Friday, October 25, 2013

Times Are Changing Weekly Link Round-Up




Lots of cleaning was done this past week, and lots of fun was had on Denis's days off. We went to see "Gravity" and are planning to see it again, trekked to The Poisoned Pen to see Anne Hillerman (daughter of Tony), and had a long lunch with dear friends. Tomorrow I'll be heading back to my favorite bookstore to see Craig Johnson.  I have chicken marinara cooking, and when I'm not reading a good book, I'm spending time on my Facebook page discussing underwear and the reasons you could get tossed into an insane asylum at the end of the nineteenth century. (I think our favorite was "uterine derangement." (Trust me, you don't ever want a deranged uterus!)

It certainly looks as though I've covered a lot of ground this week, doesn't it? Let's see if my chosen links do, too!


Bookish News & Other Interesting Stuff
  • Scans reveal a striking similarity between human and canine minds.
  • The violin played by the bandmaster of the Titanic sold at auction for $1.45 million.
  • Someone's probably blushing now that an Etruscan warrior prince has been outed as a princess.
  • Pre-Viking monuments have been discovered near a burial ground in Sweden.
  • This graph of what each country leads the world in makes me glad Denis and I made the switch to desert landscaping.
  • Take a look at a rural one-room library.
  • Iceland: A country where one in ten people will publish a book.
  • eReader adoption in the US grows to 24%.
  • I found a very cool graphic that shows the most popular baby names for girls year by year, beginning in 1960.
  • Scientists have been working on a theory about why walking through a doorway makes you forget. It's called the "doorway effect." Now I-- and millions of others-- have a scientific excuse for... why am I in here?
  • Emily Dickinson has long been one of my favorite poets. This week I found two links to her. One, showing two of Dickinson's first drafts which were scribbled on old envelopes, and the other is the newly launched Emily Dickinson Archive, an open-access website for her manuscripts.

I  ♥  Lists & Quizzes

Book Candy

That's all for this week, and before I forget it, I'd like to thank my readers for sending me interesting links from time to time. You never know when you'll see one of them included here!

Don't forget to stop by next weekend when I'll have a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure!


10 comments:

  1. Wow. You could be put in the asylum for novel reading?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lol! what about us novel writers? I bet they really had a good place for us somewhere in the back of the building.

      Delete
    2. I don't think either one of us would want to know where they'd stick the novel writers. The mind boggles!

      Delete
  2. That was going to be my point exact: novel reading> One could be locked up for reading fiction? What! And some of the other reasons are crazy themselves. I'm surprised
    the entire U.S. population wasn't locked up then.

    My favorite story here is that of the rural library, the discovery of books by a 10-year-old boy who prior to reading had fun digging for worms. The discovery of books by children and their joy at reading just brings tears to my eyes. It is such a wondrous thing, to find fiction and enjoy it.

    It was when I was about that age that I found I loved reading, and at about 11, I began reading under the covers with a flashlight after my bedtime. (And how many other avid readers have done the same thing!)

    And kudos to the library who has held bake sales to bring books to the rural library, and for saving books for that 10-year-old, including The Hobbit. To be the adult who helps children find this world of fiction -- a wonderful profession.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That was my favorite story, too, Kathy.

      In a way, I think that list of reasons is a more modern version of the Salem Witch Trials. Got an inconvenient person (usually female)? What does that person like to do? Find a doctor to say that their hobbies, etc. are crazy and have 'em committed.

      Delete
  3. Cathy - Lucky you to be going to see Craig Johnson. Now that's great! And thanks for the endorsement of Gravity. I've been wondering whether that was a good film. Sometimes the ones that get a lot of hype like that aren't good at all. Oh, and as always, thanks for the links. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I tend to be that way about books or movies that have been buried in hype, Margot. Sometimes they're worth all that buzz, and sometimes they're not. In "Gravity's" case, I also hesitated because I'm no fan of George Clooney-- we're a small group, but stubborn. ;-)

      Delete
  4. I like the link to doggy and human minds being similar. My dog seems to know what I'm thinking!?!?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most of my dogs seemed to know what I was thinking, too-- although I did have one that behaved more like a cat!

      Delete

Thank you for taking the time to make a comment. I really appreciate it!