… wait ’til you see SWORD, the weapon-detecting smartphone case, currently available in vaporware. According to its maker’s claims (and we can assume “claims” is the operative word, thank heaven), the SWORD allows its holder to scan a person from up to 40 meters away to detect the presence of a hidden weapon. Not only that, it recognizes faces and compares them against a “watch list.” Apparently if it detects both weapon and facial threat it alerts a “security officer.” No word on whether a mere weapon or mere facial threat alone is sufficient to bring chaos down upon the…
15 CommentsMonth: June 2018
Another good day’s work for The Wandering Monk and me … The Monk was embarrassed that it took us 5-1/2 hours to create this simple-seeming frame for the porch cover. But doing so involved a lot of tricky decisions. We had to work around weird roof lines and Ye Olde Wreck’s general oddities. Two of our hours were occupied thinking out the technical problems and putting up a rough proof-of-concept version before heading to the lumberyard for final supplies. We’ve done an amazing job salvaging materials on this and the earlier deck project. By the time we’re done with the…
8 CommentsAnd family. And neighbors. You know how it goes: You gently nudge acquaintances into prepping, and they (all too often) respond, “Haha, if anything happens, I’ll just come to your house.” Worse, they mean it. Kit Perez writes about this infamous problem at the new American Partisan blog. She examines various possibilities, many of which may have crossed our own minds. So, while it’s a little early for a Friday Freedom Question, here are two: 1. What do you say when people respond to you with this wildly unoriginal “joke”? 2. And what would you do if they really did…
17 CommentsShe posts: As you may have already noticed, Nathan Barton has taken over publishing The Price of Liberty. He has been my faithful friend, critic and moral support over at least the last 20 years, and I couldn’t say enough about that if I wrote for a week. I won’t be involved any more because I am dying of an aggressive cancer and have little idea how much time I have left. I am blessed with a wonderful family and many good neighbors and friends, so will not be alone or lonesome in that process. Please give her your good-byes…
36 CommentsThe Wandering Monk and I began the front porch project yesterday. It was a day of breaking old concrete (him), wheeling concrete slabs and bricks uphill (me), wheeling cartloads of dirt downhill (us), and generally sweating in the sun. Our progress was satisfying, though nothing for the world to admire (so far). As usual with projects on Ye Olde Wreck, though, we’ve “come a long way, baby” from that day, just over five years ago, when fools rushed in and I bought this place. Here’s what the front entrance looked like in May 2013. The overview: The lovely details: Within…
6 CommentsThis question arose after discussion with a long-time reader. I think he and I will end up agreeing to disagree. What do you think? I hope you’ll also elaborate on your reasons in the comment section. UPDATE: I have simplified the language of the first two questions. One person said the original wording* was biased and editorializing. I suspect another might say the same, but in the opposite direction. So I stripped the wording down to bare essentials. If anyone wants to change their original answer because they believe my original wording nudged them in one direction or another, I’ll…
29 CommentsYesterday afternoon The Wandering Monk and I scoped out the next step of the summer projects, a small porch. The front door is on the weather side of the house. So part of the plan is for a simple, transparent cover to keep rain off the Mormon missionaries and out of the house. I wanted 1/4-inch plexiglas, but reality disabused me of that fancy notion. We decided on corrugated fiberglass/acrylic. This morning I was on my way to the lumberyard to see what they had when … yard sale! Yup. Garage sale-fu strikes again. Never before in my life have…
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