LIBERTY: Vermont isn’t one of those ‘free states’ is it?

Saturday, March 8, 2008

—–Original Message—–
From: Luddite
Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 11:22 PM
To: John Reinke
Subject: Vermont?

Vermont isn’t one of those ‘free states’ is it, or is that just New Hampshire? Anyway, it sounds like it is a very bad place to live…it’s full of secular progressives, extremely liberal judges (who let pedaphiles out of jail), they have the highest percentage of underage drinkers, way, way, too liberal for me (and you!). (Just passing on info for a more informed American society)

—–Reply Message—–

Well, none of the states are “free”. NH is the “free-est”. VT has the virtue of having a very active secession movement.

SECEDE & SURVIVE: Liberty and Democracy as Antidotes to Sectarian Secessionism
Submitted by Carol Moore on Fri, 03/07/2008 – 10:50pm.
http://www.vtcommons.org/blog/2008/03/07/secede-survive-liberty-and-democracy-antidotes-sectarian-secessionism

HI, TX, AK, and SC are all hot beds of secession. BUT, VT is the most advanced. Last time I read about it, VT had >10% of the people favored secession and in the high 70s thought it should be studied. NH has smaller percentages, but are not far behind.

IMHO, it’s the Massholes and old hippies in VT that make it liberal. Again, imho, if VT goes, then NH will go together with them, or on the heels. The secessionists claim that they can bring VT, NH. ME, and some of the English speaking Canadian provinces into a “New England” country. Economically, VT needs NH to be at least a trading partner. Add ME and it’s like Switzerland.

It’s the only viable way to disempower the gang in DC. Remember the line in Mel Gibson’s the patriot about trading tyrants. :-) How else is the fictional “Federal Government” brought back under control?

As far as politically, I think you’d see a very “classical liberal” society evolve there in VT. Remember that in a classical liberal society, whose roots are in the Renaissance, the sovereign individual governs themselves; not King, or country. Liberal judges are an anomaly.

And, if you eliminate “Prohibition” (i.e., all drugs are legal), then there is no such thing as “underage drinking”. People have to be free to make mistakes, learn from them, and move on. If you poke around, you’ll find that there is a core percentage of “drug users” (i.e., a small percentage) that use regardless of legality.

Suggest http://www.isil.org/resources/introduction.swf as a five minute primer that explains the concepts very nicely. Best that I’ve ever seen.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | LIBERTY | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

WRITING: TEOTWAWKI fiction — “The Old Man” – “old bear” @ Timebomb2000

Saturday, March 8, 2008

The Old Man – “old bear” @ Timebomb2000
http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=47777

# – # – #

Recommended as a vignette that has a poignant quality.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Writing | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

RANT:parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children

Friday, March 7, 2008

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/07/MNJDVF0F1.DTL

San Francisco Chronicle
Homeschoolers’ setback sends shock waves through state
Bob Egelko, Jill Tucker, Chronicle Staff Writers
Friday, March 7, 2008

*** begin quote ***

“California courts have held that … parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children,” Justice H. Walter Croskey said in the 3-0 ruling issued on Feb. 28. “Parents have a legal duty to see to their children’s schooling under the provisions of these laws.”

Parents can be criminally prosecuted for failing to comply, Croskey said.

“A primary purpose of the educational system is to train school children in good citizenship, patriotism and loyalty to the state and the nation as a means of protecting the public welfare,” the judge wrote, quoting from a 1961 case on a similar issue.

*** end quote ***

“barbara streisand”

Just whose children are they?

We may have eliminated the plantations. But the slave masters are still in power.

I find the gooferment’s intrusion into “eddycation” particularly onerous and troublesome.

It’s brainwashing the way the gooferment “educates” its future sheeple … err “citizens” … in the love of the gooferment. A self-fulfilling prediction.

Enough is enough. It’s time for the Separation of Education and State!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

WRITING: TEOTWAWKI fiction — “Lights Out”

Friday, March 7, 2008

http://www.giltweasel.com/stuff/LightsOut-Current.pdf

Lights Out by HalfFast

# – # – #

Recommended as one of the earliest of the “modern” (i.e., not dead tree form) of TEO writing I am aware of.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Writing | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

INTERESTING: Life isn’t fair

Thursday, March 6, 2008

http://www.happiness-project.com/happiness_project/2008/03/life-isnt-fair.html

Life isn’t fair, or, why people who are irritable get more irritable, and people who are cheery get more cheery.

***Begin Quote***

I love finding a precise term for things I’ve observed in the word. It’s so satisfying to discover concepts like Schadenfreude, or “acting in reliance,” or wabi-sabi. One of my favorite parts of writing my book Power Money Fame Sex: A User’s Guide was making up new terms: platinum rule, eye stray, object lust, ubiniquity.

***End Quote***

‘pleasure taken from someone else’s misfortune’
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude

an economic harm for acting in reliance on a party who failed to fulfill their obligation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliance_damages_(law)

beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi

Platinum Rule as “Never ever, ever, ever ‘love’ thy neighbor.” His point was that one should never date someone seen on a regular basis, e.g. someone at the same workplace, a next door neighbor, etc. because such relationships never work out in the end and lead to never-ending suffering, as those involved would see each other constantly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platinum_Rule

“eye stray”?
Girl watching while with your significant other?

“object lust”?

ubiniquity?

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

FUN: Why Are Wedding Dresses White?

Thursday, March 6, 2008

From: Frau Reinke’s High School Chum
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 7:38 PM
Subject: Why Are Wedding Dresses White?

*** begin quote ***

I’d take a bet that this guy never said this loud enough so his wife can hear this:

>Son asked his mother the following question:
>
> “Mom , why are wedding dresses white?” The mother replies, “Son, this shows everyone that your bride is pure.”
>
> The son thanks his Mom and goes off to double-check this with his father. “Dad why are wedding dresses white?”
>
> The father looks at his son in surprise and says, “Son, all household appliances come in white.”

*** end quote ***

# – # – #

No sucker money here. But, it is funny. Especially in today’s day and age.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | FUN | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

WRITING: “survival fiction” — some further thinking

Thursday, March 6, 2008

It might be interesting to write “a story with choices”.

I remember paper books being published which at the bottom of every page gave you a choice. “If X should go left, turn to page number Y. If X should go right, turn to page Z.” I remember being very anal in those days and literally ripping the book apart and mapping the various alternative choices. It was amazing in that the author (script writer?) had several choices “rejoin” a string. I used the same technique when I played Willie Crowther’s (original author) Adventure. It was Don Woods’ expansion that led me to “contribute” my time to the computer industry’s two week delay while everyone solved the game. You know the one with “twisty caves all alike”. The man was diabolic. At least I wasn’t diverted into real life D&D (popular with the Princeton U crowd) or lured into computer gaming. No, I stayed focused on the Wall Street and its money. Never made it, but chased it for decades.

So it would seem that it would be possible — easy in the days of blogs and the web — to translate a story in this form to a user experience. It would really translate into print, but it might be like a very “flat” computer game.

Hmmm?

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Writing | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

WRITING: The blog as a follow on to the old movie serial

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Interesting that fan, patriot, and and other writing forms seem to have adopted the chapter per blog post format.

Here’s an exemplar.

http://ed-day.blogspot.com

ED Day – Dead Sydney

*** begin quote ***

A serialized novel by Darryl Mason. Set in Sydney in the months after the bird flu pandemic kills millions. The story follows three hundred survivors as they try to rebuild their society, in a city of the dead. New chapters will be posted each week.

*** end quote ***

Fascinating to see what may be a revival of a genre?

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | Writing | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

TECH HARDWARE: Western Digital’s website may be wrong about “out of warranty”

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

http://weblog.infoworld.com/gripeline/archives/2008/03/western_digital.html

March 04, 2008
Western Digital Lies About Warranty Status
The Gripe Line
Ed Foster

***Begin Quote***

Drive manufacturers often seem to have a bad memory when it comes to their warranty promises. That’s what one reader discovered when Western Digital’s website falsely labeled his drive as being out of warranty when it wasn’t.

***and***

Then the reader discovered some fine print that only popped up when he hovered his cursor over a small “note” link. It read:

“By default, the warranty date is calculated from the manufacture date. However, if you have proof of purchase, we can update the warranty to calculate it from the purchase date. If you feel that the warranty date needs to be updated from the purchase date, please follow the instructions below.”

***End Quote***

I would have thought that was “fraudulent”. I can see them saying “we only know that we made the drive x/y/z date.” But, I think that they also ask you to register the drive with the dumb post card. Maybe, they are NOT crooks, but this is certainly bad PR.

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | HARDWARE | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

GUNS: FMG9: Prototype 9mm Folding Submachine Gun

Sunday, March 2, 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D99NHb6B03s

FMG9: Prototype 9mm Folding Submachine Gun

***Begin Quote***

“Things get nasty; get down to business.

***End Quote***

I love it. Perfect for a BOB!

# # # # #

Leave a Comment » | LIBERTY | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »