Sunday, March 8, 2015

Link Log for March 8

First the apology: Yesterday I didn't plan to go online or allocate much time for online activity, so I plussed a few things but didn't compose a Link Log. Some of those links deserve to be in a Link Log, so they're here, in among today's fresh new links, on the theory that anyone who followed those links yesterday will recognize them and not follow them today.

Today's Categories: Animals, Books, Crafts, Foreign Relations, Health, Music, News of the Weird, Phenology, Sex (yes), Travel, Women's History, Writing.

Animals 

Cute begging seagull...I wouldn't feed a herring gull, myself, but the interesting thing about this species is that when tidewater areas reduce pollution we're starting to see the other species rebound and edge herring gulls back into their rightful place in the ecosystem. The herring gulls themselves aren't the reason why they've become pests in the U.S. The pollution that was killing competing species is. (And these photos aren't from the U.S.)

http://watching-bingley-birds.blogspot.com/2015/03/st-andrews-seagull.html

Books 

John Grisham is not a native of a place that's allowed strip mining. Neither is Wendy Welch. However, Welch has lived in one of those places longer than Grisham has, so I'm inclined to trust her judgment, and recommend reading her review either before or instead of Grisham's book:

https://wendywelchbigstonegap.wordpress.com/2015/03/02/the-monday-book-gray-mountain-by-john-grisham/

Crafts 

What's a mermaid tail, why should you knit or crochet one, and how would you go about making one if you decide it's something you or a friend wants? One photo shared in this blog post explains it all. (E-mail salolianigodagewi @ yahoo.com if you want a mermaid tail custom-knitted just for you.)

https://wendywelchbigstonegap.wordpress.com/2015/03/07/books-crocheting-cats-theres-a-meme-for-that/

Foreign Relations

This web site has no foreign policy. This web site does have a general policy about nuclear weapons: we think nobody should build any of them. So, to that extent, this web site agrees with Prime Minister Netanyahu:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lELXynhbS84&feature=youtu.be

If you open that page, you'll find a link to President Obama's tepid response. It is certainly a way to get the picture of just how much President Obama fails to represent the people of these United States.

This web site does not, ever, endorse the conclusion-jumping and panic associated with conspiracy theories. By sharing the reported fact that somebody has published an evil scheme aimed at destroying the United States and Britain, this web site reminds you that this is one sick fantasy that we can help to prevent the troubled soul's ever bringing into reality.

http://ntlconsulting.blogspot.com/2015/03/agenda-21-depopulation-plan-2025.html

(Does the idea that the English-speaking countries should resist "depopulation" conflict with the idea that we should all commit to having one child or none? I don't think so. It's not about racial purity, or what our heirs look like, even though the existence of Iceland does prove that some combinations of White minority genes are excellent combinations. It's about preserving the survival benefits of English-speaking culture, individual freedom and the theological concept of grace and the physical benefits of keeping a decent distance from other people, which deserve to be shared with the rest of the world.)

Separate issue. A few months ago Google + displayed a CNN link on which somebody wailed that people in the U.S. don't care about Venezuela. I commented along the lines of, "We care; we just haven't heard much." Apparently enough other U.S. readers agreed that the Washington Post tried to fix that situation:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/03/05/why-the-americas-are-letting-venezuela-self-destruct/?tid=sm_tw

Health 

Posted on Friday, although Jon Street's article is illustrated with an image that looks Amish to me, it actually discusses what Seventh-Day Adventists and Jews have in common that gives both groups a physical health advantage over much of the rest of the world. The benefits are available to followers of any religious tradition or of none.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/03/06/why-the-next-24-hours-are-your-perfect-excuse-to-unplug/?

Music 

On Google + I considered the Rush Limbaugh Show as the pre-Internet philosophical grandfather of blogging. The title of this link is a song some Limbaugh fans, and maybe even Limbaugh bashers, may enjoy...remember, as Limbaugh explained, "talent" literally means a loan from God.

http://noisyroom.net/blog/2015/03/07/thank-the-lord-rush-limbaughs-on/

News of the Weird 

I'm not sure how weird this is, but it's definitely retro..."I'm a Communist, sir," was something high school kids said to freak adults out (and plead for attention and help) mostly in the 1960s, definitely losing its shock value by the time I was old enough to use it. The modern teen-troll can't even think of a fresher alternative to the equally trite "I think I'm 'gay,' Mom"? Tsk. Attention Nephews, if any of you plan to be troubled teens I expect a little originality. Or is the real message, "I can't think of anything original! I may have brain damage!"? Is that the real shocker for today's teens?

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/03/07/high-school-students-really-intense-with-politics-vote-for-communism-themed-prom/?

Fresh weirdness, showing that cocaine causes stupidity:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/03/07/husband-makes-expletive-filled-phone-call-complaining-that-his-wife-stole-his-cocaine-too-bad-he-dialed-911/?

Phenology 

From Wisconsin, another phenology post by the creator (that could almost have been written by the heroine) of Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary. (I've loved and reread very few novels since about age twenty. Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary is one of the few.)

http://pameladean.livejournal.com/165078.html

If you've found walking outdoors difficult lately, it may be cheering to know that even arctic waterfowl have these problems...although penguins seem to be built to fall on the ice without being hurt or even badly embarrassed by it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kr_ttTNPxQ&feature=autoshare

Sex

Aren't aunts supposed to call it "marital relations"? Well, Google just decided to allow other people to post pornographic thoughts/memories on Blogger...not that I intend to do that. I will say, though, to the "silence equals death" crowd, that it doesn't. Not even the death of pleasure. How do you know that you'll enjoy the act of marriage if you've not done it with everyone else you dated? You think about it, of course. Very mindfully. With one particular person in mind, and being mindful of that person's reactions and preferences as well as your own.

http://louderwithcrowder.com/waiting-till-wedding-night-getting-married-right-way/

Travel 

One should try to learn something new every day. Today I learned something on Google +, where +Protecto Shell shared a video tour of a "model of a medieval Japanese village" maintained for filming purposes and open to visitors.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/109297502911245911240/posts/NaxwfAnBMfx

Women's History 

Interesting list. Harriet Tubman's the only one of these women who'd make my top ten list:

http://flavorwire.com/507694/filmherstory-10-female-biopics-that-desperately-need-to-happen/view-all

(Mine? I don't know whether enough facts are available or whether the facts would make good movies, but here's a random list of ten women whose histories I'd like to know more about: Harriet Tubman of course, Phillis Wheatley, Annie Sullivan ('cos Helen Keller's been done), Rose Wilder Lane, Dame Julian of Norwich, Simone de Beauvoir, Anne Morrow Lindbergh (she wrote volumes of memoirs I just haven't read yet), Marietta Holley, Fanny Burney, Harriet Martineau.)

Writing 

Hmm. Does anyone really want to read or write about emotions from A to Z? Anticipation, benevolence, cheerfulness, delight, enthusiasm,..fear? Frigidity? Frustration? Foolishness? Anyway, here's a nice bit of Anticipation:

http://ruthcoxpoetryprose.blogspot.com/2015/03/anticipating-spring-renewal.html

Here's a more seasonal writing challenge:

http://challengeyourwriting.blogspot.com/2015/02/things-to-write-about-in-march.html

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