Security Theater of the Absurd: petitioners want to have CopBlock declared a terrorist group. Why “everybody” is moving to Texas. The reasons given are as facile as the assumption in the title, so apply grains of salt. But other state governments could learn some lessons from Texas — not that they would. So, John Tamny, how do you propose to make that last paragraph of yours a reality? In falling empires, and overripe civilizations everything becomes political. Who (or what) killed adulthood? This article is mostly by and for young women, but the phenomenon it describes is too real for…
8 CommentsMonth: September 2014
More non-nooz, well mostly non-nooz … “Why Liberals Love the Disease Theory of Addiction by a Liberal Who Hates It.” First great reason I’ve seen to consider a smart phone: The iPhone 6 locks out the NSA. And look how upset it’s got some lawbreaking authoritarians! The FBI director seems to think that, historically, it’s been okay for the feds to snoop randomly on everybody and verboten for us to have secrets from them. Apparently that’s what it means to be a “country of laws.” While this article asks the irrelevant-to-most-of-us question of why billionaires get depressed, the solution it…
8 Comments… and how human error begets automation, which in turn increases human error. One of the most harrowing things you’ll ever read.
7 CommentsI woke at 4:00 the last two mornings with the words “Meglin Kiddies, Meglin Kiddies, Meglin Kiddies” repeating in my sleepy brain.
The thought is urgent enough to end my night, feeling there’s something I must do or some revelation I’m about to have. But nothing ever forms beyond those words. What’s so urgent, I don’t get to find out.
The Meglin Kiddies, as almost nobody knows, were a singing, dancing, acting Hollywood troupe from whence sprung the likes of Shirley Temple, Mickey Rooney, and Judy Garland.
I’d have never heard of them except that when I was a very young woman I knew a much older man who claimed to have been one of them.
11 CommentsWell now, this is encouraging. Teenagers commit civil disobedience to protest a proposed new history curriculum that would de-emphasize strife and civil disobedience: Hundreds of students walked out of classrooms around suburban Denver on Tuesday in protest over a conservative-led school board proposal to focus history education on topics that promote citizenship, patriotism and respect for authority, in a show of civil disobedience that the new standards would aim to downplay. Yeah, yeah, I know that school curricula have always been political playthings. I came through prison school in one of those “shut up and obey” eras. Learning only the…
9 CommentsYa know, takes a lot longer to come up with a links dump of good, useful stuff than collect a bunch of interesting nooz. But we try, we try. Free will. Not just an illusion any more. You already knew that, didn’t you? “Sit less, live longer.” And it’s not even about exercise, just about not sitting. The countries with the highest levels of well-being. Why Richard Branson is giving employees the freedom to take unlimited leave. I owe someone a hat tip for this, but pardon me I’ve lost track of whom. How not to be ignorant about the…
10 CommentsOkay, with me deadlining, let’s let Vin Suprynowicz continue to carry some weight around here. (Seriously, it’s good to see him back so strong after a few quiet years.) As Bear pointed out in comments yesterday, Vin’s got a new novel coming out soon and is running excerpts on his blog. Here’s the first excerpt. Two others are already up. Look in the archives under “books.” It’s very cool so far. Kind of a DaVinci Code vibe around a biblical mystery and a seller of rare books. I love that stuff.
1 CommentYeah. That tree.
Well, the tree and the incompetents who built the former porch (now entryway and sleeping nook) on this house.
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31 CommentsI’m deadlining this week and also dealing with the aftermath of my crushed roof, so posting may (or maybe not; we’ll see how it goes) be light. But here’s some good reading. This summer (and now, this fall) Vin Suprynowicz has been running a long series on what happened (and may yet happen) at the Bundy ranch. His first episode (1 of 6) is here. His latest (5 of 6) is here. I don’t see a good chain of links between them, but you can find them by searching one of the archive categories they appear in, like private property.…
3 CommentsWouldn’t you just know it? Wouldn’t you just? As soon as domestic drones even start looking like they could be a nuisance, somebody comes up with this: Drone Shield. Yes, indeedy, you to can keep the paparazzi and other airborne vermin away. Fancy that! But look who all is in the list of potential clients — a veritable roster of the crony capitalist police state. Pity. (H/T MJR.) —– People laughed earlier this summer when big-time columnist Maureen Dowd tried her first cannabis, did it unwisely, and wrote about feeling like she was dying. They thought she was making a…
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