May 9 Link Log

Categories:

Armed Citizen Prevents Crime 

Eighty-year-old great-grandmother...cool for her. Meh, well...my mother is about that old, about that tough, and if she had to bash a burglar I would feel very very bad. Not about a burglar; any burglar who gets hurt or killed by the seniors he's trying to prey on deserved worse than he got. About having let a burglar get within sight of Mother. When you get taller, stronger, or faster than your parents you're supposed to protect them as fiercely as they did you. I think the people who are reportedly worrying about the burglar's "rights," as if he had any, need to straighten out their heads and face their real guilt.

http://patriottribune.com/42897/grandma-uses-gun-to-kill-home-invader/?

Books

Book link:

http://thevagabondtabby.tumblr.com/post/144055207941/oldchildrensbooks-hans-christian-andersens

Amazon link:




Christian

Practical details of how Amish Christians do business with the rest of the world...

http://nowiknow.com/amish-commerce/

Practical Christianity...at least a theoretical discussion of one of the big challenges therein.

http://blogjob.com/inpraiseofjesus/2016/05/08/how-will-they-know-you-are-a-christian?ref=rextrulove

Cyberstuff 

Facebook as a news source? ???

http://gizmodo.com/former-facebook-workers-we-routinely-suppressed-conser-1775461006

Economy 

The funniest thing about Dave Barry's vintage column, reblogged this week, is that except for the change in Presidents it reads like new news. Er. Um. Is that funny, or is it sad?

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/dave-barry/article75129362.html#emlnl=Dave_Barry_Newsletter

Environment 

New NIH study of glyphosate toxicity on animals.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27155487

Etiquette

Reading this made me feel like channelling "Miss Manners": We stand still to show respect for any national anthem, Wade. The only exception would be countries with which we're actively at war.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/05/08/what-dwyane-wade-does-on-basketball-court-instead-of-standing-for-start-of-canadian-natl-anthem-sparks-outrage/?

Here's a nicer post about...the once-a-year "Hallmark Holiday" may be a gimmick, but those who whine about the gimmick should at least be able to say that they spend more quality time with their mothers than "Mothers' Day."

https://corallevang.wordpress.com/2016/05/08/mothers-day-lessons-learning-to-say-i-love-you/

Food (Yum)

This "Sloppy Joes" recipe is gluten-free if you choose your seasonings carefully and don't serve it on a bun. "Sloppy Joes" are one of those elaborate stew things where the flavor comes from simmering vegetables and spices together; it's traditionally made with beef (because cheap beef benefits from long simmering, too) but, if you're in a hurry or are a vegan, you could substitute ground turkey or textured vegetable protein...If I made this for myself, I'd omit the sugar and vinegar altogether and probably substitute tomato puree for ketchup, which would make it a low-sugar (not sugar-free) recipe too. However, "Sloppy Joes" are traditionally sweet-and-sour.

http://ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com/3994536.html

All maple trees can be tapped to make syrup. (Next year, though. The sap rises during the first thaws at the end of winter, before buds start to swell.)

http://www.quirkyscience.com/make-boxelder-syrup/

Krispy Kreme sells out:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2016/05/09/krispy-kreme-agrees-to-be-acquired-and-to-join-a-growing-breakfast-empire/?tid=sm_tw

Venison tacos? If a deer runs at your car (or at someone else's car), what are you going to do, leave it to suffer?

http://blogjob.com/newwaystoeat/2016/05/09/stockpiles-living-on-what-you-have/

Have you eaten cold beet soup? The poll in this Hubpages post is interesting...I once concocted a hot vegan-or-chicken-broth vegetable soup made with "Red Things and Green Things," featuring beets, but I've not eaten a proper, cold beet soup. Something about the idea of yogurt or buttermilk being involved...

http://hubpages.com/food/Cold-Beet-Soup-or-Lithuanian-Saltibarsciai

Fun Stuff

This electronics-free board game sounds just plain silly...and just what you need for an unplugged weekend.

http://www.mochasmysteriesmeows.com/2016/05/fun-feline-finds-here-kitty-kitty-card.html

Gardening 

For those who've wanted to try encouraging cut-off plant pieces to root, here are some homemade "rooting compounds."

http://blogjob.com/insights/2016/05/08/how-to-make-a-homemade-rooting-compound/

Health 

Here's what this web site wants to see more of...at Olive Garden and other restaurants, and at supermarkets, and in farmers' markets.

https://www.nrdc.org/stories/going-whole-hog-without-antibiotics?

Nature

For those whose computers are up for pretty pictures:

http://literacybase.com/iris-day-celebrates-splendid-blossoms-brilliant-colour/

This one isn't exactly pretty; it's a living, moving slime mold.

http://blogjob.com/kasmansaquaticworld/2016/04/23/aliens-in-my-aquarium/

Once again...other people got a weather disaster; we got rain.

http://bb4sp.com/tornado-in-north-carolina-surprises-national-weather-service/?

Nice

If you add another source of delight to this list, sponsors promise to give money to a worthy charity.

http://www.itsjustlife.me/what-makes-you-happy/

From the +Allen West Republic ...I don't know, the site's not making it easy. The link doesn't open this picture. Nevertheless.



Phenology 

It's Iris Day, a day officially designated for celebrating my "favorite" flowers. A little community party is going on in my town today. I didn't even try to photograph the lovely jumble of irises, or irides, I saw blooming on Park Street as I went to the party and photographed that. Luckily I didn't need to. This blogger happens to have found most, if not all, of the same colors. (My own yellow iris is solid gold, without the yellow freckling you see on Susan Golis's pictures and I see in town. Both kinds smell heavenly.)

http://yardandgardensecrets.blogspot.com/2015/08/damaged-irises-have-new-growth-flower.html

Philosophy 

James Baldwin on freedom, or "when it’s simpler to be asleep, when it’s simpler to be apathetic, when it’s simpler, in fact, not to want to be free, to think that something else is more important."

https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/05/09/james-baldwin-freedom/?

Politics

It can be hard for some, er um, persons who've given birth to readjust to talking to adults...but the left wing generally act on the premise that those not included in their "we" really are to be treated like children or pets. As in needing tax-funded "health care," needing to be told what to eat, needing for food manufacturers and distributors to manage what we eat...

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/05/09/rapper-azealia-banks-endorses-trump-says-clinton-talks-to-black-people-as-if-were-children-or-pets/?

Target's directors may have intended to make a really cutting-edge, dare-to-be-trendy, "pro-gay" statement, but what they've done (predictably) is encourage confused heterosexual men to behave badly. Grassfire reports:

"Target is facing more troubles as two episodes of men acting inappropriately toward women at Target stores surfaced this week.

First, a woman caught a creeper on video making inappropriate advances toward her in the women's underwear section of Target. Then, a Texas girl filed a report that a "peeping Tom" had peered over the wall in a Target women's changing room and pointed his camera at her."

If you'd like to add your name to the official boycott list, click here:

http://www.grassrootsaction.com/r.asp?U=690934&CID=201602&RID=46647898

For serious wonks, Puerto Ricans, and Congressman Griffith's fans, Jason Pye shared this PDF paper:

http://d7.freedomworks.org.s3.amazonaws.com/2016.05.04%20How%20Congress%20Can%20Save%20Puerto%20Rico.Final%20Draft.pdf

Even more serious wonkery explains why Bernie Sanders' campaign promises can't be taken seriously.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/05/09/the-17-trillion-problem-with-bernie-sanderss-health-care-plan-2/

For more frivolous readers...are left-wingers really more narrow-minded, dogmatic, apt to confuse their politics with their religion, than conservatives are? Hmm. Have we seen a huge social web site deliberately censoring out news stories of interest to the left wing?

http://reason.com/archives/2016/01/15/liberals-are-simple-minded

Psychology

Another case of "Prozac Dementia"?

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/05/08/tragic-mystery-as-ice-federal-agent-reportedly-walks-calmly-into-ny-park-and-shoots-himself-in-the-head/?