Glibertarians.com 2018 Archive

Author: SP

  • Our Daily Bread

    Our Daily Bread

    “‘A loaf of bread,’ the Walrus said, ‘is what we chiefly need….’” —Lewis Carroll

    sourdough wheat by SP
    My grandmother, whom I’ve talked about here before, made every loaf of bread her family ever consumed. She was 96 when she died and still baking bread right up until the last couple months of her life. Being the grandchild most like her, and the lucky student of much of her practical homesteading knowledge, I’ve been baking bread since I was a child of about five1.

    jesse.in.mb and I regularly chat about bread. We aren’t crazy-obsessed bread bakers, but we’re both always experimenting and sharing our tasty results with the other Founders lucky enough to reside near (or with) us2.

    One of our common loves is sourdough.

    Sourdough starter has been used as a leavening agent for bread since even before OMWC was in short pants.

    sourdough twosome by jesse.in.mb
    Recently, sourdough has been enjoying a bit of a renaissance. The New York Times3 did a nice article a couple years ago, which includes several recipes.

    Sourdough starter can be used for so many things! Bread, of course, but also pancakes, waffles, crepes, muffins, cookies, cakes, tortillas, hushpuppies, pizza dough, crackers, and even noodles.

    While baking multiple loaves of bread this past weekend, I started wondering if anyone else among the Glibertariat is a sourdough baker4. As each starter is unique depending on composition and kitchen of origin, I’d love to start a sourdough starter exchange sometime. Any takers?



    1. So almost 4 years now!
    2. We also share our baking photos with those far away, just to torment them a little.
    3. Sometimes the NYT isn’t completely evil.
    4. And also why so few of the Glibs are submitting recipes. Link at top of page!

    Click images to enlarge.

    sourdough Texas waffle by SP
  • Who Should We Follow on Social Media?

    Who Should We Follow on Social Media?

    It’s been a while since we did a social media round-up. Since I’ve just started a liberty-centric Twitter account, I thought I’d ask the Glibertariat for input again on favorite social media accounts to follow. Not limited to Twitter.

    Self-promotion encouraged. Please include your own accounts in your comment if desired.

    Here are some Glib Founder accounts:

    Glib HQ (previously only auto tweets when articles are posted, considering upgrade)

    OMWC

    Playa Manhattan

    Riven

    Sloopy

    SP

    Your turn!

  • Grrrrr

    Yes, I know.

    I had previously renewed the security cert, but apparently Comodo has not seen fit to update their records. DO NOT TAKE MY MONEY AND FAIL TO DELIVER THE PROMISED SERVICE.

    Stay tuned.

    In the meantime, we are still safe and un-hacked. Accept our “unsafety” and click through anyway.

    Now I need a drink.

  • From the Mailbox

    Rand(om) Spammer. Not a Glib although it does look like Winston's Mom's basement.I, for one, am heartened to see that spammers in 2018 here in Trump’s AmericaTM are now at least trying to tailor their spam to the pages and posts which they target. This is a new and classier breed of spammer. Spammers who take pride in their work. Spammers who go the extra mile. The best spammers. And the Glibertariat can be proud that we’ve got ’em.

    Let me reassure you, gentle reader, that I am not singling out a certain Glib whose posts were recently captured by the spam filters for somewhat obvious reasons. No, it is not The Accidental Spammer to whom I refer, but rather, the spammer who employs penny-a-post orphans laboring in shitholes worldwide, who seeks to dupe naive site admins into “partnering” with them by having said orphans fill out the website contact form.

    Here are three of my recent favorites.

    Exhibit 1.

    The exceptional spammers of today know what really matters to the Glibs: sports. Our extensive sports coverage (thanks, Sloopy!) prompted the following:

    My name is Joey and I’m a writer at [made up magazine]. I was doing research on tennis training and just finished reading your wonderful blog post: https://glibertarians.com/2017/06/thursday-morning-links-16/

    In that article, I noticed that you cited a solid post that I’ve read in the past: [article: martina-navratilova-calls-margaret-court-homophobe-open-letter]

    I just finished writing a guide that is even more detailed, updated and comprehensive on tennis training. It is spread over multiple pages (30k+ words in total) and packed with practical tips and advice. This is completely free and you can find it here: [website redacted by SP to protect the innocent and their devices]

    If you like the guide we’d be humbled if you cited us in your article. Of course, we will also share your article with our 50k newsletter subscribers and followers across our social platforms.

    Uh-huh. Game, set, and match to SP!

    Exhibit 2.

    Our Family Friendly Certification continues to pay dividends in ways too numerous to mention. We’re always looking for new writers that get what we’re about. Look! Here’s one!

    Hi,
    As a parent (and an educator), I know how important it is for parents to share helpful insight and advice with each other when it comes to raising our children. I’d like to do just that, so I’ve listed some great parenting resources below that I hope you find value in. I’ve included some articles with practical parenting advice as well as some focused on kids’ and parents’ mental health (I know how difficult this type of information can be to find). If you like these, I also encourage you to post them somewhere online – maybe on your page here: http://glibertarians.com/2017/03/monday-morning-links-4/?

    I appreciate your time, and if there is any other information I can send you, I’m happy to do so. I love to write in my spare time, so if you’d like me to write something on parenting especially for you, please let me know!

    Article: Keeping Kids Safe at Home: A Parent’s Guide to Child Safety (with Infographic)

    Maybe she noticed OMWC lurking in the backyard?

    Exhibit 3.

    On a recent STEVE SMITH links post, the industrious orphan scanned the article and decided that the perfect come-on to Glibs.com was as follows:

    I found the glibertarians.com website while browsing through some Outdoor themed sites and have to say I was extremely impressed with the many great resources your site displays!.

    I have recently added a really useful article – a camping checklist – to my blog. With the huge number of campers and hikers at all levels there are across the world now, I felt that creating an ultimate guide to inform, in particular beginners and casual campers was something of real interest.

    STEVE SMITH REAL INTERESTED AND BY INTERESTED MEAN….

  • Yeah, I Know

    As many of you have pointed out, there have been some extremely annoying changes happening to the site this past week. Yes, I was fully aware. Thank you.

    Most of the problems are cosmetic, but a couple are not. Comment numbering, I’m looking at you.

    This week was a perfect storm of massive security updates, starting with the machine that hosts our server, huge WordPress updates, a theme update and plugin updates because of the WP updates.

    All of these updates probably did make things more secure. But they also broke tons of stuff.

    I’ve been spending 18 hour days fixing all the new problems for my actual paying clients, so I apologize for not getting everything here at this labor of love straightened out yet.

    There will undoubtedly be ongoing, random issues as I address things here in my “free time” over the next few days. So, just be happy that the site still allows articles and commenting. And stay tuned.

    This concludes this Public Service Announcement. I now return you to your regularly scheduled snark.

  • Life Advice

    What’s the best piece(s) of advice you’ve ever received?

    I’ll start. I have four, which, when taken together, pretty much sum up my entire approach to life.

      1. Expect the best, but prepare for the worst.

      2. Keep it in perspective; this too shall pass. (This is the one I have trouble with.)

      3. The graveyard is full of indispensable people. (Used by my paternal grandmother whenever we were getting “high and mighty.”)

      4. You never know what someone is going through. Be kind.


    Your turn.

  • Tuesday Afternoon Links

    Who is the nicest Glib you know? Is it…Sloopy? Or maybe Brett L? We can automatically rule out HM, Swiss, SugarFree, and OMWC. Maybe jesse.in.mb or Riven.

    But, no, the answer is obvious. It’s me! Everybody else seems to be doing things that are “more important” than providing links and free-for-all commenting to you, our loyal Glibertariat. I, however, place your finite pleasures above all else.

    Blocked by passwords, FBI can’t unlock over half of devices seized as evidence. “A senior FBI official said the share of devices that couldn’t be opened is the highest yet. ‘It’s a problem that keeps getting worse,’ the official said.” I don’t know about you, but that seems like a feature, not a bug to me.

    Feinstein releases transcript of interview with Fusion GPS co-founder. “In his testimony, Simpson rejected suggestions — pushed by Trump allies and Republicans in Congress — that Fusion paid journalists to publish anti-Trump material.” I believe him. They don’t need to actually pay the journalists to do this when they already do it as part of their normal workday.

    The NHS Crisis: Austerity, Not Single Payer, Kills. “The NHS has been consistently under-funded by the Conservative government. It’s not just cuts, though May cut spending on public health—things like sexual health services—in 2017. It’s that its increases in funding cannot compete with rises in demand, particularly with an aging population and a lack of social care.” Instead of increased funding, they could just try Death Panels. Oh, wait, they already do that.

    ‘We don’t got this’: Airmen can’t be pushed to the point of failure, secretary says “It is not fair for this nation to ask our commanders to keep saying ‘We got this’ right up to the point of failure, because we don’t got this.” You’ll love her solution.

    Anitere Flores and Oscar Braynon apologize or Florida Man and Florida Woman with political power have affair and get caught. OK, you got me. Not sure how that is actually news.



    What? You were expecting sports? Sports ended this autumn for me when Aaron Rodgers got broken. Hardest hit? No! Not Rodgers! SP, that’s who!

    Reminded of this by Q’s excellent post. Have a great rest of your day wherever you are, Glibs!

  • Employment Survey

    Employment Survey

    Artists working


    Often in the links comment threads, Glibs mention various aspects of their employment lives. It got me wondering what all everyone does, and for whom.*

    Do you work for a small, medium, or large company? Is it multinational or local? Are you self-employed? Are you government-employed? Student? Retired? Independently wealthy?

    Are you a butcher, baker, or candlestick maker?

    SP in 15 years

    I’ll start. I am self-employed. I work as both a professional artist and I help clients solve various business and marketing challenges through my digital strategy company.


    UPDATE! This was so interesting and something to which the community may want to refer in the future, so I’m linking it permanently in the website front page side bar, just above the Recent Comments section.

    Thank you! I loved learning about all the interesting stuff everyone does and getting to know you better.


    *Yes, I’m expecting many replies to be, “Fuck off, Slaver!”

  • New Year Site Update

    New Year Site Update

    Happy New Year, Glibs!

    Just wanted to point out a couple new site features, in case you haven’t noticed them.

    1. I’ve added a Recipe Submission form that can be found on the top navigation menu on desktop version, and toward the bottom of the menu on mobile. We’ve been talking about creating a Glibertarians.com cookbook; this is the first step in gathering recipes so they can be formatted consistently. I’m planning on also creating a section of the site to house all the recipes.

    2. The Search function has been changed to index comments, in addition to posts. Be aware that because we have over 406,000 comments (so far), it may take a little while to search and searching for very common terms might result in a gateway timeout. Try to be as specific as you can for best results.

    3. The GlibFit posts will be found by going to the obviously-named GlibFit category. I’ve added a link in the footer menu for easy access since the posts will be quickly pushed off the front page.

    That’s it for now!