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Month: June 2014

Some thrift-store items are like pound puppies

Published June 20, 2014 5:51 pm by Claire

I know, I know. Don’t remind me. I’m in de-stuffing mode. Just moments ago, it seems, I wrote about how burdened I feel by all my excess stuff — how utterly, urgently, madly desperate I am to rid myself of clutter. Oh, poor, poor, poor pitiful me!

Yes, yes, I know I claim to crave some zen-like purity and simplicity of thought and environment.

Still.

Some thrift-store items truly are like pound puppies, practically whining and giving that big, sad-eye “Oh, please take me home ’cause I need you so badly!” look. To wit:

WaynesTray-01_062014

You have to understand. It’s not the trayness of this tray that made me have to give it a home this afternoon. It’s the story.

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Friday links

Published June 20, 2014 1:07 am by Claire

Bloomberg’s (now-former) head anti-gun honcho blames victim disarmament failures on Obamacare and Edward Snowden. And admits that none of his efforts could have stopped a mass shooting, in any case. It seems that shooting helpless dogs is no longer enough. It’s apparently more good, sadistic fun to cut their throats. Can you even imagine? (Via David Codrea) Ten tricks to make your life better today. (James Altucher does this stuff better than anybody.) “I Love My Guns.” JPFO reprints a “recent classic” from MamaLiberty. Nice going, Susan. Somehow these two go eerily well together. It’s terrifying how much information Google…

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The pleasures of being obsolete and other tiny observations on life, part I

Published June 18, 2014 12:54 pm by Claire

I woke up this morning from a dream in which a friend of mine had won a horse in a drag race and somehow it was my job to transport it home for her. No useful vehicle being available, someone (without asking me) arranged for a semi truck to be delivered for my use the next morning. I kept protesting to anyone who’d listen, “I can’t drive a semi truck! I can’t drive a semi truck! I can’t drive a semi truck!”

Everyone but me seemed to think this was a trivial concern. Quitcher whining; just get in and drive the thing. How hard could it be?

Dream worlds being what they are, even I didn’t consider the greater problem — which was that we were all on one of the Samoan islands and I’d need to drive the semi truck home across the Pacific Ocean.

—–

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Hoarding building materials?

Published June 17, 2014 10:00 am by Claire

Carl-Bear observes what he thinks may be a new trend: stockpiling building materials. He’s not sure whether this is a real thing (your opinions requested). But if it is, he’s pretty sure it’s an ominous one. I was just about to write one of my long, rambly posts about having too much freaking stuff! Among other things, I’m tripping over the boxes of flooring sitting next to the kitchen table. And there’s an old door rescued from a Craftsman house lying smack across the center of the storeroom. The shed in my yard does contain several rolls of tarpaper. Not…

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Monday links

Published June 16, 2014 1:24 am by Claire

Okay — show of hands. How many of you believe the IRS “accidentally” lost two years of Lois Lerner’s emails? Sharyl Attkisson offers a list of very specific questions Congress should be asking. IRS honesty is like NHTSA voluntaryism. Yeah, if the defense did it, people would be going to prison for witness tampering. How widespread is this, anyhow? (H/T S) Oh yeah, Mr. Obama. Homicides committed with firearms are off the charts. Flags, true and false. The latest speech from Mike Vanderboegh.

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Gun fighting getting you down?

Published June 15, 2014 8:49 pm by Claire

The recent wretched run of spree killings and the rising level of well-funded noise from the Bloombergian “Moms” seem to be hitting a lot of gun-rights activists in the heart. Some are sick and tired and fed up. Some, like Weerd Beard, remain more hopeful. For the discouraged, I share some thoughts in this weekend’s JPFO alert. ———– And here are a couple of mood enhancers from JPFO All the JPFO writers now have their own archive pages. The fiery Nicki Kenyon. Ever-alert and thoughtful Kurt Hofmann. Reliable researcher David Codrea. Older voices like L. Neil Smith and the late…

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Computer security and privacy links roundup

Published June 14, 2014 7:51 am by Claire

Been saving these to write some larger think-piece about e-privacy. But not happening, so here you go — the good and bad news about what “they” are doing to you online and on cell. And how some smart people are resisting. Internet biggies adding privacy protections. (Thank you, Edward Snowden.) And speaking of Snowden, he’s joined up with the Reset the Net effort. In case you missed it, NPR’s Steve Henn did an interesting series this week (more here and here) with some jaw-dropping creepiness (with special relevance to smartphone users). Hm. Seems those added privacy protections aren’t doing much…

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Floor Score!

Published June 12, 2014 6:47 pm by Claire

I scored surplus hardwood plank flooring from an out-of-work contractor. This is real, 3/4-inch tongue-and-groove hardwood flooring. Not laminate. Not “engineered” hardwood, but the real deal. Ain’t it pretty? I’ve just laid pieces down on the floor to get an idea of what I might do, so don’t get all bothered yet about things like “wrong” lengths or placement. I’ve got 2.5 boxes of 2-1/4″ width oak, two boxes of 3-1/4″ width oak and just under two boxes of 4″ Lyptus (a hybrid eucalyptus, plantation-grown in Brazil; sustainable and all that). So I have to get a little creative about…

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