tdaxp

Shane from Tennessee has taken an interest in the comments section of my post, "Inside the Black Gangster Disciple Nation Crack Cocaine Gang-Corporation." I don't blame him. The blog of a white South Dakotan catholic is an unlikely home for black-nationalist occultism, but here we are.

Shane writes:

1. I think the number sequences are a simple alphabetical code (1=A, 2=B) for acronyms. For instance, one GD wrote "BROTHER OF STRONG STRUGGLE 2-15-19-19" (B=2, O=15, S=19). 7.4.14 = GDN, etc. I thought it might have been a clever reference to biblical verses (with the first number being the book in order of either the Old or New Testament), but that theory failed...

2. The "Hoover" referenced is Larry Hoover, presently serving six life sentences in Federal ADX Florence "SuperMax" Prison in Colorado. He has a Wikipedia entry as well as a MySpace page:

Interesting undercurrent of our economy you've uncovered... Even more interesting is their candor and their tech-savvy....

Another reason to read tdaxp: felenous secret-codes!

I thought of added these to my delicious page, but the fact articles by the following bloggers (that I want to comment on, dogonit!) are unavailable to me demands a full post:

• Catholicgauze


• Lost Easter Eggs (2, 3, 4, though Lostpedia works)


• Sean Meade (re: his published article)


• Google Operating System (2)


• Libertarian Hawk


• Warfare 2050


• gsnp.tv (though ravenscraft.org works)

Need more tdaxp, but without the reactions on China? Then visit del.icio.us/tdaxp.

Sean Meade, a good friend of mine, blogs at Interact and Thomas P.M. Barnett :: Weblog. He's been expanding his efforts recently, and is now the principle editor at Ares: A Defense Technology Blog. Just as cool, he has his first in-print piece appearing in the May 2007 issue of Defense Technology International. Congrats Sean!

Two front-page stories on Slashdot (Censoring a number and Digg.com attempts to suppress HD-DVD revolt), on six front-page stories on reddit (Digg exiles! Welcome to Reddit!, Digg is on a campaign of widespread user and story censorship, Digg founders took HD DVD Sponsorship -- Digg fighting user revolt over HD-DVD code ban, Digg shuts down story submissions, Digg users are showing the true power of users on user run sites, Wikipedia bans HD DVD code and related discussion pages)

The swarm has worked, at least partially. Digg founder Kevin Rose wrote on the company blog:

Digg This: 09-f9-11-02-9d-74-e3-5b-d8-41-56-c5-63-56-88-c0

Today was an insane day. And as the founder of Digg, I just wanted to post my thoughts…

In building and shaping the site I’ve always tried to stay as hands on as possible. We’ve always given site moderation (digging/burying) power to the community. Occasionally we step in to remove stories that violate our terms of use (eg. linking to pornography, illegal downloads, racial hate sites, etc.). So today was a difficult day for us. We had to decide whether to remove stories containing a single code based on a cease and desist declaration. We had to make a call, and in our desire to avoid a scenario where Digg would be interrupted or shut down, we decided to comply and remove the stories with the code.

But now, after seeing hundreds of stories and reading thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be.

If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.

What is the long number in the title? And why is this on tdaxp Read below the fold to find out...

In spite of an overly concillatory (if understandibly so) reaction, Jonh Wiley & Sons' "Wiley Interscience" slappd-down of Retrospectacle apperas to be over. Boing Boing, SEED, Slashdot, Nature and other big shots entered the fray Even Scientific American spoke out on the power of the blogosphere's immune system:

The most effective fighting force a blogger has is other bloggers. I cannot be certain that Wiley relented for any other reason than bad press, which they were getting from a number of people--including bloggers associated with other journals, like Nature, who are now valid members of the scientific community.

While some criticize the value or justness of autoimmunity, all bloggers can be thankful that there are other bloggers to stand up for them when powerful interests threaten them with judicial violence.

Afarensis, Entertaining Research, Evolution Blog, Galactic Interactions, Jim River Report, John Hawks Weblog, Rebecca Hartong, Mike the Mad Biologist, Sharp Blue, Synthesis of Thought, The Panda's Thumb, Thought Capital, and Thoughts in a Haystack are all writing about John Wiley & Sons / Wiley Interscience attempted takedown of Retrospectacle's critical article on their "alcohol is good for you piece. These articles, joined by A Blog Around the Clock, Abnormal Interests, Adventures in Ethics and Science, Evolving Thoughts, Kitchen Table Math, Mixing Memory, Parentalcation,
Notes from Dr. RW, Open Reading Frame, Pith and Substance, and Sandwalk, point out that Wiley Interscience / John Wiley & Sons is attempting to censor a blogger in retaliation for a critical look at data. While JL Kirk used the cover of defamation, Wiley Interscience is using copyright.

Of course, I wish the very best to Retrospectacle and her "fair use piling on," I am skeptical on whether or not it can work. And the reason is obvious: Retrospectacle has already caved.

Retrospectacle complied with Wiley Interscience's demands. You can view the original critique yourself, and see that this isn't exactly a "profiles in courage" case. It's nice and fine for Retrospectacle to curse John Wiley & Sons, after submitting to them, but it's hard to get worked up about it. Unlike Kat Coble v. JL Kirk, unlike (modesty aside) tdaxp v. Nationmaster -- unlike even King Leonides v. Persia -- Retrospectacle calmly submits and then complains about the unfair treatment.

If Retrospectacle is serious about defending her rights, criticizing John Wiley & Sons / Wiley Interscience, she will restore her post to how it was before the threatening letter. Otherwise, don't expect a kirking.

Otherwise, as Larry Moren points out, this bruhaha is just another reason to use PLoS and digital commons. Which is too bad, because John Wiley & Sons / Wiley Interscience has resorted to this thuggery before.

Two link classes today, those that linked to tdaxp and those that did not.

Hidden Unities mentioned the kirking in brief, while South Dakota Politics goes into some detail. Curtis (of D5GW fame) will be happy that his criticism of RipOffReport's page on JL Kirk and Associates is mentioned on Liberal Utopia.

Meanwhile, Say Uncle wonders what is actionable, Fark's headline reads J. L. Kirk & Associates sues blogger over stray comment about them being a scam, assuring 10,000 times more bad publicity for their scamming ways than if they had ignored it, the Jawa Report reports facts that do not involve any actual jawas, Q&O looks like its preparing to write a "Kirking for Dummies" book, and Salem's Lots notes that nobody likes a bully.

Sorry for no post last night. Yesterday saw another unannounced and unexplained service outage at blogspirit (tdaxp.blogspirit.com's blog hosting provider). Unlike dreamhost there does not appear to be a "blogspirit blog" that explains what goes on. Traditionally, blogspirit support is officious and curt, so I'm not expecting any explanation to come from them.

Allen, J. 2007. Blogger dispute resolved without suit, attorney says. The City Paper. April 18, 2007. Available online: http://nashvillecitypaper.com/index.cfm?section_id=9&screen=news&news_id=55726. (from BillHobbs).

The mainstream media discovers legal hooliganism against a blogger. The mainstream media reports on the blogger's victory:

After Coble posted an entry on her blog detailing her and her job-seeking husband’s “irritating” and “discouraging” visit with a company representative, a local attorney representing J. L. Kirk sent Coble a letter threatening legal action if Coble did not remove her “libelous” and “defamatory” posting and the numerous comments from blog readers that followed.

...

That set in motion discussions over how to remove select portions of Coble’s original entry that J. L. Kirk took particular issue with, Coleman said. Coble confirmed the discussions on her blog — hosted by the URL www.mycropht.blogspot.com .

...

Coleman on Tuesday said the episode should serve as an important reminder to all bloggers about their rights, and also about their responsibilities.

Additionally, there are some bloggers who wrote about the scandal who I did not get a chance to link to until now. High-ranking posts never mentioend by tdaxp include:

• Suing a Blogger


• JL Kirk & Associates


• Beware of J.L. Kirk


• Katherine Coble v. JL Kirk: The Blogosphere is Alive!


• J. L. Kirk & Associates


• The Easter Thursday Knucklehead Festival Part Four


• Bull-Kirk.


• An Ill-Conceived Demand Letter


• Off Topic: Don’t Bully the Bloggers


• Doubling Down On Sleaze


• The latest PR mess ends with a whimper


• It's Not The Crime It's The Coverup


• Threatening to Sue...

Lastly, I also wrote on the JL Kirk saga in two posts, Is Kirking a Tool in all Generations of War? and Kinetics and Violence, over at Dreaming 5GW.

Post what you want to post.
Say what you want to say.