Swarms of tabs are buzzing ’round my head again. Some contain news that fills me with such loathing I can’t decide whether to blog about it or run for cover. I’ll avoid the most loathsome for now and merely blog the good, the bad, the indifferent, and the funny to clear my browser and my head. The NSA disguised itself as Google to enable even more spying. Part of me says this is bad in the same sense that the CIA’s longstanding practice of disguising its agents as journalists is bad (for the health of actual journalists). Part of me…
10 CommentsLiving Freedom Posts
Thinking of you good folks who are in that part of northern Colorado. Absolutely surreal. And I know that one reader who was badly affected by Hurricane Sandy also just lost part of his New Jersey childhood. And a lot of businesses that got hurt by Sandy just got hurt again. Take care out there, guys …
10 CommentsSince we haven’t done a Friday freedom question for a while, and since today is one of those Infamous Fridays — the thirteenth: What’s the best thing (or things) you can think of today that would cause some well-deserved bad luck to the Stasi or their pals, agents, and enablers who are ignoring the Bill of Rights and stealing our freedom? This could be something real and practical (therefore publically non-incriminating, please) or highly theoretical (therefore any fantasy scenario Hollywood could dream up).
11 CommentsLoving a bad dog. (Oh yeah. Been there …) News of the weird. Shelley’s Ozymandias. Um … with socks. Wall Street deals in physical commodities. Commodities producers operate hedge funds and sell derivitives. And there, and there, and there go the trillions. I really like Ricky Gervais and I want to see this. For anybody who still doubts that Edward Snowden did the right thing. Won’t get anywhere. Not enough. But the Surveillance State Repeal Act is a start. Yes, we already know that the fedgov is run not merely by narcissists but by full-blown sociopaths. Still, this Salon piece…
5 CommentsNice message you sent the antis. And nice job making Bloomy waste a few more bux.
15 CommentsApple unveiled its new iPhones yesterday. Their main new feature is that they give the NSA the chance to get your fingerprint, along with everything else. But! Not! To worry! They’ll only get your fingerprint “securely.” Because these phones are secure-secure-secure. (H/T O) Bravo, Paul Bonneau: “An appeal to NSA engineers.” L.A. sent this article along with the comment that if you have to get government permission to build a doomsday bunker, perhaps you’re in the wrong location for riding doomsday out. (Oh no, tsks the deputy mayor, “Children have been held in bunkers.”) This is a great program. Our…
8 Comments… you know, those old-timey tech books that covered everything from steam-engine design to kiln building to embalming? You’ll be happy to know they’re back. Most of them, anyway. JW writes to say that Lindsay’s — which went OOB a while back — was purchased and its products are now available via Your Old Time Bookstore. So should you ever need to hand-craft a coffin or should you want to get your son (or daughter) a copy of Electrical Things Boys Like to Make! (complete with exclamation point), you can do it once again. NFI on my part. But I…
13 CommentsWell, not quite the latest. I took this photo of Sweetie, her brother Nigel, and Mike (one of her humans) in July when they were passing through my area at the start of a vacation. In this summer’s chaos, I neglected to post it. It’s not a great pic of Sweetie. She was pretty wired by the presence of several other dogs she wanted to get a piece of. But I can report that — despite the fact that she alternates between being called Sweetie and Devil Dog — the poor deaf/heartworm positive/unpredictable/rejected heeler that you guys helped so generously…
7 CommentsI don’t have to tell you that this isn’t the sort of “roundup” where you get to go, “Yipee-i-o-kyaaay!” It’s the sort where you go, “OMG, what will learn next about these creeping, peeping totalitarians?” Some of the newest nooz: Got a smartphone? NSA can get your data. Not yet a mega-scooping data project; they have to really want your particular data to get it. Mega-scooping? That comes next year, no doubt. And when it comes it’ll be with the help of “Mr. Civil Rights” Obama himself. Seems two years ago the secret court, responding to a secret request, made…
15 CommentsAlas (but no surprise), the rumor that’s been buzzing around the ‘Net ever since Edward Snowden’s NSA documents began their slow leak has turned out to be true. The NSA has cracked the encryption on which the Internet thrives. All those assurances from our banks, insurance companies, doctors, credit card companies, etc. that our data is safe and secure? Blooey. Maybe “cracking” isn’t quite the right term. Apparently, they haven’t really gotten any great master key. Not even to one form of encryption (and there are many forms). This isn’t Bletchley Park and the Enigma machine. Nothing so grand. Simply…
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