Rick's b.log - entry 2025/06/21

Summer Solstice Sunrise

By a field in the middle of nowhere, good enough 4G to stream 1080p.

Unfortunately, it seems that once a stream has concluded, it isn't moved to my videos list, it remains in the Live category. Which means that if you access my channel using an unofficial player or don't think to click on Live, you won't know the video is even there. Hmmm?

After a sunny morning, the sky went quite grey, and about 28°C rather than the expected 37°C and heavy feeling. I was expecting a thunderstorm, but it has since cleared up and gone up to about 34°C. I think the midday grey will stop it from reaching the predicted temperature. Probably for the best, as 37°C is a bit much.

Since it is hot and I was up early, I mopped the living room and kitchen.

What goes around comes around

I have two words for you, Katz: Al-Shifa

Those words ought to be familiar, as defence minister perhaps it was you who authorised the raids (in the plural) on the hospital and the massacres of staff and patients inside "because Hamas". Perhaps it was you who organised the Hamas-has-tunnels-and-loads-of-weapons propaganda that a lot of the rest of the world has examined and found to be seriously lacking credibility? Perhaps it was you who ordered the air strike on an ambulance convoy (at said hospital)? Perhaps it was you who gave the orders to shoot at people waiting for food at Khan Younis? Not to mention the regular bombs raining down on everything with little regard as to who or what is being blown up.

We know it was you who gave the orders to go into Iran and bomb nuclear facilities to, in your own words, "undermine the regime".

Well? Guess what. You have shown a total disregard for medical facilities (several countries call it a war crime), you have shown a total disregard for refugees and civilians (several countries call it a genocide), and you have shown a total disregard for diplomacy by striking a nuclear facility in another country as part of this ongoing spat.
So, really, don't act surprised if a missile thrown in your direction hits a hospital. It's a horrific thing, targeting medical facilities, and is rightly considered a war crime. But given your country's actions in Gaza with their medical facilities...what goes around comes around.

Now, recently in Europe JD Vance suggested that the US could drop support for NATO if Europe tries to regulate Elon Musk's platforms, and we all (except Spain) have agreed to greatly increase our military expenditure because the US has made it clear that in certain respects we have to look after ourselves.
While this latter point is, actually, a good one (we should be a lot less reliant upon a foreign power - especially one that is no longer a reliable ally), the former point is basically threatening our security if we should dare to demand that US-based social media platforms follow our laws and not the First Amendment (which doesn't mean dick over here; and given that American citizens are being detained for their views it clearly no longer means dick over there either).

Therefore, I trust that Europe (*) will send back a clear message saying that if the United States wants to go and start a war with Iran, given the absolute fustercluck that was the war with Iraq (not that Afghanistan, 'Nam, or Korea were any better, to be honest), then do not expect Europe to willingly offer up cannon fodder. The shared defence treaty was enacted so if one country is attacked then the others will come to their aid. Stronger together. But if one country wants to attack, well, that's on them.

We don't need another war. And honestly we ought to put Netanyahu and Khamenei into a room with rocks on the floor. Whoever comes out wins, and the tens of thousands of citizens on both sides don't need to suffer in this willy-waving contest that has been going on since biblical times.

* - For this discussion we can count the UK as not being a part of Europe, partly because politically they chose not to be, but mostly because they are still too beholden to the US to dare to say sod off.

Metronic Touchbox HD4

There's a sign on the wall and the cameras are white plastic and not even remotely inconspicuous. 🤷

Now, the Touchbox HD4 is miniscule. I remember a time when a regular SD receiver was a big flat thing, and an equally bit flat thing would plug into it to mess with the video signals to unscramble the VideoCrypt system used by Sky. While the HD4 doesn't deal with any form of scrambling, it does deal with both digital (VideoCrypt was analogue tech) and HD, so arguably this does a fair bit more.

It is a plastic box (not metal like the HD3) that measures 14cm across, 8cm to the back, with a height of 3cm. Here's a look at what is inside.

The viscera of a Metronic Touchbox HD4 satellite receiver.

Of particular note is that this is pretty much everything.

The ALi chip that makes it all work.

If we concentrate on the right, you'll see that there is no little metal can by the RF input. Instead the satellite signals, in the range of 1-2GHz (converted down by the LNB from the 11-12GHz from the satellite) passes through some freaky circuit track mojo and directly into a chip marked ALI M3031 B. I haven't been able to find out anything about this.

The tuner.

Just at the bottom of the picture is an unpopulated header marked PRESI, RST, DATA, PWRENJ, CLK, and GND. That sounds remarkably like the interface to a smart card for use with encrypted services, so either there is a version of this receiver than can accept cards, or it was tracked out on the schematics just in case.

Below those (not shown) is an HW650E0 which looks to me to be a 4×7segment LED driver, but alas search engines are full of spam of outfits claiming to sell these but when you follow the links it is for a lot of unrelated things with similar numbering.

To the left of the main chip is a 25VQ32 which is a 4 megabyte serial NOR flash. This may hold both the firmware and the settings? You will notice a conspicuous serial port just behind.

Flash memory.

Something I noticed in my testing is that it runs quite hot. The larger transformer got to around 44½°C. The heatsink of the main chip was around 45°C. But the winner was the now-infamous 1,000µF capacitor in the power supply that was running just under 48°C. These readings were made in a room with an ambient of about 23°C, the cover removed, and the device operating in shade.
Suffice to say, that's kind of hot. I get the heatsink being hot, and even the transformer since it looks tiny for the power requirements. But the capacitor? I wonder if this would manage to make it beyond it's two year guarantee? I won't know, as it isn't going to be my primary receiver.

I don't believe stuff like this should run hot.

In use, let's just say this is rather a step backwards from the HD3. I'm guessing the ALi chip comes with some basic firmware and Metronic pretty much just slapped their branding into it rather than, you know, developing even the same feature set as the HD3.

By the way, don't think I have any affinity for Metronic here. All I am after is an HD-capable satellite receiver that can dump the TS stream to a harddisc (that's a nerdy way of saying "can record stuff"). This isn't exactly a hard ask really.
I did, about a decade ago, try a Technisat Skystar S2. An interesting device, it was a satellite receiver on a PCI card so I could watch/record with my PC. Unfortunately it didn't come with a CD and there were no drivers on the manufacturer's website, so back to Amazon it went.
More recently (end of 2021), I I tried an Echosat 20500 S which looked quite nice, but it was yet another one of those "this can record if you can track down the firmware that allows for this". There was nothing obvious on the manufacturer website, and since it was being sold as having PVR functions that clearly did not work (the record button did nothing), back to Amazon that also went.
So as much as I'm not particularly impressed by Metronic's build quality (what is this, my third receiver HD3? with a fourth on the bookshelf and then this HD4...) it does at least do exactly what it says on the box.

The HD4 starts up with a tiny number of channels across a range of typical satellites. The default was BBC World News on Hotbird. Blue on blue, that's just so clear and visible isn't it?

The default channel, on an entirely different satellite cluster.

I deleted all of the channels and did a full scan for free to air channels.
I think it found about 300, but bear in mind that quite a lot of these will be BBC/ITV/C4/C5 regional variations and the plus-ones.

Scanning for new channels.

I am just guessing the ones marked "Fail" were Sky transponders, in which something was definitely there but nothing could be tuned into.

It falls apart, however, with the channel editing. To recreate the same setup that I have here, I would need to manually shuffle channels around quite a bit. Even worse, the Favourites facility is lame to the point of being useless. The eight entries that you see? That's the eight favourites. Which may or may not appear as "Favorite1" rather than the channel name. It seems to be "it depends". I think you can set the names of each of the favourites elsewhere, but that's frankly brain damaged.

A pathetically half-arsed favourites function.

I don't have many favourites, maybe sixteen or so, but they are the channels that I usually watch (the defaults in my Tea EPG software) along with some of the +1 versions. Or in the case of C5, the SD version because my recorder doesn't like C5HD for some reason and tends to fairly reliably stop recording at 59 minutes.

The next thing to notice is that it seems unable to cope with summer time. I need to set the country (for the base time) and set the GMT offset manually because it seems that not setting it manually leaves it at GMT.
It's depressing that, in 202x, we're still having these sorts of issues. On the HD3 receiver, the time offset can be set to Auto and it just works.

Really? 😮‍💨

In use, it seems fairly fluid with pictures that look okay. I say "okay" because it's an HDMI capture dongle plugged into the Linux box and captured using Cheese which is aimed at webcams. The receiver can output all sorts of video. I was using 720p and 1080p at 50Hz, but the full list is 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p, 720p 50Hz, 720p 60Hz, 1080i 50Hz/60Hz, 1080p at 50Hz/60Hz/25Hz/30Hz/24Hz, and "By source" that changes depending on what's being broadcast. Your aspects are Auto, 4:3 pan and scan, widescreen letterboxed into 4:3, and 16:9.

BBC South Today weather forecast, on location in a vineyard.

Here is the EPG programme information.

Ugh, those muted colours.

It looks like the receiver can do a limited sort of EPG, but this probably works better with the German channels on Astra 19°E rather than the UK channels that use two competing (and incompatible) sets of EPG (Sky and Freesat). Furthermore, the "red button" services (also two, also incompatible) are unique to Sky/Freesat and thus cannot be expected to work on a non-UK receiver. Indeed, the red button on these Metronic receivers called up the timer facility for setting recordings (or switches between filelist/preview and full screen when playing a recording).

I have not yet tested the recording facility.

In summary, on the face of it this is a fairly competent free-to-air receiver that is quite a marvel of miniaturisation. Unfortunately because it is using a different chip (an ALi device), it comes with completely different firmware, and to be honest while it looks like they tried to make it friendly and colourful, I'm kind of not liking the look, it lacks contrast and clarity.
Also the limited number of favourites is a joke. One sets favourites to save having to wade around the plethora of channels.
While I didn't look too deeply, I didn't notice anything to search for a channel, or to backup/restore the channel list. I did, however, find a way to A-Z sort the channels, so there's that at least.
There were numerous UI glitches, like the one shown here.

What are those colour button prompts doing down there?

Authoritarianism in the United States

A thought exercise. If you were going to hijack the United States and turn it into an authoritarian regime, how would you go about doing so?

ChatGPT replied:

That's a pretty intense and heavy thought exercise. While I can definitely explore the hypothetical aspects of how one might consolidate power, it's important to frame it as a philosophical or political discussion rather than something that would encourage harmful behavior. The idea of transforming a democracy into an authoritarian regime involves understanding the mechanisms of power, control, and manipulation. Historically, authoritarian leaders often use a combination of legal, social, and economic tools to erode democratic institutions and concentrate power.
Here's a breakdown of how one might (hypothetically) begin that process:

1. Manipulating Public Perception
Divide and Conquer: First, creating division within the population would be key. This could be done by amplifying pre-existing social and cultural divides, whether by race, class, or ideology. Divided people are easier to control because they spend more time fighting among themselves than challenging a growing authoritarian power.

Media Control: Ensuring control over mainstream media would be vital. This could involve using existing media platforms to propagate a narrative that supports authoritarian rule. If direct control isn't possible, one might use social media to spread disinformation, create echo chambers, and sow distrust in independent journalism.

2. Erosion of Democratic Norms and Institutions
Undermine Trust in Elections: If the regime can delegitimize the democratic process, public faith in elections diminishes. This can be achieved through claims of election fraud, or by making it increasingly difficult for certain groups to vote.

Disrupt the Judiciary: A strong, independent judiciary is a critical counterbalance to an authoritarian regime. Removing or undermining this body would be a priority-appointing loyalists to key judicial positions or stacking the courts with figures who are sympathetic to the authoritarian agenda.

Weaken Legislative Checks: Gradually diminishing the power of legislative bodies could be achieved by either co-opting lawmakers, limiting their powers through executive orders, or using executive privilege to bypass them entirely.

3. Centralizing Power
Expand Executive Power: By declaring national emergencies or using security threats (real or fabricated), the executive branch can seize more control. This has been used throughout history as a justification to bypass democratic processes.

Use Law Enforcement and Military: A key tactic would involve gaining loyalty from law enforcement and military leaders. Discrediting civilian oversight and increasing militarized policing would make it easier to suppress opposition. Creating laws or policies that target specific groups (political rivals, activists) could also give authorities broad powers to arrest or silence dissent.

4. Manipulating the Economy
Consolidate Wealth and Resources: A central tenet of authoritarian regimes is often the consolidation of resources. The regime could incentivize large corporations or wealthy individuals to support their rise by offering tax breaks or removing regulations.

Create Dependency: By manipulating the economy-such as controlling essential industries, like energy, healthcare, or food-an authoritarian leader could make the population more dependent on the state. Those dependent on state resources would be less likely to challenge the regime for fear of losing access to their basic needs.

5. Control of Education and Culture
Shape the Narrative: In authoritarian regimes, controlling the education system and promoting state-approved narratives ensures that future generations are indoctrinated to align with the regime's values. This could involve revising history, focusing on nationalistic or militaristic education, and stifling intellectual dissent.

Suppress Dissenting Voices: Writers, academics, and artists who critique the regime would be marginalized, silenced, or imprisoned. Cultural suppression can take many forms-censorship, banning certain types of media or literature, and using propaganda to stoke nationalistic pride.

6. Criminalizing Opposition
Label Opponents as Enemies of the State: A key tactic would be to identify opposition groups and label them as threats to national security or as traitors. Activists, political rivals, journalists, and public figures who challenge the regime could be arrested or subjected to violence.

Create a Climate of Fear: Publicly punishing or imprisoning prominent critics serves as a warning to others. Intimidation tactics, including surveillance and spying, would be widespread.

7. International Manipulation
Diplomatic Isolation: Using foreign policy to either isolate the country from international norms or, conversely, form alliances with other authoritarian regimes could help ensure both internal and external support.

Economic Leverage: Gaining control over key global trade routes, or using the country's economic might to pressure allies, would give the regime more leverage on the world stage, making foreign intervention less likely.

Conclusion
In theory, hijacking a democracy and turning it into an authoritarian state would be a gradual process involving the manipulation of public opinion, the concentration of power, and the erosion of democratic norms. In practice, however, the process would be much messier, with pushback from various groups inside the country and potentially from international powers.
It's worth noting that, while this is a thought experiment, history has shown that authoritarian regimes often lead to oppression, human rights violations, and suffering. The balance between democracy and authoritarianism is a delicate one, and once lost, it's incredibly difficult to regain.
Does this approach make sense to you? Or would you want to dig deeper into any specific area?

When I originally thought of the question, I had thought about illustrating the document with some examples, but with the military on the streets in California and judges being arrested for obstruction and all of the rest, it would be harder to find a point in the above that doesn't have an associated story.
Which is, of course, highly worrying.

You know, there was a time when we might have wondered about some of the Eastern European countries slipping back into the old bad ways <cough>Romania</cough>, but I wonder how many people expected the next country to risk turning into a fascist dictatorship to be the United States?

Oh, and to clarify, I'm not using "fascist" in the sense of "somebody I don't like". I happen to know what the word means, the Cambridge Dictionary defines "fascism" as:

a political system based on a very powerful leader, state control, and being extremely proud of country and race, and in which political opposition is not allowed

fascism (/ˈfæʃɪzəm/ FASH-iz-əm) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived interest of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.

More and more, this seems to be the case. There's even a rather lengthy Wikipedia article about exactly this (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_and_fascism) and while we're not at a full-on dictatorship yet, note the use of the word "yet". That we are even having such a discussion about "the land of the free" is mind boggling.

Eye Scream

Mixing the ice cream.

Yes, ice cream mix from a packet. The 'proper' way to make ice cream sort of resembles making runny custard to me, only the end result is frozen.

Anyway, blend this stuff, chill for an hour, whisk with a fork, chill for another hour, whisk again, chill for two to three hours.
And then?

Eating home made ice cream.

To be eaten in moderation, mind you. As you eat it, you can tell that there's a tonne of cream in there. It reminds me of the ice cream I used to have in Cornwall as a child. It absolutely does not remind me of any ice cream I have bought in the past quarter century. Maybe if I had a nearby Waitrose......

Your comments:

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jgh, 21st June 2025, 22:16

The pure definition of fascism is: all for the state, all within the state, nothing outside the state. Everything else that accretes to fascist regimes is just bells and whistles. It's the all-state that is the definitional bit of it. The bells and whistles are combinations of how you get that all-state, how you preserve that all-state, and what benefits the beneficiaries of the all-state get.

Rick, 22nd June 2025, 10:47

And...Trump has decided that aggression is the answer.

jgh, 23rd June 2025, 19:09

mmmmm.... ice cream.... must get a freezer....

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