The news is dire, depressing, infuriating, terrifying, ominous, twisted, biased, and generally panic-inducing. As always. Okay, it’s more than usually ominous lately, what with the country rather suddenly being ruled by a coalition of pandering post-Alzheimers proponents of the old order and a whole new class of juvenile Masters of the Universe. The flick-of-a-switch “disappearing” of Parler and our then-present president from the ‘Net finally rattled us in a way that previous censorship, deplatforming, demonetizing, Twitter mobs, and disappearances of lesser ‘Net operations could not. Scary, scary, scary, scary, scary. BUT. Have you noticed that activist ‘Netizens (that good old…
48 CommentsCategory: Computers & Technology
This morning. I hung up from a long phone call with a friend in which we talked (among other security-related issues) about alternative communications for these censorious, tech-whim times. I poured myself a new cup of tea, hit the button to download mail, and in comes a message from another friend with the above subject line: “Communications in the Purge.” The entire (bcc broadcast) message was nothing but alternate email addresses, phone numbers, and physical addresses that could be used to reach him if our tech overlords switch off standard avenues of communication. We’ve gotten so used to the Gods…
35 CommentsStill working on the rumored blog post “In Praise of Men.” I actually began putting words on pixels today, then decided I needed to consult with an actual male person. (Not on how I should write it, but about things going on in his head.) Might be a few days on that, as he currently has a LOT going on in his head. And his time. And every other part of his life. Meanwhile I thought I’d pop in and bitch. Or better yet, give you, my stalwart (and oh-so-patient) readers a chance to bitch. My question is this: Do…
32 CommentsGreetings, readers and friends. I’m back from four glorious days at the shore, where Mother Nature favored the land with near-summerlike weather and I enjoyed walking, snacking, and feeding seagulls on the beach. More perfect weather and a more perfect time you could not imagine. It could only have been improved had I had a doting lover peeling grapes for me as we lounged on the sand. But one can’t have everything, I suppose. —– Anyhow, I didn’t think of computers or political matters for days. It was sublime, but now reality beckons. Home, my next job is setting up…
5 CommentsWe may be an awesome species, but there are moments that make one want to quit the human race. This morning I was YouTubing instructions on how to dance the waltz (don’t ask). At the end of a video that showed no more than the basic 1-2-3-1-2-3 box step, there came a warning: Do not try this without supervision, specialized equipment, and further training. Fortunately there was no caution about the waltz being known to cause cancer in the state of California. But really, people. Really??? —– Back on the good, even grand, side of human nature … The White…
10 CommentsLast Saturday I thought I might gather some links for you. I’d been using the library’s computers all week, but mostly visiting “friendly” sites. I hadn’t done any general surfing. And OMG, when I ventured into the nooz world, I had to flee after a few minutes. The library keeps its computers muted by default, but apparently they have no defenses anywhere. Pop-ups pop, and pop again, sometimes four or five times on a site. Banners wave and zoom and flip and flash, and change color and generally demand more attention than a petulant two-year-old. Videos play by themselves as…
11 CommentsOn Tuesday I arrived at the library to send already-composed emails and make a blog post. The laptop wouldn’t boot. Bear Bussjaeger quickly and correctly diagnosed a hard drive problem; the drive was going south, boot sector first. But the real problem wasn’t a dramatic crash of the hard drive. It was more like a slow leak between my ears. This post is to recount where I went wrong, note the very few things I did right, thank the people who saved my backside, and serve as a cautionary tale for anybody out there who might be stumbling into similar…
10 CommentsYeah. Because nobody needs an AR for personal or home defense. Famous tech institute suppresses student dissent by enforcing non-existent policy. Caught in the act, they then turn around write the restrictive policy after the fact. Cops claim it was okay to murder an innocent man (in a wrong-house raid) because he was an illegal immigrant and therefore had no constitutional rights. Have these guys actually ever read the BoR, and especially its preamble? This Florida orangutan, OTOH, has human rights. (Via Wendy McElroy) The NTSB concludes the Boeing 737-Max wasn’t designed for humans. I consider all airliners (and airports)…
18 CommentsBear Bussjaeger does what he does so well: debunking the latest lies of anti-gunners. This isn’t the way it should be done, and you’ve really gotta laugh at the idea of gigantic coercive monopolies accusing corporations of monopolistic practices (mostly to extort cash out of them). But at least it’s an encouraging sign that the most evil tech giants are finally facing scrutiny. The WaPo op-ed, with its implication that the government should manage every life from cradle to increasingly early grave and that individuals don’t matter, is creepy. But its history of how American medical care came to be…
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