A new project

A few weeks ago, I had an idea for a general review site with certain specific features that all the various review sites are lacking. Then, at a recent technology conference, I saw a French guy presenting a cross-platform review system that rather cleverly combined a scraping technology with a Twitter-like interface. I realized that he’d already done 75 percent of the work my idea would require, found him later, and told him that I thought we should work together, to which he quite naturally responded: “who are you?”

After I explained my ideas, we had lunch, discovered that our visions were entirely compatible. So, instead of another game design, I’m dabbling in technology design again, and I have to say that this is considerably easier than trying to figure out how to manufacture 18-button mice in China. Of course, it’s all just interface in the end, and there are more similarities between game design and this sort of app design than you might think.

The system is called Recommend. The site and iPhone app is live already, you can see it at re.co or via the App Store. There you can also see my first 12+ recommendations, which range from an AWESOME for Advanced Squad Leader to DISAPPOINTING for Disturbed’s Asylum. I will also soon be one of their Experts in the Game and Book categories. It’s a very clever system that automatically adds a picture scooped from the Internet, and it only takes two or three minutes to create and write-up a complete recommendation.

The reason the system is of great interest to experts and influencers is that it permits the linking back to whatever link the reco-writer wishes. So, for example, my reco (as they call it) of John Wright’s THE GOLDEN AGE links to Scooter’s review of the book on the Castalia House blog. There will eventually be considerably more to the system than this, as I am presently designing a gamefication system that will allow Recommend users to build up their influence as the first of at least three new systems that will help turn Recommend into something considerably more advanced and useful than Yelp. Note that it is very much in development at the moment, but even in its early state, it is already informative and useful.

I would love to see a hundred or more Dread Ilk become influential via this system, so if you’d like to help out, there are two ways you can do so right now. The first is very simple. Just go to Recommend, sign up, follow me, and start creating your own recos. I’ll follow you in return and soon we’ll have a dynamic intra-Ilk recommendation system in operation. Right now they only have four ratings, from Horrible to Awesome, but that will be increased to six in the near future. And if you happen to like one of the things I’m recommending, click on the Recommend box to co-recommend it.

The second way to help is a little more complex. One of the things I’ve been asked to do is to find and vet bona fide experts in various fields. So, if you happen to be a legitimate expert in something and are willing to commit to doing 20 recos per month, sign up, write a reco or three as an example and to see how much work in involved, then shoot me an email with EXPERT in the subject. I’ll check them out and then get in touch with you. The field can be literally anything, from astrophysics to video production, and you can recommend anything, from audio software to zoos.

And simply because someone will ask the question, no, this does not change anything at all with regards to Alpenwolf and Castalia House. I usually have between 4 and 5 projects going at once, and since I recently finished two other projects, this is only number three at present. I seldom talk about those other projects, but in this case, since it is a social media project which the Ilk can most certainly assist, it makes sense to do so.

Islamophobia at the UN

I take personal offense at this reprehensibly Islamophobic comment by a UN official, who implies that devoted members of the religion of peace would allow anyone to come to harm after taking control of a Syrian city:

Thousands of people “will most likely be massacred” if Kobani falls to Islamic State fighters, a U.N. envoy said on Friday, as militants fought deeper into the besieged Syrian Kurdish town in full view of Turkish tanks that have done nothing to intervene.

I’m sure the Turks are amused by the passive-aggressive criticism of their failure to defend the very Kurds who have been violently rebelling against their rule for decades, if not centuries. It’s one thing to wipe out your enemies. But one can hardly criticize a people who, upon seeing someone else doing it for them, shrug, look on, and say, “you know, defending those people is really neither our problem nor our interest.”

Anti-gun liberals would do well to keep this in mind come the day of the zombies. When they’re screaming “somebody, please do something!” I suspect there will be more than a few well-armed conservatives and libertarians who will look on with a faint smile and say, “now, weren’t you the very sort of idiot who a) brought the zombies to town, and b) tried to take my guns away?”

After all, did not the Bible say that the hearts of men would grow cold?

A failure in tech support

Spacebunny has an amusing encounter with Adobe’s fascinating approach to technical support.

Space Bunny ‏@Spacebunnyday
I have a new focus for my battle. @Adobe they are the reason I can’t print…..

Adobe Customer Care ‏@AdobeCare
@Spacebunnyday Hi there, can you provide more detail on your printing issue? Which Adobe app are you using? ^M

Space Bunny ‏@Spacebunnyday
@AdobeCare Reader – document could not be printed, no pages selected message. Uninstalled XI reinstalled version 8 and it works.

Adobe Customer Care ‏@AdobeCare
@Spacebunnyday Glad it has been sorted- thanks for letting us know! ^M

Space Bunny ‏@Spacebunnyday
I like the fact that you don’t CARE that your newest version doesn’t work….

Full points to Adobe Customer Care for being proactive and trawling Twitter in search of customer problems to attack. That’s great. But we really do have to subtract a few points for reading comprehension. And their subsequent response is not exactly confidence inspiring.

The Ebola curve

EVD Outbreak Week 40 (PDF):

The total number of confirmed, probable, and suspected cases (see Annex 1) in the West African epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD) reported up to the end of 5 October 2014 (epidemiological week 40) is 8033 with 3865 deaths. Countries affected are Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and the United States of America. A confirmed case of EVD has been reported in Spain, but because the case was confirmed during the week ending 12 October (epidemiological week 41), information on this case will be included in the next Ebola Response Roadmap update.

The past week has seen a continuation of recent trends: the situation in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone continues to deteriorate, with widespread and persistent transmission of EVD. Problems with data gathering in Liberia continue. It should be emphasized that the reported fall in the number of new cases in Liberia over the past three weeks is unlikely to be genuine. Rather, it reflects a deterioration in the ability of overwhelmed responders to record accurate epidemiological data. It is clear from field reports and first responders that EVD cases are being under-reported from several key locations, and laboratory data that have not yet been integrated into official estimates indicate an increase in the number of new cases in Liberia. There is no evidence that the EVD epidemic in West Africa is being brought under control, though there is evidence of a decline in incidence in the districts of Lofa in Liberia, and Kailahun and Kenema in Sierra Leone.

Recall that back in July, it was reported: “The current outbreak is the worst ever. So far 467 people have died and
health staff have identified at least 292 other suspected or confirmed
cases.” That was back in Week 25, so in the subsequent three months, we’ve seen the officially confirmed number of cases increase by 10.6, or if you prefer to put it in scary percentage terms, 958 PERCENT! According to this doubling calculator, the time in which it takes the outbreak to double is 4.39 weeks, so we’ll know that if the Week 41 report contains more than 9,862 confirmed cases, the outbreak is picking up its pace. Either way, the slope of that curve in confirmed cases from Week 25 to Week 40 looks rather problematic.

As for the likelihood that anything but a complete travel ban will stop the continued spread of the virus, consider this report from the CDC entitled “Epidemiology of Travel-associated Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 Infection in 116 Patients, Singapore”:

The fact that one fourth of the case-patients in our study boarded a plane after becoming ill and traveled despite having symptoms illustrates the role of travelers in disseminating infection in a highly interconnected world. It raises the question of whether exit screening should be considered. However, the effectiveness of exit screening will depend on the role of asymptomatic persons in transmission, and such screening will still miss persons who are incubating the infection. Exit screening would severely hinder international travel, and because of its questionable efficacy, it may not be justified and may be contrary to the intent of the International Health Regulations 2005.

So, wash your hands, stock up a bit, and avoid any unnecessary travel, that would be my advice. School vacation time is coming up in many countries in Europe in the next two weeks, so a lot of people have travel plans as a result. If things are going to go seriously south, we should know it in the next 4-6 weeks. To the right is a zoomed-in curve based on the actual confirmed cases reported by WHO from Weeks 34 to 40, added onto an averaged curve from the reported cases in Week 25. WHO only began releasing the reports in Week 34, but during those six weeks, the outbreak has gone from 3,000 to 8,000 officially confirmed cases.

Leave the volunteers in Africa

As one Australian parliamentarian points out, it is absolutely absurd, and unconscionable, that aid workers are brought to the West for treatment, and in doing so, are permitted to put their entire country at risk:

Ms Kovack’s humanitarian efforts have been slammed by outspoken Federal MP Bob Katter.  The member for Kennedy – whose electorate takes in the southern area of Cairns and the town’s airport – said her volunteering pursuits had put the nation at risk.

Mr Katter said it was ‘unbelievable and incomprehensive’ how a person could get into Australia from an Ebola-infected country.

‘There cannot be any compromise with this,’ Mr Katter said. ‘If you want to go to one of these countries, however laudable your motivation, I am sorry but when you return to Australia, you must be quarantined for three weeks – not home quarantined.’

Mr Katter said Australian aid workers travelling to west Africa, including Ms Kovack, were putting Australia at risk.

‘We love these people, and we honour these Australians for being self-sacrificing, but compared to the risk they create for our country, it is not remotely comparable. One person’s moral and humanitarian ambitions are being carried out at a very grave cost to Australia,’ he said.

I very much respect those people, many of whom are Christians, who are selfless and sacrificial enough to go over and help infected Africans. But part of being sacrificial is making the sacrifice.  If you get sick over there, you stay over there.  Period. It’s that simple.

They have the right to risk their own lives. They don’t have the right to put others at risk, nor should they ask others to do so.

DISQUALIFY! is not discourse

I’m adding a new reason for insta-spamming, as this shameless and ill-informed attempt to disqualify the military expert and Castalia House author William S. Lind should suffice to demonstrate:

DISQUALIFART: I think I’ll take my advice on military affairs from someone slightly less fucked up in the head.

VD: The more fool you. Lind is highly respected by Marines with extensive combat experience from lieutenants to Commandants.

DISQUALIFART: Spend much time among Marines, do you? Let’s be honest. The chances that a marine knows who this lunatic is, is somewhere next to zero. Tell them what he believes (“We ought to have a king in America and darn it those blacks would be better off as slaves) and you’ll get a really sense of what marines think of such a Cau Cau.

VD: I have spoken to two former members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the last week alone who are not only personally familiar with Mr. Lind, who was lecturing at Quantico this weekend, but think very well of him. The co-author of one of Mr. Lind’s forthcoming books is an active-duty LtCol in the USMC. You know literally nothing about this subject.

STILICHO: Yep, and I are one too! Lind has been well known and respected in the
Corps for decades. I certainly knew of him in the late 80’s and I
understand he was a regular lecturer/consultant at Quantico well before
that. Al Gray was well known as an admirer of Lind’s theoretical work.

Al Gray, of course, being the former Commandant of the Marine Corps. In addition to being the foremost among the fathers of 4th Generation Warfare, Mr. Lind is also the author of the Maneuver Warfare Handbook, which formalizes and explicates John Boyd’s theory that has been incorporated into formal USMC and British Army warfighting doctrine.

But none of that matters to a left-liberal troll who is hellbent on DISQUALIFY despite not only being in complete ignorance of the relevant facts, but continuing to attempt to do so after being warned of his ignorance.

No discourse is possible with people this ignorant and shameless. From now on, any attempt to DISQUALIFY is going to be met with instant spamming. There is absolutely nothing wrong with disagreeing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with criticizing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with attempting to demonstrate why your position is superior to another one.

But DISQUALIFY is the singular tactic of the stupid and the shameless. It is what they reliably resort to because they cannot successfully make a rational case for their own positions or construct a rational critique of the positions presented by others. This is no place for them and I have no intention of suffering such fools in any way at all.

Travel in Europe

So, I’m back from my latest trip, and I made a few observations:

  1. Thanks to Ebola, no one wants to sit or be anywhere around Africans. It would no doubt horrify the usual suspects to see how an African could clear out seats in all four directions simply by sitting down in both countries I recently visited.
  2. More people and startups are struggling than the newspapers want to admit. No one except those dialed directly into the stock market spigot being pumped by the Fed/ECB are doing what they consider well. This is true of even the very, very rich and successful who are involved in things rather than paper.
  3. If women want to stop looking like useless idiots in the business context, they really need to stop talking incessantly about their sex all the damn time and the “problem” of there being insufficient vaginas in [insert practically any industry, activity, or organization here]. We all know the drill. It doesn’t make you look smart. It makes you look clueless, irrelevant, and totally off-topic.
  4. The venture capital market is showing clear signs of 1999/2008 in a variety of ways. This doesn’t indicate an immediate crash, but one before 2016. Right now, it’s more feverish than 2008 but not as crazy as 1997-1999.
  5. New little technology project. It’s pretty cool and the Dread Ilk can definitely be of assistance in this regard if anyone is so inclined. More about this anon.

Too little, too late

Now that Ebola has arrived and killed people in the USA and Spain, the Obama administration belatedly attempts to look like it is doing something:

Federal health officials will require temperature checks for the first time at five major American airports for people arriving from the three West African countries hardest hit by the deadly Ebola virus. However, health experts said the measures were more likely to calm a worried public than to prevent many people with Ebola from entering the country. Still, they constitute the first large-scale attempt to improve security at American ports of entry since the virus arrived on American soil last month.

The thing is, if you don’t want people to panic, you should not lie to them and tell them they are safe when they are not.

On invasion

One of America’s foremost military thinkers explains that immigration can be MORE dangerous than a conventional military invasion:

Regrettably, the colossal mess created by “multi-culturalism” affects all Europeans and Americans, Right as well as Left. I will say again what I have said before: in a Fourth Generation world, invasion by immigrants who do not acculturate is more dangerous than invasion by the army of a foreign state. In America, a similar invading army took to our streets last week, demonstrating against any attempt to stem the invasion. Few of the flags they carried were American.

That was written by Bill Lind back in 2006. We were warned.

Dutch slaughter

So much for the concept of “never again”. Between abortion and the end of life and euthanasia at the end of it, modern secularists are beginning to make the National Socialist approach to mass killing look downright moderate:

The number of mentally-ill patients killed by euthanasia in Holland has trebled in the space of a year, new figures have revealed. In 2013, a total of 42 people with ‘severe psychiatric problems’ were killed by lethal injection compared to 14 in 2012 and 13 in 2011. The latest official figures also revealed a 15 per cent surge in the number of euthanasia deaths from 4,188 cases in 2012 to 4,829 cases last year. The incremental rise is consistent with a 13 per cent increase in 2012, an 18 per cent rise in 2011, 19 per cent in 2010 and 13 per cent in 2009.

The rise is also likely to confirm the fears of Dutch regulator Theo Boer who told the Daily Mail that he expected to see euthanasia cases smash the 6,000 barrier in 2014. Overall, deaths by euthanasia, which officially account for three per cent of all deaths in the Netherlands, have increased by 151 per cent in just seven years.

Most cases – some 3,600 people – involved cancer sufferers but there were also 97 people who died at the hands of their doctors because they were suffering from dementia, the figures show. The figures, however, do not include cases of so-called terminal sedation, where patients are given a cocktail of sedatives and narcotics before food and fluids are withdrawn. Studies suggest that if such deaths were added to the figure then euthanasia would account for one in eight – about 12.3 per cent – of all deaths in the Netherlands.

So, Dutch doctors are murdering people with “severe psychiatric problems” as well as dementia. At this point, it won’t be long into it is decided that everyone with an IQ under 99 is removed from the gene pool.

The idea that modern post-Christian society is any less barbaric than the Middle Ages is becoming increasingly risible.