In China: rescuing dogs from the butcher. Survival Singles or doomsday dating. (Tip o’ hat to C^2) Memo to the fedgov: How not to attract tourists. The tale of Weela the lifesaving pit bull. Found this after a discussion of pit bulls came up in yesterday’s comments. It’s from quite a while back, but a wonderful story. Well. That about defines desperation. Ick. When clark mentioned in a recent comment section that a state government was about to raid small farms and slaughter their hogs, I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. But it’s pretty awful. He’s the nice,…
5 CommentsMonth: March 2012
Here’s the movie based on John Silveira’s famous (or at least semi-famous) Backwoods Home classified. After making a big splash at Sundance, it’s headed for theaters this summer. Yayyyyyy, John!
14 CommentsI haven’t been in the market for either firearms or ammo (other than .22 plinking supplies) in quite a while. I know that the more hysterical reports about the government “ordering companies to stop selling ammo to ‘civilians’” are … well, just that. Hysterical. But in your experience, how tight is the market actually getting out there? Here’s a report from last week saying Ruger is so backlogged they’ve temporarily stopped taking orders. And even a casual look at local store shelves tells me ammo is in short supply. But that’s pretty anecdotal. What are you seeing and experiencing, if…
27 CommentsOne might ask why the FBI had these training materials in the first place, and whether they plan to throw out the attitudes (yeah, riiiiiight) or just the paperwork. You probably already know Tess Pennington’s online series 52 Weeks to Preparedenss. But it’s always worth a link. And soon? A book! Bovard: “First wheat, now health care.” Drone Studies. A new college major. That is &^%$# repulsive. Security: a crypto-nerd’s imagination vs what would actually happen. S, who sent this, noted that these days they’d probably dispense with the drugs. RelaxShacks.com. Extremely cool tips for getting the most out of…
21 CommentsThe Tireless Agorist looks at the burgeoning underground economy in Greece. And Forbes asks if Bitcoin might become the favored currency of an international System D. I’m as skeptical of Bitcoin as I am of every cyber currency (once burned …). And my first thought on reading the Forbes piece was, “What will the USA fedgov’s 900-pound gorilla do?” But one of these days, the flailing arms of that monster gorilla will be able to do … nothing. Some innovation in free-market money will defeat it. If it’s Bitcoin, good for Bitcoin.
6 CommentsSometimes you run across a piece of opinionizing so cluelessly arrogant it takes your breath away. Here’s one sent to me by Jim Bovard: Michael Tomasky challenges us to name a single freedom we’ve lost to the Obama administration. Oh, except any freedoms that mostly only affect people of Arab descent. Because you see, Tomasky is snootily certain none of us actually care about them. (And he’s blissfully unaware that what can be done to the least popular today can be done to others tomorrow. As in “When they came for the [fill in the blank] …”) So before issuing…
35 CommentsLegally blind and a successful photographer. Now here’s a growing profession for you: consultants who coach white-collar criminals on how to get along in prison. The sagebrush rebellion rises again. Brothels. They’re now legal in Ontario, Canada. And for some pretty good reasons. “When we were making V we thought the mask might be popular at parties.” And yet another intriguing trailer for Silver Circle. The coins are real; you can buy them from the movie’s store and Ron Paul was photographed last month using one to make a point.
Leave a CommentI just watched a 2009 indie called American Violet. If The Hunger Games (as Brian said in the comments on that film) might have been made by “a right-wing splinter group,” this one could have come from an ACLU production company. But we’re talking about the good side of the ACLU here. Do you remember the phony drug-war busts in Tulia and Hearne, Texas, a decade or so ago? Mass roundups of innocent blacks based on phony evidence? Cases that eventually fell apart en masse under national scrutiny? Well, American Violet is a fictionalized version of the case that eventually…
1 CommentStickied. Scroll down for newer posts. Thanks to your generosity, we raised enough overnight to transport Sweetie the deaf heeler from South Carolina to the Pacific Northwest, where she can get care and rehabilitation from an expert in the breed. Not only that, but you’ve kept on giving so her rescuers will have funds for food, heartworm medicine, and even sessions with a professional behaviorist, should that be needed. So here’s the plan. Linda, the breed consultant Mary Lou and I have been working with, has agreed to take Sweetie herself. Linda has turned around many dogs judged “hopeless.” I’ve…
Leave a CommentHave you seen the wonderful animated feature Bolt? It’s about a dog who has no idea he isn’t the superdog he plays on TV. He dearly loves his girl Penny who stars in the show with him. But because he views himself as her sole protection against ever-threatening evil, he’s forever tense, forever on guard. Never, but ever, does he relax, play, and just enjoy life. Only when fate leaves him lost on the streets (far from Penny and without his special-effects superpowers) does he learn to be himself, love life — and become a real hero. Yeah, it’s just…
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