Bright Leaf: Links

Well, I had one of those weeks that vaguely reminded me of that xkcd “someone is wrong on the internet” cartoon. If you haven’t seen it, read it and weep with laughter.

The first very wrong thing on the internet was something I came across in the comment section of a blog. Someone made a reference to the United States’ Civil Flag. I’m a pretty well read person and I’d never heard of it so I took to the internet to find out what this was. This is a bit of woo is brought to you by the same people who have brought you the sovereign citizen concept and other historical hallucinations. I put it here mainly as a warning. The Urban Legend of a “Civilian” National Flag. The Civil Flag: Forgotten Flag or Fiction?

The second thing isn’t exactly someone being wrong in the same way as simply have some incorrect facts. Somehow, by accident, I came across some stuff about pit bulls and related breeds. I remember once I signed up to volunteer at an animal shelter and I lasted less than an hour after I realized that the shelter housed almost nothing other than dogfighting breeds. The people at the shelter talked me into taking one of the dogs for a walk and I could barely control her. She was perfectly sweet, but too strong for me, who at the time wore a size zero. Another time I thought about getting a dog, but changed my mind when I realized that the local shelter in a different city had nothing but dogfighting breeds as well. I know myself well enough to know what I can and can’t handle and there are a wide variety of dog breeds I’d never own, not just the fighting breeds. I found this article on the problem of pit bulls in shelters interesting. I spent much of one even following up some of the information on the internet. Frankly, I don’t know what’s wrong or right in this case. Maybe I’ll write it up sometime.

Finally, there’s nothing wrong with this article. I’m putting a link up because I enjoyed it. It’s by a writer who hoped that working as a journalist on the cop beat would give him material for a novel. The experience was different than he expected. The Cop Beat by Stephan Talty.

If you have anything to share, add it in the comments. Thanks.