John

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Posts posted by John

  1. Quote

    "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function. One should, for example, be able to see that things are hopeless yet be determined to make them otherwise."

     

    F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Crack-Up

     

    I certainly would not knock anyone who can thinking critically see the odds are hopeless and through whatever religion beliefs persevere to make it otherwise. Belief and critical thinking are diametrically opposed but it's our actions for which we are judged not the thoughts that lead to them. Structured Analytic Techniques can only get one so far, in hopeless situations a bit of crazy goes a long way.

     

    If sheep were over worked, underpaid, and fed a constant stream bullsh!t, they'd probably slaughter the shepherd in short order. Thank God we're civilized. Eh?

     

    :umbrella:

  2. Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) is becoming a real problem for nation states. OSINT is undermining the official narrative. Everyone is capable of critical thinking however it takes practice to master it. This whole thread is about giving you the tools to undermine the official narrative. Here's another tool, Open Source Intelligence Tools and Resources Handbook

     

    https://i-intelligence.eu/uploads/public-documents/OSINT_Handbook_June-2018_Final.pdf

  3. First up, Intelligent data analysis : from data gathering to data

    comprehension. One chapter defines a number statistical terms, understanding the language is first step to avoiding the manipulation. Definition seem on point and dead simple.

     

    This book is in the wild if you know where to look.

     

    Quote

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

    Names: Gupta, Deepak, editor.
    Title: Intelligent data analysis : from data gathering to data
    comprehension / edited by Dr. Deepak Gupta, Dr. Siddhartha
    Bhattacharyya, Dr. Ashish Khanna, Ms. Kalpna Sagar.
    Description: Hoboken, NJ, USA : Wiley, 2020. | Series: The Wiley series in
    intelligent signal and data processing | Includes bibliographical
    references and index.
    Identifiers: LCCN 2019056735 (print) | LCCN 2019056736 (ebook) | ISBN
    9781119544456 (hardback) | ISBN 9781119544449 (adobe pdf) | ISBN
    9781119544463 (epub)
    Subjects: LCSH: Data mining. | Computational intelligence.
    Classification: LCC QA76.9.D343 I57435 2020 (print) | LCC QA76.9.D343
    (ebook) | DDC 006.3/12–dc23
    LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019056735
    LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019056736

     

     

    Second up, Strategic intelligence : a handbook for practitioners, managers, and users. Strategic intelligence analysis looks at the big picture. Example, the little picture: The US has reach 50% vaccination! The Big Picture: The US represents 4.9% of the world population and herd immunity requires 90% vaccination of the world population. One of these pictures would lead to a much better strategy in the borderless world of globalization.

     

    Quote

    When we talk about developing a big picture, the phrase we use is “establishing a conceptual model (or framework).” This is a way of describing the characteristics and features of the area or topic under intelligence interest. Regardless of the type of intelligence product required by a client, placing the intelligence problem in its appropriate context is pivotal to the future development of the intelligence process, and it is this conceptual focus that facilitates all further activity.

     

     

    Also in the wild.

     

    Quote

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
    McDowell, Don, 1939–
    Strategic intelligence : a handbook for practitioners, managers, and users / Don
    McDowell. — Rev. ed.
    p. cm. — (Scarecrow professional intelligence education series ; no. 5)
    Includes bibliographical references.
    ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-6184-8 (pbk. : alk. paper)
    ISBN-10: 0-8108-6184-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
    ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-6285-2 (ebook)
    ISBN-10: 0-8108-6285-9 (ebook)
    1. Intelligence service. 2. Law enforcement. 3. Business intelligence–Management. I.
    Title.
    JF1525.I6M33 2009
    327.12–dc22 2008034020

     

  4. First up, A Tradecraft Primer: Structured Analytic Techniques for Improving Intelligence Analysis. Detailed look at individual stuctured analytical techniques (SAT)covering when to use, value added, methods and an example. (Would bet this is written by RAND.)

     

    https://www.cia.gov/static/955180a45afe3f5013772c313b16face/Tradecraft-Primer-apr09.pdf

     

    Second, Restructuring Structured Analytic Techniques in Intelligence. There's a couple of useful tables in this paper pairing SAT with the bias it addresses.

     

    https://www.hsdl.org/?view&did=804875

    • Like 1
  5. Hi,

     

    I'm just a member but I did point out your post using the report option to Administration. Might try that yourself.

     

    I haven't had much reason to contact the church but it does take them a few days to respond to an email YMMV. They do have a phone number but I never had reason to use it:  +1 209-852-6562. Automated system ... ?

     

    Hope you can get this resolved.

     

    :bye:

     

  6. 3 hours ago, RevBogovac said:

     

    Which book (so I don't have to watch an half hour of video; I can read faster than he speaks...)?

     

     

    Structured analytic techniques for intelligence analysis / by Richards J. Heuer, Jr., and Randolph H. Pherson.

    ISBN 978-1-60871-018-8
    LCN: JK468.I6H478 2010
    DDN: 327.12—dc22

     

    Not cheap new as it is used as textbook.

  7. A bit of news, from Janes, about a new USAF "Spectrum Warfare Wing".

     

    Quote

    “The competition in the electromagnetic spectrum is more important than ever before ... [and] if we lose the fight in the [electromagnetic spectrum], we will lose the fights in all other domains. We are here to make sure that does not happen,” said the newly minted wing commander USAF Colonel William Young.

     

    That's full spectrum dominance speak. Eglin Air Force Base has a couple special operation groups so maybe they won't be operating within the US.

     

    https://www.janes.com/defence-news/news-detail/usaf-launches-new-spectrum-warfare-unit

  8. 8 hours ago, Jonathan H. B. Lobl said:

    As you say, fear and rage.  This is the click bait generation -- served up in the great echo chamber of social media.

     

    60% to 70% of young people (<18 years old) are getting less than 7 hours of sleep which makes them prime targets for manipulation.

     

     

    Another video, this one from Janes which is used through out the national security community for their Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) products.

  9.  

    We are bombarded with information much of it designed to scare us or piss us off. If you're one of those that stray from your bubble then you probably found conflicting information too. So you're probably scared, angry and confused ... congratulations! You're a freethinker.

     

    So I'm going to collect resources about structured analysis in this thread. Starting with this video from the SANS Institute which goes over some of common mental traps we can encounter in our thinking and number of structured analytical techniques outside of analysis of competing hypothesis.

     

    But if you take nothing else away from this video remember thinking clearly requires adequate sleep.

  10. 8 hours ago, Jonathan H. B. Lobl said:

     

     

    In Buddhism, the procedure is to release anger.  To let it drop away as we would open our hand to let go of a burning ember.  Simply releasing anger and resentment is not as easy as it sounds.  This is one of the uses of meditation.  It releases toxic emotion from the system.

     

    In Buddhist terms, if we hold on to our anger, we will suffer more.  So we let it go.

     

    Holding on to anger is a form of constipation.  It backs up, clogs and poisons the system.

     

    :bye:

     

     

     

    I ever get this inflammation down I'll be doing a lot of breathwork.

     

  11. Never loved my teddy bear either. It didn't seem devastated by my lack of affection or the eye I ripped out.

     

    Severe disease can cause emotional repression, it's a built-in genetic defense to infection disease. I lost the genetic lottery when it comes to emotions. 2019 was the only year I felt much anything out of my 52 years. Lower inflammation enough and surprise! Feelings. Dreams ... though my therapist called them nightmares while smiling ear to ear. Oh, a slight startle response too. Almost human.

     

    I'm in the top 1% of the emotional quotient but sure not because I have deep understanding of my own feelings. If enlightenment requires feelings yep I'm disqualified at least for now. Maybe 2022 I'll feel the rage again. Working on it. :thumbu:

  12. I'm no saint. It's not my place to forgive people. If they give me the same respect I've given them, they have surpassed my expectations. Fail me and I'll introduce them to the words "no" and "door". Too sick for anything but the Middle Path.

     

    I have loved a few cats. If I ever shed a tear for another human, I'll be sure to update the thread. Thankfully, compassion is a calculation and IMO works better without emotional basis or high expectations. 

  13. Pragmatism and the Path ... It is the way. When I look to those around me, I see the suffering and ask myself what can I do? Sometime it's not much, visiting someone in the hospital or taking someone groceries or maybe just answering the phone. It's not much to me but to them it's can mean a great deal. A light switch, a dimmer? How about a spark? So small and quick you'd miss if you blink. Moving from person to person by a simple question "I see suffering, what can I do?" Lead, follow or get out of the way.

     

    :cat2_h4h: <--- I like cats.

  14. 7 hours ago, Jonathan H. B. Lobl said:

    Besides being funny, the story makes a point.  In Buddhism, the supernatural is a mere distraction on the Path.  But what is Enlightenment?  I find the idea hard to pin down.  I'm sure that it's not about the lights coming on and everything after that is different.  But what is it?

     

    :meeting:

     

    Are you asking the right question? We're flooded with information these days. So we sometimes forget, all the information in the world is totally useless if we are not asking the right question. What is enlightenment? That's not an actionable question. It's a scholarly question, one could spend a lifetime asking. I get the feeling you're already well read on the subject. So ask a question that leads you somewhere? Look to those around you, what would Buddha do? We don't tend to remember the scholars, we remember the people who made a difference in the world. Buddha is still relevant go on 2,600 years? He must've done a lot more than sit around with his buddies asking, "What's enlightenment?" He made an impression that's out lived him by a couple of millenniums.

     

    The right questions can change the world. The decisions made determine whether or not it's for the better.

     

    :bye:

  15.  

    1 hour ago, Jonathan H. B. Lobl said:

     

     

    Mindfulness is good.  Mindfulness is powerful.  I prefer breathwork.  

     

    :D 

     

    Yes, I done the breathwork too and prefer it to thoughts and feelings. Breathing I can do, how I feel is anyone's guess. My buddy does the breathwork and is a great guide.

  16. Most of my meditation has been of the mindfulness sort found in various cognitive behavioral therapies as you might be able to guess from my definition. I did find mindfulness meditation rather confusing till I did it with others.

     

    I have a friend, who's a practicing Buddhist of 3 or 4 decades, I do enjoy when he leads meditation. However, I sit quietly by myself ... It's called a nap. It's usually refreshing too. 

     

    :bye:

  17. 11 hours ago, Jonathan H. B. Lobl said:

    I don't want to limit meditation, by trying to define it.  In loose terms, it's an experience.  Some things can only be herd in silence.

     

    :bye:

     

    I'll have share that one with my friends. It brought a smile to my face way earlier than normal.

     

    :coffee:

  18. The economics of an advance degrees has always favored the individual who skipped it and went straight to work. Even before it cost an arm, a leg and your first born to get one.

     

    Hierarchy is usually not meant to lift individuals up but keep those at the top in control of those below. Ever notice how those we look to as examples of enlightenment were usually not looking down their nose at anyone? 

     

    Not sure meditation leads to less mayhem. I see meditation as the practice of being aware of one's own thoughts and the accompanying emotions and I'm pretty sure that's how every revolution starts. Give the people enough time to think about how they feel and they'll see the rat race for what it is.

     

    :thumbu: