Life in the Panopticon...

Not only is your LG television spying on you, your LG computer monitor may be installing bloatware on your system behind your back...

LG's Smart TV features being overly intrusive is common among smart TVs, but LG's newer UltraGear computer monitors are now also taking liberties with user privacy and security.

On some Windows systems, connecting a new LG monitor will spur Windows Update to download drivers and the LG Monitor App Installer, which will then display pop-up ads for other LG applications or even McAfee antivirus software. This is disappointing news to say the least, but fortunately my LG UltraGear 27GL850-B doesn't seem to be impacted.

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Hey, look!

"Great-great-grandpa survived malaria, typhus and Spanish Mauser bullets and came home with his trusty Springfield floptop. In the intervening years, the wooden forearm had been shortened and the barrel had been chopped back to a more manageable length for stalking whitetail in the laurel groves of the Appalachians, and at some point, a Lyman peep sight had been added to the old tomato stake, but that timeworn militia rifle had been making meat every autumn since William McKinley was in office. It was just in for a checkup."

Bringback firearms, both captured war trophies and issued... uh, "souvenirs" ...were common among our nation's citizen soldiers for most of two centuries.

Meme Dump!

Tab Clearing...

• "Quick! Announce talks are re-starting before the markets open this morning!"


• Ghost Bikes


• Do the Euros have the stomach for a fight?

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Memes On A Monday!

Meme Dump!

Automotif DCXXXI...

A Mercedes-Benz SL class of the latest (2022-present) R232 generation, photographed with a Nikon Z fc and an 18-140mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens.

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Meme Dump!

Now it can be told...

The reason I was in Nebraska last month was for a product launch event for a new Leupold optic, the LCO Pro F2. The format of the event was a 1½ day class, followed a mini carbine match, during which I had the opportunity to put several hundred rounds downrange using the new dot.

Hornady hosted the event at the excellent Heartland Public Shooting Park just outside Grand Island.

Kyle Lamb instructed us media types in the use of the carbine...

...aided by Doug Koenig.

I'll expand further in print elsewhere, but in short, Leupold is gearing up to go hard into the high-end duty grade electro optics biz again, since they're one of a small handful of companies who can credibly play in that end of the pool.

Chris Cerino lighting up a target.

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Friday Memes!

Tuxedos and Origin Stories

Gorillafritz has an interesting tale on professional attire for firearms instructors and the origins of the "tactical tuxedo".

"I was there, Gandalf..." (photo by Oleg Volk)

The shoot-me-first vest in that photo is an O.G. one from Royal Robbins. I bought it in late '01 or very early '02, before there was a company called "5.11 Tactical"*. The buttons still have the little hiking dude from the famously granola-y outdoor apparel company.

To this day I prefer Royal Robbins for my gun burkhas.

*The Wikipedia article has a good history of how 5.11 Tactical came to be.

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Some Memes to Pull You Over the Hump!

Meme Dump!