RECOMMENDED: I am moving from LASTPASS to BITWARDEN

Monday, August 25, 2025

https://www.androidauthority.com/lastpass-password-manager-alternatives-3587020/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailyauthority&utm_term=Daily%20Authority

5 password managers you should use instead of LastPass

  • Tired of security scares? Ditch LastPass and switch to a password manager you can actually trust.

By Karandeep Singh  —  August 17, 2025

*** begin quote ***

Bitwarden is my default recommendation to anyone looking for a reliable password manager. It has everything you’d expect from an app built to handle your most sensitive data. Its free tier is one of the most generous out there, it’s available across platforms, and it even offers self-hosting if you’re feeling adventurous. The premium individual plan costs just $10 a year — an easy recommendation for the extras it brings.

Even if you stick with Bitwarden’s own servers for storage, you know your data is safe because it’s open source and independently audited. Plus, migrating your data from LastPass is a breeze using the included tools. The interface might not be as slick as its pricier alternatives, but it’s perfectly functional, and its safety upsides far outweigh any minor aesthetic caveats.

 *** end quote ***

I agree.

What more needs to be said?

One “feature” that’s a negative is that if you rerun an import, then you’ll gt duplicates.  With no easy way to delete except one at a time.

Argh!

— 30 —


RECOMMENDED: Netflix Siege of Jadotville or why politicians leave soldiers out to die

Thursday, June 12, 2025

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3922798/

Siege of Jadotville

1961 Irish UN troops defend against attack by Belgian and Kanganese soldiers

The siege of Jadotville was a major battle during the Congo Crisis, that began on 13 September 1961, lasting for five days, where a small contingent of the Irish Army’s 35th Battalion serving under the United Nations Operation in the Congo, designated “A” Company, were besieged at the UN base near the mining town of Jadotville by Katangese forces loyal to the secessionist State of Katanga. The siege took place during the seven-day escalation of hostilities between ONUC and Katangese forces during Operation Morthor. Wikipedia

# – # – # – # – # 

Amazing that the Irish took no casualties.  

IF THE MOVIE IS TRUE … … and that’s a big if … … the (French mercenaries) were poor strategists.  They must have studied the tactics of the Napoleanic period, the British during the American Revolution, the Union / Southern Armies, during the War of Northern Aggression, or WWI.  Lining troops up and having them advance and attack against modern weapons and machine guns is suicidal.  I’m surprised that they only suffered 1300 KIAs.

The lesson for soldiers is that the politicians and bureaucrats will always betray you and leave you to die.

So sad.

—30—


RECOMMENDED: MOSUL on NETFLIX

Saturday, May 3, 2025

https://www.netflix.com/search?q=mosul&jbv=81041495

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“War movie” with violence, language, and heave forbid smoking!

Gives one a feel for the trauma of all these wars.  If you weren’t just a plain old hippie anti-war type after this, then you have no empathy for those poor unfortunates in the middle. 

Note the scene of the child just sitting along side the alley.  Or the final conclusion!

Dona Nobis Pacem

—30—


RECOMMENDED: Write In Private: Free Online Diary And Personal Journal | Penzu

Thursday, May 1, 2025

Write In Private: Free Online Diary And Personal Journal | Penzu

https://penzu.com/journals/3256620/107022325

Remember Star Trek and “Ship’s Log”?

I do the same thing, sort of in Penzu.

I find it pretty robust and useful.  Since 12/2021!

YMMV FWIW faiwwypfi (Free Advice Is Worth What You Pay For It! ?zero?)

—30—


RECOMMENDED: Netflix’s ‘Number 24’ asks you the question “what would you do”?

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

https://www.netflix.com/title/81664509

Netflix’s ‘Number 24’

*** begin quote ***

Netflix’s ‘Number 24’ transports the audience to 1940s Norway, where the German occupation incites the Norwegians to form a resistance. While a lot of people join it to fight the Nazi regime and free their country, Gunnar Sønsteby is one of the few who leaves an indelible mark in history with his many acts of sabotage. The film begins with a 90-something Gunnar appearing for a lecture to the youth, who have several questions about his story, which has now become somewhat of a legend in the country. He starts with the times before the war and how drastically everything changed once the Nazis set foot on the streets of Norway.

*** end quote ***

I’m not sure I could have done a fraction of what he did.   I can understand how after the war his comrade became an alcoholic and eventually suicided. 

Watch this if yo9u want to understand what true patriotism means.

Can’t imagine being in those circumstances.

Can you?

—30—


RECOMMENDED: Netflix’s ‘Number 24’ asks you the question “what would you do”?

Tuesday, January 21, 2025

https://www.netflix.com/title/81664509

Netflix’s ‘Number 24’

*** begin quote ***

Netflix’s ‘Number 24’ transports the audience to 1940s Norway, where the German occupation incites the Norwegians to form a resistance. While a lot of people join it to fight the Nazi regime and free their country, Gunnar Sønsteby is one of the few who leaves an indelible mark in history with his many acts of sabotage. The film begins with a 90-something Gunnar appearing for a lecture to the youth, who have several questions about his story, which has now become somewhat of a legend in the country. He starts with the times before the war and how drastically everything changed once the Nazis set foot on the streets of Norway.

*** end quote ***

I’m not sure I could have done a fraction of what he did.   I can understand how after the war his comrade became an alcoholic and eventually suicided. 

Watch this if yo9u want to understand what true patriotism means.

Can’t imagine being in those circumstances.

Can you?

—30—


RECOMMENDED: Read “Starship Troopers” for yourself; I loved it

Saturday, November 30, 2024

https://boundingintocomics.com/tv-shows/tv-show-news/starship-troopers-star-casper-van-dien-says-franchise-should-be-revived-as-tv-series-why-wouldnt-you-make-this/

‘Starship Troopers’ Star Casper Van Dien Says Franchise Should Be Revived As TV Series: “Why Wouldn’t You Make This?”
Jorge Arenas   |  Nov 21, 2024

*** begin quote ***

Amidst the ongoing trend of Hollywood remaking and rebooting fan-favorite franchises, the star of the first Starship Troopers film, Casper Van Dien, thinks now is as good a time as any to send the troops of the United Citizen Federation on a new TV-specific deployment.

*** and ***

Working against this idea is the fact that thanks to director Paul Verhoeven’s decision to turn Robert Heinlen’s military novel into a biting satire of such concepts as propaganda and societal control, the film has a divided reputation among audiences, with some believing it to be a straight-forward war tale, some unsure of what to make of the subversion, and fans of the source material dismayed by the sheer amount of liberties taken with the original story.

Adding to this lack of a consensus is the fact that Verhoeven was unfamiliar with the property he was attempting to subvert, with the actor telling Empire in 2012 that he never finished reading Heinlen’s book because he found it “boring and depressing”.

*** end quote ***

Argh!

This is the book that I read as a teenager that turned me into a little L libertarian.  The VietNam war was happening and, even then, I thought the politicians and bureaucrats were full of “Barbara Streisand”. 

There are so many of Heinlein’s moralisms in it that I don’t understand HOW anyone could consider it “boring”.  

In light of VietNam, the line “men aren’t potatoes” certainly drove home the POW / MIA issue for me.  When I learned that we left men behind in WW2 and Korea, I became incensed.

The topic cam up in USAF survival school and you could see it was a “sore spot” for all involved.

I have a literal slew of Heinlein quotes just from Starship Troopers alone,

  • “Because revolution—armed uprising—requires not only dissatisfaction but aggressiveness. A revolutionist has to be willing to fight and die—or he’s just a parlor pink. If you separate out the aggressive ones and make them the sheep dogs, the sheep will never give you trouble.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers
  • “There are no dangerous weapons; there are only dangerous men.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers
  • “When you come right to it, it’s a lot easier to die than it is to use your head.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers
  • “I told you that ‘juvenile delinquent’ is a contradiction in terms. ‘Delinquent’ means ‘failing in duty.’ But duty is an adult virtue—indeed a juvenile becomes an adult when, and only when, he acquires a knowledge of duty and embraces it as dearer than the self-love he was born with. There never was, there cannot be a ‘juvenile delinquent.’ But for every juvenile criminal there are always one or more adult delinquents—people of mature years who either do not know their duty, or who, knowing it, fail.”  ― Robert A. Heinlein,  Starship Troopers  
      
  • Remember Heinlein’s Starship Troopers’ universe? One does not merely have the right to be a citizen and vote by virtue of what Heinlein called the mere accident of birth; rather, one has to earn this right through Federal Service that tested one’s ability and willingness to sacrifice for the greater good of the polity. Bet not a lot of vets would vote for all the undeclared wars the USA has been in since WW2?
  • “Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and their freedoms” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers
  • “A soldier accepts personal responsibility for the safety of the body politic of which he is a member, defending it, if need be, with his life. The civilian does not.” — Lt. Col. Jean V. Dubois (Ret.) and student, p. 26 Starship Troopers (1959) by Robert A. Heinlein 
  • “Cast me into a dungeon;, burn me at the state, crown me king of kings, I can ‘pursue happiness’ as long as my brain lives — but neither gods nor saints, wise men nor subtle drugs, can insure that I will catch it.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers
  • “Peace” is a condition in which no civilian pays any attention to military casualties which do not achieve page-one, lead-story prominence—unless that civilian is a close relative of one of the casualties.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers
  • “What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly . . . it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated. —Thomas Paine” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers
  • “The best things in life are beyond money; their price is agony and sweat and devotion” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers

How could anyone of these be “boring”?

I find them thought provoking and of incalculable worth as a guiding principles.

I especially thing that vet only voting is an absolute must.  Right along with the Taxpayers should have their own “house” in Congress.

Argh!

—30—

 

 

 


RECOMMENDED: The Electronic Frontier Foundation gets my financial support

Wednesday, August 7, 2024

This is a friendly message from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

*** begin quote ***

Membership Update

Dear Ferdinand,

Thanks to you, EFF championed aggressive efforts to protect user rights and secured significant victories in the last year. We wanted to let you know that your annual Sustaining Donor contribution is scheduled to be charged next week. Thanks for continuing your support for the coming year!

If you donate using a credit card on file and wish to update or change your recurring payment information, visit eff.org/recurring. If you donate using PayPal, please log into your PayPal account to make changes.

Please reply to this email if you would like assistance or have any questions about your recurring donations.

We can’t express how much we appreciate your commitment to supporting digital civil liberties and human rights. Sustaining donors help EFF continue to spot and thwart threats to online freedom wherever they arise, and it’s only possible with your ongoing support.

Thanks again, 

Christian Romero

EFF Membership Team

P.S. EFF is a member-supported U.S. 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a top rating by Charity Navigator. Donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law.

*** end quote ***

I put my money where my mouth is.  Not a huge amount, but every little bit helps to steer the ship.

—30—

 


RECOMMENDED: Diana Nyad movie

Wednesday, November 8, 2023

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5302918/

It tells the remarkable true story of athlete Diana Nyad who, at the age of 60 and with the help of her best friend and coach, commits to achieving her life-long dream: a 110-mile open ocean swim from Cuba to Florida.

# – # – # – # – # 

I’m not a big fan of movies that don’t make me laugh.  

However every once in a while, one comes along that I feel is a “must see”.

I’d make it required watching for every student in the world.

Overcoming obstacles. Exponentiated.

Hard to say enough good things about this movie.

On a personal note, I didn’t recognize Annette Benning until I went to write this post.

I’d put this in my “Rudy” file of “motivational” musts.

Unlike the trash that Hollywood usually produces, there was a tasteful nod to sexual abuse and lesbianism.  But didn’t detract from the message.  If anything, it focuses on the hidden obstacles that one would never know about.

—30— 

 


RECOMMENDED: Coming 2 America (2021) corny but fun

Thursday, May 13, 2021

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6802400/

Coming 2 America (2021)
PG-13 | 1h 50min | Comedy | 5 March 2021 (USA)

# – # – # – # – #

Yeah, there are a lot of errors and inconsistencies.  But if you relax and suspend belief it was corny and funny.

I think Leslie Jones and Wesley Snipes steal the show.

# – # – #

I watched on Prime Video and got some random German subtitles.  A quick search reported that this was not unusual error.

—30—


RECOMMENDED: Queen’s Gambit

Thursday, April 22, 2021

For anyone with Netflix, I recommend Queen’s Gambit. and not just because it was my favorite opening during my chess playing games. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

But that women are not big into chess is a sad fact of-life and I wonder why?

—30—


RECOMMENDED: Google’s PhotoScan app

Monday, April 17, 2017

https://www.google.com/photos/scan/

7. Search Scanned Photos

Google recently released a new free app called PhotoScan with the aim of letting you digitize all your old photos. If you’ve installed the app, you can access it by clicking the three lines at the top left of Google Photos, then clicking “Scan photos”. Going forward, simply search for scans whenever you want to see all the photos you digitized.

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SOFTWARE: Google’s PhotoScan app RECOMMENDED

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

https://www.google.com/photos/scan/

“Get the photo scanner from the future”

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OK, I’m a sucker for apps, phones, and all technology gadgets and tchotchkes (NB: I’ve been criticized all to often for using big and or strange words so now I am linking to their meaning. OK?) (NB: A “gadget” becomes a “tchotchke” when it: (a) doesn’t work as advertised; (b) breaks; (c) gets purplanted by a better gadget; or (d) I lose a part of it — usually the power supply. I have an old digital video camera waiting for me to find the power cord to it.)

I read about the app somewhere — I’d have thought Google would let me know about it … … personally — and downloaded it BECAUSE I have a ton of old framed pictures that I was considering HOW to digitize. It’d be a lot work to take them out of the frame — if they’d survive that — scan them and put them back.

So this holiday, I tried it on two framed pictures. 

Judge for yourself the results.

2016 00xxx xx shore group

and

File Dec 26 10 17 47

Very impressive, no?

Anyway, I’m impressed. 

As usual, FWIW and YMMV.

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RECOMMENDED: LIFELOCK

Monday, November 10, 2014

http://www.lifelock.com/refer/52005227/Ferdinand/

I use it. And, if you sign up, I get 10$.

Laugh!

Use offer code RUSH for a discount.

Argh!

Seems like a good service.

Given all the repeated hacks lately seems like common sense.

YMMV FWIW 

“Bon courage a vous tous”

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RECOMMENDED: LASTPASS for password generation and retention

Thursday, June 26, 2014

https://lastpass.com/f?408336

I have the $12 per year premium account and it’s well worth it.

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RECOMMENDED: “Jesus Loves Children”

Friday, January 17, 2014

I know the author and urge you to support him by buying a copy.

# – # – #  

Friends,

As a fairly new parent, it was a bit difficult for me to explain to my 3 year-old who Jesus Christ or God is, why we celebrate Christmas, the need for daily prayers and the concept of creation. This Children’s book was my attempt as guided by the Holy Spirit to begin this rather uneasy explanation. This short story has helped me a lot each time I am asked “daddy, tell me more about Jesus”. Hope you find the perspective interesting. For me it reminded me that I needed to return to my first love with our Lord Jesus. It a good read for anyone irrespective of religion or faith.

Jesus Loves Children

Title ID: 4607213

ISBN-13: 978-1494926861

Availability:

Electronic Copy Available at the Kindle Store and Amazon website at:

Book Print available at the CreateSpace Store at:

https://www.createspace.com/4607213

Book Print will be available at Amazon worldwide on 1/22/2014.

The Expanded Distribution to stores, Libraries and others in 8 weeks.

Please spread the word. 50% of the proceeds will go orphanages, the Poor and those in need.

Cheers,

Uche.

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RECOMMENDED: DRIVESLIM for MACOSX

Sunday, April 8, 2012

http://www.prosofteng.com/support/support_thanks.php

PRODUCT: DRIVESLIM for MACOSX

Just thought of something that they could do to improve my experience. So I contacted their support.

*** begin quote ***

I’m a Mac noob.

Is there a set of automator script to run drive slim periodically?

So, for example, cache clear, monthly on the first monday and big files on the second monday. TO prompt those of us with old memories.

From time to time, the various tech site have stuff like this. For example, recently, there was one to delete the IPHOTO automatic copies.

Thanks for good product. No complaints. Just could use some help.

*** end quote ***

Let’s see if I get a response or is it a “pump and dump”?

# – # – # – # – #

AUTORESPONDER:

Ferdinand,

Your ticket number regarding this issue is 07-97528.
Please refer to this ticket number in any future correspondence.

Product: DriveSlim
Mac OS: Mac OS 10.6.8

Question: I\’m a Mac noob. \r\n\r\nIs there a set of automator script to run drive slim periodically?\r\n\r\nSo, for example, cache clear, monthly on the first monday and big files on the second monday. TO prompt those of us with old memories. \r\n\r\nFrom time to time, the various tech site have stuff like this. For example, recently, there was one to delete the IPHOTO automatic copies. \r\n\r\nThanks for good product. No complaints. Just could use some help.\r\n

Your question has been forwarded to a Customer Support Specialist who will be contacting you about this issue.  Be sure and check out our Online FAQs, found in our Support Website, for answers to common support questions.

Thank-you!

WE WILL SEE?

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Apr-05 @ 02:38

Fedinand,

Your ticket number regarding this issue is 07-97528.
Please refer to this ticket number in any future correspondence.

—————————————————————————–
Hi Ferdinand,

There is no script to automate DriveSlim.

Contact us if you have any further questions.

Regards,
—————————————————————————–

Jeremy
Prosoft Engineering Customer Support

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Apr-05 @ 13:00

“Go away, you Customer, you. Stop bothering us.” YMMV.

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Apr-05 @ 13:00


SERVICE: 750WORDS RECOMMENDED

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

http://750words.com

*** begin quote ***

Hello, welcome to a little thing called 750 Words

I’ve long been inspired by an idea I first learned about in The Artist’s Way called morning pages. Morning pages are three pages of writing done every day, typically encouraged to be in “long hand”, typically done in the morning, that can be about anything and everything that comes into your head. It’s about getting it all out of your head, and is not supposed to be edited or censored in any way. The idea is that if you can get in the habit of writing three pages a day, that it will help clear your mind and get the ideas flowing for the rest of the day. Unlike many of the other exercises in that book, I found that this one actually worked and was really really useful.

*** end quote ***

Amusing little site that has a way of getting under your skin.

I’m using it to write my course and my next book.

It sort of fits my early morning persona.

Maybe like Sudoku, it too will ward of the dreaded Alzheimer’s?

No one can see what you write but you can share the automated analysis of that writing.

See me at: http://750words.com/entries/share/174852

ROFL, yeah, I’m that nuts!

Now all I need is a tshirt declaring that I’m an ITSJ and a fat old white guy injineer. (But then I repeat myself.)

LOL!

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RECOMMENDED: OpenDNS

Saturday, June 12, 2010

http://www.opendns.com/

Rock-Solid Security

   * Web Content Filtering

   Cloud-based, award-winning Web content filtering from OpenDNS with more than 50 categories of content. No appliance necessary. Effective against proxies, P2P, Web 2.0, adult and more.

   * PhishTank Anti-Phishing

   Industry-leading anti-phishing powered by PhishTank, the most authoritative source of phishing data on the Internet. Protects your network, organization and its employees from fraudulent phishing scams.

   * Malware Site Protection / Botnet Protection

   DNS layer security protects the most vulnerable level of your network against the latest threats, including viruses, worms and zero-day vulnerabilities.

   * Whitelist / Blacklist

   Lets you decide where your users can navigate on your customized Internet. Whitelist-only functionality available.

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SERVICE: 750 WORDS site; make everyone a writer.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

http://emilychang.com/ehub/app/750-words

Blog | eHub | Stream | Tags | Photos Projects | About | News | Contact

750 Words
By Kim Lau
— May 12, 2010 at 10:02 am

*** begin quote ***

Motivate your writing by committing to 750 words a day. Log in with Facebook Connect, Google or Yahoo, and earn points and badges the more you write.

*** end quote ***

We’ll see if it helps.

RECOMMENDED!

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RECOMMENDED: “The Invention of Lying”; just to true

Thursday, March 18, 2010

201003130929.jpg

The first lie ever told: “$800”!

Theology on two pizza boxes?

Stephanie March demanding sex. (Every boy’s dream?) “When he tests his discovery of lying by telling a woman that the world will end unless she has sex with him at that very moment but backs out at the last minute by claiming to have a phone call from NASA telling him the world is not going to end now.” ROFL!

“Let me know if you’ve lowered your standards.” (Too hot for me?)

“Man In The Sky forbid!”

Unfortunately, it’s a law of Nature that “hot” girls look down on fat old white guys with or without a “snub nose”. Sigh!

Hey, for a $1 from redbox and two hours of my life, recommended.

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RECOMMENDED: “Love Happens” An Aniston chick flick

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

201003130849.jpg

Hmmm!

Sweet and the bird steals the show.

Seriously, was it debunking self-help gurus (i.e.: the guru’s realization that he practices none of the principles he teaches)? Tony Robbins came to mind.

Hey for a dollar from redbox. How bad could it be?

I found it funny.

And, took a good message away. “A-OK”?

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NOTRECOMMENDED: O’Reilly and Beck Bold and Fresh; not live!

Sunday, January 31, 2010

201001311006.jpg

OK, maybe I’m a sucker. I went to the movies last night. Yes, it was a (poor quality) movie. Not the live remote performance that I was expecting. I felt suckered. The previous night, I went to the Senior Showcase, EB Vo Tech, where aspiring high school seniors displayed their talent. One of their presentations was a better quality than the “professional” one I watched last night.

Now, I understand that weather in Norfolk prevented the live performance. But I felt cheated. It was supposed to be “live”!

The film was obviously edited. I paid for the full performance and I think some of the good stuff was left on the cutting room floor. And, if it was edited, why is there a twenty minute “intermission”. Sorry, that could have been cut. Maybe it was for the old folks to tap a kidney. But, I suspect it was to allow the theater to push some over-priced “refreshments”.

On to the content, I was again disappointed:

* Beck spent to much time mocking Nancy Pelosi’s physical characteristics. At first it was funny, but after a while it got boring.

* O’Reilly was “abbreviated”. He got in some great points about was NOT in Obama’s SOTU, but it seemed like, in his head, the TV timing bell went off and he’d truncate his thought.

The audience was obnoxious. It addition to being mostly old and lilly white. The guy next to us was a fidgeter; guy behind us dropped a big tub of popcorn; and the old lady behind us kept commenting to her party about what the guys were saying. Argh! A chorus of cellphone conversations would have been less distracting.

(18 seats per row, 50 rows, pretty much sold out, 900, time 25$, 225 * 100, 22500$ per theater, times 200 theaters, !!!4,500,0 00!!!, over a million a piece for two hours of work? Hmmm!)

As far as the content was concerned, I had the following observations:

* Beck is NOT a libertarian. No self-respecting libertarian would have a demonstration planned for 8/8/10 in from of the LINCOLN memorial.

* O’Reilly is an interesting amalgam of professed small government but pro-war guy. Interesting, but dangerous. He did correctly identify that OBH44 ignored the Iran threat in the SOTU and has potentially by ignoring them made the world a more dangerous place. If israel has to take Iran on, we are in a world of hurt.

* O’Reilly pointed out that in the SOTU address OBH44 avoided the whole “War” topic. (And, neither mentioned OBH44’s failure to praise the troops. I can’t imagine any President missing that point.)

* Beck makes a good case that the Progressives are the problem.

* O’Reilly was funny in his description of how the folks will wake up and right the ship. Hope he’s right. I’m not so sure.

* Beck portrayed OBH44 as evil; O’Reilly characterized him as an inexperienced unprepared Chicago corrupt politician. (O’Reilly was especially on point with his: comparison of Chicago’s South Side with Haiti; Reverend Wright’s 2M$ mansion in a all-white suburb, AND the KSM terror trial in NYC. He reminded me of Judge Judy when she says “If it doesn’t make sense, it’s not true”, when O’Reilly says that the “folks” can feel when the politician isn’t telling the truth. (Like when their lips move!)

Sorry, but I can’t recommend this.

I shoulda went to see Avatar; it’d been cheaper.

Yeah I know, violating my own dictum, “Shouldas, wouldas, and couldas” will kill you.

It was: Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Desi and Lucy, and probably more physically accurate Abbot and Costello or Laurel and Hardy.

But not as timeless, or not as funny.

# # # # #

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2010/01/the_beckoreilly_bold_fresh_tou.html

“15 minute intermission” live in Tampa

Why was ours 20 minutes?

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RECOMMENDED: Donate to the crazies trying to roll back the MA sales tax; tax revolt now!

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

http://tinyurl.com/yav92p2

Carla Howell and Michael Cloud
Alliance to Roll Back Taxes
Small Government News
Wednesday, October 7, 2009

*** begin quote ***

Just Do the Signature Drive With Volunteers?”

Virtually every statewide political campaign in Massachusetts hires petitioners to collect signatures.

Senator Kennedy, Senator Kerry, Governor Deval Patrick, former Governor Romney, former Governor Cellucci, and the rest paid for signatures. For at least the last 40 years.

Why?

Because the petitioning requirements have been made so hard, the time for petitioning so short, the ability of opponents to block petitioning, and the ease of removing valid voters signatures from the ballot.

But it gets worse. Massachusetts requires 6-1/2 times as many signatures for Ballot Initiatives as they do for U.S. Senate and Governor candidates – and they give us 1/3 less time to collect them.

We have to collect over 96,000 signatures in 49 days. In the fall, when rainstorms or snowstorms can and do prevent petitioning for 1 day or 3 or 7 days — or more. Cutting petition time by 10% or 20%.

We have to print 351 DIFFERENT petitions for our initiative — one for each town and city in Massachusetts.

Our petitioners have to carry dozens of DIFFERENT petitions at each petitioning location – a mall, a store, etc – to make sure that we have the right petition for that voter.

If a voter mistakenly signs the Natick petition, while living in Framingham, his signature is disqualified.

If a signer or petitioner accidentally makes a “stray mark on a petition”, every one of the valid 12 or 15 voter signatures on that petition are disqualified.

Then we need to sort and separate the petitions into the 351 towns and cities, pre-validate 10% to 20% of the signatures, deliver them to 351 different town clerks all across Massachusetts – many town clerks offices are only open part time; if you can’t show up them…too bad for you. The town clerks physically check each petition signature against the each voter’s signature. Many are conscientious. Some are sloppy and disqualify valid signatures.

Next, we have a 7-day window to collect 351 petitions from the 351 towns — when clerks’ offices are open.

Then, if the town clerks have validated enough signatures to move us toward the ballot, we have to deliver the signatures to the Secretary of State’s Office — where the signatures are tallied.

While this is going on, the Teachers Unions and Government Employees Unions can challenge any or all of the validated signatures for any of a dozen different legal reasons.

This is why virtually all statewide political campaigns and ballot initiatives hire paid petitioners. So they can get on the ballot.

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In the Pepuls Republik of Taxachusetts, there is a band of crazies that are trying to repeal the tax law.

(Regardless of where you live, if they succeed, it will help everyone. You may want to consider sending them a few bucks. Would you have sent money for munitions to the Militiamen at Lexington or Concord? Repealing the sales tax in MA would be modern day equivalent of “the shot heard round the world”! https://www.fbs.net/csg/RBTdonate.html)

It interesting to see how the political elite have insulated them selves from the peons. Why bother have petitions at all? You can’t practically impact the politicians.

Argh!

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RECOMMENDED: Julie & Julia

Friday, August 7, 2009

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135503/

Julie & Julia

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Julia Child (Meryl Streep) and Julie Powell (Amy Adams) are featured in writer-director Nora Ephron’s adaptation of two bestselling memoirs: Powell’s Julie & Julia and My Life in France, by Julia Child with Alex Prud’homme. Based on two true stories, Julie & Julia intertwines the lives of two women who, though separated by time and space, are both at loose ends…until they discover that with the right combination of passion, fearlessness and butter, anything is possible. Written by Columbia Pictures

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It was “funny peculiar”; not “funny haha”.

Maybe it resonated so well for the mid-life crisis aspect.

Not a chick flick, it had a poignant tone to it. Sadly funny.

I liked it; Frau didn’t. YMMV

p.s., especially funny; who would ever write a 700 page book? rofl!

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SERVICE: Warranty Elephant; sounds like a good idea

Monday, July 27, 2009

https://www.warrantyelephant.com/html/howitworks.aspx

Welcome to Warranty Elephant .com, a unique website designed to organize your warranty information on all purchased goods. Your warranty information will be stored for free on our secure server and will be listed by date of warranty expiration. An easy click on the item will allow you to obtain all valid warranty information on that product, including handy telephone numbers and your product’s serial number.

In addition, you can even upload a copy of your warranty itself and your invoice, so that you don’t have to search through stacks of paper to try and find the documents needed to exercise your warranty rights.

We will send you reminder emails at 3 months, 1 month and 1 week before your warranty expires. This will remind you to check your item and ensure it is in good working order. If it is not, you will have all the information needed, right in front you, to arrange for warranty service. You will never again spend money to purchase a warranty on an item only to have it break down and not be able to remember whether the warranty has expired or if you had even purchased the warranty in the first place.

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Seems like a good idea to me.
Warranties, especially extended ones, seem worthless.
Maybe an organized approach would change that opinion.
I view stuff I buy as a “used car”. Caveat emptor.
Maybe saving this information might make it easier to return stuff.
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