A Drip, Drip, Drip Weekly Link Round-Up

It's been a weird spring here in the Valley of the Sun. We seem to be getting our winter rains now-- almost as though their flights were delayed at the airport. As I write this, this is the second day in a row it's been overcast, dismal, and raining. Good weather to stay inside with a good book, but alas, I've had to hie off to the clinic.

Speaking of the clinic, I'm doing very well and get a month's respite from my twice-weekly visits. This means that Denis and I get to book all sorts of appointments that have been languishing while I've been undergoing therapy. I'm hoping that we'll be able to get a day or two to do something fun, too.

I'm going to mosey out to the corral to check on the links, and then I'm heading back inside to do some reading. I hope I can avoid all the puddles!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• A book found in an Urban Outfitters about reducing plastic waste seems to be packaged... in plastic.
• Betty Webb's fact, fiction, and a DNA surprise.
• Online sleuths, cold cases, and the early days of a very particular hobby.
• Reading classic novels is better for your health than self-help books.
• Why are hardcover books published before paperbacks?
• How J. Edgar Hoover used the power of libraries for evil.
• Is line editing a lost art? 
• The astonishing life and times of Clive Cussler, "the grandmaster of adventure."

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A 2,000-year-old leopard face painting has been reconstructed from an Egyptian sarcophagus.
• Florida treasure hunters unearthed a trove of silver coins from an 18th-century shipwreck.
• An archaeology intern unearthed a spectacular 2,000-year-old Roman dagger.
• State-of-the-art reconstructions reveal what famous historical figures really looked like. 
• Has this boulder's mysterious, centuries-old inscription finally been deciphered?
• Ancient humans may have survived a supervolcano eruption nearly 74,000 years ago.
• A secret 17th-century passageway has been discovered in the British House of Commons.
• An ancient inscription has unveiled the king who may have toppled Midas.

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• Dogs' cool, wet noses may be able to detect heat.
• The variety of animals that crossed this log in a year is just incredible.
• In a case of shutting the barn door after the horse ran out, China has permanently banned the consumption of wild animals. Now... can they actually enforce the law?
• Watch this deep-sea sponge sneeze in slow motion.
• Your planting guide to attracting dragonflies and eliminating mosquitoes.
• A new genus of Australian lion has been discovered in Queensland's Riversleigh World Heritage fossil site.
• Scientists have discovered that trees have a "heartbeat".
• The leopard cub with the lioness mom.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• The sublime isolation of the Scottish Isles.
• Noir in the Land of Enchantment (New Mexico).
• London will install six new plaques commemorating women's history.
• It's illegal to destroy saguaro cacti. So why are they being removed (read bulldozed) for Trump's border wall?
• The world's most beautiful library is in Prague, Czech Republic.
• North Carolina's House of Mugs.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Maude Collins: Ohio's first female sheriff.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• The 19 best crime-solving writers in fiction, ranked.
• Five books about magnificent fish.
• The top ten rules about the CIA every spy novel writer must know.
• Seventeen book cakes that are totally drool-worthy.
• The forty best Sherlock Holmes quotes every sleuth should live by.
• Five historical mysteries set in the Regency era.
• Top ten books about imaginary friends.
• The historical novels everyone must read.
• The twelve best Clive Cussler books recommended by his thriller fans.

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 safeguard your health by staying at home with a good book!