The Big Haul Weekly Link Round-Up

For the addicted, knitting is a lot like reading. The more I knit, the more yarn I need-- just as when I read, I need more books. I don't know whether it's good to have two such addictions or not, but when I received a gift card for one of my favorite yarn sources, I knew exactly what to do. 

What was difficult was the wait because I made my purchase online. When I checked the package tracker app, I kept wondering why in the world FedEx seemed to be hoarding my yarn in its facility here in the Valley. Then I did a little happy dance when they finally turned the box over to the post office to deliver.

When I got home from having my hair cut, I looked for my yarn. No joy. Denis went out to run some errands. Now... have you ever felt like there was a spy cam trained on (or in) your house that let other people know when the worst time to call/ring the doorbell was? It seemed like I was hopping up from my chair every fifteen minutes to answer the doorbell, and every time I did it was for Denis. It was easy to see that he'd been spending his gift cards!

Then Denis returned from his errands, and he brought in what I'd been scurrying to the door for-- a big box of yarn earmarked for several future projects. The delivery person had crept up the driveway, left the box at the carport door and neglected to ring the doorbell. Shame on him!

Now that all the deliveries are out of the way, I've got some links to round up for y'all. Head 'em up! Mooooooooove 'em out!


 

►Books, Movies & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• The new Star Trek series finally realizes Gene Roddenberry's ultimate vision. 
• The Library of Congress is putting its map collection online. 
• Here's an infographic showing Harry Potter and the Hogwarts staff. 
• Why bookstores are thriving in socially conscious Berlin. 
• An overdue library book has been returned to school 120 years late. 
• A 200-year-old library in India has received a new lease on life.  
• BBC and ITV are going to launch Britbox, a new streaming service offering British TV to the USA. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on this! 
• J.K. Rowling has revealed that she's working on two new novels.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• What doomed Franklin's polar expedition? A thumbnail holds the clue.
• Archaeological digs have been funded at "lost kingdoms" sites in Scotland and Ireland. 
• Found: the world's oldest pool of water is two billion years old. 
• Archaeologists are challenging Lochaber's Banquo's Walk in Scotland.
• An underwater Hebrew tablet has revealed the name of a Biblical-era ruler of Judea. 
• Ancient stone bowl fragments have been unearthed in Jerusalem.
• An ancient coin from the time of King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, who features in the Hanukkah story, has been discovered at Jerusalem’s Tower of David. 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• There's a plan afoot to save Scotland's rarest pedigree dog breeds.
• I love these photographs of foxes in the winter. 
• How one cougar can plant 94,000 seeds in one year. Nature is a marvelous thing....
• The invasive squirrel that wasn't.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• Nine stunning images of Scotland from space. 
• I'd love to stay at Gladstone's in Wales, the UK's only "residential library." 
• France is doing something this country should be doing, too: paving more than 600 miles of road with solar panels. 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Seventeenth-century Italian painter, Artemisia Gentileschi, long seen as a victim has now emerged as a feminist icon.
• Writer Shirley Hazzard was a teenage spy. 
• Vice president of Tiffany & Co., George Frederick Kunz, was the man responsible for popularizing birthstones in America, but he came to loathe his creation. 
• Marion Pritchard, a Dutch rescuer of Jews during the Holocaust, has died at the age of 96.
• Henry, the last bookbinder on the Lower East Side. 
• Margaret Ann Bulkley, the first female doctor ni Britain, spent fifty-six years disguised as a man.
• Jessie Tendayi shocked everyone at the Advocate Children's Hospital in Oak Lawn, Illinois.  

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Nine women who shaped science fiction. 
• The sixty best book covers of 2016, as chosen by designers. 
• Ten time capsule rooms left untouched for decades. 

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