BlackHat's Journal: /As you dig little holes for the dead and the maimed/

I think this moc-math example could do with a fair bit more work on the wording, but it has been kicking around on my scrap file, unposted, for too long. A quote by Mr. Hume, News, and a Texttoon.

21st Century American Social Math expressed as a Curve.
Given two points, each with a control point, on a 2D surface. Listed here as Pn, drawn with the curve U0 to U1.

Axis values: X Amount of Wealth & Representation, and a Y of Position & Prominence.

Locational points:
P0 [0,0]: Iconified as the child of a 12 year old foster who is, chained to a broken radiator and starving in the cold.
P2 [1,1]: Iconified as a man who has the wealth and position to manipulate; the market place, the judiciary to the highest courts in the land, and the legislatures from the civil to even the executive. All to his advantage. [see topic icon]

Control points:
P1 [1,0]: The control point for the most disadvantaged is firmly at the X-max and at its lowest level[Y]. As it has been for the last ~2200 years.
P3 [1,0]: At one time the second control point had a greater Y value than its origin. Reformers right up to the late 19th and early 20th centuries had made progress and the curve relaxed, somewhat. But recent advances in intimidating the rich has reduced it to the gutter with the previous control point. [see gated towns, outing, selective enforcement, muckraking, race-baiting, and anthrax]

Result: An L curve so rectangular, it might as well be called perpendicular. The intersection of a test ray from 0.5,0.5 to U(0.5) on the curve is almost equal to the square.

Trip-dot: There is no American Middle-Class or Middle-Income group to speak of. QED.

Quote:
The king, impelled more by the love of military glory than by superstition, acted from the beginning of his reign, as if the sole purpose of his government had been the relief of the Holy Land, and the recovery of Jerusalem from the Saracens.

This zeal against infidels, being communicated to his subjects, broke out in London on the day of his coronation, and made them find a crusade less dangerous, and attended with more immediate profit. The prejudices of the age had made the lending of money on interest pass by the invidious name of usury; yet the necessity of the practice had still continued it, and the greater part of that kind of dealing fell everywhere into the hands of the Jews; who being already infamous on account of their religion, had no honour to lose, and were apt to exercise a profession, odious in itself, by every kind of rigour, and even sometimes by rapine and extortion.

The industry and frugality of this people had put them in possession of all the ready money, which the idleness and profusion, common to the English with other European nations, enabled them to lend at exorbitant and unequal interest. The monkish writers represent it as a great stain on the wise and equitable government of Henry, that he had carefully protected this infidel race from all injures and insults; but the zeal of Richard afforded the populace a pretence for venting their animosity against them.

The king had issued an edict prohibiting their appearance at his coronation; but some of them, bringing him large presents from their nation, presumed, in confidence of that merit, to approach the hall in which he dined: being discovered, they were exposed to the insults of the bystanders; they took to flight; the people pursued them; the rumour was spread that the king had issued orders to massacre all the Jews; a command so agreeable was executed in an instant on such as fell into the hands of the populace; those who had kept at home were exposed to equal danger; the people, moved by rapacity and zeal, broke into their houses, which they plundered, after having murdered the owners; where the Jews barricaded their doors, and defended themselves with vigour, the rabble set fire to the houses, and made way through the flames to exercise their pillage and violence; the usual licentiousness of London, which the sovereign power with difficulty restrained, broke out with fury, and continued these outrages; the houses of the richest citizens, though Christians, were next attacked and plundered; and weariness and satiety at last put an end to the disorder: yet, when the king empowered Glanville, the justiciary, to inquire into the authors of these crimes, the guilt was found to involve so many of the most considerable citizens, that it was deemed more prudent to drop the prosecution; and very few suffered the punishment due to this enormity.

But the disorder stopped not at London. The inhabitants of the other cities of England, hearing of this slaughter of the Jews, imitated the example: in York, five hundred of that nation, who had retired into the castle for safety, and found themselves unable to defend the place, murdered their own wives and children, threw the dead bodies over the walls upon the populace, and then setting fire to the houses perished in the flames. The gentry of the neighbourhood, who were all indebted to the Jews, ran to the cathedral, where their bonds were kept, and made a solemn bonfire of the papers before the altar. The compiler of the Annals of Waverley, in relating these events, blesses the Almighty for thus delivering over this impious race to destruction.

The ancient situation of England, when the people possessed little riches and the public no credit, made it impossible for sovereigns to bear the expense of a steady or durable war, even on their frontiers; much less could they find regular means for the support of distant expeditions like those into Palestine, which were more the result of popular frenzy than of sober reason or deliberate policy.

Richard, therefore, knew that he must carry with him all the treasure necessary for his enterprise, and that both the remoteness of his own country and its poverty made it unable to furnish him with those continued supplies, which the exigencies of so perilous a war must necessarily require. His father had left him a treasure of above a hundred thousand marks; and the king, negligent of every consideration but his present object, endeavoured to augment this sum by all expedients, how pernicious soever to the public, or dangerous to royal authority.

He put to sale the revenues and manors of the crown; the offices of greatest trust and power, even those of forester and sheriff, which anciently were so important , became venal; the dignity of chief justiciary, in whose hands was lodged the whole execution of the laws, was sold to Hugh de Puzas, Bishop of Durham, for a thousand marks; the same prelate bought the earldom of Northumberland for life; many of the champions of the cross, who had repented of the vow, purchased the liberty of violating it; and Richard, who stood less in need of men than of money, dispensed, on these conditions, with their attendance. Elated with the hopes of fame, which, in that age, attended no wars but those against the infidels, he was blind to every other consideration; and when some of his wiser ministers objected to this dissipation of the revenue and power of the crown, he replied that he would sell London itself, could he find a purchaser. Nothing, indeed, could be a stronger proof how negligent he was of all future interests in comparison of the crusade, than his selling, for so small a sum as ten thousand marks, the vassalage of Scotland, together with the fortresses of Roxburgh and Berwick, the greatest acquisition that had been made by his father during the course of his victorious reign; and his accepting the homage of William in the usual terms, merely for the territories which that prince held in England.

The English of all ranks and stations were oppressed by numerous exactions; menaces were employed, both against the innocent and the guilty, in order to extort money from them; and where a pretence was wanting against the rich, the king obliged them, by the fear of his displeasure, to lend him sums which, he knew, it would never be in his power to repay.

But Richard, though he sacrificed every interest and consideration to the success of this pious enterprise, carried so little the appearance of sanctity in his conduct, that Fulk, curate of Neuilly, a zealous preacher of the crusade, who, from that merit, had acquired the privilege of speaking the boldest truths, advised him to rid himself of his notorious vices, particularly his pride, avarice, and voluptuousness, which he called the king's three favourite daughters. YOU COUNSEL WELL, replied Richard, and I HEREBY DISPOSE OF THE FIRST TO THE TEMPLARS, OF THE SECOND TO THE BENEDICTINES, AND OF THE THIRD TO MY PRELATES.

Richard, jealous of attempts which might be made on England during his absence, laid Prince John, as well as his natural brother, Geoffrey, Archbishop of York, under engagements, confirmed by their oaths, that neither of them should enter the kingdom till his return; though he thought proper, before his departure, to withdraw this prohibition. The administration was left in the hands of Hugh, Bishop of Durham, and of Longchamp, Bishop of Ely, whom he appointed justiciaries and guardians of the realm.

The latter was a Frenchman, of mean birth, and of a violent character; who, by art and address, had insinuated himself into favour, whom Richard had created chancellor, and whom he had engaged the pope also to invest with the legatine authority, that, by centering every kind of power in his person, he might the better ensure the public tranquillity. All the military and turbulent spirits flocked about the person of the king, and were impatient to distinguish themselves against the infidels in Asia; whither his inclinations, his engagements, led him, and whither he was impelled by messages from the King of France, ready to embark in this enterprise.

The Emperor Frederic, a prince of great spirit and conduct, had already taken the road to Palestine, at the head of one hundred and fifty thousand men, collected from Germany and all the northern states. Having surmounted every obstacle thrown in his way by the artifices of the Greeks and the power of the infidels, he had penetrated to the borders of Syria; when, bathing in the cold river Cydnus during the greatest heat of the summer season, he was seized with a mortal distemper, which put an end to his life and his rash enterprise.

His army, under the command of his son, Conrade, reached Palestine; but was so diminished by fatigue, famine, maladies, and the sword, that it scarcely amounted to eight thousand men; and was unable to make any progress against the great power, valour, and conduct of Saladin. These reiterated calamities attending the crusades had taught the Kings of France and England the necessity of trying another road to the Holy Land; and they determined to conduct their armies thither by sea, to carry provisions along with them, and, by means of their naval power, to maintain an open communication with their own states, and with the western parts of Europe. The place of rendezvous was appointed in the plains of Vezelay, on the borders of Burgundy. Philip and Richard, on their arrival there, found their combined army amount to one hundred thousand men; a mighty force, animated with glory and religion, conducted by two warlike monarchs, provided with every thing which their several dominions could supply, and not to be overcome but by their own misconduct, or by the unsurmountable obstacles of nature.

The French prince and the English here reiterated their promises of cordial friendship, pledged their faith not to invade each other's dominions during the crusade, mutually exchanged the oaths of all their barons and prelates to the same effect, and subjected themselves to the penalty of interdicts and excommunications, if they should ever violate this public and solemn engagement. They then separated; Philip took the road to Genoa, Richard that to Marseilles, with a view of meeting their fleets, which were severally appointed to rendezvous in these harbours. They put to sea; and, nearly about the same time, were obliged, by stress of weather, to take shelter in Messina, where they were detained during the whole winter. This incident laid the foundation of animosities which proved fatal to their enterprise.

Richard and Philip were, by the situation and extent of their dominions, rivals in power; by their age and inclinations, competitors for glory; and these causes of emulation which, had the princes been employed in the field against the common enemy, might have stimulated them to martial enterprises, soon excited, during the present leisure and repose, quarrels between monarchs of such a fiery character. Equally haughty, ambitious, intrepid, and inflexible, they were irritated with the least appearance of injury, and were incapable, by mutual condescensions, to efface those causes of complaint, which unavoidably arose between them. Richard, candid, sincere, undesigning, impolitic, violent, laid himself open, on every occasion, to the designs of his antagonist; who, provident, interested, intriguing, failed not to take all advantages against him: and thus, both the circumstances of their disposition in which they were similar, and those in which they differed, rendered it impossible for them to persevere in that harmony which was so necessary to the success of their undertaking.

The last King of Sicily and Naples was William II., who had married Joan, sister to Richard, and who, dying without issue, had bequeathed his dominions to his paternal aunt, Constantia, the only legitimate descendant surviving of Roger, the first sovereign of those states who had been honoured with the royal title.

This princess had, in expectation of that rich inheritance, been married to Henry VI., the reigning emperor; but Tancred, her natural brother, had fixed such an interest among the barons, that, taking advantage of Henry's absence, he had acquired possession of the throne, and maintained his claim, by force of arms, against all the efforts of the Germans. The approach of the crusaders naturally gave him apprehensions for his unstable government; and he was uncertain, whether he had most reason to dread the presence of the French or of the English monarch. Philip was engaged in a strict alliance with the emperor his competitor; Richard was disgusted by his rigours towards the queen-dowager, whom the Sicilian prince had confined in Palermo, because she had opposed with all her interest his succession to the crown.

Tancred, therefore, sensible of the present necessity, resolved to pay court to both these formidable princes; and he was not unsuccessful in his endeavours. He persuaded Philip that it was highly improper for him to interrupt his enterprise against the infidels, by any attempt against a Christian state: he restored Queen Joan to her liberty; and even found means to make an alliance with Richard, who stipulated by treaty to marry his nephew, Arthur, the young Duke of Britany, to one of the daughters of Tancred. But before these terms of friendship were settled, Richard, jealous both of Tancred and of the inhabitants of Messina, had taken up his quarters in the suburbs, and had possessed himself of a small fort, which commanded the harbour; and he kept himself extremely on his guard against their enterprises.

The citizens took umbrage. Mutual insults and attacks passed between them and the English: Philip, who had quartered his troops in the town, endeavoured to accommodate the quarrel, and held a conference with Richard for that purpose. While the two kings, meeting in the open fields, were engaged in discourse on this subject, a body of those Sicilians seemed to be drawing towards them; and Richard pushed forwards, in order to inquire into the reason of this extraordinary movement.

The English, insolent from their power, and inflamed with former animosities, wanted but a pretence for attacking the Messinese: they soon chased them off the field, drove them into the town, and entered with them at the gates.

The king employed his authority to restrain them from pillaging and massacring the defenceless inhabitants; but he gave orders, in token of his victory, that the standard of England should be erected on the walls. Philip, who considered that place as his quarters, exclaimed against the insult, and ordered some of his troops to pull down the standard: but Richard informed him by a messenger, that, though he himself would willingly remove that ground of offence, he would not permit it to be done by others; and if the French king attempted such an insult upon him, he should not succeed but by the utmost effusion of blood.

Philip, content with this species of haughty submission, recalled his orders; the difference was seemingly accommodated; but still left the remains of rancour and jealousy in the breasts of the two monarchs.

Tancred, who, for his own security, desired to inflame their mutual hatred, employed an artifice which might have been attended with consequences still more fatal. He showed Richard a letter, signed by the French king, and delivered to him, as he pretended, by the Duke of Burgundy; in which that monarch desired Tancred to fall upon the quarters of the English, and promised to assist him in putting them to the sword, as common enemies.

The unwary Richard gave credit to the information; but was too candid not to betray his discontent to Philip, who absolutely denied the letter, and charged the Sicilian prince with forgery and falsehood. Richard either was, or pretended to be, entirely satisfied.
--D. Hume

News from the future of yesterday:
It's the Punch'en Judy Show.

Pitt takes WashPo's Richard Cohen to task. You speak of the angry mob because you got slapped around via email, but your characterization of the anti-war crowd tells me you have not spent a single moment out in the streets with them. --vs-- What to make of all this? First, it's not about Colbert. His show has an audience of about 1 million -- not exactly "American Idol" numbers. Second, it marks the end of a silly pretense about interactive media: We give you our e-mail addresses and then, in theory, we have this nice chat. Forget about it. Not only is e-mail too often a kind of epistolary spitball, but there's no way I can even read the 3,506 e-mails now backed up in my queue -- seven more since I started writing this column. Wow, really? A whole seven past the filters in the time it took to expose your own ignorance. That's progress for ya!

But don't get too full of yourselves. There is still enough Dark-Ages to go around. A prominent philosopher who has written extensively on cultural and philosophical topics, Jahanbegloo is director of Contemporary Studies at the Cultural Research Bureau, a private institution in Tehran. His academic writings include more than 20 books in English, French and Persian. He has also written for newspapers and magazines in Iran and abroad. "The arbitrary arrest of Ramin Jahanbegloo shows the perilous state of academic freedom and free speech in Iran today," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "This prominent scholar should be celebrated for his academic achievements, not interrogated in one of Iran's most infamous prisons." The authorities detained Jahanbegloo at Tehran Airport on or around Thursday, April 27. Officials refused to acknowledge his detention until Wednesday, May 3, when Tehran's deputy prosecutor general, Mahmoud Salarkia, confirmed Jahanbegloo's detention in an interview with the Iranian Students News Agency.

Picking a winner in NZ. "Dr Brash has to tell us now whether his team accepted his suggestion that US strategists be used in his campaign and whether, as was widely rumoured at the time, the strategist did visit New Zealand in order to assist the National party.

Rice Record. QUESTION: Let's hope we're all in and locked up. Our guest obviously needs no introduction. I will say on behalf of the news division, on behalf of our news division president, who as we mentioned is leaving for the airport, Madame Secretary, we appreciate you spending some time with us today. And I guess our ground rules are actually your choice. I guess we're on the record unless I was -- SECRETARY RICE: On the record. Nice of him to point out the key points before they started "...we're all in [it up to our ears] and [should be] locked up..." and "...our ground rules are actually your choice[command, as always]".

Puppet Show III nearly ready. Mr Maliki said that he hoped to form a new administration within two days. He said nominations for the key posts in the cabinet have been submitted by Shia, Sunni and Kurdish groups. And not, repeat not, an obvious short list submitted by the USA.

Tigers came and went. Now they don't want to come back.

Explored Roll: A bun that is left undiscovered by those already there.

Improperly monitored : Translation "Did not hire us... the bastards".

The StrawDog's replacement. Mrs Beckett's appointment as foreign secretary in Friday's reshuffle was a surprise - not least to her. After a weekend of briefings in her Derby South constituency, her posting began at the VIP lounge at Heathrow airport at 11am on Monday where she started work on her red boxes.

Simon says: Yesterday he outlined a programme that would have kept the Victorians flat out for a century, while insisting that he would leave his successor plenty of time "to bed himself in". It was wonderful: demented, mad, crazed. Did he hear what he was saying? Blazing neologisms flew past like those plasma things airmen imagine are flying saucers. He asked us to ponder the views of those "at the reasonable end of the market". What on earth could that mean? We had a mental picture of a street market where at one end stallholders scream, ("arnly a pahnd a pahnd, darlink!"), while at the reasonable end traders murmur: "I have some passable bananas here, moderately though not foolishly priced. Might you consider purchasing a quantity?" He also showed - unusually - signs of suffering from secondary Prescott, the verbal disorder that afflicts anyone who has dealings with the deputy PM, like the lasagne that laid waste Spurs. Of Charles Clarke's dismissal, he said: "There was no one I less wanted to make the decision in respect of." And through it all we were hypnotised by the eye, the one gleaming, bulging eye that tells us so much about what is really going on inside the Blair brain. It seems to act independently of the other, often wider, sometimes hooded. Occasionally, even while he is grinning, the eye focuses balefully on a tormentor. It resembles a special branch officer, who, while the politician glads hands and slaps backs, scans the crowd for concealed weaponry.

SD-DPB May 5th softball game.
QUESTION: Can we talk about Darfur, please?

MR. MCCORMACK: Sure.

QUESTION: And update us on any progress -- well, the progress we know about and whether he is doing better in getting more rebel parties to sign on?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah. The situation now is still -- I guess the way to put it is still evolving. Deputy Secretary Zoellick has talked to some of the media in Abuja. And right now, it -- you know, what we hope is that this is a good and hopeful day for the people of Sudan and the people of Darfur. It -- you know, the news reports coming out of Abuja have the Government of Sudan and then the main rebel -- main faction of the rebel groups under the leadership of Minni Minawi agreeing on an accord. The talks are still continuing and I think that there is still some consideration on the part of at least one of the other rebel groups led by Abdulwahid whether or not they're going to sign on to the accord. So that's where we stand right now. I think it's still an evolving situation but a potentially very hopeful day for the people of Darfur.

Now I just have to caution that even if there is an agreement, an agreement on paper, there will be a need to implement that agreement. And it's going to require as much, if not more, work on the part of the parties involved and the international community to see an agreement implemented. And we will be right there to work with members of international community to see that it is implemented. But first we have to get signatures on the piece of paper. At this point, I'm not aware that we have that quite yet.

QUESTION: And what happens if only one party signs on? Is the deal invalid or do you try to move forward with --

MR. MCCORMACK: No, I think you continue to move forward. I think that you -- again, we're getting into the realm of "ifs" here. But if that is, in fact, the case, you continue working the political process, so you -- there's no substitute for a political accommodation, a political settlement in order to ultimately resolve the grave humanitarian and security issues that exist there. You address those in their own right. But ultimately, you're not going to solve the issues in Darfur with -- absent that political agreement.

Sue.

QUESTION: Is this going to be under discussion with both the Quartet and the P-5? And how far are you getting in terms of finding troops and others to implement this agreement?

MR. MCCORMACK: In terms of P-5, it could very well come up in that context. Quartet, I don't expect it to come up. I know that the British Government has made some suggestions about a potential meeting on Darfur up in New York, and that's certainly a very interesting idea. We're going to follow up with them as well as our other colleagues at the UN on that idea, but at this point there's nothing that's gelled on that.

QUESTION: Are you talking within the context of these meetings next week when you say --

MR. MCCORMACK: Excuse me? No, I've seen -- again, I've seen the press reports on it.

QUESTION: No, I mean, but next -- but for next week, not just like in the future.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right.

QUESTION: You're talking about next week.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Yeah, again, I've seen the press reports about that but there's nothing -- I mean, there's nothing to -- that certainly I could confirm on that.

Our focus right now is on the Abuja talks and making those work and doing what we can to see that they move forward.

QUESTION: So who would attend these talks possibly that the British are interested in?

MR. MCCORMACK: Again, this is -- you know, I've seen the news -- I've seen the news reports on this, Sue, so, you know, it is not -- it is not something that's on anybody's agenda at this point.

QUESTION: It's on the agenda of the French. They announced it officially. (Laughter.) But it will be --

MR. MCCORMACK: I didn't mean to leave out my French colleagues.

QUESTION: It will be at 4pm.

QUESTION: That's not fairly definite, then?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, yeah -- no, it's not fairly definite. As of right now, Sylvie, it's not on the Secretary's schedule.

QUESTION: Okay.

QUESTION: What are Deputy Secretary Zoellick's plans? Is he coming back? Is he staying to see if he can get more signatures? Is he going on to --

MR. MCCORMACK: Right now he's there and he's working hard and he's working side by side with the AU negotiators and President Obasanjo of Nigeria. And I just have to single out President Obasanjo and the leadership of the AU for the effort that they have put in to bring this negotiating process to the point at which it finds itself right now. We hope that it is successful in terms of gaining as many possible signatures on the document from the rebel groups as possible, but President Obasanjo and the AU deserve great praise and great credit for the effort that they have put in and the focus that they have devoted to get the process to the point at which we are right now.

*YAITJ: Manual Mode :

Texttoon:
Fumetti : Stock photo of James Brown on stage. Composited head and hands of Ken Lay to replace. Overlayed speech bubble;
"(horn flourish to bass and lead)
We feel real good [Aooow! Yah!]
About where we are right now [Hunh!!]

We think (stab, horns)
In fact (stab, horns+strings)
In the end (stab, all)

(double time)
We're going to prevail [Waaaaow! Nah-nah! Hit it!]
(horn breakdown -- end on stab for cue)

(sliding funk)
God has blessed me and my family enormously [Ahaha! Yah!]
He's been in that courtroom every day [Wak'n ha'd nah!]
He has a plan and a purpose in this [Oooh yah!]

(double time)
I have complete confidence [Ss'again! Nah!]
I have complete confidence [Oooowww! Yah!]
It's going to come out fine [Yah nah! Hunh!]
(repeats until fades from press)"