Useful - Blog Posts
IT’S NOT ‘PEEKED’ MY INTEREST
OR ‘PEAKED’
BUT PIQUED
‘PIQUED MY INTEREST’
THIS HAS BEEN A CAPSLOCK PSA
refseek.com
www.worldcat.org/
link.springer.com
http://bioline.org.br/
repec.org
science.gov
pdfdrive.com
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you're welcome
So due to food allergies and other nonsense, the standard "we're out of..." grocery store pads aren't helpful for me - they have a ton of stuff if them that nobody in my house consumes and because I have to do my shopping at 3 stores the organization of the pads isn't terribly useful.
So I made my own as a whiteboard and stuck it on the fridge.
It's divided into 3 main categories: perishable foods, shelf-stable foods, and foods for specific individuals in the house.
All of us eat veggies and eggs and peanut butter, but large bastard is the only one who eats frozen pizza and sandwich rolls. All of us eat tofu and carrots, but I'm the only one who needs bread from a specific store and eats lunch meat.
This makes it easy for me to tell at a glance where shopping needs to be done (if I need a bunch of stuff then we have to go to trader Joe's, but if all we need are staples we can go to aldi; if we're low on a lot of pantry items but don't need any produce we can go to walmart).
The way that I put together the board is by figuring out the stuff that had most often necessitated a trip to the grocery store for just that one item. I can't tell you how many times I have started getting ready to cook and then had to run out and get onions because I forgot that we were out of onions.
Now if I'm down to one or two onions i put a dot on the board and the next time i go shopping i get onions. When i open the last bottle of tamari or bag of coffee, i put a dot on the board.
It's also a really handy list to have while getting ready to shop because we can stand in front of it and use it as a reminder to *check* what we're low on. Do we need milk? Open the fridge and figure out if we'll run out before the next time we go shopping. Does tiny bastard need more peas to reward her for taking her insulin? Open the freezer before we gather up the shopping bags to find out.
Then it's super easy to take a photo and go shopping, and when we get back to erase the dots for stuff we got but leave the dots for stuff from another store or that was out of stock.
I've been using system for a few months now and it has been very helpful for preventing food waste and for reducing the number of trips we take to the grocery store, both of which save us money.
It's made out of a small whiteboard (about 9x14 inches) that i glued magnets to. The list items are written in permanent marker and the dots are dry erase marker. I put dots in the center of the boxes because if you overlap permanent marker with dry erase, it will wear away the permanent marker.
Anyway. This system has helped me, maybe it will be helpful for other folks as well.
fuck google docs so fucking much
i've just lost hundreds of docs and pdfs and i'm beyond pissed right now
they're all permanently gone
Old Irish Curses
Go n-ithe an cat thú is go n-ithe an diabhal an cat = May the cat eat you, and may the devil eat the cat
Titim gan éirí ort = May you fall without rising
Imeacht gan teacht ort = May you leave without returning
Plá ar do theach = A plague on your house
Dóite agus loisceadh ort = Burning and scorching on you
Briseadh agus brú ar do chnámha = Breaking and crushing to your bones
Go ndéana an diabhal dréimire de cnámh do dhroma ag piocadh úll i ngairdín Ifrinn = May the devil make a ladder of your back bones while picking apples in the garden of hell
Go hIfreann leat a shlíomadóir lofa = To hell with you, you rotten bastard
Never ever turn off your phone: rethinking security culture in the era of big data analysis.
Back in the 80′s if you were a pissed off anarchist that wanted to burn down a building, you probably checked your home for listening devices and made a plan. If you were the same kind of pissed off anarchist in the late 90′s, you turned off your phone and encrypted your online traffic. In the 2020′s we’re gonna have to change our strategies once again. Intelligence gathering has adapted and so we must adapt too.
To get a head start at this, let’s look at how big data analysis is being used. To do this, we’ll need to talk about 3 things: metadata, patterns and networks. Those sound boring and complicated but I’m not a techy and I won’t bore you with tech language, I’ll keep it as easy as I can.
Metadata: In the context of online activity, ‘content’ means ‘the message you send’ and ‘metadata’ means ‘everything other than the content’. So, for example, if you send your friend a text about lunch, the content might be “Let’s go out for lunch” and the metadata might be “Message send at 01/04/2018 11.32 from phone 0478239055 to phone 079726823 using Signal”.
This information is registered by your phone even if the app encrypts your actual message. Your metadata is very badly protected by technology and very badly protected by the law. No matter which country you are in, most of your metadata if freely available to intelligence agencies regardless of whether you are a suspect in anything.
Patterns: Whether you realize it or not, your metadata has a pattern. If you have a daily job you might have a very consistent pattern, if you do not your pattern might be more flexible but you have a pattern. If someone wanted to know the rhythm of your day, they could very easily do so because your pattern is in the metadata.
For example: Maybe you use the wifi at your favourite bar on most Sunday nights until about midnight, you wake up around 10 AM and check your Signal, you use your public transport card to get to class every Monday afternoon and you spend on average 1 hour on Tumblr twice a day. All this is part of your pattern.
Networks: You have online networks. Your facebook friends, the people in your phone adress book, the dropbox you share with coworkers, everyone who bought online tickets to the same punk band you attended, the people using the same wifi points as you. Take your networks, combine them with other people’s networks, and clusters reveal themselves. Your work community, your family, your activist scene, etc.
If you are in an anarchist community that will probably be abundantly clear from all your minor network connections like going to the same band and knowing the same people as other anarchists. Even if you never liked an anarchist facebook page or pressed ‘going’ on an anarchist facebook event, your network is hard to hide.
Now, let’s say you commit a crime,
the kind that would result in some serious research. Let’s say that on Sunday night 3 AM, you are your friends go out and burn down a nazi’s house. (Of course I would never advice any of you to do such a thing.) It’s obvious that anarchists did it but there are no other clues. You use traditional style security culture: you burn your notes, you are careful not to communicate about your plans near technology and you do not leave physical traces.
But because you commited the crime that night, your metadata will vary strongly from your usual rhythm: you stay at your usual bar until 2 AM to wait for your friends, you do not wake up at 10 AM in the morning so you do not check your Signal or Tumblr until 1 PM. You do not go to class. Your metadata pattern is very different from your usual pattern. The metadata patterns of your friends are different too. If one of you is clumsy, they might generate a super suspicious metadata signal like a phone being switched off at 2.30 AM and activated at 4AM. You wouldn’t be the first.
If I wanted to solve this crime using data analysis, what I would do is:
let a piece of software run a pattern analysis of the local anarchist scene to generate the 300 people most connected to the anarchist scene.
let a second piece of software analyse the metadata patterns of those 300 people over the last months and identify the biggest metadata variations around Sunday night as well as very suspicious metadata activity
Illiminate pattern variations with an obvious cause or an obvious alibi (people who are on vacation, people who are in the hospital, people who lost their job, etc).
Do indepth research into the ones that remain.
Which is how, out of a massive amount of people that I couldn’t possible all listen to at the same time, I could quickly identify a few to monitor closely. This is how I could find and catch you.
So, now what?
If traditional security culture doesn’t protect us as well as it used to, how do we adapt? Well, I don’t have all the answers but for a start, I’d say: know your network + know your pattern.
In the case of the example above: leave the bar at midnight, return home and put your phone on your bedside table. Check the apps you check before going to bed and set your alarm to 10AM. Return to the bar without your phone. Wake up at 10AM and check your Signal. Drag yourself to class or ask a comrade to make the trip with your travel card and do not use technology in your home while the comrade is taking your travel card to class. Stick to your pattern. Never ever turn off your phone.
You might also be able to manipulate your network but that seems much harder to do. Not having a smartphone and dropping out of all social activity online is a big commitment. Knowing your data pattern and making sure your data pattern doesn’t look out of the ordinary? Much less commitment.
Some of the old rules will still apply: don’t talk about a crime around devices with microphones, don’t brag after a succesful action, etc. Other rules, like ‘turn off your phone when planning an illegal act’ need to change because their metada looks too out of the ordinary. No one switches off their phone anymore. We look suspicious as fuck when we do.
This is just one idea on how we could update our security culture. There are probably other people with other, better ideas about updating our security culture. If we start the conversation, we may get somewhere.
Finally: we need to keep adapting.
As technology changes, more information is becoming available, including data we have very little control over. Smart-tv’s and ads in public spaces that listen to every word we say and the tone of our voice when we say it are examples. Data analysis projects are currently using license plate reading software on security footage to map the travel patterns of cars. A lot suggests they may soon be ready to do the same with face recognition, at which point the presence of our face in public space becomes part of our metadata. More information means more accurate data analysis. Our metadata may soon be too vast annd too complex to completely map and mirror. Which means we will need to adapt our counter measures if you want to hide something.
How do we keep it all under the radar? I don’t know. But let’s try to figure this shit out. These are some first thoughts about what security culture should look like in the age of modern big data analysis and I’d be very happy for any insights from comrades that have some thoughts on this.
Also: feel free to distribute and rework these words without credit.
wear a different perfume when you commit murder fuckin amateurs
how to start studying after school
clean up your desk: it’s hard to concentrate when there’s a pile of rubbish on your desk. the chance of you fiddling with things is also higher! you’ll get more done by cleaning your desk! if you’re looking for an easy way to organise your desk, check out these handy organisers!
get your books: get out all the books you need to study that particular subject. if it’s geography, an atlas might be handy.
get a notebook: if you’re in uni or college it’s a good idea to re-write all your notes for your classes that day. make them look clean and tidy. if you’re in secondary school and you’re studying for a test, summarize everything you have learned. in any case, it’s best to have a few notebooks on your desk too. here’s a 4 pack of spiral notebooks for $7.04!
grab some pens: seems self explanatory! i recommend you having an ordinary pen, a highlighter and a pencil on hand. (a.k.a. the basics!) here are some super cute gel pens!
turn off your phone: by turning off your phone, you will get less distracted by social media. sure, people won’t be able to reach you but you’ll get some peace and quiet. obviously leave it on if you’re expecting an important call!
look for a study playlist: if you easily get distracted by your laptop too, skip this step. i personally find it harder to get distracted by my laptop than my phone, so i leave it on and look for some music to study to. here’s a masterpost of some good playlists to listen to!
get a glass of water: you really need your h2o, everyone. grab a large glass or fill up a water bottle. some super cute ones: i ii iii
get a healthy snack: if you’re like me and you love snacking on things while your studying, the best thing to do is to grab something healthy. cut up some apples and sprinkle some cinnamon on them (try it. it’s amazing.), grab some hummus and some celery or carrots or cucumber to dip in it, fill a little bowl with nuts, treat yourself to a square of dark chocolate! if you’re studying during dinner time or lunch time, make yourself a nourishment bowl to nibble on. for more study snack ideas, go to pinterest and snoop around the study snack tag for a while. try out my favourite smoothie bowl too!
take a deep breath: i know from personal experience that sometimes the workload can be really scary and freak you out. the most important thing to do is to take a deep breath and to tell yourself you can get through all your work. you can do anything if you try hard enough!
get cracking: now that you’ve done steps 1-9, you can actually start studying! good luck!