A Forced "Progress" Weekly Link Round-Up

This past week has been frustrating, and it's all due to one thing: Blogger. Blogger hasn't changed its interface since before I began using it, so someone decided they really needed to do something about that. The first hint I received was a message from them when I logged on to write a post. One of those "friendly" notes that said something along the lines of "We're changing the way you're doing things, so you'd better take a look at it now and get used to it." I clicked on the link, thinking "how bad could it be?" (Stop laughing!)

Once I got used to many of the changes, I had to shake my head. Thank you, Blogger. It's now going to take me twice as long to do several weekly tasks as it used to.

Then Saturday, I kept getting this weird message about my field values being invalid. I didn't even know I had field values! I checked that out and discovered that I may not be able to create new labels (for unimportant things like authors' names) until Blogger gets that fixed.

And while I was wandering around deep into the settings of my blog, I discovered that Blogger had unceremoniously prevented me from getting moderation notices on my posts. I use "moderation light" which I won't go into in case the wrong people are actually reading this, and as I started going through all the comments that had been waiting for me for yonks, I felt steam coming out of my ears. But at least that's something I could fix.

Okay. Now that I've got that off my chest, I'm going to go read a good book. Don't you love it when the techies decide it's been too long since they've produced anything NEW! and EXCITING! and you're forced to go along with it whether you want to or not? Yeah. I thought so.

A quick check on those links, then it's off to my book I go. Head 'em up! Moooove 'em out!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• When Magic Eye pictures ruled the world-- and frustrated millions of people.
• This artwork recognizes the sacrifices made by Native American soldiers in Vietnam.
• How America rediscovered a cookbook from the Harlem Renaissance. 
• How historic preservation shaped the early United States. 
• Jess Montgomery: How do you balance the needs of modern readers with the details of the past?
• 1619 and the narrative of despair.
• The secret-- and surprising-- world of rare books.
• This gorgeous bookstore is said to have possibly inspired parts of Hogwarts.
  

►Pandemic Lore & News◄

• The Black Death in Venice and the dawn of quarantine.
• Singapore is using a robotic dog to enforce social distancing during COVID-19.
• How pandemics change society.
• COVID-19 may permanently shutter a museum devoted to a vaccination pioneer.
• The Irish have returned a historic favor by donating to Native Americans during the pandemic. More information in an article from The Telegraph.
• With humans away, animals in national parks are having a ball.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Europe's oldest time capsule was discovered hidden in a church spire. 
• Underground chambers have been discovered near Jerusalem's Western Wall.
• Amateur archaeologists studying aerial maps of the U.K. have spotted dozens of hidden historical structures.
• Here come the mammoths, sixty of them, unearthed at an airport in Mexico.
• The final home of Charles Darwin's HMS Beagle gets protected status. 
• Why the two-wheeled chariot was so effective in ancient battles.
• For the first time in a century, Norway will excavate a Viking ship burial.
• Archaeologists discovered an ancient stone turtle in a drained Angkor reservoir.
  

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• A British zoo threatens to kill over 300 animals in the coming days.
• A very demanding kangaroo joey makes a sheep-like sound to get attention at an animal shelter in Australia.
• The world's tiniest rodeo: a photographer captured a frog riding a beetle.
• COVID-19 stranded scientists are trying to save endangered birds from killer mice.
• Abandoned bunkers in Germany are now designated refuges for endangered bat species.
• Scientists have discovered a real-life Kermit the Frog living in Costa Rica.
• The first brown bear in 150 years was spotted in a national park in Spain by a film crew.
• The Labrador tops the most popular dog breed list for the 29th year in a row.
• How dogs become detectives.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Author Michael Connelly stays busy sheltering at home.
• Rachel Howzell Hall: Cancer, my mystery novel, and me.

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• Mount St. Helens is going green again.
• Africans are building a Great Green Wall of trees across the continent to slow down the expansion of the Sahara Desert.

►I ♥ Lists & Quizzes◄

• Merriam-Webster has a vocabulary quiz for foodies.
• What Jessica Fletcher is reading during the quarantine.
• Top ten books about silence.
• Seascapes and murder: the perfect combination for a cozy mystery.
• Nineteen can't-miss reads from independent publishers.
• Detective novels set on New England's Cape and Islands.
• Eleven books to wake up your book club.
• Crime books set in tourist towns.
• Celebrating the hardest working moms in the mystery world.

That's it 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! And don't forget to curl up with a good book!