A How Did We Do Weekly Link Round-Up

 

 

If the weeks get any quieter here at Casa Kittling, I'll have to forego the introduction and skip straight to the links! 

 

The photo shows me not caring about the recent Super Bowl. Nope, Denis was at work, and I spent the evening knitting an afghan (surprise, surprise) and watching Law & Order: UK courtesy of Acorn TV. The last time I watched this program I was in England, so I'm glad that I can watch it here now. As I told a friend, since I stay at home all the time, since Denis is English, and since 99% of the television I watch is British, it's a miracle that I don't speak with an English accent. (It would probably be a northern English accent, by the way.)

So what's this about "how did we do"? We have a lot of deliveries between groceries and other items. Formerly, the only problems we had were with FedEx, whose drivers liked to throw packages over the fence and onto the rocks to bake in the desert sun till someone was home to fetch them. Normally, we have excellent service from Amazon, but today someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed and frisbeed one of Denis's purchases over the fence where it almost landed in the middle of the barrel cactus. Denis took a photo for the inevitable "how did we do?" email and added the message "Not so good. If the packaging didn't have any aerodynamics, it wouldn't have landed on the property at all."

But that's life, isn't it? Some days the packages are right at the door. Other days, it takes awhile to track them down. Which reminds me. I'd better go track those links down. Someone left the gate to the corral open. Head 'em up! Moooove 'em out!

 

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Police in libraries: What the Cop-Free Library Movement wants.
• When Abraham Lincoln tried his hand at being a true crime writer.
• Watch this video of a 120-year-old book of fairy tales being restored.
• Vampires, Muppets, and prequels: The Great Gatsby's new life out of copyright.
• Tim Cook may have just ended Facebook.
• It takes a village to keep a book in print: A chat with the Collins Crime Club.
• Bernie Sanders' mitten merchandise raised $1.8 million for Vermont charities in less than a week.
• Why should we read unfinished novels?
• Why 1920s Los Angeles went wild for an 18th-century Scottish novelist.
• Orson Welles, Lucille Ball, and the greatest thriller that never was.
  

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Two articles on Netflix's film The Dig about the discovery of the treasures of Sutton Hoo: from The Guardian and the Vintage News. And a third from the British Museum about the realism of the filming.
  
• A long-forgotten attic hid a photography studio and a famous portrait of Susan B. Anthony. ('fess up. How many of you are like me and got a little thrill at the phrase "long-forgotten attic"?)
• Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a mummy with a gold tongue. Another article about the find from Live Science.
  
• A massive Anglo-Saxon cemetery and treasure trove has been discovered in England.
• Archaeologists have unearthed a 600-year-old golden eagle sculpture at an Aztec temple in Mexico.
• A garden ornament has turned out to be a Roman artifact worth thousands of dollars.
• An amateur treasure hunter unearthed the missing centerpiece of Henry VIII's crown.
• Egyptian archaeologists unearth dozens of tombs at the Saqqara necropolis.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• A chameleon discovered in Madagascar may be the world's smallest reptile.
• World-famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil lives at the library when he's waiting for his special day.
• California's Central Valley and the Colorado River delta are epicenters for North America's migratory birds.
• A snowy owl stopped in Central Park for the first time since 1890.
• Nearly 400 gray whales have died off the West Coast since 2019.
• Watch a little boy go sledding inside a laundry basket while being pulled by his dogs through the snow.
• A wolverine has been captured on Yellowstone trail cameras for the first time.
• How wolves are driving down mountain lion populations.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Six groundbreaking facts about Elizabeth Blackwell, America's first woman physician.
• Six women who defined the Regency Era-- and our conceptions of modernity.
• How codebreaker Elizebeth Friedman broke up a Nazi spy ring.
• The life of Nazi fighter and Indian princess Noor Inayat Khan is to be told in a TV series.

 

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• How the Navajo Nation is transforming math education.
• Meet the most passionate admirers of India's Rail Network.
• Mayhew Lodge in Oak Creek Canyon outside of Sedona, Arizona, has a history that includes several notable figures.
• These $1 Italian houses in Troina, Sicily, comes with up to $30,000 in restoration grants.
• The Paignton Picture House on the English Riviera-- which once reserved a balcony for Agatha Christie (and a second one for her butler)-- is to be restored to its former glory.

 

►Masters (or Beginners) of Their Craft◄

• The enduring haute couture of a 466-year-old kimono house.
• These Georgian pastimes have increased in popularity since lockdown.
• Stunningly life-like figures hand carved from wood by Peter Demetz.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Winter thrillers that will transport you to mountaintops and frozen tundras around the world.
• The forgotten black British novels everyone should read.
• New York Public Library's reading list for bookstore lovers.
• All epistolary novels are mysteries.
• The elements of the haunted house: a primer.
• Fifty things turning fifty in 2021.
• Seventeen bizarre heists from history.
• Eleven delightful Icelandic words and phrases.

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!