OTO Minerval Initiation

May 9, 2009 in Thelema with 0 Comments

Recently, I was initiated into the degree of Minerval in OTO. I obviously can’t say much about what happened, but I think it is worth mentioning, for those interested:

  • It was not what I expected
  • I *loved* it
  • I believe it was effective

My stay at Pyramid Lodge, as always, was quite pleasant. The environment always carries an intellectual and hospitable feel. It is the kind of place where you can grow because there is constant intellectual stimulation, and no unnecessary bounds or groupthink (beyond the egregore — which is a good thing). After returning home, I feel like a lot of the creativity has stuck with me, and I am constantly coming up with new ideas and challenging old ones in much the same way as my brothers at the lodge were doing. This is certainly a welcome change from my current, stagnant environment wherein everybody spends their whole waking life watching TV when they’re not working.

For those considering OTO, I would definitely recommend you look into it first-hand, ignoring the internet drama and finding out for yourself. Isn’t this what the method of science is all about?

Lessons Learned From Freelancing

April 28, 2009 in Computing, Thoughts on Life with 0 Comments

I recently come across some freelance web development work and thought “great!” It would be an opportunity to be able to communicate directly with the client, not have a nosy/annoying boss who interferes with what I do best, work at the hours when I’m the most productive, etc. Don’t get me wrong, freelancing is great, but there are definitely some rules you *have* to follow. Some of these are obvious, some of them you may not know.

  1. Always collect at least some of the payment up front. I thought I knew my client pretty well: hell, he’s a long-time friend and business partner of my father’s. Figured, okay, I’ll just get the work done and he’ll cut me a cheque, and no problem because he’s somebody I trust. Apparently he thought so too, as our first meeting ended with “well, I know you need money because the economy is tough and you’re unemployed, so get it done quick!” Well, it’s been a few months, and I’m not getting so much as an e-mail from him, let alone a cheque.

    2. Continue Reading…

20th Anniversary of my Birth

April 27, 2009 in Beauty, Thoughts on Life with 1 Comment

Today I turned twenty and for the first time since I was ten, I feared death to a great degree. Today I saw my grandfather’s ashes, pondered the immanence of a potential flu pandemic, coughed my lungs up again for the Nth day in a row (allergies hopefully), and am a year older. Today I was presented with stuffed animals and other familiar objects from when I was young. They were torn, peeling, and black, except for the photographs, gradually fading to white. Today, for the first time in ten years, I saw the face of death, and seriously pondered my own mortality.

Maybe not now, but too soon for comfort. It ruined the enjoyment of my birthday. While my family smiled at me and expected the same back, I only wanted to cry in mourning of my losses. Where has my childhood gone?

I am in despair, dear brothers and sisters.

PGP Key Signing Parties

April 19, 2009 in Crypto with 0 Comments

Being a computer security enthusiast for the past seven or more years, I have come across a number of interesting and useful technologies and methods for both establishing a personal security culture, and exploiting systems to bypass their security features. A very well-known technology in the former category is PGP, an acronym standing for “Pretty Good Privacy.”

PGP is a public key encryption mechanism which allows for unparalleled encryption-based data security. It is widely thought that if using PGP, given a strong enough passphrase, not even the NSA can crack the encryption and access your confidential information (although they can crack your skull if you don’t give them the passphrase). Continue Reading…

The Problems of Capitalism

April 17, 2009 in Anarchism/Politics with 0 Comments

In response to a recent Slashdot poll regarding the “best” system of taxes, a few comments arose questioning capitalism altogether. Those in favour of capitalism made various arguments that anarchism could not work, and some anarchists explained why it could, and even pointed out that they lived in an anarchist cooperative which has been flourishing for some 20 years.

This particular topic is very interesting to me, so I decided I would do an entry explaining my views on capitalism.

I’d like to start by defining the terms we will be using. Please keep these definitions in mind throughout the essay.

Capitalism – A system of trade in which the goal is for an individual to maximize his or her wealth through maximum profit. Capitalists claim that not all people are equal — that some are smarter, stronger, funnier, etc, and should use these natural talents to acquire wealth and thus maximize their survival and comfort. It is argued that doing so elevates society in the form of new technology and ideas. Hierarchy is inherently a part of capitalism.

Anarchism – The absence of hierarchy. Anarchism is often thought to represent lawlessness and chaos, but I would argue that this is not true. Anarchists advocate grassroots planning, horizontal decision making, and organization. The post office is an excellent example of how an anarchist society could operate: a series of independent autonomous collectives cooperating with each other.

First, I will defend the fact that hierarchy is inherent in capitalism and that this same hierarchy is, in every case, bad. Because capitalism is concerned with maximizing profit, we will look at the typical exchange in a capitalist market:

Continue Reading…

Time Warner Delays Tiered Pricing

April 16, 2009 in Anarchism/Politics with 0 Comments

According to a Time Warner press release issued today, as well as local news sources, Time Warner will not be moving forward on their tiered pricing plan at the moment.

This may sound like a good thing, but there are a few aspects of this issue to consider, which I’ll address in this post. Namely, one should be aware of the facts, and not let oneself be pacified by this delay (or anything else) so as to prevent a smaller response, and thus Time Warner’s success, when they try this again. Now is the time to be on guard more than ever!

First, I’d like to start by saying that I am 100% against the so-called “tiered pricing” Time Warner has been proposing to adopt in various locations. Being a nearly lifelong resident of the Greater Rochester Area, I know that there are not many alternatives for consumer high speed internet. That is to say, Time Warner (aka “Road Runner”) has a monopoly of sorts, which they are abusing. Sure, there’s Frontier, but I have used them off and on in the past, and indeed am currently using them, and can say without hesitation that they are both slow and unreliable. Not to mention that Frontier has been considering their own usage cap, at 5 GB a month. There are other services as well, but to get at least the same speed/reliability offered by Road Runner without having to pay for T1 or better, is difficult in areas where Time Warner operates.

Now, let’s analyze Time Warner’s claims and the implications thereof. Time Warner’s official propaganda is twofold. First, they have made claims about their infrastructure being overloaded due to people “overusing” the connections they paid for. Second, they claim they want to save customers money by making you “only” have to pay for what you use, thus providing some relief to poor grandma who lives off her meager social security check and can’t afford to eat and have email at the same time, while punishing those pesky movie “thieves.” Sounds great, huh?

I recall a time in middle school where a chocolate bar company wanted us to sell their product door to door as a fundraising effort for the school. The man explaining how the fundraising would work said he was going to let us in on a little secret to help us sell more chocolate and thus get bigger prizes. He told us that in order to get a customer to really buy into what you’re saying, no matter how badly you’re ripping them off, just drop the words “free” and “save.”

Time Warner’s plan does not actually “save” anybody money. They will be charging essentially the same amount for a vastly reduced data transfer limit. Here is the pricing tier they were proposing: Continue Reading…

Siouxsie and the Banshees – Black Sun lyrics

April 16, 2009 in Beauty with 0 Comments

This is the first song by a goth band I ever listened to. I first heard it when I was 13, and listening to it today makes me feel like I’m right back where I was when I first heard it. In any case, the mp3 and lyrics seem to be a bit hard to find, so I’m reposting the lyrics here, in an effort to preserve them.

SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES – BLACK SUN
——————————————
Here it comes – and I’m struck twice
By lightening bolts straight out of the blue
Like a storm of steel inside of me
An elemental hymn of sorcery

Here it comes – and I’m bewitched
By creeping claw from volcano core
Searching out my dormant head
I feel an ugly head start to rear

Black Sun – deep as emptiness
Black Sun – beyond the skies

Here it comes – and I’m possessed
There’s no refuge, no shelter here
For all the urges I’d thought interred
No sanctuary – no, none are spared

Black Sun – spirits deranged
Black Sun – beyond the skies

Once more demons plunge
Back to shadow’s stain
And leave my nerves full drunk on blood
‘Til just this mist of sound remains

Here it comes – my Black Sun

Rebuttal to “Thelema, a destructive path?”

April 16, 2009 in Thelema with 1 Comment

A few months ago I came across an article on Excommunicate.net entitled “Thelema, a destructive path?” It was clear from the article that the author had very little knowledge of the subject matter, and I found the information to be inaccurate. As a result, I took it upon myself to write a rebuttal, which was kindly posted on the same site.

I have received a bit of feedback on my rebuttal from various people, and decided I would like to rewrite/modify it to reflect new understandings. As always, I am open to comments and feedback, and to make it clear in advance: I do not claim to be any sort of authority on any subject matter, and as Thelemites do not always agree on various issues, these opinions are only my own. The bold text is from the original author’s article, and the plain text below it is my response.

For those who don’t know, Thelema acquired most of its notoriety from Aleister Crowley. The word had existed long before he but it was he who readopted it and gave it new purpose. Aleister sought to bring about a new religion something to replace the antiquated views of old. However his work came quite a bit after the appearance of the Golden Dawn, Rosicrucians, and even the Freemasons. Crowley’s religion was an adaptation of a new dogma.

This new path was revealed to him by a being called Aiwass. Aiwass was channeled through Crowley at first by his wife Rose and then later himself. This alleged being was Crowley’s Holy Guardian Angel. However the writing itself is very indicative of any style of automatic writing. Like many “channeled” works it is written in a very abstract and esoteric manner. Only those worthy to walk the path may understand type approach.

I’d like to begin by stating that I disagree with the last sentence in the above paragraph. The author is correct in asserting that some of Crowley’s channeled work is central to Thelema. This is especially true of the text “Liber AL vel Legis,” or “The Book of the Law.” According to AL I:34, “. . . the Law is for all.” Crowley even wrote an interpretation of Liber AL which was published under the name “The Law is For All.” The idea was to make the often obscure and disorganized Liber AL more accessible and comprehensible to anyone interested in study — not just some elite few who are “worthy.”

That said, I would like to note that the aforementioned commentary to Liber AL should not be seen as the be-all and end-all final word on the book. Although it is helpful in getting one to think about what the message and meaning may be, one’s relationship to AL can be highly personal — and as such, each person is encouraged to form their own continually evolving interpretation of the book, “each for himself.” Continue Reading…

Achad.net goes live!

April 16, 2009 in Announcements with 0 Comments

The idea behind this site began as just a personal home page, where I could write about an aspect of my life, and then instead of *always* being limited to 140 character identi.ca/Twitter messages, I could write a brief summary accompanied by a link, if the need arose for more advanced discussion.

As the concept evolved in my mind, and as I began to assemble and configure the site’s layout, I decided that I could still use this as a personal site — but that I am also interested in experimenting to see if I can get a bit more of a community type thing going, to really emphasize a certain kind of “unity” (which is what the Hebrew word “achad” means). Maybe as this site grows, it can become a community of authors united to express and promulgate the ideas of various aspects and philosophies of freedom.

To me, freedom needs to occur on many levels for one truly to be free; one needs to be free physically, mentally, psychologically, and spiritually. I differentiate mental and psychological to emphasize the difference between freedom of information, and freedom from states of mind that limit one’s full potential (imposed by, among other things, superstition and abuse). But I digress. In any case, to emphasize these various aspects and relate them back to myself, the topics on this blog will include Thelema (a spiritual philosophy emphasizing Liberty), computer security (freedom of information), and anarchism (the only truly free political setup). There will also be a section for authors to post random things about happenings in their lives.

On an individual level, I am also looking to unite the aspects of myself. I find that I very frequently get intensely immersed in one aspect of my life, whether it is anarchism, computer security, occultism, or something else, and then I drop every other interest. I might go on a six month computer security binge, where I study various related topics during every waking hour, and then decide I want to get back into anarchism, so I go do Food Not Bombs, etc. and go read anarchist philosophy 20 hours a day. By the time I switch to the next interest, I’m pretty much starting from scratch because it’s been so long. As such, I’d like to make it a personal goal to find integration, so that I can indulge and make progress in all of my interests and through the unity therein elevate myself to a higher state of consciousness.

I hope that you enjoy sharing my experiences as I endeavour toward the manifestation of Life, Love, Liberty, and Light through the formation of unity, both in mind and community.

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