So … some uninsured Californians get covered under Obamacare. Whoopee. Months later they’re desperately banging on the doors of free clinics for the uninsured because they can’t get doctors to see them. (How many of us kept shouting, “It’s not about ‘coverage.’ It’s about access to actual care!”)
Wanna see the impact of state sales taxes on business? Check out Amazon’s numbers. (Well, that may help explain why after a strong start to the year, my personal Amazon links are producing spit and bubble gum this month.)
So this is what the ultimate mainstream ‘zine thinks of the Cliven Bundy standoff. Not a word about federal overkill. Not a word about needlessly slaughtered animals. Not a word about why the BLM operates paramilitary forces. Just that the fedgov had better crack down harder lest the peasants (We the Picts) get even more uppity. Yeah, thank you King George III for your advice.
I’ve been trying to find out how many New Yorkers dutifully lined up by yesterday’s deadline to get their yellow Star of David badges “assault weapon” registration forms. New York officials aren’t telling. Unofficial estimates are interesting.
In Seattle (where cops have been under federal scrutiny for being such brutes), apparently police aren’t the only badge-wearing thugs.
My apologies to LarryA for not linking this the other day, but it’s a good one even if I’m late with it. “Women’s intuition” and concealed carry meet a very surprised robber.
One more reason to exercise no matter how old you are: healthier skin.
Man, poor Mark Witaschek can’t catch a break. Just keep repeating to yourself, “This is the freest nation on earth, this is the freest nation on earth, this is …”
I know that the right software and the right settings are key to electronic privacy on computers. But are there some computers (laptops, especially) that are inherently more private and secure due to their hardware?
I always buys used Lenovo laptops. They (and their predecessors from IBM) are the sturdiest beasties in the computer world. Mine have been knocked off tables by rambunctious dogs (or by me) dozens of times, and while various plastic bits may have cracked or broken off, the workings inside their titanium cases have just gone right on ticking.
Unfortunately the other day my main computer (ThinkPad T400) was sitting on a hassock next to a window when Ava spotted a cat. This time she didn’t knock the computer to the ground. That would have been fine. Nope. She stuck a claw into its screen.
Oh, it’s still working just fine. But when you spend as much time at the computer as I do, a dog-claw-sized hole in the middle of the display will drive you nuts. So I’m thinking about a new (used) laptop. It’s about time for one, anyhow.
But one of the things I like about this one is no built-in camera. It’s got a stupid fingerprint reader, but that’s totally ignorable. It worries me that the newer an electronic device, the more likely it is to arrive with hardware and pre-sets to communicate with Uber-Snoops. Shel reminded me of such unknown hazards when he posted this link in comments.
That’s not for me. But then, neither is the prospect of buying increasingly older laptops just to avoid creepazoids.
So tell me: how far off-base am I in thinking that I should be able to buy a recent, but used, laptop that isn’t designed and pre-set to betray its users to Our Robot Overlords?
And if I’m not off base, what are some good candidate laptops built in the last few years?
I personally use StartPage for my searches because … well, Katherine Albrecht. But kudos also to DuckDuckGo, whose very principled CEO is interviewed behind that link.
Last night I jammed my two little leftie toes on a table leg while wandering around in the dark. Well so? That’s usually one of those things where you hop around and cuss for a couple of minutes then life goes on. But this kept hurting all night and by morning those two toes were fat and red and the foot around them was fat and blue.
Still, we’re not talking about a major health crisis here. Just an owie.
I’m rarely ever sick and it’s been years since I’ve been injured. Meanwhile, nearly everybody I know has had health problems lately — from colds that turn into pneumonia to a flu that lingers for six weeks (in one case even leading to neurological problems) to … cancer.
So I have a lot of nerve getting all pouty about an owie.
Larry Correia gets mad over gummint “customer service.”
And speaking of gummint … Yes, good question: why are we-the-taxpayers sending all that Pennsylvania coal to Germany, which has plenty of its own? (Only a gummint could operate this way and not go bust.)
Mmmm. Let’s get this straight. The Navy — yes, the U.S. Navy — is databasing our traffic tickets — and anybody thinks this is merely “… starting to cross the line on mass collection of information on innocent people just because you can”? Starting???
Unfortunately, it doesn’t describe where the political world stands (no surprise). But it does describe a cool new website and a beautifully laid-out and informative digital magazine.
Brink of Freedom is a great place. It combines a freedomista attitude, high energy, and useful self-sufficiency how-tos.
Michael W. Dean of Freedom Feens turned me on to the site and introduced me to its founder, Josiah Wallingford. (Don’t you love that name?)
Go check it out for yourself. It’s the kind of place you could spend hours. But while you’re here, here’s a little background Q&A with Josiah, as well as links to pdfs of BoF’s January and February editions:
