I haven’t watched anything memorable Ryan Paevey has been in (and in fact have only “watched” anything he’s been in as “background noise” while doing other things), but. . . I could really listen to him narrate just about anything–and I don’t generally like narrations of anything. I have no idea whether the guy has ever sung, whether solo or in a group, but I also wouldn’t mind having his voice in a choir.
Mischief Managed?
Well, not quite. More “wood chucking.” Sorta-kinda-almost “good enough” fitness watch buzzed me to say I had been at my optimal heart rate for 20 minutes. *meh* What does it know? Five minutes later, *bzzz* “Relax.” Yeh, says you. A few minutes later: dizzy. OK, OK, I give in.
At least it was nice weather for it. High 40s, still ice on the wood, etc. Maybe this afternoon will be time for more “wood chucking.”
“The stockings were hung from the chimney with care. . . “
Got one of these several years back at my fav “fell off the back of a truck” store for a tiny fraction of the cost I found the one at Amazon. Should have gotten several of them at the time, but I do know some folks for whom these might just make neat lil stocking stuffers now. *cough* Have to think about that. Quickly. *heh*
How Much Wood Can a Wood Chuck(er) Chuck?
Not all THAT much, but after this AM’s “wood chucking exercises,” I slowed down with a cuppa coffee enhanced with a weed tad of cayenne pepper and baking cocoa. Enjoyed the cat-in-the-lap, too. Had to. He said so. After release from “lap duty,” some stretches, etc. Better. Pulse high of only 114 BPM, cool down and recovery to lowest of day: 51 BPM. Getting a wee bit better. Maybe I can eventually make the doc less of a liar the next time he tells me I’m in “pretty good shape for someone [my] age.” *heh* Maybe.
A Performance Above (or Below) and Beyond
Why I Am Grateful That I Do Not Have Any “Constitutional Rights”
(A different kind of Thanksgiving post)
“Constitutional rights” implies that rights emanate from the government. They do not. No form of government anywhere, at any time, can or could grant rights. We have natural, inherent rights that the Constitution supposedly obligates the federal government to protect. As the seminal document of our country explicitly and correctly states,
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights. . . ” Government’s only legitimate excuse for existence is to protect those rights. When it does not, it delegitimizes itself.
I believe this is an important distinction, one that should never be compromised or blurred in any way. So-called “rights” granted by a government are nothing but licenses and can be revoked. As Jefferson further said of but one inherent right, so all:
“The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time. The hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them.”
The “hand of force” is ONLY ever legitimately deployed in defense of inherent rights, never in attacking them, for attacking inherent rights = attacking the very lives of those to whom they belong. BTW, this is key in understanding the libertarian–lowercase “l”–non-aggression principle: initiating violence against another is wrong. Responding with violence to someone (or some organization) that is violating one’s rights or the rights of another is not wrong; it is just.
So, given the tendency of governments everywhere toward anarcho-tyrrany, or just outright tyranny, I am grateful that it is God and not governments Who grants us our rights.
Password Management
Is It Worth Paying for a Password Manager?
Maybe. Read what Dave Hatter has to say about it.
I have used Lastpass for quite some time, now, although I also keep an encrypted backup of my passwords (regularly updated with changes, as needed, including the password to my Lastpass account) on a flash drive stored in my safe. The pass phrase for THAT is derived from a 17th Century French art song (so, easy for me to recall), but is, of course, obfuscated/changed from the original lyrics. A separate encrypted file contains just that password, with no reference detailing what it is for, embedded in another text file and available to one person who owns that device but does not have access to the safe w/o a trusted third party.
If I am gone or merely “vegetized,” someone will be able to access my data, close out accounts, etc.
And no, that doesn’t make my data secure, just slightly less accessible.
N.B. You might want to also consider encrypting all your removable devices (flash drives, USB-attached drives, NASes, SIMMs in phones, etc.). Sure, it can be a very small hassle entering pass phrases and decrypting/re-encrypting drives, etc., whenever new sessions are initiated, but do you really want all your data to be “in the clear”? Heck, consider something like Proton email and encouraging family and friends to do likewise so all your email is also encrypted and thus LESS accessible to others. Privacy is your right, but YOU need to at least attempt to enforce it. Assess what you want to keep to yourself and take appropriate steps.
Harking Back. . .
. . .to decades past, we’ve decided to go a different direction this year than we’ve gone for Xmas decos for, oh, maybe 12 years or so. For a bit more than a deco, we’ve not had any sort of traditional Xmas tree, not even the artificial tree we purchased about 30-*mumble* years ago, One year we just decided to pull a lil 2′ tall artificial tree w/LED lights out from behind the TV where it generally serves as backlight, and then shove it back behind the TV for the rest of the year. That’s worked well for ~ a decade or so.
This year,
It’s a start, anyway. we have created a feeling of more room by eliminating a bit of furniture, so it was pretty easy to add an artificial tree back into the mix. *shrugs* Yeh, it lacks the presence of a real tree, but it’s less messy and doesn’t create yet more wood waste to process with out chipper-shredder. It also packs more compactly than our old artificial tree.
I need to donate old artificial tree to the local thrift shop. with a lil TLC, I imagine someone might benefit.
And no. Before you e ven ask or comment, it is not too early to put up decos inside. Outside is a different matter, but I think we’ll limit that to just a nice wreath on the door.
Proposal for a Sane Society
Code duello: we need to bring it back. The trick would be to ensure one is the challenged party, in order to be able to specify the weapons used. There is a range of weapons I would not mind being able to specify, including pillows on one end of the range. “Death by pillow fight” would be a great thing to have put in a deserving fellow’s obituary.
Words: They Do Not Mean What You Think They Mean. . .
. . .IF you are a lazy, subliterate “Dunning-Krugerand.”
Read a book where a lazy, subliterate “Dunning-Krugerand” writer committed a LOT (No, more than what you think of as “a lot,” MUCH more) of usage errors, on top of other basic grammar and orthography errors, including using “squib” (yes, with a “b”) to refer to a couple of retired Navy characters. No. I tired of typing,
“#GAGAMAGGOT!!!! SQUID, you subliterate “Dunning-Krugerand” moron, SQUID!” and so intend to include something like this in an Amazon review (though I’ll include other examples of evidence that no literate eye gave a glance at the book before it was published):
“squib:
noun
a small firework consisting of a tube filled with powder that makes a hissing noise when it is lit”
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/squib
Also, re: firearms:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squib_load
“A squib load, also known as a squib round, pop and no kick, or just a squib, is a firearm malfunction in which a fired projectile does not have enough force behind it to exit the barrel, and thus becomes stuck.”
SQUID, OTOH,
“A term used in the old Navy (not the store), Squid is what other branches
(especially Marines) generally called sailors.”
Writers who do not care enough about their craft and who have no respect whatsoever for those they expect to pay for their “work,” and who therefore see no need to become literate are just wannabe thieves, seeking to steal $$ from readers for NOT doing their work, and to steal time better used to read or do other things. Note to wannabe writers: unless you can at least pass an “English as a second language” course, just write in your native tongue (for those who grew up in an English speaking milieu, that might well be gibberish. Very well, write your gibberish openly so that literate folks can more easily avoid it. Thankfully, many subliterate self-pubs write their own book blurbs. . . ).
I don’t want to be mean, but. . . “He MADE me do it!” *heh*
Another example, this one a whole sentence, illustrates a different frustration I experience with “Dunnig-Krugerite” writers.
“The palace is more than a thousand years old, [and was] once a stop for traders from the Silk Road.”
So, it was once a caravansaral (caravanari, caravanserai, caravansary). Would have been easier to just use the right word, viz., “. . .once a caravansaral on the Silk Road.” Oh, but wait. That would assume that both the writer and his intended audience had a working vocabulary larger than the typical fifth grader.