The Times They Are A'Changing Weekly Link Round-Up

 

It is Monday as I write this. When Denis left for work, I went out in my normal uniform of capri pants and tank top and got a shock-- I was almost cold! 65°F. is the forecast high today, and it's been a long time since the high has been that low. (I know, it's not low to some of you folks in different climes.) At least the air conditioner is finally getting a well-deserved rest.

 

The "highlight" of the week has been the cutting down of the huge Aleppo pine tree by our driveway. It was one of many victims of Phoenix's hottest summer in recorded history. I'll probably share some photos of the removal process in the near future.

Since this is just before Halloween and Día de los Muertos, I thought I would share something I found in the mound of family photos I've been going through. It is an example of a type of photography that I'm glad has passed out of fashion.

Clark William Brookshier 1906-1909

 

This is the only photo taken of my grandfather's older brother, Clark. A bit creepy, isn't it? Post-mortem portraits were popular during the Victorian Era and the first part of the twentieth century due to a much higher mortality rate. Clark was playing in a large dirt pile in the farmyard. He liked to dig mine shafts and play at being a miner. He couldn't be seen from my great-grandfather's seat on the wagon. The team of horses shied, and the wagon backed over the pile of dirt, crushing little Clark. This all happened on April 1, 1909, and is the reason why my family has never played April Fool's jokes.

 

And on that somber note, I'm going to head on out to the link corral. Head 'em up! Moooove 'em out!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

•  R.V. Raman on bringing the traditional murder mystery to India.
• Check out Merriam-Webster's Time Traveler to see which new words were added during the year you were born.
• Why the Prado's show on women in art is facing accusations of misogyny.
• Cheap writing surfaces and medieval bureaucracy helped popularize the alphabet.
• Where do reading lists come from? (And why do we love them?)
• How girls have brought political change to America.
• The disconcerting beauty of isolated vocal tracks from some of the most famous songs by the Beatles.
• Did the Northern Lights play a role in the Titanic's demise?
• How algorithms discern our mood from what we write online. 
• How will COVID-19 change the way museums are built?
  

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• The remnants of a woodland Iroquois village has been discovered in Ontario.
• A long-lost medieval monastery has been discovered beneath a parking garage in England.
• From the BBC: A Shakespeare First Folio fetches a record $10 million at auction. Here's more from Smithsonian Magazine.
• Well-preserved brain cells were found in a Vesuvius victim.
• The ruins of an eighth-century pagan temple was found in Norway.
• A T. Rex sold for $31.8 million, and paleontologists are worried.
• Fingerprint analysis reveals new insights on prehistoric rock art's creators.
• A sweeping DNA survey highlights the Vikings' surprising genetic diversity.
• An ancient inscription reminds modern Egypt of drought risk.
• Mexico has identified the submerged wreck of a Mayan slave ship.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• Watch a busy baby beaver build a dam inside its rescuer's house using an amusing variety of household items.
• Droughts and human interference wiped out Madagascar's gigantic wildlife 1,500 years ago.
• Charming photos capture small children bonding with protective big dogs.
• "Call the zookeeper!" A five-year-old found the lemur that went missing from the San Francisco Zoo.
• A bird flies 7,500 miles, a new record for the longest nonstop bird migration.
• Rope bridges save the most endangered primates from making death-defying leaps.
• The pandemic quiet means we can eavesdrop on rare Australian dolphins.
• Tribes reintroduce the swift fox to northern Montana's Fort Belknap Reservation.
• A new study finds that dogs may not spread COVID-19, but cats can pass it to each other.
• Watch a tiny shepherd puppy take a very patient rescued horse for a short walk around the pen.
• Are giraffes doomed to be struck by lightning because of their height?

 

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• A colossal statue of Atlas will rise again in Sicily's Temple of Zeus.
• Eight of America's most unusual polling places.
• Toronto: crime fiction in North America's safest city.
• Could a tree help find a decaying corpse nearby?
• What wildfire archaeology tells us about the burning American West.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• The trail-blazing French artist Rosa Bonheur is finally getting the attention she deserves.
• Patricia Marroquin Norby, the Smithsonian's first full-time curator of Native American art.
• The light as she saw it: On sitting in Emily Dickinson's bedroom.
• Deborah Sampson, one of the first women to serve in the United States military.
• 31 literary icons of Greenwich Village.

 

►Crafty Little Gems◄

• Have you seen LEGO's 2,500-piece modular bookshop?
• Sailors' Valentines were painstakingly crafted, but not by sailors.

 

►I ♥ Lists & Quizzes◄

• Ten books about the Himalayas. 
• Five thrillers that explore "mean girl" culture.
• Six COVID-19 terms that would have made no sense in January.
• What genre should you read, based on your furniture picks? (According to this, I should be reading memoirs. Guess again, quiz makers!)
• Five books about sisters and secrets.
• Red herrings in contemporary crime literature.
• These famous noirs and mysteries were inspired by real-life crimes.
• Ten books of eco-fiction.
• Fifteen crime movies where love comes as a surprise.
• Eleven presidential thrillers.
• The top ten dinner parties in fiction.

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