- They shouldn’t have euthanized the alligator. Should have given him a medal.
- No, Colbert. The problem isn’t that you don’t have to show ID to buy ammo. The problem is that you do have to show it to buy Sudafed. This is how tyranny creeps its creepy little way into our heads.
- Barack Obama … um created Donald Trump.
- Two good ones from TZP: Bear Bussjaeger’s “Speaking Ill of the Dead” and William Lehman’s guest commentary, “Controlled Violence, or Pistols and Other Things that Go Boom”. Subscribers to TZP alerts got an early look at both of these.
- Guess you have to consider the source; she was his ex-wife for a reason. But I thought Mary Weiland’s plea not to glorify her ex’s death was both unusual and eloquent.
- New York begins to crack down on resisters of the so-called SAFE Act. And where did they get those 4473s, anyhow?
- Be happier without F*c*b**k.
When I heard about that burglar, I immediately wondered if he had a little help from an irate homeowner. Who needs a shovel when you have a gator to blame it on?
Never had Face Book, never will. Nor Twitter.
And I do not text.
Old fashioned, I reckon.
Bob
III
I like Twitter much more than FB. I follow interesting people/groups on Twitter so my feed is full of things I want to read. On FB I follow relatives, old school friends, current friends and for the most part all they post are meme pictures without an original thought among them.
I can see how Facebook could be a bad thing (addiction to anything would be), but after my 24 year-old daughter’s recent death it sure did help me in so many ways. It provided me with a community that is too lacking in real life. And, the reality is, without it I wouldn’t be “out there” making real life connections that I somehow avoid due to the internet- I would just be more isolated like I have been most of my life, but without a decent place to get into nature. And without a “neutral zone” to flee to for karaoke.
What Bear said.
As to FB, I don’t have an account, although I am considering creating one. I have no interest in posting about my daily doings or reading about others’, but an awful lot of people communicate that way and most organizations I belong to have FB pages which I can’t access. And, perhaps most annoying, there are a lot of websites (newspapers seem to be the worst offenders) which won’t allow you to comment unless you log in through Facebook. I’m almost to the point of succumbing to the inevitable and creating a page. Almost.
“won’t allow you to comment unless you log in through Facebook.”
I’m noticing this more and more also. To each his own, of course, where FB is concerned. But for me that’s one more reason stay away. FB seems to be becoming the freaking Borg.
Kent — I’m glad people on FB helped you. I can’t imagine what it’s like to lose a child, and I know this time of year makes it especially hard.
Yes, it’s the addiction that’s the problem. And the increasing Borgishness. But I know FB has its uses.
I tried FB for about a year. I finally bailed because it was a time-waster, the dialog was a lower level than is available on most ordinary forums, and worst of all, I despised the user interface. Never could figure out how to use it competently, and when I would finally figure out one item, they would change it a week later. Frustrating as hell. I suppose age is part of the problem, but I have always been hostile to the notion of “improving” a user interface that a whole world of users has already gotten proficient in. All that effort wasted! Drives me nuts.
Forums and blogs make sense to me. It is possible to know the entire user interface in short order, and it almost never changes. The content is what is important; the interface is just a means to an end.
I have appreciated Facebook connections with family and friends, besides which (I tell myself that) I follow Facebook for the same reason that I used to read so much of the printed media, simply to sort out the direction in which the herd would stampede.
Readers here know the Facebook dangers, and I suppose I won’t use Facebook forever.
I’ve been vaguely following start up Facebook alternatives for years, and they some of them have their good points, it appears from a distance. For examples: Diaspora* – https://diasporafoundation.org/, and Ello – https://ello.co/wtf/about/what-is-ello/.
But what Facebook offers is connection with so many. And how any alternative will ever be able to attract Facebook-like numbers of participants is beyond me. The creation of a rational society seems more likely.
But that I can’t yet see how it will happen doesn’t mean that it won’t.
On AR15.com they have this as the answer to your question:
Closed gun shop records
“Update post from the guy whose pump action gun the New York State Police demanded to see to determine if they could charge someone with a safe act violation after they got all the 4473 of a closed gun shop and combed through them fishing for safe act violations”
You gotta wonder how many records they could get from closed gun shops compared with the actual number of people who own the “forbidden” weapons. Really sounds like a desperation move on the NY gov’s part. I’m just sorry it’s likely to end up snaring a few harmless people.
I created a “facebook” account a year or so ago because my family, including all the grandchildren, had accounts and I got the message that if I wanted to talk to them, facebook was where it would happen. I can’t really hear much on the telephone, and they would not even write emails, so I figured I’d try.
None of them, not so much as ONCE, entered into any kind of dialog with me. They all posted their “status” with tidbits from their lives, and sent me endless invitations to this game or other… but no conversations at all.
I pulled the plug long ago and wouldn’t consider going back. If they want to talk to me, they know where I am… My sister is the only one who will answer email, and that only occasionally. She almost never initiates it. Really sad.
There aren’t too many “good” gators; nice to hear about one.
I also found the do not glorify article touching. It reminds me that Joe DiMaggio’s son didn’t go to his funeral.
The NY story is quite scary. Just seems like a freight train coming closer and closer, as we all know.
Never been on Facebook and never twitted, but I don’t have a smartphone yet either.
OT: One happy donkey. http://videowall.accuweather.com/detail/videos/trending-now/video/4649956546001/donkey-smiles-after-dramatic-rescue-from-floodwaters?autoStart=true