April 21 Link Log

An historic day for this web site, Gentle Readers: this is the day the Links Get Real. Tomorrow morning, I plan to distribute the first few printed editions of the Blog'Zine, just for the friends who wail "I don't read your blog because I don't use the Internet, and/or don't have online time, and/or can't read articles on computer screens." Although their goal is to grow into an ad-funded free paper similar to our late lamented Daily News (the printed newspaper that failed to hire me for discriminatory reasons and died two years later), this week's edition of my newsletter will cost $1. It will be a (sort of pathetic) four-page mock-up containing links and one-line summaries of the most interesting stories that were linked at my sites and not (yet) printed in the other local newspapers. (For an extra dollar to cover printing costs, supporters may order printouts of the full text of an article.) If it attracts ads, it will become available through the mail as a newsletter and then, if all goes well, become available free of charge at local stores, as the Daily News used to be. The newsletter's official name is Portal Paper, as in Priscilla's Internet Portal, the official name of my business.

Y'know, if my old school friends at the IRS are reading this...I hesitated to mail in this year's tax forms because an annual income before any deductions of $1855 is such a pitiful waste of yourall's time. Tax-funded IRS time, I mean to say. I did not go to the trouble of setting up a business account with you in order to continue wasting your time. The Internet Portal is a real business; I intend it to grow.

For those wondering how the Links are selected for the printed edition...interest in headline news is part of it. Also, freshness: I assume that real-world readers already read the Kingsport Times-News, Bristol Herald-Courier, and Virginia Star, so the Portal Paper won't use links to stories that report the same facts reported in those newspapers. (This week, a Tweep (people-one-sort-of-knows = Peeps; Twitter Peeps = Tweeps) shared one story that's also mentioned in the other papers, but my Tweep's version reports a lot of additional facts the other papers don't mention.) Finally, I'll feature one "feature story" link per standard "feature story" category until such time as the Portal Paper gets big enough to include more.

Now, today's links:

Animals 

Valentino the handsome hound goes politically incorrect...

http://www.dogpawsitivetidbits.com/2016/04/on-right-track-naturally.html

(Yesterday's idiot local gossip story has it that while offline, I've been hanging out on the river, fishing, with a hound dog and a fellow called "John." The person reporting the story wasn't sure whether that might be "John Jordan," which I hear as a garbled version of the name of a relative I've not seen in years, or "John Henry," the real given name of a senile admirer who died a few years back, or any of several hundred other men I may or may not ever have heard of. There is no way to confuse JJ, age 30, with JH, age 95. In any case, I've not been fishing, I've not been on the river, and I've not been hanging out with men. I've been at home. Cleaning up the fire damage that it's been too cold and dark to clean up all winter, and nibbling on the "weeds" in the garden. If anyone had cared to take a close look they could've seen the grass stains, smelled the definitely-not-cigarette-type smoke, and maybe even choked on the fumes from the garbage I've burned in a barrel. Peace and blessings to "John," if that's his name, and his black-haired fishing buddy, whoever she may be, and their dog, whoever it may be. Seeing Valentino on +Ruth Cox 's blog is as close as I've been to a hound dog this spring...I did see Sydney, back in March.

http://blogjob.com/disrespectfulpeople/2016/04/20/trouble-makers-of-the-world/)

The human shown here sounds about intelligent enough to listen to the local gossip about me rather than reading the Straight Dope on my web sites...

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/04/20/is-she-stupid-woman-caught-on-camera-petting-yellowstone-animal-few-would-ever-dare-approach/?

Baby lemurs...thanks to "Social In Chesapeake" for retweeting:

http://www.techinsider.io/baby-lemurs-at-bronx-zoo-2016-4

Art 

Thanks to Billy Hallowell for the link to Charlie Mackesy's Christian content. This is a link to his artwork; if you've not discovered his sculptures, paintings, photos etc., you'll want to. His (brief, pleasantly modest) testimony is under the "About" button.

http://charliemackesy.com/

Books 

Wendy Welch's review of a novel I've not read is...short. Recommended partly because I think her judgment is usually reliable, partly for the line-up of nonfiction books I also recommend (having read them and liked them) in the sidebar.

https://wendywelchbigstonegap.wordpress.com/2016/04/18/the-monday-book-calling-me-home-by-julie-kibler/

I'm not so sure about these book swappers' judgment on their novels, but they seem to be having fun and, now that the Wordpress issues seem to have settled down for me, this is a nice blog to follow. They pledge money to charity based on (legitimate, not spammy) comments.

http://www.itsjustlife.me/chaotic-goddess-book-swap-reveal/

Firearms Rights 

Are opponents of firearms rights the best friends the firearms industry ever had?

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/04/20/report-the-gun-industry-has-ballooned-under-obama-added-more-than-100000-gun-related-jobs-during-his-presidency/

Funny, Ha Ha 

Visual joke, shared by Margaret Atwood:

https://mobile.twitter.com/kobo/status/722894858487136256

That was so funny I'll even use the Amazon Link Space in this article for a graphic explanation:



And, but for space considerations, this text piece almost made the print edition's "Funny Piece" cut...

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/scott-whitlock/2016/04/21/hillary-pal-george-stephanopoulos-baffled-why-some-distrust

Seriously, Dave Barry's history of Miami was funnier. Though not new; it was a Miami Herald feature twenty years ago. Its reissue is news.

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/dave-barry/article68021572.html#emlnl=Dave_Barry_Newsletter

Gross-Out! 

Sex-selection abortion. Sorry it was necessary to explain that this was not a cool gross-out, like an autopsy or giant slug or something.

http://www.lifenews.com/2016/04/14/planned-parenthood-opposes-bil-to-ban-sex-selection-abortions-targeting-girl-babies/#.VxEZoAH5Lm8.twitter

Health 

The nice...

http://drjustinimelsr.com/2015/10/19/ten-things-you-can-do-for-the-chronically-disabled/

The bad...

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2016/04/21/Get-Ready-Huge-Obamacare-Premium-Hikes-2017

History 

Nice follow-up to yesterday's story about the new design for the $20 bill:

http://noisyroom.net/blog/2016/04/21/harriet-tubman-a-fine-choice-for-the-20-bill/

Models Behaving Well 

Linked because women want to see how Naomi Campbell is holding up (answer: well), and men just want to see her. I seriously think many people (including White ones, but definitely Black ones) are facing bigotry today, and that it's elitist more than racist bigotry. (Even when racist, it's primarily elitist--these days a person who automatically assumes a random Black youth on a mean street is a thug, when he might in fact be a Guardian Angel, is very likely to adore people like Halle Berry or Tiger Woods, or, well, NC...) Naomi Campbell naturally wouldn't see that kind of bigotry. So y'might say she's proving my point.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/04/21/heres-why-supermodel-naomi-campbell-refuses-to-use-the-word-racism/

Music 

Does anyone want to see how the rocker known as Alice Cooper is holding up? Well, I did:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/04/21/legendary-hard-rocker-alice-cooper-sends-out-big-invitation-but-not-for-any-heavy-metal-festival/?

Phenology Links 

In Alabama it's time for ploughing and planting, yes. In Virginia, ploughing is safe in April, but don't plant anything that might sprout before the tenth of May. (One year my parents did...and yes, that was the year we had a killing frost on the tenth of May.)

http://blogjob.com/gettingoffthegrid/2016/04/20/its-done-yayy/

Phenology Fest 

This Saturday...

https://php.radford.edu/~vga/?page_id=7032