What's the New Normal Weekly Link Round-Up

There was an interesting post on one of my favorite blogs (Kay's Reading Life) in which some of us talked about things that were once considered normal that we'd now think twice about doing. Trying out grocery delivery was brought up (I was no stranger to this before COVID-19) as well as going to movie theaters, buffet-style restaurants, and airline travel.

This is definitely a time when we have to decide for ourselves just what "normal" is. Does it mean that everything goes back exactly the way it was? I don't think so. You can't be on lockdown, wear masks whenever you leave your house, and disinfect everything in sight without it changing the way you think. I'm on the Err-on-the-Side-of-Caution team. There's still a lot we don't know about COVID-19, and it's utterly irresponsible to endanger ourselves and others needlessly.

Sky Harbor International Airport here in Phoenix is one of the busiest airports in the country. Denis drives a 40-foot-long rental car bus from the terminals to the rental car center. He took the photo above at 9 PM on Monday night at Terminal 4-- the busiest one in the airport. I have never seen the airport that empty-- not even if our flight home landed in the wee hours of the morning. It's spooky, isn't it? But I can't help thinking that there has to be a way to salvage the economy without risking the deaths of thousands upon thousands of people.

On that sober note, I'm going to take my healthy self on out to the corral. At least I don't have to wear a mask around the links. Head 'em up! Moooove 'em out!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Raise a glass of chianti: CBS has officially announced that its upcoming TV series Clarice—recounting the adventures of FBI agent Clarice Starling from Thomas Harris’ 1988 thriller, The Silence of the Lambs—will premiere during the Fall 2020 season.
• How Scooby-Doo's origins are related to the RFK assassination. 
• A brief history of TP, from Silk Road hygiene to pandemic hoarding.
• The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for fifteen months.
• Arts and crafts are experiencing a surge in popularity amid COVID-19. (Gee, I was a crafty person before it was cool.)
• In Thailand, funeral cookbooks preserve recipes and memories.
• How reading got farm women through the Depression.
• You can now download 1.9 million free images from the British Museum.
• The coronavirus pandemic is changing how people buy books.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Researchers have located the wreck of the USS Nevada, the battleship that survived Pearl harbor and nuclear bomb tests. 
• Bones tell the tale of a Maya settlement. 
• Scientists may have found the most dangerous place in Earth's history.
• A 1,600-year-old elongated skull with stone-encrusted teeth was found in Mexico ruins.
• A 4,200-year-old Bronze Age chieftain was found under a suburban UK skate park.
• A Polish farmer stumbled upon a treasure trove of 1,753 Roman coins.
• Authorities have recovered 19,000 artifacts in an international antiquities trafficking sting.
• Aerial surveys have revealed the possible fort of Scottish patriot William Wallace.

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• Will he make it? An athletic bobcat attempts an Olympic-worthy leap over the water.
• Dogs trained to protect wildlife have saved 45 rhinos from poachers in South Africa.
• Here's how to (safely) bird-watch during lockdown.
• Otters "juggle," but the behavior's function remains mysterious.
• Bison transfers are planned for a US park and an Indian reservation. Also, here's an article about the Rosebud Sioux tribe creating North America's largest native-owned and -managed bison herd.
• The Toronto Zoo hatches its first critically endangered Madagascar spider tortoise.
• NIne baby animal livestreams. 
• Nature is flourishing in Venice as coronavirus keeps tourists away.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Ada Lovelace, the world's first computer programmer, in children's books.
• Photographer Roie Galitz goes to the ends of the Earth to capture rarely viewed animals.
• Chad Staples, an Australian zookeeper, took home monkeys, pandas, and a tiger in order to keep them safe from bushfires.
• Hattie Caraway, the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate, faced a familiar struggle with gender politics.
• Immerse yourself in Jane Goodall's wondrous, chimpanzee-filled life.
• Once attributed to a male artist, the painting David and Goliath has been identified as the work of Artemisia Gentileschi.
• How Michael Connelly, the creator of Harry Bosch, discovered Chandler, forged a career, overcame rejection, and got his first book published.
• The tragedy of Lizzie Siddal, art's greatest supermodel.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Seven novels about crimes in communes, cults, and other alternative communities.
• The most iconic detective sidekicks, ranked.
• This new database shows the reading habits of major 20th-century authors.
• The fifty best contemporary novels under 200 pages.
• Ten terrific thrillers featuring missing persons.
• The biggest historical fiction adaptations in the works.
• Eight great novels that show the range and depth of noir fiction in rural America.
• The sociopath in black and white: a reading list.

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.

Stay safe. Stay healthy. Practice social distancing by curling up with a good book!