Mark's Views, Perhaps — from behind my eyeballs
Yeah, I know.
That’s Facebook’s line.
But they’ve been having issues over there.
So this is my Pay the Community Back post.
Facebook refugee, itching to tell the world what’s on your mind and unable to do so there, you’ve found a place of refuge.
So tell us in the comments below: What is on your mind?!
In scanning the comments of a post at a UK news site, I saw a new-to-me concept: Having Linux on a travel drive to use for online banking.
Is that a sensible thing to do? Why or why not?
Do you do it? If so, tell me about the advantages as well as the process to setting it up. I have no experience with Linux.
First, I saw it mentioned in the print edition of World Magazine.
Then I saw a Google Alert link to it at the Los Angeles Times.
No, no, no! Not the federal budget. The Budget.
We used to “take” the Budget. I bought Ruby a one-year subscription several years ago. She enjoyed using it to catch up on old friends from Bible School days. Maybe I should teach her how to use Facebook as a less-expensive substitute.
Well, anyway. Here’s a bit from the LA Times piece:
For the Amish, newspapers are in no danger
With online competitors posing no threat, the Budget holds steady, linking communities with news about new silos, tomato blight and neighbors who’ve been kicked by a horse.
[…]
The Budget is not your typical newspaper. Since 1890, it has served as the primary communication link among Amish settlements across the country.
And at a time when papers big and small are struggling amid plummeting circulation and intense online competition, the Budget is holding steady. The vast majority of the paper’s reporters — called scribes — are Amish and Mennonite volunteers, hundreds of men and women who send handwritten dispatches in from rural outposts. Their only payment is a free subscription, worth $42 a year.
I should see if they need a scribe from Yoder, Oregon. Maybe I could pen a weekly report as a handwritten dispatch from our rural outpost. That’d be pretty neat.
“This is news we care about, and it comes fast enough for us.”
That sounds kinda revolutionary these days.
(OK, OK — they do have a Web site: The Budget.) 😯
I did something very, very unusual for me a few minutes ago.
I stood out in the cool, breezy, gathering gloom.
And watched the sunset’s brilliant orange fade.
What beauty!
And I came up with this question:
How is a sunset like life?
Your answer?
Shop — as in, shop all you want and set up shop all you want.
Drop — as in, drop the above notion(s).
Hop — as in, hop right along to other ventures and venture-ers.
Now, before any further explanations of the title or of the above explanations, a quote to rivet in your head:
Good. That sounds commendable enough to me. I mean, any reasonable person should be in favor of not making that kind of decision.
With no further introduction or commentary….
New Government Policy Imposes Strict Standards on Garage Sales Nationwide
Americans who slap $1 pricetags on their used possessions at garage sales or bazaar events risk being slapped with fines of up to $15 million, thanks to a new government campaign.
The “Resale Round-up,” launched by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, enforces new limits on lead in children’s products and makes it illegal to sell any items that don’t meet those limits or have been recalled for any other reason.
[…]
In order to comply, stores, flea markets, charities and individuals selling used goods — in person or online — are expected to consult the commission’s 24-page Handbook for Resale Stores and Product Resellers (pdf) and its Web site for a breakdown of what they can’t sell.
Violators caught selling anything on the enormous list face fines of up to $100,000 per infraction and up to $15 million for a related series of infractions.
Waddle that do for eBay, Craig’s List, Amazon, Roth’s Curiosity Corner, Anabaptist Bookstore, and your great aunt’s garage sale?
😯
Breaking Discovery: I was ready to publish this post. I decided to pause long enough to have a peek at the CPSC site. Here’s a quote:
Do you see any connections in the sharp news headlines?
Russia, Iran, Israel, North Korea — are you ready?