Because, you know, “survival-types aren’t known for being the most socially suave category of people…”

(Tip o’ hat to C^2)

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• Dan Brown’s got a new potboiler coming out. I like Dan Brown. I wish I could boil the pot like he does. Critics disagree. One says so in a familiar voice. :-)
• Almost a neighbor. Glad he’s not quite.
• Yet another judge fails to grasp the Fourth Amendment. (H/T JJ)
• Travis (TJIC) Corcoran’s upcoming novel sounds intriguing. I’d think so even if he didn’t take my name in vain in his trendy self-interview thingie.
• The Escherian stairwell ;-)
• Okay, so we’ve all heard about how the IRS illegally targeted tea party and related groups around the 2012 election. And they are so very, very sorry. And we’ve heard how they were actually targeting them for much longer than they originally admitted. And it’s no big news because the IRS has been a political tool since it was only the irs and hadn’t earned its capital letters yet, so you have to wonder what everyone’s getting so flapped about. What’s really mindboggling is that any reporter or editor could quote this with a straight face: “…the practice was initiated by low-level workers in Cincinnati and was not motivated by political bias.” Wow. Orwell! Thou should’st be living at this hour.
  
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I was working on this really, you know, weighty and probably even profound blog post about expectations vs reality. Specifically school vs reality and the way things that we’re taught are really, really vitally important … aren’t.

But forget that. That thought didn’t gel. Or hasn’t yet.

While researching, however, I found this take on expectations vs reality. Different. :-)

A tasty (well, I wouldn’t actually count on that …) sample from that link:

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If Sin City had been made in Canada (NB, some NSFW language):

Source for those who can’t see the embed.

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• Strange bedfellows. But I’d be willing to commit a whole lot of unnatural acts with the ACLU as long as they’re on our side on guns and databases.
• Great idea for great activists. And great use of the power of social media. Sure, the thugs could rip the bracelet off, but surely this would give them pause.
• Maybe you have to know the people and place involved, but I think this video from Joel and Friends is a screaming hoot.
• Let’s just say you had one of these. But in semi-auto. With quite a few extras. (Here’s a more thorough description.) And you wanted to sell it — legally but preferably privately. And unfortunately most of the people in your area were either a) broke or b) bolt-action hunting rifle kinda guys. How would you go about it?
• The “nuclear option” for Facebook privacy. Well, not really. The real nuclear option for Facebook privacy is (as many here know) avoid Facebook. But if you want to log in so you can do things like “like” Ragnar’s Freedom Outlaw page, then the above is the lower-megaton nuke option.

Speaking of the Freedom Outlaw page, I stole this typical bit of wonderfulness from it. Can’t know whether it’s truth or legend, but it could be truth, with the right pack of daring young men. So enjoy. And yeah … “Go, Aussies!”:

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Good news and think pieces only today.

• How mindfulness (aka meditation) might improve brain power. (H/T. JB)
• Young goldendoodle saves pregnant woman and her unborn baby. (H/T ML) Also, while this “news” isn’t new, it’s a nice v*te of confidence for bully breed dogs. (One of my neighbors has the most gorgeous, most sweet pit bull/American bulldog mix — aka aka Bullypit or Colorado bulldog. I could fall in love.)
• “Why I’m getting rid of most of my stuff.” By the inimitable (and slightly crazy) James Altucher. (I can identify. I’ve been in an accumulating mode since buying this house; after a couple of years of that, I find myself wanting to “travel light” again.)
• Since we’ve given dogs their due, here’s one for you cat people. And Ayn Rand fans. (Tip o’ hat to CB.)
• PBS deigns to interview a maverick free-market economics guys. You know him from the Keynes/Hayek rap videos.
• What you and I have known for years: Cannabis has won the war on drugs. So send the damn troops home, already!

One bit of bad (but not unexpected) news: the great film critic Roger Ebert has died. His love and knowledge of movies enriched the lives of millions of movie fans — and millions of non-fans, for that matter.

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This is a hoot. But with a point.

Source in case the embed doesn’t show.

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Joe Biden confesses: “I’m a moron and a waste of taxpayer dollars!”

(Subhead: Government schools first on the chopping block)

And of course:

Happy April Fools Day!

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