You know that constant busy-ness that’s afflicted (or blessed) me since late spring? It culminates this week. Specifically tomorrow. After that, though there’s another week or two of “heightened activity”* as the folks at the NSA-CIA-DHS like to say, it is done. I can go back to being my usual slug-lazy self** and poke around on the Tubz for good (and bad) stuff to blog. But look for the blog to have a couple of quiet days. Of which today was one. Tomorrow will probably be even quieter. So I count on the Commentariat to pick up the flag and…
15 CommentsMonth: August 2013
Most media outlets aren’t mentioning that those four people who found and reported that killer-kidnapper in Idaho were all armed, men and women both. (They didn’t confront the creep because even though they felt something was wrong about the man and the nervous young girl they didn’t realize until they got home who the two were.) First dog Bo is so privileged he may soon have to be named Incitatus. But even Caligula probably didn’t make Roman taxpayers fork over bux for his critter’s private progresses through the streets or a $100k per year handler. How Nixon ushered in an…
18 Comments… doubt no more. The government — and now the UberGovernment — is filled with idiots. Here’s an email (with names redacted) sent by a friend about one of their more less amusing stupidities: Dear Claire, We thought we were under scrutiny because of the words we use, but it turns out the FBI also don’t like the word “Subversion”. My firm (and probably 100,000 other small and large businesses) use the open-source software package Subversion to provide version control of documents and code. The idea of version control is alien to the uber-government, but ignorance has never deterred thugs.…
10 CommentsCarl-Bear (who occasionally traffics in science fiction) makes his best guess about what Elon Musk’s mysterious new “hyperloop” transportation system will be. And finds it familiar. One more (rather weird) way that the rich are different than the poor. Different toxins in their bodies. Government forces one privacy option out of business (in the creepiest way). A new privacy option is born. Not in the U.S. of course. Nobody in their right mind would base a privacy service in the U.S. from here on out. Small business? The IRS wants to know what you’re doing with your cash — and…
12 CommentsYes. That’s a soap dispenser. In the shape of a kitty. Who is tied to the top of a Christmas box by a big golden bow. And who has holly stuck in its fur. And who is (quite understandably under the circumstances) sad-eyed and apprehensive. In fact, I’m rather surprised the poor porcelain beastie didn’t come to life and furiously claw the nose off the Chinese worker responsible for its plight. I bought it at an estate sale this morning. I didn’t buy it because it’s a good thing (yeah, trust me on that). I bought it because it demonstrates…
36 CommentsDifferent name. Pretty much the same story.
12 CommentsYou can’t blame 11 and 12 year olds for not understanding. But the adults who dreamed up and supervised this Very Bad Idea … well, ought not be left in charge of anything much more than a TV remote. Or maybe even that’s too much responsibility for them. (H/T LA)
22 CommentsThe last few days I’ve been doing physical labor, spending time in the sunshine, painting rooms — and thinking about America’s UberGovernment. It’s dawning on a lot more people that a government run by secret spymasters is illigitmate even by the most conventional, mainstream standards. Among freedomistas, even those like the folks at DownsizeDC — who are usually pretty polite, mainstream, and hopeful of working within the system — are talking last straws. Edward Snowden’s revelations of the NSA were a shock, though not a surprise. Now this week they’re followed by news of DEA operations that are top secret…
52 Comments… but just so you’ll know. Some of those “let’s find a lame excuse to stop this vehicle so we can search for drugs or drug money” stops are actually the product of a secret spy program. Connection between DEA and NSA still unknown. Because the DEA gives orders (or perhaps takes orders) to keep all this under wraps — even from defense lawyers and sometimes even from their friends the persecutors. Hm. Whatever happened to the right to confront your accuser — your actual accuser — in court? The Wall Street Journal reports that, among other nice things, the…
12 CommentsYou knew it all along, didn’t you? Those crosswalk buttons don’t change the lights. Elevator “close door” buttons don’t close doors, either. They’re just there to make you feel empowered and more patient. Man, that’s one clever bear. (From Irons in the Fire) Oh gads, this is sooooo true. Self promotion is HELL. (H/T to Jim Bovard, who’s heard me whining about that often enough.) Yuppies in prison. Increasing in real life — and now on TV. More on that dirty business of child porn being sent to liberty activists. Including a lawyer’s tips on what to do if it…
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