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Monday Links
This may be a bit of a hodgepodge.
First, we go to Reason for:
Debt ceiling fight is hitting a hard deadline. Yes, we need to cut spending. No, we should not allow the government to default.
Inflation ticks up again in April. Surprisingly, the culprit is rent. Which is a big issue in my neck of the woods.
No, universal background checks do not stop mass shooters. It’s a complicated issue. As previously discussed.
Now that we’ve consumed our vegetables, we can have some fun dessert articles.
First, Recoil has a review of the Beretta A300 Ultima Patrol shotgun. This one is in the running for the new Ward semiauto shotgun.
Next from The Drive, an article on FHP’s Mercury Marauders.
Finally, from the local news station, the local high school drama group is garnering some well-earned attention for their version of Disney’s “Frozen.” Like the movie or hate, the kids done good.
Friday Quote – Patrick Bet-David
Capitalism reveals everything.
It reveals who works.
It reveals who improves.
It reveals who takes care of their best employees and who doesn’t.
It reveals who’s creative.
It reveals who thinks the biggest.
It reveals who doesn’t want to pull their own little red wagon instead they want you to pull it.
Ward Manor Happenings
There are a couple of graduations happening in these parts of the world that are impacting Ward Manor. This resulted in The Wife making her Cricut machine go BRRR on Saturday morning to make cards and other supplies for the celebrations.
While she was working furiously on that, I was busy working on my fantasy novel. The good news is that I have finished most of the major action. It’s really down to the denouement. Upon relating this to The Wife, she said “Did you kill anyone else off?” I’ll take the Fifth on that.
Mom and The Brother came down for dinner and board games. Well, one board game. I highly recommend the Quacks of Quedlinburg. Plus both Mom and The Brother enjoy playing with the newest member of the Gubler clowder.
On Sunday, we remedied an issue with the dining room and put down a rug. That wouldn’t normally incite a comment on the blog. However, the room occasioned a larger than normal rug. Which was kind of fun toting down in the Ward Wagon. Then all the fun getting it appropriately aligned.
A relatively regular weekend, including the resulting back and shoulder pains.
Monday Links On Wednesday
This is going to be kind of short this week.
First a couple of gun related items.
From TFB, a discussion if gun sales are declining. I would think of it more regression to the new mean.
Then from Mas Ayoob, a defense of the AR-15. I generally take anything from Mas as close to gospel when it comes to guns and gun issues.
Now, on to a couple of tech items.
From CNBC, we have an article about Apple and Google working to keep AirTags from being used maliciously.
A couple weeks ago, I posted an article about the feds warning against using public USB charging ports. Via The Brother, comes an Ars Technica countering that bit of wisdom.
Fifteen Years Ago…
I put up my first blog post – the prologue to Bad Moon Rising.
Originally, I was just going to use the blog to post my fiction. Then, I realized I wanted to do more. So, I started adding other posts.
Metal Tuesday was a whim when I saw another blogger doing something similar. Friday Quotes was an attempt to have another regular feature that I could queue up.
Blogging hasn’t been consistent. For a while I thought I’d be sharing my thoughts on the Book of Face. But, those could be memory-holed a lot. I also realized that I didn’t want to crap all over someone’s page if I wanted to tear apart something they wrote. I could do that here.
Hard to believe it’s been fifteen years. Ah well, time to get the next Metal Tuesday ready.
Friday Quote – Meg Medina
To pull books from a school library because of the discomfort they create in adults is a recipe for disaster. It erodes the trust young people have in the adults in their lives and pushes them to secrecy. It undermines the studied opinion of professional librarians and educators. It supports the false idea that there is one version of life that is acceptable. And it denigrates the work of authors who are brave enough to name experiences that are difficult and real.
I’m putting this one up as an “opposing view” on the books in libraries debate.
Another Worker in Ward Manor
About a month ago, The Wife’s niece got a new gig that was work from home. This will be the first time that her niece had done a work-from-home job. So, we offered her a chance to come over and work from Ward Manor. After all, we have better internet, can provide a better setup, and the MIL can help watch our toddler great niece.
Niece came over last weekend to set up. There was great shuffling of furniture and other things to get her workstation in the upstairs living room. We were hampered on where we could place her workstation because her new job required a hardwired internet connection. Um, what? Yep, no wifi. Must be connected directly to the router.
I dug through my box’o’cables and came up with one long enough. Which is why I have a box’o’cables.
Not sure how long this arrangement will last. But it will be interesting.
What Kind of Mass Killings?
This isn’t going to be revelatory for those who study violence in depth, but I’m trying to get to an analogy that most people will understand. Particularly when the media splashes all of the “mass shootings” and bring on panelists asking for the same laws. Those panelists who sneer at me when I say that what they’re asking for won’t work.
I was listening to The Reload podcast back on the 17th, and they were talking about mass shootings / mass killings. The first part, is of course, on definitions. Because, as the host describes, depending on the definition used, the Louisville bank could have been the 156th, 46th, or the fourth.
Definitions matter for another reason. How to prevent these events will change depending on the motivations for the shooting.
The best analogy I can come up with is cancer. Cancer is not one disease. It’s a series of different diseases with similar features. You also cannot treat lung cancer the same way as you treat prostate or breast cancer.