"Amazon Pulls Paperback Edition of Controversial 1973 Novel, Sparking Censorship Debate"
https://resistthemainstream.com/controversial-amazon-move-sparks- massive-backlash/
?Amazon?s removal of paperback listings for Jean Raspail?s 1973 novel
The Camp of the Saints has reignited debate over how major online
platforms handle politically sensitive books, raising questions among publishers and commentators about content standards, enforcement consistency, and the growing influence of digital gatekeepers in the
book market.?
?The decision affected Vauban Books? 2025 English paperback edition of
the novel, which was reportedly taken down from Amazon?s U.S. store in mid-April.?
Yup, Amazon shadow bans books.ÿ They got caught this time.
Lynn
On 4/21/2026 8:29 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
"Amazon Pulls Paperback Edition of Controversial 1973 Novel, Sparking
Censorship Debate"
https://resistthemainstream.com/controversial-amazon-move-sparks-
massive-backlash/
?Amazon?s removal of paperback listings for Jean Raspail?s 1973 novel
The Camp of the Saints has reignited debate over how major online
platforms handle politically sensitive books, raising questions among
publishers and commentators about content standards, enforcement
consistency, and the growing influence of digital gatekeepers in the
book market.?
?The decision affected Vauban Books? 2025 English paperback edition of
the novel, which was reportedly taken down from Amazon?s U.S. store in
mid-April.?
Yup, Amazon shadow bans books.ÿ They got caught this time.
Lynn
In case you're wondering what the offense is, from Wikipedia:
"A speculative fictional account, it depicts the destruction of Western civilization through Third World mass immigration to France and the
Western world. "
On 4/21/2026 8:29 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
"Amazon Pulls Paperback Edition of Controversial 1973 Novel, Sparking Censorship Debate"
https://resistthemainstream.com/controversial-amazon-move-sparks- massive-backlash/
"Amazon's removal of paperback listings for Jean Raspail's 1973 novel
The Camp of the Saints has reignited debate over how major online platforms handle politically sensitive books, raising questions among publishers and commentators about content standards, enforcement consistency, and the growing influence of digital gatekeepers in the
book market."
"The decision affected Vauban Books' 2025 English paperback edition of
the novel, which was reportedly taken down from Amazon's U.S. store in mid-April."
Yup, Amazon shadow bans books. They got caught this time.
Lynn
In case you're wondering what the offense is, from Wikipedia:
"A speculative fictional account, it depicts the destruction of Western civilization through Third World mass immigration to France and the
Western world. "
pt
In case you're wondering what the offense is, from Wikipedia:
"A speculative fictional account, it depicts the destruction of
Western civilization through Third World mass immigration to France
and the Western world. "
On Tue, 21 Apr 2026 22:07:23 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
In case you're wondering what the offense is, from Wikipedia:
"A speculative fictional account, it depicts the destruction of Western
civilization through Third World mass immigration to France and the
Western world. "
I can understand that those who conflate ?Western civilization? with ?civilization? might get their knickers in a twist over this ...
On 4/21/2026 7:07 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:
[quoted text muted]
"A speculative fictional account, it depicts the destruction of Western civilization through Third World mass immigration to France and the
Western world. "
Ah, so Lynn isn't against general yanking of books by Amazon, just the
MAGA propaganda books. Thank you.
"Amazon Pulls Paperback Edition of Controversial 1973 Novel, Sparking >Censorship Debate"novel
https://resistthemainstream.com/controversial-amazon-move-sparks-massive -backlash/
?Amazon?s removal of paperback listings for Jean Raspail?s 1973
The Camp of the Saints has reignited debate over how major onlineof
platforms handle politically sensitive books, raising questions among >publishers and commentators about content standards, enforcement >consistency, and the growing influence of digital gatekeepers in the
book market.?
?The decision affected Vauban Books? 2025 English paperback edition
the novel, which was reportedly taken down from Amazon?s U.S. store in
mid-April.?
Yup, Amazon shadow bans books. They got caught this time.
In case you're wondering what the offense is, from Wikipedia:
"A speculative fictional account, it depicts the destruction of Western >civilization through Third World mass immigration to France and the
Western world. "
Verily, in article <10s9fap$1vfa8$1@dont-email.me>, didWestern
dtravel@sonic.net deliver unto us this message:
On 4/21/2026 7:07 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:
[quoted text muted]
"A speculative fictional account, it depicts the destruction of
civilization through Third World mass immigration to France and theAh, so Lynn isn't against general yanking of books by Amazon, just the
Western world. "
MAGA propaganda books. Thank you.
I saw no such implication.
If the book is from 1973, it can't stem from MAGA. MAGA didn't exist
until 2015.
Verily, in article <10s9fap$1vfa8$1@dont-email.me>, did
dtravel@sonic.net deliver unto us this message:
On 4/21/2026 7:07 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:
[quoted text muted]Ah, so Lynn isn't against general yanking of books by Amazon, just the
"A speculative fictional account, it depicts the destruction of Western
civilization through Third World mass immigration to France and the
Western world. "
MAGA propaganda books. Thank you.
I saw no such implication.
If the book is from 1973, it can't stem from MAGA. MAGA didn't exist
until 2015.
In article <10s9fap$1vfa8$1@dont-email.me>,
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 4/21/2026 7:07 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:
On 4/21/2026 8:29 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:Ah, so Lynn isn't against general yanking of books by Amazon, just the
"Amazon Pulls Paperback Edition of Controversial 1973 Novel, Sparking
Censorship Debate"
https://resistthemainstream.com/controversial-amazon-move-sparks-
massive-backlash/
?Amazon?s removal of paperback listings for Jean Raspail?s 1973 novel
The Camp of the Saints has reignited debate over how major online
platforms handle politically sensitive books, raising questions among
publishers and commentators about content standards, enforcement
consistency, and the growing influence of digital gatekeepers in the
book market.?
?The decision affected Vauban Books? 2025 English paperback edition of >>>> the novel, which was reportedly taken down from Amazon?s U.S. store in >>>> mid-April.?
Yup, Amazon shadow bans books.ÿ They got caught this time.
Lynn
In case you're wondering what the offense is, from Wikipedia:
"A speculative fictional account, it depicts the destruction of Western
civilization through Third World mass immigration to France and the
Western world. "
MAGA propaganda books. Thank you.
He didn't say any such thing.
On Tue, 21 Apr 2026 19:29:39 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
"Amazon Pulls Paperback Edition of Controversial 1973 Novel, Sparking
Censorship Debate"
https://resistthemainstream.com/controversial-amazon-move-sparks-massive-backlash/
?Amazon?s removal of paperback listings for Jean Raspail?s 1973 novel
The Camp of the Saints has reignited debate over how major online
platforms handle politically sensitive books, raising questions among
publishers and commentators about content standards, enforcement
consistency, and the growing influence of digital gatekeepers in the
book market.?
?The decision affected Vauban Books? 2025 English paperback edition of
the novel, which was reportedly taken down from Amazon?s U.S. store in
mid-April.?
You mean this one? <https://www.amazon.com/Camp-Saints-Jean-Raspail/dp/B0FG4MJS8K/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.SEV6bW-AK1whWoStrXMkqmCgzNmMbF9i_lePO1fvaCboAuqLEk93maN6JoOlODf8W5UnI-bw-i3ynQTUNGjsn-zBr88pnoRpzPjufgBKmcGfMfhgi6jalCxIWo2BErja6scIhkX_24Q8SY2TcHlBWHEO2RqnWiR9QYNue6KkkRq9T_Oo4jK8TejmYgdvhVVC9PS5NdRVSZkyHNpNTqK9yteKsbijE-iaXDQBryoli88.ygkHkzuv0knIZWMwyLoqnjZI8Q-Ys7biU1rFoUqdEtE&qid=1776873916&sr=8-1>
It is marked "#1 Best Seller in Immigration Fiction" and you can have
a copy of the /paperback/ Vauban for $24.95 (plus tax, shipping,
whatever).
Yup, Amazon shadow bans books. They got caught this time.
Well, no, they didn't.
Unless they took it down and then put it back up again, both in
mid-April 2026.
Reality checks can be useful, you know.
On 4/22/2026 11:04 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
On Tue, 21 Apr 2026 19:29:39 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
"Amazon Pulls Paperback Edition of Controversial 1973 Novel, Sparking
Censorship Debate"
https://resistthemainstream.com/controversial-amazon-move-sparks-massive-backlash/
?Amazon?s removal of paperback listings for Jean Raspail?s 1973 novel
The Camp of the Saints has reignited debate over how major online
platforms handle politically sensitive books, raising questions among
publishers and commentators about content standards, enforcement
consistency, and the growing influence of digital gatekeepers in the
book market.?
?The decision affected Vauban Books? 2025 English paperback edition of
the novel, which was reportedly taken down from Amazon?s U.S. store in
mid-April.?
You mean this one?
<https://www.amazon.com/Camp-Saints-Jean-Raspail/dp/B0FG4MJS8K/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.SEV6bW-AK1whWoStrXMkqmCgzNmMbF9i_lePO1fvaCboAuqLEk93maN6JoOlODf8W5UnI-bw-i3ynQTUNGjsn-zBr88pnoRpzPjufgBKmcGfMfhgi6jalCxIWo2BErja6scIhkX_24Q8SY2TcHlBWHEO2RqnWiR9QYNue6KkkRq9T_Oo4jK8TejmYgdvhVVC9PS5NdRVSZkyHNpNTqK9yteKsbijE-iaXDQBryoli88.ygkHkzuv0knIZWMwyLoqnjZI8Q-Ys7biU1rFoUqdEtE&qid=1776873916&sr=8-1>
It is marked "#1 Best Seller in Immigration Fiction" and you can have
a copy of the /paperback/ Vauban for $24.95 (plus tax, shipping,
whatever).
Yup, Amazon shadow bans books. They got caught this time.
Well, no, they didn't.
Unless they took it down and then put it back up again, both in
mid-April 2026.
Reality checks can be useful, you know.
Looks like they changed their minds.
I'm afraid taking down France is not the same as taking down Western >Civilization.
The French, of course, would regard it as such, but that is because
they are -- French.
This is another reason why I buy dead tree books. They cannot come get
the book back from me.
Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
I'm afraid taking down France is not the same as taking down Western
Civilization.
You wouldn't say that if you'd tried the pastry recipes in the Escoffier cookbook.
The French, of course, would regard it as such, but that is because
they are -- French.
What is the use of civilization without beignets?
--scott
"Amazon Pulls Paperback Edition of Controversial 1973 Novel, Sparking Censorship Debate"
https://resistthemainstream.com/controversial-amazon-move-sparks-massive-backlash/
?Amazon?s removal of paperback listings for Jean Raspail?s 1973 novel
The Camp of the Saints has reignited debate over how major online
platforms handle politically sensitive books, raising questions among publishers and commentators about content standards, enforcement
consistency, and the growing influence of digital gatekeepers in the
book market.?
?The decision affected Vauban Books? 2025 English paperback edition of
the novel, which was reportedly taken down from Amazon?s U.S. store in mid-April.?
Yup, Amazon shadow bans books. They got caught this time.
Verily, in article <10sb2s3$2etbs$1@dont-email.me>, did lynnmcguire5 @gmail.com deliver unto us this message:
This is another reason why I buy dead tree books. They cannot come get
the book back from me.
True, but deleting a book from my hard drive would also be difficult.
The dangerous part is "storing" the book on Amazon.
So the censoring of books suits them very well no matter the subject and I recommend reading the "Iron Heel" by Jack London before that is
pulled off the shelves by censoring idiots.
On 2026-04-22, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
So the censoring of books suits them very well no matter the subject
and I recommend reading the "Iron Heel" by Jack London before that is
pulled off the shelves by censoring idiots.
Hmm... Jack London, never read anything by him (yet); is he the reporter portrayed shadowing GRC's Steele in Don Rosa's "Hearts of the Yukon"?
On 4/22/26 15:40, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2026-04-22, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
So the censoring of books suits them very well no matter the subject >>> and I recommend reading the "Iron Heel" by Jack London before that is
pulled off the shelves by censoring idiots.
Hmm... Jack London, never read anything by him (yet); is he the reporter
portrayed shadowing GRC's Steele in Don Rosa's "Hearts of the Yukon"?
Never read or heard of that book before.
He was a San
Francisco Bay Area character and a prolific writer, as well as an
oyster pirate(literally) and a rancher
after he made enough money.
The Iron Heel is a story about the repression of the people by the monied
interests and the imposition of a fascist government. The iron heel is the metaphor for the power of the state smashing down on the people. Maybe
the robots won't like it either.
bliss
Verily, in article <10s9fap$1vfa8$1@dont-email.me>, did
dtravel@sonic.net deliver unto us this message:
On 4/21/2026 7:07 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:
[quoted text muted]Ah, so Lynn isn't against general yanking of books by Amazon, just the
"A speculative fictional account, it depicts the destruction of Western
civilization through Third World mass immigration to France and the
Western world. "
MAGA propaganda books. Thank you.
I saw no such implication.
If the book is from 1973, it can't stem from MAGA. MAGA didn't exist
until 2015.
On 2026-04-23, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 4/22/26 15:40, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2026-04-22, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
So the censoring of books suits them very well no matter the subject >>>> and I recommend reading the "Iron Heel" by Jack London before that is
pulled off the shelves by censoring idiots.
Hmm... Jack London, never read anything by him (yet); is he the reporter >>> portrayed shadowing GRC's Steele in Don Rosa's "Hearts of the Yukon"?
Never read or heard of that book before.
Not a book, but a comic book story - it's one of the additional chapters
for "Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck":
<https://inducks.org/story.php?c=D+95044>
<https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuckChapter8C>
And here's a bit with London: <https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid5Rz0jRDYw-_o9qc5yNhhOI_SUefGTl_ZMMrK8AhLPyy15kRZRKiLbQ9-9JHQW8uDvZLQarLSFJNPw7Xwi_ibfCyaDDEnOOaVAI37zW_rkZb75KIH4P7E8fUzG8bRF8ZHf4a1IEluHl6-/s1600/hy03.jpg>
He was a San
Francisco Bay Area character and a prolific writer, as well as an
oyster pirate(literally) and a rancher
after he made enough money.
The Iron Heel is a story about the repression of the people by the monied
interests and the imposition of a fascist government. The iron heel is the >> metaphor for the power of the state smashing down on the people. Maybe
the robots won't like it either.
On 2026-04-22, The True Melissa wrote:
Verily, in article <10sb2s3$2etbs$1@dont-email.me>, did lynnmcguire5 @gmail.com deliver unto us this message:
This is another reason why I buy dead tree books. They cannot come get >> the book back from me.
True, but deleting a book from my hard drive would also be difficult.
The dangerous part is "storing" the book on Amazon.
Oh, but they've remotely deleted books before, from Kindles. Quite
notably, given at least one of the books was a certain dystopian novel
by some Eric Arthur Blair...
If the book is from 1973, it can't stem from MAGA. MAGA didn't exist
until 2015.
And crepes served from a truck by the Eiffel Tower.
Oh, but they've remotely deleted books before, from Kindles. Quite
notably, given at least one of the books was a certain dystopian novel
by some Eric Arthur Blair...
I am against Amazon pulling ANY books from their sales. If they want to
be the #1 book dealer in the world then they cannot be discriminatory at
all.
This is another reason why I buy dead tree books. They cannot come get
the book back from me.
In article <10sbi38$2jdvs$2@dont-email.me>,
Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> wrote:
On 2026-04-22, The True Melissa wrote:
Verily, in article <10sb2s3$2etbs$1@dont-email.me>, did lynnmcguire5
@gmail.com deliver unto us this message:
This is another reason why I buy dead tree books. They cannot come get >>>> the book back from me.
True, but deleting a book from my hard drive would also be difficult.
The dangerous part is "storing" the book on Amazon.
Oh, but they've remotely deleted books before, from Kindles. Quite
notably, given at least one of the books was a certain dystopian novel
by some Eric Arthur Blair...
Wasn't that because the book was a pirated edition? Or am I thinking of
a different incident?
On Wed, 22 Apr 2026 15:14:44 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:
And crepes served from a truck by the Eiffel Tower.
Did the Eiffel Tower really serve crˆpes?!!!??
On 4/22/26 11:38 AM, The True Melissa wrote:
Verily, in article <10sb2s3$2etbs$1@dont-email.me>, did lynnmcguire5
@gmail.com deliver unto us this message:
This is another reason why I buy dead tree books.ÿ They cannot come get
the book back from me.
True, but deleting a book from my hard drive would also be difficult.
The dangerous part is "storing" the book on Amazon.
If it is an Amazon ebook it is insecure.ÿ And since
Amazon has a near monopoly on ebooks, unless
someone is being exceptional, Amazon ebooks are
meant by using the term "ebook".
Every piece of promotional campaigns for "ebooks"
acts as advertising for Amazon.
Is Amazon supposed to be our "sciencey" future,
as all journalists seem to say it is?
In article <3DOdnTZg_4KVTXf0nZ2dnZfqn_adnZ2d@giganews.com>,novel
Pluted Pup <plutedpup@outlook.com> wrote:
On 4/23/26 4:31 AM, The True Melissa wrote:
Verily, in article <10sbi38$2jdvs$2@dont-email.me>, did
nunojsilva@invalid.invalid deliver unto us this message:
Oh, but they've remotely deleted books before, from Kindles. Quite
notably, given at least one of the books was a certain dystopian
by some Eric Arthur Blair...
Storage on the reader is not safe, at least not if wifi is turned on.
Storage on my hard drive, on the other hand, is pretty safe.
I've always kept my own copies of ebooks. I sideload them onto the
reader when I want to read them. It's no harder to sideload than to
download, and the vendor can't decide to take them away.
If ebooks are encrypted, and you don't have the key,
what good is it?
Historically you can decrypt amazon azw & azw3 books with a Calibre
plugin. Not sure about newer formats.
On 4/22/26 11:10 AM, Lynn McGuire wrote:Sparking
On 4/22/2026 11:04 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
On Tue, 21 Apr 2026 19:29:39 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
"Amazon Pulls Paperback Edition of Controversial 1973 Novel,
https://resistthemainstream.com/controversial-amazon-move-sparks-massive- backlash/Censorship Debate"
1973 novel
?Amazon?s removal of paperback listings for Jean Raspail?s
amongThe Camp of the Saints has reignited debate over how major online
platforms handle politically sensitive books, raising questions
edition ofpublishers and commentators about content standards, enforcement
consistency, and the growing influence of digital gatekeepers in the
book market.?
?The decision affected Vauban Books? 2025 English paperback
store inthe novel, which was reportedly taken down from Amazon?s U.S.
<https://www.amazon.com/Camp-Saints-Jean-Raspail/dp/B0FG4MJS8K/ref=tmm_ pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.SEV6bW-AK1w hWoStrXMkqmCgzNmMbF9i_lePO1fvaCboAuqLEk93maN6JoOlODf8W5UnI-bw-i3ynQTUNGjs n-zBr88pnoRpzPjufgBKmcGfMfhgi6jalCxIWo2BErja6scIhkX_24Q8SY2TcHlBWHEO2RqnW iR9QYNue6KkkRq9T_Oo4jK8TejmYgdvhVVC9PS5NdRVSZkyHNpNTqK9yteKsbijE-iaXDQBry oli88.ygkHkzuv0knIZWMwyLoqnjZI8Q-Ys7biU1rFoUqdEtE&qid=1776873916&sr=8mid-April.?
You mean this one?
It is marked "#1 Best Seller in Immigration Fiction" and you can have
a copy of the /paperback/ Vauban for $24.95 (plus tax, shipping,
whatever).
Yup, Amazon shadow bans books.? They got caught this time.
Well, no, they didn't.
Unless they took it down and then put it back up again, both in
mid-April 2026.
Reality checks can be useful, you know.
Looks like they changed their minds.
Amazon does do shadow bans, making it impossible
to find a book by search terms, yet not deleting
the particular book; but that's not the case here.
On 4/22/26 3:15 PM, Nuno Silva wrote:novel
On 2026-04-22, Lynn McGuire wrote:
"Amazon Pulls Paperback Edition of Controversial 1973 Novel, Sparking
Censorship Debate"
https://resistthemainstream.com/controversial-amazon-move-sparks-massive- backlash/
?Amazon?s removal of paperback listings for Jean Raspail?s 1973
edition ofThe Camp of the Saints has reignited debate over how major online
platforms handle politically sensitive books, raising questions among
publishers and commentators about content standards, enforcement
consistency, and the growing influence of digital gatekeepers in the
book market.?
?The decision affected Vauban Books? 2025 English paperback
inthe novel, which was reportedly taken down from Amazon?s U.S. store
mid-April.?
Yup, Amazon shadow bans books. They got caught this time.
Not as bad as GOP legislators making schools and libraries get rid of
books they don't like.
No, Amazon bans are much worse. Amazon bans for
political reasons, and does it secretly; this affects
most of the book market, as Amazon has an illegal
monopoly position in the marketplace. "GOP bans"
are like what you say, affecting specific children's
schools and libraries, chiefly directed against porn.
In article <il1nuk9rn3ieb3tedjc34d0vo8kgsdm98i@4ax.com>,
Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
On 24 Apr 2026 04:16:04 GMT, ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan
<tednolan>) wrote:
Winter s Demon Vesik Book 3-asin_B00KZXH456-type_EBOK-v_0.azw
A Kingdom of Glass A Novel of Th-asin_B06XC9X5R4-type_EBOK-v_0.azw3
they have just recently announced that the Kindle Keyboard model will
be de-supported next month, so I have to figure out an alternate model
to sideload my books. I will first look at kindle-for-android and see
if that stores something I can use.
ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) writes:
In article <il1nuk9rn3ieb3tedjc34d0vo8kgsdm98i@4ax.com>,
Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
On 24 Apr 2026 04:16:04 GMT, ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan
<tednolan>) wrote:
Winter s Demon Vesik Book 3-asin_B00KZXH456-type_EBOK-v_0.azw
A Kingdom of Glass A Novel of Th-asin_B06XC9X5R4-type_EBOK-v_0.azw3
they have just recently announced that the Kindle Keyboard model will
be de-supported next month, so I have to figure out an alternate model
to sideload my books. I will first look at kindle-for-android and see
if that stores something I can use.
I've been very happy with the Kobo Clara HD. Easy to sideload;
although you'll need to decrypt and convert from kindle format
or find epub alternatives (e.g. alt.binaries.ebook).
On 4/22/26 11:38 AM, The True Melissa wrote:
Verily, in article <10sb2s3$2etbs$1@dont-email.me>, did lynnmcguire5
@gmail.com deliver unto us this message:
This is another reason why I buy dead tree books. They cannot come get
the book back from me.
True, but deleting a book from my hard drive would also be difficult.
The dangerous part is "storing" the book on Amazon.
If it is an Amazon ebook it is insecure. And since
Amazon has a near monopoly on ebooks, unless
someone is being exceptional, Amazon ebooks are
meant by using the term "ebook".
Every piece of promotional campaigns for "ebooks"
acts as advertising for Amazon.
Is Amazon supposed to be our "sciencey" future,
as all journalists seem to say it is?
On 4/23/26 19:02, Pluted Pup wrote:
On 4/22/26 11:38 AM, The True Melissa wrote:
Verily, in article <10sb2s3$2etbs$1@dont-email.me>, did lynnmcguire5
@gmail.com deliver unto us this message:
This is another reason why I buy dead tree books.ÿ They cannot come get >>>> the book back from me.
True, but deleting a book from my hard drive would also be difficult.
The dangerous part is "storing" the book on Amazon.
If it is an Amazon ebook it is insecure.ÿ And since
Amazon has a near monopoly on ebooks, unless
someone is being exceptional, Amazon ebooks are
meant by using the term "ebook".
Every piece of promotional campaigns for "ebooks"
acts as advertising for Amazon.
Is Amazon supposed to be our "sciencey" future,
as all journalists seem to say it is?
Have you tried a Public Library?
And ebooks are just one format.
PDFs do fine for me. Otherwise well-used dead trees
from the SFPublic Library and my apartment is full of dead
trees reflecting my wide range of interests over the last 51
years or so. I had stuff from before that but when I was
broke i sold some of my best.
bliss
On Thu, 23 Apr 2026 19:38:16 -0700, Pluted Pup <plutedpup@outlook.com>
wrote:
On 4/22/26 3:15 PM, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2026-04-22, Lynn McGuire wrote:
"Amazon Pulls Paperback Edition of Controversial 1973 Novel, Sparking
Censorship Debate"
https://resistthemainstream.com/controversial-amazon-move-sparks-massive-backlash/
?Amazon?s removal of paperback listings for Jean Raspail?s 1973 novel
The Camp of the Saints has reignited debate over how major online
platforms handle politically sensitive books, raising questions among
publishers and commentators about content standards, enforcement
consistency, and the growing influence of digital gatekeepers in the
book market.?
?The decision affected Vauban Books? 2025 English paperback edition of >>>> the novel, which was reportedly taken down from Amazon?s U.S. store in >>>> mid-April.?
Yup, Amazon shadow bans books. They got caught this time.
Not as bad as GOP legislators making schools and libraries get rid of
books they don't like.
No, Amazon bans are much worse. Amazon bans for
political reasons, and does it secretly; this affects
most of the book market, as Amazon has an illegal
monopoly position in the marketplace. "GOP bans"
are like what you say, affecting specific children's
schools and libraries, chiefly directed against porn.
You mean, of course, "porn as defined by Republicans", which can
include things not generally considered "porn" by anyone else.
On 4/21/26 7:07 PM, Cryptoengineer wrote:
On 4/21/2026 8:29 PM, Lynn McGuire wrote:
"Amazon Pulls Paperback Edition of Controversial 1973 Novel,
Sparking Censorship Debate"
https://resistthemainstream.com/controversial-amazon-move-sparks- massive-backlash/
?Amazon?s removal of paperback listings for Jean Raspail?s 1973
novel The Camp of the Saints has reignited debate over how major
online platforms handle politically sensitive books, raising
questions among publishers and commentators about content
standards, enforcement consistency, and the growing influence of
digital gatekeepers in the book market.?
?The decision affected Vauban Books? 2025 English paperback edition
of the novel, which was reportedly taken down from Amazon?s
U.S. store in mid-April.?
Yup, Amazon shadow bans books.ÿ They got caught this time.
In case you're wondering what the offense is, from Wikipedia:
"A speculative fictional account, it depicts the destruction of Western
civilization through Third World mass immigration to France and the
Western world. "
Wikipedia gives an inaccurate plot line. Actually the novel
is about the white response to illegal mass immigration to
France, which is overwhelming support. Some of the immigrants
are criminals but they are mostly ciphers in the book.
Barnes And Noble also appears to follow Amazon's ban lists,
so nothing banned on Amazon is allowed at B&N.
When Amazon usually bans a book they delete every mention
of the book, including all reviews, not just halt sales.
That's not the case here.
Given that I have had the 1024 bit public / private key encryption
broken in my software ...
On Fri, 24 Apr 2026 15:33:24 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:
Given that I have had the 1024 bit public / private key encryption
broken in my software ...
You *do* realize, 1024 bits was considered inadequate back sometime in
the previous century, don?t you?
<https://people.willamette.edu/~mjaneba/rsa129.html>
Instead, they managed to find the public key in my software and
replace it with their own public key for supplying their own
passwords with their own private keys. That path will not happen
again.
On Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:31:54 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:
Instead, they managed to find the public key in my software and
replace it with their own public key for supplying their own
passwords with their own private keys. That path will not happen
again.
Security-through-obscurity, eh?
Yes, that will happen again.
Isn't all cryptography just obscurity ?
In article <il1nuk9rn3ieb3tedjc34d0vo8kgsdm98i@4ax.com>,novel
Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
On 24 Apr 2026 04:16:04 GMT, ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan
<tednolan>) wrote:
In article <3DOdnTZg_4KVTXf0nZ2dnZfqn_adnZ2d@giganews.com>,
Pluted Pup <plutedpup@outlook.com> wrote:
On 4/23/26 4:31 AM, The True Melissa wrote:
Verily, in article <10sbi38$2jdvs$2@dont-email.me>, did
nunojsilva@invalid.invalid deliver unto us this message:
Oh, but they've remotely deleted books before, from Kindles. Quite >>>>>> notably, given at least one of the books was a certain dystopian
on.by some Eric Arthur Blair...
Storage on the reader is not safe, at least not if wifi is turned
Storage on my hard drive, on the other hand, is pretty safe.
I've always kept my own copies of ebooks. I sideload them onto the
reader when I want to read them. It's no harder to sideload than to
download, and the vendor can't decide to take them away.
If ebooks are encrypted, and you don't have the key,
what good is it?
Historically you can decrypt amazon azw & azw3 books with a Calibre >>>plugin. Not sure about newer formats.
I have not researched the issue, but the last time I actually looked
at my Kindle I found a bunch of directories (with names possibly
related to the books) with various files in them and no clear
indication of where the books were (my memory now asserts that there
were /two/ directories with different names apparently associated with
the same title, but I wouldn't be surprised if that were not the case
as it has been quite a while).
It is possible that the books don't /have/ a file format as such but
are downloaded in exploded form (as it were).
Again, this is not tested against modern kindles, but historically
your books are in a "documents" folder, and are named foo.azw, foo.mobi,
or foo.azw3, where "foo" is usually long enough for you to tell what
the book is. For instance:
Winter s Demon Vesik Book 3-asin_B00KZXH456-type_EBOK-v_0.azw
A Kingdom of Glass A Novel of Th-asin_B06XC9X5R4-type_EBOK-v_0.azw3
On 4/24/2026 12:00 PM, Scott Lurndal wrote:model
ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) writes:
In article <il1nuk9rn3ieb3tedjc34d0vo8kgsdm98i@4ax.com>,
Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
On 24 Apr 2026 04:16:04 GMT, ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan
<tednolan>) wrote:
Winter s Demon Vesik Book 3-asin_B00KZXH456-type_EBOK-v_0.azw
A Kingdom of Glass A Novel of Th-asin_B06XC9X5R4-type_EBOK-v_0.azw3
they have just recently announced that the Kindle Keyboard model will
be de-supported next month, so I have to figure out an alternate
seeto sideload my books. I will first look at kindle-for-android and
if that stores something I can use.
I've been very happy with the Kobo Clara HD. Easy to sideload;
although you'll need to decrypt and convert from kindle format
or find epub alternatives (e.g. alt.binaries.ebook).
Given that I have had the 1024 bit public / private key encryption
broken in my software, breaking cryptography can be done with enough
Chinese and Russian crackers playing with it. All they need is somebody
pushing for it.
Then again, since, when I read books that I read
first back in the 50s, and which I have cherished
memories of for decades, I have found myself
reading the book again for the very first time,
as my cherished memories were ... not accurate.
That is very discouraging, when I think about
it. Which isn't often.
On 2026-04-24, Paul S Person wrote:Sparking
On Thu, 23 Apr 2026 19:38:16 -0700, Pluted Pup <plutedpup@outlook.com>
wrote:
On 4/22/26 3:15 PM, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2026-04-22, Lynn McGuire wrote:
"Amazon Pulls Paperback Edition of Controversial 1973 Novel,
1973 novelCensorship Debate"
https://resistthemainstream.com/controversial-amazon-move-sparks-massive- backlash/
?Amazon?s removal of paperback listings for Jean Raspail?s
amongThe Camp of the Saints has reignited debate over how major online
platforms handle politically sensitive books, raising questions
thepublishers and commentators about content standards, enforcement
consistency, and the growing influence of digital gatekeepers in
edition ofbook market.?
?The decision affected Vauban Books? 2025 English paperback
store inthe novel, which was reportedly taken down from Amazon?s U.S.
ofmid-April.?
Yup, Amazon shadow bans books. They got caught this time.
Not as bad as GOP legislators making schools and libraries get rid
books they don't like.
No, Amazon bans are much worse. Amazon bans for
political reasons, and does it secretly; this affects
most of the book market, as Amazon has an illegal
monopoly position in the marketplace. "GOP bans"
are like what you say, affecting specific children's
schools and libraries, chiefly directed against porn.
You mean, of course, "porn as defined by Republicans", which can
include things not generally considered "porn" by anyone else.
This truly is the first time I see the GOP book banning described as
targeted at porn, whatever definition they use for "porn".
Until today, I think I had always seen it applied to books that covered
or mentioned topics the GOP decided to regard as "political".
?Miskatonic University regrets to inform that, due to bans imposed byGOP
legislators, there is only one book available in our collection.?
No, Amazon bans are much worse. Amazon bans for
political reasons, and does it secretly; this affects
most of the book market, as Amazon has an illegal
monopoly position in the marketplace. "GOP bans"
are like what you say, affecting specific children's
schools and libraries, chiefly directed against porn.
The crackers did not crack the 1024 bit public key / private key
encryption in my software. In fact, one of them actually sent me an
email about how hard it was to crack. Instead, they managed to find the >public key in my software and replace it with their own public key for >supplying their own passwords with their own private keys. That path
will not happen again.
On Sat, 25 Apr 2026 01:28:40 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:
Isn't all cryptography just obscurity ?
No.
Pluted Pup <plutedpup@outlook.com> wrote:very
No, Amazon bans are much worse. Amazon bans for
political reasons, and does it secretly; this affects
most of the book market, as Amazon has an illegal
monopoly position in the marketplace. "GOP bans"
are like what you say, affecting specific children's
schools and libraries, chiefly directed against porn.
"GOP Bans," and I hate to call them that although the GOP has become
enamored with them recently, are about parents not wanting kids to know"porn"
about things that scare the parents.
A lot of them have been directed against what the parents consider
which is to say anything that refers to sex, figuring that somehow ifanything
kids don't find out about sex they will be better off. Likewise
LGBT-adjacent is considered "porn" because they have the misguided idea
that teaching kids about gays will make them gay. Parents are scared of >these things and they think they are protecting children.
In fact, they are not protecting children, they are damaging them bykeeping
them from seeing that there are different kinds of people in the realworld.
This gets to a real extreme where some Florida library banned a kid's
book about a snail who was "neither a girl nor a boy." Apparently it is
bad to teach kids that in their mind, even though that is how snails
actually are.
But it goes way beyond sex... if you look at the most-banned books in
school libraries, the absolute record for bans is held by Stephen King.
Yes, he does address sexuality in some of his books but not in any way
that would encourage anyone to have sex.
I grew up as a queer kid in an era where there were really no books outthing
there about being queer... not just sexually but socially. Meaning I
grew up pretty much without any good role models. That's a terrible
for a kid... my friend and I knew we weren't gay because gay people werelike
like Liberace and we certainly weren't like that, Kids need to see the
wide range of humanity otherwise they grow up thinking that everybody is
just like them... or even worse they grow up thinking that nobody is
them.
On 4/25/2026 12:54 AM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
On Sat, 25 Apr 2026 00:31:54 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:
Instead, they managed to find the public key in my software and
replace it with their own public key for supplying their own
passwords with their own private keys. That path will not happen
again.
Security-through-obscurity, eh?
Yes, that will happen again.
Isn't all cryptography just obscurity ?
On Fri, 24 Apr 2026 15:33:24 -0500, Lynn McGuire
<lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
On 4/24/2026 12:00 PM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan <tednolan>) writes:
In article <il1nuk9rn3ieb3tedjc34d0vo8kgsdm98i@4ax.com>,
Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> wrote:
On 24 Apr 2026 04:16:04 GMT, ted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan
<tednolan>) wrote:
Winter s Demon Vesik Book 3-asin_B00KZXH456-type_EBOK-v_0.azw
A Kingdom of Glass A Novel of Th-asin_B06XC9X5R4-type_EBOK-v_0.azw3 >>>>
they have just recently announced that the Kindle Keyboard model will
be de-supported next month, so I have to figure out an alternate model >>>> to sideload my books. I will first look at kindle-for-android and see >>>> if that stores something I can use.
I've been very happy with the Kobo Clara HD. Easy to sideload;
although you'll need to decrypt and convert from kindle format
or find epub alternatives (e.g. alt.binaries.ebook).
Given that I have had the 1024 bit public / private key encryption
broken in my software, breaking cryptography can be done with enough
Chinese and Russian crackers playing with it. All they need is somebody
pushing for it.
Wait for quantum computing. IIRC, a 1014 MByte public/private key
won't be secure any more.
Like the Age of Antibiotics (ending because of evolving resistence in microorganisms), so the Age of Internet (non-quantum) Encryption will
end.
On Fri, 24 Apr 2026 23:26:30 +0100, Nuno Silva
<nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> wrote:
®Miskatonic University regrets to inform that, due to bans imposed by GOP >>legislators, there is only one book available in our collection.¯
Let me guess -- /Necronomicon/, the GOP bible.
But it goes way beyond sex... if you look at the most-banned books in
school libraries, the absolute record for bans is held by Stephen King.
Yes, he does address sexuality in some of his books but not in any way
that would encourage anyone to have sex.
I grew up as a queer kid in an era where there were really no books out
there about being queer... not just sexually but socially. Meaning I
grew up pretty much without any good role models. That's a terrible thing for a kid... my friend and I knew we weren't gay because gay people were
like Liberace and we certainly weren't like that, Kids need to see the
wide range of humanity otherwise they grow up thinking that everybody is
just like them... or even worse they grow up thinking that nobody is like them.
On 2026-04-26, Scott Dorsey wrote:
But it goes way beyond sex... if you look at the most-banned books in
school libraries, the absolute record for bans is held by Stephen King.
What.
I'm not questioning your statement, I'm more... contemplating the
absurdity of that.
Ah well, good job, Helen...
(Helen Lovejoy)
Yes, he does address sexuality in some of his books but not in any way
that would encourage anyone to have sex.
[...]
I grew up as a queer kid in an era where there were really no books out
there about being queer... not just sexually but socially. Meaning I
grew up pretty much without any good role models. That's a terrible thing >> for a kid... my friend and I knew we weren't gay because gay people were
like Liberace and we certainly weren't like that, Kids need to see the
wide range of humanity otherwise they grow up thinking that everybody is
just like them... or even worse they grow up thinking that nobody is like
them.
And that's one thing some people seem so intent on fighting, to prevent access to such information, access that'd mean less people have to grow
up in a bubble that limits or harms them. And that's a terrible thing to
do to children, I'd argue?
On Sat, 25 Apr 2026 09:38:45 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
On Sat, 25 Apr 2026 01:28:40 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:
Isn't all cryptography just obscurity ?
No.
Old fashioned single-key cryptography is.
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
The crackers did not crack the 1024 bit public key / private key
encryption in my software. In fact, one of them actually sent me an
email about how hard it was to crack. Instead, they managed to find
the public key in my software and replace it with their own public
key for supplying their own passwords with their own private keys.
That path will not happen again.
Kevin Mitnick says that one out of every three office whiteboards
has a password on it. As long as that sort of thing continues,
encryption is never going to be very effective.
I grew up as a queer kid in an era where there were really no books
out there about being queer... not just sexually but socially.
Meaning I grew up pretty much without any good role models. That's a
terrible thing for a kid... my friend and I knew we weren't gay
because gay people were like Liberace and we certainly weren't like
that, Kids need to see the wide range of humanity otherwise they
grow up thinking that everybody is just like them... or even worse
they grow up thinking that nobody is like them.
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this quantum analysis has never been demonstrated in
action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems are >resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing on the
head of a pin.
On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 01:07:08 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this quantum analysis has never been demonstrated in
action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems
are resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing on
the head of a pin.
Not really. It's just like any algorithm analysis...
But this is a special quantum kind of algorithm analysis, dont you
know. Its not about building a sufficiently fast computer, its about
building a sufficiently fast computer with added quantum pixie dust.
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this ?quantum analysis? has never been demonstrated in
action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems are >resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing on the
head of a pin.
Denying the kids sexual education did not work in the 1950s to
keep them safe from abusing pedophiles. Referencing Stranger
Danger did not work with bad Dads, Uncles, Cousins, Brothers,
weird Mothers, Sisters and Pastors. iT was fine for the seducers
with candy and vans, who might have mislaid a puppy or kitten.
The 1940s and 1950s were a swamp of prudery about sex
and diseases like cancer. Sex education in a RC HIgh School
included the dangers of promiscuity such as horrid diseases.
On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 01:07:08 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this ?quantum analysis? has never been demonstrated in
action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems are
resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing on the
head of a pin.
This reminds me of the "token ring vs ethernet" debate of the late
70s/early 80s.
This, for me, climaxed when an IBM employee, responding to an article favoring ethernet, claimed he had a function token-ring network. The
response was "show me" -- that is, demonstrate a working token ring
that could be seen to work as opposed to being theoretical.
The IBM employee's tone struck me as being very humorous for some
reason. It is hard to describe, but it was definitely not normal.
AFAIK, the challenge was never accepted.
And it should be clear that ethernet is the LAN that won and, indeed,
is used to this day.
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 11:10:16 -0700, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:
<snippo: book censorship>
Denying the kids sexual education did not work in the 1950s to
keep them safe from abusing pedophiles. Referencing Stranger
Danger did not work with bad Dads, Uncles, Cousins, Brothers,
weird Mothers, Sisters and Pastors. iT was fine for the seducers
with candy and vans, who might have mislaid a puppy or kitten.
I think you meant "misled" there.
I'm not sure how far back this went, altough I suspect it precedes the
40s. I'm sure the info is out there.
You have to remember also that part of the package was the belief that children always lie. It took a lot of work to get to the point where
small children could testify against adults on such issues and be
taken seriously.
The 1940s and 1950s were a swamp of prudery about sex
and diseases like cancer. Sex education in a RC HIgh School
included the dangers of promiscuity such as horrid diseases.
To be fair, horrid diseases /are/ part of the dangers of promiscuity.
And the novel/movie /Searching for Mr Goodbar/ records other dangers.
It was based on an actual case, IIRC.
But using them to frighten teenagers is a bad idea, if only because it
/does not work/.
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this ?quantum analysis? has never been demonstrated in
action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems are resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing on the
head of a pin.
On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 01:07:08 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this ?quantum analysis? has never been demonstrated in
action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems are
resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing on the
head of a pin.
This reminds me of the "token ring vs ethernet" debate of the late
70s/early 80s.
This, for me, climaxed when an IBM employee, responding to an article favoring ethernet, claimed he had a function token-ring network. The
response was "show me" -- that is, demonstrate a working token ring
that could be seen to work as opposed to being theoretical.
The IBM employee's tone struck me as being very humorous for some
reason. It is hard to describe, but it was definitely not normal.
AFAIK, the challenge was never accepted.
And it should be clear that ethernet is the LAN that won and, indeed,
is used to this day.
On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 01:07:08 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D=B4Oliveiro ><ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this =93quantum analysis=94 has never been demonstrated in >>action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems are >>resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing on the
head of a pin.
This reminds me of the "token ring vs ethernet" debate of the late
70s/early 80s.
This, for me, climaxed when an IBM employee, responding to an article >favoring ethernet, claimed he had a function token-ring network. The
response was "show me" -- that is, demonstrate a working token ring
that could be seen to work as opposed to being theoretical.
On 4/26/2026 9:07 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this ?quantum analysis? has never been demonstrated in
action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems are
resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing on the
head of a pin.
Not publicly, in the wild, no. What happens in the basements of
the NSA stays in the basements of the NSA.
Nevertheless, the crypto community has been concerned enough about
it that much work has been done to mitigate the threat.
We didn't wait till Jan 1, 2000 to fix that problem, either.
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 08:56:18 -0400 (EDT), Scott Dorsey wrote:
Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
The crackers did not crack the 1024 bit public key / private key
encryption in my software. In fact, one of them actually sent me an
email about how hard it was to crack. Instead, they managed to find
the public key in my software and replace it with their own public
key for supplying their own passwords with their own private keys.
That path will not happen again.
Kevin Mitnick says that one out of every three office whiteboards
has a password on it. As long as that sort of thing continues,
encryption is never going to be very effective.
Lynn is talking about something worse: his software had to include an encryption key inside every copy that was sent to customers. The
company?s business model relied on the assumption that customers could
not disassemble the software, extract this key and use it for their
own purposes. An assumption which turned out to be fatally flawed.
*That* is what is commonly described as ?security-by-obscurity?.
On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 01:07:08 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this ?quantum analysis? has never been demonstrated in
action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems are
resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing on the
head of a pin.
This reminds me of the "token ring vs ethernet" debate of the late
70s/early 80s.
This, for me, climaxed when an IBM employee, responding to an article favoring ethernet, claimed he had a function token-ring network. The
response was "show me" -- that is, demonstrate a working token ring
that could be seen to work as opposed to being theoretical.
The IBM employee's tone struck me as being very humorous for some
reason. It is hard to describe, but it was definitely not normal.
AFAIK, the challenge was never accepted.
And it should be clear that ethernet is the LAN that won and, indeed,
is used to this day.
On 4/26/26 10:49, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2026-04-26, Scott Dorsey wrote:
But it goes way beyond sex... if you look at the most-banned books in
school libraries, the absolute record for bans is held by Stephen King.
What.
I'm not questioning your statement, I'm more... contemplating the
absurdity of that.
Ah well, good job, Helen...
(Helen Lovejoy)
Yes, he does address sexuality in some of his books but not in any way
that would encourage anyone to have sex.
[...]
I grew up as a queer kid in an era where there were really no books out
there about being queer... not just sexually but socially.ÿ Meaning I
grew up pretty much without any good role models.ÿ That's a terrible
thing
for a kid... my friend and I knew we weren't gay because gay people were >>> like Liberace and we certainly weren't like that,ÿ Kids need to see the
wide range of humanity otherwise they grow up thinking that everybody is >>> just like them... or even worse they grow up thinking that nobody is
like
them.
And that's one thing some people seem so intent on fighting, to prevent
access to such information, access that'd mean less people have to grow
up in a bubble that limits or harms them. And that's a terrible thing to
do to children, I'd argue?
ÿÿÿÿTo some folks Ignorance is a sheild.ÿ That is their mistaken belief.
I was queer because of reading a lot and reading SF and related materials
in the 1950s made me even queerer.ÿ So queer that in my HS yearbook
I was referenced as a Martian.
ÿÿÿÿDenying the kids sexual education did not work in the 1950s to
keep them safe from abusing pedophiles.ÿ Referencing Stranger
Danger did not work with bad Dads, Uncles, Cousins, Brothers,
weird Mothers, Sisters and Pastors.ÿ iT was fine for the seducers
with candy and vans, who might have mislaid a puppy or kitten.
ÿÿÿÿThe 1940s and 1950s were a swamp of prudery about sex
and diseases like cancer.ÿ Sex education in a RC HIgh School
included the dangers of promiscuity such as horrid diseases.
ÿÿÿÿbliss - wholly terrestrial
Yes, ethernet won. But reading the above, I get the impression that you
think Token Ring was never demonstrated to work.
Yet, by 1985, Apollo, Proteon, and indeed IBM were selling products
using token ring.
On 4/26/2026 1:10 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 4/26/26 10:49, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2026-04-26, Scott Dorsey wrote:
But it goes way beyond sex... if you look at the most-banned books inWhat.
school libraries, the absolute record for bans is held by Stephen King. >>>
I'm not questioning your statement, I'm more... contemplating the
absurdity of that.
Ah well, good job, Helen...
(Helen Lovejoy)
Yes, he does address sexuality in some of his books but not in any way >>>> that would encourage anyone to have sex.
[...]
I grew up as a queer kid in an era where there were really no books out >>>> there about being queer... not just sexually but socially.ÿ Meaning I
grew up pretty much without any good role models.ÿ That's a terrible
thing
for a kid... my friend and I knew we weren't gay because gay people
were
like Liberace and we certainly weren't like that,ÿ Kids need to see the >>>> wide range of humanity otherwise they grow up thinking that
everybody is
just like them... or even worse they grow up thinking that nobody is
like
them.
And that's one thing some people seem so intent on fighting, to prevent
access to such information, access that'd mean less people have to grow
up in a bubble that limits or harms them. And that's a terrible thing to >>> do to children, I'd argue?
ÿÿÿÿÿTo some folks Ignorance is a sheild.ÿ That is their mistaken belief.
I was queer because of reading a lot and reading SF and related materials
in the 1950s made me even queerer.ÿ So queer that in my HS yearbook
I was referenced as a Martian.
ÿÿÿÿÿDenying the kids sexual education did not work in the 1950s to
keep them safe from abusing pedophiles.ÿ Referencing Stranger
Danger did not work with bad Dads, Uncles, Cousins, Brothers,
weird Mothers, Sisters and Pastors.ÿ iT was fine for the seducers
with candy and vans, who might have mislaid a puppy or kitten.
ÿÿÿÿÿThe 1940s and 1950s were a swamp of prudery about sex
and diseases like cancer.ÿ Sex education in a RC HIgh School
included the dangers of promiscuity such as horrid diseases.
ÿÿÿÿÿbliss - wholly terrestrial
Diseases like Polio.ÿ My 1938 father was a year or two younger than you Bobbie.ÿ He was cautioned throughout the 1940s and 1950s about touching other people and catching Polio, so much that he could not hug people in
his later years.ÿ I hugged him last summer before he passed away and he almost freaked out.ÿ He grew up in College Station, Texas, a hotbed of
Polio with all of the college students at Texas A&M.
We take so much for granted nowadays.
Lynn
On 4/27/26 13:15, Lynn McGuire wrote:
On 4/26/2026 1:10 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 4/26/26 10:49, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2026-04-26, Scott Dorsey wrote:
But it goes way beyond sex... if you look at the most-banned books in >>>>> school libraries, the absolute record for bans is held by Stephen King. >>>>What.
I'm not questioning your statement, I'm more... contemplating the
absurdity of that.
Ah well, good job, Helen...
(Helen Lovejoy)
Yes, he does address sexuality in some of his books but not in any way >>>>> that would encourage anyone to have sex.
[...]
I grew up as a queer kid in an era where there were really no books out >>>>> there about being queer... not just sexually but socially.ÿ Meaning I >>>>> grew up pretty much without any good role models.ÿ That's a
terrible thing
for a kid... my friend and I knew we weren't gay because gay
people were
like Liberace and we certainly weren't like that,ÿ Kids need to see the >>>>> wide range of humanity otherwise they grow up thinking that
everybody is
just like them... or even worse they grow up thinking that nobody
is like
them.
And that's one thing some people seem so intent on fighting, to prevent >>>> access to such information, access that'd mean less people have to grow >>>> up in a bubble that limits or harms them. And that's a terrible thing to >>>> do to children, I'd argue?
ÿÿÿÿÿTo some folks Ignorance is a sheild.ÿ That is their mistaken belief. >>> I was queer because of reading a lot and reading SF and related materials >>> in the 1950s made me even queerer.ÿ So queer that in my HS yearbook
I was referenced as a Martian.
ÿÿÿÿÿDenying the kids sexual education did not work in the 1950s to
keep them safe from abusing pedophiles.ÿ Referencing Stranger
Danger did not work with bad Dads, Uncles, Cousins, Brothers,
weird Mothers, Sisters and Pastors.ÿ iT was fine for the seducers
with candy and vans, who might have mislaid a puppy or kitten.
ÿÿÿÿÿThe 1940s and 1950s were a swamp of prudery about sex
and diseases like cancer.ÿ Sex education in a RC HIgh School
included the dangers of promiscuity such as horrid diseases.
ÿÿÿÿÿbliss - wholly terrestrial
Diseases like Polio.ÿ My 1938 father was a year or two younger than
you Bobbie.ÿ He was cautioned throughout the 1940s and 1950s about
touching other people and catching Polio, so much that he could not
hug people in his later years.ÿ I hugged him last summer before he
passed away and he almost freaked out.ÿ He grew up in College
Station, Texas, a hotbed of Polio with all of the college students
at Texas A&M.
We take so much for granted nowadays.
Lynn
On that we can agree Lynn. Maybe the Polio training got to
me. my mother and stepfather. But the swimming pools were
closed until there was a Polio case. On the other hand I may have
acquired Rheumatic Fever one summer at a pool in Yuba City.
We did not have clear diagnosis in those days of such
but i was sick for several weeks. And my doctor made a house
call.
So many diseases to catch when I was young and I got
them. Aside from Mumps. I had measles both sorts and
since my economic class did not know much about allergies
I had various Upper Respiratory things happening all the
time.
The anti-vax crew will be in some emotional pain when
their children start suffering.
--
Nuno Silva
On 4/26/2026 9:07 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:never happened.
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this ?quantum analysis? has never been demonstrated in
action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems are
resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing on the
head of a pin.
Not publicly, in the wild, no. What happens in the basements of
the NSA
Quantum computers are not "computers" like you think of a von
neumann machine. They do not process algorithms. They are more like
an analogue computer that solves differential equations.
In the case of the quantum codebreaking, it's already been shown
that the codebreaking problem can be set up as an optimization
problem of the sort that quantum computers can solve.
Diseases like Polio. My 1938 father ... grew up in College Station,
Texas, a hotbed of Polio with all of the college students at Texas
A&M.
We take so much for granted nowadays.
On 4/26/2026 9:07 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this ?quantum analysis? has never been demonstrated in
action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems
are resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing
on the head of a pin.
Not publicly, in the wild, no. What happens in the basements of the
NSA stays in the basements of the NSA.
Nevertheless, the crypto community has been concerned enough about
it that much work has been done to mitigate the threat.
What you see as Ethernet today bears very little connection to the
big yellow cable Ethernet.... there is no longer any ether and just
point to point connections to a central switch just like StarNet.
Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> wrote:
--
Nuno Silva
Heads up: you're leaking your IP. See e-s.support.
Heads up: you're leaking your IP. See e-s.support.
Thanks. I guess I'll move the e-s.* groups up in the group list, as that might have helped in noticing it sooner, by the time I got there I had already been reading this group.
On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 15:15:30 -0500, Lynn McGuire wrote:
Diseases like Polio. My 1938 father ... grew up in College Station,
Texas, a hotbed of Polio with all of the college students at Texas
A&M.
We take so much for granted nowadays.
Given the prevailing anti-science regime, what's the bet that polio
will make a resurgence in the USA within the term of the current US President?
I do very much hope that the smallpox virus never
escapes from the "retained scientific samples"
strategically maintained by a least two of the
world's superpowers.
On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:17:33 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
On 4/26/2026 9:07 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this ?quantum analysis? has never been demonstrated in
action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems
are resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing
on the head of a pin.
Not publicly, in the wild, no. What happens in the basements of the
NSA stays in the basements of the NSA.
SELinux was created in the basements (or wherever) of the NSA, and
then escaped into the wild.
Then, conversely, I think some weaknesses were discovered in SHA-1
that the NSA seemed to be unaware of.
Nevertheless, the crypto community has been concerned enough about
it that much work has been done to mitigate the threat.
What work, exactly?
On 4/27/26 13:15, Lynn McGuire wrote:
On 4/26/2026 1:10 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 4/26/26 10:49, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2026-04-26, Scott Dorsey wrote:
But it goes way beyond sex... if you look at the most-banned books in >>>>> school libraries, the absolute record for bans is held by Stephen
King.
What.
I'm not questioning your statement, I'm more... contemplating the
absurdity of that.
Ah well, good job, Helen...
(Helen Lovejoy)
Yes, he does address sexuality in some of his books but not in any way >>>>> that would encourage anyone to have sex.
[...]
I grew up as a queer kid in an era where there were really no books >>>>> out
there about being queer... not just sexually but socially.ÿ Meaning I >>>>> grew up pretty much without any good role models.ÿ That's a
terrible thing
for a kid... my friend and I knew we weren't gay because gay people >>>>> were
like Liberace and we certainly weren't like that,ÿ Kids need to see >>>>> the
wide range of humanity otherwise they grow up thinking that
everybody is
just like them... or even worse they grow up thinking that nobody
is like
them.
And that's one thing some people seem so intent on fighting, to prevent >>>> access to such information, access that'd mean less people have to grow >>>> up in a bubble that limits or harms them. And that's a terrible
thing to
do to children, I'd argue?
ÿÿÿÿÿTo some folks Ignorance is a sheild.ÿ That is their mistaken
belief.
I was queer because of reading a lot and reading SF and related
materials
in the 1950s made me even queerer.ÿ So queer that in my HS yearbook
I was referenced as a Martian.
ÿÿÿÿÿDenying the kids sexual education did not work in the 1950s to
keep them safe from abusing pedophiles.ÿ Referencing Stranger
Danger did not work with bad Dads, Uncles, Cousins, Brothers,
weird Mothers, Sisters and Pastors.ÿ iT was fine for the seducers
with candy and vans, who might have mislaid a puppy or kitten.
ÿÿÿÿÿThe 1940s and 1950s were a swamp of prudery about sex
and diseases like cancer.ÿ Sex education in a RC HIgh School
included the dangers of promiscuity such as horrid diseases.
ÿÿÿÿÿbliss - wholly terrestrial
Diseases like Polio.ÿ My 1938 father was a year or two younger than
you Bobbie.ÿ He was cautioned throughout the 1940s and 1950s about
touching other people and catching Polio, so much that he could not
hug people in his later years.ÿ I hugged him last summer before he
passed away and he almost freaked out.ÿ He grew up in College Station,
Texas, a hotbed of Polio with all of the college students at Texas A&M.
We take so much for granted nowadays.
Lynn
ÿÿÿÿOn that we can agree Lynn. Maybe the Polio training got to
me. my mother and stepfather.ÿ But the swimming pools were
closed until there was a Polio case. On the other hand I may have
acquired Rheumatic Fever one summer at a pool in Yuba City.
ÿÿÿÿWe did not have clear diagnosis in those days of such
but i was sick for several weeks.ÿ And my doctor made a house
call.
ÿÿÿÿSo many diseases to catch when I was young and I got
them. Aside from Mumps.ÿ I had measles both sorts and
since my economic class did not know much about allergies
I had various Upper Respiratory things happening all the
time.
ÿÿÿÿThe anti-vax crew will be in some emotional pain when
their children start suffering.
ÿÿÿÿbliss
On 4/27/2026 12:04 PM, Paul S Person wrote:
On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 01:07:08 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro
<ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this ?quantum analysis? has never been demonstrated in
action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems are
resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing on the
head of a pin.
This reminds me of the "token ring vs ethernet" debate of the late
70s/early 80s.
This, for me, climaxed when an IBM employee, responding to an article
favoring ethernet, claimed he had a function token-ring network. The
response was "show me" -- that is, demonstrate a working token ring
that could be seen to work as opposed to being theoretical.
The IBM employee's tone struck me as being very humorous for some
reason. It is hard to describe, but it was definitely not normal.
AFAIK, the challenge was never accepted.
And it should be clear that ethernet is the LAN that won and, indeed,
is used to this day.
Yes, ethernet won. But reading the above, I get the impression that you
think Token Ring was never demonstrated to work.
Yet, by 1985, Apollo, Proteon, and indeed IBM were selling products
using token ring.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Token_Ring
Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
Yes, ethernet won. But reading the above, I get the impression that you >>think Token Ring was never demonstrated to work.
Yet, by 1985, Apollo, Proteon, and indeed IBM were selling products
using token ring.
Yes, we used 80Mb/sec token ring to bridge our in-building Ethernet
networks for quite a few years until FDDI came along.
And there were plenty of other contenders out there like StarNet and
ARCNet that fell by the wayside in the long run.
What you see as Ethernet today bears very little connection to the
big yellow cable Ethernet.... there is no longer any ether and just
point to point connections to a central switch just like StarNet.
So Ethernet kind of won, but only by being transformed into something
else.
Although I suppose you COULD have a bridged network today, which is
kind of like it....
Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> writes:in
On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 01:07:08 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D=B4Oliveiro >><ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this =93quantum analysis=94 has never been demonstrated
action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems are >>>resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing on the
head of a pin.
This reminds me of the "token ring vs ethernet" debate of the late >>70s/early 80s.
This, for me, climaxed when an IBM employee, responding to an article >>favoring ethernet, claimed he had a function token-ring network. The >>response was "show me" -- that is, demonstrate a working token ring
that could be seen to work as opposed to being theoretical.
IBM token ring networks survived into this millenium. There
are still some in use in certain niche applications.
On 2026-04-28, Sn!pe <snipeco.2@gmail.com> wrote:
I do very much hope that the smallpox virus never
escapes from the "retained scientific samples"
strategically maintained by a least two of the
world's superpowers.
Anyone who doesn't know which direction to place their bet on
that scenario is more than a little disconnected from [redacted]
Cryptoengineer <petertrei@gmail.com> writes:demonstrated in
On 4/26/2026 9:07 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
On Sun, 26 Apr 2026 12:32:01 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
There are public key systems (such as Lattice-based systems) which
are resistant to quantum analysis.
Given that this ?quantum analysis?? has never been
action, that claim is about as meaningful as saying these systems are
resistant to analysis by sufficient numbers of angels dancing on the
head of a pin.
Not publicly, in the wild, no. What happens in the basements of
the NSA stays in the basements of the NSA.
On 4/27/26 13:15, Lynn McGuire wrote:in
On 4/26/2026 1:10 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 4/26/26 10:49, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2026-04-26, Scott Dorsey wrote:
But it goes way beyond sex... if you look at the most-banned books
King.school libraries, the absolute record for bans is held by Stephen
way
What.
I'm not questioning your statement, I'm more... contemplating the
absurdity of that.
Ah well, good job, Helen...
(Helen Lovejoy)
Yes, he does address sexuality in some of his books but not in any
outthat would encourage anyone to have sex.
[...]
I grew up as a queer kid in an era where there were really no books
Meaning Ithere about being queer... not just sexually but socially.?
terriblegrew up pretty much without any good role models.? That's a
thing
for a kid... my friend and I knew we weren't gay because gay people
see thewere
like Liberace and we certainly weren't like that,? Kids need to
iswide range of humanity otherwise they grow up thinking that
everybody is
just like them... or even worse they grow up thinking that nobody
preventlike
them.
And that's one thing some people seem so intent on fighting, to
growaccess to such information, access that'd mean less people have to
thing toup in a bubble that limits or harms them. And that's a terrible
mistaken belief.do to children, I'd argue?
?????To some folks Ignorance is a sheild.? That is their
materialsI was queer because of reading a lot and reading SF and related
1950s toin the 1950s made me even queerer.? So queer that in my HS yearbook
I was referenced as a Martian.
?????Denying the kids sexual education did not work in the
youkeep them safe from abusing pedophiles.? Referencing Stranger
Danger did not work with bad Dads, Uncles, Cousins, Brothers,
weird Mothers, Sisters and Pastors.? iT was fine for the seducers
with candy and vans, who might have mislaid a puppy or kitten.
?????The 1940s and 1950s were a swamp of prudery about sex
and diseases like cancer.? Sex education in a RC HIgh School
included the dangers of promiscuity such as horrid diseases.
?????bliss - wholly terrestrial
Diseases like Polio.? My 1938 father was a year or two younger than
touchingBobbie.? He was cautioned throughout the 1940s and 1950s about
inother people and catching Polio, so much that he could not hug people
hehis later years.? I hugged him last summer before he passed away and
ofalmost freaked out.? He grew up in College Station, Texas, a hotbed
Polio with all of the college students at Texas A&M.
We take so much for granted nowadays.
Lynn
On that we can agree Lynn. Maybe the Polio training got to
me. my mother and stepfather. But the swimming pools were
closed until there was a Polio case. On the other hand I may have
acquired Rheumatic Fever one summer at a pool in Yuba City.
We did not have clear diagnosis in those days of such
but i was sick for several weeks. And my doctor made a house
call.
So many diseases to catch when I was young and I got
them. Aside from Mumps. I had measles both sorts and
since my economic class did not know much about allergies
I had various Upper Respiratory things happening all the
time.
The anti-vax crew will be in some emotional pain when
their children start suffering.
ÿÿÿÿFreud thought or pretended to think that the children were expressing their sexual desires for daddy.
oldernow <oldernow@dev.null> wrote:
On 2026-04-28, Sn!pe <snipeco.2@gmail.com> wrote:
I do very much hope that the smallpox virus never
escapes from the "retained scientific samples"
strategically maintained by a least two of the
world's superpowers.
Anyone who doesn't know which direction to place
their bet on that scenario is more than a little
disconnected from [redacted]
If you don't mind, I'd much prefer it if you
would refrain from hanging your bile onto my
articles. TYVM [no response required]
On 4/27/2026 5:09 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
Relevant, albeit pre-COVID XKCD:
On 4/27/26 13:15, Lynn McGuire wrote:
On 4/26/2026 1:10 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 4/26/26 10:49, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2026-04-26, Scott Dorsey wrote:
But it goes way beyond sex... if you look at the most-banned books in >>>>>> school libraries, the absolute record for bans is held by Stephen >>>>>> King.
What.
I'm not questioning your statement, I'm more... contemplating the
absurdity of that.
Ah well, good job, Helen...
(Helen Lovejoy)
Yes, he does address sexuality in some of his books but not in any >>>>>> way
that would encourage anyone to have sex.
[...]
I grew up as a queer kid in an era where there were really no
books out
there about being queer... not just sexually but socially.ÿ Meaning I >>>>>> grew up pretty much without any good role models.ÿ That's a
terrible thing
for a kid... my friend and I knew we weren't gay because gay
people were
like Liberace and we certainly weren't like that,ÿ Kids need to
see the
wide range of humanity otherwise they grow up thinking that
everybody is
just like them... or even worse they grow up thinking that nobody >>>>>> is like
them.
And that's one thing some people seem so intent on fighting, to
prevent
access to such information, access that'd mean less people have to
grow
up in a bubble that limits or harms them. And that's a terrible
thing to
do to children, I'd argue?
ÿÿÿÿÿTo some folks Ignorance is a sheild.ÿ That is their mistaken
belief.
I was queer because of reading a lot and reading SF and related
materials
in the 1950s made me even queerer.ÿ So queer that in my HS yearbook
I was referenced as a Martian.
ÿÿÿÿÿDenying the kids sexual education did not work in the 1950s to
keep them safe from abusing pedophiles.ÿ Referencing Stranger
Danger did not work with bad Dads, Uncles, Cousins, Brothers,
weird Mothers, Sisters and Pastors.ÿ iT was fine for the seducers
with candy and vans, who might have mislaid a puppy or kitten.
ÿÿÿÿÿThe 1940s and 1950s were a swamp of prudery about sex
and diseases like cancer.ÿ Sex education in a RC HIgh School
included the dangers of promiscuity such as horrid diseases.
ÿÿÿÿÿbliss - wholly terrestrial
Diseases like Polio.ÿ My 1938 father was a year or two younger than
you Bobbie.ÿ He was cautioned throughout the 1940s and 1950s about
touching other people and catching Polio, so much that he could not
hug people in his later years.ÿ I hugged him last summer before he
passed away and he almost freaked out.ÿ He grew up in College
Station, Texas, a hotbed of Polio with all of the college students at
Texas A&M.
We take so much for granted nowadays.
Lynn
ÿÿÿÿÿOn that we can agree Lynn. Maybe the Polio training got to
me. my mother and stepfather.ÿ But the swimming pools were
closed until there was a Polio case. On the other hand I may have
acquired Rheumatic Fever one summer at a pool in Yuba City.
ÿÿÿÿÿWe did not have clear diagnosis in those days of such
but i was sick for several weeks.ÿ And my doctor made a house
call.
ÿÿÿÿÿSo many diseases to catch when I was young and I got
them. Aside from Mumps.ÿ I had measles both sorts and
since my economic class did not know much about allergies
I had various Upper Respiratory things happening all the
time.
ÿÿÿÿÿThe anti-vax crew will be in some emotional pain when
their children start suffering.
ÿÿÿÿÿbliss
https://xkcd.com/1520/
pt
On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:22:41 -0400 (EDT), Scott Dorsey wrote:
Quantum computers are not "computers" like you think of a von
neumann machine. They do not process algorithms. They are more like
an analogue computer that solves differential equations.
Now youre drawing a distinction between analog and digital
computers, And you are, quite rightly, pointing out that all the
actual working quantum computers built so far are analog machines.
In order to crack codes, we will need to build quantum digital
computers. These dont exist, and likely will never exist.
In the case of the quantum codebreaking, it's already been shown
that the codebreaking problem can be set up as an optimization
problem of the sort that quantum computers can solve.
Where has that been shown? That has never been shown.
On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:09:57 -0700, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:
On 4/27/26 13:15, Lynn McGuire wrote:
On 4/26/2026 1:10 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 4/26/26 10:49, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2026-04-26, Scott Dorsey wrote:
But it goes way beyond sex... if you look at the most-banned books in >>>>>> school libraries, the absolute record for bans is held by Stephen King. >>>>>What.
I'm not questioning your statement, I'm more... contemplating the
absurdity of that.
Ah well, good job, Helen...
(Helen Lovejoy)
Yes, he does address sexuality in some of his books but not in any way >>>>>> that would encourage anyone to have sex.
[...]
I grew up as a queer kid in an era where there were really no books out >>>>>> there about being queer... not just sexually but socially.ÿ Meaning I >>>>>> grew up pretty much without any good role models.ÿ That's a terrible >>>>>> thing
for a kid... my friend and I knew we weren't gay because gay people >>>>>> were
like Liberace and we certainly weren't like that,ÿ Kids need to see the >>>>>> wide range of humanity otherwise they grow up thinking that
everybody is
just like them... or even worse they grow up thinking that nobody is >>>>>> like
them.
And that's one thing some people seem so intent on fighting, to prevent >>>>> access to such information, access that'd mean less people have to grow >>>>> up in a bubble that limits or harms them. And that's a terrible thing to >>>>> do to children, I'd argue?
ÿÿÿÿÿTo some folks Ignorance is a sheild.ÿ That is their mistaken belief. >>>> I was queer because of reading a lot and reading SF and related materials >>>> in the 1950s made me even queerer.ÿ So queer that in my HS yearbook
I was referenced as a Martian.
ÿÿÿÿÿDenying the kids sexual education did not work in the 1950s to
keep them safe from abusing pedophiles.ÿ Referencing Stranger
Danger did not work with bad Dads, Uncles, Cousins, Brothers,
weird Mothers, Sisters and Pastors.ÿ iT was fine for the seducers
with candy and vans, who might have mislaid a puppy or kitten.
ÿÿÿÿÿThe 1940s and 1950s were a swamp of prudery about sex
and diseases like cancer.ÿ Sex education in a RC HIgh School
included the dangers of promiscuity such as horrid diseases.
ÿÿÿÿÿbliss - wholly terrestrial
Diseases like Polio.ÿ My 1938 father was a year or two younger than you
Bobbie.ÿ He was cautioned throughout the 1940s and 1950s about touching
other people and catching Polio, so much that he could not hug people in >>> his later years.ÿ I hugged him last summer before he passed away and he
almost freaked out.ÿ He grew up in College Station, Texas, a hotbed of
Polio with all of the college students at Texas A&M.
We take so much for granted nowadays.
Lynn
On that we can agree Lynn. Maybe the Polio training got to
me. my mother and stepfather. But the swimming pools were
closed until there was a Polio case. On the other hand I may have
acquired Rheumatic Fever one summer at a pool in Yuba City.
We did not have clear diagnosis in those days of such
but i was sick for several weeks. And my doctor made a house
call.
So many diseases to catch when I was young and I got
them. Aside from Mumps. I had measles both sorts and
since my economic class did not know much about allergies
I had various Upper Respiratory things happening all the
time.
The anti-vax crew will be in some emotional pain when
their children start suffering.
Don't be silly -- they'll just blame the Democrats.
On 4/28/2026 8:50 AM, Paul S Person wrote:That was the case at the California Gubernatorial debates for
On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 14:09:57 -0700, Bobbie Sellers
<bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:
On 4/27/26 13:15, Lynn McGuire wrote:
On 4/26/2026 1:10 PM, Bobbie Sellers wrote:
On 4/26/26 10:49, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2026-04-26, Scott Dorsey wrote:
But it goes way beyond sex... if you look at the most-banned
books in
school libraries, the absolute record for bans is held by Stephen >>>>>>> King.
What.
I'm not questioning your statement, I'm more... contemplating the
absurdity of that.
Ah well, good job, Helen...
(Helen Lovejoy)
Yes, he does address sexuality in some of his books but not in
any way
that would encourage anyone to have sex.
[...]
I grew up as a queer kid in an era where there were really no
books out
there about being queer... not just sexually but socially.
Meaning I
grew up pretty much without any good role models.ÿ That's a terrible >>>>>>> thing
for a kid... my friend and I knew we weren't gay because gay people >>>>>>> were
like Liberace and we certainly weren't like that,ÿ Kids need to >>>>>>> see the
wide range of humanity otherwise they grow up thinking that
everybody is
just like them... or even worse they grow up thinking that nobody is >>>>>>> like
them.
And that's one thing some people seem so intent on fighting, to
prevent
access to such information, access that'd mean less people have to >>>>>> grow
up in a bubble that limits or harms them. And that's a terrible
thing to
do to children, I'd argue?
ÿÿÿÿÿÿTo some folks Ignorance is a sheild.ÿ That is their mistaken
belief.
I was queer because of reading a lot and reading SF and related
materials
in the 1950s made me even queerer.ÿ So queer that in my HS yearbook
I was referenced as a Martian.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿDenying the kids sexual education did not work in the 1950s to >>>>> keep them safe from abusing pedophiles.ÿ Referencing Stranger
Danger did not work with bad Dads, Uncles, Cousins, Brothers,
weird Mothers, Sisters and Pastors.ÿ iT was fine for the seducers
with candy and vans, who might have mislaid a puppy or kitten.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿThe 1940s and 1950s were a swamp of prudery about sex
and diseases like cancer.ÿ Sex education in a RC HIgh School
included the dangers of promiscuity such as horrid diseases.
ÿÿÿÿÿÿbliss - wholly terrestrial
Diseases like Polio.ÿ My 1938 father was a year or two younger than you >>>> Bobbie.ÿ He was cautioned throughout the 1940s and 1950s about touching >>>> other people and catching Polio, so much that he could not hug
people in
his later years.ÿ I hugged him last summer before he passed away and he >>>> almost freaked out.ÿ He grew up in College Station, Texas, a hotbed of >>>> Polio with all of the college students at Texas A&M.
We take so much for granted nowadays.
Lynn
ÿÿÿÿOn that we can agree Lynn. Maybe the Polio training got to
me. my mother and stepfather.ÿ But the swimming pools were
closed until there was a Polio case. On the other hand I may have
acquired Rheumatic Fever one summer at a pool in Yuba City.
ÿÿÿÿWe did not have clear diagnosis in those days of such
but i was sick for several weeks.ÿ And my doctor made a house
call.
ÿÿÿÿSo many diseases to catch when I was young and I got
them. Aside from Mumps.ÿ I had measles both sorts and
since my economic class did not know much about allergies
I had various Upper Respiratory things happening all the
time.
ÿÿÿÿThe anti-vax crew will be in some emotional pain when
their children start suffering.
Don't be silly -- they'll just blame the Democrats.
Aren't they already blaming the Democrats?
On Tue, 28 Apr 2026 01:27:26 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
On Mon, 27 Apr 2026 08:22:41 -0400 (EDT), Scott Dorsey wrote:
Quantum computers are not "computers" like you think of a von
neumann machine. They do not process algorithms. They are more
like an analogue computer that solves differential equations.
Now youre drawing a distinction between analog and digital
computers, And you are, quite rightly, pointing out that all the
actual working quantum computers built so far are analog machines.
I am drawing a distinction between digital computers which are what
the public thinks of as computers, and analogue computers which
hardly even get called "computers" today.
And then I am drawing the analogy between analogue computers which
are special-purpose calculating devices to solve specific problems,
and quantum computers which are neither analogue nor digital but
which share a lot characteristics with analogue computers.
In order to crack codes, we will need to build quantum digital
computers. These dont exist, and likely will never exist.
No. All we need to do are build larger ones of the existing type.
The math part has already been done, all we need are more states.
It may turn out this isn't possible, but of the relatively limited
number of things we know we can do with quantum computers, breaking elliptical function codes is one of them.
In the case of the quantum codebreaking, it's already been shown
that the codebreaking problem can be set up as an optimization
problem of the sort that quantum computers can solve.
Where has that been shown? That has never been shown.
Look up Shor's Algorithm which is the fundamental work from twenty years
ago. It is ingenious as hell.
Relevant, albeit pre-COVID XKCD:
https://xkcd.com/1520/
On 4/26/26 10:49 AM, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2026-04-26, Scott Dorsey wrote:
But it goes way beyond sex... if you look at the most-banned books in
school libraries, the absolute record for bans is held by Stephen King.
What are those King titles and what's the context.
I've seen the ALA sort of "banned books lists" and
every book will be about sex and withdrawn in very
small situations.ÿ The implication is that political
censorship does not exist and sex alone constitutes
"censorship".
It's far worse for Amazon to ban a book than a
library.
What.
I'm not questioning your statement, I'm more... contemplating the
absurdity of that.
Ah well, good job, Helen...
(Helen Lovejoy)
Yes, he does address sexuality in some of his books but not in any way
that would encourage anyone to have sex.
[...]
I grew up as a queer kid in an era where there were really no books out
there about being queer... not just sexually but socially.ÿ Meaning I
grew up pretty much without any good role models.ÿ That's a terrible
thing
for a kid... my friend and I knew we weren't gay because gay people were >>> like Liberace and we certainly weren't like that,ÿ Kids need to see the
wide range of humanity otherwise they grow up thinking that everybody is >>> just like them... or even worse they grow up thinking that nobody is
like
them.
And that's one thing some people seem so intent on fighting, to prevent
access to such information, access that'd mean less people have to grow
up in a bubble that limits or harms them. And that's a terrible thing to
do to children, I'd argue?
Being constantly told that "print is obsolete because ebooks are the
future" practically means that Amazon Is The Future, All Criticism
Of Amazon Is Obsolete.
On 4/26/26 5:56 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
The crackers did not crack the 1024 bit public key / private key
encryption in my software. In fact, one of them actually sent me an
email about how hard it was to crack. Instead, they managed to find the >>> public key in my software and replace it with their own public key for
supplying their own passwords with their own private keys. That path
will not happen again.
Kevin Mitnick says that one out of every three office whiteboards has a
password on it.
That was 40 years ago?
On 4/25/26 8:27 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
Is Quantum the next Industry Buzzword that erases all
skepticism and short-circuits thought?
A few years ago we said the problem of World Hunger can now
be solved with... [BLOCKCHAIN]!
Now with all computing problems being solved with... [AI]!
Next will it be that all problems can be solved in our
way to Technological Paradise with.... [QUANTUM]!
It's not a computer problem, it's a people problem.
Pluted Pup <plutedpup@outlook.com> wrote:
On 4/25/26 8:27 AM, Paul S Person wrote:
Is Quantum the next Industry Buzzword that erases all
skepticism and short-circuits thought?
A few years ago we said the problem of World
Hunger can now be solved with... [BLOCKCHAIN]!
Now with all computing problems being solved
with... [AI]!
Next will it be that all problems can be solved
in our way to Technological Paradise with....
[QUANTUM]!
Yes. That doesn't mean that any one of these
three things are useless, just that they are
severely overhyped, poorly understood, and
bad investments.
Pluted Pup <plutedpup@outlook.com> wrote:
On 4/26/26 5:56 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> wrote:
The crackers did not crack the 1024 bit public key / private key
encryption in my software. In fact, one of them actually sent me an
email about how hard it was to crack. Instead, they managed to find the >>>> public key in my software and replace it with their own public key for >>>> supplying their own passwords with their own private keys. That path
will not happen again.
Kevin Mitnick says that one out of every three office whiteboards has a
password on it.
That was 40 years ago?
Probably around then. Two-factor systems have improved things some, but
not very much.
And if you call someone and tell them you're from the IT department and you want him to click on this web form, they will invariably do it.
It's not a computer problem, it's a people problem.
--scott
On 4/29/26 21:10, Pluted Pup wrote:The first 'stranger danger' anti-gay film I'm aware of is "Boys Beware" https://youtu.be/H2zikCUPPxw
On 4/26/26 10:49 AM, Nuno Silva wrote:
On 2026-04-26, Scott Dorsey wrote:
But it goes way beyond sex... if you look at the most-banned books in
school libraries, the absolute record for bans is held by Stephen King.
What are those King titles and what's the context.
I've seen the ALA sort of "banned books lists" and
every book will be about sex and withdrawn in very
small situations.ÿ The implication is that political
censorship does not exist and sex alone constitutes
"censorship".
It's far worse for Amazon to ban a book than a
library.
What.
I'm not questioning your statement, I'm more... contemplating the
absurdity of that.
Ah well, good job, Helen...
(Helen Lovejoy)
Yes, he does address sexuality in some of his books but not in any way >>>> that would encourage anyone to have sex.
[...]
I grew up as a queer kid in an era where there were really no books out >>>> there about being queer... not just sexually but socially.ÿ Meaning I
grew up pretty much without any good role models.ÿ That's a terrible
thing
for a kid... my friend and I knew we weren't gay because gay people
were
like Liberace and we certainly weren't like that,ÿ Kids need to see the >>>> wide range of humanity otherwise they grow up thinking that
everybody is
just like them... or even worse they grow up thinking that nobody is
like
them.
And that's one thing some people seem so intent on fighting, to prevent
access to such information, access that'd mean less people have to grow
up in a bubble that limits or harms them. And that's a terrible thing to >>> do to children, I'd argue?
ÿÿÿÿIn the 1940s and 1950s there was no sexual predator education
at any level in schools as far as I know.ÿ I think it harmed a lot of
people
then and later in life.
On Wed, 29 Apr 2026 20:22:07 -0700, Pluted Pup wrote:
Being constantly told that "print is obsolete because ebooks are the
future" practically means that Amazon Is The Future, All Criticism
Of Amazon Is Obsolete.
Lots of Amazon-free e-books available here <https://gutenberg.org/>.
On 4/30/2026 9:09 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:[...]
Pluted Pup <plutedpup@outlook.com> wrote:
On 4/26/26 5:56 AM, Scott Dorsey wrote:
Kevin Mitnick says that one out of every three office whiteboards has a >>>> password on it.
That was 40 years ago?
Probably around then. Two-factor systems have improved things some, but
not very much.
And if you call someone and tell them you're from the IT department and you >> want him to click on this web form, they will invariably do it.
It's not a computer problem, it's a people problem.
--scott
Back in the early 2000s at the Air Force base where I worked the cybersecurity folks created a fake base IT support address and sent
the standard "Hi! We're your friendly IT folks and we need your
password." email and sent it out to 30,000 plus folks. All of whom had
taken the annual cybersecurity training of course. Over 2000 replied
with their passwords.
They then, from a legitimate account, sent a legit email to everyone
top quoting the original and admonishing people for sending their
password.
Over 800 people replied with their passwords.
Christopher Priest's 1972 novel predates that somewhat, see:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue_for_a_Darkening_Island>
"Afrims: The immigrants from Africa, who have been fleeing the state of
turmoil on the continent that resulted from use of nuclear weapons and
covert foreign intervention by major powers there."
On Tue, 21 Apr 2026 22:07:23 -0400, Cryptoengineer
<petertrei@gmail.com> wrote:
<snippo: alleged Amazon takedown>
In case you're wondering what the offense is, from Wikipedia:
"A speculative fictional account, it depicts the destruction of Western >>civilization through Third World mass immigration to France and the
Western world. "
I'm afraid taking down France is not the same as taking down Western >Civilization.
The French, of course, would regard it as such, but that is because
they are -- French.
So the censoring of books suits them very well no matter the subject
and I recommend reading the "Iron Heel" by Jack London before that is
pulled off the shelves by censoring idiots.
Oh, but they've remotely deleted books before, from Kindles. Quite
notably, given at least one of the books was a certain dystopian novel
by some Eric Arthur Blair...
The Iron Heel is a story about the repression of the people by the monied
interests and the imposition of a fascist government. The iron heel is the >metaphor for the power of the state smashing down on the people. Maybe
the robots won't like it either.
Have you tried a Public Library?
And ebooks are just one format.
PDFs do fine for me. Otherwise well-used dead trees
from the SFPublic Library and my apartment is full of dead
trees reflecting my wide range of interests over the last 51
years or so. I had stuff from before that but when I was
broke i sold some of my best.
On Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:27:37 -0700, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:
The Iron Heel is a story about the repression of the people by the monied
interests and the imposition of a fascist government. The iron heel is the >> metaphor for the power of the state smashing down on the people. Maybe
the robots won't like it either.
Wasn't that Orwell's O'brien's line from Nineteen Eighty-Four during
his 'interrogation' / torture of Winston Smith?
On Wed, 22 Apr 2026 09:25:54 -0700, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:
So the censoring of books suits them very well no matter the subject
and I recommend reading the "Iron Heel" by Jack London before that is
pulled off the shelves by censoring idiots.
Is that a novel or a short story? (I've been checking my local library catalog and I've read most of London's novels they have on the
shelves...)
On Wed, 22 Apr 2026 04:33:25 +0100, snipeco.2@gmail.com (Sn!pe) wrote:
Christopher Priest's 1972 novel predates that somewhat, see:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue_for_a_Darkening_Island>
"Afrims: The immigrants from Africa, who have been fleeing the state of
turmoil on the continent that resulted from use of nuclear weapons and
covert foreign intervention by major powers there."
Unless it's something like On The Beach that description says
"political screed" to me though it doesn't definitely say which wing
it favors
On Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:27:37 -0700, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:
The Iron Heel is a story about the repression of the people by the monied
interests and the imposition of a fascist government. The iron heel is the >> metaphor for the power of the state smashing down on the people. Maybe
the robots won't like it either.
Wasn't that Orwell's O'brien's line from Nineteen Eighty-Four during
his 'interrogation' / torture of Winston Smith?
On Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:18:59 -0700, Bobbie Sellers <bliss-sf4ever@dslextreme.com> wrote:
Have you tried a Public Library?
Ditto - in fact I just got home from the local library immediately
before sitting down to this.
And ebooks are just one format.
Of course though I get massively annoyed at my local library reducing
the new book section in favor of "graphic novels" most of which are no
better than the comic books I read 'back in the day'.
PDFs do fine for me. Otherwise well-used dead trees
from the SFPublic Library and my apartment is full of dead
trees reflecting my wide range of interests over the last 51
years or so. I had stuff from before that but when I was
broke i sold some of my best.
Ditto - in fact doubly so for me since the room I'm in right now has
book shelves on both of the long walls - one side being mine (mostly
Chess books) and the other my late wife's library each of which being
about 300-400 books. There's a few of mine on 'her' side (notably my
1st edition of Churchill's 6 volume WW2 history which for me is one of
the nicest gifts she ever gave me) and I'm too lazy to get going on
donating any of her books to a good cause.
Of course though I get massively annoyed at my local library
reducing the new book section in favor of "graphic novels" most of
which are no better than the comic books I read 'back in the day'.
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a
human face? forever. ?
On Sat, 2 May 2026 21:20:16 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a
human face? forever. ?
That?s a great statement for dramatic effect, but remember that no
dictator, no matter how absolute their power, can stay in charge
without the help of others. That means it must be to the benefit of
those others to have the dictator in charge than not. The day the Top
Guy In Charge ceases to be more of an asset than a liability, that?s
the day you will see Regime Change.
On Wed, 22 Apr 2026 04:33:25 +0100, snipeco.2@gmail.com (Sn!pe) wrote:
Christopher Priest's 1972 novel predates that somewhat, see:
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fugue_for_a_Darkening_Island>
"Afrims: The immigrants from Africa, who have been fleeing the state of
turmoil on the continent that resulted from use of nuclear weapons and covert foreign intervention by major powers there."
Unless it's something like On The Beach that description says
"political screed" to me though it doesn't definitely say which wing
it favors
Note that the European concept of graphic novel (bande dessine)
is a bit different from the American comic book. Theyre not
obsessed with superheroes, for a start.
Lawrence =?iso-8859-13?q?D=FFOliveiro?= <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
Note that the European concept of graphic novel (bande dessine)
is a bit different from the American comic book. Theyre not
obsessed with superheroes, for a start.
Tintin isn't a superhero? What about Asterix?
On 5/2/2026 11:03 PM, Lawrence D?Oliveiro wrote:
On Sat, 2 May 2026 21:20:16 -0400, Cryptoengineer wrote:
If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a
human face? forever. ?
That?s a great statement for dramatic effect, but remember that no
dictator, no matter how absolute their power, can stay in charge
without the help of others. That means it must be to the benefit of
those others to have the dictator in charge than not. The day the Top
Guy In Charge ceases to be more of an asset than a liability, that?s
the day you will see Regime Change.
In 1984, it was the Inner Party that benefited.
In the USSR, the nomenklatura lasted through multiple changes of
Premiers, and have now turned into the Oligarchs.
In the US, we have the 'Epstein Class': centi millionaires and
billionaires who have completed regulatory capture of the
government, and are effectively above the law.
Getting rid of this is hard.
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