Friday, November 30, 2018

The Learning Curve Weekly Link Round-Up




After almost freezing to death in that icebox of a waiting room, my second cataract surgery went well, and the doctor's verdict after my post-op appointment was "Everything's fantastic!" My next appointment is in four to six weeks with my regular optometrist, and let me tell you, I certainly won't miss the twice-weekly appointments at the various offices of the ophthalmologist that I've had for over a month! Now it feels as though I've actually got time to go someplace fun.

There's a learning curve involved with all this eye surgery. I chose the second option of the three available: good distance vision with reading glasses for close-up. I'm so used to everyone trying to push the most expensive options on me regardless what I'm looking at that I was impressed when my ophthalmologist recommended the second option, and he did so because of the list of all the various things that are/were wrong with my eyes. The more problems, the less chance the most expensive option will work properly, he said.

For all my life, I haven't been able to see any distance clearly without a lot of help from corrective lenses, yet I could pick up anything in print and read it. Now I have to get used to having the most wonderful, amazing, phantasmagorical crystal clear distance vision... and needing reading glasses every time I pick up something in print. It's a compromise that I willingly chose, so I am not complaining. Nope, I'm looking forward to buying a few pairs of wildly colorful cheap reading glasses and leaving them in key locations. Yes, it's taking a bit of getting used to, but I'm loving my new peepers!

Look at all those beautiful links way over there in the corral. Hope they recognize me without my specs... Head 'em up! Moooooooove 'em out!



►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄
  • How writers map their imaginary worlds.
  • On serial killers, home invasions, and other problematic crime stories best viewed as horror.
  • The court case that inspired the Gilded Age's #MeToo moment.
  • How and why did silent letters emerge in English? 
  • The Art Institute of Chicago now offers open access to over 44,000 images (and counting).
  • This clever GIF shows how the world map you know isn't correct.
  • Murder by inanimate object.
  • Voracious readers will identify with this: A scientist in a remote Antarctic outpost stabbed a colleague who repeatedly told him the endings of the books he was reading.


►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄
  • What ancient maize can tell us about thousands of years of civilization in America.
  • It wasn't only in the UK: In need of cadavers, 19th-century medical students raided Baltimore's graves.
  • The colorful murals of Cacaxtla, a mysterious Mesoamerican civilization.
  • A man was arrested for trying to steal an original copy of the Magna Carta
  • A mummified hand from Yorkshire may be the last Hand of Glory still in existence.
  • Was the Vikings' secret to success industrial-scale tar production?


►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄
  • See rare footage of the elusive, ethereal dumbo octopus.
  • Scientists have extracted DNA from Seabiscuit's hooves in an attempt to figure out how he was so fast. 
  • Good dogs could help identify malaria carriers.
  • Where to see the world's biggest spiders. (Or...maybe not!)
  • A never-before-seen colony of 1,000 brooding octopuses has been found off the California coast.
  • Something I didn't want to read: China has reversed its ban on the use of rhino and tiger parts in medicine.


►The Happy Wanderer◄
  • Inside the bookshops and libraries of Scotland
  • The Grand Canyon's oldest footprints are 310 million years old.
  • Why there's a Columbo statue in the middle of Budapest.
  • Orchard House-- Louisa May Alcott based Little Women on her experiences growing up in this house with her sisters.
  • When cactus destruction is imminent, these rescuers come running.


►I ♥ Lists◄



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.

Have a great weekend, and read something fabulous!



6 comments:

  1. So glad to hear your surgery went well, Cathy! And I know just what you mean about being upsold. I'm glad your doctor didn't do that. Now, while you rest those eyes, I'm going to go check out that lovely mural.

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    1. He would've had to be a king at the upsell because I'd already made up my mind that the second option was what I wanted!

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  2. Very happy to hear that you're doing so well.

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  3. So glad your eyesight is improving. Me, I can see distances, but I need my glasses to read and small print is getting harder to read, so paperbacks are harder.

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    Replies
    1. Yes. That's why I've been gravitating toward my Kindle the past few months. I love being able to adjust the font size.

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