com/luke-ford-666431593/kris-kobach-surges-into-the-lead

* New York: Did Trump Save Protégé Kris Kobach in Kansas?

* VDARE: REDSTATE Represses Daniel Horowitz: Too Effective Against Amnesty And GOP/AdelZuck Establishment?

* Daniel Horowitz: Why there’s no better time for a budget fight than now — BEFORE the election

* Documenting Hate: Charlottesville

* John Michael Greer: The Kek Wars, Part Four: What Moves In The Darkness

Posted in Immigration | Comments Off on Kris Kobach Surges Into The Lead (8-8-18)