Also some really cool guys out of the California rave scene - they've been there and done it, and they're happy to help and entertain those on the path. Based out of San Francisco last time I heard of them. One of them enjoys waking people while dressed and screaming like Hunter S. Thompson a little too much, but who else can throw an Official Raver Day at a Renaissance Festival?

Hey, has anyone else ever heard of them, or was I bopped with a vote just for fun?

Here's "Four Horsemen" of another type of apocalypse: alcoholism. They are bone-chilling, indeed!
Excerpt found in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. (3rd edition)
Chapter 11 "A Vision for You" (pg 151)
"The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself. As we became subjects of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker. Some of us sought out sordid places, hoping to find understanding companionship and approval. Momentarily we did -- then would come oblivion and the awful awakening to face the hideous Four Horsemen -- Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair. Unhappy drinkers who read this page will understand!"

Of course, this description is not exclusive only to people suffering from addictions. Any seemingly incomprehensible situation could qualify. Some prime examples would be: severe mental illness, incurable disease, initial loss of a loved one...

On Nethack's astral plane there live (undie?) three Riders: Famine, Pestilence, and Death. Where's the fourth? The game provides a clue if you try to tin a Rider's corpse:

Yes... But War does not preserve its enemies...

The full answer is to be found in the source code. File monst.c, line 2735 (in version 3.3.1):

/* Riders -- The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ("War" == player) */

That's right: you, the player, who have probably slaughtered thousands of creatures to get this far, are War. Be seeing you.

The four horsemen of the apocalypse are released when the first four seals of the Seven Seals are broken by the Lamb. Revelation 6 has the full story, but the pertinent excerpts are here describing each horseman:

The first horseman: "And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer."

The second horseman: "And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword."

The third horseman: "And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

The fourth horseman: "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."

The first horseman is often called Conquest rather then Pestilence. The second horseman is usually known as War. The third horseman is variously known as Famine, Commerce, or Poverty. The fourth is of course Death. These names, with the exception of Death, do not exist in the Bible and were ascribed to them as a shorthand.

Because the description of the first horseman is similar to a description of Christ in another part of the bible, some interpret the first horseman as being Christ. More strongly, others interpret the first horseman as being a false Christ, the Antichrist.

Note the similarity in colors of the horses here with those in Zechariah 6.

Also, the 4 horses could be derived from the horses that drew the chariot of Tiamat, Babylonian goddess who represents the sea and chaos.

Pædophiles * Terrorists * Drug Dealers * Organised Crime

11And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called drug dealer, and in alleys he doth lurk and sell weed.

12His eyes were as glass, and in his pocket were many deals; and he had a phone number, that all men knew, except the filth.


The four horsemen of the apocalypse is the name given to the four villains that government use to convince people that something is evil. Allow me to demonstrate:

Encryption should not be available to the general public, if it was then pædophiles would be able to store images of themselves abusing children securely. Terrorists could communicate their plans without government being able to find out. Organised crime would be able to keep their dealings secret and drug dealers would be able to talk to clients without risk of being intercepted.

All because of encryption, it shouldn't be legal. It worked surprisingly well, until 1997 it was illegal to use encryption in France without the express permission of the head of state.


Terrorists are the flavour of the day, of course. Take the Regulation of investigatory powers act 2003 in the UK. Regulation, you say? The full name of the act is:

An Act to make provision for and about the interception of communications, the acquisition and disclosure of data relating to communications, the carrying out of surveillance, the use of covert human intelligence sources and the acquisition of the means by which electronic data protected by encryption or passwords may be decrypted or accessed; to provide for the establishment of a tribunal with jurisdiction in relation to those matters, to entries on and interferences with property or with wireless telegraphy and to the carrying out of their functions by the Security Service, the Secret Intelligence Service and the Government Communications Headquarters; and for connected purposes.

See, terrorists can't rely on encryption now, because they legally have to give up the keys on demand. Hm. Flaws anyone?

The nice upshot of this is that you can encrypt a message and (untraceably) give it to an enemy, then dob him in for terrorism. He can't decrypt the message and bingo.


Just think if al-Qa'ida had access to 3DES, they might be able to plan large scale terrorist attacks without us finding out.

The horsemen are the embodiment of states restricting the freedom of those they represent by fear. What was terrorism again?

Sources:
* http://www.gilc.org/crypto/crypto-results.html
* http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/en2000/2000en23.htm

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