A Silence Can Be Golden Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Poor Denis has had some issues with his teeth, and he was worried about the large molar that was going to be pulled. I kept telling him not to worry, but I could tell he wasn't interested in what I had to say. When he came home from his appointment, I immediately asked how it went. "I didn't feel a thing." Shame on me, I did say I told you so but not in those exact words. I realized that the reason why he was worried was due to memories of the dental work he'd had done while he was in the Royal Navy. All I can say is (1) that was a long time ago, and (2) there must have been some sadistic dentists plying their trade for the Royal Navy!

I used to buy a new ornament every year, but that's gone by the wayside now that I don't put up all those Christmas trees. However, for some reason I felt that I had to buy the one in the photo as a memento of this very strange year. I'm not going to hang it, but it's going to remind me of a year for the record books.

Now I'll tell you about the "silence can be golden" that I used in the post header. Due to the heavy (and extremely loud) machinery Denis had to operate through the years, he has quite a bit of hearing loss and has to wear hearing aids. On the other hand, he calls me "Bat Ears" because there aren't many sounds that escape my notice-- unless I've turned on my selective hearing.

We have a Roomba, and it's great to program the thing to vacuum the house while we're gone or while we're sleeping. Unfortunately, Denis moved the small doohickey that emits a beam that keeps the Roomba out of selected rooms, and I was rudely awakened by Gracie (our name for the Roomba) bouncing off the dresser and armoire in our bedroom. Naturally, while I lay there and mumbled, Denis slept peacefully on. Without his hearing aids, I practically have to shake him awake if the need arises. In a minute or two, Gracie trundled off to another section of the house and I went back to sleep. In a half hour, she was back, and she refused to leave. Somehow she managed to unearth something to suck up and strangle on, and she ground to a halt.

Needless to say, that little doohickey is back in place so Gracie trundles, bounces, sucks, and strangles in the rest of the house but not our bedroom without an express invitation. Aren't first world problems terrible? *wink*

On that note, my ears and I are going to mosey out to the corral. It's been chilly for quite a spell here, and I'm just now getting used to reaching for a sweater. Head 'em up! Moooove 'em out!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Evelyn Waugh loved Perry Mason with all his heart.
• The bigger the publishers, the blander the books. More on the subject from the LA Times.
  
• A new digital project details 150 Belgian libraries looted by the Nazis.
• The Grinch that keeps on grinching.
• Oxford dictionaries amend the "sexist" definitions of the word "woman."
• What author Cherene Sherrard learned about a pioneering Black cookbook author by cooking her recipes.
• Ian Rankin will complete William McIlvanney's final novel The Dark Remains.
• How Magnum P.I. set the standard for '80s TV detectives.

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A 400-year-old Flemish masterpiece spent decades hiding in plain sight.
• Marie Antoinette's silk shoe sold for $51,000 in Versailles.
• Stolen artifacts are big business.
• Leonardo Da Vinci's To-Do list from 1490.
• India's Sati stones commemorate a macabre historical practice.
• The campaign to buy JRR Tolkien's house is backed by Lord of the Rings actors.
• An altar to the ancient Greek god Pan was found embedded in the wall of a Byzantine church.
• The "Sistine Chapel of the Ancients" rock art has been discovered in a remote Amazon forest.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• Watch a puppy go for a ride on top of an obliging rooster.
• To restore the remote Palmyra Atoll, getting rid of rats was just the first step.
• How researchers are protecting great apes from Covid-19.
• Watch a tiny crab build a sand igloo on the beach.
• Watch a musician attempting to play the piano inside a Thai Monkey Temple while wild macaques climb all over him.
• Otters solve puzzles faster after seeing a friend do it first.
• Watch a guitarist play a rockabilly riff with a bird on his hand.
• There is a memorial to Félicette, the first cat in space.

 

►In the Holiday Spirit◄

• Ten more crime movies you forgot take place at Christmas.
• Hunting for Harold Lloyd's legendary Christmas ornaments.
• Eight elaborate Christmas displays across America-- and the people behind them.
• The surprisingly dark history of gingerbread.
• Festive photos of Bath, England's Christmas Market.
• Nine festive books to read to get into the holiday spirit.
• The first commercially printed Christmas card scandalized Victorian England.

 

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• A massive supervolcano may lurk beneath Alaska's Aleutian Islands.
• Another weird facet of the Petrified Forest National Park: the Conscience Pile.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• The true story of Mary, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth I.
• The little-known story of Madagascar's last queen, Ranavalona III.
• Olympic decathlon medalist Rafer Johnson is dead at the age of 86.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Ten cold thrillers to get you through the long winter nights.
• Five books about the real Afghanistan.
• Kirkus Reviews' best nonfiction books of 2020.
• Top ten Shakespearean books.
• Five of the greatest ambiguous endings in crime fiction.
• Quaint English village murder mystery TV shows for your binge-watching pleasure.
• Eleven authors like Agatha Christie.
• The best mystery and thriller movies coming to Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video this December.
• AudioFile's best nonfiction audiobooks of 2020.
• Eight excellent new books by Indigenous authors.

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!