Defense Against The Black Arts

Exposing hacker methodology with concrete examples, this volume shows readers how to outwit computer predators. With screenshots and step by step instructions, the book discusses how to get into a Windows operating system without a username or password and how to hide an IP address to avoid detection. It explains how to find virtually anything on the Internet and explores techniques that hackers can use to exploit physical access, network access, and wireless vectors. The book profiles a variety of attack tools and examines how Facebook and other sites can be used to conduct social networking attacks.

As technology has developed, computer hackers have become increasingly sophisticated, mastering the ability to hack into even the most impenetrable systems. The best way to secure a system is to understand the tools hackers use and know how to circumvent them. Defense against the Black Arts: How Hackers Do What They Do and How to Protect against It provides hands-on instruction to a host of techniques used to hack into a variety of systems. Exposing hacker methodology with concrete examples, this book shows you how to outwit computer predators at their own game. Among the many things you’ll learn: How to get into a Windows operating system without having the username or password Vulnerabilities associated with passwords and how to keep them out of the hands of hackers How hackers use the techniques of computer forensic examiners to wreak havoc on individuals and companies Hiding one’s IP address to avoid detection Manipulating data to and from a web page or application for nefarious reasons How to find virtually anything on the internet How hackers research the targets they plan to attack How network defenders collect traffic across the wire to indentify intrusions Using Metasploit to attack weaknesses in systems that are unpatched or have poorly implemented security measures The book profiles a variety of attack tools and examines how Facebook and other sites can be used to conduct social networking attacks. It also covers techniques utilized by hackers to attack modern operating systems, such as Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X. The author explores a number of techniques that hackers can use to exploit physical access, network access, and wireless vectors. Using screenshots to clarify procedures, this practical manual uses step-by-step examples and relevant analogies to facilitate understanding, giving you an insider’s view of the secrets of hackers.

When we lie awake at night listening to mysterious sounds, we imagine all the things that could be making those strange noises. The rumbling is the sound of the refrigerator; the knocking is from the old furnace; the creaking is nothing more than the house settling...isn’t it? Although the modern world has denied the existence of things that go bump in the night and has taught us that the occult couldn’t possibly exist, we know there are things that science has yet to explain. Defense Against the Dark introduces the reader to many of those unsavory magickal creatures and occult happenings that exist outside of fairytales. Our ancestors knew these threats were real, and took precautions to protect themselves from whatever evil was lurking in the shadows. Defense Against the Dark will teach you: Common lore and mythology of predatory entities such as goblins, vampires, imps, and ghosts How to identify malevolent spirits and understand how curses actually work How to master different protection methods, including shielding, banishing, and hex breaking Easy, concrete methods for protecting yourself in everyday situations

From one of our most widely admired art critics comes a bold and timely manifesto reaffirming the independence of all the arts—musical, literary, and visual—and their unique and unparalleled power to excite, disturb, and inspire us. As people look to the arts to promote a particular ideology, whether radical, liberal, or conservative, Jed Perl argues that the arts have their own laws and logic, which transcend the controversies of any one moment. “Art’s relevance,” he writes, “has everything to do with what many regard as its irrelevance.” Authority and Freedom will find readers from college classrooms to foundation board meetings—wherever the arts are confronting social, political, and economic ferment and heated debates about political correctness and cancel culture. Perl embraces the work of creative spirits as varied as Mozart, Michelangelo, Jane Austen, Henry James, Picasso, and Aretha Franklin. He contends that the essence of the arts is their ability to free us from fixed definitions and categories. Art is inherently uncategorizable—that’s the key to its importance. Taking his stand with artists and thinkers ranging from W. H. Auden to Hannah Arendt, Perl defends works of art as adventuresome dialogues, simultaneously dispassionate and impassioned. He describes the fundamental sense of vocation—the engagement with the tools and traditions of a medium—that gives artists their purpose and focus. Whether we’re experiencing a poem, a painting, or an opera, it’s the interplay between authority and freedom—what Perl calls “the lifeblood of the arts”—that fuels the imaginative experience. This book will be essential reading for everybody who cares about the future of the arts in a democratic society.

The Classic Study of the Occult Reintroduced in a 50th Anniversary Edition The Black Arts is a fascinating and wonderfully readable exploration of the practice, theory, and underlying rationale of magick and occultism in all its branches, including witchcraft, spells, numerology, astrology, alchemy, kabbalah, tarot, charms, and summoning and control of spirits. This edition features a 50th anniversary introduction by historian of alternative spirituality Mitch Horowitz, who frames the book for a new generation of readers.

As the publishing sensation of the last half-century, Harry Potter dominates early education in politics. Children, tweens, teens, and adults love it; and most students come to college knowing at least some of it. This dark fantasy analyzes politics in strikingly practical and institutional ways. Like ancient Sophists, modern Machiavellians, and postmodern Nietzscheans, the Potter books treat politics as dark arts and our defenses against them. The Potter saga overflows with drama, humor, and insight into ours as dark times of terrible troubles. These reach from racism, sexism, and specism to fascism, terrorism, autocracy, and worse. Harry and his friends respond with detailed, entertaining takes on many ideologies, movements, and styles of current politics.Defenses Against the Dark Arts argues that Potter performances of magic show us how and why to leap into political action. This includes the high politics of governments and elections, and especially the everyday politics of families, schools, businesses, media, and popular cultures. It explores Potter versions of idealism, realism, feminism, and environmentalism. It clarifies Potter accounts of bureaucracy, nationalism, and patronage. And it analyzes Potter resistance through existentialism and anarchism. The emphasis is on learning to face and defend against dark arts in dark times.

This book examines a range of visual expressions of Black Power across American art and popular culture from 1965 through 1972. It begins with case studies of artist groups, including Spiral, OBAC and AfriCOBRA, who began questioning Western aesthetic traditions and created work that honored leaders, affirmed African American culture, and embraced an African lineage. Also showcased is an Oakland Museum exhibition of 1968 called "New Perspectives in Black Art," as a way to consider if Black Panther Party activities in the neighborhood might have impacted local artists’ work. The concluding chapters concentrate on the relationship between selected Black Panther Party members and visual culture, focusing on how they were covered by the mainstream press, and how they self-represented to promote Party doctrine and agendas.

Anshar was one of the first Angels ever created. He was over 12 billion years old. He was created to perform the function of a Gatherer. His kind policed the borders between the lower worlds and they prevented demons, elementals, vampires, and other lesser entities from crossing into the realm of Earth. Anshar and his partner Rodare were also charged with the duty of escorting the souls of select fallen humans from the lower worlds into the Celestial City. Anshar had carried out his duty for billions of years, but now, he faced a challenge that even his legendary strength could not overcome. He was dying. Gatherers were subject to a rare kind of malady called The First Darkness. The disease strikes without notice and robs angels of their strength, sanity, and celestial power. The Creator took pity upon Anshar and gave him a chance to overcome the disease. Anshar was allowed to enlist the help of Melvina, a beautiful and talented human woman with a rare gift. She did not know of the origins of her power. She did not know why The Creator had chosen her to help an Angel. She believed that helping this powerful celestial stranger was her only way to freedom from a life she longed to escape. As Anshar descended into madness, his plan to cure himself would unleash a plague of death, chaos, and destruction upon the earth. With the help of Melvina, a gifted human Adept, and a crafty Archangel, Anshar would face a colossal battle for his very existence. The First Darkness is a sweeping tale of love, celestial magic, destruction, and chaos. This gripping tale of one Angel's battle for love and resurrection draws the reader into an intensely passionate one-of-a-kind love story that is surely to become a classic in its genre. Testimonials Fascinating story...filled with suspense waxes with an effortless and beckoning pace; but yet quite arresting...love it. The first spiritual thriller I have read thus far... The scene is set; the tone, color and ambience are all seamlessly woven together for what promises to be a great book. More power to you Dr. G! J. Thompson, Minnesota These chapters are extremely thought provoking. The whole concept of there being 'Stealers of souls," the whole maze of this world, so many illusions that stick like superglue to our being, and the path to freedom and compassion after all our lessons have been learnt. What a journey this is, magnificent and awesome and only just begun! Thank you for writing this book! D. Anderson, Baltimore MD Keep it coming, Dr. Gibson. Having written some fiction myself, I especially admire your skillful and rich descriptives of the setting (which obviously come from life-experiences). Looking forward to more... Well done. M.P. USA Dr. Gibson, as someone mentioned, "a spiritual thriller" is very unique! This book is very exciting. I am hooked, so please keep them coming! Thank you for allowing us to peak into the world that is your soul....J. Davis, London Thank you for sharing this, another, magnificent book Dr G. More power to the light...please keep it coming! Also, with each chapter my vocabulary is put to the test; not to mention taking to task my spiritual intelligence...P. Lindsay, San Bernadino Even though this book is written as a work of fiction many things in it are true. I have been witness to and partook in the Chorus and it is something you never forget. It is not something you only experience with your mind but with your whole being. It links you to the light of the Creator and is a gift from him/her. Your whole being is moved to an energy that is, all at once, one of peace, deep joy and a feeling of returning home to where you belong. This home is not a physical place but is a state of consciousness and a vibration of the totality of who you are. I came upon the Chorus in a journey to the vast emptiness. An emptiness that was/is alive. There were beings of light in this place t