- Technological crime-solving marvel! Police cameras save us from the dreaded threat of … erm … cannabis residue on some guy’s teeth. (H/T JG)
- Seven myths about the police. (Civil-liberties left perspective, some f-bomb, good article.)
- “Did the great financial crisis start with the end of the gold standard?” Uh, yeah.
- Maybe it’s not what some of us would call simplifying. But for those still in the little rat-wheel it’s a fine start. (Tip o’ hat to Jim Bovard)
- Ah, it was nice, being an official part of “the lunatic fringe of the libertarian movement.” (One correction, though. Loompanics didn’t go broke. Bossman Mike Hoy just decided to retire and close the biz.)
- And while Obama pursues the War on (Some) Drugs, including the war on cannabis dispensaries more vigorously than his predecessor ever did, he tries to woo the youth vote with lame stoner jokes like this. (Aside from the irony, doesn’t this strike you as the sort of heavy-handed “humor” one of your more embarrassing uncles might come up with?)
- Even more embarrassingly, one of the “stoners” in question, actor Kal Penn, must be smoking something to defend Obama’s anti-cannabis policy this way.
- Matt Bracken’s take on what’ll happen in cities “when the music stops.” (H/T Hobbit)
“When The Music Stops” is an interesting read. What struck me were the reader comments. Almost immediately a flame war broke out over the utility of the AR-15 which was mentioned only in passing in the article. Then all of the -return the country to white rule like god intended- blather really makes me wonder about people. Unfortunately, come the revolution there won’t be any good guys as far as I can tell. Who you gonna side with the fascists, the communists, the christian taliban? Not much of a constituency for freedom in the land of the free and the home of the brave. We live in very interesting times.
I wonder what would happen if you just turned a city off? That is, shut off its power. Flash mobs and things like that couldn’t happen wirthout servers-cellphones/wireless internet and so on all need servers. There may be a few generators here and there, but not enough to keep everything going. You would have a real class A, prime mess, though. Still, I wonder if the first response would be to turn everything off for a while? No doubt plenty of old fashioned looting and rioting.
Things must be pretty slow in Orlando-when I lived there(well, it was the nearest city), it was a really laid back place.
The police here seem pretty decent, at least comparing them to other places. I’ve not had any problems-so far.
Turn a city off; block semi trucks from delivering anything to it, and within a week, you’d have disease spreading through a population that has nothing to eat or drink.
Yeah… that’s a good plan.
Loompanics was where I first saw your work, Claire. 🙂
It is a good plan if one is trying to gain control of a city from the mob. But that’s not why I’m here today. The idiocy of too many users of weed is beyond me. Obama, and Eric Torquemada intend bad things for you, but you rush to him like a moth to the flame. Maybe it’s some kind of Darwinian test?
Ah, a fellow “lunatic fringer.” 🙂
Yes, my first freedomista book was published by Loompanics, plus they had me write for their wonderful and much-missed catalog.
When I sent off the proposal for 101 Things to Do ‘Til the Revolution, Loompanics was the only publisher I was aware of who might even consider such a thing. I know now there were at least a couple of others. But had Mike Hoy not accepted it I’d have probably just tossed it out … and boy, how that would have changed things.
I didn’t say turning off a city was a good plan-but just stupid enough to sound like it might be done. Never underestimate the power of stupidity of those in power.
I just turned around and pulled the LU 2005 master catalogue out of the bookshelf. It was the last one I rec’d, it has its own special hallowed spot on the shelf. I open it up and wow, 2 long forgotten by me Claire pieces, “Big Brother on Board” and “Dark Satanic Cubicles”.
Got my first copies of 101 Things and Don’t Shoot (well worn from being oft read) from them.
Beside their offerings of titles you ain’t finding in Barnes and Noble, you just couldn’t beat Loompanics for really letting you know what was in each book in their catalogue. Way deeper and more informative than the bs reviews Amazon provides, written by folks who actually read the books because of an interest in their content, not just for a paycheck.
My 2005 catalogue has become a reference book, its where I go to find what I want before I start looking to buy.
just waiting — You still have a 2005 Loompanics catalog? Wow. They were good, though — all those articles and the long, detailed descriptions of the books. Loompanics gave voice to a lot of writers who otherwise wouldn’t have had any forum, back in the pre-Internet days. I was really sorry to see Loompanics go — even though the wonderful folks at Paladin picked up my titles and sold more than tiny Loompanics ever did.
Yeah, those old articles of mine from the catalogs … I often forget I wrote them. “Dark, Satanic Cubicles”? I remember the title. But if I want to find out what I said, I’ll have to find a copy online. Sounds brilliant, though. [rolleyes]
Loved Loompanics too.
At 24, I finally learned about Ayn Rand and read all of her published fiction and much of her philosophical work. I searched for more ideas like that 10 years ago and found Loompanics. In addition to your book Claire, I had to read “The Myth of Natural Rights”. I was mad just seeing the title but I had to get it and read it. I was on a path of being a dogmatic objectivist and didn’t realize it ’till I read that one. I don’t know if it holds up. Still have it, but haven’t read it since.
“101 Things to Do ‘Til the Revolution” was great and I browse through it occasionally.
Your book about leaving the job culture has been your most important work for me so far. Thank you.
Claire, I scanned and sent it to you.
Guess I’m old school, but I try to have hardcopy of every reference, guide book, how-to-raise, ag guide, etc that contains info I think I may someday need. I tried a kindle once, but I like the look, feel and smell of paper.
just waiting — Got it, thank you. Whotta walk down memory lane.
I did find an online copy, but not as good as the one you sent.
I hear ya on the look, feel, and smell of paper. Also the security of having hard copies around. But, oh, you have to be so organized and have so much space to keep it all! I’ve never been a saver-of-things, and I really got out of the habit during my 10 years living in small spaces. But every once in a while I get a reminder of how nice it can be to have all those old books. Thank you.
Travis,
“Your book about leaving the job culture has been your most important work for me so far. Thank you.”
No, thank YOU. That book was never a big hit, but I feel as if I was onto something. I’m very, very glad you found it useful.
LOL, know what you mean about resistance to The Myth of Natural Rights. I haven’t read that book, but I know the concept that chaos theory (or whatever more respectable name it’s going by these days) decrees natural rights impossible. I just thought about that, then decided that natural rights could perfectly easily arise out of chaos theory. Then I stopped worrying about it.
Very nice not to end up a doctrinaire anything, isn’t it?
Off-topic, but, Claire you’d mentioned possibly blogging about women and carrying guns, so I thought you might be interested to know that I’m listing my designs at http://www.ustrendy.com/ellendra-nauriel
(The company I was negotiating with suddenly stopped answering my emails. I don’t know if it’s a technical glitch or if they’re stealing my ideas, but fortunately I’d only sent them a few pictures so far.)
I have a blouse design up now, a vest that will be up as soon as I can get the pictures to turn out right, and more that are in various stages of tweaking. Also, this website has a contest running where the designs with the most votes gets a production contract, so if you like them I’d appreciate if you could give me a vote to show it, pretty please?
Ellendra — Your clothing line is part of what I’ve been waiting for. I jumped in immediately and gave you five stars. However, (I’m sure you’re already in the process of this, but …) could you add pix and descriptions that show how each item of clothing works for cc?
I think it’s wonderful that someone is designing attractive clothing with concealed carry in mind — and very unfortunate that that company just stopped answering your questions.
Thanks for keeping us posted — and for having the initiative do do this.
I’m working on getting better pics and descriptions up. The website I used looks user-friendly right up to the point when you post something, and then it gets goofy. I gave up on trying to get the descriptions to show, and finally just added them to the pictures themselves.
Ellendra — Oh, yeah. That’s MUCH better, thank you. Love the names, too. 🙂