A time or two I’ve heard about somebody’s suicide and secretly thought they did the right thing, saving themselves or their families years of living hell. Other times, suicide has seemed like a rational, or at least a reasonable, choice after a life well-lived but now winding down. But Robin Williams? Robin Williams??? Of course he had demons. He laid them out before the world. But he also had such energy, empathy, manic joy, delight in a world whose every sound and action seemed to pass through him as if he were a human translator of all things wacky and…
Month: August 2014
Does it strike anybody else that these “enchanted” (or enhanced) versions of everyday objects are mostly annoying, infantilizing, or both? (Do like the luggage tracker, though!) Wow. Lawnorder. Protect and serve. A pair of cop parents collude to kill their daughter’s boyfriend — immediately after meeting him. (H/T MtK) Oh panic! Oh hysteria! Oh, Fox how could such an idiotic article have made it past your BS filters? Somebody, somewhere, sometime might carry a gun into a bank. Which would be deadly! Catastrophic! And cause firefights to mow down innocents! (Never mind that we don’t have a single fact to…
Friend of mine went to his high school reunion this summer. In school he was the uber-geek, the undisputed smartest kid in his class — which you can imagine didn’t sit well with some. Even now you can tell he learned his social graces by dint of hard work, and he’d rather eat worms than suffer fools.
But he’s gone on to be a successful international businessman and he wanted to see how his old friends are faring. He had some good times at the reunion, but was startled — and hurt — that a lot of people treated him just as they had when they were all raw kids. Same jokes. Same attitudes. Same view of him even though he’d changed enormously and led a fascinating life.
Well, maybe that’s just reunions. Some go to see how everyone has grown. Others haven’t grown at all and just want to relive their glory days — glory days in which they felt safely superior to smart but awkward geeks like my friend.
Maybe high schools are just dysfunctional families writ large.
Today totally sucked. Today was totally blessed. That’s not as eloquent as, “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” But that line’s already taken.
Some of what follows is pretty personal. Don’t click on the more link if you hate that stuff.
JPFO is now auctioning off autographed books by Larry Correia and Michael Z. Williamson. The authors kindly donated a limited number of their novels. So go get ’em before they’re gone. Aaron Zelman’s Battle of Athens commemorative shotgun is still up for bids for the next four days, too.
I’m working on a blogosaurus post, which I hope to have within the next few days. Meanwhile, here’s some randomness for you.
But first (and absolutely foremost), many thanks. Your generosity and support have been mind boggling. After the first red-hot week the roof-raising bleg looked as if it was going to stall out.
But nope. Old friends and new have just kept the funds coming. Robbie, Ava, and Kitsu the cat will all thank you for the dryness this winter. And you darned betcha, so will I.
Now, on to randomness, trivia, and the collection and dispersal of linkage …
David Codrea goes digging for the grass roots of the latest “local” anti-gun group … and guess who he finds? Nice detective work, David. (ED NOTE 4/17/17: The original link became obsolete and I substituted a working one at the request of a reader. It reports the same story but does not appear to credit David Codrea.) Salt Lake City police investigate themselves for the slaughter of a dog in its own backyard … and guess what they find? But enough bad news about dogs. Here are a pair of good things. An IKEA store puts life-size cutouts of shelter…
I just came home from morning errands to find my street blocked by serious PUD equipment. Seems they’re doing major electrical work that they neglected to tell anybody about. I have now apparently been “officially” notified that my power will be out most of the day today. Thank heaven I have no deadlines. But I had hoped to catch up on email. I’m seriously overdue with a few people. Sorry, guys; you’ve waited this long and now you’ll have to wait a few hours longer. (And no, I haven’t gotten that generator yet and it’s still going to be a…
It’s a mystery why one person can be poor but still be proud, independent, and reasonably content while the guy next door is only content to slide into a swamp of misery, blame, slovenliness, dependence, and cigarette smoke.
I agree that Alchemist summed things up pretty well by observing, “Poor is a state of finance. Poverty is a state of mind.”
But why?
You see? Government isn’t entirely corrupt and dishonest! (H/T OdS) (And yes, I know my fellow anarchists will chide me about various aspects of this. Nevertheless, it’s funny in a sad sort of way. And that border guard does tell the truth — perhaps even more than he knows.)