I’ve been trying to herd a blogosaurus for the last couple of days, but the darned thing is still roaming wild. So I’m just going to toss out the raw meat for the thing along with a few related thoughts and you guys can take it from there. —– I’m thinking about the importance of community in a world of globalization. Also thinking (related) of the importance of community in a world where “our kind” are not only increasingly sneered at and looked down upon, but excluded from common discourse by Internet Powers That Be. —– Three articles I read…
Category: Rural and small-town living
Life far from freeways, Starbucks, malls, and other benefits/distractions
It’s a good idea to record the serial numbers of your guns in case they’re stolen. One cop shop thinks it’s a good idea for you to store that number in their database. Hahaha. How very droll. (Via Codrea) Before Marriott let 500 million guests’ records slip away, they had a string of other breaches. Their cyber-security team was even hit with malware. They say no man is a hero to his valet. The same probably holds true with presidents and their Secret Service agents. Bush the First may have been a typically awful leader, but you never hear a…
Neighbor J and I trekked to tree-lighting festivities at a coastal port. It was kind of a boring ceremony. Very small-town and mostly for the locals, which we weren’t. But the moment the tree lit up and the fireworks went off was pretty spectacular. I mentioned coastal port specifically, because that “tree” is no tree at all. It’s an artful heap of crab traps, aka crab pots. Decorated with floats, one from each boat in the local fleet. The ceremony may not exactly have been what you’d call impressive (the high school choir that led the caroling — including “Deck…
Hi, guys. I hope you all had (and are having) a wonderful holiday weekend with great food, good company, and minimal stress. Mine’s been nice. Quiet with a combo of idle days, a few industrious hours of DIY on the house, and world-class Thanksgiving leftovers. I expect by tomorrow I’ll be back up to full blogging speed. But for now, I’m still idling about. So to ease gradually back into action, here’s a two-parter I posted four years ago. I recalled this when a member of Claire’s Cabal introduced a topic on memorable travel experiences. This piece involves an encounter…
Stories and photos from a remote, off-grid community in Scotland. There is yet another e-coli outbreak linked to romaine lettuce. The FDA recommends tossing any romaine you might have. (I got this word from MJ yesterday evening … five minutes after finishing a big salad made with guess what? I seem to have survived the experience so far.) How a six-year-old survived being lost in the woods while walking 18 miles toward safety. He’s 39 now and revisits his trek with a writer from Outside. FBI data shows that armed citizens are 94% successful in stopping would-be mass shooters. (Via…
I hit the last garage sale of the season and … … Score! $2 each for five-gallon gas cans. Pre-repaired, besides. Take that, stupid EPA! The linked article by Jeffrey Tucker makes me laugh: The whole trend [toward unvented gas cans] began in (wait for it) California. Regulations began in 2000, with the idea of preventing spillage. The notion spread and was picked up by the EPA, which is always looking for new and innovative ways to spread as much human misery as possible. Of course regulations have been circumvented by polite Freedom Outlaws ever since. And those who don’t…