Nice message you sent the antis. And nice job making Bloomy waste a few more bux.
Month: September 2013
Apple unveiled its new iPhones yesterday. Their main new feature is that they give the NSA the chance to get your fingerprint, along with everything else. But! Not! To worry! They’ll only get your fingerprint “securely.” Because these phones are secure-secure-secure. (H/T O) Bravo, Paul Bonneau: “An appeal to NSA engineers.” L.A. sent this article along with the comment that if you have to get government permission to build a doomsday bunker, perhaps you’re in the wrong location for riding doomsday out. (Oh no, tsks the deputy mayor, “Children have been held in bunkers.”) This is a great program. Our…
… you know, those old-timey tech books that covered everything from steam-engine design to kiln building to embalming? You’ll be happy to know they’re back. Most of them, anyway. JW writes to say that Lindsay’s — which went OOB a while back — was purchased and its products are now available via Your Old Time Bookstore. So should you ever need to hand-craft a coffin or should you want to get your son (or daughter) a copy of Electrical Things Boys Like to Make! (complete with exclamation point), you can do it once again. NFI on my part. But I…
Well, not quite the latest. I took this photo of Sweetie, her brother Nigel, and Mike (one of her humans) in July when they were passing through my area at the start of a vacation. In this summer’s chaos, I neglected to post it. It’s not a great pic of Sweetie. She was pretty wired by the presence of several other dogs she wanted to get a piece of. But I can report that — despite the fact that she alternates between being called Sweetie and Devil Dog — the poor deaf/heartworm positive/unpredictable/rejected heeler that you guys helped so generously…
I don’t have to tell you that this isn’t the sort of “roundup” where you get to go, “Yipee-i-o-kyaaay!” It’s the sort where you go, “OMG, what will learn next about these creeping, peeping totalitarians?” Some of the newest nooz: Got a smartphone? NSA can get your data. Not yet a mega-scooping data project; they have to really want your particular data to get it. Mega-scooping? That comes next year, no doubt. And when it comes it’ll be with the help of “Mr. Civil Rights” Obama himself. Seems two years ago the secret court, responding to a secret request, made…
Alas (but no surprise), the rumor that’s been buzzing around the ‘Net ever since Edward Snowden’s NSA documents began their slow leak has turned out to be true. The NSA has cracked the encryption on which the Internet thrives. All those assurances from our banks, insurance companies, doctors, credit card companies, etc. that our data is safe and secure? Blooey. Maybe “cracking” isn’t quite the right term. Apparently, they haven’t really gotten any great master key. Not even to one form of encryption (and there are many forms). This isn’t Bletchley Park and the Enigma machine. Nothing so grand. Simply…
I’m lucky enough to have several friends who keep bees. At one apiary, they strive each year to come up with a clever label. In 2012 (which, as you recall, was the year the world ended), they had the Bee of Doom descending: But this year they outdid themselves. Their most productive hive was also the most protective hive. Although the humans eventually “won” and took the honey, the bees put up a battle worthy of … well, see for yourself: Note the extra “stingers” on those bees. —– I’ve blurred the name and location of their apiary for privacy…
The town of Deer Trail, Colorado, has already received requests (and checks) for 983 drone-hunting licenses — despite not yet having passed a license ordinance. Actually, they’ve gotten more than 983. That’s just where the town clerk stopped counting a couple weeks back.
… even when genetics and circumstances conspire against you. Iligitimi non carborundum. Oh yeah, the happy-science article forgot to mention cute dog videos. Even when they’re just commercials, they’re right up there with cute cat pix as mood lifters. —– BTW, you can get the cool led-light collars (and leashes) on Amazon. I didn’t intend this post to be a promotional, but what the heck. My Amazon sales are down a little and if you don’t want any buckets of wheat berries, Israeli bandages (a perennially popular Amazon item hereabouts), survival knives or gourmet coffee, maybe some dress-up for your…
It’s gotten easier and easier to become a “terrorist” in the government’s eyes. Buy too many MREs. Join a Tea Party group. Get the same tattoo that your friends have. Talk too much about religion or the Constitution … all of that — and more! — puts you in the “if some jerk sees something, s/he’s supposed to say something (about YOU!)” category. But frankly, people, some of you are just too lazy. Too lazy or too blandly innocuous even to qualify as a terrorist suspect by those lax standards. All your friends are making their way onto “lists” or…