The Having a Blast Weekly Link Round-Up

Phoenix is having the kind of weather that snow-and-cold weary folks are willing to pay big bucks to come down and experience. Balmy temperatures, beautiful blue skies, and lots of flowers and shrubs in riotous bloom. 

I've been having a great time with our house guest, and I'd say that even if he didn't cook a delicious meal for me Sunday night and do all the cleanup! 

After taking a look at this photo, what do you think? Does it look like he's enjoying our spring weather?

I'm having too much fun to wax poetic about it any longer, so I'll mosey on out to the corral for those links.

Head 'em up! Mooooove 'em out!

 

►Books, Movies & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Interview with a bookstore: Bookmark It in Florida. 
• I'm getting confused. I've read articles saying the sale of eBooks keep declining, but now here's another one that says eReader usage continues to grow here in the United States. Argh! 
• If you have a Kindle, you might want to check that it's been updated, and do it before March 22. The update is mandatory for every single Kindle eReader Amazon has released from 2007 to 2012. 
• This article is eye-opening in more ways than one: What it's really like to have dyslexia. I urge you to check it out.
• This battle decided which cuss words you use. 
• Men are from Mars, women are from Venus, but what about readers?
• A Scottish library promises J.K. Rowling a slice of cake-- and she actually turns up. 
• From what patent applications suggest, it looks like Google is developing books with special effects. 
• The San Jose library amnesty is being weighed as unpaid fines near the $7 million mark. 
• Researchers discover a possible key trigger for Alzheimer's disease. 
• The chair used by J.K. Rowling as she wrote the first two Harry Potter books is going up for auction. 
• How to tell if you're in a Raymond Chandler story. 
• The mass market edition of To Kill a Mockingbird is dead. What a short-sighted decision! 
• The custodian of forgotten books. 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• An ancient burial ground with 100 tombs has been found near biblical Bethlehem. 
• Archaeologists in Jerusalem have discovered something rare: a woman's 2,500-year-old seal. 
• A 1,000-year-old "lost" medieval village has been found under the M74 motorway in Scotland. (Little did Denis and I know what we were driving over!)
• What Paris Metro workmen found sealed behind the walls. 
• How art treasures reveal the story of the Celts. 
• An ancient Roman tavern has been found still littered with its patrons' drinking bowls. 
• The dream of treasure keeps Paraguayans digging. 
• The rich tomb of an Etruscan princess has been discovered in Italy. 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• This penguin travels 5,000 miles every year to visit the human who saved his life.
• How cool is this? A mother lynx and her five kittens stopped traffic and made for a perfect photo op on a highway in the Yukon Territory of Canada.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• 50 fictional destinations you can actually visit.
• You can now buy Dracula's castle. 
• This man collects Do Not Disturb signs from hotels around the world. 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Met seven of history's most amazing female commanders.
• Pioneering women in archaeology.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Have Downton Abbey withdrawal? Try these top ten British TV series. 
• 16 reasons to be proud of being a book hoarder.
• The Strand Magazine's top ten female detectives. 
• 5 safety measures that caused rampant death and destruction. (#2 and 4 blew my mind.)
• Forget the boring old selfie-- let these 32 authors teach you how to shelfie.
• The 10 most literate countries in the world. (#1,2,3, and 5 shouldn't be a surprise if you think about their climate....)

That's all for now! Be sure to stop by next Friday when I'll be sharing a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure!

Have a great weekend, and read something fabulous!