Archive for technology
News of the Week: Let’s Do a Little Lifehacking
Posted by: |Recapping the interesting and significant news of this past week.
I am a big fan of Lifehacker.com for its useful tips and tricks with technology and life in general. Recently I found a few particularly useful and insightful posts that are worth sharing. First, How to Quickly Read a Terms of Service. Have you ever read a TOS from start to finish? Fat chance. But there are definitely ways to get down to the most important stuff in minimal time.
When was the last time you said you didn’t have the time to do something? You probably told someone that at least once in the past week. But really, what we mean when we say that is “that activity isn’t as important to me as something else.” That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s good to finally say that. It’s kind of freeing. Here is an article that addresses that kind of language: Instead of Saying “I Don’t Have Time,” Say “It’s Not a Priority”.
I am a big proponent of the idea that you should work smarter, not harder. It turns out that it is almost always a bad a idea to work longer.
When your work overwhelms you, you need to get organized. But how, exactly, do you do that? Try David Allen’s GTD methodology.
Being extremely good at anything almost always involves being somewhat addicted.
Back to a little politics…
Have your heard about this ridiculous debate around after-birth abortion? It is definitely the logical conclusion of the pro-abortion philosophy, but even lefties like Slate think it is completely out of control – and that’s saying something!
Wayne Root, former VP candidate for the Libertarian Party in 2008 and current member of the Libertarian Party National Committee, recently had a radio interview where is said “It’s gotta be Romney, there is no choice.” I have never been a big fan of Root, but this is completely terrible.
And finally, here is a funny pick that Doug Stuart sent me:
If you have missed the most recent LCC posts from the past week or so, here is what’s up:
- The Year of the Bible in Pennsylvania
- On the Consistency of Christian Libertarianism
- Radio interview with the Aaron Barker Program today–listen live!
- Responding to Tim Suttle
Have some relevant news and links you want to share? Post in the comments below. I read every comment and respond to almost all of them. Let me know what you’re thinking!
Tags: abortion, Libertarian Party, libertarianism, life, politics, technology
News of the Week: The Great Gibson Guitar Raid
Posted by: |Recapping the interesting and significant news of this past week.
Last week I mentioned that I would be defending my PhD Thesis in Chemical Engineering. Well, I passed! The DOCTOR is IN!
Have you joined the Christian libertarian Facebook Group yet? There has been a lot of interesting discussion going on in this group, and you are welcome to join in. Just this week alone we added nearly 100 members, totaling to over 400! It’s a great time to be a Christian libertarian, so please add yourself to this great group of people (and “Like” the LCC page while you’re at it).
Onward to the real news…
Joe Carter at the Acton Institute PowerBlog writes about Gleaner Technology, borrowing the principle of “gleaning” from scripture (see Deut. 24:19) to describe basic technologies that can help the poor in unique ways. It’s a bit of a stretch, but I appreciate this idea nonetheless. His first example: solar bottle lights.
Wired published some neat articles on science in the past week. There has been some significant controversy surrounding a find in a lab in Italy where neutrinos were traveling faster than the speed of light (this would have been a monumental discovery). But, turns out it could be just a faulty cable. Wired also wrote about a rare book fair where some original copies of the greatest works of science written hundreds of years ago were displayed and sold. It is really neat to observe how humanity has progressed in this arena.
In other random science news, Slate reports that shale oil has been a major boon to the production of petroleum products. It’s nice to see this immensely innovative process recognized. Of course, it also disparages “peak oil” alarmists (the new Malthusians, I think). People forget that basic economics explains so much of what goes on in these types of industries sometimes, you know, supply and demand changes tend to incentivize new, unanticipated means to production?
James Madison came up in two interesting articles this past week. First, Ray Nothstine at Acton writes about Madison and religious conscience. I would add that Madison is right, but it is because of the principle of self-ownership. Second, Tom Woods reviews Kevin Gutzman’s latest book on Madison at LewRockwell.com – it’s a great article that you should definitely check out.
Did you know that the Feds raided the Gibson Guitar Company’s factory in Tennessee TWICE in the past 3 years for an obscure violation of the Lacey act? What is more, they still have not been charged with a crime! I suppose I am particularly infuriated because I am a guitarist, but this is pretty outrageous. ReasonTV made the following video to report on their plight. It is nice to see Rand Paul come to their defense in the Senate.
Rand Paul also blocked an egregious synthetic drug ban in the Senate. This is a good move by Rand, for sure.
Did you visit LCC this week? Here’s what you missed if not:
- The Law is Written on Our Hearts by Isaac Morehouse
- The Problem with Public Education by Laurence Vance
Have some relevant news and links you want to share? Post in the comments below. I read every comment and respond to almost all of them. Let me know what you’re thinking!
Tags: charity, crime, economics, government, poverty, regulation, science, technology
Recapping the interesting and significant news of this past week.
Tom Woods posted a fun article this week concerning 26 Things Non-Paul Voters are Basically Saying.
Sadly, Judge Andrew Napolitano’s FreedomWatch show on FoxBusiness is being canceled. Not cool, Fox.
An LCC reader sent me an interesting interview from the BBC with Alexandre Christoyannopoulos asking if Jesus was an anarchist.
The Onion satirizes that Iran is concerned that the U.S. is on the verge of obtaining its 8500th nuclear weapon. Oh noez!
If you’re a V for Vendetta fan, you might find this article interesting about the culture connection between V and the hacker group Anonymous.
I find technology trends quite interesting, and of course one of the hottest trends right now is tablet computing. Dan Moren writes about using his iPad as his only work computer for a three days.
You ought to give a Fed Valentine this week.
If you are like me, you sort of threw up in your mouth during Clint Eastwood’s Super Bowl commercial. Reason.tv responds with this:
Did you visit LCC this week? Here’s what you missed if not:
Have some relevant news and links you want to share? Post in the comments below. I read every comment and respond more often than not. Let me know what you’re thinking!
Tags: anarchy, iran, News of the Week, Ron Paul, technology, Tom Woods, V for Vendetta, video, war
Lighter fare for today
Posted by: |And now for something completely different… Ok not completely different, but some lighter fare for today because it’s a nice summer day and we’ve been tackling some really heavy stuff of late. I haven’t done any link posts for a while because I’ve been super-busy, but here are some really great sites/articles/funny things that have caught my attention. But first, a joke.
The philosopher Descartes walks into a bar. The bartender says, “Are you having a beer?” Descartes says, “I think not!” … and ceases to exist.
(cue groaning) Ok, onward to links…
Check it out, LCC was mentioned on Forbes.com!
This interview with Bill Gates is fascinating if you’re business-inclined.
Biometric data collection is an old idea, but with all sorts of new miniaturized technologies on the horizon it is possible to do some pretty amazing things. Check out this article for more information.
How valuable is a college degree anyway?
Did you know that the Fed has a 16 trillion dollar slush fund? Whoa.
The UK is cracking down on anybody who considers themselves an “anarchist.” I grant that there are violent “anarchists” out there, but hey there are violent “Christians” too. Don’t let the government define the terms – down with classificationism!
Save your friends from outdated email!
I love it when government agencies go toe-to-toe with each other. Check out how NASA’s latest research blows a “gaping hole” in anthropogenic global warming alarmism.
Tom Woods slams NCR for their position on using WMDs on civilians.
A Federal Court has ruled that the TSA’s scanners are constitutional, but the TSA didn’t follow the right procedures for their implementation. I’m honestly not sure if this is a negative or a positive yet.
The Evolution of Intellectual Freedom.
If you enjoy reading about technology, check out this article about the state of the tablet and e-reader market. And another interesting development: Why Borders Failed While Barnes and Noble Survived.
There was a hilarious series of comics on Pearls Before Swine (my favorite serial) about government, revolution, and getting thrown in jail for trying to start one. Start here and proceed forward for about 14 days of the comics. Takes only a little time to read through it all. You’ll thank me later… 
That’s all for now, stay tuned for more later this week!
Tags: business, comics, fun, News, politics, technology
Introducing StopAustinScanners.org
Posted by: |One of the projects I’ve had going for the past few weeks is designing a new website informing people about the dangers of full-body scanners in airports, and in particular to organize Texans to oppose them to their representatives. It’s called StopAustinScanners.org. Check it out, I bet you’ll learn something!
We are working on a series of forms that you can use to email representatives directly and express your concerns. The way we are doing it is pretty cool, I cannot say that I have seen it done this way before.
I’ll probably post more about the scanner/pat-down issue in the next few weeks. There is a ton of activist effort going on here in Austin, and I’ve been involved in a lot of it. It is, quite seriously, a watershed moment for the liberty movement, because it represents people from all sides coming to grips with “enough is enough.” And that, my friends, is when liberty provides the answer for how to get rid of the “enough.”
I’ll keep in touch, and in the meantime check out StopAustinScanners.org and my friend Wes’s site TSA Tyranny.
Tags: privacy, statism, technology
Norman Horn is the creator and primary writer for LCC. Learn a little bit about him in the 