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Living Freedom Posts

Funny thing about expectations

I never could draw. I took illustration classes for a while. Long, long time ago. Among students who hoped to become professional illustrators and other students who had no hope, I was in between. Some things I could do well. I always had a decent sense of color and design. But drawing? Meh. I’d observe the elegance of line, the flair, the ease, the confidence and powers of observation of the best students in the class and want to curl up in a little ball. Oddly, there was one type of sketching at which I excelled. In figure drawing class,…

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“The world will be saved by beauty”

Ed. note: It appears that the blogosaurus I’ve been trying to work on is simply not going to come together. At least not any time before the heat death of the universe. Because the subject will not leave my mind and because I think I’m onto something even if I can’t express that something without coming across as a total moonbat, I’m going to dump its raw material (and its few completed bits) on you. Perhaps the standard Wise and Insightful Commentariat Discussion will bring the order and sense to it that I could not. Here goes: —– The link…

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Saturday links

  • You may have heard about the Garadget flap, in which a petulant CEO “bricked” a complaining customer’s app. The key line from this article: “… when a device gets connected to the internet—whether it’s a cellphone, a thermostat, or a tea kettle—it’s no longer yours.”
  • And given the way the ‘Net is going, this might be good news to some of you old hands and privacy buffs: a 1986 BBS is back online.
  • This real-life heist has the makings of a movie. Except that Cary Grant’s dead and Sean Connery’s too old. Maybe one of the Ryans — Reynolds or Gosling — could handle the role of the suave criminal mastermind. Great mystery carried out in a rarified intellectual world. 6 Comments
  • Stormy weather

    I’m working on one of those blogosaurus posts that takes its own time lumbering into existence. Patience. Meanwhile, in a winter (yes, it’s still winter; I don’t care what the calendar says) of pure crap, we’re now hunkered down under high wind warnings, expecting an unprecedented storm. Or at least expected the strongest April storm in half a century. Possibly the strongest storm of the season. Usually by this time of the year the worst is over and all we face is three more months of boringly chilly drizzle before summer meanders in long about mid-July. Early this season a…

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    Mary: Unfinished

    “Mary: Unfinished.” Acrylic on Gessobord, 8×10″. The picture is unfinished. I still need to rework the dark side of her face. UPDATE 4/7: I’ve now corrected and finished the dark half of her face. But “Mary: Unfinished” is still the title. (Here’s the originally posted version for comparison. The new one is more correct; I find the earlier version more interesting, though.) My original concept was an impoverished, weary, disappointed Mary (yes, perhaps that Mary). The backstory is that a more prosperous, light-hearted friend has tried to cheer her up by loaning her a bright, beaded collar and letting her…

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    Midweek links

  • This year is the 100th anniversary of Woodrow Wilson leading the U.S. into World War I. Jim Bovard notes the long chain of disasters that followed (and is following still). Did the war “make the world safe for democracy”?
  • What’s the best type of generator for you? Portable? Or stand-by type? The Family Handyman discusses the difference to help you choose. OTOH, you could always just convert your lawn mower into a generator. Or your bike. (H/T MJ) 2 Comments
  • Damn

    I wandered about town yesterday paying bills. Thanks to property taxes, doctor bills and such, I spent in one day more than double what I spent in March’s entire Month of Frugality. But thanks to a friendly conspiracy of blog readers and mysterious others, I’m still staying ahead on everything and even gathering money for summer’s icon-painting class. During my stop at the lumberyard (where I am a seasonal regular and where one of the managers is the great grandson of the incompetent drunken bootlegger and fugitive from federal “justice” who built my house), the guys informed me that Handyman…

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    Tuesday links

  • Will Obamacare really require Dominos Pizza franchises to post calorie counts for 34 million potential variations of pizza? Kevin D. Williamson examines the profit-killing absurdities.
  • Yet another court justifies yet another literally unwarranted shooting-by-cop. Hershel Smith turns up the outrage.
  • More on Tim Berners-Lee’s plan to re-create his monster creation, the worldwide web. He wants to return its power to the people. 5 Comments