Link Log for March 13

Categories: Amnesty International, Animals, Babies, Books, Good Thoughts, Immigration, Math, Politics, Technology

Amnesty International 

Margaret Atwood's charity, not mine. I'm usually wary about petitions on behalf of strangers in foreign countries. However: if this isn't on AI's short list of petition topics, it should be.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/03/13/little-boy-who-begged-obama-to-bring-his-dad-home-

Animals 

Good news for hens today...

https://www.change.org/p/aramark-stop-purchasing-eggs-from-battery-cage-farms/u/10009486?tk=Gv5iqwXgvnXoPEZqzOsPmRCvOd_GRvrlvvSq-x4mt2c

Babies

Yet another good reason to make sure you don't have one...

http://helpforsingleparents.blogspot.com/2015/03/how-often-should-i-change-my-newborns.html

Books 

I can only second this endorsement:

https://wendywelchbigstonegap.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/the-monday-book-writing-down-the-bones-by-natalie-goldberg/

...no, wait, I can add that Goldberg wrote a sequel:

http://www.amazon.com/Thunder-Lightning-Cracking-Writers-Craft/dp/0553374966/ref=sr_1_1?

Good Thoughts 

+Theresa Wiza reflects on prayer:

http://philosophicalmusingsandinsights.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-power-of-prayer.html

+Ruth Cox expresses "balance" as an emotion:

http://ruthcoxpoetryprose.blogspot.com/2015/03/is-life-balanceable.html

Immigration 

One special category of legal visitors/immigrants to these United States are the people who've helped our troops in Afghanistan and other countries. If violent anti-American people are still active in their countries, these people are walking targets for violence. Hence Matt Zeller's petition to "Save My Afghan Interpreter," which continues to open up issues. Basically the government now makes it easy for interpreters and others who have worked with our troops to come to the U.S. but leaves it up to their friends to make sure they can find homes and jobs here.

https://www.change.org/p/save-my-afghan-interpreter/u/9992096?tk=ecXDEwN_5yaGaeQx3eFuXhCfq6lZIZUPGdR8nuFnsrg

Math 

Happy Pi Day (tomorrow)! +Alex Bellos shared:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/alexs-adventures-in-numberland/2015/mar/13/pi-day-2015-memory-memorisation-world-record-japanese-akira-haraguchi

Politics 

Too often, people working for political change send out e-mail after e-mail about what they don't like and forget to spread the word about what they do like. Patricia Evans' group e-mail thanking two of her elected county officials, "Tim Barber and Coy Harville, Voices of Fiscal Sanity," is relevant to people who don't live in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, because it reminds us that sometimes our elected officials get something right too. Some of them don't even send out press releases about it; they patiently wait for constituents to commend them, on our own. Anyway, here's a link to the news story about Tim Barber and Coy Harville:

http://www.godanriver.com/news/pittsylvania_county/some-supervisors-against-raise-for-board/article_e43e4524-c83d-11e4-a803-ef22b86d54d6.html


Technology 

Bob Greene considers whether current standards for record keeping are really better, or just more elaborate, than the standards of former years...

http://junkscience.com/2015/03/13/over-reliance-on-computers/