How Cable TV killed America.

I made a off-hand comment on a message board, that I thought Cable TV hastened the Fall of the American Empire; That before it took over, The Majority of Americans were forced to view programming that they did not already agree with.

To which someone replied "Imagine if the only news was CNN, because that was what it was like."

That's the thing, it wasn't one message. Cable viewers did not exceed broadcast viewers until 1989. Broadcast networks tried to have something for all their potential viewers, though each had their "niche". a Example: "Threes Company" it was designed to appeal to young, hip viewers, but nearly everyone, from nearly all mindsets, watched it. It probably did more to remove the stigma from homosexuality (even though it was more of a running joke in the program thamn anything else) than any other...ANYTHING.

 Racists were exposed to programming where non-whites were treated and acted like normal human beings. pre-internet, serious journalists mainly went to print media, but in the pre-1989 era, you had 3.5 networks actually competing for viewers, the "equal time" laws for politics was actually a thing, and mega-corporations didn't outright control them; actual NEWS and differing opinions were even encouraged, at times.

 post 1989, if you didn't want to watch a show that featured a Race you hated, you did not have to, because choices that catered to your racism were beginning to exist. a religious conservative in the bible belt who wanted entertainment, didn't have to be exposed to new or different mindviews to be entertained. I was born in the early 60's, I saw this happening. 

My first time in college? outside of institutionally hard core schools (Yale, BYU,etc) professors stuck to mainstream views, with subtle shading from their bias; my last time, around 2010, Professors stuck to their Bias, with subtle shading towards mainstream views. 

If your entertainment, your News, all your primary available Media is designed to watchable by Centrists without offending the views of anyone but possibly Extremists, it reinforces the Centrist Mindset, "This is how normal people think and talk". If your College Professor taught a politicized message, unless you were already heavily leaning towards the same bias, it was...wrong. It encouraged them to actually teach the subject at hand, instead of their bias.

<sigh> but, it was unavoidable. We can only go forward, we can't go backwards. What we could do, however, is bring back the "equal time" system; if you give politician A 5 minutes to say what they want, you HAVE TO give politician B, C, D, etc 5 minutes.

Political Debates should NEVER be controlled by one bias, EVER.

It is too late for us, but future generations, if you still have electricity and can see this? don't let corporations contribute to politicians, because thats called "buying". If your "Main Stream Media" becomes dominated by a single political bias...don't let it. do whatever you have to do to prevent it. You'll have already found out what was behind the "disarming of US Citizens" by now. Sorry. I should have fought harder, everyone should have.

Good Luck, Grandkids. You are going to need it.

P.S. about that boating accident....

And now for something completely different.

Vehicle Maintenance and Repair concepts

 What world are you in?

In a perfect world, the cost of a part, service work would not matter, because fluids and belts would last a precise time; accidents would happen on a schedule. When you install a part on your vehicle, it would work perfectly forever, or at least work for a specific designed time before it failed. Drivers and riders would not cause problems or do anything but in the correct way. Oh, and there are only 2 basic categories of parts, components and products; “good” and “unavailable”.

I don’t live in that world.

While I know several people who seem to think they live in that world, I’ve met only 1 or 2 that appeared to really live there (while I knew them, at least. I probably looked like a idiot to them, warning about bad stuff that would never happen!). And I’ve come across a few businesses that try to talk customers into trying to live there. “We think we found the problem, if you replace the entire front end with these extremely expensive parts, you shouldn’t have problems ever again”; this is only a real problem if they actually believe that; it shows a lack of judgment. I’d rather have a mildly greedy -but mostly sane- repairman than one who was delusional.

In my world, every dollar spent on one problem means a dollar I can’t spend on another problem that either already exists, or will very soon. Parts, components and products can be classified in one of two basic ways; either “adequate” or  “inadequate” (cost  is not a huge factor until after this is determined), or sometimes on a bell curve shades-of-gray type of thing, with thoughts like “ok, if I spend this much, it’ll probably last until I can get an adequate one ordered from FCP-euro, but this other ebay one might maybe last and I’d have enough to put racing rotors on the toy….”.

In my world, parts can fail the day after installation, or Components can last forever with no problems, even well past projected service life. though they usually don’t. And if I have a problem that has a simple fix, but when I tear into it and discover the problem is something different... if someone ELSE does the simple fix, it will appear to totally fix the problem...while anyone is looking.

Some basic examples.

You notice a lot of heat coming off of your back wheel; the rotor on the hot wheel is more discolored than the opposite, and you can tell it’s not rolling as freely.

Attempted Perfect World Fix: Replace the Rotor, Caliper, shoes, brake lines, wheel bearings, parking brake, sensors, everything, with high end components. If it still happens, replace ABS, Master cylinder, etc, etc. If you enjoy working on cars, you do this in your pristine climate controlled garage with every conceivable tool on hand; if you don’t enjoy working on cars, you pay someone (probably your dealership) to do it.

Real World: Test what can be tested; if it's a bad brake line, when you pump the brakes and open the bleeder, Brake fluid will either SHOOT out, or possibly not come out at all. if it kinda trickles out, normally...PROBABLY not the line. (BTW, several people suggested the problem was the brake lines, even after I did this test. could there be a conspiracy?!).

Jack it up and spin the tires by hand on both sides. if one side doesn't turn as freely as the other, consistently? it's probably NOT a warped rotor. it gets harder to turn in one spot, every time it is turned to that spot? It rules out brake lines, and is indicative that something isn't as round or flat as it's supposed to be; it might be a warped rotor (though percentage-wise, it's probably a build-up of brake pad material from improperly "bedded" brakes; a friend at a machine shop said out of every 20 rotors he turns, 1 or less is actually warped. but refinishing a rotor fixes both problems, so...), it could be bearings, or it could be any number of weird unlikely things...

So, you attempt to find out what is causing the problem; if it’s not obvious. by replacing the most likely suspects one at a time in order of likelihood; after you’ve found it, examine the other parts to see if they have become heat or chaos damaged in some way; if a part is only possibly damaged, how big of a problem will it be when it goes bad in the middle of the night 100 miles from home? If the answer is “not too bad”, leave it. Otherwise, find the best quality replacement part at the lowest price possible. 

In my personal real world, I can never afford to have any service done that I could do myself; I know that things I don’t even suspect are going to break, I’ll need that money to fix that problem, or to get the bizarre tool I WILL need to fix it. In the example I used, the parking brake adjuster wheel (weird thing that tightens up the parking brake every time you pull the hand brake, if there is slack from wear) had been installed backwards (not by me, thank the gods, it's good to get confirmation that other people make mistakes every once in a while, it's not just me making them after all); every time the parking brake was used it loosened until eventually it fell apart inside the rotor “hat”, and lodged a part where it would cause heat buildup. It warped and heat degraded everything on that wheel. It was also almost impossible to guess what the problem was without taking the entire thing completely apart, and knowing how the parts were supposed to work together. To be honest, a “perfect world” fix would have worked; replacing everything would have cost about $1100.00 in parts, minimum. The parts for my fix was $250. (I still have the new brake line, I might put it on some day...)

Another example would be with car batteries; normally, you wouldn’t think this was a big issue, but it CAN be.

Do you know someone who is constantly running their car battery down? Maybe they like to play their audio system with the car off, maybe they leave their door ajar, or lights on, or maybe they have a slightly messed up electrical system that slowly drains their battery or intermittently drains it fast. The Perfect World solution is to get a high end battery, such as an.... 0pt1ma yellow top.

The 0pt1mas ARE great batteries, and in a perfect world can last for as much as ten years, though 7 is more common; they cost anywhere from 2 to 4 times as much as a “normal” lead-acid battery. However, outside the perfect world you have the above described person and their vehicle. With an 0pt1ma, they would be great for a while, it could be as much as 6 months. Then they’ll need a jump start, then another, and another...until the 0pt1ma appears to be shot, with a dead cell.

That’s because it’s what is known as a AGM (absorbed glass-mat) battery; and in certain situations, an AGM battery can't be charged by the vehicle alternator. The 0pt1ma brand has less of a problem with this than other AGM batteries (they really are great), but it can still happen.

With an AGM battery, the recharge rate is tricky; the very best, safest, most effective way to recharge one is to hook one up to a trickle charger or charger maintainer; this will give the battery as little as 1 Amp and 13.2V. In certain discharge conditions, this may be literally the only way to charge an AGM battery. 

 In our example, this is what has happened; the battery was drained by a short or audio use or whatever, it wasn’t able to accept a charge from the alternator, and jump-starting only gives it a slight charge… maybe enough to start the vehicle once again, maybe not. If jump-starting is the only way an AGM is getting any charge, it’ll start degrading fast, taking years off of that 7 to 10 year lifespan...and can even blow a cell or just wear itself out. Meanwhile, a traditional lead-acid battery doesn’t really care what your alternator gives it, it’ll take it; they recharge as much as 3 times slower than an AGM, true...but if the Alternator is providing more voltage than the battery has, it’ll recharge.

So, if you know you are having electrical discharge problems, or that you are a discharge problem because of your habits, what makes more sense? A $90 generic battery with a full 3 year warranty from the big box store, or a $225+ pretty battery that you will possibly KILL within a year?

Note=if 0pt1ma batteries have a 7 year unconditional warranty, if it doesn't matter how the battery was abused? Never Mind. Because they really are great batteries.

Disclaimer: 0pt1ma batteries have features that almost always avoid the problems most AGM batteries have, and you might never have the described problem; in some cars, you NEED an AGM battery. And Trickle Chargers / charger maintainers are pretty cheap. BUT….if you are the type that forgets to change your oil when you are supposed to, runs your battery dead listening to music or powering some appliance, thinks that corroded terminals are too complicated for you to fix yourself...you might not want an AGM.

I suppose this might be another example of the age old split between schools of thought evidenced by Offroaders, which Jeep is better, the Pre-1996 or after the  1995.5? The newer Jeep can:

 1) cross terrain that only a master could traverse in the older jeeps.

2) handles better on highways

3) rides better both on and off road

4) is just generally more civilized.

Too which I would answer:

1) yeah, that's kinda the point. I could sit home and watch off-roading on TV, if I didn't want to participate.

2) whats a highway?

3) who cares?

4) you say that like it's a good thing.

I'd also throw in that if it breaks down 50 miles away from the nearest road, in the middle of a swampy forest, if you've got a hammer, pliers, wire (or coathanger), and of course duct-tape, you can probably drive the older Jeep out. 

How is that a example????

broken down, we could say it like this; you have a goal but you can't achieve this goal because of a problem; the problem will go away if you provide the Solution, made up of resources and problem solving ability. uh. Good is obviously a positive number, bad is obviously a negative, right?

R+A=S

P=S

G + P < 0, G > 0

Just call me Hari Seldon.

well, regardless (I'll work on the math) The Solution to a Problem is to provide it with Resources, Problem Solving Ability, and Luck. Throw enough resources at a problem, and you can almost always fix it, Bad Brakes? spend a ton of money and fix it! (maybe....). Bad Battery? spend a ton of money  on a high end battery and fix it! (maybe, for a while).  want to drive off road, but have no skill at driving off-road? Spend a ton of money on the problem and fix it! (well, your vehicle is off road, and you are sort of pointing it, sure, you sort of fixed the problem...)

side-note: I finished 3rd place in a cross-country mud-bog race with 12 competitors that were in Real Jeeps, 4wd trucks, and one APC, in a 1976 RWD chevette with mud tires. Would I want to drive across muddy off-road terrain to evacuate a injured hiker in a 1976 RWD Chevette? of flipping course not; i'd want a pre-1996 Jeep Wrangler with a Manual Transmission, a 6-banger, all terrain (but slightly mud oriented) tires and my tool box; as the Chicken said, the Goal is to get to the other side in one piece, every time.

 

Trust and the Internet of Things.

I’ve been asked to describe how I would describe a “ideal” secure work environment, and unfortunately, the answer comes out sounding like a variation on an old joke; you can have security, productivity, or Convenience; pick 2.

We can’t have ideal security. We can have a system that is mostly effective at preventing known threats and vulnerabilities from causing problems, while allowing enough work to get done to make it all worthwhile. We have to be vigilant; new methods of doing things means new vulnerabilities; even the way users generally think and their social interactions can change. Things that aren’t part of the work environment but are socially common can bring entire new fields of insecurity into the network security zone, such as cellular phones, fitness trackers, and next year possibly Neural implants. Security methodologies such as facial recognition could become ineffective or even illegal. Even the admittedly marginally useful polygraph can be further compromised by effective widespread social engineering.

And, of course, there are also hardware and software changes.

Some of these changes are real game changers, and change the entire networking and security landscape; Desktop Computers. TCP/IP. The Internet. WiFi. VoIP.

Networks and Network Security existed before each of those improvements; and each of those improvements made Network Security more difficult, but the productivity increase was well worth it.

And now we come to 5G and I0T.

Neither is a game changer in and of itself; There is very literally nothing you can do with either that could not be done with technology available prior to their availability. The huge impact that they will create is from the economics, because if implementation is carried out at the speed that the general enthusiasm seems to insist on, both 5G and IoT will be very cheap from most perspectives that aren’t focused on infrastructure costs or security.

If that is how things actually work out, the Network Security landscape will become MUCH more interesting. And there might be some productivity boost.

Which is one of the reasons I’m so glad to see “Zero Trust” becoming mainstream, even though there are many inevitable misunderstandings and predictable bobbles when implementing it comes into play, as there is at least one very good security model for a massive geographically distributed IoT device cloud, and that is “totally untrusted”. Most seasoned Security professionals could take one look at a proposed IoT implementation, for instance to monitor and provide control for a system that will seldom, if ever, be physically examined by the deploy-er and easily accessible by pretty much anyone? And that professional will say “Don’t trust it, don’t allow it to have access to any significant systems, firewall it from those”.

According to various sources, Nearly every new car being produced in the US and Japan has LTE/IoT.

And, as our example Network Security Professional could have predicted if he or she thought about it, multiple hacks have occurred, including a well publicized hack of a Jeep that allowed, among other things, shutting down the engine while it was on the highway. And it will get worse, because of Trust.

Car manufacturers use a trust networking model with automotive IoT.

Quote: “A Trusted Computing Base (TCB) is a collection of policies, procedures, and technologies that enforce the use and security of critical cryptographic and application-based tokens. It is the foundation upon which a platform’s trustworthiness can be defined. If a well-engineered TCB is used at the core of a product, the product will be trustworthy in the field.” EndQuote.

And to be fair, Many Network Security Professionals would agree with that statement.

Blockchain technology, invented in 2008 to secure Bitcoin, was widely considered trustworthy and unhackable, and up until 2017 that was still believed. And then multiple vulnerabilities were revealed to have been exploited, with one exploit involving the theft of nearly 2 Billion dollars in Cryptocurrency. Why? One very simple reason that I would hope that every security specialist always keeps in mind: Nothing is perfect.

If I were to design a IoT system for a vehicle, it would have physical separation from any system that could actually interact with the vehicle, aside from possibly the driver; passive sensors only, with GPS, camera and microphone available only at the throw of a physical analog switch, so it would be secure (for the driver). And as could be expected it wouldn’t be very popular, because of the lack of convenience.

While I’m not a fan of either 5G or IoT, I do see many good things that could be done with both. Will those good things balance the massive security issues? I really hope so.

Here we go.

Hello, World.

This will be my first foray into web publishing for quite a while; I Ran a BBS in the early 90's, had domains and sites up when it became possible to, had a dedicated line and servers in my basement when that became possible, ran my own websites and hosted a select few others, up until 2008 or so when I had to move to Tennessee.

So. it's 2020, I'm somewhere that I could get back in the game.

And I have interesting things to say, allegedly. I have opinions on issues throughout the possible interest spectrum, and academic + Professional experience in a variety of disparate areas.

Unfortunately, it appears I am now technically insane. My views, opinions, and conclusions on a variety of topics differs substantially from the accepted norm. From wikipedia we know that Abnormal behaviors are "actions that are unexpected and often evaluated negatively because they differ from typical or usual behavior". As I make decisions and take actions on my concept of reality, I can't be anything but abnormal.

A few of my other labels: Conspiracy Theorist. Gun Nut. Anti-Gun nut. Fascist. Elitest. Socialist. liberal. Nazi. Bernie Bot. Trumpist. There are a few others but those are the high spots. You may have noticed that some of those labels don't exactly paint a clear picture?

Part of that is because outside of one or maybe 2 topics which I would call "beliefs", I have Opinions. I suppose I'd better explain what those are.

I could simply make a link to the wikipedia page on opinions, but as the admins of wikipedia no longer remember what it says, I'd better explain.

There are Facts, which are things that are consistent with reality, and can be proven to be true through evidence and experimentation. (Note: In my Universe, which includes Quantum Mechanics and the belief that mankind doesn't know everything there is to know, Facts have an asterick next to them. example: You tell me you are standing in your living room and are going to drop a tennis ball from your hand and ask me to tell you what will happen. My answer would have to be "It will almost certainly fall and hit the ground". because I can conceive of circumstances where that might not happen, it simply isn't, in my world, a fact.)

And then there are Opinions. Wiki says "An opinion is a judgment, viewpoint, or statement that is not conclusive".

Which brings me to my problem. Lets throw another word out there, "Credibility".Wikipedia has a pretty good article on the subject. In essence, something is considered a fact if a majority of credible experts believe it to be one. I can rephrase that fairly accurately, and say that "if more than half of individuals who have expertise in a specific field are of the opinion that an aspect of that specific field is a fact, it is a fact".

I'll use Climate Change as an example. I would use something more current, but emotions are running a bit calmer than usual on this topic.

If I were to ask you to tell me the facts about climate change, there are 5, possibly 6 likely answers depending on who you are. If you are a Non-Conservative without a STEM degree, you will likely say whatever CNN represents as "Fact": "Several surveys have shown that 97% of scientists believe climate change is caused by man". If someone disagrees with this fact? "failure to fight climate change is a crime against humanity"