February 26 Link Log

Yesterday I saw snow, and felt the ground freezing, so I didn't go into town. I'm told things in town stayed open. Today I'm still seeing snow, and the ground is still in the slow process of freezing, but I came into town and found the computer center open. Categories: Obligatory Fundraising Links, Animals, Environment, Gardening, Introverts, Local Interest, Phenology Links.

Obligatory Fundraising Link 

Would you like to go directly to the new stuff without having to read past this link? Do you wish I'd stop asking you for money? So...do...I. I hate asking people for money. But I really don't see other viable options.

http://igg.me/at/frugalgraciouslivingchallenge/x/997637

Unless youall prefer this one. Back in the 1990s I did a lot of research on Bill Clinton; wrote and read a long tape script that debunked a lot of "right-wingnut" rumors, but...I personally feel more aversion to the bogus "Republican" candidate than I do to poor old brain-damaged Hillary Rodham Clinton, but elections aren't supposed to be about personal emotional feelings. I would much, much, much rather write a nice, factual though fluffy, chick-lit blog about how much serious fun it's possible to have on a "poverty level" income, instead of a "political hatchet job." What about youall? The computer shows that you do read the political content at this web site. Would you prefer to fund a "political hatchet job" type of writing project?

Animals 

Elizabeth Barrette shares an ode to purry cats. (During the cold spell when this was written, when I was offline, the female cats were allowed in the warm room, and the sniffly junior cats Sisawat and Inky formed a purr-ball on my chest at night. I was just glad they weren't Iris, who would have insisted on sleeping right across my neck.)

http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/3926076.html

Environment 

Confirmation is here: If you've been feeling sick for no obvious reason, if you've had symptoms of gluten intolerance even though you don't have the gene and you've gone gluten-free and you're still sick...it's not just in your mind. You have been poisoned. Not only do glyphosate-tainted foods, especially grains bioengineered to survive spraying with glyphosate, literally lacerate some people's digestive tracts; not only has glyphosate been identified as a carcinogen; some studies are now also finding that glyphosate boosts disease bacteria's resistance to antibiotics--think MRSA. Whom can you sue? Probably yourself, first. But e-friend +Andria Perry was inaccurate in thinking that we as a nation could forgive Monsanto merely because the manufacturer of Roundup-brand glyphosate and "Roundup Ready" GMO grain settled one lawsuit in Alabama. This company is still being sued, all across North America, and they still deserve a lot more lawsuits and penalties than they're getting.

http://grassfire.com/study-fda-allows-glyphosate-in-your-food-based-on-monsantos-faulty-research/

Gardening 

Do you raise mints? (If you do, when you make salad you can just rinse some mints and mince some mints...sorry!)

http://blogjob.com/insights/2016/02/24/about-the-mint-family-of-plants/

If your green thumb is itching and your growing season is still eight or twelve weeks ahead, you might want to try a little home-grown lettuce.

http://blogjob.com/irenen1garden/2016/02/25/growing-lettuce-for-salads-and-sandwiches/

Introverts 

What makes Highly Sensory-Perceptive people (or just Highly Sensitive Persons, whichever) special? We just...plain...have...more...fun! We're wired to like sex--sometimes in ways that may seem premature and/or excessive--but we're also wired to perceive other pleasures as, in some ways, even better. That's why most HSP Christians aren't too worried about Jesus' teaching that the resurrected "are like the angels of Heaven, which neither marry" nor eat nor worry about other earthly-body processes. C.S. Lewis said that worrying about this was like a little child who's been told about sex at too early an age and thinks it can't be much fun unless you eat candy while you're doing it. HSPs experience love, worship, and creative work, even in our mortal bodies, as pleasures that can be compared favorably with sex. For one thing they last longer.

Regrettably, some people don't seem to be wired to enjoy love, work, or worship the way I do, or the way Lewis or Pascal or Emily Dickinson obviously did...in this life. One possible understanding of Christian teaching is that, in the afterlife, their brains will be healed and they, too, will know other pleasures that make them feel sorry for anyone whose greatest pleasure is sex (or candy). Jesus said in another context, "I have food to eat that you know nothing of," apparently meaning the joy of worship. Maybe in Heaven Christians will be able to "eat" the kind of "food" Jesus meant.

http://blogjob.com/crazyworldtimes/2016/02/26/funniest-reason-one-devoted-christian-faithful-quitted-the-church/

Local History in the News

Reenacting James Earl Ray's escape from an East Tennessee prison in the 1970's is not for farbs, the faint of heart, or even your average marathon runner.

http://nowiknow.com/the-weekender-february-26-2016/

Phenology Link 

Once again, my home town's nasty weather is someone's disaster. We had wind, mostly just a cold wind but very gusty, and sleet and snow...whereas a flatter part of Virginia...

http://wtvr.com/2016/02/25/virginia-tornado-victims-id/

http://grassfire.com/still-standing-iconic-images-emerge-after-deadly-virginia-tornado/