Dear friends,

First, I want to thank those of you who gave me good pointers as to where to find some cheap hardware. I am sure I will end up finding something.

Second, several of you have actually offered to send me money, for which I am also deeply grateful. Frankly, I never expected that somebody would be willing to help me financially, and I am deeply touched by your kindness. Still, I feel that I have to decline. Call me old fashioned, call me stupid, but I always wanted this blog to be “money free”.

As you know, I never put a donation button, much less so an advertisement, on this blog, and even though I did mention in the comments section that our finances were, shall we say, less than stellar, I never made a request for financial support. There is nothing wrong about doing so, but I wanted this blog to be a reflection of what I am as a person and for me it meant a lot that I would offer this blog without asking for anything in return.

As many of you know, I used to work as a professional military analyst in the past. In these days, I used to make good money and I got paid for every report I produced. This very fact made me very much part of the system which I eventually totally repudiated. My only “revenge” against this system today is not to live by its customs.

Oh, I know, I still pay taxes and bills, and I am still part of it all, really. But at least on my blog, that little space of personal freedom of mine, I do not have to abide by Mammon’s rules (and, unlike some other folks which I will not name here, I am at least not a ‘professional dissident’ making $$$ off the resistance to the Empire).

Anyway, I won’t write a long treatise about my bizarre idiosyncrasies or ideas, but I just wanted to thank you for your offers and explain as best I can why I would agree to accept unneeded hardware but not money.

What a morale booster it is to have readers like you guys!!

Thanks a lot,

The Saker