 Home

BTW, the better way to title this article would have been just `Polymerase Chain Reaction`.

You could then set PCR as a `title2`: https://docs.ourbigbook.com/#h-title2-argument e.g. starting the article on Web with:

``
{title2=PCR}

The actual text.
``

The advantage is that then your article would appear at: https://ourbigbook.com/go/topic/polymerase-chain-reaction where it could be compared with other people's.

All best.


Cool are you a biologist?

Cryptocurrencies have two applications:
* <illegal> activities, notably buying <drugs>, paying for <ransomware> and <money laundering>. But also paying for anti-<censorship> services from inside <dictatorships>. Illegal activity can be good when governments are bad, and arguably selling drugs should be legal.

 For this reason <Ciro Santilli> believes that <privacy coins> like <Monero> are currently the most useful cryptocurrencies. Also, people concerned with their privacy are likely to more naturally make fewer larger payments to reduce exposure rather than a bunch of small separate ones, and therefore transaction fees matter less, and can be seen as a reasonable privacy <tax>. Also drugs are expensive, just have a look at any <uncensored Onion service search engine>, so individual transactions tend to be large.
* <inflation>-resistance due to <money creation> in <fiat currencies>. <Money creation vs tax>[Money printing is a bad form of tax]. But why not just instead invest in bonds or <stocks>, which actually have a specific intrinsic value and should therefore increase your capital and beat inflation? Even if crypto did take over, its value would eventually become constant, and just holding it would lose out to stocks and bonds. And pre-crypto, salaries should adjust relatively quickly to new inflation levels as they come, though there is always some delay. Also, for non-anonymous cryptocurrencies, governments will sooner or later find a way to regulate and pervert it. If you want to do things without anonymity, then what you really have to fight for is to change government itself, perhaps with a <#DAO>-like approach, or pushing for a more <direct democracy>.

The key difficulties of cryptocurrencies are:
* how do transaction fees/guarantees/times compare to centralized systems such as credit cards:
 * https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/1261/is-it-possible-to-send-bitcoins-without-paying-a-fee "The Blockchain Scalability Problem & the Race for Visa-Like Transaction Speed" (2019)

 > The battle for a scalable solution is the blockchain's moon race. Bitcoin processes 4.6 transactions per second. Visa does around 1,700 transactions per second on average (based on a calculation derived from the official claim of over 150 million transactions per day).
 * https://towardsdatascience.com/the-blockchain-scalability-problem-the-race-for-visa-like-transaction-speed-5cce48f9d44
 Obviously, decentralized currencies cannot be cheaper to maintain than centralized ones, since with decentralization you still have to send network messages at all times, and instead of one party carrying out computations, multiple parties have to carry out computations.

 Crypto could however be close enough in price to centralized systems that it becomes viable, this can be considered.
* how can <governments> <tax> cryptocurrency. Notably, because:
 * taxation has to be <progressive tax>[progressive], e.g. <wealth tax>[we have to tax the rich more than the poor], and <anonymity> in transactions would weaken that
 * it would be even easier to move money into <fiscal paradises>, and then just say, oops, lost my passwords, those coins are actually gone
 See also <globalization reduces the power of governments>.

If crypto really takes off, 99.99% of people will still only ever use it through some <cryptocurrency exchange> (unless scalability problems are solved, and they replace <fiat currencies> entirely), since downloading full blockchains is unfeasible, so the outcome would be very similar to <PayPal>, and without "true" decentralization.

For those reasons, <Ciro Santilli> instead believes that governments should issue <electronic money>, and maintain an open <API> that all can access instead. The centralized service will always be cheaper for <society> to maintain than any distributed service, and it will still allow for proper taxation.

Ciro believes that it is easy for people to be seduced by the <idealistic> promise that "cryptocurrency will make the world more fair and equal by giving everyone equal opportunities, away from the corruption of Governments". Such optimism that new <technologies> will solve certain key <social> problems without the need for constant <government> intervention and management is not new, as shown e.g. at <HyperNormalisation by Adam Curtis (2016)> when he talks about the cyberspace (when the <Internet> was just beginning): https://youtu.be/fh2cDKyFdyU?t=2375[]. Technologies can make our lives better. But in general, some of them also have to be managed.

In any case, cryptocurrencies are <bullshit>, the true currency of the future is going to be <Magic: The Gathering> cards. And <Cirocoin>.

One closely related thing that Ciro Santilli does think could be interesting exploring right now however, notably when having <Monero>-like anonymity in mind, would be anonymous <electronic voting>, which is a pre-requisite to make <direct democracy> convenient so people can vote more often.

TODO evaluate the possible application of cryptocurrency for international transfers:
* https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/25583/does-it-make-sense-to-use-bitcoin-to-transfer-money-to-yourself-internationally
Of course, the ideal solution would be for governments to just allow for people from other countries to create accounts in their country, and use the centralized API just like citizens. Having an account of some sort is of course fundamental to avoid money laundering/tax evasion, be it on the API, or when you are going to cash out the crypto into <fiat currency>[fiat]. So then the question becomes: suppose that governments are shit and never make such APIs, are international transfers just because traditional banks are inefficient/greedy? Or is it because of the inevitable cost of auditing transfers? E.g. how does <TransferWise> compare to Bitcoin these days? And if cryptocurrency is more desirable, why wouldn't <TransferWise> just use it as their backend, and reach very similar fees?

Are cryptocurrencies useful?

>  While the idea that inflation due to money creation in fiat currencies does feel kind of bad, it could also be seen as a form of taxation, which is something Ciro Santilli sometimes thinks we should have more of. Ciro hasn't fully researched/rationalized how they compare, and would be open for arguments, see also: Section "Money creation vs tax".

Why do you think Inflation - Tax is good? 

There's a saying 'Taxation is theft'!

And inflation is worst form of Tax! Underhanded and sneaky! The fact that any one can think it's good is astonishing!

America went for war with the British because their Tea was tasked at 2%. 


Inflation - Tax - Good?

{c}
{created=2023-06-10}
{scope}
{tag=Ciro Santilli's naughty projects}
{tag=Ciro Santilli's data projects}
{tag=Open-source intelligence}
{tag=Digital preservation}
{title2=Iran, China}
{updated=2025-05-30}

This article is about <cutout (espionage)>[covert agent communication channel] websites used by the <CIA> in many countries from the mid 2000s until the early 2010s, when they were uncovered by <counter intelligence> of some of the targeted countries, notably <Iran> and <China>, circa 2010-2013.

This article uses publicly available information to publicly disclose for the first time a few hundred of what we feel are extremely likely candidate sites of the network. The starting point for this research was the <Reuters article>[September 2022 Reuters article "America’s Throwaway Spies"] which for the first time gave <The Reuters websites>[nine example websites], and their https://citizenlab.ca/2022/09/statement-on-the-fatal-flaws-found-in-a-defunct-cia-covert-communications-system/[analyst from Citizenlabs claims to have found 885 websites] in total, but did not publicly disclose them. Starting from only the nine disclosed websites, we were then able to find a few hundred websites that share so many similarities with them, i.e. a common <fingerprint>, that we believe makes them beyond reasonable doubt part of the same network.

If you enjoy this article, consider dropping some <Monero> at: \b[4A1KK4uyLQX7EBgN7uFgUeGt6PPksi91e87xobNq7bT2j4V6LqZHKnkGJTUuCC7TjDNnKpxDd8b9DeNBpSxim8wpSczQvzf] so I can waste it on my <OurBigBook.com>[foolish attempts to improve higher education]. Other sponsorship methods: <sponsor>{full}.

\Image[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cirosantilli/media/master/CIA_Star_Wars_website_promo.jpg]
{height=700}

\Video[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFfuzZC5Qpc]
{title=How I found a <Star Wars> website made by the <CIA> by <Ciro Santilli>}
{description=Slightly edited VOD of the talk <Aratu Week 2024 Talk by Ciro Santilli>.}
{height=600}

The discovery of these websites by <Iranian> and <Chinese> counterintelligence led to the imprisonment and execution of several assets in those countries, and subsequent shutdown of the channel by the CIA when they noticed that things had gone wrong. This is likely a Wikipedia page that talks about the disastrous outcome of the websites being found out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%932012_killing_of_CIA_sources_in_China[2010–2012 killing of CIA sources in China], although it contained no mention of websites before <Ciro Santilli> edited it in.

Of particular interest is that based on their language and content, certain of the websites seem to have <USA spying on its own allies>[targeted other democracies such as Germany, France, Spain and Brazil].

If anyone can find others websites, or has better techniques feel free to contact <Ciro Santilli> at: <contact>{full}. Contributions will be clearly attributed if desired. Some of the techniques used so far have been very heuristic, and that added to the limited amount of data makes it almost certain that some websites have been missed. Broadly speaking, there are two types of contributions that would be possible:
* finding new IP ranges: harder and more exiting, and potentially requires more intelligence
* better <data sources>[IP to domain name databases] to <Find missing hits in IP ranges>[fill in known gaps in existing IP ranges]

The fact that https://citizenlab.ca/2022/09/statement-on-the-fatal-flaws-found-in-a-defunct-cia-covert-communications-system/[citizenlabs reported exactly 885 websites being found] makes it feel like they might have found find a better fingerprint which we have not managed to find yet. We have not yet had to pay for our data. If someone wants to donate to the research, some ideas include:
* dump \$400 on <WhoisXMLAPI> to dump whois history of all known hits and search for other matches. <IP and DNS metadata>[Small discoveries were made like this in the past] and we'd expect a few more to be left. We don't expect huge breakthroughs from this, but at only \$400 it is not so bad
* dump a lot more (\$15k+? needs confirmation as opaque pricing) on <DomainTools>. We are not certain that they have any superior data since there is no free trial of any kind, but it would be interesting to test the quality of the data they acquired from <Farsight DNSDB> if you are really loaded

Disclaimers:
* the network fell in 2013, followed by fully public disclosures in 2018 and 2022, so we believe that the benefit of giving the public this broader historic understanding outweighs the risks that agents could be found so many years later by sloppy secret services
* <Ciro Santilli>'s political bias is <Ciro Santilli's campaign for freedom of speech in China>[strongly pro-democracy and anti-dictatorship], but with a good pinch of skepticism about the morality US foreign policy in the last century

May this article serve as a tribute to those who spent their days making, using, and uncovering these websites under the shadows.

CIA 2010 covert communication websites

sumerjaseahora translation

sumerjaseahora = sumerjase ahora,means means submerging oneself, now 


sumerjaseahora.com domain translation 

Bitcoin 

Give some to me, Satoshi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


How many bitcoins do you own???

Test data set

And another

Ciro Santilli's Homepage

I'm your huge fan, Ciro

{c}

* you don't get any/sufficient recognition for your contributions. The closest they have to upvotes and reputation is the incredibly obscure "thank" feature which is only visible to the receiver itself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Notifications/Thanks
* <deletionism> is a tremendous problem on Wikipedia, for two main causes:
 * tutorial-like subjectivity
 * notability
 The stuff you wrote can be deleted anytime by some random admin/opposing editor, examples at: <deletionism on Wikipedia>{full}.

 This also possibly leads to <edit wars> in the case of sub-page content (full page deletion is more clearly arbitrated).
* Scope too limited, and politics defined. Everything has to sound encyclopedic and be notable enough. This basically excludes completely good tutorials.
* Insane impossible to use <markup language>-base talk pages instead of issue trackers?! Ridiculous!!! That change alone could make Wikipedia so much more amazing. Wikipedia could become a Stack Exchange killer by doing that alone + some basic reputation system. Some work on that is being done at: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:DiscussionTools[], already in Beta as of 2022.
* <Edit wars>

Wikipedia

OurBigBook.com / Wikipedia

"You don't get any recognition for your contributions". A new wiki system, like Golden.com (https://golden.com/profile/hiro-mitsuki) is trying to fix this issue.



Golden

I can not join your movement because I really have more reasons than other ones. For privacy, I can't explain that. And, For me, I know that for the current situations in China, I can't do anything. For China, I think only solution is revolution not reform. The protesters will die with nobody know that without tech. People could try, but it is a Way of Sacrifice.

https://space.bilibili.com/355027238/dynamic
https://chinadigitaltimes.net/chinese/667881.html

According the report, this organization help programthink arrested. I research that for some days, and the evidences express its correctness.

净网志愿者协会, may one day you will be captured by them. But you are foreigner, they don't have a way to do that.

净网志愿者协会, it is a semi-official organization but with high-tech hacker technology. You know, in China, high-tech hackers will not be an offical. Because it is a semi-official organization with many young  little-pink engineer, the tracking for programthink, it could be done.

They are actually not wumao, but they may be more formidable opponent. But you live aboard, they can't do anything and officals will not always listen their views.

Why do I think its claim for programthink's arrest is credible? Because some inference.
The organization says programthink is 马勇康.
https://github.com/programthink/zhao/issues/418

one year passed, 2022/05, offical media(only media) say 马某某，煽动分裂国家、煽动颠覆国家政权
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1731886110528251526&wfr=spider&for=pc

the 马 first name only has 1% population in China. Coincidence? And according the report's keyword: 浙江温州, 科技有限公司，“洗脑”，“人生导师”，顽固

just like a copycat keyword for programthink blog and it conforms characteristics.

and the organization say 马勇康 is 山东人, the offical media say he is 浙江人

According the data in the website or anywhere:
https://www.23mofang.com/ancestry/library-surname/5f34ee9eff5a3344d6a8aabe

浙江(ZheJiang province) have less 马 than 山东.
And programthink family's post say programthink lastly has a business travel to a city in eastern China, you see 温州，浙江，上海，all keyword is about the eastern China. 温州 is a interesting keyword, if you search programthink's issues, it has a strange 温州 people, but no other Zhejiang province's county.

And other crime such as 政治纲领, as I know for CCP cop, they need some more outstanding achievement. 继续调查中，because the CCP cop needs more news by the mouth even it is not neutral. And, it is possible that programthink think he could take the all blames on his shoulder maybe. 

These inference may is only inference by brain ———— we never know what is a truth.

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV14S4y1T7RT/?spm_id_from=333.999.0.0
净网志愿者协会 mentions programthink in the video.

I only know that they may be the not many real high-tech little-pink and hackers and really can do that. They are more terrible cop, even sometimes, gov will not listen them. I don't know in 2022 the organizations like it will do what.

Sometimes I think what is better? For my reasons I know I couldn't join yours. And I can't keep "doublethink"(ps: I'm not an official, official never doublethink). The only difference between China and 1984 may is the war is peace. China gov officials say China love peace, and in fact, CCP indeed take less war than other countries. But it is Chinese nature, may CCP also keep something.

CCP is not worse like Russia, so it is more difficult, for any reform. And reform may not work too fast or really work, only revolution.

About Programthink

You're a hero my friend

This is a section about Vector space!

Vector space is a very important subject about which there is a lot to say.

For example, this sentence. And then another one.


Vector space

I can't believe you got such a basic fact wrong!

1+1<svg width='400em' height='1.08em' viewBox='0 0 400000 1080' preserveAspectRatio='xMinYMin slice'><path d='M95,702
c-2.7,0,-7.17,-2.7,-13.5,-8c-5.8,-5.3,-9.5,-10,-9.5,-14
c0,-2,0.3,-3.3,1,-4c1.3,-2.7,23.83,-20.7,67.5,-54
c44.2,-33.3,65.8,-50.3,66.5,-51c1.3,-1.3,3,-2,5,-2c4.7,0,8.7,3.3,12,10
s173,378,173,378c0.7,0,35.3,-71,104,-213c68.7,-142,137.5,-285,206.5,-429
c69,-144,104.5,-217.7,106.5,-221
l0 -0
c5.3,-9.3,12,-14,20,-14
H400000v40H845.2724
s-225.272,467,-225.272,467s-235,486,-235,486c-2.7,4.7,-9,7,-19,7
c-6,0,-10,-1,-12,-3s-194,-422,-194,-422s-65,47,-65,47z
M834 80h400000v40h-400000z'/></svg>​=3, not 2 as mentioned

# id	 Title	 Comments	Created	Updated
kocur13#1	Cool are you a biologist?	3	2024-02-20	2024-05-21
cirosantilli/are-cryptocurrencies-useful#1	Inflation - Tax - Good?	1	2024-01-09	2024-05-21
cirosantilli/cia-2010-covert-communication-websites#1	sumerjaseahora.com domain translation	1	2023-10-15	2024-05-21
satoshi/bitcoin#1	How many bitcoins do you own???	0	2023-02-12	2024-05-21
cirosantilli/test-data-set#2	And another	2	2023-01-29	2025-03-11
cirosantilli/test-data-set#1	1	4	2023-01-29	2025-03-11
cirosantilli#1	I'm your huge fan, Ciro	2	2023-01-29	2024-05-21
cirosantilli/ourbigbook-com/wikipedia#1	Golden	3	2022-11-29	2024-05-21
anonymousajo1u12nglajgka/about-programthink#1	You're a hero my friend	0	2022-11-21	2024-05-21
donald-trump/vector-space#2	$1 + 1 = 3$ , not 2 as mentioned	4	2022-11-02	2024-05-21

Ciro Santilli @cirosantilli 40