Animals
+Nancy Hardin shares a list of gifts for those who love lions, or those born in August (whose sun sign is Leo).
http://jaquo.com/gifts-for-lion-lovers/
And this article about endangered, very lovable, possible pets in the Western States. (Fair disclosure: Jaquo is a for-profit magazine site, lots of graphics including ads, and even on computers that are supposed to be able to handle anything on the Web, today is the first time I've ever actually been able to open a Jaquo page. So I wouldn't be surprised if some computers wouldn't do it.)
http://jaquo.com/lawful-protection-for-wild-horses/
Books
Do you organize your books by author, title, subject...or size and color? (Believe it or not, although my mother owns lots of books and has read all but the newest ones, she goes by size and color.) (Fair disclosure: the first time I opened this article it worked fine, but the second time it tried to open a nasty, sticky, browser-fouling video ad.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/organizing-books-by-color-which-camp-are-you-in/2015/08/03/e3688b04-37a1-11e5-9d0f-7865a67390ee_story.html?tid=sm_tw
Adult readers, would you agree that The Bluest Eye is a book you would not have appreciated at sixteen? I would. I've read it, and Chinese Handcuffs, and The Color Purple, and The Kite Runner, and other novels where very bad things happen to children. These books can be valuable parts of therapy for children to whom horrible things have happened. They do not belong on required reading lists for everybody, not even for adults, much less for teenagers who may not happen to be keen on gross-outs and may still be sufficiently grossed out by Macbeth.
http://www.freedomworks.org/content/7000-new-homeschoolers-florida-shows-new-trend-against-public-education
Child Safety
One of the many reasons why "Obamazoning" (pushing for towns and cities to jam-pack more people into high-rise apartment projects) is a bad idea. "But if people pack into downtown neighborhoods they won't have to drive so much," somebody said from an ivory tower, probably in some country where people have not had the opportunity to form the motor-dependency habit. Most U.S. citizens will think they have to drive--everywhere, even just around the block--until we have a long, extensive campaign to sell people the idea that Walking Is Chic and Driving Any Distance Below Ten Miles Is Strictly For Deliverymen And The Mobility-Impaired. And yes, although today's cars pollute the air much less than the cars of my childhood, they still pollute...and more of them are on the road. Children need well-separated houses with green space. Thanks to Nina Stone (at Google +, but for some reason the + link isn't pulling up the image that identifies which Googler by that name I mean) for finding and sharing:
http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/05/27/air-pollution-lowering-kids-iq?cmpid=organic-share-googleplus
In a different vein...how bad is this? I just checked by assuming the position into which the deputy cuffed the little boy. Yes, it hurt, a little. And thank you, Kaitlyn Schallhorn, for reminding me. If you can't put your elbows together (or close enough for handcuffs) behind your back, you have muscle atrophy, probably caused and definitely aggravated by hunching over a computer. Most of us who do this kind of thing every day need to stretch our arms and keep our shoulders flexible...if not to maintain a nice firm bustline, at least to avoid one of those ridiculously painful, complicated shoulder injuries people get from throwing a ball or changing a lightbulb. (And I'm thinking of some local police officers, too...in their line of work they really need to keep fit.) Officer Not-So-Friendly did the little boy a favor. If only the adults who care about the little boy could explain it to him.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/08/04/kentucky-sheriffs-deputy-faces-federal-lawsuit-over-his-choice-of-discipline-for-two-young-children/?
Actually, more freedom to stretch and flex when he feels bored in class might help that little boy focus. Google "ball seat helps child focus" to check out the latest endorsements (and bargains); they keep coming in.
Should more men be empathizing with their sons? Sticking up for them? (Short post containing many meaty links.)
http://daddytypes.com/2015/08/03/dont_trust_anyone_over_8.php
Crafts
Jane Starz just knitted a fabulous blanket...that added an idea to a "creative," expensive masterpiece I've been slowly planning for years (while frantically knitting hats, socks, and doll outfits for quick sales and trying to knit my way through an existing stash of sweater kits). Photo and explanation of Jane Starz' blanket here:
http://knitting.livejournal.com/10889592.html
Employment (Tip for Local Job Seekers)
Don't know how long this will last but, when I opened this Kingsport Times-News article, the headings for job ads were scrolling continuously through the sidebar. So at least you can see whether anything new and interesting is in the newspaper and know when to buy one. Good move, Times-News. Here's the Rain Smith column (local weirdness) I was reading:
http://www.timesnews.net/article/9090489/man-held-at-gunpoint-after-visiting-wrong-home
Faith
+Lyn Lomasi shared Crystal Sullivan's wise reflections on the spiritual duty of rest. (One thing I'll say for the Seventh-Day Adventists: they don't support Sunday laws or any similar laws that pretend to "protect" any specific day of rest, but they do have a pretty good record of supporting individuals who resist being "forced" to work on their day of rest. Moral support, and sometimes help finding other jobs.)
http://www.lifesuccessfully.com/religion-articles/frog-fully-resting-on-god
Human Rights Issues
Right. This web site posts content from elected officials. We know their staff are busy, but from time to time they do visit this site. I'm hoping some elected officials' staff are online today. I don't know Leo Hohmann, nor do I know any of the "Chaldean Christian" people in whose behalf he's writing; I know Norb Leahy only in cyberspace. I have no idea what may have been left out of this story. But some readers need to check it out.
http://ntlconsulting.blogspot.com/2015/08/christian-refugees-refused-by-obama.html
Music
Does your taste in music reflect your personality? Interesting data here; I'd agree with Mark Liberman that the basic study is flawed by overgeneralization. (For instance, I like music with melody, harmony, and noticeable but definitely not "intense" rhythm. No ambiguity there. Nevertheless, according to the official 16PF test, I'm right on the fence between F and T, and also between P and J. And even that would surprise people who think all women should be FP's; they read me as TJ.) So, how do youall relate to these over-generalized studies?
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=20433
Phenology
Elizabeth Barrette has naked ladies...in Illinois. The Nephews already know what naked ladies look like. There are (at least) two species; the ones shown here...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycoris_squamigera
...look more like the ones in the neighborhood where I'm writing this than the species shown here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaryllis
And here's the post that prompted me to mention the naked ladies:
http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/3738746.html
Meanwhile, in Baghdad...I'm sure all their flowers are wilting in the 50+-degree (Celsius) heat that's shifted their way. (I think they're hogging some of our heat; the last two or three nights have felt the way nights here normally feel around the middle of August, dipping down below 20 degrees Celsius or 70 Fahrenheit.) Oliver Darcy translates that temperature reading as 164.8 degrees Fahrenheit. That's not global; it's local and temporary...but it bites. Empathy waves. Some parts of the world, more than others, really need to pay attention to the things people can do to fight local warming, like paving fewer acres, driving cars less often, and planting trees. (If we all fight local warming, global warming may not happen, or may not be as bad as those who believe it's happening have feared. Local warming is a fact, and already here; it could get worse.)
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/08/03/one-of-the-most-extreme-readings-ever-in-the-world-iranian-city-records-insanely-high-heat-index/?
Philosophy
Jeff M. reflects on a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:
http://howtounderstandpeople.blogspot.com/2015/05/what-does-this-quote-mean-to-you27.html
Picture
Ooohhh, I love having access to a computer that can handle most pictures again. NASA seems a reliable source of pretty pictures to enjoy on a laptop computer; this is a gorgeous one. (And if somebody out there wants to pay Elizabeth Barrette $10, she'll post a poem about it.)
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150803.html
Here's another one from the +Allen West Republic that can't be linked, therefore needs to be ganked. While I find things to like and admire about Hillary Rodham Clinton, this...can't be denied:
And it's not that any of her Republican competitors knows anything about life on a low income; it's just easier to stand them because they admit they're affluent, they enjoy it, and they don't blame you or me for wanting to be a little richer than we are, either.
If your browser can handle it, here, courtesy of the BBC via Twitter (this computer can open Twitter! Huzza!), is a snapshot of a modern art installation that works for me.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02yshc2?ocid=socialflow_twitter
Politics
The serial divorcee who's about as credible as his hair claims to be the Republican front-runner, and I will say he'd be a real boost to the Clinton campaign if nominated...butbutbut...this poll is showing Marco Rubio as the front-runner.
http://www.nationalreview.com/poll/poll1/gop-nominee
(This web site would never suggest that no divorcee should ever be considered for a position of responsibility. We've had a President whose ex left because she didn't want to be a politician's wife; we might have been better off if we'd had one whose ex left because she didn't want to stand by him when he was "in sickness." But we don't need one whose idea of "as long as you both shall live" really means "until I can find a newer model." A man who treats women like that is not a man other men can trust, either.)
Although my goal was to unify all the unpaid stuff I do on the Internet as much as possible, the nature of Twitter makes that almost impossible. It's possible to scroll through the last hour's worth of Tweets, in less than another full hour, by simply clicking on all the quotes e-friends invite one to "re-Tweet if you agree"; it'd be a whole day's work to copy and paste them onto a blog. However, Live Journal now offers to keep a Twitter log, and does so in a format that's compact and printable. Cheers for LJ. If you're looking for a link I Tweeted and it's been buried at Twitter, it can probably be found under "My Tweets" at:
http://cat_sanctuary.livejournal.com
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