Gregory is a truly exceptional young man. I have had many marvelous conversations with him over the last few years, and I hope he can gain the recognition he deserves among those who think rationally. This is his latest at Everything-Voluntary.com.

The Power of Why
by Gregory V. Diehl

[snip]

Literally.

Precisely one week ago, Anders Monsen published his top 50 libertarian fiction list, and included the rules he chose. I particularly like his restriction of only one choice per author; not only does it help spread the love around, as it were, but it encourages the listmaker to reflect on the various volumes of, for example, Robert Heinlein and to attempt to articulate the ineffable: Which one do I really like best, and is good at promoting liberty?

I don’t know where I came across the article originally, but I bookmarked it to return to and read through at my leisure, because the title and bit I skimmed were so intriguing. I’m so glad I did.

Not just food treats, either. It’s proving to be more of a challenge than I anticipated.

The local food movement has been big out here long before it really became a thing—which shouldn’t be surprising, since this region has a lot of agriculture and a fairly long growing season (and a lot of hippie types of all ages). Newly ensconced in one of the oldest sections of town one year ago this month, we were very happy to see that several homeowners nearby had converted their boring lawns into prime gardening spaces. A few have really invested in their urban gardening, constructing attractive raised beds and filling the area around them with warmth-hoarding rock.

In the course of conversations about many of the high profile incidents being used to further the efforts of politicians and socialists of all stripes, especially the gun grabbers, the thing that came to my mind over and over was the question: by what authority? Why do so many people assume, or even enthusiastically agree with the idea that politicians, bureaucrats and "law enforcement" entities and personalities have some absolute and undeniable authority to do whatever it is they do, and to force that on all the rest of us who do not agree with their plans?

... please be assured: no one is completely devoid of value.

Here's a "project" we could easily do, and promote everywhere. Feel free to edit and add/subtract questions, of course. I know you will anyway. :)

Absolutely sterling article... print off these "questions" and offer them to anyone who wants any sort of infringement on our self defense rights. Could start a real discussion, once in a while anyway. I intend to post this all over the place. Oh, and how many of those questions can WE answer accurately? I had to look up two of them. ML

4 Copy Editors Killed in Ongoing AP Style, Chicago Manual Gang Violence.

And I have a mission for 2013.

Just playing around with short stories... Sometimes, the things that irritate us the most might come to mean something else again.

Ghost story...

Climbing out of bed, she padded down the dark hallway to the front door, wondering who would be calling at this time of night.

She hated that doorbell. It sounded worse than long fingernails scrapped across a blackboard. Now, there was a statement that showed her age.

Saw this and immediately thought of all of you.
"♫ Scottish Music- Auld Lang Syne ♫"

From very early days, I was taught to sing as a way to improve my speech (because I was partly deaf), and by the time I was in college I was an accomplished classical soprano (but nowhere near "professional" of course). Anyway, I loved to sing, and did so at every opportunity throughout most of my life.

I don’t recall if I’ve mentioned it here previously, but two years ago the snolfs and I started celebrating the winter solstice. Since I’m not a Christian, it seemed silly to celebrate Christmas, and to me personally New Year’s Eve is nothing special, since it’s simply a marker of time on one of many arbitrary calendars. I turned to my Scandinavian heritage and—not surprisingly at all—discovered that the winter solstice was a very important occasion for my ancestors. That made the decision to celebrate it very easy; but it hasn’t been until this year that we’ve been fully free to create our own celebration.