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Off Topic => Other Conspiracy Theories => Topic started by: Andromeda on July 16, 2012, 08:43:55 AM

Title: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Andromeda on July 16, 2012, 08:43:55 AM
An old article someone just mentioned on FaceBook.  Pretty darn funny and good for a game of Conspiracy Theorist Bingo.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/dec/05/olympic-games-2012-alien-conspiracy-theory (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/dec/05/olympic-games-2012-alien-conspiracy-theory)
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Noldi400 on July 21, 2012, 11:55:18 AM
Like, OMG - we're just hearing about this now?

Quickly, Sancho! My armor!
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Andromeda on July 21, 2012, 01:39:33 PM
Well the article is dated December 2010, but I only just found out about it.  Funny, funny stuff.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Inanimate Carbon Rod on July 21, 2012, 03:08:43 PM
Given the screw ups, inefficiencies and overruns Wile E Coyote must be running the show.

Also, what is it with these secret organisations that makes them want to build symbolism into their nefarious plots? The only other villains I know who do that are in Scooby Doo cartoons and we know what happens to them.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Andromeda on July 21, 2012, 03:55:57 PM
They'd have gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those meddling kids...
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Noldi400 on July 21, 2012, 04:21:40 PM
I remember seeing a list of "Rules For Supervillians"  (or something like that) that included things like:

When you have your arch-enemy at your mercy, never stop to gloat before you kill him.

It seems to me conspirators could use a list like that.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Andromeda on July 21, 2012, 04:34:40 PM
http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html

Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Inanimate Carbon Rod on July 21, 2012, 08:56:17 PM
Quote
Any data file of crucial importance will be padded to 1.45Mb in size.

There's an entire generation of kids that won't get this. I feel old. :'(
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: gillianren on July 21, 2012, 09:32:27 PM
To be honest, I don't get it.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Not Myself on July 21, 2012, 10:03:36 PM
To be honest, I don't get it.

Kids these days  ::)

The 3.5 inch high-density "floppy" drive (they were usually in a hard plastic case, and not very floppy) had a storage capacity of 1.44 Mb.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: theteacher on July 21, 2012, 10:25:51 PM
To be honest, I don't get it.

Kids these days  ::)

The 3.5 inch high-density "floppy" drive (they were usually in a hard plastic case, and not very floppy) had a storage capacity of 1.44 Mb.
The drive itself inside the case is indeed very floppy though - as floppy as the drive in the 5 1/4 inch floppy case!  :)
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Not Myself on July 21, 2012, 10:43:43 PM
To be honest, I don't get it.

Kids these days  ::)

The 3.5 inch high-density "floppy" drive (they were usually in a hard plastic case, and not very floppy) had a storage capacity of 1.44 Mb.
The drive itself inside the case is indeed very floppy though - as floppy as the drive in the 5 1/4 inch floppy case!  :)

Oops - I meant "disk", not "drive".  The drive wasn't floppy at all, assuming it was working correctly :)

Wasn't sorry to see them go - notoriously unreliable.  I had a brief ceremony when moving house, where I took a big pile of them, pressed a magnet against them, then tossed them into the rubbish.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: gillianren on July 21, 2012, 11:20:06 PM
Hey, I still have some of the things around here.  Doesn't mean I remember their capacity off the top of my head.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Not Myself on July 21, 2012, 11:37:05 PM
Hey, I still have some of the things around here.  Doesn't mean I remember their capacity off the top of my head.

If you had a lot of critical files that were 1.45Mb, you'd remember the capacity!
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: gillianren on July 21, 2012, 11:57:10 PM
Given that most of my files were text, not likely.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: theteacher on July 22, 2012, 09:25:41 AM
To be honest, I don't get it.

Kids these days  ::)

The 3.5 inch high-density "floppy" drive (they were usually in a hard plastic case, and not very floppy) had a storage capacity of 1.44 Mb.
The drive itself inside the case is indeed very floppy though - as floppy as the drive in the 5 1/4 inch floppy case!  :)
Oops - I meant "disk", not "drive".  The drive wasn't floppy at all, assuming it was working correctly :)
Allow me to correct my bad English: "The disk itself inside the case is indeed very floppy though - as floppy as the disk in the 5 1/4 inch floppy case!" - which was what I was trying to say.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Not Myself on July 22, 2012, 10:48:25 AM
Allow me to correct my bad English: "The disk itself inside the case is indeed very floppy though - as floppy as the disk in the 5 1/4 inch floppy case!" - which was what I was trying to say.

I was not attempting to criticise your English, but rather my own, as you merely copied my error  :-[
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: theteacher on July 22, 2012, 03:23:28 PM
Allow me to correct my bad English: "The disk itself inside the case is indeed very floppy though - as floppy as the disk in the 5 1/4 inch floppy case!" - which was what I was trying to say.

I was not attempting to criticise your English, but rather my own, as you merely copied my error  :-[
I know  :)
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: ka9q on July 22, 2012, 10:43:31 PM
Wasn't sorry to see them go - notoriously unreliable.  I had a brief ceremony when moving house, where I took a big pile of them, pressed a magnet against them, then tossed them into the rubbish.
They were certainly unreliable, but the magnetic material was amazingly hard. I once tried to erase one with a bulk demagnetizer (remember them? An AC-powered electromagnet designed to erase an entire reel or cassette in a few seconds). I did a pretty thorough job, but to my amazement some of the data was still readable.  The oxide used on floppies had a very high coercivity, meaning it took a very strong magnetic field to "flip" the domains and change their magnetism.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: ka9q on July 22, 2012, 10:51:19 PM
If you had a lot of critical files that were 1.45Mb, you'd remember the capacity!
Hard to believe we ever used something that small, huh? Now we carry around USB flash drives that are several thousand times as big.

Of course, in my day, we used the original IBM-designed 8" floppies: single-sided and only about 243kB. I managed a PDP-11/40 minicomputer in my undergrad days, and at my suggestion we got a pair of RX01 floppy drives. They required the users to buy and manage their own media instead of filling up my RK05 (5 MB?) hard drives with their stuff.

I continued to use 8" floppies as late as 1985-86 when I started my TCP/IP stack. I still have a box of them and an old drive in storage. One of these days I'll build an interface and see if I can still read them.

It's amazing how much we used to do with 243kB floppies, 5 MB hard drives and 32KB of main memory. I'm not sure that our computer applications have really kept pace with the developments in hardware.


Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Glom on July 25, 2012, 04:49:56 AM
Disk hyperinflation is one of the more remarkable things to behold.

A typical hard drive today has a capacity that is 1 million times that of a floppy disk.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: cjameshuff on July 25, 2012, 10:23:00 AM
RAM is pretty impressive as well. This machine has 2500 times as much RAM as my first machine did, and 250 times as much RAM as that machine had hard disk space.

And CPU...I've got a $15 eval board on my desk with about 8 times the MIPS of that 68LC040, and an actual hardware floating point unit.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: gillianren on July 25, 2012, 02:01:14 PM
I stand in hard drive aisles in electronics stores sometimes and think, "How many of the first computer I ever learned to use would you have to string together to have the memory that you can now fit in the palm of your hand?"  And then I think, "I'm not sure they made that many."
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: ka9q on July 25, 2012, 02:27:17 PM
Let's see...my very first computer was a handbuilt intel 8080 with 8K of RAM. I think the clock rate was 2 MHz. No mass storage; I used paper tape. Not until 1980 or so when I was out of school and could afford it did I buy my first pair of floppy drives (8", 243KB).

My current home Linux server has 8 CPU cores, 12 GB of RAM and a 2.4 GHz clock. I've got about 12 TB of disk space, which is about 50 million times those original floppy drive and 1.5 million times as much RAM.

It's only 6000 times the clock speed (for just one CPU), but the increase in clock speed doesn't really describe the increase in CPU power as modern CPUs use extensive pipelining, multi-level caching, superscalar execution and vector processing to greatly increase how much is done on each clock.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: gillianren on July 25, 2012, 04:46:27 PM
Oh, my computer experience isn't quite that far back; I believe it would have been the 1984-'85 school year wherein my class got its very first computer.  I learned how to make the little turtle move around the screen.  Interestingly, this means I am late to computers by the standards of most of my online friends--no paper tape or punchcards or what have you--but early by the standards of my in-person friends--no Oregon Trail.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Andromeda on July 27, 2012, 10:25:45 AM
Ha ha ha ha HA HAAAAAA

"The opening and closing ceremonies of the London Olympics are mass satanic rituals disguised as a celebration of Britain and sport. Their medium is the language of symbolism."

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/69689-olympic-focus-tonight-at-9pm-uk-time-and-all-next-week-
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Echnaton on July 28, 2012, 10:37:14 AM
My families first computer was a TRS 80 model 1.  We got it used, from a company that had replaced them with better word processing machines. IT had 4 floppy drives and we added a cassette tape drive. It was nice to be able to load a program on one floppy and the storage disk on another.  It had 8K of ram, because of the external expansion pack.   You had to load a special keyboard anti-bounce program on boot or it would be useless Periodicity it would go wonky and rub across the connector.would have to be disassembled so the connector corrosion could be removed with an eraser, always taking care to run the eraser the proper directions so you wouldn't lift the metal from the circuit board.

The first computer I owned was an Apple 2C that I used with our TV as a monitor.  Flight Sim was a blast.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Andromeda on July 29, 2012, 07:22:26 AM
Can we take the computer stuff to another thread?
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Inanimate Carbon Rod on July 29, 2012, 08:25:29 AM
The Olympics seems to be going well, and the dastardly plan has yet to be sprung.  ::)

I suppose to be a CT you have be simultaneously a perpetual optimist and cynic: OMG! Massacre at a cinema a week before the UN makes the US ban games! Project Bluebeam is going to simulate God visiting earth! FEMA camps being setup just as new bird flu strain hits US! Gubmint to release proof of extraterrestrial contact! Bigfoot is being covered up!

Wait? Not one of those things has come to pass? Again? Oh, they will do, soon, real soon. Oh yes.

 ;D
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Laurel on July 29, 2012, 02:10:20 PM
I'm sure there are some dastardly plans being sprung at the Olympics that involve performance-enhancing drugs, but that's not exciting enough for CTs.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: gillianren on July 29, 2012, 02:51:04 PM
An Olympics-related question--I have heard that people are being sued for using "London," "2012," and "Olympics" in too close proximity in sentences.  Is this an exaggeration for effect?  Are there actual cases of trademark infringement lawsuits being filed?
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Andromeda on July 29, 2012, 04:15:55 PM
I don't know about lawsuits, but I have heard of a number of cases of people being instructed to stop whatever they are doing - like the baker who had to remove the bagel display.

http://www.londonbusinessnetwork.com/2012-information/using-the-london-2012-brand/defences-to-infringement

http://www.london2012.com/documents/brand-guidelines/statutory-marketing-rights.pdf
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Echnaton on July 29, 2012, 04:56:55 PM
The local organizers and IOC jealously guard their name.  They claim world wide rights to the word "Olympic."  So if you are the Olympic Greek Restaurant and the games come to your town, you better change your name.  The sponsors pay for the rights to use the trademarks and count on the IOC has to protect the investment. 
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Chew on July 29, 2012, 05:22:07 PM
So if you are the Olympic Greek Restaurant and the games come to your town,

Then you can sue the IOC's asses off for infringement.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Inanimate Carbon Rod on July 29, 2012, 06:06:28 PM
An Olympics-related question--I have heard that people are being sued for using "London," "2012," and "Olympics" in too close proximity in sentences.  Is this an exaggeration for effect?  Are there actual cases of trademark infringement lawsuits being filed?

I saw on local news that a London Cafe advertising "Olympic Breakfasts" was served with a cease and desist order by the Olympic Organisation, but whether it's true or down to hysteria, urban myth or poor research I don't know. I don't believe it to be true.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: gillianren on July 29, 2012, 08:00:11 PM
Well, should Seattle ever get the Olympics, they will not be able to enforce that.  The City of Olympia has been called that since 1853, and the Olympic Mountains were first called that in 1788.  Yet another reason to assume that Seattle is never going to get the Olympics, I guess.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Inanimate Carbon Rod on July 30, 2012, 07:19:51 AM
In this article about the Olympic "Brand Police" there is a mention of their activities:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/london-2012-athletes-voice-anger-over-sponsorban-rule-7987182.html (http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/london-2012-athletes-voice-anger-over-sponsorban-rule-7987182.html)

Quote
...the so-called brand police - whose activities include banning a Dorset butcher’s sign of the Olympic rings made from sausages....
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: twik on July 30, 2012, 10:31:23 AM
Of course not - collusion in judging, doping, other forms of cheating are just too mundane for conspiracy theorists. Unless they can somehow be worked into the Plot to Enslave Us All.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Echnaton on July 30, 2012, 01:24:27 PM
I have lost interest in the Olympics over the years as they have become more and more a venue for professional sports.  I just don't care if a group of millionaire NBA players can win a gold medal or not.  I'd prefer to see an age limit put on several sports where there is a significant global professional carrier path, such as basketball.  A limit set perhaps by the average age of rookies joining professional teams or up to 22 years old or so for athletes still at universities.   The Games have moves toward a way draw the largest audience rather than a venue to find who are the best young people in challenging sports.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Donnie B. on July 30, 2012, 04:06:24 PM
I have lost interest in the Olympics over the years as they have become more and more a venue for professional sports.  I just don't care if a group of millionaire NBA players can win a gold medal or not.  I'd prefer to see an age limit put on several sports where there is a significant global professional carrier path, such as basketball.  A limit set perhaps by the average age of rookies joining professional teams or up to 22 years old or so for athletes still at universities.   The Games have moves toward a way draw the largest audience rather than a venue to find who are the best young people in challenging sports.
I believe that's already true of Olympic soccer.  There's an age limit, but each team can have up to three (?) players older than the limit. 
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: twik on July 30, 2012, 05:28:53 PM
Well, though, why should there be an age limit? The Olympics were not started to showcase "developing talent", they were to show the best of the best right now. If the best person is over 30, or 35, or 50, what does that matter?

I can't find the heart to snipe about professional athletes participating. either. Do you remember not that long ago when the "best of the best" in the West had to drop out of amateur competition entirely, because they couldn't afford to compete for free, while the Warsaw Pact countries stuck their best athletes into the military, and told them their duty was to compete (even if it sometimes meant taking very nasty substances with serious long-term consequences)? Or even worse, the despicable treatment given Jim Thorpe?

If people are good, let them compete. While today's athletes may seem crass, at least we no longerlive in a society where only the idle rich can afford to compete, while working people never get a chance to play for their country.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Noldi400 on July 31, 2012, 11:37:40 AM
Have you heard that the Aurora incident was carried out by the CIA to lay the foundation for a federal ban on private ownership of firearms?

All we need now is for Holmes to claim that he's a "patsy". Wonder if there are any out-of-work nightclub owners looking for a gig?
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: twik on July 31, 2012, 04:02:23 PM
Noldi400 - that theory just hurts my heart. People are so fixed to their hobbiehorses that they will exploit any human tragedy to go, "See? NOW the Evil Ones are going to descend on us... soon ... any day now... just wait, you'll see... any time, now...."
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Andromeda on July 31, 2012, 04:46:30 PM
The Daily Mail is pants, and this is a new low.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181066/Olympics-2012-UFO-sighted-Games-opening-ceremony.html

Golden rule: don't read the comments unless you want your brain to melt.  Lots of HB's and CT's there.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Al Johnston on August 01, 2012, 08:01:21 AM
Have you heard that the Aurora incident was carried out by the CIA to lay the foundation for a federal ban on private ownership of firearms?

That's (almost) the default NRA position. It's certainly widely believed enough for there to be a distinct rise in gun sales after such incidents...
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Inanimate Carbon Rod on August 01, 2012, 02:58:22 PM
Have you heard that the Aurora incident was carried out by the CIA to lay the foundation for a federal ban on private ownership of firearms?

Provided you're not joking, please provide some proof of this claim.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: ka9q on August 01, 2012, 04:42:51 PM
That's (almost) the default NRA position. It's certainly widely believed enough for there to be a distinct rise in gun sales after such incidents...
I don't know if the rise in gun sales after a major tragedy has anything to do with NRA conspiracy fantasies; it has to do more with fantasies of individuals taking action and saving the day if it happens again.

That the real world is very different from their fantasies doesn't seem to matter. It's the fantasy that's important.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: gillianren on August 01, 2012, 04:51:37 PM
A friend posted a link to a very thoughtful blog article the other day which was a man with much training in firearms--and actually being shot at--suggesting that people who think they could have done anything constructive were pretty much fooling themselves.  He said he understood why, but he didn't think he could have done any good, and he's been a cop, a mercenary, and in the military.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Inanimate Carbon Rod on August 01, 2012, 04:57:22 PM
it has to do more with fantasies of individuals taking action and saving the day if it happens again.

That the real world is very different from their fantasies doesn't seem to matter. It's the fantasy that's important.

I while back I read a sentiment echoed by an NRA official about the Virginia Tech massacre, in which he said that had the teachers and students been carrying guns the massacre would have been averted!

I wonder who the NRA would blame if students were killed in the confused and panicked shooting of the teachers and students attempting to defend themselves?
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Echnaton on August 01, 2012, 05:02:02 PM
I would propose that a rise in gun sales after some tragedy like Aurora is more a response to the fear that the government might use it as an excuse to restrict sales, rather than a conspiracy to do so.  It probably kicks a few people into doing something they have been thinking about for a long time.  The strong desire by some segments of the government to ban sales is well in the open.  The motivating concern is that those forces within and outside of the government could exploit the tragedy to get there way and ban future purchases.  I am pretty sure that in the unlikely event that new gun restrictions do occur, people will have plenty of warning in order to buy a gun.  People will also be able to keep guns that they already own, rather than have the law convert millions of law abiding citizens into felons over night.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Noldi400 on August 01, 2012, 06:22:31 PM
Quote
Provided you're not joking, please provide some proof of this claim.
Maybe I should rephrase. Have you heard the idiotic rumor that the Aurora... etc.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: ka9q on August 01, 2012, 08:20:06 PM
A friend posted a link to a very thoughtful blog article the other day which was a man with much training in firearms--and actually being shot at--suggesting that people who think they could have done anything constructive were pretty much fooling themselves.
Exactly.

After the VPI shooting one of the police chiefs involved in the response pointed out that it would have been very difficult for them to tell the difference between the shooter and an armed student trying to save the day. Such an innocent third party could easily get shot by mistake.

This is a point I've been making for a long time: guns don't protect you, they make you vulnerable. Even if your intentions are benign, people can't read your mind and know that. All they can see is your gun and that makes them feel pressured to do something before you do.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: gillianren on August 01, 2012, 09:45:09 PM
And my understanding is that the Aurora shooter was wearing a lot of body armour, so odds are pretty good that all anyone with a concealed weapon could do is shoot someone else in the audience.  A successful shot, I've read, would have had to have been a head shot.  The odds were much, much better that someone who'd had a concealed weapon would just have killed innocent bystanders trying to get their shot.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: ka9q on August 01, 2012, 10:51:39 PM
During the Tucson shooting (which seems like yesterday) an armed civilian named Joe Zamudio was in a nearby drug store. He ran outside, clicked the safety off on his gun, and nearly shot a man holding a gun -- an innocent bystander who had just grabbed Loughner's gun.

Even highly trained agents have close calls. There's a fascinating story in the book "The Kennedy Detail", written by two members of JFK's Secret Service detail, Gerald Blaine and Clint Hill. (Hill was the agent who jumped on the back of the limo as JFK was shot). Like all the agents shortly after the assassination, Blaine was highly sleep-deprived and an emotional wreck. But he still had to work his shift protecting the new President; it was much too soon to conclude that there wasn't a larger plot. Late the following night, as he's standing guard outside LBJ's house, he hears a noise in the dark. He knows there are no other agents there, so he goes on high alert, cocks his gun and points it at the corner, waiting for whoever it is to show himself.

The next thing he knows, he's pointing his loaded and cocked submachine gun, with his finger on the trigger, at President Lyndon Johnson. Johnson turns white as a sheet but doesn't say a word. Apparently LBJ liked to take late night strolls around the house but nobody told the Secret Service agents who were now protecting him. Blaine reported the incident and I guess it was promptly forgotten. But it doesn't take much imagination to see how it could have turned out very differently.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: ka9q on August 01, 2012, 11:09:12 PM
Here's the excerpt from The Kennedy Detail, pp264-265. I'm surprised this story hasn't gotten more attention:

Washington, DC
November 23, 1963
2:15 AM

Standing outside in the pitch-black darkness, Agent Jerry Blaine tried desperately not to yawn. He was on post at the rear corner of President Johnson's large two-story French chateau-style house close to the back door, and with the exception of the forty-five minute nap in Austin and some catnaps on flights, it had now been nearly sixty hours since he'd had any sleep. Blaine was almost to the point where he was hallucinating.

When he'd taken over from Andy Berger just before midnight, the two had simply looked at each other without saying anything. What could be said?

Blaine had been at this particular post for about fifteen minutes when he suddenly heard the sound of someone approaching from the clockwise direction. It wasn't rotation time, and he knew a Kennedy Detail agent would never approach from that direction.

Instinctively Blaine picked up the Thompson submachine gun and activated the bolt on top. The unmistakable sound was similar to racking a shotgun. He firmly pushed the stock into his shoulder, ready to fire. He'd expected the footsteps to retreat with the loud sound of the gun activating, but they kept coming closer. Blaine's heart pounded, his finger firmly on the trigger. Let me see your face, you bastard.

The next instant, there was a face to go with the footsteps.

The new President of the United States, Lyndon Baines Johnson, had just rounded the corner, and Blaine had the gun pointed directly at the man's chest. In the blackness of the night, Johnson's face went completely white.

A split second later, Blaine would have pulled the trigger.

President Johnson looked at Blaine, said nothing, and turned around and went back into the house.

Jesus Christ! I almost shot the new president. What the hell was he coming around the wrong way for?

With all the new security measures put into place that night, in the chaos nobody had thought to inform President Johnson about the standard counterclockwise movement protocol.

Blaine struggled to regain his composure as the reality of what had just happened washed over him. Fourteen hours after losing a president, the nation had come chillingly close to losing another one.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Peter B on August 02, 2012, 02:25:21 AM
I have a vague memory of a vigorous discussion on the old board following the Virginia Tech shooting.

My view on gun control is that fewer guns are better. I recognise the importance of personally owned firearms in a number of industries, but I'm not convinced of the value of firearms in self-defence or defence of the home.

I also reject the arguments people make that banning firearms, or some class of them, wouldn't have prevented the Aurora shooting, or the Virginia Tech shooting, or the Columbine shooting, or any number of other massed shootings in the USA. Yes, the shooters in each case could have obtained their firearms from some other source, but by increasing the number of steps the shooter had to go through to (a) obtain firearms and ammunition, and (b) operate their firearms, the fewer the casualties are likely to be. That is, if Holmes had had only (!) 20 shot magazines, he would have had to stop much more often to reload. Even more so if he'd been armed with six-shooters, or single shot weapons.

I still remember a story in the local newspaper of how a man had gone on a rampage with a large knife in a shopping centre somewhere in Australia, wounding seven people. It occurred shortly after a mass shooting in Australia killed seven people. The article was only a few sentences long, tucked down in one corner of about page five. I remember wondering what page the story would've been on, and how big it would've been, if the man had been armed with a firearm instead of a knife.

Having said all that, I recognise there are large cultural differences between Australia and the USA. We won our independence peacefully, and don't have many large and dangerous wild animals, both factors which play into a lesser underlying interest in firearm ownership in Australia.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: ka9q on August 02, 2012, 03:41:21 AM
And my understanding is that the Aurora shooter was wearing a lot of body armour
Yes, he was, and that makes me wonder if even the police might have been initially confused. It was night and he was dressed much like they were.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Laurel on August 02, 2012, 09:07:05 AM
I have a vague memory of a vigorous discussion on the old board following the Virginia Tech shooting.
May I refresh your memory?
http://apollohoax.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=othertheories&action=display&thread=1560 (http://apollohoax.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=othertheories&action=display&thread=1560)
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: gwiz on August 03, 2012, 09:22:59 AM
Have you heard that the Aurora incident was carried out by the CIA to lay the foundation for a federal ban on private ownership of firearms?

Provided you're not joking, please provide some proof of this claim.
Here's the usual conspiracy crowd discussing the possibility:
http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=230562
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: twik on August 03, 2012, 12:54:38 PM
Lots of reference to this idea at JREF.

Despite the fact that the US federal government has not, to my knowledge, made one solid suggestion regarding gun control in relation to the incident, and it's inspired no serious groundswell of public support. Everyone in the CT camp "knows" that they're going to, anyway.

Really, if the government can ban guns with no more support than they have right now, they wouldn't need a false flag attack.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Inanimate Carbon Rod on August 03, 2012, 05:30:26 PM
Quote
Provided you're not joking, please provide some proof of this claim.
Maybe I should rephrase. Have you heard the idiotic rumor that the Aurora... etc.

Ah! Sometimes this forum can make me a little literal minded at times.
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: DataCable on August 09, 2012, 07:25:12 PM
I'm not convinced of the value of firearms in self-defence or defence of the home.
I maintain that it is virtually impossible to use a firearm defensively.


Quote
Having said all that, I recognise there are large cultural differences between Australia and the USA. We won our independence peacefully, and don't have many large and dangerous wild animals
Yes, all of your dangerous wild animals are tiny, and carry enough venom to eradicate the entire population of the continent.  ;D
Title: Re: Guardian article - Are the 2012 Olympics part of a plot to take over the world?
Post by: Glom on August 14, 2012, 02:53:20 PM
There have been stories about the IOC being dicks, but there were also stories about ghost town London. It didn't seem that way to me when I finally dared to cross the Colne. Then we find out that tourism stuff was indeed up, especially the West End.

Also, the beer festival I went to last week in Kensington, the venue was still called the Olympia, located next to Kensington (Olympia) station.

Though maybe it was the IOC what made TfL withdraw the District line shuttle to that station. Now that's a conspiracy theory worth talking about.