Link round-up for 30 August 2015

Books by Rosa Rubicondior, one of my favorite bloggers, are now available in paperback, and there's some education there on publishing a book through Amazon as well.

Maybe Pluto really isn't a planet.

Do you have an Eric?

Whoever did this knew exactly what he was doing.

Can't we all just get along?

Australia's most iconic building evokes something humbler.

If you're still following the Duggars, here's a bingo card (found via Republic of Gilead).

For ads, placement is everything.

Tinfoil hat?  Bah.  Here's real protection.

I've always seen cars this way.

A prayer breakfast with a difference honors Providence, Rhode Island's most creative citizen (found via Mendip).

Art meets life in a clever music video.

Iranian democracy activists support the US-Iran nuclear deal.

Try to imagine the nightmare of being the daughter in this situation.

Christians please read this.  Yes, discrimination is real (found via Republic of Gilead).  And when you read an atheist blog, always remember this.

Normally a building infested with twenty thousand disease-ridden rats would be condemned.  Religion says it's a holy place.

The Wall Street Journal identifies the biggest threat to the US economy.

Work hard, die early.

Deepak Chopra's gibberish is more inane than even I ever imagined (and I agree with Ahab's comment there).

These protesters have good reason to oppose Planned Parenthood.

If you're gloating about all the people exposed by the Ashley Madison hack, read this.

Here's how various groups view the Congressional parties (found via Jobsanger).

ISIS has destroyed another priceless relic of the pagan past.  But further evidence of the Classical world's greatness is emerging in Petra, a few hundred miles to the south.

Guys can be victims too.

These scientists have a big heart.

Sweden sends less than 1% of its garbage to landfills, the rest being recycled or converted into energy.

Pearl-clutching panic about women using technology to have fun goes back long before the internet.

Trump is leading Republicans into a feces-flinging civil war -- pass the popcorn.

Cornette's dramatic escape from slaughter has made her a symbol of the will to live.

Amanda Marcotte looks at the smears against Planned Parenthood -- and women.  Republicans want to "replace" PP with -- crank religious pseudo-clinics which will block access to birth control.

Both parties still have clear front-runners.

Hillary's taking flak -- she must be over the target.  But friendly fire must stop.

Even "nice" Evangelicals embrace eternal torture (found via Bruce Gerencser).

If Jeb gets the nomination, his relationship with Lehman Brothers will need extensive exposure.

It's not just Trump -- the whole right wing is suffused with teh crayzee.

Police misconduct sometimes takes a subtler form than shooting people.

Bill Kristol thinks the Republicans need more Presidential candidates.

A teacher in North Carolina is being harassed and threatened for volunteering as a clinic escort (this resonates with me).

The Chinese preference for sons is weakening a little, but too late to avoid a dangerous gender imbalance.

Trump is dragging Republican policy out from behind its curtain of euphemism.  Besides alarming Latinos, he's no friend of black concerns,. though another constituency embraces him.  He's trashing Republican efforts to broaden their appeal, but his rise is fueled by the base's alienation from reality.  And he isn't much of a Christian, despite some feeble pandering, so why do fundies love him?