The Perils of HFT

I always thought that high frequency trading was inherently, well, bullshit because it doesn't add anything to a business.

In theory when you invest in a company they will use your funds to expand operations by purchasing physical capital (i.e. real estate, machinery, etc) and/or labor of more quality or quantity.

With HFT (High Frequency Trade) those funds may be invested for less than a second. I think anyone with sense can see that these rapid swings can make it very difficult to plan out business expenditures. It can also make it difficult to compete for non-HFT investors, as HFT trades will always be faster.

It leads to destabilizing effects on the broader economy and exacerbated wealth inequality, as this is very much a rich man's advantage.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-03-31/market-rigged-michael-lewis-explains-how-hfts-screw-investors-every-day

I didn't get to watch the 60 minutes episode they refer to but hope to watch these clips when I have better access to data.

Flash mob violence

Saw this excellent post on recent flash mob violence in Louisville.

Peter brings some excellent analysis of second order effects of successful self defense:

" Like I said . . . you can't win, even if you survive.  Note what happened to the old man who defended himself with a knife when attacked in Louisville (described in the linked article above - the incident which appears to have sparked last weekend's violence).  The police immediately arrested and jailed him.  The grand jury no-billed him when they saw the security video, and he's since been released . . . but until that happened, he was locked up among all sorts of criminals and gang-bangers.  Now imagine yourself in his shoes.  You've successfully defended yourself against a criminal flash mob.  Now you're locked up among thugs and criminals who probably knew some of those you've just shot, and who are likely to be looking to avenge them.  Are you sure you'll survive long enough to be exonerated?  I'm not!"

Seriously, RTWT.

http://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2014/03/criminal-flash-mobs-growing-peril-to.html?m=1

Vapor farming

It's not just for Tatooine any more. This is pretty impressive and yet simple.

http://www.wired.com/design/2014/03/warka-water-africa

Who wears black hats?

I just recently came across this article, now a couple weeks old that elaborates on the NSA's work on implanted malware to further its goals of surveillance and social engineering. 

I had seen a few articles around that hinted at some capabilities and avenues they were exploring.  The implications of the Zero Hedge led me to believe that conventional tactics of using strong encryption and TOR alone would not be enough, because they intend to compromise endpoints with the malware.

The Intercept article pretty well confirms that suspicion:

"
The NSA has a diverse arsenal of malware tools, each highly sophisticated and customizable for different purposes.
One implant, codenamed UNITEDRAKE, can be used with a variety of “plug-ins” that enable the agency to gain total control of an infected computer.
An implant plug-in named CAPTIVATEDAUDIENCE, for example, is used to take over a targeted computer’s microphone and record conversations taking place near the device. Another, GUMFISH, can covertly take over a computer’s webcam and snap photographs. FOGGYBOTTOM records logs of Internet browsing histories and collects login details and passwords used to access websites and email accounts. GROK is used to log keystrokes. And SALVAGERABBIT exfiltrates data from removable flash drives that connect to an infected computer.
The implants can enable the NSA to circumvent privacy-enhancing encryption tools that are used to browse the Internet anonymously or scramble the contents of emails as they are being sent across networks. That’s because the NSA’s malware gives the agency unfettered access to a target’s computer before the user protects their communications with encryption."

RTWT

So, what to do? I can think of a couple things but I am not ready to throw them out there without a bit more research. I mostly wanted to get this out ASAP because commonly used turn-key systems may not be enough.

So beware, stay on your toes, and don't give up. Freedom is always worth it.

For your listening enjoyment

And a feast for the eyes, as well. Seriously trippy video.

Where Dexter vacationed?

Now, I don't know if that is blood on the hotel room wall and I don't know if a murder victim was the last occupant of this room.

But...I have ten dollars on the table here. Any takers?

Russians...

They seem to be able to recognize the abyss as it slowly opens its maw, while the rest of us are confused or distracted. I suppose it is because they have spent so much time in recent memory either climbing out of it or trying not to be sucked in.

Anyway, check out this bit from the latest Woodpile Report:

 Rand and Orlov

You will find, in Woodpile Report's right hand column, at the top, a quote from Ayn Rand's The Virtue of Selfishness, 1961: "We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission." Here, from The Nature of Government, is the full sentence:

Instead of being a protector of man's rights, the government is becoming their most dangerous violator; instead of guarding freedom, the government is establishing slavery; instead of protecting men from the initiators of physical force, the government is initiating physical force and coercion in any manner and issue it pleases; instead of serving as the instrument of objectivity in human relationships, the government is creating a deadly, subterranean reign of uncertainty and fear, by means of nonobjective laws whose interpretation is left to the arbitrary decisions of random bureaucrats; instead of protecting men from injury by whim, the government is arrogating to itself the power of unlimited whim—so that we are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force.

Dmitry Orlov—by coincidence another Russian-born American, or perhaps not so coincidentally—revisited Rand's proposition in an essay largely devoted to analyzing President Putin and the events in Ukraine. It's a hard but refreshing summary of the sort we see only at long intervals. Ominously, but justifiably, he drops the "fast approaching" notion. Who, given the events of the intervening 53 years, will contradict him?

 Compare the concept of the “dictatorship of the law,” domestic as well as international, as it is promulgated by Putin, to the sort of law which now prevails in the United States. In the US, there are now two categories of persons. There are those who are above the law: the US government and its agencies, including NSA, FBI, DOD, etc.; Wall Street financiers and shadowy government contractors who are never prosecuted for their crimes; the über-rich who are politically connected and can prevail legally against anyone simply by throwing money at lawyers.

And then there are those who are below the law: everyone else. These are some of the most sheepish people in the world, living in constant fear of getting sued and stripped of their savings—or arrested, intimidated into accepting a plea bargain, and locked up. They can now be detained indefinitely without a charge. They can be kidnapped from anywhere in the world, transported to a “black site” and tortured. They can be put on trial without being informed of the charge and convicted based on evidence that is kept secret from them. Their communities can be placed under martial law without cause. Individually, they can be shot on sight with no provocation of suspicion of wrongdoing.

This article was first posted  at Liberty's Torch Sunday, March 23rd

Dark stuff, but I can find no bone to pick. Plan accordingly.

Violence may not be the answer...

...but the threat of reciprocal violence often is.  Oftentimes when you see someone walked all over, from an individual level or even as large groups it is because they simply don't have the means to resist or defend themselves.

Quite simply, anyone who advocates for gun control or disarming individuals is NOT an advocate for minorities, as they are usually the ones victimized when in a weakened, disarmed state.

Consider the current events in the article.

http://reason.com/archives/2014/03/20/ukrainians-and-venezuelans-need-guns-to

Happy Vernal Equinox

Today the sun is passing the equator heading back north, bringing longer days and warmer temperatures to those of us in the northern hemisphere.

So crack a beer, pass the mead horn, or roast a goat or whatever. May you enjoy it all the same.

Don't Poke the Bear

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/03/17/don_t_poke_the_russian_bear_ukraine

Here's a pretty good article detailing the foreign policy implications of the state department's reaction and explaining the way the Russians likely view this whole situation.

H/t Dan Carlin's Twitter feed.

P.S. For more on this and other things, I highly recommend Dan's podcast. Follow the link above.

Simple solutions to complex problems

http://permaculturenews.org/2014/03/14/solar-water-bottle-bulbs/

Happy St. Patty's Day!

How many safety men do you have to smack upside the head with a two foot monkey wrench to get a Guinness on a crew boat, on St. Patrick's Day?

Too many.

Hope you can enjoy the holiday in style and perhaps next year I can bend an elbow with the rest of y'all.

Slainte! Cheers!

Fire in the Engine Room!

So, we are coming in from offshore, it's about 2200 and I am up early. My watch doesn't start until midnight. I'm up in the wheelhouse, as is the whole crew, but for the deckhand. The weather has greatly improved since the morning when the latest cold front had come through with 25-30 knot winds and 6-8 foot seas with occasional 10's. Winds have shifted and lightened considerably and it is only about a 2-4 foot sea by now.

Ricky, the other captain, is on the wheel and notices the RPM's falling on the starboard inboard engine and so sends Dustin, the engineer down to see what is going on.  About 45 seconds later he is running back up the stairs yelling "Fire in the engine room!"

Harold, the mate, and I take off for the engine room grabbing extinguishers as we go. Harold and Dustin get in ahead of me.  I standby the door while they use the extinguishers on the fire.  The left bank turbo on the starboard inboard has flames licking up off of it, but not for much longer.  The extinguishers make short work of it. 

Damages seem to be minimal, as the only obvious thing aside from a partially melted air separator is some melted wiring.  The cause of the fire appears to a leak from an oil line that was dripping on the turbo.  All things considered it went extremely well, it was quickly extinguished, no one was hurt, and it barely affected our ability to operate.

Total freaking buzzkill

Sipping on beer and digging on some good southern rock like this:



And then work calls you up and asks if you can be at the office at 0700. And the office is three and half hours away. And you have to drive another five hours or so to get to the boat. Killed my good time real quick.

Gotta make that dollar, though.

Some thoughts on weak side shooting

 

Recently I sustained an injury to my right shoulder, and it has seriously curtailed my use of that arm. Strength and flexibility have been severely hampered. It has set me to thinking about this deficiency from injury and a deficiency from negligence. 

Now like many lazy shooters, I spend nearly no time on weak side shooting. I mostly shoot for fun, but also for practical reasons like hunting and self defense concerns as well.*

The weak side practice largely centers on self defense scenarios where you are injured (often envisioned to be the struggle which has you bring your weapon to bear) and you must carry on with your non-dominant hand lest you succumb to another's force.  What most of these scenarios that most of us picture miss is the distinct possibility that you enter this situation pre-injured from something totally unrelated. Snowboarding accident for instance.

  

So reflecting on all this has lead me to a few conclusions that could redress this.

1. The most obvious and important first step is to take up practice of weak side shooting and do so quite regularly. Draw and dry fire included. Nothing can replace this and it is critical for anyone serious about this.
2. Next is to make sure I have a left hand draw holster for my carry gun(s). Now for those commonly envisioned scenarios where you sustain the strong side injury during the fight, this does nothing for you**. But given an injury before hand, you can still carry, draw comfortably and less awkwardly with a dedicated weak side holster.
3.  Another thing to do is minimize risk of injury to create that situation in the first place. So I should give up extreme sports and be more careful.(...Yeah, piss on that one. The first two are pretty good though.)   

So, a little something for those you out there to consider before you find yourself in an unnecessarily weak and defenseless position. It is an experience you could do with out with a little fore though
                                                   
* I also tend to view it as a form of political protest.

** Unless you decide to carry two guns, one weak side, one strong. This has merit for a number of reasons but can be costly, cumbersome, and uncomfortable. Still, something to consider.

Time to get to it

Beginings...

Alright, I guess this is a disclaimer wrapped around a mission statement. This is a self imposed writing assignment with a few intentions, chiefly for self exploration in trying to reconcile in words those things that seem so self contradictory about this man who is me. Secondly is a view into that man to those who know me but certainly not in all aspects. Thirdly, this is an exercise in developing the story teller and teacher in me that needs so much work. 

Some of this may be shocking and unusual to some folks, largely those who know me in the meatspace. Some of this may be weird, as you may find some things strange. Some may be perplexing, as it seems contradictory, but reality is stranger than fiction. I am too weird to be normal and too normal too be weird.