I admire and shake my head at the brass-balled hackery of LulzSec and Anonymous. I think these guys are gloriously crazy and that they’re either going to save the world or get their asses ignominiously whupped. Or both. For sure, they’re getting into the pit with the biggest and most ruthless of Big Dogs, breezily unaware that they’re likely to get their throats torn out. The world needs people like that. It’s so good not to be one of them. Watching them got me wondering: Whatever happened to the glorious and not-so-grand tradition of monkeywrenching? Sure, those guys of LulzSec…
24 CommentsMonth: June 2011
I just got my semi-annual royalty check from Paladin Press this morning. It was … not good. To say that sales of the newest book are abysmal would be charitable. I feel horrible because the book was done at (Paladin boss) Peder Lund’s special request and I hate the thought of letting him or anybody at Paladin down. Maybe it’s that the book is political and Paladin is fundamentally an action-oriented publisher. Maybe it’s timing. But then, too, the book hasn’t gotten much, if any, promotion aside from a few radio appearances and some kind comments on Amazon.com. So perhaps…
27 CommentsWhen rumors of this started circulating a few days ago, I thought it was probably conspiracy-theory hysteria. But it now appears more likely that the fedgov (and specifically the Dodd-Frank bill) has made over-the-counter trading in precious metals illegal for Americans I don’t know the implications of this. I don’t think anybody does, at this point, but this sort of trading is seriously over my poor hermitty head. The restrictions do not apply to physical buying or holding of gold or silver, though. We the Free and the Brave are still “allowed” to do that. I hope that -S and…
15 CommentsI knew that. From Chris D. in recent comments: Maker Faires. Cool idea. Idiots. Savages. Liver disease. It’s not just for alcoholics any more. Arty Bollocks Generator. 🙂 Debt freedom = opportunity. Nice personal story. Westboro Baptist Church comes picketing. Target offers donuts. Great attitude.
4 CommentsDarned clever strawberry beds: A friend took me into the hills where people she knows made these neat raised strawberry beds. Around here, if you plant strawberries, what the slugs don’t eat the birds will. So these folks found (or as my friend put it, “found”) a culvert, sliced it lengthwise and built it into raised beds. The beds are lower on one end for drainage, and the contraptions on top are covered with hardware cloth and rigged so that they can be raised at the plants grow. Since every one of my hoity-toity certified-organic strawberry plants disappeared without a…
19 CommentsOptimism? Optimism? Does that preposterous word dare raise its head around here — again??? And in association with matters economic? Never fear. I know nobody in these parts is as blind as Bernanke or as oblivious as Obama. Is the economy going straight to hell? Yes, of course it is. Are things likely to get worse long before they get better? You can bet your six-gallon superpails of hard red winter wheat on it. Are your children’s futures in peril? Oh my. Will politicians continue to try to “cure” the economic poison they administered with ever-higher doses of the same…
17 Comments… Or at least I hope. A man I know just discovered — to his delight and horror — email apps that help create newsletters, then extensively track who’s opening the mail, when they open it, and what links in it they’re clicking on. “All without their knowledge, and completely legal.” He’s delighted because that can help keep his business competitive. He’s horrified because … well, who wouldn’t be? These things aren’t new and they can be thwarted by receiving email only in plain text format and not clicking on emailed links. When I questioned the ethics of a company…
11 CommentsDNA-based diets for health and fitness. (Tip o’ hat to PT.) The NY Times calls it dysfunction. Doesn’t it seem more like innovation to you? “Stray Cat Strut.” How one dedicated cat lady beat the IRS. Wendy McElroy: “The Next American Revolution Won’t Be Like the First.” Yep, I think we can count on that. 🙂 Via Ammoland. Alan Korwin and Mark Moritz present: “Sunshine Gun Laws.” This has been around quite a while, but it’s good for a little Monday cheer.
3 CommentsWell. While I’ve been waiting for Doug Ritter to send me a photo so I could blog about it … The word has gotten well and truly out. I won an award. Thank you Knife Rights. Thank you Ammoland for being so quick with the news. And thank you Rich and Denny for opportunity and attitude. That last link is to S.W.A.T. magazine’s new Facebook page, which I could only reach by having my evil teenage alter-ego log in. So I don’t know if any non-Facebookians can see it. —– Here’s the prize-winning article (which I’ve posted before, courtesy of…
16 Comments… to help people in other countries route around gov censorship. Once you get past the irony, do you get the sense that the fedgov will rue the day that it created these? (NY Times link. Tip o’ hat to PT.)
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