JB's Place

Something Is Rotten In Stripe Land

As I have shown elsewhere in a long correspondence with Stripe elsewhere, I got the rug yanked out from supporting my small church with small books in
a most puzzling manner. First, the accusation was crowdfunding, and after that was all cleared up as rubbish, some generic “you are too risky to do business with” garbage
followed. Well, I think I found the issue. It’s right here: https://press.stripe.com/

We Call This a Conflict of Interest

So a payment processor is getting into the book selling field and decides that a place that is trying to sell used books for a church is “too risky to do business with”?
Right? Notice that the above link both sells books and suggests it is about “progress”. Now, that progress would not be some vaguely defined communist ideal
would it? Well, let’s look at what passes for something spiritual and is a book for sale on there:

“We are as gods and might as well get good at it,” wrote Stewart Brand in 1968, as the opening sentence to the now iconic Whole Earth Catalog.
For decades, Brand has had an uncanny ability to push “ideas that seem at the edge of believability,”
accelerating progress in culture, technology, environmentalism, and more. His approach to work and life influenced many technologists
who have gone on to shape our modern world, including Steve Jobs.

Really Stripe? You are going to push this quote from the Bible, which is a misquote, I might add, to push this agenda?

Hacker News

Hacker News pretty much consistently, despite the evidence, is on the Stripe train. I’m not surprised by that, since most of those guys work in technology and we
wouldn’t want to piss off the Stripe Gods now, would we? Well, here is the deal–when your payment processor is in other businesses, it can start pushing on those
businesses where it should have absolutely no input at all. In this case, it pushed on a church and its ability to receive money, I contend, due to an agenda
and a desire to sell books to a certain audience. If the technology people at Hacker News can’t see this fact, then really they don’t deserve to be in science
or technology. The church is too risky to do business with, although it did for years, but science and technology and basically lifting one’s self up as some Luciferic
God is totally in bounds, right? Right.

Time to Own Up, Technology People

I don’t see technology and faith as being at odds with one another. I think if you try to replace faith WITH technology, you are in for a hurting. I think if
you become arrogant with technology and try to use it to subdue faith, you are also in for a deep, deep hurting. I think if either side of the equation starts
trying to censor the other party without an extremely good reason, there is going to be immense danger still. It isn’t really a battle this technology and faith
concept. Indeed, faith gave birth to science, and science to technology. Trying to cut the root of the tree is a great way to get a lot of rotten fruit.

J’Accuse

I accuse you, Stripe, of picking and choosing what payment processing you will support knowing full well you have a stranglehold on the donation market and the subsequent API’s associated
with it. I don’t know what to make yet of Hacker News, but I will say there are a lot of smart people there than turn off their brains and become willing shills.
Are you really being paid that much by your robot overlords, Hacker News shills?

Meditation Book A La Carte

I have decided to release the e-versions of my book on meditation completely free. There is a catch, though. You gotta download it in torrent form! Why? Because
really, if we want a better internet, we should start just doing it ourselves. Torrents are peer to peer meaning you do not have the middle man of the server
acting like some sort of traffic cop between the person getting the file, and the person sending the file. There really is not a very good reason why most of
the internet cannot work this way at this point, other than people having become accustomed to centralization and therefore censorship.

Why, That’s Right Generous of You, JB

Yes, I know. I’ve given away paper copies of the book previously, but not now. Instead, I am going to give away the digital bits, and if you want a paper copy, you
are just gonna have to buy one. How are you going to do that? Well, download the torrent file and find out!

But Technology Makes Me Uncomfortable

Yeah, it pretty much has made the entire world uncomfortable. A real problem for meditation AND technology is an unwillingness for people to get out of their comfort zones.
If you want to grow, you will find yourself feeling somewhat uncomfortable. It is the nature of growth that it does not feel exceedingly good when it is happening.

How Do I Download a Torrent?

You need a client, and you will need this magical file. Does this mean you have to
trust me that I am not giving you a torrent laced with viruses? Yep, it sure does. But, here is a consolation for you. Microsoft has been doing that to you for years
and calling it the Windows Operating System and making you purchase it. So, worst case scenario you went for a self-improvement book and accidentally got a computer
virus. Best case scenario, I am not lying to you and you get the book for free and find some fabulous information you are not likely to find elsewhere.

But I Just Want to Give You Money For a Copy of the Book!

Bless you child. We once inhabited a world as simple as this, and then it got all messed up. You can go over here to find a link where you can purchase the paper
version of the book. I will likely place a link in the navigation on the website in the future for this.

Back When The CDC Did Not Suck

Back in the mid-nineties, the CDC was at its height. I remember seeing many of their materials scattered about amongst the web, but I particularly remember a
piece of software that allowed one total control over a Windows 95 machine–it was appropriately named Back Orifice.

What made them different, back then, was they were combining two things that no one had really thought to do before. They were combining hacking and politics in a
very unusual way. The glue that held most of the organization together were nonsense documents that were counter culture and mainly designed to offend pretty much
everyone and everything. These were “joke files” but not exactly. They would discuss the latest release and most often mock the value system that led to the
release being a necessity.

So I Got This Copy of the Book About Um

So I got this book written by Joseph Menn to read what happened to this motley group of people and I was particularly interested in what they had to say given the
backdrop of the political landscape in which it was released. The most interesting data it contained, in my opinion, was what a lot of these guys and gals
eventually became. Some of them were working with the Department of Defense. Some of them became politicians. Throughout, there seemed to be a lot of younger kids
with computers that had military families.

What The Group Did Well

What this book discusses rather well, in my opinion, is how this group was one of the first to alert everyone to the fact that Microsoft had a very insecure
operating system. They did this first by discussing it with those who worked at Microsoft, but when nothing was done they took matters into their own hands and began
to release these exploits into the wild. In other words, they were going to force Microsoft to content with the fact their operating system was weak by basically
putting the weakness into the hands of people who would exploit it. This is the essence of an arm’s race, and that’s more or less what happened. Microsoft still
did not fix the security holes. Rather, in many instances, they just released a new Windows that had some of the same problems if not exacerbation of the previous
ones.

What The Book Does Not Do Well

The subtitle of the book says “it is about how the hacking group might save the world”. I had hoped this was hyperbole, but after having read the book I am not
sure it is. Instead, this book acts as one part documentary one part “What is the latest liberal political angle”. It is a bit odd, for instance, to see a group
of people who were essentially anarchists become congressman. Indeed, there is nearly something quite disingenuous about it all–especially since we know the CDC
was arming both sides of the technological political divide–including within the country of China. The feeling is a bit along the lines of if you live long enough
you will see everything eventually contradict itself into absurdity. “We hate the man, but we are gonna become the man, after having worked with and for the man, man.”

Parties and Other Social Activities

It is also mentioned that these guys still get together socially and it is interesting that some of them can still do so after all the ins and outs they have
been through. A few of them have nervous breakdowns. Some of them leave the group and go predictably into security consulting. Some join companies of their own. However,
I guess what I am sorry to see is that in the mid-nineties these guys were about activism and a better world through open technology and information.

One Thing I Learned that I Didn’t Know

One thing that I did learn from the book was how involved certain members of the group were with China. I did not know that they had gotten so deeply involved with
attempting to penetrate the “Great Firewall”. Of course, reading this book now and what has happened with elections, technology, China, and the actual CDC, it is a little
like reading some sort of strange foreshadowing of the world we inhabit now. The only difference is that we are all older and in many cases a bit more jaded from
the onslaught of fake news, mortgages, medical bills, and the ideals that were originally clearly present.

Every Age…

Of course, it may simply be that every age has its idealists until they are ground up like burger meat against the capitalistic system and betrayal. Sooner or later,
ideals must confront selfishness and greed. What is the solution when these issues are faced? Do you try to beat um? Do you try to join um? I am not sure, but
reading this book made me think about it.

In Total

In total, I would say this book is a somewhat sappy tribute in a silicon valley sense. Some of the history is interesting, and surely some of the stories in it are
interesting. I just wish it had been a bit more objective and less trying to persuade me of the underlying politics. I know what I politically believe, and I knew
what I believed back in the 90’s too. The rallying points had to do with freedom of information, and an open exchange and a desire to subvert those who would do
otherwise. Wasn’t that good enough?

Long Correspondence with Stripe

To augment our income for our church, I decided I’d start selling some of my
used books through my website. Stripe is who we used as a church credit card
payment processor, so I figured they would work just as well for used books.
After giving them a lot of what I felt to be a bit intrusive information about
the nature of my business, I got the following email from them:

>"Hi JB,
>Thank you for getting started with Stripe. We’re reviewing the information
>you submitted to us and will follow up on your account status within a few
>business days. This means you can’t process payments yet, but you can test
>charges on your Dashboard as you ramp up for integration. We might be
>reaching out for additional information, so please lookout for an email from
>Stripe Support so that we can resolve your account review as soon as
>possible.
> We hope to get beitesheldonate.org up and running on Stripe soon.
>Thanks again,
> Stripe "

Okay. Sounds good–except I all ready have this site up and running for like
four years now.

The next email I received was this:

>"Hi JB,
>We're reaching out today to request some information about your business,
>Beit Eshel LLC (account ID: acct_1JXC1h2HH3zdbNzr), that we couldn't verify
>using your website and Stripe account details.
>
>It is important that Stripe knows what businesses are selling, in order to
>make sure that your business is supportable under our Restricted Businesses
>list.
>If we can’t verify this, we will eventually have to pause payouts to your
>bank account on .
>Action Required
>To ensure your business is supportable under our Terms of Service, please
>reply to this email with answers to the following questions:
>What products or services do you plan to sell through Stripe?
>We'd like to learn about your typical customers. Who is your target
>audience?
>Specifically, could you provide details around products/inventory, pricing,
>shipping details, and customer-vetting processes, if applicable?
>Once we hear back from you, we will review your information and get in touch
>again within 48 hours.
>If you have any questions, please let us know and we'll be happy to help.
>- The Stripe Team "

Very annoying, but perhaps giving them the benefit of the doubt I went ahead
and provided them this additional information although it is VERY APPARENT
as I have used books up that this is what this “business” is going to sell.

Here is my reply:

>"Dear Stripe,
>
>I am going to conclude this is an automated problem, as I have used Stripe for
>receiving funds for the Church I have on multiple occasions. The latest website
>I modified for use is books.jbschirtzingerstore.com which is a place to sell
>used books that I will use as a sort of gift shop to help support the church.
>So, here are the answers to these questions, which I regard as somewhat
>intrusive concerning all of this:
>1. Used books/donations as I have been doing for over three years now.
>2. People that want to buy used books.
>3. To buy used books, you don't really have to "customer vet". Either a person
>wants to buy the used book, or they don't. Used books tend to be cheap. You can
>see the first book I have listed as Team of Rivals which is a book about Abraham
>Lincoln which is selling for 4.50. Media shipping seems the logical choice."

I eventually get this email in reply:

>Hello,
>
>"Thanks for writing in. We’re reviewing the information you’ve provided, and we
>aim to be back in touch within 1-2 business days.
>
>In the meantime, if you have any other questions or concerns, please feel free to
>reach out on this email thread and we’ll be happy to help.
>
>—The Stripe team"

What’s next in this rather annoying sequence with a payment processor I have
been using for four years?

THIS!

>"Hi JB,
> 
>We're writing to inform you that we have determined your business, Beit Eshel
>LLC (account ID: acct_1JXC1h2HH3zdbNzr), is in violation of the Stripe Services
>Agreement. Specifically, we are unable to accept payments for crowdfunding as
>mentioned on our Restricted Business List.
>
>We're applying a notice period of 5 days before taking action on your account.
>During this 5 day period, you can continue processing normally, but after this
>date, your account will be closed and you will no longer be able to accept
>payments. We will continue making payouts to your bank account until you receive
>all of your funds.
>
>Do you disagree with our decision?
>
>If you'd like to appeal your account closure, please reply to this email
>confirming one or more of the following:
> 
>All products or services that you're selling are in fact supportable
> 
>All products or services which violate our Restricted Businesses list are
>removed from your website Once we hear back from you, we will review your
>information and get in touch again within 48 hours. Please let us know if you
>have any questions.
>— The Stripe team"

Crowdfunding? What? Stripe is used in countless charities to take in donations.
That’s HOW IT BECAME a BUSINESS in part when I first started using them four
years ago. Needless to say, I disagreed with the decision:

>Again, I am going to assume this is some automated issue within stripe.
>
>First, I am assuming further you are defining crowdfunding as the following:
>
>Money and legal services: Financial and professional services
>
>Financial institutions, money transmitters and money services businesses, check
>cashing, wire transfers, money orders; currency exchanges or dealers; bill-pay
>services; crowdfunding; insurance; bail bonds; collections agencies; law firms
>collecting funds for any purpose other than to pay fees owed to the firm for
>services provided by the firm (e.g., firms cannot use Stripe to hold client
>funds, collection or settlement amounts, disputed funds, etc.)
>
>As per your own policy. We are not offering money or legal services to which
>this specific rule would apply. Rather, our church has a firm goal which is
>indicated on the site which it has not reached.
>Secondly, assuming that what you say is true, I am a little confused as to how
>Stripe is a business at all because well this:
>https://www.thrinacia.com/blog/post/stripe-and-crowdfunding#!
>
>So is Stripe no longer supporting all of those platforms and what exactly
>constitutes a "crowd"? I could, for instance, define a crowd as "people with
>large sums of money that want to use Stripe to process said money". How do you
>intend to stay in business if that is so?
>
>Clearly, this must be a mix up, so I will wait to hear back from you.

Finally I hear this back in return:

>Hi there,
>
>Thanks for your patience while we're completing the review on your account.
>
>I see you have an ongoing email thread with us in regard to the recent decision
>made on your account. To centralize communications, I’m going to merge this
>thread into that existing thread. I’ll notify the specialist working the
>existing thread of the urgency of the issue, and let them know that you’ve
>contacted us again. They’ll prioritize the case and get back to you as soon as
>they have any update.
>
>If you have any questions, please let us know.
>
>Best, Kelsey

Several other “cordial emails are exchanged” and I get this reply:

>Hi there,
>
>Thank you for keeping in touch. After reviewing your account and website with my
>team, I regret to inform you that we have closed your account and are unable to
>provide you service. We’re very sorry, but as previously stated, your business
>falls under our list of Restricted Businesses and Activities in our Services
>Agreement: https://stripe.com/terms
>
>We are required to follow strict guidelines on the types of businesses we can
>and can't support. We're unable to work with any business that we believe poses
>elevated financial risk, legal liability, or violates our own policies; in this
>case, after a thorough review of your account, we have determined that your
>business falls within these categories.
>
>These regulations are firm, and I’m afraid we don’t have flexibility with them.
>If you have any other questions or need further assistance, please let me know.

>Best, Kelsey

And hereee was my reply:

>I cannot say whether I agree or disagree with what you are here saying because I
>do not see a term which my "business" which I might point out to you is a
>non-profit church violates. Rather, without the context it seems like you are
>choosing a discriminatory path because you can always say what you have said
>without quoting the violation and what is a business or non profit supposed to
>do in reply? This is a little like arresting someone without informing them of
>their rights, which is a violation of due process.
>
>What I will point out to you is that you have provided me service for four
>years. What, exactly, is suddenly different? Well, I know one thing that is
>different is that Stripe is now a much larger company. Of course, that can
>always be changed. Tomorrow, you may find that your supporting partners in your
>business suddenly cannot do business with you as you have become a "restricted
>business" for unknown reasons.
>
>I do not intend to argue with you relentlessly over some nebulous policy that
>you have suddenly decided to enforce. What I can tell you, unequivocally, as
>that these are the End of Days and whatever it is you are here doing it is more
>consistent with a discriminatory policy of something like the Anti-Christ than
>anything actually just. Driving to work in the morning in your car carries
>potential legal liability. Your communication to me also carries legal liability
>which is something I think you might have overlooked.
>
>So, if this is the final decision, and you refuse to provide a firm rule or
>reason for this, I will go with the most logical conclusion which is that Stripe
>is discriminating against me funding my church and I will act on this truth in
>accordance with not only my full power, but the power granted to me also by
>Heaven and suggest that there is something of Judas in your organization. I am
>quite sure you will understand how that ended for everyone involved.
>
>Sincerely,
>
>JB Schirtzinger

Finally, I get this in reply:

>Hi there,
>
>Thanks for waiting while my team and I took another look into your account, I’ve
>got an update on this review.
>
>We do have to impose strict limits on the types of businesses we can and can't
>support. We're unable to work with any business that we believe poses elevated
>financial risk, or violates our own policies; in this case, after a thorough
>review of your account, we have determined that your business falls within these
>guidelines.
>
>That said, I can assure you that we have done a thorough review of your account,
>and we will be unable to reverse our decision. We are unable to provide any
>further details regarding the reason for your account's closure in order to
>protect our processes.
>
>We, personally, would love to have your business, but our hands are also tied by
>the legally binding policies. That said, we’ve been working to adjust these
>policies, but have not made any headway so far. If you want to read a bit more
>information about our stance, here is a great blog post:
>
>https://stripe.com/blog/why-some-businesses-arent-allowed
>
>I wish I could give you better news, but I'm afraid our hands are tied. Although
>we cannot support your business, I hope you find success with another payment
>processor! If you ever start a new business venture, you’re always welcome to
>reach out to us in the future! If you have any more questions, please feel free
>to reach out anytime. I’m always here to help.
>
>I wish you the very best in everything moving forward!
>
>Best, Kelsey

And my final interaction is this:

>"Very well. May the curse of Judas be your inheritance."

Why is this my final interaction? Because, over the past four years, I have done
much to try to keep this little church going. It has been heavily discriminated
against and this is the last of a long line of entities/people who have done so.
As a consequence, I closed my Stripe account and I am dissolving the LLC which
makes up the Church as a corporate entity. I am doing this because I feel this
church is being unfairly targeted. I am aware Stripe has a history of pulling
sponsorship out, but this, as I mentioned, is not the only incident that I have
had to field concerning this little church.

So, to all you bad people out there that want to try to tell people how to
worship, Congratulations, you won! The Church of Beit Eshel will be no more. Of
course, I am also sure you all remember what I said would be the case should
that occur and I am QUITE sure you remember the warnings I gave PREVIOUS to our
current state of affairs in the world.

Ministry is a calling and messengers are provided. If you do not heed the
warning, you cannot be too surprised by the outcome.

By the way, lest you think Kelsey was being super considerate above, she made sure to time several of her messages so that they arrived
at three and four AM to make it rather harder to reply. Sometimes timing can be a quasi-malicious act.

The Web BeforeTime

Back in the early days of the web, there was an effort to make online communities. They called them “dungeons” and since there were usually more than one person involved in the
server, they added multi-user on the front of it. Put together, you had a multiuser dungeon or a MUD. These dungeons hosted programmed content that created a virtual world. This
was rather like a primitive version of Second Life with no graphics. It was a world served via a protocol called telnet and you simply had to point your client at the appropriate
link to log on. One such MUD was called Lambda Moo.

The Event For Consideration

I was introduced to the Moo by someone who had previously used it at a university they had attended. The host for the Moo I poked about on was a purple crayon server which
I think was originally hosted somewhere at MIT. I came to the scene a bit later than the event that I will here examine although the event under consideration did overlap
with some of my earlier experiences of the web. This Moo that is Lambda Moo was not the Moo I inhabited, but it was within the community of Moos that existed like
an ecosystem before the web as we know it now. The date for this event is December 23, 1993.

The Infamous Date

This date is famous for a bad reason. This is probably one of the first recorded cases of internet hate speech/assault. You can read about the event in detail here.
The really short version of all this is that this Moo had something called a voodoo doll type of avatar, which allowed a user to be in the room but also not be in the room. It
also, with some modification, allowed a person to take over and control the avatars of other users. One of the users somewhat confusingly had a Haiti-voodoo name that was called
Legba. Therefore, we have a situation where the users and the reality and what was virtual became highly entangled. Yet, all the users after what is here described as “virtual rape”
appeared to suffer a sense of trauma as their avatars were forced to do sexual things to one another in text form.

Back In ‘93

So back in the early nineties, people apparently still had sensitivities to the virtual act of rape. Nowadays we would simply call this trolling. How did we get from the point
where we are back in the early nineties to where we are today, when this sort of interaction would probably hardly faze or surprise anyone? Were we more innocent then, or had
we simply figured that the internet was somehow inherently safer than reality? What is especially interesting about the event is the reaction. There are many case studies of
the ordeal. In the end, they discover it is some lone guy in NYU being egged on by what are probably his frat buddies. This sounds a lot like the plotline to “Porkies” or something,
so what was it that caused everyone to recoil so violently in 93 whereas in the world of today we probably would hardly blink?

Loss of Innocence?

My theory is that we have lost some innocence in the intervening time or else been desensitized to stories like this because they have become so common. We are awash in a world
at this point of a thousand sexual acts of questionable morality. So, when someone does something twice removed from reality, we are even less moved by it than we are if it
happens in reality. The female participants involved in the above ordeal seem to feel as though that the virtual rape was tantamount to actual rape. I am sure women who have
been physically raped would likely disagree, but that is not the point. The point is that in the early web, the feeling of having been raped was not really possible to distinguish
from actual rape at least in this case.

Other Meanings of Lambda

An interesting extra point to the discussion is that Lambda has a lot of connotations. One source has this to say on it:

Historians believe that the lambda symbol was adapted from the Phoenician alphabet called ‘lamed’ or ‘lamedh.’
Lamed/ lamedh is the twelfth letter in the Semitic abjad system – a type of prehistoric writing systems in which glyphs or crude drawings were used to signify different consonants. Lamed looked like a slightly tilted version of the Latin alphabet ‘L’ that we use in modern English. If you rotated it 90 degrees clockwise so that the two sides were pointing downwards and away from each other, the symbol would be congruent to lambda letter as used in an uppercase font.

The lamed sign was said to be inspired by a goad. A goad was a type of pastoral staff that was traditionally used for guiding livestock on the field (e.g. to round up cattle or prod oxen that were plowing the land).

However, other semioticians suggest that the lambda symbol in the Greek alphabet is derived from ‘Lam’ in Old Arabic. This is probably because lam bears close resemblance to an inverted ‘L’ and hence, by extension, the Phoenician lamed as well.
Quite interestingly, variations of the lambda symbol can be found in other ancient languages. For instance, in the Cyrillic alphabet, the eleventh letter El
(denoted by the symbol Л) is said to be derived from the Greek lambda. Moreover, the Roman letter L was also adapted from the lambda symbol.^1

They further distinguish that in the Greek alphabet Lambda is the eleventh letter before Mu. Moo?

Here are some other uses of Lambda from the same page as the above:

In modern physics, or even math and engineering for that matter, the lowercase lambda is officially recognized as the shorthand symbol for wavelength i.e. it corresponds to the shortest distance between two consecutive points on a wave that are in phase with each other.

It can also be used to signify the linear charge density. In nuclear studies, small lambda symbol refers to the radioactive or exponential decay constant, whereas, in microelectronics, lambda refers to the channel length modulation in MOSFETs (a type of transistor devices).

Lambda particle, sometimes also called lambda hyperon is a term used in particle physics. It corresponds to an uncharged particle having a mass equivalent to that of 2,183 electrons combined together.

The lambda symbol is also employed in statistics. It is one of the main parameters for calculating Poisson distribution, where it indicates the probability of the occurrence of a certain event in a given period of time.

Lowercase lambda letter is the symbol for latent heat in Chemistry.

You might be surprised to know that the lambda sign is also used in criminology. It shows the total number of times that an individual has committed an offense.

Since 1970, the lambda sign has been associated with the gay civil rights movement. Its use to denote the rights of the gay and lesbian community was first popularized by Tom Doerr, who chose lambda as the symbol for Gay Activists Alliance in New York.

You might come across people wearing the lambda symbol on pendants and charm bracelets to show solidarity with, or identify themselves as members of the LGBT community.

An interesting use case from Hebrew is that Lambda is most often associated with things that have to do with teaching and/or learning. So if we examine everything above, we could
say that the Moo community in question didn’t learn anything and have people re-offending as per all the different meanings of Lambda alone. What is the offense and what is the
time that must be served? Clearly, use of sexual energy and perhaps herds/groups of people. Is everyone going to keep repeating the same story till the cows come home?

Remember the Eiggghtiiiess?

Growing up in the eighties, most of the images of Russia in my world were limited to submarines, hammers and sickles, and many, many spies. The word “comrade”
was meant to make you perk up your ears, and the word “revolution” when it came to Russia was about the same as referring to Nazi Germany. In other words,
we were mostly taught the USSR was over there, and was most often unfriendly. My family had a set of encyclopedias from the 1960’s which were not especially
helpful concerning what the USSR was up to. New countries had come and gone, and basically I learned that if you heard a Russia accent in James Bond films,
there was a good chance that person was “not a good guy”.

Russia Politics Back Then

So, I picked up Autopsy on an Empire with some hesitation in the sense that Russian politics are about as clear as mud to me from that time period. I knew
a whole lot of things went down in a very small amount of time. I remembered Gorbachev and Yeltsin, and a little bit of a shirtless Putin wrestling bears
or something, but that was about it. Part of my ignorance on the subject matter was, I think, because Russia had such a foreign system compared to the
US when I was growing up. The names sounded very different, and the institutions were radically different. It is hard for me, as an American, to truly
understand the dialog after say Tsar Nicolas II. Why? Cause commies, that’s why! America(tm).

I Did Not Understand Squat Back Then

Reading through Autopsy on an Empire gave me an appreciation for the tremendous pressure Gorbachev was under. He had to try to do something new and different
while also attempting to make sure not to alienate a base that wanted neither. He was trying to hold the center such that the entire country could roll
into a new kind of unity that it had not had previously. Some of the old would have to be carried over, and a lot of it would have to be chucked out the
window. At any given moment, it was difficult to tell what should be retained and what should be chucked. It is to Gorbachev’s credit that the entire
country did not erupt into a bloody massacre.

Political Pressures

In essence, Russia had outgrown communism, but it wasn’t sure what it wanted to be when it grew up into what it was becoming. What was apparent was that the Revolutionary economy
was not going to cut it anymore, and Empires were more of a liability than an asset. What caught my attention in this book was the tension between Gorbachev
and Yeltsin. Gorbachev had to be the “let’s sorta hold the old together” which allowed Yeltsin to be the “Screw it, rip it all up” guy. Though they were often
rivals, I am not sure things could have gone as they did without their two personalities being involved. Yeltsin could afford to be more radical BECAUSE
of Gorbachev. Gorbachev needed some foil like Yeltsin to show the regular party members what would happen if they didn’t figure things out. Interestingly,
and somewhat worryingly, Yeltsin was mostly trying to get Russia to unify as per a UN understanding of what unity among nation-states looked like under
that model.

In The End…

In the end of the book, Gorbachev isn’t being radical enough fast enough to keep up with Yeltsin, and so Yeltsin winds up taking the point and essentially
ousts Gorbachev as a relic of communism when in reality Gorbachev certainly did not care for communism. Gorbachev becomes little more than a reminder of the past
of Russia, although without him it is unlikely any other meaningful change could have occurred. Certainly, the Revolution would have been bloody yet again.

My Interpretation

I found the book a little hard to follow, but that was more because my mind drifted across Russian words that I did not fully know. I had to remind myself
what was being done and why. In about the middle of the book, it was like all that cleared up, and everything made sense in terms of the nation changes
that started to happen. Toward the end, Matlock gives you a “the rest of the story” about what happened after everything unified. Matlock, the author of the narrative,
was the US ambassador who wrote his impressions of the fall of the USSR.

Q Movement Links

I think it is likely that the Q movement referenced this book because the United States as at a not dissimilar point to the USSR in the sense that we have
to put up or shut up. Nations periodically change, and it is time for the United States to become more of what it should be and less of what it should not be.
As can be seen, free speech has been hushed up with regard to the movement, and now there is nearly a terrorism label if you question certain narrative lines.
None of those are inherently American values, regardless of whether in practice that has been the case in the past or not. Matlock keeps up the dialog with Reagan and
Bush Sr. with what is an American adversary and the result is that the whole thing implodes and changes. While I think there is an advantage in speaking to
an apparent adversary, like the USSR in the 80’s, I also think there are times and places where no discussion or diplomacy is applicable. I am not sure that the US
is not in a place where we are past the point of discussion. I’d like to think there is still the ability to have freedom of choice, but it is beginning to feel
more and more like the only freedom you can have is the freedom that is available at the tip of a sword.

Book Takeaway!

My feeling is that this book ought to be read by anyone who lived during the time periods wherein the USSR was a super power. It will give you a different
insight into what was happening during a time when the “Iron Curtain” was large and cold. It might also help you understand some of the stuff you lived through
without knowing it, and it might as well show you what can happen to any super power that cannot roll with the punches.

The Words of Solon

In the ancient world, stories were told as parables and aphorisms. Whether or
not the subject matter was literally true, it was true in the eyes of wisdom,
and so was true nonetheless. In some ways, one could argue that these stories
were “truer than truth”. One such story concerns a King and a person who was
usually accorded the quality of wisdom–Solon. I will quote the story below:

“Well, my Athenian friend, I have heard a great deal about your wisdom, and how
widely you have travelled in the pursuit of knowledge. I cannot resist my
desire to ask you a question: who is the happiest man you have ever seen?”

King Croesus was already certain that he was in fact the happiest man in the
world, but wanted to enjoy the satisfaction of hearing his name parroted back
to him from such a venerated sage.

But Solon, who was not one for flattery, answered: “Tellus the Athenian.”

The king was quite taken aback and demanded to know how such a common man might
be considered the happiest of all.

Tellus, Solon replied, had lived in a city with a government that allowed him to
prosper and born fine sons, who had in turn given him many grandchildren who all
survived into youth. After enjoying a contented life, he fought with his
countrymen, bravely died on the battlefield while routing the enemy, and was
given the honor of a public funeral by his fellow Athenians.

Croesus was perplexed by this explanation but pushed on to inquire as to who the
next happiest man was, sure that if he wasn’t first, he had to be second.

But again Solon answered not with the king’s name, but with a pair of strapping
young Argives: Cleobis and Biton.

Known for their devotion to family and athletic prowess, when their mother
needed to be conveyed to the temple of Hera to celebrate the goddess’ festival,
but did not have any oxen to pull her there, these brothers harnessed themselves
to the incredibly heavy ox cart and dragged it over six miles with their mother
aboard. When they arrived at the temple, an assembled crowd congratulated the
young men on their astounding feat of strength, and complimented their mother on
raising such fine sons. In gratitude for bestowing such honor upon her, the
mother of these dutiful lads prayed to Hera to bestow upon them “the greatest
blessing that can befall mortal men.” After the sacrifices and feasting, the
young brothers laid down in the temple for a nap, and Hera granted their
mother’s prayer by allowing them to die in their sleep. “The Argives,” Solon
finished the tale, “considering them to be the best of men, had statues made of
them, which they sent to Delphi.”

Now King Croesus was livid. Three relative nobodies, three dead men were happier
than he was with his magnificent palace and an entire kingdom of his own to rule
over? Surely the old sage had lost his marbles. Croesus snapped at Solon:

“That’s all very well, my Athenian friend; but what of my own happiness? Is it
so utterly contemptible that you won’t even compare me with mere common folk
like those you have mentioned?”

Solon explained that while the rich did have two advantages over the poor – “the
means to bear calamity and satisfy their appetites” – they had no monopoly on
the things that were truly valuable in life: civic service, raising healthy
children, being self-sufficient, having a sound body, and honoring the gods and
one’s family. Plus, riches tend to create more issues for their bearers – more
money, more problems.

More importantly, Solon continued, if you live to be 70 years old, by the
ancient calendar you will experience 26,250 days of mortal life, “and not a
single one of them is like the next in what it brings.” In other words, just
because things are going swimmingly today, doesn’t mean you won’t be hit with a
calamity tomorrow. Thus a man who experiences good fortune can be called lucky,
Solon explained, but the label of happy must be held in reserve until it is seen
whether or not his good fortune lasts until his death.

“This is why,” Solon finally concludes to Croesus, “I cannot answer the question
you asked me until I know the manner of your death. Count no man happy until the
end is known.”

Croesus was now sure Solon was a fool, “for what could be more stupid” he
thought, than being told he must “look to the ‘end’ of everything, without
regard for present prosperity?” And so he dismissed the philosopher from his
court.

While the king quickly put Solon’s admonitions out of his mind, the truth of it
would soon be revealed to him in the most personal and painful way.

First, Croesus’ beloved son died in a hunting accident. Then, blinded by hubris
(excessive pride), he misinterpreted the counsel of the oracles at Delphi and
began an ill-advised attempt to conquer King Cyrus’ Persian Empire. As a result,
the Persians laid siege to his home city of Sardis, captured the humbled ruler,
and placed him in chains on top of a giant funeral pyre. As the flames began to
lick at his feet, Croesus cried out, “Oh Solon! Oh Solon! Oh Solon! Count no man
happy until the end is known!”

There are many ways to interpret this parable, but one thing that comes to attention here for me is the accounting of time. 26,250/70 = 375.
Hence, on average, we know that a solar year by the ancient calendar was equaling somewhere near 375 days per year. That means there are 10 extra days,
on average during the life of Croesus. 10 X 70 is then 700 days, which is nearly two years more than we would regard someone who was 70 by our accounting of time. So, we would
conclude that Solon might be telling us that Croesus, richest man in Lydia, was actually 72. This number comes up frequently, as there are 72 years
per one degree of precession on the Earth. This means that the Earth wobbles about and the background stars appear to change such that the pole star
itself eventually changes by one degree every 72 years. Approximately every 26,000 years, the pole star shifts into some other star at this rate of precession.

Do you think it is a coincidence, then, that in English there are 26 letters? There are also systems of thought that appertain to letters mapping to numbers, such as in
Hebrew Gematria, where 26 = to the sum of the letters of YHVH.

So, what does all this have to do with Croesus? Well, there are many people happy on the Earth with riches who may well die in a fire. If that is so,
then though they were very happy for a long time, dying in a fire is gonna leave an unpleasant mark on the experience. One simply cannot say that a life was
either good or bad until the end is known–and with our above understanding of time the end may be SOONER than we anticipated since the accounting
of time from an ancient perspective may be different. We are assuming many constants that may well change. A different take on accounting for time
according to Solon may be found here: Quantum Leap

Lincoln: Circa 2019

After what seems to be an unacceptably long time, I was finally able to finish the book on Lincoln that I got back in 2019 by Goodwin.
I was not sure where to post this review as in the past I have used Goodreads, but I a sick of everyone else owning the information I write, so I
figured that the best spot would be here on my website. I can always “syndicate” the content OUT from here if I feel like being especially social.
As I mentioned before, this blog is less social, and more “here is a microphone on a platform” oriented. Back to the book!

2019

My church took a trip to see the Lincoln museum in Springfield Illinois. This was in the deep beforetime of all the Covid nightmares which seems like quite
some time ago. The museum offered us the chance to join some sort of Lincoln Friends of the Museum club which they referred to as the Time Traveler’s
package or something like that. The idea was that you could come into the museum with special privileges since you were a time traveler and bring guests.
Neat gimmick, right? Right. So we joined, as a church. For joining, you got to pick from several items, and one of the items availabe was this book. I
therefore procured this book, and it got left in the back seat of my car up near the back window for about a year as everything went topsy-turvy with lockdowns
and what I would term “cluster fucks”.

Reflections

So, Lincoln kept staring at me from the reflection in the back window of my car and I kept thinking “Boy, I need to read that.” Between working on
some computer networking and doing some grounds keeping, though, it seemed I rarely got the chance to do any reading. When I finally DID get to start
reading it, 2020 was coming to a close and the fun of 2021 had begun.

What About The BOOK?

This book is well researched in the sense that it contains some interesting perspectives and source details on Lincoln. For instance, it mentions a barn
fire where Lincoln kept his horses in Washington, which is not a frequently mentioned matter. The characters are brought to life in a multidimensional way
such that their characters feel organic. We learn about the facets of the characters around Lincoln as well as those within the Lincoln family. Mary Lincoln
makes some appearances, but hers are fairly narrow in scope and do not seem to be able to avoid the standard interpretations of what Mrs. Lincoln was or
was not like. Mostly, the standard vituperative hell cat is present when it comes to her. Occasionally, the author says that perhaps her actions were
warranted given climate X.

What Lincoln Was Reading

What Lincoln was reading and why is often a topic of discussion as well within the book. Against the backdrop of Stanton, we learn just how pissed off
this made everyone because they regarded Lincoln’s sense of humor as being some impropriety to the post. Of course, had Lincoln been as grave as the
undertaker, it is likely they would have also found that objectionable since he would have been as humorousless as a stump. What you learn about the
history of the Civil War is that everyone is extremely opinionated about something, and someone else is to blame. The buck stops, of course, at Lincoln’s
desk for most of the stuff people wanted to complain about. First, we learn, Lincoln is not radical enough. Then, later, he is too radical. Still later,
he is too conservative. Later yet, he is not conservative enough. Mary Lincoln falls under a similar light. Everybody has some bitching to do, and of course,
everyone knows how to solve the problem except no one appears to be doing it EXCEPT Lincoln and that is only after wrestling with what is essentially the
entire nation.

Risks In Scholarship

Goodwin avoids taking any especially risky steps in her scholarship except addressing the ridiculouss claim that Lincoln was gay because he slept in the
same bed as Joshua Speed. Shocker, he was not gay. That is about as far as her risk taking from the standard Lincoln narrative goes. Why is that disappointing?
Well, I will tell you why.

Everybody Wanted Lincoln Dead

Everybody around Lincoln had a reason to want Lincoln dead since everyone saw him as an impediment or some chess piece to be overcome or used. However,
the guys responsible for the death of Lincoln are primarily two: His Secretary of War–that is to say Stanton, and his Vice President–that is to say Johnson.
There were plenty of others who were complicit in his murder such as some of the Radical Republicans. They all somewhat knew what was going to happen
at the theater that night, since nearly everyone refused to go sit in the box with the President and Mrs. Lincoln. Standard scholarship does not address
these matters because it paints the history of the US in a very, very distinctly different light from the story that is handed down. When you understand
Stanton was actively plotting the death of Lincoln so he could, in his mind, become President you understand why he was weeping so much after his death.
His own sin was before him. Likewise, you understand why Johnson seemed like some drunkard during his speech. He was drunk with the desire to become
President which he would later do.

But THE SOUTH!!!

Yeah yeah, the south had reason to want Lincoln dead, but Lincoln was literally wounded to death in the house of his supposed friends due to ambition
and envy. Then, the story was covered up. Goodwin does not get into any of these matters, but I cannot believe it was because she did not encounter
any of the evidence of these issues in her research. Rather, nobody wants to make movies about the truth as a general rule, because the truth makes
people squirm in their seats when they learn that all these “Fine Christian men” plotted a murder of the man who brought them through the most troubled
time the nation had then known. Booth, in the end, was just a patsy who thought everyone would love him for what he did. He did not think he would simply
be another pawn in the crimson red game of chess being played.

Still…

Still, even though Goodwin did not have the courage to go into the eye of the storm on these issues, that hardly makes her unique among Lincoln authors.
All the ones that DO go into these subjects seem to wind up marginalized. It is a little like the Russian Collusion narrative concerning Trump. Whatever
the truth of it is, you better not go near it because it is as radioactive as a subject matter as you can hope to find. Wouldn’t that normally make you
suspicious? Anytime there is something so touchy that just the mention of it makes people bristle, somebody, somewhere is trying to hide something.
If you do not believe me, just catch your children with the hands in the cookie jar.

When Murderers Get Along…

Murderers get along when they are facing a common foe. It was so with Lincoln and his Cabinet. When the danger has passed, though, that is when the “chickens
come home to roost”. Indeed, the chickens all plotted and schemed to get the war over with Lincoln at the head, and then everyone thought that they could
do the job of Reconstruction. Instead, they all caused a rift in the nation that still has not fully healed to this day. Great job, guys!

Do You Think It Is Any Different Today?

Do you think, today, that the world is any different? Everywhere things do not make sense, someone is hiding some motive for some reason. You cannot
swing a dead Talaco–ahem, I meant CAT, without hitting something that does not make sense. Conclusion? Some very ambitious people are still trying to
do the Lincoln act. Problem is, they, and by extension everyone else, is out of time for that.

Check Out The Book…

If you wanted detailed, cowardly scholarship that is not taking many risks. In other words, check it out if you want to basically understand a modern
academic understanding. Other than that, you would be better off reading something like Dark Union which is courageous enough to advance another sort of
thesis. Right or wrong, at least that work tries to explain something that has historically made little sense.

Github of Yore

Human beings are inherently social creatures, for better or worse. When they are NOT being social, it is most often the case that there was some reason
that led inexorably to their new default unsocial state. Github, then, the version-controlled codebase which is social, would seem to be the most
prosocial network ever invented for a usually inherently anti-social people–computer programmers.

My Github Entry

I came into Github back when their structure was officially this:

GitHub, Inc. was originally a flat organization with no middle managers; in other words, “everyone is a manager” (self-management).]
Employees could choose to work on projects that interested them (open allocation), but salaries were set by the chief executive.

In other words, I started participating lightly in that community back when people could work on what they wanted to. A few years later they would
trip over hosting something like 3 million files and then after that in 2018 Microsoft swooped in and bought them up.

I have had to rub elbows with people who have had to rub elbows with those in the upper echelons of Microsoft in the past. I did not like the company
in the 90’s, I and still don’t like it now. I don’t like it for precisely the reason they bought Github. They come in and have infinite amounts
of resources that they offer to buy the work of people who otherwise are going on about the business of coding, and they introduce the Golden Apple
of Discord right on into Paradise. When they get done, everybody who was formerly doing their own thing have turned into some sort of Microsoft Borg
collective. For this reason, I hate dealing with Microsoft and so I rarely use their products.

Linux and Microsoft

Lately, though, Linux and Microsoft had been in bed with one another in odd, disturbing ways. For Microsoft, the advantage is obvious–they want to find
some way to take all the “Free code” out there and look like they are being some kind of open source philanthropists because they “love the community”
so much. Linus helped develop git, which is the version control system implemented to help share code with others collaboratively.

My Latest Go

When Github announced that Microsoft was taking it over in 2018, I deleted all my files I had hosted there. I moved the bulk over to Gitlab. The
problem? Well, the Federation. The wha? Did you just move into some Star Trek domain, JB? I suppose so.

Github

Github is an excellent “walled garden” in the sense that it allows you to share code with most anyone in a way most people now understand. Gitlab is a
self-hosted alternative that is not as widely adopted, but also is not owned by Microsoft and is instead owned by CERN folks. Given the choice between
the makers of such items as the Atomic Bomb and the Internet and Microsoft, I will pick the former. That gives you an idea of how much I hate Microsoft.

Git Changes

It has been some time since I used Github, and had cause to today since I wanted to “Fork something” and then make a “pull request”. Basically this meant
I wanted to pull some code, branch it, change something about it, and then merge it back to where I got it from with the change included. Trouble is, I
don’t use Github for much of anything and instead tried to use Gitlab. Guess what? Gitlab and Github don’t “federate”. In other words, Github, in specific,
won’t let you play with other services. How Microsoft of them!

Github and Tokens

When I was younger, occasionally we would go to Show Biz Pizza place. There were lots of robots there that played various songs and many games that
would spit out tickets. To play the games, you had to have tokens. Kids enjoyed it, but it was pretty much an adult nightmare. When I got done with
Githubbing the stuff I needed to Github, it told me that my password technique that I use to access the service is only something old foggies do. Apparently
all the cool kids are moving on over into “tokens”. I have seen tokens in other applications, and I have also seen the use of SSH for all manner of
networking needs. So, I get it from a security perspective. On the other hand, I felt like I was back in Show Biz with the creepy robots and the
“fun” all the kids ought to be having in the ball pit. There was always something vaguely disturbing about the seeming natural combination of kids
and robots. Nowadays, with all the discussion concerning “sex robots” for human beings, I think that perhaps Show Biz might have had more sinister
undertones than any of us imagined back then.

Github and Changing Too Much Crap

Github and other technology places are changing things so frequently that it is hard to keep up. Most of this is in response to the web warfare raging,
but it is not as though Microsoft was not warned about this frequently and ignored it. One only need to recall the hacking group Cult of the Dead Cow
to remember how all the warnings fell on deaf ears. Instead, Microsoft threw money at PR to say there was no problem, until it was undeniably in a
situation where the problem was all too evident. The web itself is an infrastructure that is not secure nor what is really designed to be. If you want to
fix that problem, it is going to take more than Show Biz pizza tokens.

In Summary

When I got done using Github, it reminded me a little of having gone to Show Biz as a kid–like I ate a little too much cheese pizza, played a few
too many games that cost too much–didn’t have enough tickets to get anything cool, and like I needed to watch my six at all times for any incoming
bogies. Oh, and let’s not forgot the feeling of seeing a bunch of robots on stage…

Once Upon A Time

When I was about 16, I was elected as the state representative of Kentucky to go to Whitewater, Wisconsin and discuss World Affairs. I was one of two people selected to go,
and it was, among other things, a very memorable experience. The time period of this journey was during the Clinton years, and there were two large things going on as far as
regional concerns/competitions at that time. One of those was the thing for which I mentioned I was chosen above, and the second thing we had going on was something called “APES”
which stood for “American Private Enterprise System” or something pretty close to it. Right around the time I was preparing to go on this trip, they had another conference for
APES where they sent who was the acting county attorney to come talk to us. He decided, among other things, to argue about the morality of the Clintons.

Whitewater, Clintons…

In Whitewater, we were also discussing the Clintons as the scandal involving President Clinton’s sexual proclivities was becoming known. The height of that scandal would come a few
years later, but people were already thinking about what was or was not impeachable with regard to the conduct of their Commander in Chief. I was not a Clinton fan then, nor am I
one now. Back then the hot topic issues concerned Free Trade and Constitutionality of what was or was not impeachable.

The Attorney Arrives

I remember the attorney arriving to speak with us, and he decided he would argue the sexual morality of the Clinton’s with us. While we were discussing the matter, I referred to the
definition of the Commander in Chief concerning having a “moral core”. In other words, it was widely known and also defined somewhat in the job description of the President of the
United States that he also had the duty to be the chief moral citizen of the country. In other words, he did not have to be perfect as a human being, but he ought to be trying
pretty hard to live the values of the United States in an ideal sense within his life.

The Rebuttal of Mr. Miller

Mr. Miller, which was his name, replied that he was “not aware of any moral clause” that concerned the morality of the Chief Magistrate of the land. Now, had we been in a court of law,
we know that a court would say ignorance is no excuse when it comes to legal matters, but Mr. Miller used this ignorance as his raison d’etre for dismissing my argument. If I had
given him commentary from sitting presidents, do you suppose it would have mattered? How about the Constitution and then the duties of the president as defined in that document?
Here is the role of “chief citizen” which encompasses having a “moral core” defined somewhat: https://8rolesofthepresident.weebly.com/chief-citizen.html
In other words, throwing a baseball is part of the “chief citizen” deal–along with the American ideals that go along with whatever that game represents.

Meanwhile In Whitewater

Arguments ensued about Adam Smith’s economic theories and whether “invisible hands” really governed the flow of things and was the right way for economy to be wrangled and how such
ideas did or did not work against matters like NAFTA. Since everyone there was relatively young and from across the entire world, most all arguments were being driven by ideals of
one kind or another. Most people of the Democratic mindset were quite concerned about the environment and saving the Earth from impending climate change. There were keystone speakers
who spoke on certain topics and some had interesting perspectives and some did not. Regardless, everyone was given a chance to speak. I left the event with a much larger view of the
world as I had met people from all nationalities and I understood something of the trouble the world has when it comes to governments. I did not feel, however, that we really accomplished
anything other than talking about variables that ultimately we would have no control over unless we somehow convinced other people who were not there, and did not have the frame of
reference, to listen to our experiences.

And It All Came Down To Mr. Miller

And the problem all ultimately came down to Mr. Miller. At a local level, attorneys are paid to win arguments. They should have a code of conduct and understand basic constitutional
premises, but they do not necessarily care to do that or have a need to do that since they are not there to represent the people. Though I had seen the national level, the local level,
it seemed to me, was the place to start making a difference.

Mr. Miller and His Personal Life

The little town I lived near at that point was always gossipy, and so there was some less than pleasant gossip concerning Mr. Miller and his own sexual inclinations. I would learn
about this matter later, and I suppose it would not matter to me except for the fact that was the very thing he was arguing. I am left to wonder then whether he had a vested interest?
Was he arguing the situation to help teach us, or to defend something about his own life that would threaten his position potentially?

Which Brings Us to a Central Point

What you choose to do with your sexual life is your own choice. However, when you are a public figure, when your own choices are interfering with world policy, I think you are an
unfit leader and constitutionally should not be allowed to continue in your position. At both points, there was a sexual discussion going on that should have had nothing to do with
political matters. Our leaders, one through being drunk on power and the attorney who I would say was drunk on winning the argument no matter how silly his objection to my argument
was, are really both microcosms of each other. I do not know whether they were also both Democrats, but that would be another layer to the analysis.

And The Biggest Point of All

If everyone with power is weaving a web to cover one another’s asses because they can’t control what they put their dicks in, they REALLY cannot represent the people of the United States
and this land. We would not put up with that behavior out of grade school children, so why do we rationalize it at national levels? I understand human beings are multifaceted and
sexual things happen, but in the friggin’ OVAL Office? Come on now. Ignorance of the law, Mr. Miller, of what the US Constitution does or does not say should have disqualified you
from teaching kids and practicing law.