What with all the household construction and attendant crowding and clutter, I didn’t put up a tree last year and came pretty close again this year. But over the weekend I got motivated. Even if it is crammed into a nook that’s also used for tool storage, art table, over-wintering succulent plants, construction materials, and the cat’s bathroom, it still brightens the house. For most of my life I was adamant about having a real tree — preferably one I cut down myself. I was such a live-tree snob I wouldn’t even speak the words “artificial Christmas tree.” Instead, I’d…
14 CommentsLiving Freedom Posts
I get asked “that question” several times a year: “Is it time yet?” My standard answer is some variation on, “Morally, it’s past time to shoot the bastards, but the result would be catastrophic, not only for the shooters but for all gun owners and all freedomistas.” Yesterday reader TW sent a link to an article that aims for a more sophisticated answer. As TW noted, “It’s also unusually thoughtful for Reason. I guess unusual thoughtfulness happens when you farm out work to a Georgetown prof.” The professor in question, Jason Brennan, teaches ethics, economics, and public policy. And for…
10 CommentsI inspected my Netflix DVD queue. Just nineteen discs, and nearly half of those were parts of series. Not one of them looked all that fabulous. The saved queue, movies not yet available on DVD, was more dismal yet. Until a few weeks ago, the saved queue had contained lots of great classic films and intriguing indies, but after years of watching their release dates remain unknown, I purged them. What was left engendered a deep, sinking MEH. I love movies. I love Netflix. Netflix is a great service at a great price. But what it’s serving has less and…
22 CommentsMaybe you knew all about this, since Trump issued the proclamation last Saturday. But none of my newsfeeds informed me. Only when I stopped at the post office a few minutes ago did I get the memo. They’re going to be closed tomorrow (in the midst of the Christmas mailing crunch) and they ask us all to join them in a day of mourning for Bush the First. Yeah, I’ll just bet those employees who get a surprise day off with pay will spend all day keening in grief and wearing sackcloth and ashes. Suuuure they will. Looks like this…
20 CommentsIt’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…
11 CommentsNeighbor 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…
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