Link Log from November 18

Categories: Animals, Art, Bizarrerie, Food, Google +, Muslims, Phenology, Photos, Poetry, Psychology, Thanksgiving Day, Writing.

Animals 

+Sandy KS shares fun facts about an ugly but interesting animal.

https://blogjob.com/animalsaroundtheworld/archives/55?

(In between Animals and Art, somebody may enjoy scrolling through +Raphaël Vavasseur Art ‘s Google + gallery of paintings…I don’t know, they seem to express a lot of the emotions and associations humans project on to our cats.)

Art 

Peter Streep shares a painting by Pieter Saenredam, an obscure Dutch artist whose style seems ahead of his time.

https://blogjob.com/famouspaintings/2015/11/17/the-mysterious-painting-of-saenredam/

Bizarrerie 

How I’m getting referrals from this site is anybody’s guess…could it be because I’d said, more than once, that the word “honey” in modern U.S. usage is so vulgar, so often, that it should probably be considered unprintable? Oh well. Nobody minds the cute, innocent little bees, and the bees at this Blogspot “hive” seem busy indeed. What are the hidden dangers of visiting online “mobile recharge sites”? When you exchange your cell phone number for recharge minutes from a web site, how many nuisance calls are you signing up for? I don’t know. I can’t even afford to check this out. If someone out there wants to check it out and report back, I’d thank them.

https://honeyhive2.blogspot.com/

And here’s the inimitable Vladimir Putin…I agree with the +Allen West Republic assessment. Totally.

https://allenwestrepublic.com/2015/11/17/putin-to-forgive-the-terrorists-is-up-to-god-but-to-send-them-to-him-is-up-to-me/

Food (Yum) 

Would you pay $6 per month to join a spice club?

https://marshasspot.blogspot.com/2015/11/rawspicebar-small-batch-freshly-ground.html

I like this beef-and-vegetable soup recipe. I like okra.

https://www.elitewriters.org/vegetable-soup-with-beef/

Google + 

“Revitalizing” Google +? Three thoughts:

(1) Computers are business tools. If you want people to hang out on social sites, you pay per post. That’s the secret of the relative success of all the other alternatives to Facebook.

(2) Business tools should never call attention to themselves. If you want people to use a web site when they’re not being paid to use it, you never, never, never change a button that was working, and you avoid adding clutter or screeching, clashing background colors.

(3) Personally, the reason why I backed away from Google +, where I was connecting with some e-friends I’ve missed, has been that I’ve switched from mostly using public-access desktop computers to mostly using a privately owned laptop computer. Google + is one huge mess of memory-hogging graphics. Some laptops won’t open it at all. And as I read that more people are buying even cheaper and flimsier “tablets” and using phones for their Internet activity, I think I’m onto something. The way to “revitalize” Google + might begin with offering a graphics-free version.

https://recode.net/2015/11/17/three-reasons-why-google-is-resurrecting-google-plus/

Muslim 

Bill O’Reilly wants a “Million Muslim March” to condemn ISIS.

https://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/11/18/theyre-getting-fed-up-bill-oreilly-reveals-exactly-what-he-believes-muslims-must-do-to-condemn-isis/?

Morgan Griffith wants Saudi, Egyptian, Jordanian, and other Muslims to join us in a war against ISIS.

https://priscillaking.blogspot.com/2015/11/morgan-griffith-calls-for-pause.html

For quite a long time, I’ve wanted just to link to articles or review books in which Muslims denounced ISIS and/or the Taliban and/or al-Qaeda…good luck, gentlemen. Brigitte Gabriel may have a point, much as I hate to admit it. If the peaceful majority are afraid of offending the loud lunatic minority, then the peaceful majority may be irrelevant.

https://patriotupdate.com/liberals-whined-that-peaceful-muslims-are-being-portrayed-badly-this-womans-response-is-perfect/

And, while we’re here…I think Muslim drivers who refuse to deliver beer…should own their own independent outfits, if they like, but not take jobs driving for companies that handle beer.

https://ntlconsulting.blogspot.com/2015/11/no-more-equal-treatment.html

Phenology Links 

In Canada, they’ve just had the First Snow…serious snow, mind you. (In Virginia, when we get this much snow, levelheaded people call it a Big Wet Snow, and those who panic easily start carrying on about “snow emergencies” and “blizzards.”)

https://border-collies-in-the-burbs.blogspot.com/2015/11/fun-in-first-snow.html

And then in Scotland…

https://kasmanseverythingblog.blogspot.com/2015/11/come-and-climb-winter-munro-with-us.html

Photos 

Dan Lewis has found quite a collection of photos of active volcanoes:

https://nowiknow.com/the-volcano-that-blue-up/

The Vagabond Tabby has found a charming ruined house:

https://thevagabondtabby.tumblr.com/post/133423615669

Poetry 

Speaking of charming ruins, Alice Walker posted a new poem:

https://alicewalkersgarden.com/2015/11/to-have-once/

Psychology 

Scott Adams discusses the psychology of late adolescents (ages 15-30) in ways that probably just won’t make sense to anyone under about age 20. Let’s just say I agree with him about the rationalization process; all of us humans do a lot of the things we do for reasons we don’t completely understand (I don’t usually eat when I’m sleepy, but often eat when I’m thirsty) and then, if asked why we did those things, we invent reasons that don’t actually account for what we’ve done.

https://blog.dilbert.com/post/133468720601/which-interpretation-of-daesh-is-right

Thanksgiving Day 

Big-chain stores get the message: Don’t open on Thanksgiving Day.

https://howtounderstandpeople.blogspot.com/2015/11/several-stores-closed-on-thanksgiving.html

Writing 

Here’s a site that delivers a word and a quote (not related) per day.

https://wordsmith.org/words/today.html

Neil Gaiman talks about stories:

https://www.dailygood.org/story/1167/neil-gaiman-on-how-stories-last-maria-popova/

E-friends from AC, please don’t drive +Lyn Lomasi completely around the bend, but…she’s built her site up to Real’Zine status and can accept a few guest posts and/or applications. Hurrah! If any of us deserved to reach this point first, she did.

https://www.writewavemedia.com/blog/with-ycn-bubblews-helium-squidoo-gone-where-should-writers-post