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Thursday links

  • Mr Comey: The “adult conversation” you say you want on electronic privacy might go like this: “Leave us alone.”
  • Because we already know what governments do when they think they’re entitled to our most intimate information. (Both links H/T JB)
  • The Patrick Henry Society is back — and with a newly Freedom Outlawish attitude.
  • Hard to tell whether the Barefoot Bandit (soon to get out of prison with big plans and big help ahead) is going to be the Steve Jobs of aviation or is just another hustler who’ll fall on his face and end up in more legal trouble.
  • I’ve been trying to ignore the Colin Kaepernick tempest in a teapot. But I like this — veterans who support his freedom of speech.
  • When gmail first started up, I swore I’d never correspond with anybody who used it because of the snoopery involved. Then half the people I knew jumped in started using it. Sigh. Now a big ditto with Yahoo mail. There’s some sweet revenge, though not much, in exchanging encrypted messages with people on these “services.” I still wish that “free” services that charge such a high price in anti-privacy would go away, though.
  • The “introvert hangover.” Damn, I’ve had dozens of these, sometimes to the point of being as sick as with a real hangover. But it never occurred to me it was an actual thing.
  • Should you happen to care about the fate of Tasmanian Devils (who have been threatened with extinction by a strange face cancer), evolution in action is beginning to protect them.

7 Comments

  1. Kent McManigal
    Kent McManigal September 1, 2016 8:57 am

    “Funny” how those who want to violate others always claim that “rights are not absolute”. The FBI has no right to… well, anything. So it doesn’t matter what my rights may or may not be. I have rights, and the FBI doesn’t. Period. Vermin.

    I recently avoided an introvert hangover by not going to a family reunion, even though I had nothing else to do, and it was held just a few blocks from my home. It was the first reunion since my daughter’s death, and I knew it was a no-win situation for me; either people would come to me and sympathize, or they would avoid mentioning her, and I knew either one would make me miserable. And the reunions are barely tolerable for me in the best of times. So I chose to stay home, and no one really said anything about it.
    Many times, after too much family time, I have to seclude myself for a while. It sometimes offends the offenders, but I don’t make excuses anymore. I just say I need some time to recover. Actually getting the time is another issue.

    I’m glad the Tasmanian Devils have a chance at evolving to survive their cancers. When I first heard about their contagious face cancer, I thought that was probably the end for them.

  2. Tahn
    Tahn September 1, 2016 10:40 am

    I can conceive of giving up my rights to whatever electronic privacy I might have (which is basically none) , when ALL politicians and government officials give up theirs. I believe the offset of no privacy for me (a harmless nobody) would be offset in the liberty gained by the knowledge of what they were up to and communicating behind our backs.

    Of course this is not what they want. They want no privacy for citizens and total privacy for them.

    Thankfully, the Hero’s Snowden and Assange are making this more possible. Good for them.

  3. Ellendra
    Ellendra September 1, 2016 10:46 am

    Here I thought the overwhelmed feeling I got from dealing with people was a sign of borderline ASD.

    I frequently hide away so I can decompress. Most of my family have come to expect it.

  4. Desertrat
    Desertrat September 1, 2016 12:15 pm

    Kaepernick? Nothing wrong with being 180 degrees out of touch with reality. Look at how many of such people win elections.

    The Barefoot Bandit should spend some time at the next Oshkosh EAA fly-in. And consider the efforts of guys like Rutan. So far, sounds like he’s shooting from the lip.

  5. Claire
    Claire September 1, 2016 2:45 pm

    Funny thing, Desertrat, I know of at least one reader of this blog who did go to the Oshkosh show this year (and flies in whenever he can). If he’s not too busy, I expect he might also have some words for the arrogant Mr. Bandit.

    I have a soft spot for Colton Harris-Moore because he did something extremely nice for some extremely nice people (and animals) I know. But he does come across as quite the young jackass, doesn’t he?

  6. jed
    jed September 1, 2016 4:00 pm

    The Bandit is being a bit hard on the aviation industry, and possibly is ill-informed about it too. And when it comes to the bleeding edge, when I’m at 15,000 feet I think I’ll feel more comfortable with the tried’n’true. Possibly, the main reason Cessna still makes the planes they do is because people still buy them. I’m sure that sometimes, companies just don’t want to do some new thing, because getting FAA certification kills the ROI for it. But, as previously mentioned, there’s still a lot of cool stuff happening. I wonder what sort of things he has in mind.

    I wish I had more than 1 Gmail correspondent who will use encryption. That continues to be the rub.

  7. Desertrat
    Desertrat September 1, 2016 10:22 pm

    I’ve had a couple of 172s. Fun critters. Great for sight-seeing and occasional cross-country travel. But for the FAA, I’d have modernized the ignition system for better fuel consumption and a tad more power.

    There was a guy in Pennsylvania who was retailing a 172-type of newly made plane. He claimed that half the purchase cost was the premium for his liability insurance. (About 25 years ago.)

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