Link Log for February 18

Categories: Animals, Civil Rights, Dolls, Holidays, Media Bias, Music, News (including Weird), Nice Thoughts, Writing.

Animals 

First, that cute animal story I promised yesterday...short story told by tracks in the snow as I walked out this morning. (Sorry, the photos would only be more snow images.) Early in the morning of February 17, while several inches of powdery snow were falling, the resident deer came out of the woods above the Cat Sanctuary. A poacher, who unfortunately owns a few acres on the same side of the hill, had gone up on a snowmobile looking for those deer. He would not have been above killing the smaller deer as they walked down the hill to drink at the stream, but he missed them. And Mr. Big Buck saw Mr. Poacher first, and waited in the woods until Mr. Poacher got cold and went home. Then Mr. Big Buck got a drink. Then all the deer went around the other side of the hill. All Mr. Poacher got, for the trouble of spending a few hours in a snowstorm, was chilled. Serve him right...the deer are a nuisance but I'll take their side against the poacher any day.

Now the cute links to animal pictures. Yes, dogs are actually bred to look like this wonderfully spotted dog. The breed are called Australian shepherds, and this one is called Sydney. In this post she's measuring a snowdrift and, I suspect, suggesting that we make snow angels in it. (Her Human asked...Sydney has enjoyed the snow; gone out and rolled in it several times.)

http://priscillaking.blogspot.com/2015/02/dog-blog-post-sydney-in-snow-almost.html

Newfies have mixed feelings about snow, too.

http://everythingsusanandmore.blogspot.com/2015/02/dog-days-of-winter-on-wordless-wednesday.html

On Twitter, a TV station I've never watched, WSLS, posted a photo of hens and kittens sharing a nest. I don't have a link for the photo but readers with a very high tolerance for Cute Pictures can find probably find it.

Border collies:

http://border-collies-in-the-burbs.blogspot.com/2015/02/celebrate-love-your-pets-day-2-20-2015.html

Valentino, the handsome hound:

http://www.dogpawsitivetidbits.com/2015/02/postcard-pup.html

Retriever and human friends at nature park:

http://personapaper.com/article/24133-clear-creek-trail-in-silverdale-washington

Beagle:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/02/17/tail-wagging-beagle-wins-best-in-show-at-westminster/?

Civil Rights 

Should Muslims be sequestered in special enclaves in the U.S.? Norb Leahy makes the case for a more precise parallel to the terms on which non-Muslim Americans live in Muslim countries--in separate neighborhoods, under separate rules.

http://ntlconsulting.blogspot.com/2015/02/muslim-immigration.html

Sharing it does not mean I necessarily agree with it; it means "What do youall think?" The American solution to Muslim evangelism is Christian evangelism. Religious faith in the state, as promulgated by the Old Left, does not fill in the gap. If we don't keep our Christian faith tradition alive, we probably will become a Muslim country, and deserve it. Still, in view of Muslims' well documented efforts to take over non-Muslim countries by neighborhoods, we might want to consider requiring Muslims who want to live in the U.S. to sign contracts enumerating the ways they are not allowed to try to impose Islam on other people: no Sharia law, no support for genocide or terrorism, no support for national or local "leaders" who are actively hostile to the United States. No ghettos and no camps, but no bids for cultural dominance either.

Crafts 

+Theresa Wiza shares another easy crochet technique...well, as easy as you want it to be.

http://www.allcraftconnection.org/2015/02/chain-crochet-crocheting-with-chains.html

Dolls 

This web site does not foresee less glamorous, more p.c., "realistic" dolls outselling Barbie, or even the American Girls. (Mattel has tried; Midge and Maxie were supposed to be more human-looking residents of Barbie-land, and Gena Greene has re-outfitted and sold several of them. These dolls have sold, and are likely to become collectors' items in the future. They just don't outsell Barbie.) However, here are some slightly different teen and tween dolls that seem to have personality, and may have kid as well as collector appeal:

http://blog.thebump.com/2015/02/18/realistic-dolls-new-toy-trend/?cm_mmc=googleplus_-february15-_-toys-_-none

Holidays 

Lent begins! The page should offer an English translation option. I'm sharing it in Spanish because the link came in first in Spanish. Cuaresma = Lent = (as some CNN commenters observe) countdown to Spring Break.

http://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2015/02/18/la-cuaresma-en-datos/

Media Bias 

If a male Republican politician cozied up to a younger Republican's wife this way, would the news media call it creepy? Glenn Beck calls it that...I say he's identifying with Ashton Carter. Identifying with Mrs. Carter, I think I'd probably go with "awkward" or "embarrassing." Men the age of Joe Biden should know that if you're seen leaning on a younger woman like this, she may think you're making a pass, and for all I know you think you're making a pass, but my inner CGNA guesses that you're about to pass out. Not a pose in which to be caught if you're looking for a promotion...

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/02/18/the-creepiest-thing-ive-seen-beck-disgusted-by-vice-president-bidens-disturbing-behavior-with-women/?

Music 

Lloyd Marcus describes the spiritual experience of listening to a classic gospel song.

http://www.lloydmarcus.com/2015/02/special-weekend-connected-god/

Is there a kind of music you generally dislike? Are you sure? Is it possible that there are individual songs in that genre that you like? I usually don't like a heavy beat, but some songs seem to need one. I usually don't like opera, but some songs from operas are lovely.

http://www.lifesuccessfully.com/music-articles/dont-hate-a-musical-genre-for-the-wrong-reasons

News 

+Allen West Republic maintains a messy web site with annoying pop-up ads, but posts some interesting news items. This story about Rear Admiral John Kirby is shared for the delectation of friends and relatives who remember John Kerby.

http://allenwestrepublic.com/2015/02/18/rear-admiral-john-kirby-to-step-down-as-chief-pentagon-spokesman-a-civilian-to-replace-him/

News of the Weird 

From Hawkins County, Tennessee, a place of scenic beauty and profound weirdness, comes an incident actually reported to 911 in January. According to Rain Smith at the Kingsport Times-News, a disagreeable-sounding Rogersville woman frequently drinks coffee in a local business, even though she doesn't seem to like the people there. Reportedly one of them said "Cold outside, isn't it?" She responded to this idle chatter with "Why don't you get your fat [body] up and go see how cold it is," then escalated to further verbal abuse, then hitting the man with a paint stick, and finally acting out a really bad joke about light bulbs by grabbing at a sensitive part of the man's body. "Police took no action against the woman, whom they have encountered in other incidents."

I didn't find a link for that particular story today, but there's always a live link for Rain Smith's selection of ludicrous 911 calls, which are one of the most popular columns in the paper, here:

www.timesnews.net

Nice Thoughts 

Whether your favorite person is a blogger or not, why not tell him or her five things you love about him or her today?

http://lovecanconquertall.blogspot.com/2015/02/rusty2rusty-someone-on-bubblews.html

Scams 

Bubblews, which still owes me $120 and counting, has allegedly reached a new depth of scamminess:

http://whatworkedwhatdidnt.com/sweeble-and-bubblews/

They're based in Fairfax, Virginia, last I heard, so I e-mailed Congressman Griffith about them. Your U.S. Congressman might want to read about the chutzpah, hubris, and moral degeneracy of Arvind Dixit and Jason Zuccari, too. There really ought to be a law about this kind of thing.

Weather 

Those who follow any local news media on Twitter saw lots of snow pictures today. Virginia has what seems to us like a big snowstorm. In some patches that weren't packed down, melted, or piled up yesterday I measured six inches of light, powdery snow--the kind that tends to blow about, forming the kind of nine-inch drifts in which Sydney was cavorting. Apart from forcing some people to abandon their cars beside the road, and possibly miss work or school, we're not seeing anything really bad yet. (Touch wood!) We saw what was happening in Boston last week, and today Mike Opelka shares the photo of a New Jersey street collapsing under a snowplow:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/02/18/2015s-brutal-winter-claims-another-victim-snowplow-swallowed-by-sinkhole/?

Writing 

"Plussing" this site was supposed to have been good for a perk. I opened it in a different browser that doesn't handle Google + very well, so didn't try to plus it. However, now that I've done Sarah Arrow's 30-Day Blogging Challenge, I can recommend it to anyone trying to sustain a business blog, find ideas to write about, learn the vocabulary, explore the tools out there in cyberspace, or whatever. Obviously not every tip works for every blog, but it's been fun.

http://www.sarkemedia.com/how-to-boost-your-blogging-income-in-10-days-or-less-day-one/

(Freedom of speech...the Tweeter known as @Steph93065 says, "Net neutrality...because we remember the health care web site.")

E-meet Gail Carson Levine on Saturday:

http://gailcarsonlevine.blogspot.com/2015/02/pain-agony.html

Celebrity author John Green demonstrates how to behave when we're inspired by other people's words:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/02/18/this-mega-author-has-made-millions-selling-books-to-teens-watch-him-tell-the-bizarre-story-of-accidentally-stealing-a-teenagers-words/?

Phil Cooke wants Christians to stop judging "Hollywood" and see the place as a mission field. I kind of agree with him...at least there are a few Christians in the movie business who could use moral support.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/02/18/film-producer-wants-christians-to-stop-looking-at-hollywood-as-the-enemy-and-he-has-a-challenge-for-churches/?

How far in advance do cartoonists work? (And how many plot ideas can they get from comments on their web sites? It's worth clicking on the link and scrolling down.)

http://blog.dilbert.com/post/111373396151/how-far-in-advance-do-cartoonists-work