W. Lotus’ Reading List: Hump Day Happenings

I am running around like a happy, headless chicken in preparation for the arrival of longtime friend Ronni! (The last time we saw each other in person was 2007, so we are both very excited to spend the next four days together.) But I decided to catch my breath by sitting down to share a little of what I’ve seen on the ‘net lately.

• The United States government is still in a state of partial shutdown (though they are still taking taxes out of my paycheque, go figure). It’s an ugly, embarrassing state affairs and does nothing to help our reputation worldwide. Englishman Eric Idle has some things to say about that, and I approve his message.

• Today, 16 October 2013, is Blog Action Day. This year’s focus is on human rights. Zen Pencils did a wonderful cartoon describing a Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

• One human right is the right to walk down the street without being harassed. Many women have that right violated day in and day out. Some time ago the photographer behind Humans of New York had a chance to use his platform to help change that. He failed miserably. This is why I do not share or publicize their site.

• There are special, precious snowflakes who love to ruin things for everyone else. Anything which does not appeal to their tender sensibilities, even if it depicts interactions between consenting adults, must be removed so that no one can access it. (Instead of them just not reading/watching/listening to it, for goodness’ sake!) This has recently happened over on Kobo, and writer Theo Fenraven has something to say about that hot mess.

Now back to preparing for our special guests for the rest of the week! To cheer you up after all of that bad news, I leave you with a photo of my bears, which have been catching up on their sleep in preparation for our special visitor.