The Have To, Not Want To, Weekly Link Round-Up

The weather is absolutely gorgeous, and I'm still being good. What a pain in the neck! The only time I get out is to go to a doctor's appointment, and it seems that there has been a steady stream of home healthcare nurses coming here to the house to draw blood, check to see that I'm giving myself antibiotics the way I should be, and monitor my leg to see how well it's healing.

My leg is showing daily improvement, and it looks as though I may be entering the homestretch. I know that following doctor's orders is the major reason for this, but the sun is shining, the birdies are singing, the butterflies are fluttering, and the hummingbirds are chasing each other around and around and around. And there are gardens and zoos to visit, author events to go to...

Not all of them will still be there when I am finally sprung from house arrest, but since I don't want a repeat of this thing, books, movies, and knitting will have to do. I don't remember ever saying that I was tired of reading, but...

Heavens! What a thing to even think about saying! Let's get to the links fast!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Take a look at this giant circular juice machine that turns discarded peels of squeezed oranges into 3D printed juice cups. 
• The crime-solving, plant-savvy scientists at the cutting edge of new forensics. Forensic ecologists make it their life's work to study pollen grains and microscopic spores left behind at crime scenes. (And we already know that each tree has its own DNA, just like humans.)
• Libraries and archivists ane scanning and uploading books that are secretly in the public domain.
• When the pianos went to war.
• The slightly foxed revolving bookcase.
• A 22-year-old cold case has been solved after a Google Earth satellite image shows the missing man's car.
• How Scooby Doo revived gothic storytelling for generations of kids.
• Marco Polo's odyssey spawned one of the world's first bestsellers.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Manny Medrano, the college student who decoded the data hidden in Inca knots.
• A 1.7-million-year-old rhino tooth has provided the oldest DNA data ever studied. 
• Scientists have learned that two ancient handholding skeletons are both men, but the Italians won't say that they were gay.
• DNA from an ancient burial has unlocked the mystery of a 5,000-year-old lost culture.
• New finds in England have beefed up the case for redrawing the map of the Roman Empire. 
• Paleontologists are trying to understand why the fossil record is mostly males.
• An envelope, hidden in a wall for one hundred years, helps solve a Winchester Mystery House riddle.
• Archaeologists in Bolivia have found ancient Tiwanaku vessels.

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• How to tell a bird's age by its song.
• These comedy wildlife photography finalists are a delight to behold. 
• Fourteen fun facts about giant pandas.
• How can you know what your dog is really feeling?
• Found: A hub where humpback whales share their songs.
• Why bush dogs are so different from other dogs.
• Common pesticides are delaying songbird migration and triggering significant weight loss in the birds. (These pesticides have been proven to be killing humans, too, so why don't we just ditch 'em?)
• A salamander that lived at the London Zoo for twenty years could be the largest amphibian in the world.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Susanna Bauer, a crocheter who uses her skills to turn dried leaves into works of art.
• A new Monopoly game celebrates women... but what about Lizzie Magie, the game's own overlooked inventor?
• Wisconsin resident Julie Buckles headed to town and impulse-bought an entire bookstore.
• Attica Locke left Hollywood to write novels. Now she's found success in both worlds. 
• Kym Worthy, a Wayne County Michigan prosecutor, has fought for justice after discovering thousands of abandoned rape kits. (I watched a documentary about this and was so angry I think the lights dimmed in the house.)

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• For decades, the Mississippi River town of Muscatine, Iowa was the pearl-button capital of the world.
• The Biblioteca Palafoxiana, the first public library in the Americas, has more than 45,000 books dating back to the 15th century.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Top ten culinary memoirs. 
• Nannies and governesses in crime fiction.
• Eight novels featuring atypical amateur sleuths.
• Senior citizens in literature we want to grow up to be like.
• Ten words every girl should learn.
• Ten great novels that rewrite history.
• Part three of the most anticipated crime books of 2019.
• A brief history of monstrous mothers in literature.

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!