Are you one of the 100 million iPhone users? One of the 15 million iPad owners? Might want to reconsider. And if you read through to the second half of this FoxNews article — to the part about the handy-dandy police tool, Cellebrite UFED, which is designed to let cops suck up all your cellphone data in minutes, with or without warrant — you might just want to toss your iThing into a swamp and hope a gator swallows it. Is there a technology company left on the planet that has one iota, one smidgen, one molecule of regard for…
25 CommentsLiving Freedom Posts
World ended yesterday. Hm. Didja notice? I didn’t. Well then. Since we still appear to be here: ten everyday acts of resistance that changed the world. Ten incredibly cool homemade toys you could really hurt yourself with. The feds are moving Bradley Manning to Leavenworth. Where he might get slightly better conditions. We can hope. But notice the use of that word “detained.” Is it just me, or are the uses of “detained” getting creepier by the day? Didn’t there used to be a connotation of “slightly inconvenienced, momentarily delayed”? Now it’s getting closer to meaning “disappeared without a trace…
11 CommentsEighteen years after Waco, some Branch Davidians reminisce. (Mainstream but interesting.) Sixteen years after Oklahoma City a fireman explains why he no longer trusts government. (Revisionist and eyewitness.) And in other news … Go ahead. Cuss. It’s good for you. Sitting, OTOH, isn’t. Next time somebody asks for your business card, Officer … (Side note: Do police ever tell the truth about their encounters with wronged “civilians”? Or is it possible that they really believe that any forceful comment or request from one of us is an offense, an affront, and an interference?) That poker bust. A sad waste of…
5 CommentsIt was a time uncannily like this time. A time of rising poverty and unemployment, of a disappearing middle class, and a growing government class. Things were breaking down. The government always had a new “solution” — never mind that solution followed solution and matters got steadily worse. It was a time when the best finally quit pushing against the barriers erected against them and withdrew their talents, a time when the worst prospered through their connections to government. The man on the street, not understanding why life was falling apart around him, shrugged and uttered that ultimate expression of…
15 CommentsI promised a longer review of Atlas Shrugged for this weekend. This isn’t it. Sorry. I was going to write it today. Really I was. Then I woke up at an ungodly hour brimming with energy. Nearly ran up the stairs to the garret, where I mudded, sanded, primed, painted, and painted some more. Midday, I noticed — OMG! — the sun is shining. Actually shining! So I grabbed a cup of tea intending to sit on the back deck throwing a ball for Ava and petting the big dogs. After 10 minutes of sitting, an irresistible urge came on…
3 CommentsJust dragged my butt home from Civilization and said hello to the dogs. I’ll have more over the weekend, but here’s my quick take on Atlas Shrugged, Part I: It’s better than anybody had any reason to expect given its low budget and rushed production. Way better. Yeah, the writing is sometimes clunky and speechifying (though less so than in the novel). Nobody’s going to win any acting Oscars. If you hadn’t read the book, the movie would be hard to follow. That said, though, Atlas does a lot with a little. There’s gorgeous cinematography of trains and the Rearden…
23 CommentsI’m off to see Atlas Shrugged, Part I today! Turns out the nearest theater showing it isn’t quite as far as I first thought. Still, it’s In Civilization several hours from here, so the trek will keep me gone all day. Hope a bunch more of you are able to catch the film today or this weekend. Hope it’s as good as the trailer. In the meantime, on this day that Would Be Tax Day (but isn’t this year because Our Public Servants in DC are taking the day off, exhausted from their Ceaseless Labors Behalf of the Little People),…
9 CommentsI think this is satire. But these days, ya never know. Sometimes it amazes me that the fedgov hasn’t arranged a convenient “accident” or “heart attack” for John Williams to keep him from telling inconvenient truths. Horsefeathers. Provocative horsefeathers, though. The quaintly interesting thing is that the author takes for granted that “government isn’t the problem” and expects readers to share his view — when his own words show otherwise. Okay, we’ve all heard the flap about IKEA. But should we tear our hair over America’s third-world status or cheer along with the politicians for “job creation”? “Is sugar toxic?”…
6 CommentsMy living room doesn’t normally look like this … But I just returned from a moving sale with all this loot: swivel recliner and hassock, seven-foot fiberglass step-ladder with paint shelf, wooden folding table, tin snips, two caulk guns, two rolls of self-adhesive drywall tape (unopened), gas can, large full bottle of Rain-X, super-duper adjustable drywall square, baby gate, two rugs, door mat, four-foot bubble level, never-used handmade afghan, doggie bistro, flexi-leash with scoop bag attachment, 100 feet of nylon rope (unopened), heavy-duty extension cord, hacksaw, etc. etc. etc. Oh yeah, and one beach chair with two attachable umbrellas. Looks…
20 CommentsOnce again, it’s time for that all-important, can’t-miss cultural event of the season: The Washington Post Peeps Diorama Competition. (You will not be surprised at all to learn that two of this year’s featured entries feature TSA “Peeps” shows.)
1 Comment