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Category: Money

Posts about being frugal, getting out of debt, staying out of debt, spending practically and splurging joyfully. This category may also contain posts about hard money and what the government is doing to all that “soft money” it creates.

Midweek links

Published December 21, 2016 6:54 am by Claire
  • You thought Sen. Joe Manchin was a traitor because he wants the feds to have power to prevent all gun transfers? So did I. But fact is, the man is too stupid to be a traitor.
  • That photographer in Turkey who captured the murder of the Russian ambassador was amazingly brave, dedicated, and good at his job. You can debate whether the photos were in good taste, but you can’t deny his sheer guts.
  • From Dana in comments: the story of Pinchas Rosenbaum, who disguised himself as a Nazi to save Jews in Hungary.
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    • Sigh. Old Blue and me.

    Published December 6, 2016 5:02 pm by Claire

    Old Blue (aka 1993 Geo Prizm LSi, aka Toyota Corolla disguised as a Chevy) is mechanically about the best $700 car anybody could want. It starts on the first crank every time, all the time, and gets me where I need to go as long as that doesn’t involve freeway speeds. But beyond its solid gold engine performance, it’s … well, more than a bit funky. I long ago gave up trying to keep the radio tuned in to any actual station (a pebble in the road can bump me from NPR to Mexican tubas to metal to country twang).…

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    Weekend links

    Published December 3, 2016 12:27 pm by Claire
  • Uber is now tracking customers after they’ve closed its app. But not to worry; it’s for your own good. (Close app, turn off phone, remove battery — if your battery is still a removable one.) (H/T MJR)
  • Can’t afford to rent your very own malicious botnet (per last links)? Well, there’s always this $50 USB killer. It’s not perfect; but for mere couch-cushion change, what do you expect?
  • It’s truly a human tragedy that this type of humane research on psychoactive drugs has been curtailed for so many decades. Thanks, War on Drugs.
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    • Tuesday links

    Published November 29, 2016 11:51 am by Claire
  • Well, here’s a big suprise. The (former) records supervisor for the Albuquerque cops has filed an affidavit stating that the notoriously violent and corrupt police department routinely altered or deleted videos of them shooting people.
  • Kit Perez on the laziness of digital self-surveillance by freedomistas.
  • They haven’t reached wheelbarrow stage yet, but Venezuelans now can’t carry their inflated currency in ordinary wallets.
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    • Weekend links

    Published November 26, 2016 8:46 am by Claire
  • Lots of media outlets are reporting on Jill Stein’s efforts to get recounts in the three “Hillary firewall” states that Trump won. How come so few are reporting on Stein’s comically scammish and ever-escalating claims about the amount of money she needs?
  • The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports on censorship in social media (.pdf). (Very readable report, too.)
  • Where is Julian Assange and what has happened to Wikileaks?
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