Tuesday, November 15, 2016

November 15 Link Log

No, I didn't spend the four-day weekend on the road with my favorite veteran--wish I had! Tomorrow con suerte I may be able to make a dent in the weekend's e-mail. Today's Categories: Animals, Armed Citizen Fights Crime, Books, Constitutional Rights, Education, Fashion, Fun, Green, Health, Local, Pictures, Politics, Women's Issues, Writing, Zazzle.

Animals 

What happens when police officers aren't screened for dog phobia...In this case I think one of the pictures is especially valuable because it does contribute something to the article. Which details of the dog family photo (as embedded in the text, not as messed up to add a "header" that merely clutters the computer screen) do you notice first? The mother-love attitude of the "pure white" adult dog tending her young, or the horror-movie-cliche effect of the bigger pup's eyes reflecting red from the flash camera? Does this picture say "sweet, lovable dogs" or "scary, dangerous dogs" to you? If the latter...I understand your thought processes, and I say you need to spend some time studying dogs' habits and nonverbal communication, so that you don't inadvertently provoke someone's sweet, lovable pet to attack you.

http://reason.com/archives/2016/11/15/the-detroit-police-department-is-running

Petfinder links...I'll try to mix up pet types by searching for the breeds mentioned in the first link I open, during the weeks to come, so today's focus is on Bull Terriers. That breed comes with a warning. They are not ideal first pets. My brother and I were given a bull terrier as our first dog; that was a mistake, and cute little "Tough Enough" was also our last dog. "Terrier" means a kind of tough little hunting dog that's been bred for the ability to kill nuisance animals. They're not too big for anyone to handle, and they can be cute, sweet, lovable dogs whom children, Chihuahuas, even cats or pet chickens, can trust...but they've been bred for super-strong muscles and energetic personalities that can easily become aggressive. All "bull" terriers, including pit bulls and the breed named after Parson Jack Russell, are more aggressive on average than shaggier terriers like "Yorkies" and "Scotties." If allowed to become bored or alienated they have been known to turn on other pets, on visitors, or on their owners. Due to (stupid) breed bans in some localities, and owners' fears that these dogs may be "going bad," there are a lot of bull terrier mixes up for adoption. If you are an experienced dog handler, rescuing one of them would be a kind, humane thing to do. If you're not, use these links to check whether the same shelters have collies for adoption...

Isabelle*
Photogenic Isabelle from Baltimore: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/36657555
Patch from Washington reminds me of the first (and last) dog my brother and I officially "owned": https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/35572612
MILA
Mila from Atlanta...one of over 700 bull terrier types up for adoption in Atlanta alone: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/36701754

...Or greyhounds, which are problematic in a different way; of all dog breeds greyhounds are probably the most introverted, quiet, calm, gentle, lovable, etc. etc., but as a local Dog Sanctuary that rescued one learned, they will run you off your feet. (This is no longer a new link; it's a sample prizewinning essay posted by the host of a new writing contest.)

http://therumpus.net/2016/01/greyhound/

...Or retrievers, which are usually sweethearts, but they never ever lose touch with their Inner Puppy.

http://thebookofbarkley.blogspot.com/2016/11/sugar-and-spice.html

I'm still writing my full-length review of The Book of Barkley; the Amazon review should go live in a few more hours.



What do dogs do when they're alone indoors?

https://niume.com/pages/post/?postID=161052

From dogs to dolphins...(What is this web site doing without a cat post?) Hauling dolphins around on land is sooo tacky because, for those who may have forgotten, Indonesia is an island country; the "dolphin circus" should so easily be able to keep these dolphins closer to their natural environment.

https://www.change.org/p/sign-free-the-dolphins-forced-to-jump-through-fire

Armed Citizen Fights Crime 

The title says it all. (Haters, or clashing Adobe programming, may try to prevent this post from loading. Persevere. It's there.)

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/11/14/good-guy-with-a-gun-saves-deputy-from-being-beaten-to-death/

Books 

Referred from the blog feed:

http://bookpound.blogspot.com/2016/11/review-of-pleasures-of-reading-in-age.html

The classic Little House books have spawned a doll collection:

http://www.mochasmysteriesmeows.com/2016/11/little-house-on-prairie-laura-ingalls.html

The Little Bookstore's book of the week is not such a cheerful read. The heading reminded me of "Keep Calm and Love the Vincas," which is a self-published best-of-the-blog souvenir "book" you can buy (only) from this web site. The content of the post linked below is different, adult, and likely to provoke empathetic sorrow and fierce compassion (which still raise your blood pressure). It's pricey; ask the Welches about a secondhand copy if you're on a tight budget.

https://wendywelchbigstonegap.wordpress.com/2016/11/14/keep-calm-and/



Need something cheerful to read after that link? Neil Gaiman's latest review of a friend's book is a cheerful read, with nice well-preserved-grandpa pictures:

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2016/10/lifey-death-dances-again.html

Constitutional Rights 

The position of this web site is that "smart guns," like "smart phones" and "smart cars," are inherently going to be too "smart" for their own good. Simpler devices are more dependable devices. With a "smart phone" all you have to do is remember that you can't rely on it, as you could rely on a simpler phone, for survival help purposes. With guns and cars the built-in risks are higher.

http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/05/smart_gun_technology__a_dumb_idea.html?

Now for a different constitutional amendment...yes, if this post hadn't mentioned firearms rights, this link might have gone under "Censorship." Follow the links to Professor Esolen's articles. Both are worth reading if you want to call yourself a liberal (or if you don't, particularly). Also you'll learn what groegwr means.

http://tomwoods.com/podcast/ep-782-another-professor-refuses-to-surrender-to-the-campus-snowflakes/?omhide=true

Education 

Tom DeWeese shares another concern about the outbound administration:

http://ntlconsulting.blogspot.com/2016/11/destroying-america-from-inside-classroom.html

Fashion 

From George Mason University, a real big-name school a friend's son attended, here's the coolest collection of libertarian-theme T-shirts I've ever...you have to see the gallery.

http://www.learnliberty.org/rewards-store/

Fun Facts 

For those who think toilet humor is fun...a Toilet Museum.

http://nowiknow.com/a-def-vacation/

What would you try if you were stuffed into a car trunk?

http://combatmindset.com/2016/04/5-ways-bust-car-trunk/

Green 

Another chance to sign that fracking-related petition...I signed it. Adayahi, to my surprise, did not.

https://www.change.org/p/united-states-department-of-the-interior-stop-the-auctioning-of-wayne-national-forest-for-oil/u/18468656

Health 

If you followed the link to the greyhound story, you may have learned that it won a prize in a contest sponsored by a family who would like everyone to learn more about the rare genetic disease discussed at this NIH fact sheet. Out of respect for the two good essays they've found, here is the fact sheet:

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/sma/detail_sma.htm

Local Restaurant Review: Molcajetes Gets Many Stars, but Not From Me 

On Sunday evening I was treated to a free review plate of arroz con pollo from a local restaurant that I would have loved to give a five-star review. The arroz (rice), the pollo (chicken), and the crisp and juicy barely-cooked vegetables were indeed superb, but who the bleep puts chunks of wheat bread in arroz con pollo? I tasted and recognized that "good, healthy" whole wheat bread (it looked like chicken liver), spat it out, anticipated and thereby defused the foul mood before I even got into it; allergies I don't normally have are still flaring, sharp stabbing pains are setting in as I type; blood should appear in the toilet some time tomorrow. Molcajetes was one of Kingsport's better reviewed restaurants before our local Mexican-Americans prevailed on the owners to move it to Gate City. It has already earned "stars" like the night sky over Gate City in December before the nyctophobics put in all those obnoxious outdoor lights. Based on the one item on the menu anyone imagined I could even taste, I say it's excellent if you can tolerate wheat and cheese; if you're like me, cross the street.

[map link]

I can understand this guy's feelings (thanks to Dave Barry for the link), but no, this is not what we should do when we "get glutened." Stab'em in the pocketbook, gluten-intolerant (or other food-intolerant) victims of food poisoning via stealth ingredients. Use those social media!

http://www.bradenton.com/news/nation-world/national/article114388748.html

Pictures 

How ever did this web site get referrals (plural) from http://scottsdalerealestate.com/ ? This web site has no idea. (I asked it; it shrugged its little virtual shoulders and said "Search me!") I've been in Arizona. I remember it mostly as the only place where I've ever encouraged a driver to go faster, but then again I've known people who retired there and liked it. Fun fact: arida zona is not good Spanish--it just happens to fit, and if you crave warm dry weather, this might be your kind of scene:

https://www.experiencescottsdale.com/outdoor-adventure/

From +Beth Ann Chiles , inspirational displays of can sculptures. (The cans are of course to be donated to food pantries all over the world.) Pick your favorite, and browse through more of this blog if you want to prompt sponsors to donate generously to the American Diabetes Association...they've pledged fifty cents per comment!

http://itsjustlife.me/can-art-display-good-nyc/

The Supermoon...(Yes, I saw it. I was out under it. Cold, but you have to feel what a few layers of hand-knitted acrylic can do. I admit I spent most of the full moon's hours of glory with those layers pulled up over my head--but not all of them.)

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/11/14/twitter-users-took-these-unreal-photos-of-tonights-super-moon/

Politics 

Ben Carson didn't have the experience to be Surgeon General? This is a statement.

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/11/15/ben-carson-turns-down-trump-cabinet-post-because-he-doesnt-have-experience/

The Blaze post linked below makes another statement. This time, it's "Jess McIntosh is pitiful." Women vote against our own self-interest? In what way would putting Bill Clinton back in the White House, either as President Clinton's husband or as President Trump's mentor, have served our self-interest? Might could be, as Ozarque suggested a long time ago (2007), that women thought electing HRC would work against women's self-interest, because if the First Woman President is as unpopular as the First African-American President has been, that might do for gender relations what the Obama administration has done for race relations. Just saying.

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/11/15/clinton-campaign-staffer-blames-internalized-misogyny-for-candidate-losing-white-womens-vote/

Yet even Trump supporters seem uncertain whether Trump will actually deliver what they bought him for:

https://thedaleygator.wordpress.com/2016/11/12/the-six-things-donald-trump-must-do-as-president/

Here's one possible problem...a cow on the track in front of the Trump Train? (Truly obnoxious web page; read at your own risk.)

http://www.thepoliticalinsider.com/just-before-takes-office-george-soros-trump-announces-plan-obstruct/

Women's Issues 

The correspondents who shared this link suggest, "Send an e-mail to a woman who has made a difference in your life, either directly or indirectly. Thank her for the courage and inspiration to persevere." Has this web site boosted your courage and inspiration...as a Christian (or person of some other faith), writer, reader, opponent of censorship, supporter of individual rights and liberties, Tea Party, anti-racism vigilante, woman, or whatever?

http://www.dailygood.org/story/1440/how-women-led-movements-are-redefining-power-from-california-to-nepal-rucha-chitnis/

Now, talk about your "lame duck" ideas...This web site does not judge anybody who's survived an abortion, voluntary or involuntary (like my own dear mother's...at least three, and she says maybe more). This web site agrees with Alice Walker that abortion survivors have suffered enough. This web site also agrees with Penny Nance that, if irresponsible males are bullying women into "choosing" surgical abortion, at least those scum should jollywell pay for it. Not in my name. Not with my money. Here's Penny Nance:

"
So-called “pro-choice” legislators and activists used to say abortion should be “Safe, Legal, and Rare.”

Not anymore. The new motto is “Safe, Legal, and Accessible.”

Notice the shift? Not rare, rampant abortion is what they want. It’s why they want to repeal the Hyde Amendment, which makes it illegal to directly fund abortion through our tax dollars.

The truth is, abortion is never safe – not for the unborn baby, and not for the desperate mother. And it’s already not rare, with 2,700 abortions in the United States every day. And we certainly don’t need to make it more accessible by forcing taxpayers to pay for it.

Call your Congressmen and Senators today and ask them to preserve the Hyde amendment.



We must protect the unborn. Sign our petition to tell Congress to preserve the Hyde Amendment. It’s the only federal limit on taxpayer-funded abortion that exists today, and we can’t let it fall. Visit www.CapitolHillBrief.org to sign and save unborn lives!
"

Btw, Scott Adams has the best position a man can take on this issue:

http://blog.dilbert.com/post/153220656771/the-thought-experiment-that-broke-your-brain

Writing 

From http://futurism.com/ , this web site probably got referrals because I wrote that "hard science fiction" story last summer. I think the concepts are more interesting than the "fiction" element of that story. Meh. Do youall still want to read the story? The concepts were discussed separately, back when one of them was being debated by our federal government:

http://priscillaking.blogspot.com/2016/08/writing-kylene-has-two-children.html

Meanwhile, here's a prod to do something I've needed to do for a long time: "curate" this web site, either remove the posts that were just links to pages that no longer exist (sorry, AC friends) or update them with links to the authors' updated versions of the same content, add Amazon links to older posts at this site (which relied on Amazon's automatic-linking ribbon ads, which no longer exist) and, for users of older devices that can't handle pictures and Amazon links easily, get picture-free versions onto Live Journal. One of these days that blog chore will get done. I know, I've only been waiting about a year for the e-leisure time to do it...

http://www.mostlyblogging.com/evergreen-content/#more-9940

And here's a prod for readers:

http://www.learnliberty.org/blog/what-is-the-point-of-reading/?

Here's a writer some correspondents may want to follow. Meh. Her Tumblr is too pictorial for this, the highest-memory computer I've used all year.

https://asexualartists.wordpress.com/2016/11/14/interview-ari/

Zazzle 

Gift tags are on sale today:



So is gift wrapping. (If you personalize this one, you have the right to substitute the name of the recipient for "Miranda" as shown.)



And, would you like postage with that?



(If you don't like my Zazzle slogan-only merchandise, no problem; Zazzle actually pays higher commissions when we steer buyers to other people's merchandise than when we steer them to our own.)

Further reflections along the same line...a quote, not a post, but worth reading:

http://mausersandmuffins.blogspot.com/2016/11/on-reason.html

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