Survivalists (a word I “cling to” over the less agressive term “prepper”) communities talk like they “swing for the bleachers”. There’s a reason for this; stories about “Bert Gummer and his six truckloads of ammunition” is flashier than “Adaptive Curmudgeon manages to keep the chicken water thawed”. However, we live in the real world where “small ball” is the wiser path to freedom.
Time for another small step on that path. First some background and navel gazing:
In 2008 there was a kerfuffle about the IRS withholding tax exempt status from conservative causes as part of the “elect Obama or die trying” mood of the times. It’s a serious offense which (in my eyes) was never rectified. (As an aside: This may be a root of the left’s current post-election freak out. They weaponized bureaucracies without considering someone like Trump might someday be in charge. Right wingers are fools if they create powers they wouldn’t want operated by Al Gore. Left wingers ought to ponder every regulation as it would be implemented by Dick Cheney. Socialists should have imagined Obamacare as implemented by Darth Vader.)
Conservatives moaned about the unfairness of it all. They were missing the point. The first thing organizations claiming to “fight for liberty” did was request bureaucratic acceptance? If you’re going to “stand up to the man” why whine when you don’t get tax favored status from “the man”? Consider it your first skirmish in a glorious career of “standing up for stuff”.
It’s unfair that the “The Al Gore Glee Club and Obama Worship Fund” got instant tax-exempt status while “Monster Trucks for Jesus” and “The Republican Guns for Orphans Fund” got hosed. Life isn’t fair. Any “movement” that shits itself when it discovers that the IRS is mean needs to nut up.
I mentioned 2008 because I wanted to segue into 2016. All year the folks that run/own/manipulate “social media” proved they aren’t to be trusted. Everyone (on any side of the aisle) should limit exposure to “untrustworthy entities”. Nobody wants to fall for sudden yet inevitable betrayal. Here are a few instances of note:
Twitter: during the election cycle, Twitter introduced me to a new word; “shadowbanning”. Another enterprising fellow proved changing a single word from white to black changes Twitter’s reaction to an identical sentence from “hunky dory” to “hate”.
Solution? Don’t count on Twitter. Fuck ‘em. If you’re not of the anointed class you’re now fully informed that Twitter can and will stab you in the back. Learn it, know it, and behave accordingly. I don’t use Twitter so it’s an easy call for me.
Google: Google images for Hillary’s faceplant on 9/11 were buried behind a plethora of public relations headshots. I don’t know who performed what act on whom to get that kind of preferential treatment but they certainly got Google to salute! Forgetting about politics, if you Google “American Inventor” you’ll wade through the cast of Roots before you bump into Edison or Bell. The top “American Inventor” is Lewis Latimer. I’m not making that up. I’m sure Latimer is awesome but “an improved toilet system for railroad cars” seems less exciting than human flight or curing polio. Solution? Presume Google is full of shit because it often is.
Facebook: So many examples it’s too goofy to even mention. If you think Facebook is your friend you’re probably a gay, vegan, poet, in Los Angeles who’s never had an unpopular opinion on anything. Solution? I haven’t used Facebook in years.
WordPress: WordPress is a corporate entity that could wipe any blog they host from the face of the earth with the flip of a bit. Solution, don’t use wordpress for… OH SHIT!
My blog is hosted by wordpress.com. It’s a vice with a firm steely grip on my balls. Bad image in your head and bad practice for me.
Let me start out by saying WordPress has treated me well. I’ve never heard a peep out of ‘em. For all I know it’s all running on a 486DX in a closet in New Jersey and they’ll never mess with me. I write verbiage and they paste ads near my crap and we don’t piss each other off. I have no ill will toward wordpress.
It’s just that I am dependent on them and dependency is Latin for “eventually dumb blogger will get deleted”. WordPress can randomly decide talking to trees is a hate crime, owning a chainsaw is punishable by banishment, or crackpot theories about Abba are threats to civilization.
If they decide to “off” my blog I can’t do Jack shit to stop them. What kind of idiot would entertain such dependency after the lessons of 2016? Could any larger hint be possible?
Thus, Adaptive Curmudgeon will soon to go to a new hosting service. (Not yet… I’m still working on it.)
Don’t worry, it’ll be seamless to the six readers who care. How do I know this? Because someone smarter than me is handling it. (We both agree that any man who’s experienced a tractor fire in his garage should not play with advanced features in the blogging software.)
When the time comes, I’ll put up a redirect page on adaptivecurmudgeon.wordpress.com. I (or rather someone smarter than me) will move every post and comment from the last 6 years. (Who am I to deprive the world of my bullshit?) There may be fewer ads because wordpress’ ad system will go bye bye. There may be more because web hosting ‘aint free.
This is my Christmas present to myself (and you… if you care). What better present than peace of mind? Hopefully you can keep reading about lesbian squirrels forever.
Preparedness isn’t all MREs and tactical nukes in the basement. Sometimes it’s as simple as switching hosting services before I piss off a faceless corporation.
“six readers who care” So open for snark… oh, nevermind, who am I to mouth off about yer blog. It’s one of my frequent pleasures. I look forward to reading you at your new home.
BTW, I don’t have a basement. Is it too gauche to keep the tac nukes in the garage? What about an out building? Don’t tell the landlord…
Technically if you have a tactical nuke two main rules apply:
1. You can put it in basements, garages, barns, or anywhere else on your property… because you’re a goddamn menace that nobody can stop. This is called the “North Korea Doctrine”.
2. Nobody with a tactical nuke in the basement would say anything about it on a blog. This is called “The NSA is Listening to Your Fool Ass” effect.
If I were you I wouldn’t mention it to the landlord either. But that’s up to you. 🙂
“you’re a goddamn menace that nobody can stop” Hell, yeah! Thanks for noticing.
“I wouldn’t mention it to the landlord” But I was counting on him to do some wiring. I’ve got him beat on the theory part and he has field experience (doing commercial wiring but I’m sure it transfers seamlessly over to hooking up nukes, right?).
If you lose your subscriber list I will be sad. And confused. Oh, wait, that’s every day. Nevermind.
I will warn the guy who’s smarter than me that the very existence of civilization depends on the continued existence of that list. I’m pretty sure it’s do-able to maintain it.
Sounds like sound reasoning; it must be too early to drink (I dunno what that phrase means, but I’ve heard it & thought it’d work).
I’ll follow you. I’m sure the other five readers will as well.
“To freedom and stupidity”!
Thanks! I’m also thinking of scratching together a logo with “Freedom and Stupidity” on it. Sigh… I miss that duck.
I hope you will not lose the mailing list of your subscribers in the process…
I don’t think I’ll lose my list of subscribers.
‘Bout damn time you got off of WordPress and moved your WordPress to an independent WordPress host. I sure as hell don’t see you switching to Joomla. Just saying it makes my eye twitch.
I wouldn’t know Joomla from Jenga so I think I dodged that bullet.
“(A) man who’s experienced a tractor fire in his garage” …
You never told us about that!
A TRACTOR fire? That ranks with Abba music playing lesbian squirrels as a threat to civilisation, sanity and sound practice.
Never mind the deer, pics, man! Pics is what is required!
The Tractor repair / rebuild turned into a 17 post Saga! A novella’s worth of my mechanical ineptitude. (A bargain at the price of zero!)
Check about halfway down the Notable Sagas page for the series: Tractor Repair Curmudgeon style (vaguely chronological).
If you want to cut straight to the fire go to
Tractor Of The Damned: Part VI (Meet Mr. Dipstick) followed by Tractor Of The Damned: Part VII (Dipstick’s Diagnosis) (FIRE!) and Tractor Of The Damned: Part VIII (Dipstick Is Saved By Chickadees)
Incidentally the tractor ran fine for a few years but it’s kaput again now. It’s on my to do list.
Also I’m looking for a front mounted snowplow. If you’ve got an N series front mounted snowplow drop me a line!
A logo! I could.. like.. yaknow have a patch made up and put it on a new hat! I’m seeing a duck squatting in front of a sunburst.. head turned to the side ever so.. bill tipped up looking into the eyes of the future with a grim don’t F – – k with me smerk… mayhaps with one wing holding up a billowing Black flag! Or! Standing center atop a fence rail with both wings held up above it’s bowling pin head and a corn cob in it’s gob! Yaknow like the eagle on what passes for the great seal of Los Estados Unidos. AC… I’m getting inspired! I’m hearing Les Mise’rables in my head ……
That’s a lot like I was thinking! I was imagining a seal with the duck and some details to indicate his general awesomeness. Possibly wearing a Viking helm (he’s in Valhalla) or a three corner hat, gripping an AR15 in one wing and a beer in the other. Or maybe a Gadsden flag? Corn cob is good idea. I was also imagining the duck’s slogan “Freedom and Stupidity”.
Sigh… if only I could draw. Hiring it done is on my to-do list but it’s a very long list.
If it happens I’ll have to make hats or shirts or something just so I can have one and I’ll surely put a few up for sale.
To use the correct heraldic terminology, you want a duck rampant on firewood chevron with crossed axes argent on a field of unmown grass (not sure of the heraldic terminology for an unkempt lawn so field will have to do) on a shield (the pile of firewood will, of course be per chevron), two bezants of lawnmower either side.
That should cover it and applied to the Curmudgeon letterhead should impress the recipients of the written word, rant or other communication official. You’ll have to think up an Armorial family motto (possibly “Noli irritare leonem” which means irritate not the lion – a posher version of don’t poke the bear) but then you’d need a support for the shield – possibly tractors. Or shotguns but definitely NOT squirrels.
And it’s funny you should mention snowploughs but I don’t have one. I’m off to read “Tractor of the Damned”. For a punchier title, you should have stuck with “Damned Tractor” but that’s just my opinion before reading it …
At least seven readers who care. Like it or not, you’re kind of a thing.
Thanks. Please don’t abandon me when I move!
Pingback: Building The New Cyber Bunker | Adaptive Curmudgeon