January 10 Links

It's taken most of the morning to get online from a friend's house and find that, after scraping out the bacon, I had a backlog of twenty pages of e-mails that I would in fact like to read...some time...not even to mention the blog feed. Sigh. I've had a pleasant vacation, mostly at home reconnecting with my own laptop computer, which was out of commission all summer, and in and out of the geek-paradise known as Compuworld; have missed youall (somewhat) and look forward to reading that youall have had an equally pleasant ten days...at least those who weren't in Fort Lauderdale...Categories: Animals, Books, Controversial, Events, Food, Funny, Health, Phenology, Pictures, Weird.

Animals 

A moment from the Book of Barkley, with nice photos that behave perfectly for this computer...

http://thebookofbarkley.blogspot.com/2017/01/splody-barkley-memory-for-samantha-and.html

Making it a dog day at Petfinder:

Ruger from Gaithersburg: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/37105848

Mayberry ("May") from New Jersey: https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/30729299

Jethro from Georgia...ewww, notice how that HSUS-style shelter is working to make sure he's not adopted? https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/26818734

Books

Y'know what? The Book of Barkley is already a bestseller. Have you read +LB Johnson 's new book yet?



Wendy Welch picks a perfect selection for those of us who really want to organize rather than "declutter." It's so simple...if you're a collector, then just going through your collection for the annual dusting-off does give you joy!

https://wendywelchbigstonegap.wordpress.com/2017/01/09/the-monday-book-the-life-changing-magic-of-tidying-up-the-japanese-art-of-decluttering-and-organizing-by-marie-kondo/

I've been blathering about a novel for years and never published it, or even a teaser for it. Chuck Wendig's post is very rude (the title sets the tone) but it made me laugh (well y'see my inner young urban hipster self laughs at some of these things, sometimes, even while my outer aunt self says "Rude is not funny"), and it does explain what's going on with the novel, or novels, or novel-in-blog-form, or whatever the thing may eventually decide to become. (Rude is not funny, but genuinely funny--and useful--content can emerge from beneath a layer of rude, like a gorgeous moth emerging from a boring cocoon.)

http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2017/01/10/heres-how-to-finish-your-revision-you-filthy-animal/

Steve Milloy announces his new book:

http://junkscience.com/2017/01/master-plan-for-better-science-announced/

Bing celebrates Amelia Earhart this week. Did you know she wrote books? I didn't; I know all libraries have a few books about her, but book collectors have books by her. Here's her Amazon author page:

http://amzn.to/2j4OlBC

Controversial 

I so do not have the time to debate, even within myself, about a petition asking President Obama to pardon Edward Snowden this week. If youall want to sign it, here's the link. If not, well, no need to click.

https://pardonsnowden.org/take-action-1

Events 

Reason.com and Reason.tv invite everyone to a celebration of "The Year of the C.E.O." in Las Vegas; they're offering a discount on registration before the fifteenth of January.

http://freedomfest.com/register-now/

Food (Yum) 

+Martha DeMeo shares a classic recipe that even six-year-olds will love in winter...the carotene-rich vegetable that tastes like a dessert. Gluten-free, dairy-free, natural...

http://themarthareview.com/baked-acorn-squash/

Funny 

This one's about food and about health, but mainly it's about laugh-out-loud funny. Laughing out loud is good for our health. (Well, in most situations; not necessarily while walking through unfamiliar neighborhoods in Chicago ...)

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/dave-barry/article125488979.html#emlnl=Dave_Barry_Newsletter

It included the link to this annual feast of funniness:

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/liv-columns-blogs/dave-barry/article123321019.html

Health 

Allergies to isolated Vitamin A palmitate?

http://kimsiscstuff.blogspot.com/2017/01/vitamin-palmitate-parents-need-to-shout.html

This comment looked sort of long and clunky on +Kim Miller 's Blogspot, so I moved it here: "Recess time...and space, and things to do! When I was in school those who lived on the more remote bus routes had three hours or more to slog around a section of parking lot that had been fenced off for "play." It was almost always jamming with so many other bodies that you had to dodge around them even if you walked, which most kids didn't do. If you didn't fancy running head-on into other people and falling down on the pavement, "play" meant slogging around, at best talking to a friend, usually wishing you could go in and get your homework done. The school didn't provide playground equipment and didn't encourage bringing any playthings in from home. There was a space on the other side of the building where the Head Start tots were allowed to play on swings, slides, seesaws, low climbing bars, and grass, and another space where the junior high school students were allowed to play on a sports field with parallel bars, but the regular K-6 classes had nothing but that empty parking lot. I hated recess and was not above recycling parental requests for me to be granted an exemption from recess for as many days as possible. It is possible that the school administrators who've removed recess from some school schedules were also baby-boomers who went to similarly overcrowded schools. At least that provides some insight into their mistake."

http://kimsiscstuff.blogspot.com/2017/01/recess-is-time-for-kids-to-re-charge.html

Pia offers tips for those who feel depressed about the last election. (Cheer up, some elections are only getting started!) I quibble with her punchline: If you don't think the streets near your home are safe to walk in (they can't all be horrible narrow icy bridges without pedestrian lanes, which really do need rebuilding), gather a few friends and jollywell take'em back. They are your streets, Gentle Readers. You foot-patrol yours, I'll foot-patrol mine. And who needs streetlamps when we already have a perfectly good moon. Otherwise? Exercise and self-care will help.

http://www.adiosbarbie.com/2017/01/7-self-care-tips-trump-era/

Does anyone out there feel even slightly obsessive-compulsive?

http://blog.dilbert.com/post/155627394056/ocd-and-creativity

Phenology Notes

As everyone in the Eastern States knows, it's been dang cold this weekend. Wherever people were, it seems to have been colder than our part of the world normally gets. Plumbing pipes cracked in Alabama (thanks to +Andria Perry for sharing, but #ReadersRevolt beware of browser-crashing Niume):

https://niume.com/post/218780

In Virginia, cracked pipes aren't unusual, but on Sunday I saw for the very first time a day cold enough that a fire burning on top of snow formed only a small hole surrounded by an ice crater--we're talking about a hole 5" in diameter near the center of a barrel, what, 15" in diameter? We don't usually get that kind of single-digits-for-hours-on-end cold, and when we do we almost never get snow (very grainy, more sleet than snow).

Pictures

For those willing to open Niume pages, only ( #ReadersRevolt !)...thanks to +Andria Perry for this and the other four links she shared:

https://niume.com/post/217401

Is this the girliest teapot you've ever seen? +Beth Ann Chiles invites comments to raise money for a cause:

http://itsjustlife.me/teapot-tuesday-107/

News of the Weird 

How weird is it that 98% of shootings occur in "gun-free zones"? Is that fake news? Check it out.

http://www.theblaze.com/news/2017/01/09/over-98-of-mass-shootings-occurred-on-gun-free-zones-research-shows/