July 2016 – Page 2 – Living Freedom

Binoc talk

Published July 21, 2016 1:39 am by Claire

When I first posted about TZP’s newest store item last month, I said the new binoculars offered by The Zelman Partisans were “compact.”

At that point, I’d only seen a photo of them that had nothing in it to indicate scale. I was going by what the bossman, Brad Alpert, told me.

Between then and now I got my own pair. And now I know what “compact” means. When the package arrived, I thought something had to be wrong. The box was no bigger than a double pack of playing cards. A slightly thick pack of cigarettes. How could that be?

But look at this:

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Midweek links

Published July 20, 2016 1:33 pm by Claire

I’m online more than expected this week — coordinating on the website-to-be, thanking wonderful donors, chasing rainbows, keeping ahead of runaway trucks. You know, the usual. So I figure you guys might as well benefit from some extra posting while I’m at it. Three years — or more — for possession of an eeeeevil BB gun? Only in New Jersey. I hope this poor schmuck’s fight goes well. (H/T DB) I’ve always admired Peter Theil. So libertarian. So out-of-the-box. So creatively cheeky. But I didn’t realize he was the founder and chief investor in the ghastly, government-sucking, privacy-raping, Tolkein-savaging Palantir.…

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Robbie came home yesterday

Published July 19, 2016 2:00 pm by Claire

… not in his old familiar bully-boy form, of course. But he’s home. The only other time I had a private cremation (for Jasmine), my dog came home in a plain cardboard box. This time, Robbie arrived in this sweet little tin. An envelope claimed his certificate of cremation was within. Skeptical me figured the pet cemetery was offering confirmation that this little box really did contain the mortal remains of my bully boy. After all, the potential trust issues with cremation are enormous. How do I know this is really Robbie? Not somebody’s cat? Or a mixed-up batch of…

9 Comments

The stars aligning

Published July 19, 2016 1:44 pm by Claire

Um … some of you have noticed my email going haywire in the last 24 hours. Sorry ’bout that. But this bad thing is actually a good thing. It signals that, behind the scenes, where the geeks and gremlins dwell, I (and more importantly, my expert helper, who may prefer to be known as He Who Fakes It Well) am moving toward having a dedicated website for the Living Freedom blog and eventually other features. Do not ask me about technical details of what’s gone wrong. Not if you value your own sanity or mine. Just know that the Internet…

5 Comments

We, the Monkeywrench

Published July 18, 2016 8:37 am by Claire

Today a convention begins in chaos, amid cries of law and order, that classic killer of freedom. Today, the media mourns three blue lives, as if the murder of armed agents of the state is worse than decades of police murders of the less politically protected.

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Thanks will be on their way

Published July 15, 2016 6:55 pm by Claire

I haven’t yet sent personal thanks to everyone who’s contributed to the blog-foundation fundraiser. I’m already deep in your debt and getting deeper. I hope to say better thank yous over the weekend. But for the moment, just know that you great souls are in my thoughts.

A Friday ramble

Published July 15, 2016 1:39 pm by Claire

Well, I don’t know which is more depressing: presidential candidates who’ve never succumbed to any vices or those who have but lie about it. Rigidly straightlaced people rarely make empathetic “leaders.” —– It’s definitely depressing that America’s blood-dancing hoplophobes will still fail to notice a) that it does happen in other countries and b) that an evil guy with an agenda can kill more people with a truck than with a firearm. —– And why do so many people consider it somehow “better” if the Nazgul preserve an appearance of impartiality, even when they clearly have agendas? This is like…

15 Comments

Thursday links

Published July 14, 2016 10:36 am by Claire

Okay, I know we have enough to laugh about with our own politicians. We don’t need to mock furriners, even if they are socialists. But OTOH, the French currently have the biggest elected laugh-riot. Love the Star Wars photo. So last year, scientists figured out that cinnamon might help prevent colo-rectal cancer (if you happen to be mouse). Now they’re saying it improves mousy learning, too. No word yet on how much us humans would have to ingest to get the benefits. (H/T VS) Just ’cause we haven’t heard enough about the national debt lately … If old people should…

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Put the foundation back under this blog

Published July 13, 2016 2:13 am by Claire

It’s time to put the foundation back under the blog. I’d hoped to avoid a fundraiser until the end of the year or early next, but the last couple of months have made me regret for the first time not keeping that post office job my mother thought was so wonderful when I was 19. (“It pays well for a woman,” Mom said. “Secure, too,” she said. “You can retire when you’re 50.”) So here, simply, is the deal: $3,000 keeps the blog going for another year* and not incidentally lets me tackle the earth-moving and wall-building part of the…

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Amazon Prime Day

Published July 12, 2016 10:35 am by Claire

Today is Amazon Prime Day, BTW. Some huge deals today, including up to 60% off on athletic shoes, 25-40% off on some smartphones and smartwatches, up to 40% off on SanDisk products, and other deals on Roombas, toys, and Doom, and an XBox console. Try Prime absolutely free today and get gigantic amounts whacked off the Prime Day specials. Today only, my regular Amazon link will take you directly to a Prime Deals page where you can see what they’re offering. Gigantic. Seriously. It’s like Black Friday, but in the middle of Summer.

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Month: July 2016