This bits and clips post is a monthly feature on this blog of the best that I saw, read, or heard on the internet during the past month.

This month was a difficult one, with the loss of several million acres of forest due to fires, the apocalyptic, asphyxiating air quality and eerie dark orange midday light in California, cresting 200,000 dying of the pandemic in the US (which is more than died in the Vietnam and Korean War combined), and the untimely passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The links and memes here cover those things, sprinkled in with much else. Especially check out the paintings and photography with the memes below.

I hope you find something inspiring, motivational, helpful, and interesting in this long collection, and I hope you look all the way through. Several of you may find that I’ve shared your own content! You are such a great group, it gives me hope for the world.

Art:

Give Yourself Permission to Be Creative

The Library of Rare Colors

Book Lover Arranges Her Huge Library of Novels Into Imaginative Scenes

This Eco-Friendly Mural Uses Special Paint That Eats Smog To Help Clean the Air

Spirituality:

Evil: It’s Nature and Demise

God’s Elect

How Does God Choose Leaders?

Ideas:

Confused About Voting? Here Are Some Easy Tips

The Glossary of Happiness

10 Ways to Find Stillness in Turbulent Times

Are Trees Intelligent? Is the Universe Conscious?

The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers

How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled

What I wish you knew about Portland

Protests and the Pandemic

‘Enormous And Tragic’: U.S. Has Lost More Than 200,000 People To COVID-19

10 tips for coping with wildfire smoke, from a public health expert

Scientific American favors Biden in first-ever presidential endorsement

Broadcasting Joe Biden’s Economic Program

Focus: The Ultimate Guide on How to Improve Focus and Concentration

Want to Accomplish More in Less Time? 9 Things the Most Effective People Always Do

The Art of Getting Things Done

Seven Ways to Foster Gratitude in Kids

In Praise of Slowness

Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Advice for Living

Remembering Ruth Bader Ginsburg (NYTimes video)

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Champion Of Gender Equality, Dies At 87

Remembering Justice Ginsburg: To my mom, she was ‘Ruthie’

The Election That Could Break America

Books:

10 Famous Book Hoarders

The 10 best books of August 2020