Happy Friday the Thirteenth! Here’s one brief example of what SOPA could (and eventually would) do to ordinary Internet users. I think I’d like this poor old fella. For you analytical types: Here’s a survival planning guide that’s based on understanding different types of emergencies. (Tip o’ hat to D.) Claire: a foster Great Dane, then and now.* Some pix are hard to look at, but they get better. (Tip o’ hat to SR.) Today’s hot rumor: Jake MacGregor (The Advisor) may return soon after a too-long hiatus for family and health problems. Hope to have word shortly. —– *…
Category: Books and Movies
J.D. Tuccille’s High Desert Barbecue gets a sterling review from Britain’s Sean Gabb. Well, here’s a cheery thought about the current economic mess. Probably true, too. Encouraging sites to offer PayPal alternatives. Good idea. Be sure to follow the links to the PayPal (or PayPal/fedgov) horror stories. Who knew that SF writer George R.R. Martin is a terrorist? Jim Bovard exposes the post office. News from Dave’s blog: Backwoods Home is now on Kindle. The headline on this one was (of course), “It’s not what it looks like! I can explain!”
I do hope they finish the movie soon and quit teasing us. But judging by the latest trailer and earlier glimpses, I think Silver Circle is going to be a very watchable freedomista action movie.
This ad is in totally terrible bad taste. Which is what makes it so good. Seems this South African chicken restaurant has a history of similar terrible taste. And sometimes nicely pointed satire. A Rearden Steel case??? Please tell me you’re kidding. Kind of a shame that Stratfor feels the need to give such basic advice on situational awareness. And never mentions carrying something much better than a flashlight. (Tip o’ hat to A.) “Bailing out the Titanic with a Thimble.” And an interesting week ahead in Europe, heaven help us all.
Okay, now you’ve read Joel’s review of J.D. Tuccille’s first (and so far only) novel, High Desert Barbecue. My take is pretty much the same as Joel’s. But I do have a few more thoughts that he didn’t manage to pluck from my brain. First, a small, no-spoilers plot summary is in order: The tale: Crusty hermit Rollo is burned out of his squat on federal land. He heads to town to crash with his anarchic, but more civilized, pal Scott — somewhat over the protests of Scott’s girlfriend Lani. What Rollo reports is a shock but somehow not a…
That damned Joel. He’s done it again. He beat me to reviewing J.D. Tuccille’s new novel High Desert Barbecue. He has a habit of doing things like that. Years ago, when The Mental Militia forums were still The Claire Files, I started noticing this person. He went by the handle “John DeWitt” then (an obscure literary reference, I gather). And the thing I noticed about him was this: Every time I felt the urge to make some particularly incisive and witty response to somebody else on the forum, I would scan further down the thread and discover that this “DeWitt”…
One from Jake this week. —– And sorry there hasn’t been more from me! It felt good to take a couple of days off for house projects and artwork. But when I went to return to the real world, my computer had gone all wonky. While I was dealing with that, the main email servers I use went down. Email is back up now. New used ThinkPad is on its way from eBay. And the brain is cranking. More soon …
Sometimes when I write about freeing ourselves rather than joining mass movements or flinging ourselves into political campaigns, somebody will accuse me of being nihilistic or advocating me-me-me values. If you’ve been around long enough, you know that’s not the point. The point is, of course, that true freedom can only arise from within the individual and spread from there. All “political” solutions are just band-aids on a wound if we’re not prepared to live free, to accord equal rights of freedom to our neighbors, and to personally oppose tyranny. Still, it’s understandable that people who’ve always thought of freedom…