After much hunting, I have found the solution. This will work for any two-hop SCP.

scp -Cp -o "ProxyCommand ssh gatewayuser@gateway nc remotehost 22" remoteuser@remotehost:/path/to/file/on/remote /path/to/file/on/local

Here, I use the term ‘gateway’ for the mail server, and ‘remotehost’ for the machine in my office.

Problem solved.

I’m fortunate enough to have friends who link me to interesting articles and videos on a regular basis, two of which have really caught my attention in the last few days. The videos are very clear, and somewhat self-explanatory, which is something that appeals to my innate laziness. It’s not immediately apparent that the themes of these two very different videos are at all related, yet upon some closer inspection, they are making the same point in two different ways.

The first video is entitled, “George Ought To Help“

This nicely animated cartoon from Redshift Media asks us to consider whether it is acceptable to use physical force to force someone else to do what we perceive to be the right thing. It’s a powerful argument**, and one to which I cannot conceive of a retort. This article, however, is not about the morality of wealth redistribution, but rather about what happens in the last part of the video. George receives a bill from the State and the narrator comments,

“Almost everyone pays the bills without protest. They know the Agents [of the State] are prepared to use as much force as necessary to overpower you if you resist.”

This is the point at which many people, to whom I have explained this very concept, begin to switch off. They don’t believe that they really have anything to fear from the State, especially in a democratic, peaceful nation such as New Zealand. The police are kind people who are just trying to protect us. Nobody will be actually hurt for not paying their taxes. Don’t be silly!

This is where the second video comes in. I’ll be honest, this video disturbed me more than almost anything I’ve seen in years.

I’m not an expert in criminal law***, but I am 100% confident that the Police acted entirely illegally. It will be a travesty if they are not indicted for breach of oath, assault causing grievous bodily harm and kidnapping. They had no warrant, they were not allowed to be on his property. It really is that simple.

This second video shows the reality of what happens to people who do stand up to the State: beaten and dragged away in chains. This is what the first video is talking about. When you vote for more State involvement, and greater State powers, you are voting for this. When you vote to increase taxes on The Rich™, you are voting for this. State power is by its very nature a coercive power. It is backed by force, force which is used regularly to beat people into line. Sometimes, there is a camera to record and mitigate the damage. Most times, there is not.

The State Is Not Your Friend

* I’m aware that this is a digital format, but there’s no equivalently eloquent expression for word processing. Our generation has no class.

** On this blog, powerful arguments will indeed be talked about.

*** Though I do have a degree in Law.

Thus was born the idea behind Otago University Students For Liberty. Both the name and the concept of the organisation was inspired by the incredible Students For Liberty organisation, based primarily in the United States. Their purpose is to spread the message of Liberty, and give support and encouragement to fellow students who want to explore Libertarian ideas. This is my idea of how a university-based group should look; focussed on ideas, not candidates.

My decision to found such a group was vindicated when, experimentally, Kim asked Jade the Coffee Girl how she felt about freedom and the policies of limited government. After a very brief explanation, Jade the Coffee Girl was taken with the idea enough that she said she’d consider joining such a group. Had we opened with, “Hey, come and support our political party”, I rather suspect that the response might have been less warm. Such is the power of ideas.

The title of this particular post is a reference to what I’ve been doing all day – trying to get Google Apps and WordPress to play nicely with the OUSFL site. Certainly, this process is far easier now than it ever has been, and the range of services that one can purchase for a very modest fee is staggering. The ability to create a setup like this – a website with a registered domain name, its own secure email service, document exchange, fully functional CMS and syndication – in a matter of hours simply did not exist even a few years ago. Furthermore, I am completely confident that, in a few years time, the process I went through today will be either streamlined to the point of triviality, or entirely obsolete. The reason I feel confident about this is that I have an unwavering faith in the power of the market to deliver things that people want. The incredible tools at our disposal today – unimagined by even the most foresighted of visionaries a score of years ago – are a direct product of the market. Google and WordPress exist because a demand existed, and clever entrepreneurs stepped in to fulfill that desire.

I therefore think it entirely fitting that we use tools created by Liberty to revive the principles of freedom which created the tools in the first place.

We begin with Liz’s inept description of Batman. She begins by noting Batman’s anger and need for revenge, concluding that this makes him a man that one “does not want to fuck with”. What qualities of Indiana Jones equip him to fight such anger? Well, Indy is a scholar of ancient cultures, and is thus thoroughly familiar with the principles contained in The Art of War by the great general Sun Tzu. On the topic of anger, the good general opines,

Use anger to throw them into disarray.

Thus, following the advice of Sun Tzu, Indy’s superior understanding of the principles of warfare would allow him to turn Batman’s anger against him, wielding intellect as the cavalryman wields his sabre.

Score: Indy: 1, Batman: 0

Liz then goes on to describe Batman’s attire, noting both the armour’s lack of colour and the functionality of his belt, which apparently allows him to respectively move more swiftly and undertake abstract economic operations. Disregarding Liz’s obvious misunderstanding of physics, Batman’s armour would be quite useless against Indy. Indiana Jones uses four primary weapons. They are (in order of increasing lethality),

1. His revolver
2. His bullwhip
3. Various artefacts of mysterious power, both holy and unholy
4. His superlative ingenuity, adventurous courage and rugged indestructibility.

Armour protects Batman against none of these. Additionally, the armour reduces Batman’s range of motion and speed. He can’t even move his head (thus preventing him from avoiding the lash of Indy’s whip). Incidentally, if you are inclined to disagree with the ordering of the first two items, then I would advise you to more thoroughly research Indy’s ability with the bullwhip. Batman’s utility belt is likewise of no use to him against Indy, who derives utility through the thrill of discovery and academic scholarship.

Score: Indy:2, Batman:0

Liz then goes on to mention Batman’s fighting credentials.

Batman has a plethora of experiences to draw on, featuring some decent bad guys, such as Two-Face, The Joker, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, Penguin, Cat Woman, and The Scarecrow…

… all of whom subsequently escaped from prison, to terrorise yet more innocents. Noble Indiana, on the other hand, puts down bad guys permanently and with style. Liz clearly failed to take into account Indy’s extraordinary victories over forces both natural and supernatural, including the mighty armies of Nazi Germany.

Score: Indy:3, Batman:0

To describe the next point, I shall quote from Liz directly.

- Batman doesn’t sleep, he watches.

- Robin can be called upon if the situation requires. They can either tag-team or double-team.

Reading these two points concurrently, we can deduce that Liz believes Batman to be a gay porn star, and that this affords him an edge in combat over the demonstrably not-a-gay-porn-star Indy. Upon consulting Wikipedia’s list of types of warrior, we see that “gay porn star” is not among them. On this point, I think that no further refutation is required.

Batman and Robin star in "Caped Anal Avengers 4"

Score: Indy:4, Batman:0

Liz’s next attempt to demonstrate the superiority of Batman is almost too weak to deserve a rebuttal, but rebut it I shall. She claims that Batman would gain the upper hand in a fight because he is (and I quote) “a BABE”. It appears to have escaped Liz’s notice entirely that whilst batman feels the need to cover his inferior face with a mask, Indiana Jones’ handsome facade not only causes ladies in his class to swoon, but is so prepossessing that young women take the class solely to be in his presence.

Thus, we can safely conclude that if attractiveness is to be a measure of success in combat, the dashing Indiana Jones wins hands down.

Score: Indy:5, Batman:0

Although it’s clear that Liz has lost the plot, or perhaps never had it to begin with, she now descends into a dark realm of pure madness, inhabited entirely by evil spirits such as Satan, Hades and Bob Marley. She declares wildly,

Scholars have analyzed Indiana Jones and have come to the conclusion that he is a ‘hardboiled detective’ and an ‘American patriot’. Fuck America. Fuck egg analogies (BTW who even likes hardboiled?) I want someone who gets shit done. Also, it’s common knowledge that if you wear khaki, you are a tool.

It’s hard to know where to begin. Firstly, the ‘hardboiled’ analogy refers to the practice of boiling leather until is is extremely hard and durable, not to eggs. Secondly, Liz must have missed the part where Indy discovers not only the Ark of the Covenant, but the Holy Grail itself, while Batman rushes around attempting to catch criminals who, as we all know, will simply escape from prison in a short time. In terms of “getting shit done”, Batman quite clearly loses to Indy.

Score: Indy:6, Batman:0

On one final point, Liz and I are in agreement; it is amply clear who would win in a fight. Indiana Jones, take a bow, sir, for you are the victor.

Score: Chris:10, Liz:0

Perhaps the most memorable point made by Mill in this work, and his basis for liberty, is that “over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign”. Mill is compelled to make this assertion in opposition to what he calls the “tyranny of the majority”, wherein through control of etiquette and morality, society is an unelected power that can do horrific things. Mill’s work could be considered a reaction to this social control by the majority and his advocacy of individual decision-making over the self. The famous Harm Principle, or the principle of liberty, is also articulated in this work: people can do anything they like as long as it does not harm others.

It’s a fairly hefty read, though well worth it for anyone interested in political thought. If you don’t have the time for long philosophical essays (and let’s face it, who does? Alright, I do, apparently), then this relatively short Youtube video gives the barebones structure of what I mean when I say “Liberty”.

If you can ignore the distinctly 90′s presentation, it’s a pretty clear and succinct description of the Libertarian philosophy. My personal view of Liberty is a little more complicated than this, but those thoughts are for another post.

Actually, I just think it’s a good title for an introductory post. This is the latest iteration of ChrisLaing.net. The site began as a playground for me to try out xhtml and css, then PHP and finally WordPress. After some time spent as a simple landing page, ChrisLaing.net has settled into comfortable old age as a personal blog.

Good blogs have an overarching theme or subject: thus, mine will not be a good blog, unless you consider “things of interest to Chris Laing” to be a worthy topic (as well you should!). I’ll probably avoid,”I had elephant eggs for breakfast today, and they were delicious”-type posts, instead focussing on items from the web which are of interest to me, political opinion (of which I am not in short supply) and topics related to my work (although if I do ever have elephant eggs for breakfast, I’ll be sure to let everyone know).

For more information, check out my about page. For now, welcome, once again, to ChrisLaing.net