The Could It Possibly Be Fall?? Weekly Link Round-Up

 

When I checked the forecast last night, I almost fell out of my chair. Rain? Temperatures below 80°? I have to be hallucinating! But regardless what the forecast says, I won't believe it until I actually experience it.

I've been enjoying playing hooky so much that I think I'll do the very same thing this coming week. One review and maybe a link round-up. I'm reading some very good books and reorganizing things that should've been cleared out long ago. For example-- I have a metal two-drawer file cabinet on one side of my desk, and it dawned on me the other night that I hadn't touched 99% of its contents in y-e-a-r-s. Bring out the trash bags, and now I have a lot less clutter around my desk. 

 

Don't tell anyone, but I'm making up a Halloween basket for my home health nurse. He's a treasure, and we love to laugh, joke around, and tell each other tall tales (with Denis pitching in a lot). I have his favorite candy and a child's snorkel and mask to put in a small Jack o' Lantern bucket. I can "hear" the raised eyebrows already. A child's snorkel and mask? Well... sometimes our tall tales are so good that one of us will look at the other and say, "It's getting pretty deep in here. Where's my snorkel?"

All week, we've had huge equipment from a crew of city tree trimmers in our yard, which makes me mourn the loss of our huge Aleppo pine all over again. When that tree was still alive, there's no way they could've used a good chunk of our property as a parking lot. I'm hoping not to be rudely wakened Monday morning by the beep beep beep beep of that huge truck reversing up our driveway. Wish us luck!

 

 

Have a good weekend, and enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• What are wind phones, and how do they help with grief?
• How the swastika, an ancient symbol of good fortune used around the world, became the Nazi logo.
• Cloves: the spice that enriched empires.
• How decorated initials made early book pages pop.
• Bell-ends, pillocks, numpties, and sh*tgibbons: why the Brits swear better.
• Social media is helping bring Indigenous languages back from the brink.
• The elite college students who can't read books.
• Secrets of a book publicist.
• Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben team up on a suspense novel. More from The Guardian.
  

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• In Arkansas, book banners have been dealt another legal setback.
• "Freedom to Read 'em": Ann Arundel (Maryland) libraries declare themselves a book sanctuary.
• California makes it harder to ban books in public libraries.
• Pasco (Florda) libraries "suppress" more than 100 children's books with LGBTQ+ themes.
• Library employee raises awareness of Banned Books Week after trustees bar celebration in Montana.
• The Cullman (Alabama) library reclassified its entire young adult collection as fiction.
• Mayor-nominated book challenger Debi Scaggs was disapproved for the library board by the city council of Denton, Texas.
• The Gilbert (Arizona) police are probing a Higley teacher after a parent complained of a book assignment.
• In Cobb County (Georgia), there's a battle over who's authorized to remove books from schools.
• Three Florida parents have filed a lawsuit over book ban policies.
• The North Attleboro (Massachusetts) school board supports a new book policy in the wake of a "Woke" uproar.
• The Charleston County (South Carolina) school board makes its first vote in the state book ban policies.
• This Pennsylvania graduate is lending a hand in the fight against book bans in her hometown school district.
• The Conway (Arkansas) School Board grills candidates on anti-trans restroom policies and book removals.
• New billboards in Van Buren (Arkansas) claim voting Republican will help keep "porn" out of the county library.
• A South Carolina library won't buy new books for those under 18.
  

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Drought reveals a sunken village in Greece as a reservoir dries up.
• The news sites went crazy when an enthusiastic amateur found a "remarkable" Pictish ring that had been buried for more than 1,000 years. CNN. Live Science. Smithsonian Magazine.
• A Stone Age burial ground in France used for 800 years is nearly all male-- and ancient DNA reveals that they are largely related.
• Archaeologists unearthed a rare trove of silver coins on a Mediterranean island.
• The Roman siege of Masada may have lasted weeks, not years.
• A 16,000-year-old skeleton, crystals, and stone tools were discovered in Malaysian caves.
• A man discovered a 900-year-old stone carving beneath his house in Germany.
• Four silver Viking Age bracelets were discovered "untouched" on a mountainside in Norway after more than 1,000 years.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• How do cats squeeze through small spaces?
• Raccoons in the laboratory.
• A runaway capybara is evading capture and "living her best life" in England. Cinnamon's freedom lasted four days.
  
• These 34 creatures were recently discovered as a new species.
• In Colonial Williamsburg, thieving rats save history.
• Watch baby falcons take their first flights from a steep mountain ledge.
• Three remarkable spiders: a vegetarian, a vampire, and a predator that uses "pincer, fork, and key."
• The adorable baby hippo Moo Deng is more than a viral sensation. She offers a are glimpse of an endangered species.
• Why seven animals became associated with Halloween.
  

 

►The Wanderer◄

• Workers just started building the world's first 3D-printed hotel in the Texas desert.
• Eight fact about Olduvai Gorge, the "Cradle of Mankind."
• In Ann Arbor, Michigan? Visit the West Side Book Shop.
• The most common last name in every country, mapped.
• See 24 beautiful photos of fall foliage in its most vibrant colors.
• Rome's Trevi Fountain will get a much-needed cleaning-- and a controversial new entry fee.
• See 14 photos of the beauty of Cuba through its striking shoreline and buzzing streets.
• The rise and fall of the "Women's Hotel" in American cities.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Another way Jimmy Carter, aged 100, bested his fellow presidents.
• Was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde inspired by a real murder case?
• Frederick Gowing, king of poachers.
• The Montana rancher who created giant, hybrid sheep (to sell for higher prices to hunting preserves) was sentenced to six months in prison.
• 17 signs that you'd qualify as a witch in 1692.
• Robert Dugoni on a life of writing.
• Eleanor Roosevelt, one of my personal heroes.
• Land, oil, and Indigenous identity: on the disappearance of Tommy Atkins.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Recent must-read Indigenous non-fiction.
• A list of mysteries featuring librarian sleuths.
• BookBub's best historical fiction of Fall 2024.
• 17 bookish mystery novels.
• The best mystery and thriller shows on Peacock.
• Martin Walker on classic crime fiction's epicurean delights.
• Eight thrillers and mysteries around reality TV.
• BookBub's best biographies and memoirs coming this fall.

That's all for this week! Don't forget to stop by next Friday when I'll probably be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure.

No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!