This Christmas display is clearly the work of a dedicated nerd. With money to burn. And speaking of nerds (and homeschoolers and the merely educated and curious): Free ebooks! No, not the usual free-for-the-day Kindle special. But astronomy books, math books, physics books, and general science books for many levels of expertise. (H/T H.) Were Tolkein’s hobbits inspired by Kentucky hillbillies? Hm. Not persuaded (particularly since all those hobbity surnames came originally from Tolkein’s own country), but it’s a charming story nevertheless. (Tip o’ hat to A, who probably won’t mind in this case.) The freedomista hydra. Damn, I love…
Category: Privacy and self ownership
Owning our own information and telling Big Brother to get lost
“Acing the background check.” Bazillions for “security,” entourages, cavalcades, vast theaters of protective deception … and they stick Obama 18 inches away from a crazy accused murderer. (If you’re thinking what I think some of you may be thinking, please don’t say it out loud. It wouldn’t have helped a bit.) Tax people for working. Subsidize them for not working. And anybody less “brilliant” than Obama (or any typical congressthing) understands that you turn working poor into non-working poor. Forgive me for not remembering who deserves the hat tip for this, but it’s one of those stories a dog lover…
Just what we need: a drone that hijacks other drones. (H/T MJR) “I love my guns.” MamaLiberty explains. This creepy-wierd logo was all over the Internet last week. I ignored it, figuring it was just some joker’s parody of government spies. But nooooooo. It’s what actual government spies think of themselves … and us. The German’s don’t have a word for it. Yet. But when they do, it’ll be Schottenfreude. 🙂 Long but good. Ryan Lizza of The New Yorker finally addresses the Big Question: Why the fedgov won’t rein in their spy agencies. And of course … dogs to…
Been deadlining this week and it doesn’t stop. Thinking of you all, though. Big Second-Amendment guy, Alan Korwin, is making news with a big First-Amendment case. You can always count on the FBI … to be just 61% accurate in its mass-homicide stats. Heck, they could save taxpayers’ money by using random chance. Oh. Maybe they did. “By threatening their lives as well as their budgets, Obama has created a huge class of losers, who statistically overrun the small class of winners and outweigh them in savvy…” Millennials. Fed up with Obama, Obamacare and government. Nice trend. But some of…
The warm, fuzzy (literally!) face of the police state. (H/T Jim Bovard) China finally going to stop stockpiling US dollars? You already know this, don’t you? Nevertheless, it never hurts to be reminded of the four magic statements to make to the police when you’re stopped and they want to poke around and see what they might be able to pin on you. Mostly for the nerds hereabouts: Rethinking cloud storage (and in particular, rethinking SpiderOak). “Security and privacy: Experts connect the dots as debate rages.” (Tip o’ hat to MJR) Via the Infamous Oregon Law Hobbit: The Skunk Party…
‘Nother reason to eat a nuts-n-berries diet. Or at least nuts, anyhow. Beaver steals gun. Chortle. One more v*te for shutting down Obamacare. This one from cybersecurity mavens. In the meantime, assuming you can buy insurance at all, maybe you can get it for free! It seems that the U.S. is developing a kind of ideal income level where you can a) live reasonably well while b) maximizing your tax-provided benefits. Millions more will surely aim for this welfare-state version of “success.” Cockapoo nation! But some proud traditionalists will not go happily into that EZ future. Anybody could have predicted…
Snooping in Seattle … in the name of providing a “service.” Has the quality of social workers always been this dismal? Fear of terrorism makes people stupid. Sure, we knew that. But check out that stat about the odds of being killed by a terrorist vs a cop! What’s it like being a geek in prison? More and more Americans need to know. Looks as if Catching Fire is going to be as good as the first Hunger Games movie. Interesting, too, how this reviewer automatically uses terms making parallels with today’s USA. From comments: Reader A.G. offers up a…
I’m a few days late finding this, but J.D. Tuccille gives new dimension (and his always cheery Outlaw spirit) to a topic that’s been much discussed in these parts: “Why not opt out of government control?”
Man. Only in a police state does anybody need to publish — or take — advice like this. The Southern Poverty Law Center gets more stupidly weird every year. So when is the MSM going to catch on? From Clark at Popehat: “A Modest Argument About Police Culture Culminating in a Reference to the Hare Psychopathy Checklist.” Chase isn’t the only bank in trouble. How much longer will it be before these “troubles” finally have their natural consequence? (Via S.) Why the Brits (though presumably not the British readers of Living Freedom) love Big Brother. The Obamacare Dozen. That is,…
As mentioned earlier, I’m not holding a fundraiser or hoping for Christmas gifts this year. I do hope you’ll my Amazon links for all your online Christmas shopping. —– Beyond that, I hope you’ll consider sending holiday bounty to EDITED Joel’s Eyeball Fund. Use the bolded link, scroll down, then click the donation button on the right. Our entertaining hermit buddy is managing his glaucoma, but he’s going to need expensive cataract surgery. And right now he can’t even afford his winter’s oatmeal. I’ve removed two other donation recommendations, one because its campaign is over, the other because it has…