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Wednesday links

14 Comments

  1. Joel
    Joel February 13, 2013 7:55 am

    Pretty sure that piece about the cop shooting is a parody, Claire. Good one, though.

  2. Claire
    Claire February 13, 2013 7:58 am

    ARRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!! Fixed that. More caffeine …

  3. Jim B.
    Jim B. February 13, 2013 9:38 am

    Hey Claire,

    Regarding the free prepper book you linked. Well, if its free stuff you want, then take a look at my comments in your previous blog entry. Since you’re already working for yourself, it may not matter much to you but others may be interested.

  4. Steve in Colorado
    Steve in Colorado February 13, 2013 9:42 am

    The cameras in set top boxes has been coming for awhile. It’s being sold through the industry as a marketing tool. Originally it was just supposed to be sensors to count the number of people but cameras are so small now they’ll be used. There’s all sorts of privacy promises but promises are cheap. I work in broadcast now and used to be in telecom. In telecom the people in DC who ‘just want to help us’ were in the background and essentially gave immunity for stuff that was obviously illegal. I don’t work on the set top box side so I don’t know how that is playing out but I can guess.

    Our homes might be our castles but there are lots of pipelines going in and out. Cable has always been a real two way system with STB’s communicating upstream. It’s cool if you want to browse thousands of movies but info flows back. If you are concerned with privacy satellite would be the way to go with only a phone line connection. It might phone home every so often but it’s basically a one way pipe into the home – not out of it. If is has a broadband connection anything can go. I suppose this could be a good case for firewalling and some cool hacking to hijack the camera stream.

  5. anonymous
    anonymous February 13, 2013 11:07 am

    “Offending everybody in one swell foop.”

    I was having the exact same thoughts since last night, although I would add “abortion” to that list at the end.

    I spent yesterday at the Colorado state capitol, where the House Judiciary Committee was holding hearings on two gun control bills: HB-1224 magazine ban and HB-1229 universal background checks.

    James Winchester, who wrote Colorado’s current background check law, scolded the committee by reminding them that Democrats oppose voter I.D. laws, yet background checks are a much more onerous burden. He also stated that requiring gun owners to pay for these background checks (HB-1228) is akin to the poll tax, which was designed to keep undesirables from exercising their right to vote by charging them a fee to do so.

    It was the only time I saw the committee members get visibly upset. Several of them displayed the required outrage, with one member — I don’t remember her name — telling Winchester that she took great offense to the comparison, “because race is not a choice, but owning a gun is.”

    I guess somebody forgot to tell her that the poll tax taxed voting — which is a choice — and not race.

  6. Woody
    Woody February 13, 2013 11:33 am

    I can’t imagine what type of person would consent to allow a cable provider to place a camera in their home. Well, actually I can. That would be the average TV viewer. I haven’t had a TV since 1971. Can’t say feel deprived. I’m also not tempted by cable internet since there is zero possibility that a cable will ever be installed within 10 miles of me during my lifetime. I think Americans (and possibly others) are getting not only what we deserve but what we have been asking for. Interesting times we live in.

  7. The Infamous Oregon Lawhobbit
    The Infamous Oregon Lawhobbit February 13, 2013 4:29 pm

    Re: legal drugz … Meh. There’s already an A in BATFE and it doesn’t seem to impact my ability to stock up on Jose Cuervo or foofy drinks. I wouldn’t get too fuzzed up over it.

    So to speak. 😀

  8. Bear
    Bear February 13, 2013 7:26 pm

    I already pointed out to Joel that y’all aren’t exactly alone in falling for the Daily Currant:

    Washington Post erroneously reports Sarah Palin joining Al Jazeera
    http://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2013/02/washington-post-erroneously-reports-sarah-palin-joining-156744.html

    The original Currant piece (follow the links yourself; if I post the URL here, I’m being immoderate or something) wasn’t as over-the-top as the Onion, but it was pretty obvious. I think it says more about how eager the leftielibs are to believe anything bad about someone they despise, than the Currant’s satirical skill.

  9. Bear
    Bear February 13, 2013 8:15 pm

    Hmm. Wish I could edit comments, because that last line should really continue with “, a trait they share with rightwinger demogogues.” Eh, human nature; people want to believe bad things about their enemies.

  10. LarryA
    LarryA February 14, 2013 1:32 am

    So now the nannys are going to help me watch the right television shows?

    Life was a lot easier before gadgets were intelligent.

  11. MamaLiberty
    MamaLiberty February 14, 2013 5:37 am

    “So now the nannys are going to help me watch the right television shows?”

    Good luck to them with that one. I don’t HAVE a “television.” 🙂 They can’t make me watch anything. 🙂

  12. R.L. Wurdack
    R.L. Wurdack February 14, 2013 6:21 am

    Gave up pro sports in 1984.
    Gave up television in 1987.
    Gave up Hollywood in 2010.

    Life is good.

    (BTW the ‘deserves a vote’ bit in the big zero’s state of the onion speech, the one with the mounting crescendo of manic applause sounded to me a lot like Hitler in Berlin in 1936.)

  13. Michael W. Dean
    Michael W. Dean February 14, 2013 11:37 pm

    Do’h!

  14. kevin m
    kevin m February 18, 2013 6:25 pm

    Reuben Kincaide was the manager of the Partridge Family.

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