How secret-keeping can be used to turn movements against their own interests

Military and political secret-keeping are not foreign to me. I recognize the usefulness of secret troop movements and societies in winning wars and overthrowing monarchies, especially in the past. However, in our information age where information is available in avalanche proportions, we need to re-evaluate how much we rely on secrecy and whether we should continue to value it highly as a social tool. I think that secrecy by those who are well-intentioned is now much less valuable and often detrimental to the very causes they are hoping to promote via secrecy.

First, there are corners of the internet and whole other computer networks where people trade secrets. Much that is assumed to be secret really isn't, but the criminals and sneaky people are getting their hands on that information while the well-intentioned are mostly kept from it.

Second, the saying that "politics makes for strange bedfellows" is even more true when it comes to protecting secrecy. When secrecy becomes a goal in and of itself, police fraternities can unknowingly end up working alongside the mafia to target people who expose their common secrets. It's not something that has to happen intentionally, for it flows naturally from different organizations subjecting themselves to secrecy considerations. Let me show this in diagrams; grammar syntax concepts are quite useful for demonstrating this:

(copied from image online at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/C-command.png, Author: Ioscius)

People think of organizations in terms of hierarchies. People are controlled by those who are upstream of them in a chain of command: D dominates F and G, C dominates E, B dominates C, D, E, F, and G, M dominates B, C, D, E, F, and G. But B doesn't dominate A, D doesn't dominate C or E, and C doesn't dominate D, F, or G.

Syntax research reveals the concept of "c-command" where reference to a common concept/object results in "c-command" by objects that otherwise don't dominate and so can't command each other. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-command). Using the diagram,

• M does not c-command any node because it dominates all other nodes.
• A c-commands B, C, D, E, F, and G.
• B c-commands A.
• C c-commands D, F, and G.
• D c-commands C and E.
• E does not c-command any node because it does not have a sister node or any daughter nodes.
• F c-commands G.
• G c-commands F.

(See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-command)

Substitute "secrecy-command" for "C-command" and you'll get the gist of what I'm getting at here. Secrecy is the common referent. Organizations with otherwise no hierarchical connection get drafted by circumstances into helping each other preserve the common cause of secrecy. 

Treating secrecy of supreme importance makes different groups easy to manipulate and even turns allies against each other even when in many ways their interests and aims are the same because 1) everyone has become a guardian of secrecy ("no man can serve two masters"), and 2) that secrecy keeps the different groups from talking and comparing notes and realizing in what specific ways they are being used against each other.

What to do when secrecy has been contractually agreed to? When the penalty for disclosure could be loss of employment, position, security, etc.? Whistleblowers often take big risks (and are heroes, in my book).

Because such extreme protection of secrecy does not promote the public welfare, it is subject to legal attack under the spirit of the preamble to the US Constitution. Because people would not have agreed to maintain secrecy at the expense of the very goals for which they initially entered into an agreement, that secrecy portion of the agreement is subject to rescission under principles of equity (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rescission_(contract_law)).

Technology changes society and reshapes the tools we use to get things done. Secrecy is a tool that needs to be examined openly for its usefulness or harmfulness...kind of hard to do given that it's about not being open, but it still needs to be done.

Some ways literate people covertly share their anti-religion/political beliefs and send each other messages with basic letter codes

The recent Paris Olympics opening ceremonies featured a tableau that mocked the "last supper" of Jesus Christ, but the choreographer claimed it was unintended. I don't think anyone who has really looked at the images believes him, and I don't think he meant people to believe his denial was honest. The performance was quite the overt mockery.

Not all mockery or self-marking of one's self as being against Christ, and by extension Christianity, is as obvious as what we just saw in Paris. People have been getting tattoos of "666" (the number of anti-Christ, per the Bible's Revelation Chapter 13) for some time. Various graphical representations of 666 (vav-vav-vav from vav, the sixth letter of the Hebrew alphabet) can all mean that someone is marking themselves as against Christianity: 666, 111, VVV, WWW, UUU, eee, 999, ggg, GGG, bbb, FFF (because F is the sixth letter of the English alphabet), etc. are ways to play around with the underlying vav-vav-vav pattern.

Similar Bible-based labels of rebellion against the God of the Bible include:

• 42 (the number of months a blasphemous beast exercises authority in Revelation Chapter 13)
• Cain (the first murderer)
• beast (a blasphemer, per Revelation Chapter 13) (this can also be "brute")
• den (as in a "den of thieves," per the Bible's Matthew 21:13)
• serpents (see Exodus 7:12 and Matthew 12:34)
• wolves (see Matthew 7:15)
• Ammonites (see Judges in the Old Testament)

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have some extra labels of rebellions that they can apply to themselves that they pull from the Book of Mormon:

• Amalickiah/Amalickiahites (see the book of Alma in the Book of Mormon)
• Korihor (a teacher who was anti-Christ; see Alma 30)

The Book of Mormon teaches that people who rebel against God often mark themselves with signs for each other to recognize. I grew up hearing a lot of discussions wondering how people would be forced to "take the mark of the beast" as discussed in Revelation, but as I look around me now I see that no one is having to be forced into it. They are happily volunteering because of antipathy towards chastity and a lack of understanding about how important the teachings of Christ (especially his Parable of the Good Samaritan, with its command to actively love and serve one's neighbor) are to a happy society.

As I've continued to notice people's subtle messages, I've realized that some in publishing have been sending each other covert messages for over a century. The codes are pretty basic and messages often fall out easily once one knows the steps:

• First, cancel out letters that are doubled. For instance "petticoat government" would become "picagvrme." (It has no deeper meaning; I just use it because it's in my blog's name.)
• Second, look for words. Because more vowels are often needed, V can be read as a U, W can be read as an O, and H can be treated as an A.
• Apply various ring ciphers (circle the alphabet around on itself or twist it back around halfway through).
• As far as I have seen, the most commonly used of these ring ciphers in older documents is the one that matches O and L together (the words awl, all, and ol' are often used to signify that this ring cipher should be used on a segment of the coded message):
• A B C D E F G H I J K L M
• Z Y X W V U T S R Q P O N
• Doubled letters can be substituted with the letter that is 13 letters afterward:
• A B C D E F G H I J K L M
• N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• "X" (or "KS") can be used to reverse the order of the segment either before or after it.

You know you've likely hit on a decoded message if there are two closely-related possibilities, one of which looks like a mockery of someone and the other which looks like a clue to something important. Sometimes the mockery is in Spanish. Sometimes the entire message has to be shifted 1, 2, or even 8 letters forward or backward before the other steps bear fruit. It's a fun intellectual exercise.

This approach has been fruitful in decoding messages hidden in dissertation titles, schoolbook chapter headings, article titles, and scripture chapter headings (spoiler: some of the people writing the chapter headings don't appear to hold genuine faith in the scriptures they are presuming to interpret).

You could argue that I'm just finding these messages because I'm looking for them. I would answer that you never find what you don't look for if it's hidden just out of sight. Go ahead and look. Don't take my word for it. I think you'll find a good place to start is PhD dissertations written before the internet was available to the general public (I don't think academics realized just how accessible their dissertation titles would become to everyone after the 1990s).

Hypothesis: Fracking-associated earthquakes could be connected to silver

The recent hydrothermal explosion at Yellowstone National Park (see online article: https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/yellowstone-update-hydrothermal-explosions-cause-explained/ar-BB1qxK9i) caused me to start wondering what humans do that might increase movement of magma and result in seismic effects like earthquakes and eruptions. Here in Colorado, we experienced some possibly fracking-linked earthquakes in southeast Colorado about eight years ago.

I came across an interesting study titled "Nano-volcanic Eruption of Silver" (online at https://www.nature.com/articles/srep34769):

Here we report a novel phenomenon of Ag nano-volcanic eruption that is caused by interactions between Ag and oxygen (O). It involves grain boundary liquation, the ejection of transient Ag-O fluids through grain boundaries, and the decomposition of Ag-O fluids into O2 gas and suspended Ag and Ag2O clusters. 

It looks like interactions between silver and oxygen can cause mini-eruptions, and that those can occur at relatively low temperatures (geologically speaking) if the silver can't crystallize out (nucleate) as Ag2O. 

However, if the Ag2O phase could not nucleate, then the meta-stable melting points of fcc-(Ag), which are the meta-stable equilibria between the fcc-(Ag) and liquid phases, would fall drastically to low temperatures.

 (online at https://www.nature.com/articles/srep34769)

I think, per this chemistry article on silver nanoplates -

(online at https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ja2080345)

- that hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) can prevent Ag2O from crystallizing because it keeps the silver dissolved.

Perhaps in the process of returning fracking wastewater underground into disposal wells--the disposal wells have already been linked to earthquakes (see https://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/07/12/more-on-the-science-linking-fracking-disposal-wells-to-earthquakes/)--hydrogen peroxide is sometimes being injected into areas with silver and causing a chain reaction that results in seismic events. If southeastern Colorado, a state with an important silver mining history, had any significant magma near the surface, maybe we might have even seen a little volcanic activity eight years ago!

Maybe we don't even need a lot of hydrogen peroxide present in the fracking wastewater. Perhaps there is sometimes something else in fracking wastewater that increases the amount of hydrogen peroxide later down at the bottom of the wastewater wells. Hydrogen peroxide can be made from just air, water, and electricity* given the right carrier molecule:

In this new process, scientists used electricity to break down water into hydrogen and oxygen, and the hydrogen then reacts with a “carrier” molecule. This molecule — a compound called anthroquinone, in these initial experiments — is then introduced into a separate reaction chamber where it meets with oxygen taken from the outside air, and a pair of hydrogen atoms binds to an oxygen molecule (O2) to form the hydrogen peroxide. In the process, the carrier molecule is restored to its original state and returns to carry out the cycle all over again, so none of this material is consumed.

(see "Producing hydrogen peroxide continuously from just air, water, and electricity," 2019, online athttps://www.techexplorist.com/producing-hydrogen-peroxide-continuously-just-air-water-electricity/27255/)

Anthroquinone is a small molecule:

While it is hard to dissolve anthroquinone into water, it is soluble in hot organic solvents; fracking wastewater contains a lot of organic molecules (see https://new.nsf.gov/news/recent-research-analyzes-chemical-composition). 

I hypothesize that anthroquinone or a similar H2O2-producing carrier molecule might be present in some fracking wastewater and so contributing to seismic activity when introduced into silver-containing rocks deep underground via disposal wells.

* Electricity is presumably present deep underground: "In the mantle, the voltage difference is likely caused by movement of melts and fluids with high electrical conductivity, as well as other redox reactions – although little is known about how strong these electric fields might be." See "Electric fields deep in Earth’s mantle helps diamond crystallise," 2021, online at https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/electric-fields-deep-in-earths-mantle-helps-diamond-crystallise/4013130.article.

Hypothesis: Sequestering cobalt in the intestines to reduce colon cancer

Many studies have found an association between cobalt levels in the body and colon cancer. For instance this 2021 study from Iran found such an assocation:

The highest concentrations of heavy metals were found in the central part of the province and particularly counties with higher amount of cobalt were shown to be associated with higher ASR of men with colon cancer. In contrast, selenium concentrations were higher in areas with lower ASR of colon cancer in men. A significant regression equation for men with colon cancer was found (F(4,137) = 38.304, P < .000) with an adjusted R2 of 0.77. 

See "Association between heavy metals and colon cancer: an ecological study based on geographical information systems in North-Eastern Iran," 2021, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33858386/.

Cobalt is highly reactive in some forms and can cause cancer.

Cobalt and cobalt compounds that release cobalt ions in vivo are reasonably anticipated to be human carcinogens based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity from studies in experimental animals and supporting data from studies on mechanisms of carcinogenesis. Mechanistic data indicate that the release of cobalt ions in vivo is a key event for cobalt-induced carcinogenicity. The available data show that cobalt metal and cobalt compounds that release cobalt ions in vivo (regardless of their solubility in water) act via similar modes of action to cause similar types of effects, including cell death, DNA damage, and cancer, and that the cobalt ion is largely responsible for the toxicity and carcinogenicity (IARC 2006b; NTP 1998; 2014).

(Online at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK590837/)

Some forms of cobalt are highly stable, though. Cobalt manganese oxide (CoMnO) for example is typically insoluble in water and very stable. I think it could be helpful to periodically drink water that has the right compounds of manganese oxide to bind (i.e., sequester) cobalt in the intestines and thus lower its carcinogenicity. Perhaps dedicated drinking fountains could be utilized for this purpose and help turn the tide in the rising wave of colon cancer cases. Manganese is already present in tiny amounts in our tap water.

I wonder whether selenium tends to sequester cobalt, too, given that it was slightly protective against colon cancer in the Iran study above.

Hypothesis: Decreasing SO2 gas in the ear could reduce hearing loss resulting from loud noise

Two people known to me were exposed to very loud environments and had significant hearing loss while still quite young. So I wondered what contribution trace minerals and small atoms/molecules might make towards causing sudden hearing loss. Pertinent studies indicate that cobalt, lead, and tin tend to correlate with hearing loss, while iron could be protective against hearing loss.

"Individuals with the level of cobalt at third quartile had 49% higher risks of hearing loss than those at lowest quartile. And participants with highest quartile of tin had 1.75-folds risks of hearing loss than those with lowest quartile of tin." 

"Association between trace metals exposure and hearing loss," 2022, online at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9428401/

"Blood lead concentrations were significantly and substantially associated with hearing loss (mean difference (MD) = 1.14; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.03, 2.26; P = 0.04; I2 = 81%), and iron deficiency was significantly related to hearing loss (MD = −0.42; 95% CI = −0.66, −0.18; P = 0.12; I2 = 60%)."

"Association of blood heavy metal concentrations with hearing loss: a systematic review and meta-analysis," 2024, online at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0033350623003876

Lead in nature tends to be found mostly as Pb, PbO2, and PbSO4. When I look at the standard reduction potential table (at 25 degrees Celsius, which is 77 degrees Fahrenheit) for various molecules and ions, I see that cobalt, when exposed to heat/electrical current, frees up sulfate (SO4(2-)) ions from lead sulfate (PbSO4). Tin, when exposed to heat/electrical current, turns sulfate ions in the presence of a abundant H+ ions into sulfur dioxide gas (SO2). Iron solids reduce levels of H+ ions by turning them into hydrogen gas (H2). To sum up, it looks like these four trace minerals are pointing to sulfur dioxide gas (SO2) as a culprit in helping cause hearing loss.

I looked at sulfur dioxide gas in 2016 when I was writing about molybdenum and its role in converting sulfite to sulfate. Sulfur dioxide and the sulfite that results from it in the human body appear to me to have causative role in migraines. Interestingly, migraines are correlated with sudden hearing loss:

"However, in male cohort studies, the migraine had a higher risk of [sudden sensorineural hearing loss] than no migraine (HR = 1.50; 95% CI: 1.17‐1.83; P < .001). The pooled HR of migraine with the risk of [sudden sensorineural hearing loss] was 1.37 (95% CI: 1.16‐1.58, P < .001) in people with <40 years old and 1.39 (95% CI: 1.17‐1.60; P < .001) in people >40 years old....Individuals with migraine patients are at a higher risk of developing [sudden sensorineural hearing loss]."

"Migraine and risk of sudden sensorineural hearing loss: A systematic review and meta‐analysis," 2020, online at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7752063/.

I think this points to a potential protective benefit from including sulfur dioxide-absorbing/adsorbing materials in earplugs intended for use in high noise environments such a factories, firing ranges, etc.

Merely using earplugs doesn't seem to actually protect hearing: 

"The use of earplugs had no observable effect on the prevalence of high-frequency hearing loss of the study participants (OR 0.964, 95% CI 0.925–1.005, p = 0.085). No significant relationship between the effectiveness offered by earplug use and high-frequency hearing thresholds at 3, 4, and 6 kHz was found (t = −1.54, p = 0.125). The mandatory requirement of earplug use without individualized training on how to wear HPDs correctly had no detectable effect on the prevention of hearing loss at the auto parts factory."

"Evaluating the Effectiveness of Earplugs in Preventing Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in an Auto Parts Factory in China," 2021, online at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8297223/

When I do an internet search on "sulfur dioxide-absorbing materials in earplugs," I don't see any results specifically mentioning earplugs that decrease levels of sulfur dioxide in the ear. That indicates a probable unmet need to me.

We know that sulfur dioxide causes damaging acid rain on statues and buildings; it's logical that sulfur dioxide could also be causing damage to our inner ears.

[Update 7/10/24: It appears that magnesium (as Mg(2+) ions), through an unascertained pathway, can protect against hearing loss. 

"Because Mg2+ deficiency increases the susceptibility to [noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL)], several studies have been conducted in animals or in humans to point out the possible prophylactic efficacy of magnesium. Joachims et al., (1983) observed that guinea pigs with physiologically high Mg2+ levels, when exposed to a single shot impulse or a series of impulses, had significantly smaller threshold increases as compared to physiologically low Mg2+ animals. Scheibe et al., (2000b) showed that oral magnesium supplementation significantly reduces [temporary threshold shifts (TTS)] and [permanent (permanent threshold shifts (PTS)] in guinea pigs subjected to a series of impulses. The mean PTS was found to correlate negatively with the total Mg2+ concentration of perilymph and plasma. Conversely, they did not observe any significant effect on PTS following exposure to a gunshot noise. More recently, Attias et al., (2003) explored the activity of the outer hair cells in guinea pigs by means of otoacoustic emission after impulse noise exposure. In animals supplemented with Mg2+, the thresholds were less significantly affected by noise exposure and the audition recovery was faster. In humans, preventive administration of magnesium has also been shown to be effective in noise-related hearing loss. Attias et al., (1994) tested the prophylactic effect of magnesium in human subjects exposed to hazardous noise. The study was carried out in 300 young, normal-hearing recruits who underwent 2 months of basic military training. This training included repeated exposure to high levels of impulse noises while using earplugs. The subjects received an additional drink daily containing either 167 mg magnesium aspartate or a placebo. The NIHL was significantly more frequent and more severe in the placebo group (28.5%) than in the magnesium group (11.2%). Moreover, the severity of the NIHL was negatively correlated to the magnesium content of red and mononuclear cells. This prophylactic effect in humans was confirmed by Attias et al., (2004) for temporary threshold shifts. Subjects were exposed to a traumatizing noise over 10 min in order to produce TTS without PTS. Compared to a placebo, the preventive oral intake of magnesium (122 mg Mg2+ aspartate during 10 days) provided significant protection against TTS. A negative correlation between the blood magnesium levels and the TTS was also noted."

"Magnesium and hearing loss," 2011 (Isabelle Sendowski, Xavier Holy, Florent Raffin, Yves Cazals), online at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507266/. 

Magnesium behaves similarly to calcium (magnesium is directly above calcium on the periodic table of elements), so I wonder whether magnesium helps sequester sulfur ions similarly to the way calcium is used to "scrub" sulfur dioxide gas from power plant emissions.]

When are "muttered threats" clear enough to be federal crimes?

My family recently finished watching the multi-season TV series Numbers ("NUMB3RS") which was about an FBI agent with the last name Eppes and his brother, who take on and arrest all kinds of criminals. 

I was surprised to see that a recent small plane crash in the East--https://troopers.ny.gov/news/nysp-investigating-plane-crash-delaware-county--took the lives of five people, including four people from a family with the last name of "VanEpps." They had taken off from an airport named after a man with the surname Nader. I don't know about you, but "Nader" to me immediately brings to mind Ralph Nader, a politician known for looking out for the "little guy" and fighting corruption. Moreover, VanEpps makes me think of FBI agents named Eppes working in stakeout vans.

Ever since I learned about the threats/warnings that did or did not get delivered clearly to the USA and then to Japan at the start and end of World War II in the Pacific, I've been noticing that there seem to be a lot of "muttered threats" being made out there using people's surnames in headline-making events, court cases, etc.

I think this plane crash should be investigated more carefully than usual due to the way the names involved invoke images of FBI family members and fighting corruption in the government. Ever since Paul Wellstone's plane crash 22 years ago and the suspicions it raised, I've been more open to the idea that accidents aren't always as accidental as we hope or believe them to be.

If this plane crash turns out to be at all suspicious, it could have been meant as a threat to the families of FBI agents who stand up to corrupt people in the government....which threat-making has got to be a serious federal crime in and of itself.