LLiar, Liar: Planet on Fire — Frolicking Before the Bow Wave of Catastrophe  

YOWUSA.COM, 03-March-02
Marshall Masters 

In my first article on coping with the disinformation surrounding the whole Nibiru "12th planet" controversy, "Liar, Liar; Planet on Fire — Or, How I Learned to Cope With Conspiracies," my conclusion was that the key to coping with global threats and the follies of government conspiracies is to be focused on what you can do.  This brings us back to the crucial question: is something big headed our way?  Between that question and the answer is a dense fog of disinformation, and there is a way to cut through it.

The problem with this perpetual fog of disinformation is getting answers from it is like doing a cube puzzle.  Each time you make a piece of the puzzle fit, another falls out of alignment.  Is this because we have nothing to worry about?  No, and we would be remiss to ignore the many signs in our solar system as some blithely suggest.  So how can we hope to get to the nut of the issue?   By changing our point of view with the help of our aquatic friends.  

Frolicking Before the Bow Wave

Dolphins are frequently seen jumping clear of the water, and riding the bow wave of moving vessels.  Whether you have seen this yourself or on television the sight is visually captivating.  With deft, skill and ease these magnificent creatures of the sea use the pressure of the bow wave created by sailing craft to get a free ride and they love it.  Likewise, we love to watch them frolic and leap. 

With this in mind, let us change the perspective and assume that the dolphins represent the various governments and institutions of our planet trying to cope with an impending global catastrophic event.   

Like the dolphins, they also jump and bounce about in a chaotic manner.  One minute they are visible as they jump out of the water, and in the next moment they slip under the waves and out of sight unless we are fortunate enough to be looking directly down upon them. 

The problem for those of us in the mainstream is that we never have the position of clarity afforded by a direct look down view.  We must always look from afar and at oblique angles to the ad-hoc aquatic choreography before us.  This brings us to the purpose of disinformation.  

The purpose of disinformation is to distract us by getting us to try and find patterns in the frolicking antics of the dolphins.   

Yet, for the dolphins (our governments and institutions) the real issue is always the bow wave, which brings us, the mainstream observers, to our second disadvantage.  

Whatever is causing the bow wave is hidden from us by a veil of mist until the moment the dolphins disappear and we feel ourselves being drawn under the barnacled hull of a massive giant that will draw us into the torment of its huge, revolving screws.   

Ergo, we must not waste time trying to understand the ad-hoc aquatic choreography of the dolphins. Rather, we must work to define the dimensions of the bow wave that propels their cube puzzle antics. 

In this manner, we must look at every fact, speculation and report and ask ourselves one simple question: Am I wasting time with the cube puzzle antics of dolphins, or is this helping me to define the shape and nature of what is causing the bow wave itself?

We know our governments and institutions keep information from us.  Consequently, it is easy for us to fall into the trap of righteousness and judgment when we criticize them for this.  Yet, we often fail to realize that our own righteousness is part of our insoluble cube puzzle of disinformation.   

Throughout recorded history mankind has really not changed, as evidenced by the following five facts of humanity:  

• The poor seek freedom through equality.
• The rich seek inequality through freedom.
• Taxes redistribute wealth.
• Revolutions redistribute poverty.
• Knowledge denied the many, is the power of the few.

Of the five facts the one that we as Netizens must focus upon is knowledge denied, as this is the crux of this discussion.  

But does knowledge have that much value?   

One way to answer that question is to juxtapose proprietary knowledge versus knowledge that is freely shared, and the answer begins with two men: Bill Gates and Linus Torvalds.   

Proprietary Knowledge

When we think of secrets (proprietary knowledge), we think acronyms like NSA, CIA, FBI and MS.  MS? 

How odd is seems that Department of Justice lawyers must use Microsoft Word to compose their new and improved settlement agreement with Microsoft over what has become a hard fought and long standing court battle over Microsoft's monopolistic and predatory business practices.   

By controlling the source to its operating system, Microsoft and its shareholders have been able to amass an amazing amount of wealth.  Whether you like this or not, all must agree that Mr. Gates is the consummate businessman and will be a defining personality of the last century in terms of computer technology and peronsal wealth. 

According to a recent Forbes magazine article, 46 years old Microsoft founder William H. Gates III, of the United States with a net worth of 52.8 billion dollars.  This makes him the richest businessman alive.

Is Gates a poor boy who made good?  In actuality he comes from one of the wealthiest families in the Pacific Northwest.  (Parents: Keep this in mind the next time you tell your children that they are fat, stupid and unsuccessful because you think it will help them become like Bill Gates. Gates was bred to success by his parents -- not self-deprecation.)

Is Gates is a software genius?  No, he is not; he bought his original MS-DOS operating system from a computer firm in Oregon for 50,000 dollars.  At the time, he bested a firm called Digital Research who dominated the tiny microcomputer OS field with an operating system call CP/M. Not because PC-DOS was better. Compared to CP/M it was excrement Rather, because Digital Research was arrogant and handed Gates the marketing oportunity of the century on a golden platter by arrogantly ignoring IBM's interest in using CP/M for its first PC.

Simply put, Gates had something worked (more or less) and was ready to do business in a professional and courteous manner. This was the moment of genius for Gates. However, he also has a real genius for hiring and retaining computer geniuses.   

Will Microsoft dominate this century as it did the waning years of the last?  No, because the company is meeting poor overall success in areas where it cannot flex its monopolistic muscle.

• Pocket PC vs. Palm: While Microsoft's scaled down version of Windows offers more features than the PalmOS, it cannot break Palm's command of the handheld market.
• Personal Digital Recorders:  Microsoft has not been able to break Tivo's command of the PDR market.
• Game Consoles: Microsoft recently unveiled its new Xbox game console.  More costly and likewise more powerful than competitive game consoles, the Xbox is too close in price to low end PCs with their vastly larger offering of equally impressive games.
• Streaming Media: In a stunning move to counter Microsoft's Windows Media Codec, RealNetworks has just unveiled its new RealOne player, which also gives user a web browser (that renders as well as Internet Explorer) and a subscription portal to an impressive lineup of content providers. 
  Additionally, RealNetworks has just partnered with Tivo and their new Real One media player with integrated web browser will become a standard Tivo feature.  Which brings us to the LINUX operating system.  This UNIX-like operating system is used by Tivo PDRs, as opposed to Microsoft Windows.  

Will Microsoft die and wither away.  If you think so, you must certainly grow your own.  Microsoft is a behemoth, and where there is a fortune there is a way. 

However, Microsoft's proprietary heavy-handedness and mean-spirited business practices within the computer industry has earned it failing grades in the "works well with others" category. 

Open Source Knowledge

Game consoles and other gizmos aside, the real threat to Microsoft is what companies like IBM, Sun and Hewlett Packard are doing with the LINUX operating system — they're pushing it like crazy because they are sick of being whipsawed by Microsoft, plus, LINUX is free. 

Another reason why LINUX operating system is getting this attention is that it uses what is known as the Open Source model.  Unlike Microsoft Windows, which is kept under tight wraps, LINUX is shipped with the original source code.  In other words, LINUX plays the cards face up. 

But what about Bill Gates?  As Tevye the milkman said the movie Fiddler on the Roof, "when you're rich, they think you really know."  

In comparison with Bill Gates who could live handsomely off the interest from his petty cash box for the rest of his life. (We should all be so fortunate… amen!)  

On the other hand, LINUX creator Linus Torvalds works a real job for a Silicon Valley firm called Transmeta.

Unlike Gates, who bought the original PC-DOS operating system, Torvalds wrote the Linux kernel from scratch while attending the Helsinki University.  In the technical sense, Torvalds is a true genius.

While Gates is meeting with his lawyers and figuring out how to give parts of his fortune to charity, Torvalds plays with his baby daughters, Patricia, Miranda and Daniela, enjoys driving his BMW Z3.  He drinks beer (especially Guinness) and occasionally likes to target practice with pistols -- when not drinking beer, of course.  

The net result of all this is that Torvalds is regarded with awe and respect in the computer industry, as opposed to the awe and respect Gates has earned in the financial industry.  

Where Torvalds is an admired Jedi Knight of the computing industry because he hides nothing, Bill and Melinda Gates will have to spend a fortune with their new non-profit foundation to attract the same regard.

So where is all this leading?

Proprietary Knowledge vs. Open Source Knowledge

If we go back to the fifth fact, which says, "Knowledge denied the many is the power of the few," we see the fundamental difference between men like Gates and Torvalds. 

Gates is slowly becoming the past while Torvalds is becoming the future because the future is about freely shared knowledge.   Unlike Gates who is mentally framed by the industrial age, Torvalds represents the emerging open source genius of the information age.  Consequently, more of that knowledge is served around the world on LINUX-based Internet web servers than Microsoft. 

Now, that we've just spent a ton of words talking about why Torvalds is a cult hero and why Gates is so enviably rich here is the real rub.   

YOU'VE BEEN HAD, BECAUSE YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING AT THE DOLPHINS! 

THIS IS NOT ABOUT GATES, NOR IS THIS ABOUT TORVALDS.  THIS IS ABOUT HOW WE'VE TRAINED TO THINK!   

At this very moment, you may be thinking, "screw this!  This guy is not linear," in that I am not making simple sense. If so, you'll likely spend the rest of your life looking at dolphins, because the first step in seeing the bow wave is to recognize how society has trained our natural powers of observation out of us and not in.