Link Log

Whew. I don't think I'll even manage to read much today, having spent 46 minutes just contending with the incredibly bad performance of the computer in the Gate City computer center, which should probably just shut down altogether. Nevertheless. Here's a fun read:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/12/31/what-was-the-most-googled-topic-of-2014-in-your-state-new-map-has-the-answer/?

I think robots should not be programmed to use emoticons.

http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/could_robots_learn_emotions_from_emoticons/

Somebody out there might feel moved to help this family keep their home...

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2014/12/31/after-their-baby-son-died-and-their-home-foreclosed-these-grieving-parents-were-thrown-in-jail-heres-how-theyre-fighting-back/?

Cool Green art work, with a link where you can buy it and an explanation of how you can try it. Thanks to Elizabeth Barrette for sharing this:

http://www.earthporm.com/artist-uses-power-sun-magnifying-glass-create-stunning-drawings/

She also shared this link, which is such a classic photo essay of Christmas in the Eastern States:

http://autumnmuse.dreamwidth.org/10968.html

I hesitated to share or plus this one yesterday, although I'm sharing it here. Well...I'm sharing the link to Elizabeth Barrette's and my discussion, which illustrates her fall into the statistical fallacy--that just because a large number of American children (a) have no chance to succeed in any alternative to the publicly funded schools and (b) do succeed, to some extent, in the publicly funded schools, that that means that the alternatives somehow work "only for children of wealthy families."

Elizabeth Barrette actually exposed the statistical fallacy in her comment, for pity's sake. "Statistically" our chance of success in life is dictated by our parents' income! Oh, yes...so that means I should never have been able to learn to read. Oh, by the way, "statistically" my father was supposed to have died before age ten, my mother was supposed to have been born dead, my mother's father was supposed to have been crippled and died young, and my great-grandfather wasn't supposed to have had children, so how on Earth am I here at all? "Statistics" tell us what happened in the past; they do not tell us what will happen in the future--especially when people don't let themselves be intimidated by statistics.

http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/3522674.html

That said, her post links to a hateful, obnoxious, yet also informative article about why the neo-lefties are flogging same-sex marriage so hard...and why the Republican Party should not move to the center by turning into an update of what used to be the sensible majority in the Democratic Party, but should, if anything, move to the extreme right and force Democrats to come back to their senses. And I mean extreme right. Gold Standard anyone? For strategic purposes, yes!

Anyway...here's the link the computer shows a lot of readers should be reading:

http://www.adventistonline.com/forum/topics/interracial-dating-and

Poem for someone who should be planning to celebrate Anti-Valentines Day instead of feeling sorry for himself. (As some already know, Richard Rowell is the decent-looking partner of the superbly preserved Lyn Lomasi. If it's about either of them, it must've been years ago.)

http://www.lifesuccessfully.com/creative-writing/shades-of-grey-poetry

Anger management on one excellent web page, from Debbie Dunn...

http://www.examiner.com/article/applying-rebt-and-the-8-h-s-to-the-tale-of-angry-blake

Knitters, check out Marsha Cooper's quilt block. You could knit it as a small jacquard patch. You could knit it as a multidirectional one-color-on-a-row patch, or afghan, depending on the size of squares you choose. Please show us your afghans!

http://marshasspot.blogspot.com/2014/12/wip-wednesday-christmas-is-past-and-new.html

This...can be the sort of thing that turned people off psychotherapy. Do you really need to think about all these emotional feelings about a knee injury? Can't you just feel the knee and tell whether it needs work, stretching, massage, ice, or medical care? Well, I can, but I spent a lot of time and money learning to do it correctly. And some people have the emotional feelings. If you don't, you might still want to print and save this article for someone who does.

http://www.examiner.com/article/blending-rebt-plus-reintegration-healing-process-knee-injury

Thumbs up the spiral staircase image. I'm not so sure about Zig Ziglar...

https://plus.google.com/u/0/+TamaraMcCleary/posts/Y8JEGuQgBVE

Extremely cool things to make with plastic bottles:

http://www.goodshomedesign.com/build-plastic-bottle-greenhouse/

For those who missed this article from AC and Bubblews...the updated version is at:

http://personapaper.com/article/17244-flippable-gluten-free-flapjacks

That's all I'll have time to add to the Link Log in time to Twitter and Tsu it. See you next year!