Glibertarians.com 2018 Archive

Category: Poll

  • Poll: Online Security Practices

    Poll: Online Security Practices

    Some people call me paranoid; I say I’m realistic.

    I employ a variety of methods in an attempt to make my online security and privacy somewhat “better.” Will any of these practices stop the NSA from reading my emails and perusing my search history (or prevent them from downloading the 16 million dick pics from OMWC and the Founders that are on my phone)? Highly unlikely. Will it stop the average neighborhood scammer or corporate marketing team from harvesting my info? Maybe. Do I feel better at least trying to salvage some remnant of privacy? Definitely.

    Because I believe in learning from my fellow sufferers of PPD, tonight I’d like to hear about what the rest of the Glib community does and recommends.
     

    Under the principle of situational awareness and not being the easy target, there are some basics that should be followed, but I acknowledge there can be exceptions to some things on this list.

    • Securely password your home wifi connections.
    • Don’t visit websites with “porn” or “pr0n” in the name.
    • Don’t use Facebook or other social media, and for the love of all that is holy, NEVER use Facebook Messenger.
    • Don’t click on HM’s links.
    • Don’t visit websites that aren’t https.
    • Turn off Siri and Google Assistant.
    • Use long passwords.
    • Don’t use a password on more than one site.
    • Use two-factor authentication when possible.
    • Don’t write your passwords down.
    • Don’t let apps on your mobile devices or laptop track your location.
    • Don’t store credit cards in apps or online profiles for rewards programs.
    • Tape over your computer’s camera lens and disable the microphone.
    • Never click on a link in an email from “your bank.”
    • Use a separate, secure mailing address for financial purposes (ideally in a zip code different from your home).
    • Don’t answer phone calls from Unknown Numbers. (In fact, I don’t give my real phone number to anyone. Or, actually, ever answer the phone.)
    • Don’t hand out your credit card number to everyone.
    • Buy stock in aluminum foil and learn how to fashion a stylish hat using origami techniques.
    • Unplug, Faraday cage and cellphone block your IoT devices when not in use, if you must have them in your house. This includes your Amazon FireTV box.
    • Don’t give your social security number and bank account information to Prince Adesola when he emails you offering a great deal in return for your help.

     

    So, what else do I do?

    1. I use a VPN at all times, whether from my home networks, public wifi, or on my mobile devices (even on data). I am currently using ProtonVPN from the ProtonMail folks. To me, it’s worth the small degradation in speed. I have a “Plus” subscription.

    2. Tor browser.

    3. DuckDuckGo for search.

    4. ProtonMail for email. For my business, I route my domain email through ProtonMail, as well.

    5. For basic Internet security, I use Bitdefender, on my laptop and mobile devices.

    6. Blur from Abine. I use it for creating masked email addresses on the fly, generating secure passwords to go with them, masking my phone number, masking credit cards. Considering adding their Delete Me service because I don’t have time to track it all down and do it myself.

    7. Burner phone for special circumstances. If you are going to the trouble of using one, do so from a location removed from your usual haunts, and nowhere near any of your other devices. While wearing a plain navy blue hoodie and Groucho Marx glasses (or Juggalo face paint), and not near your car or other people.

     

    What do you do to enhance your online security and privacy?

  • Poll: Siblings

    I’ve mentioned before that I come from a large family. How large? I’m one of nine siblings. Five male, four female. In three groups.

    I am the oldest daughter, and the middle child of the first group.  We have kids born in the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s, and 1980s. My youngest sibling is just two months older than Web Dom.

    There are whole, half, and step siblings in my family, but none of us use the modifier when describing the others. We all get along, there are no factions. One sister died as an infant; one brother died at 43. The rest of us persist.

    It’s really a pretty typical 19th century family structure…except my Mom just died a few years ago, and not in childbirth at age 30. My parents, though divorced, continued to get along very well, which was good since they worked at the same place and lived about ten miles apart in a very rural area. It would have been impossible to avoid each other. My Mom undertook fund raising for my step-brother’s medical bills when he was dying.  My step- and half-brothers helped my Mom with various “guy” projects. Mom was a guest at Dad’s new home for Thanksgiving on the occasions her side of the family wasn’t gathering.

    I’ve never really believed in the birth order stuff (make sure you read the section about sexual orientation). However, I will say that the “baby” of each group of siblings is very much like the stereotype. I, of course, am nothing like a middle child.

    Also, birth order has absolutely nothing to do with the success of romantic relationships. Most of my relationships have been with oldest male children. A couple of my husbands were middle children. The marriage that was is the best match was is with an oldest child.

    Tonight’s questions:

    1. Do you have siblings? (Side note: progressives are the only children of the political world.)
    2. If so, where are you in the birth order?
    3. How many sisters and how many brothers do you have?
    4. Do you get along with your siblings?
    5. Do you have a particularly strong bond with one sibling?
    6. Do you think birth order has had an impact on your personality and life?
    7. Have you had any inappropriate sexual contact with any of your siblings?
    8. Do you have photos?

    Discuss!

     

  • Poll: Carbonated soft drinks

    This evening I’ve got several related questions for you.

    I know there are some among us who do not drink carbonated beverages, but for the rest of us, they can be a refreshing drink. Some here might even be what one could call psychologically addicted to them, perhaps even physically addicted to various components of them.

    1. Where you grew up, what did folks call carbonated soft drinks as a general type of beverage? Soda? Pop? Soda pop? Coke? Soft drinks? Something else?
    2. Were you allowed to drink it?
    3. Do you prefer diet or regular?
    4. What’s your favorite cola?
    5. What’s your overall favorite?

     

    I’ll start.

    1. We grew up calling it pop. (Upstate NY) When I went off to college, I learned to call it soda, and I still do.
    2. We were only allowed to have it for special occasions when we were small, but by the time we were teenagers, my Mom was buying 2 liter bottles of (mostly) house brand sodas, and we could have it anytime we wanted. However, she would say, “Remember, that’s all we have until payday. You might want to make it last.”
    3. I find regular sodas to be way too sweet, so stick to diet.
    4. My favorite cola was Diet Cherry Coke. However, they discontinued it so they could switch in their new “millennial” flavors. Which all suck. (Millennials are ruining everything! And they need to get off my lawn while doing so!) So, now I drink Coca-Cola Cherry Zero. And I absolutely will not drink Pepsi. It’s disgusting. Fight me!
    5. Favorite soda of all time: my grandfather’s homemade root beer.

     

    Your turn!

     

     

     

     

  • Poll: Most Influential Book(s) You’ve Read

    A while back, somewhere in comments, a Glib remarked this would be a great poll topic. I’d give a H/T, but I can’t remember who it was. Thank you, anyway!

    But, how about it? What book (or books) have you read that influenced your life direction, thoughts about liberty, or had some other profound effect on you?

  • Election Day 2018

    Sadly, my darkest fears for poor SugarFree have come to pass. He’s walled himself into a cave to escape the horror of this election cycle. Not even he can indefinitely maintain his peace against it all.

    Hopefully, he’ll emerge and return to us soon.

    In the meantime, I’ve got a few questions for all my dear US citizen Glibs.

    1. Did you vote (or are you planning to)?

    2. Mind sharing for what parties and/or candidates you pulled the lever?

    3. Have any rationale that goes along with your choices?

    I plan on heading over to our polling station mid-afternoon. Try as they may to convince me, I definitely do not trust voting by mail AT ALL. The postal service routinely misplaces more important documents, so how can I trust them to actually deliver my ballot? Not to mention how simplistic it would be to “lose” a few hundred thousand of them. (I know, I know, it’s also easy to lose them when recorded any other way.)

    And…now that the day is finally here, can we move past this crap?

    HAHAHAHA, I crack myself up.

  • Poll: Nicknames

    A while ago in one of the comment sections, we had a discussion about names and nicknames. It was revealed that I hate, despise, loathe the most common nickname for my given name. In fact, I’m not all that crazy about my given name, but at least it’s tolerable and not stupid. Did I mention I detest the usual diminutive?

    When I graduated from high school in my tiny hometown, I was determined to be called “nickname” no longer. So I laid down the law to my family and friends, and started correcting local shopkeepers who had known me my entire life by “nickname,” and was generally a pain in the ass about it to everyone. But it worked.

    My Mom settled on just shortening my name by lopping off the very end. My Dad shortened it even further, just calling me by the first syllable; he’d done that most of my life anyway.

    Whenever I met someone new, I’d introduce myself by my entire name, and if they immediately used “nickname” I would gently correct them. That worked well for most of my life.

    Then I allowed OMWC to convince me to relocate to the Midwest.

    People who are from here, and that seems to be almost everyone I meet–either nobody ever leaves or they all come back–invariably immediately assign “nickname” to me in their minds, and that is what they call me forevermore. No matter how I protest. *sigh*

    In my non-GlibWorld interactions with Glibs, it seems many prefer their whole given name, too, which brings me to this week’s poll questions:

    1. Do you have any preference between your given name or a nickname? Or do you just not care?

    2. Are there people in your life who get a pass on what they call you?

    3. Do you have a nickname not related to any part of your name? Did you make it up yourself, T-Bone? (I suspect many Glibs are called unflattering things, even–or especially–by strangers.)

    In case you’re curious, my current intimates–OMWC, the Founders, and other very close friends–often just call me the initial of my first name. When my children want to be assholes, they call me the abhorrent nickname.

    Yes, they are already disinherited.

  • Poll: Favorite Season

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    Autumn is the best season.

    • Beautiful, complex, ever-changing views, that surprise one as one turns a corner.
    • Crisp, cool, low-humidity air.
    • Leaves to wade through, releasing that wonderful scent and that fun rustling noise.
    • Apples and pears to pick.
    • The Fucking Hate Birds, the Birds That Hate go away.
    • The lawn no longer needs mowing, yet there is no snow to shovel.
    • The final burst of ripening vegetables.
    • Fewer humans in the grocery store in the middle of the day.
    • “Indian” Summer.
    • REAL football
    • No more mosquitoes.
    • Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.
    • Apple cider and doughnuts.
    • The annual visit from a beloved European friend.
    • Pressing colorful leaves in wax paper to hang in the window.
    • Wonderful deserted lakes on which to canoe and kayak.
    • Lower electric bills, because a/c is off and heat is not yet on.
    • The return of casseroles, fondue, and heavier red wines.

    Do you agree with me, and are therefore correct? Or do you have a different, inferior, opinion?

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  • Poll: Religiosity

    In the comments of a post this past Monday by Gadianton, the question came up about religiosity among the Glibertariat.

    For many people this is a complicated, and perhaps sensitive, topic. But when have we ever shied away from THAT here at Glibs?

    However, there are some parameters, please. As you all know, there have been a great many atrocities committed in the name of religion across history, and that continues today. There have also been a great many benevolent acts committed in the name of religion, also continuing today. This is not a poll about which religion is better or worse. This is specifically asking about YOU and your life.

    So here we go! As always, answer all questions, none, or bits and pieces, as you see fit.

    1. Are you an adherent to any particular religion? If so, which?

    2. Were you “born into” a family religious tradition? If so, have you remained in that tradition?

    3. Have your views on faith and religion changed at different stages in your life?

    I’ll start.

    My mother was Roman Catholic, so my sibs and I were all christened. None of us were confirmed. None of us has stayed in that tradition, although at one point I worked for an RC religious order. Mom stayed a member and served on the parish council and was a regular reader for Mass.

    My father was United Methodist, refusing to convert when he married my mother in 1958 (which almost scuttled the whole thing). His second wife is Lutheran, going back and forth between Missouri Synod and ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America), based on who are the other members of the particular church. Dad has been active at various points in whatever Lutheran church to which my stepmom happened to belong, but has never become a member. He is “quietly religious,” but especially likes the “doing good” activities, such as rebuilding homes after Katrina and helping families locally (his non-academic-year profession was electrician), running food banks and cooking for fundraising events, helping kids directly and supporting kid-centric charities and organizations.

    I am an ordained non-denominational minister. I certainly value the legal ability to perform various ministerial ceremonies, but that’s not the main reason I became ordained. People tend to tell me everything, and I mean everything. I have always assumed anything someone tells me is told in confidence, unless it was explicitly stated otherwise. Ordination confers some (varying by state statute) protection against being coerced into spilling that information to representatives of the government. I can legally say, “Fuck off, slavers” in many instances and get away with it.

    Your turn!

  • Poll: Lost Friends & Family

    As most of you know, this past weekend OMWC and I had a lovely dinner with A Leap at the Wheel and Pope Jimbo. During which I asked if they had any suggestions for this week’s poll.

    Pope Jimbo’s response was, perhaps, predictable

    .

     

     

    However, Leap had a great suggestion, and so, I present this week’s poll with a big H/T to Leap!
     
     

    How many friends have you lost due to your politics?

    How many family members have stopped speaking to you due to your politics?

    Do you have any suggestions for future GlibPolls? If yes, email to: poll at thiswebsite dot com

    Discuss!