Animals
It's a dog day at Petfinder.com; small dogs, for a change, since this web site usually follows a few blogs about big dogs:
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| Peanut from Marietta, Georgia: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/14743470 |
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| Gleaming Gretchen from Bethesda: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/34636809 |
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| Blind Bradley from Larchmont: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/30108861 |
Cats model crocheted caps in this photo essay. Well, I chortled. I also promised never to knit caps for my cats. Blankets, yes...they love to curl up on knitted fabric in summer, between and under it in winter.
http://friendsfurevercatblog.blogspot.com/2016/12/time-traveling-tuesday.html
Wild animals--sloths:
http://www.slothsanctuary.com/newsletter/
Art
Move over, Joni Eareckson Tada
...http://www.joniandfriends.org/
Here's another quadriplegic "mouth artist":
http://www.henryfraser.org/blog/
Books
Neil Gaiman promises two book parties in February:
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2016/12/want-to-hear-me-reading-norse-myths-in.html
Here's NG's advice to readers and writers:
https://www.brainpickings.org/2016/08/03/neil-gaiman-view-from-the-cheap-seats-reading/
Restoring my faith in the more heat-affected corner of Virginia...
http://www.theblaze.com/news/2016/12/07/virginia-school-board-unanimously-rejects-mothers-request-to-pull-literary-american-classics/
And here's a (promotion?) for a set of parodies made for sharing with nanny-types. Yes, kids and "kidz"... if the real target of the snark is censorship rather than the ethnic group taunted, racism is funny.
http://reason.com/blog/2016/12/06/outrage-over-childrens-book-parody-will
Christian
Sermon:
http://faithandvictory.com/sermons/soul-custody/
Historically, it's very unlikely that Jesus had blue eyes. (We have a total of two biblical clues about what He may have looked like. (1) He was recognized as a "Son of David," who was remembered as having a "ruddy" coloring. (2) A prophecy that may or may not have referred to Jesus foretold that His hair would be "like lambs' wool," as distinct from the hair of e.g. Solomon's bride, which was "like goats"--hence, curly, African-type hair.) Here's why it's important not to get too obsessed with the fact that a man whose appearance didn't call attention to itself, in Jesus' time and place, would have been basic-human-color, not easy to describe as either White or Black. (Bonus: If you scroll down or back to the post before the one linked below, you'll find a classical Christian explanation of where Fidel Castro has gone.)
https://justthinking.me/2016/12/05/the-danger-of-viewing-jesus-as-a-melanin-messiah/
Philosophy in our President-elect's native dialect of English:
http://www.newyorkapologetics.com/why-does-god-allow-bad-things-to-happen-whattya-do/
Crafts
If you want one, I'll knit you one; online price $10, real-world price $5. The link is to the pattern you can use to knit it yourself, if you knit.
https://www.pussyhatproject.com/
Disaster
Twelve years after the big tsunami/earthquake, Aceh, Indonesia, seems to be the epicenter of another earthquake:
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-indonesia-quake-idUSKBN13V2SX?il=0
Meanwhile, two Tennessee updates. First, with thanks to Kenny Chesney for sharing:
https://dollywoodfoundation.org/
About the cause of the fire:
http://nypost.com/2016/12/07/2-juveniles-charged-for-starting-deadly-wildfires/
Fashion
What about we all just concede that traditional ideas of "modest dress" are part of some people's personal, individual style, and just happen to look better on most of those people than the teeny bikinis and hooker looks the Madison Avenue Misogynists keep shoving at us? (Even if the article below ends with a blatantly bogus whimper about "we all have feelings"--it's fairly obvious that whatever HSPs and non-HSPs experience as "feelings" are two different ranges of experience--that's a separate rant.)
http://www.adiosbarbie.com/2016/12/faith-meets-fashion/
Funny
The wackiest thing about the flavors Melanie Bates invents for this article is that, in a world that's already seen jalapeno-pepper-flavored jellybeans and bacon-flavored soda pop, somebody out there is reading them as recipe suggestions.
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/what-grocery-shopping-really-does-to-your-brain.html
And some of them might turn out ridiculous enough to make this list. Maybe. (Yes, this is the wonderful annual short list of the very silliest gift items on Earth.)
http://www.miamiherald.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/dave-barry/article118002173.html#emlnl=Dave_Barry_Newsletter
Gardening
Winter garden prod:
http://blog.naturespath.com/organic-gardening-chores-for-november-december-and-january
Green
Long article punctuated with far too many graphics, but if you want to improve your neighborhood it may be worth pasting this one into Word, deleting all the graphics, printing, and reading. (Please ignore the one about smiling at strangers though. In any situation where you have to think about telling your face to do something, the way to look non-hostile is to tell your face to relax. Save the smile until you're actually pleased or amused...when people are telling themselves to smile, they exude hostile pheromones that reinforce the effect of forced teeth-baring, which is hideous.)
http://www.curbed.com/2016/9/22/13019420/urban-design-community-building-placemaking
Did you think that at least GMO cotton couldn't do much harm?
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2988361/vital_soil_fungi_damaged_by_gmo_bt_cotton.html
Health
The understanding of this web site is that the "market" for bone marrow donations is limited. Marrow transplants are more problematic than blood transfusions. One reason why multiple myeloma is so hard to treat is that, by the time the disease is diagnosed, the patient probably doesn't have enough healthy marrow to support autologous transplants, and even a parent's or sibling's marrow may not be a close enough genetic match to help the patient. Nevertheless, when marrow can be donated...the recipients of donated body tissues certainly pay for them; therefore, the donors should be the ones paid.
http://www.learnliberty.org/blog/pay-for-bone-marrow-save-lives/
Vegan psychology with Doug Lisle at tomorrow's McDougall Webinar:
http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=5e58f59d97611f910916b6276&id=1234d94772&e=4d57a9fdfb
I particularly appreciate the absence of a photo in this article about the eye problem about which I'm most concerned:
https://niume.com/post/150204
Maria Popova's "brain-pickings" highlight the role of (real, physical, not subject to gadget-fatigue or electronic censorship) books in preserving health:
http://www.dailygood.org/story/1456/staying-alive-mary-oliver-on-how-books-saved-her-life-maria-popova/
At Problogger, Lifehacks is soliciting for writers who're willing to write "everybody should be taking probiotics" articles. I'm glad I did the research first. I believe in probiotics and think my Significant Other should consider taking them in their natural forms, as discussed here, or even taking good old familiar acidophilus capsules, which I've taken from time to time myself...but the science is still indicating that there are some hazards, and probiotics, especially the broad-spectrum probiotic pills some enthusiasts are pushing on people who've used broad-spectrum antibiotics, may not be for everybody. Even acidophilus is not for everybody on Earth. If AIDS, chemotherapy, etc., present special concerns, there's lots of information out there, pro and con, to help you research which probiotic live-bacteria "supplements" may be safe for you. Here are some "first" articles to read on this topic. If you tolerate these foods, you probably don't need to spend money on additional probiotics...
http://dailyburn.com/life/health/foods-with-probiotics/
If you'd rather pop an acidophilus pill when you eat ice cream instead of eating raw yogurt, which I suspect most of us would, and/or you're interested in new reports about the use of probiotics to treat conditions more serious than an aging digestive tract, here are the official summary and preliminary guide to this fast-evolving field of medical research.
https://medlineplus.gov/druginfo/natural/790.html
https://nccih.nih.gov/health/probiotics/introduction.htm
Breaking news about vaccinations...Why are you not surprised?
http://www.anh-usa.org/study-give-fewer-same-day-vaccines-at-an-older-age/
Holidays
Grassfire's supporting its social site with Christmas wreath stickers: each package contains one for home, one for the office, and one for the car.
http://www.grassrootsaction.com/r.asp?U=741294&CID=201726&RID=47949699
While ho-ho-hum, NRO is just plain begging. Again. However, this beggy e-mail at least made me smile, so here's the quote (the headline was "It's Me, Nick"):
"
Yeah, it was my feast day yesterday, and yes buddy boy, it looks like you dropped the ball again when it came to venerating.
We saints expect venerating. Even when we wear these duds.
Now I could do the lump of coal thing, or I could give you a make-up. Which I'll do. So, here's what will make me happy today: You send a donation to National Review -- eitherdirectly at NROor via PayPal (or by sending a check to NR at 215 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY 10016) -- so it can do a complete overhaul of NRO.
"
Unless a lot of people out there in cyberspace commission me to write for them (at Fiverr, or right here) I'm actually going to have a use for that lump of coal, as in heat this winter, so I'll take it, thank you Nicholas...
From the above-linked Joni Eareckson Tada:
http://www.joniandfriends.org/blog/ways-serve-your-guest-disability-during-holidays/
I have some suspicions about the Christmas-haters out there. I suspect they're Christians at heart who are really finding it difficult not to repent of their past claims to be atheists and reconcile themselves to the idea that a good God who has endowed us with free will has to allow evil and suffering.
https://wendywelchbigstonegap.wordpress.com/2016/12/07/all-the-condiments-of-the-seasoning/
Introvert Update
Not exactly groundbreaking, this link at least offers an update on Quiet
and The Introvert Advantage
:https://flipboard.com/@flipboard/flip.it%2FHltHYj-21-undeniable-signs-that-youre-an-intro/f-1b492ecae9%2Fhuffingtonpost.com
Marketing
Why you should be advertising here:
http://www.problogger.net/micro-influencers-monetisation-strategies/
Maryland
Don't frack Frostburg!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/residents-of-western-maryland-dont-want-fracking/2016/12/06/b70c4ae2-bb57-11e6-ae79-bec72d34f8c9_story.html?utm_term=.c7b9353690c4
Music
Anyone want to listen to Kenny Chesney?
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/cosmic-hallelujah/id1157695723?app=itunes
Politics
A civilized nation does not force anybody to fight its wars. It takes the absence of a volunteer army as an indication that it may need to reconsider the whole war. However...I'm not sure about the gender stereotypes in this one. Plenty of women are capable of looking people in the eye and killing them, and you don't have to be either tall or strong to aim a modern weapon accurately. It is, however, good for the morale of big strong male soldiers if their buddies are big enough to be able to carry them, if necessary. Because I've lifted and carried people who were up to ten pounds heavier than I am (if they consciously cooperated), I'll say this: A 120-pound woman can easily drag a 250-pound man. Of course she can. But she's about as likely to aggravate his injuries as she is to save his life by doing it.
http://iwf.org/rss2/2802312/A-Civilized-Nation-Does-Not-Force-Its-Women-To-Fight-Its-Wars
The electoral college prevents California from dictating the outcome of elections...and also preserves California's ability to vote, in elections that might otherwise seem to have been decided before most Californians (and Hawaiians!) reach the polls.
http://www.nationalreview.com/node/442783/print
Why don't we sue, e.g., cities that impose gun bans when law-abiding people are shot?
http://www.nationalreview.com/node/442784/print
Venezuela Update
Cutting off hair to protest Trump would be too confusing. For that we need the appropriate hat.
http://dailycaller.com/2016/12/07/venezuelan-women-cut-off-hair-to-survive-while-feminists-do-it-to-protest-trump/
Zazzle
Seriously, I thought, and still think, a lot of those fussy, elaborate "holiday sweaters" of the 1990s were cute...at least until the beads and sequins started to fall off, the knotted-in yarns started to come loose, and the bright colors started to fade together in the wash. By now some of them are pretty hair-raising...not entirely limited to the sense of static cling. (The one featured in the center of the image below is a style that seems unlikely to have ever been flattering to any body...)
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| Zazzle |
But if you want my vote for "ugliest garment," y'gotta get down'n'dirty with recent-model, manufacturer-label-printed-on-the-outside, cheap-and-sleazy-stretched-out-jersey, neckline-over-the-shoulders, breast-pocket-not-stitched-down-and-puffing-up, mass-produced-in-foreign-sweatshops T-shirts. Sweaters are not in that class of ugly, and never will be.
Enough blather. What about holidays that don't usually get much attention at this web site?
Happy Hanukkah. Customizable Greeting Cards
by artofmairin
Happy Pawlidays | Holiday Photo Card
by latebloom
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