Friday, June 03, 2016

The Powers of Deduction Weekly Link Round-Up




While I've been slaving away out in the garden and in the house, Denis has been expanding his American Experience. He got called for jury duty, and this time he had to appear... and he was chosen. The trial ran Mondays through Thursdays. Denis works Saturdays through Tuesdays. This meant that he had to work six days a week for the duration of the trial: four at the courthouse and two at his regular job at the airport. Even though he wasn't looking forward to those six days a week, he was looking forward to actually being a part of the legal process.

That is, until the trial began. Having been on a jury myself, I knew that he couldn't talk about it with me, but I have to admit to a heaping helping of curiosity.

Denis's behavior rapidly began to change, and we certainly didn't talk much during this time. I had made a comment about my own experience-- my irritation at one of the lawyers treating the jury as if we were all idiots-- and Denis said that the same thing was happening to him.

The only two clues he gave me as to what was going on were: (1) something about how things could find their way onto someone's computer, and (2) "If you had to sit in a room and see things you didn't want to see and hear things you didn't want to hear...." One night while he was at his regular job, it hit me with the force of a blow. He was sitting on a jury dealing with a case centering on child pornography. This tenderhearted and fiercely protective father of two daughters. 

The trial is over, thank the moon and stars, and Denis is becoming himself again. Was I right about the child pornography? Yes. It must be all these mysteries that I read.

And now it's time to head on out to the corral. I've been saving up some links for you.



►Books, Movies & Other Interesting Tidbits◄
  • A Smartphone study has uncovered why so much of the world is short on sleep
  • Agatha Christie and the Detection Club
  • How the U.S. Army saved our national parks
  • You'll never believe what happens to all of the coins you toss into fountains. (Make sure to read the section about Rome's Trevi Fountain.) 
  • Books are back. Only the technodazzled thought they would go away. (Some of us may not have realized that they ever went anywhere....)
  • Canada wants to force anti-vaxxing parents to take a science class so they know how dumb they are. 
  • How tuberculosis shaped Victorian fashion. 
  • The small London company that makes the world's most beautiful globes
  • As readers, we've always been fascinated with story and plot.
  • How books are helping Austin's homeless community. 
  • How Mark Douglas-Home got the idea for The Sea Detective. 
  • A brief history of the nickel. 
  • One of my favorite authors, Erik Larson, and the art of storytelling. 
  • How writers will steal your life and use it for fiction
  • Why the future of book blogging may be co-blogging. (I don't know if that's a future I'm ready for....)

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄
  • A diver has discovered an "African Atlantis" off Tanzania's Mafia Island. 
  • Archaeologists have found an early Roman fort buried under London's banking center.
  • Ten recently deciphered ancient writings.
  • Software has solved the mystery of a 2,500-year-old poem written by Sappho.
  • Israeli divers have uncovered a trove of shipwrecked Roman treasure.
  • Subway construction in Rome has uncovered the possible mass grave of elite soldiers.  
  • An archaeological dig in a theater where Shakespeare worked in London has uncovered a surprise.
  • Why is a butchered mastodon in a Florida swamp rewriting American history?
  • Judith the dinosaur had a hard life. Now she's famous-- and an inspiration. 
  • An enamel mug, one of thousands of exhibits in the Auschwitz Museum, has been hiding secrets for over 70 years. 
  • Ten stories of artifact hunters who struck it big. 
  • Who was Vermeer's Girl With a Pearl Earring? 
  • A professor in South Carolina helped crack a million-dollar stolen art mystery. 
  • This secret tunnel could solve the mysteries of an ancient Mexican civilization. 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄
  • The bison is now the official mammal of the United States. When I was ten, my grandparents, mother, and I took a road trip cross country from Illinois to California. I never will forget my first sight of a herd of buffalo (bison) thundering over a hill outside of Cody, Wyoming.
  • Tiny animals guaranteed to make you smile.  
  • Cute $4,500 "thumb monkeys" have been all the rage this Chinese New Year.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

►Fascinating Folk◄
  • Marm Mandelbaum, New York City's first female crime boss, started her own crime school. 
  • Annette Kellerman, the "Australian mermaid" who introduced recreational swimming to American women. 
  • Rose Mackenburg rooted out spiritual fraud for Houdini. 
  • Seventeenth-century female spies smuggled information through eggs and artichokes. 
  • Meet Minnie Spotted Wolf, the first Native American woman in the U.S. Marine Corps. 
  • Don't mess with Mrs. Linn. (If you're wondering why Mrs. Linn is in my links post, it's because she was one of the ladies who worked in the cafeteria at the school I attended many, many moons ago-- and she's still going strong!)

►I ♥ Lists◄



You're not losing your mind! I've been so busy getting things ready for our niece's visit that I unintentionally gave you two doses of links this week.

Have a great weekend, and read something fabulous!


  

10 comments:

  1. That case must have been very hard for Denis, Cathy. I'm glad for both of you that it's over. I think cases like that must be wrenching.

    Thanks as ever for the links. I've been reading about those discoveries in London. What a fascinating perspective on one of the world's most interesting cities!

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  2. Interesting links, and I hope you're finished with your yard work. It was exhausting just to read about it -- and in the heat, too.
    Irrelevant to this post, but not to the blog, I am reading Peter May's book, "The Blackhouse." Where have I been? It's been on my TBR list for a few years.

    And I just read your reviews of the Lewis Trilogy, all winners. I can't wait to keep reading them -- and nothing is getting done today.

    Have your read his books set in China or the Enzo Files? I could go on a Peter May binge.

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    Replies
    1. I tried to read the first of his Enzo books, and just couldn't get into it. I have yet to try one of the China ones.

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  3. Well, luckily, Peter May wrote a stand-alone, "Coffin Road," which is also set in the Outer Hebrides, and got good reviews at Goodreads. So, that's another one for the list and hope my library has it.

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    Replies
    1. I haven't read Coffin Road yet, but it's on my radar.

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  4. Also, there's Entry Island by Peter May, set on the Isle of Lewis for the historical part, and then set in Canada. I think the historical section is better than the contemporary mystery. Either way, it's worth readidng.

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  5. I have never been interested before in the Outer Hebrides; now, I can't wait to read books set there. Or is it just recognition of Peter May's writing skills?

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    Replies
    1. It's probably due in part to May's writing skills, but the Outer (and Inner) Hebrides have a magic all their own.

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