Priscilla's Zine & Bookstore: July 20 Link Log

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

July 20 Link Log

Categories: Amazon, Books, Christian, Disaster, Food, Free Stuff, Funny, Health News, Obit, Politics, Where to Find Me, Zazzle

Amazon

In hot weather, the un-air-conditioned Victorians liked to pump water on their heads and fantasize about celebrating "Christmas in July."

Books

At Reason, the case for romance novels, with some recommendations:

http://reason.com/archives/2016/07/20/you-should-read-more-romance-n

Christian

Liz Curtis Higgs has a new book coming out...only a novel, though:

http://www.lizcurtishiggs.com/love-goes-distance/

Cute

With three-digit (Fahrenheit) temperatures forecast for much of the country this week, this very cute tale of local warming in eastern Virginia is worth...reading the blurb below the video, anyway.

http://ksn.com/2016/07/15/8-year-old-leaves-water-gatorade-in-cooler-for-mailman-during-heatwave/

Disaster

Or should this go under "funny"? Last month, West Virginia had major floods. This month, the Illegitimate State struggles to clean up, while our region generally gets more rain and local flooding continued to hover on the horizon. They're seriously seeking laborers. Lack of skill and experience is not a problem. But they do find it necessary to mention that volunteers who own such should bring their own...long pants. (They mean trousers, international readers. Like they need to tell American teenagers to bring bluejeans. Er um, kids, it might also be a good idea to pack yer own toothbrushes...then again, local Wal-Marts would probably appreciate money from the parents who appreciate the chance to get you out of the house.)

http://wvhub.org/west-virginia-we-need-you-now-hundreds-of-volunteers-needed-to-help-flood-victims/

Seriously, this web site officially deplores the murders in Baton Rouge over the long hot weekend. (Thanks to Larry Elder for the link...neither he nor I have had nearly enough opportunities to endorse official statements from President Obama.)

http://www.cnn.com/2016/07/17/politics/obama-baton-rouge-shootings-of-police/

Food

Actually plain watermelon juice is pretty good, but you might want to eke it out with watermelon-ade, or even adult-content watermelon-ade...

http://www.organicauthority.com/how-to-make-watermelon-agua-fresca-perfect-for-summer/

Free Stuff

Free stuff in Hawkins County, Tennessee, which this web site has sometimes identified as the Home of the Weird...if you scrape up some cash and "preview" the items to be given away, the secondhand stuff you find will be a little less weird.

http://www.timesnews.net/Community/2016/07/20/Christmas-in-July-Free-item-give-away-set-for-July-30-in-Surgoinsville-barn.html?ci=content&lp=1&p=1

(And if you don't find what you want on July 30 at the "giveaway," at least the Wal-Mart version should be tax-free:

http://wjhl.com/2016/07/20/tennessee-tax-free-holiday-coming-up-july-29-31/ )

Funny

Dave Barry. New book. Real live news that didn't need too much help to make ridiculous. Florida. Here.

http://www.booksandbooks.com/event/offsite-dave-barry-best-state-ever-cgcc

Health News

For the desperate, only...I went to one of these things for free dental care, came home with additional dental damage to pay a regular dentist to fix, and concluded that the whole drama ("People should be graaateful that these people are volunteering to do bad work in miserable weather because it's free free free, and people should want more of this kind of handouts and should support fully nationalized medical care!") is being set up in hopes of generating support for a big expensive mistake. But some people do report results that justified the hassle.

http://www.heraldcourier.com/news/ram-returning-to-wise/article_bd046728-4ea0-11e6-9f31-a30cddb12e25.html

This slow-loading, visually-heavy post attempts to quantify just how much harm people do to themselves by deciding to sit out a heat wave. Hit the pool if you want to look and feel good when the heat breaks, which should happen in another month or so.

https://www.yahoo.com/beauty/what-two-weeks-of-being-lazy-does-to-your-body-124665219252.html?soc_src=unv-sh&soc_trk=tw

Obit

(You did know that "obituary/ies" is derived from Latin obit, meaning "s/he/it died," so "obit" can actually be considered the earlier and more correct form? Nice when the first link that comes in is in this category and I'm thinking "Should I type the singular or plural form?" anyway.) Video, with sufficient text to explain, a major loss in Pakistan:

http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=3379

Politics (Election 2016)

Dave Barry's coverage is as close as I care to get to either the Republican or the Democrat convention. (Thank you very much, DB.)

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/dave-barry/article90792612.html

Now, for the clueless, a clue...I've signed one or two petitions, so I'm on the MoveOn.org list. So I got this...

"Can you host a Stop Trump event in Gate City this Thursday, July 21?"

Duh. Number one: Gate City, Virginia, population 2000-3000, main street about one mile of stores and sidewalks with one stop light, is not exactly well suited to national election events. We did squeeze in state-wide coverage for the actual election when Jerry Kilgore was up for governor in 2005, and that's about our capacity. Number two: during the year 2016, I've received approximately $900 worth of funding and sponsorship, which is pathetic, ludicrous, unsustainable, and it's a wonder I'm alive...and that's $900 more from Republicans than from Democrats. I have faith that that's partly because things have been breaking badly for one of our Democrat friends; others should be ashamed of themselves, as should our better-off Republican e-friends. Anyway, much as I'd love to turn out for a book party for Robert Reich, as it might be at the coffee-bar-enhanced Booksamillion in Kingsport, I'll not be hosting any election events in Gate City.

Politics (Philosophy)

Jim Babka explains why political power corrupts:

https://www.zeroaggressionproject.org/mental-lever/corruption-no-accident/

Politics (Virginia)

From the Fifth Congressional District, a candidate for Lieutenant Governor:

http://fauquierfreecitizen.com/jill-vogel-receives-endorsement-of-grassroots-leader/

Where to Find Me

Google, Bing, and Yahoo aren't making it easy to find anyone who's not paying to be found, these days, but I'll try. +Kimberly Dalessandro just linked me to Swarmcontent.com, a German-based site that offers content (not including religious or political content--strictly news, how-to, and research) for fair payment. What I'll be trying to market there will begin with knitting patterns, and we'll see how it goes. I'll be composing articles while offline, using Word, and uploading them to the site. I'm delighted to find a site that checks Word documents for plagiarism and then markets them, rather than demanding that everything be composed online! The people who keep trying to find me at Hirewriters, where I'll undoubtedly never work again (if anyone works)'cos I've been forced to rat'em out to the IRS, should look for me at Swarmcontent. They won't handle Christian devotionals, but they will allow you to contact me directly about that type of writing, and about fiction, pamphlet-length, and book-length writing jobs, as well as the articles they market and sell.

Zazzle

Now some more about "Christmas in July" from Zazzle: