Re: Whatca up to...
Subject: Re: Whatca up to...
From: Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com>
Date: 4/20/11, 17:52
To: Jonathan Kundra <jkundra@gmail.com>

Sup, Kundra-

This is what I've been working on. Take a look and let me know if this might interest you or anyone you know. http://wiki.echelon2.org/wiki/Main_Page.

On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 4:49 PM, Jonathan Kundra <jkundra@gmail.com> wrote:
The flu he caught over here is particularly virulent and he's probably totally loaded up with antibiotics, OTC flu remedies and various antihistamines at the moment. He is a straight-up guy and once he emerges from his narcotic haze (in about ten days) he'll be satisfactorily cogent.  At the moment, he's probably more or less hallucinating, despite his posts on LGF.

The cat/seagull story occured several years ago when LGF was running live image and audio feed from a webcam in central Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.  It was a very eerie experience, watching the explosions on the horizon while listening to everyday sounds like pedestrian and vehicular traffic as the city gradually woke up in the early hours of morning. In the middle of all of this, there were the repeated mewing of a cat - which Walter insisted were the cries of a seagull.  I posted that he was mistaken (which he was) but there was no way he would back down.  So much for the background of my preceding message. 

Walter will be fine once he gets through his flu and may prove to be an energetic and reliable collaborator. 

Best,

J.


On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 11:37 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
He seemed not to understand my e-mail to him very well; told me things I had just told him and asked to settle in before getting back to me after I told him to settle in before getting back to me. Very strange.


On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 4:34 PM, Jonathan Kundra <jkundra@gmail.com> wrote:
Beware of Newton, Barrett!  He is a man who can't tell the difference between the meow of a cat and the cry of a seagull at dawn in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.

Please don't ask me to explain any further, but I assure you that I know of what I speak.    

I was looking forward to his Paris visit to impress this fact upon him - long a serious bone of contention between us - but I politely refrained from opening old wounds and graciously allowed him to maintain his pride and illusions concerning this matter.  


Jonathan (Elephant's Memory) Kundra



On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 11:04 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
New press release for NYC rally/press conference: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/1/26/155416/846?new=true

On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 1:58 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:
Didn't mean to rush you, I know you just got back from Paris and whatnot. Get in touch when you're more settled in, as I said.


On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 12:45 PM, Walter L. Newton <newton@acrossthebow.com> wrote:

Barrett,

 

I really haven’t forgot about you, just a number of busy things since I got back on Monday evening from Paris… and including a nasty case of some Paris nasal infection, doc put me on antibodies today… and I’m dealing with some job things (the store called me back from my lay off), and dealing with some poop, so, I’ll be in touch, soon, yes, I’m still interested in your projects… just let me settle back in…

From: Barrett Brown [mailto:barriticus@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 12:29 PM


To: Walter L. Newton
Subject: Re: Whatca up to...

 

Howdy-

 

Sorry to hear you picked up a venereal disease from a Parisian prostitute and have decided to cover for it with this "bronchial infection" story. Also sorry to see that some clearly talented and well-connected fellow on LGF will soon be laying waste to you and other freeloaders as well as the underground tea party blogger network and everyone at D0D; that's the modern age for you, I suppose. Seriously, though, I kind of feel sorry for Charles having to deal with that, although I suppose it could have been avoided were he better at deciding who to ban.

 

At any rate, good luck on the job interview and send me an e-mail when you're settled in if you'd like to talk more about what we're doing, although I imagine Kundra kept you up to date on North Africa, which has gone better than expected. We'll be having our weekly IRC meeting tomorrow night at 7:00 pm EST if you care to drop by. Let me know if you'd like me to have Clark Robinson get in touch with some more general documents; he's a retired lawyer out of Chicago who assists me with these sorts of things, and I like to deploy him early on just to show that we're a down-to-earth sort of group in spite of, well, me.

On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 8:41 PM, Walter L. Newton <newton@acrossthebow.com> wrote:

Barrett,

 

And so I will,

 

And as an addendum, I don’t use screen names or blind email addresses, so, if there is anything you need to know, I’ll be glad to pass on truthful information, or you may simply Google me and get all of the hoary details that way.

 

Supper beckons, later,

From: Barrett Brown [mailto:barriticus@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2011 7:19 PM


To: Walter L. Newton
Subject: Re: Whatca up to...

 

I'm also fiscally conservative and socially liberal and so are the majority of our people; I find that a lot of people, including my own editors, tend to misread me on that and other matters, which is understandable because I only discuss a certain range of issues that must be extrapolated from in order to determine the rest and of course extrapolation can be messy. At any rate, I hope that you enjoy Paris and that you will convey a personal greeting to Kundra, whom I look forward to working with on all of this. Let me know when you return and we can continue our discussion then. Thanks again, Walter.

On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 4:10 PM, Walter L. Newton <newton@acrossthebow.com> wrote:

Barrett,

 

Thanks for the invite. I suspect that you/I/your “friend” would be almost on opposite sides of certain issues, maybe closer on others. If I was to give you one of those quick pity business card descriptions it would be “Fiscally Conservative, Socially Liberal.” But from that nexus onward, the path deviates down little branches and nuanced circles, bottom line, I like what I like, and I rarely paint myself into one corner. My ideologies can deviate according to the reality of the current situation.

 

Interesting that you should be offering me a possible invitation to a group of writers who are interested in information exchange and the way it is exchanged, and the movements of information there in (shades of Cryptonomicon). I say that because I am a strong proponent of intellectual property rights, and I easily butt heads with those who whine about the current copyright laws and how that impacts the “freedom” to distribute material freely. As a published and active playwright, there are reasons that I have strong opinions on this topic. But then again, I don’t know the over all make up of your “members,” so, I’m not about to assume that I would be a round peg in a square hole with your group.

 

That said, I would be interested in getting to know your friends, your ideas and your future plans. But, not this week. I’m leaving for Paris France this coming Friday, so, this week will be a little busy. Part of my purpose to be in Paris, besides it being a needed vacation (and Paris is like a second city for me), I am doing some “on site” research on Serge Gainsbourg ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serge_Gainsbourg ). He is possible subject matter for a stage play I may be developing. I’ll know by the time I get back from Paris if I should proceed with the Serge script.

 

So, stay in touch, send on to me anything you want, and you have my permission to show this missive to your friends if you want. I’ll consider any of our communications to be open business between you, your “partners” and myself.

 

And when I get back, I will catch up with you and we can proceed from there.

 

When ever,

From: Barrett Brown [mailto:barriticus@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2011 2:46 PM
To: Walter L. Newton


Subject: Re: Whatca up to...

 

Walter-

 

Thanks for getting in touch. I've enjoyed your comments for quite a while, although I only rarely read comment threads at LGF - which itself helps to explain what happened with Charles, whom I met a year back through our common enemies and whom I've described in glowing terms from several outlets, largely out of admiration for having publicly shifted his views despite the inevitable rancor. I also got him a paying gig at True/Slant, praised him in my upcoming book, and was talking to him about helping to develop our software for Project PM. On the surface, it looks like a dispute over Wikileaks and Anonymous prompted our unusual fissure, and that was indeed a proximate cause, but what actually prompted me to tell him off was the combination of libelous nonsense written about me by Kilgore Trout and others and Charle's decision to ban someone for pointing out that he had linked to Reason himself while preventing others from doing so, and then not only requiring an apology from that person in order to be reinstated, but also calling him a "jerk" afterwards. Obviously Charles can run his blog any way he wants and he has done a good job of creating a relatively interesting forum but I was mortified to learn that I had pointed to this fellow as a paragon of new media and associated him with Project PM. No matter what one's views may be, there is a certain sort of conduct that actually offends me, although I am almost impossible to offend otherwise, and that certainly qualifies. At any rate, I will just say that Charles would be less inclined to prevent anyone from linking to my little video explanation of all this if he did not think it is a pretty reasonable one.

 

Kundra is only marginally correct in comparing me to Hunter S. Thompson, though I understand what he means to convey by that, which is along the lines of"young eccentric fellow with some writing talent who is up to something." The main thing I have in common with Thompson is a drug-fueled and nomadic lifestyle and even that has pretty much ended due to me having just now settled down with a girl.

 

This is the part where I try to recruit you for Project PM. In your case, I'll note that several of our members come from LGF, including Scott Mintz, who is in charge of finances and otherwise serves as one of two people who work most closely with me. Our membership is largely comprised of journalists, scientists, academics, activists, and random erudite people from around the world, all of whom are interested in working together to better utilize the internet in pursuit of goals largely having to do with efficiency of information flow. This started out as a method by which to raise awareness of the media's deficits and encourage people to help fix the problem but has rapidly expanded into a few other realms, including African development pursuits (we've partnered with a Cambridge researcher who's working with several institutions and also have our own pre-existing plans involving viral information campaigns). Once the software is completed, this network will expand automatically and operate without central direction while also maintaining a high level of competence through a schematic I have designed to alleviate some of the negative dynamics that arise within such entities.

 

I would very much like to send you some more info and put you in touch with a couple of our other members; I'd also like to invite you to attend one of our weekly IRC meetings this Wednesday at 7:00 EST. Let me know if any of this interests you. And again, thanks for getting in touch and for your kind words.

 

On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 8:49 AM, Walter L. Newton <newton@acrossthebow.com> wrote:

Barrett,

Jonathan Kundra passed on your gmail account to me, I was inquiring on LGF
if anyone had seen you on any of the other blogs lately, and Jonathan must
have been lurking under his LGF sign on, because he shot me an email with in
minutes of my online inquiry.

I was just curious, since you got booted off of LGF, and certain things
started to snow ball down the leaks trail, I was just wondering if you've
fared alright?

You and I are rather far afield on many issues, but, Jonathan suggested that
you are an "young Hunter Thompson" and I should get to know you better.

I'll be seeing Jonathan a week from now, in Paris, Sunday 16th. It will be a
first time face to face meeting, in the past we have conversed only by email
and crossing paths on line when he was more active on LGF.

Well, keeping this short. Sorry you got booted off LGF. I enjoy varying
opinions, meaning yours included, but Charles has his boundary's, and it is
his blog. Que sera sera.

Peace,

Walter L. Newton
Conifer, Colorado USA

Author's home page
http://newton.acrossthebow.com

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Barrett Brown
512-560-2302




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Barrett Brown
512-560-2302




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Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302



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Barrett Brown
512-560-2302




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Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302




--
Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302