An Alfalfa Sort of Weekly Link Round-Up

 

 

It's one of those weeks where nothing much is happening. Denis's eye is almost completely healed, and we are so happy about that. I'm still going to doctors and therapists in an attempt to force my leg to behave-- which it is showing signs of doing finally. We're even talking about making plans to visit places like the Heard Museum in order to get out, to experience something interesting and fun, and to enjoy someone else's air conditioning.

 

I did have something happen that shocked me, and it involves Twitter, a social media platform that I don't do much with. I barely have my head above the parapet. In fact, if I were to try to describe my "Twitter presence," I think it would be that I am like the cowlick on Alfalfa's head sticking above the ramparts, but that is probably a bit obscure for most of you who don't have a clue about The Little Rascals.

 

Author William Shaw saw my tweet about my giveaway for The Trawlerman and brought it to the attention of his US followers. When I replied, I mentioned the fact that his latest books are difficult to find here and I wanted to share my wealth. When I woke up this morning, I was stunned to see that none other than Sara Paretsky had replied, saying that she also loved Shaw's books and found it very frustrating that they were so difficult to find here. Sara Paretsky! Just goes to show that you never know who's out there taking a look at what you throw out into the ether.

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• An as yet unnamed Bosch spinoff has been picked up by IMDb TV, and Titus Welliver, Mimi Rogers, and Madison Lintz will reprise their roles.
• Plastic waste can be transformed into vanilla flavoring.
• Decolonizing your bookshelf: the what, the why, and the how.
• Cambridge University is hiring an archivist to catalog 160 boxes of Stephen Hawking's work.
• Why bother organizing your books? A messy personal library is a sign of life.
• Books by one of Britain's most famous children's authors have been branded racist.
• Alfred Hitchcock explains the difference between shock and suspense in a 1973 interview.
• How L.A.'s indie bookstores survived the worst of the pandemic.
• How Elizabeth Bowen's big houses laid the foundation for Irish domestic noir. 
• The empty accolade of surviving state violence.
• The art of balancing multiple mystery series.
  

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A farmer stumbled onto an Egyptian pharaoh's 2,600-year-old stone slab. More on this from Live Science.
  
• A 2,800-year-old castle has been linked to an enigmatic civilization found in Turkey.
• Why weren't these Black Death victims buried in mass graves?
• A David Bowie painting found in a Canadian landfill is set to sell for thousands at auction.
• UK libraries and museums unite to save an astonishing lost library from private buyers.
• Why Roman emperors were more likely to be assassinated during droughts.
• An ancient necropolis was discovered in a 17th-century Croatian palace's garden.
• The British Museum will display the world's first single-use cup fashioned by the Minoans 3500 years ago.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• Meet Stella, the dog who learned to "speak" in sentences using a homemade communication device.
• One thousand dormice were given new homes.
• An arthritic penguin at the St. Louis Zoo was given special shoes to help him walk.
• A pair of curious pet otters are baffled by their human's popcorn popper as it pops popcorn.
• This gray whale broke a migration record with its 16,700-mile journey.
• Gray wolf pups have been seen in Colorado for the first time in eighty years.
• This photographer discovered a pair of sleepy bees snoozing in the middle of a flower.
• A mysterious ailment is blinding and killing birds in the Washington, DC area.

 

►The Happy Wanderer◄

• In a remote Amazon region, the indigenous peoples have practiced forest conservation for millennia.
• The rich, weird, and frustrating world of Depression-Era travel guides.
• Tiger tail is an only-in-Canada ice cream flavor.
• The surprising reason why there are no mirrors in most Disney World bathrooms.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Five true crime books you should read this month.
• Five books that define each generation, according to The Guardian.
• Eight books that celebrate Black love, joy, and life.
• Ten chilling summer thrillers to cool you off in no time.
• Seven books to shake up your reading routine.
• Eighteen books to celebrate Juneteenth.
• Eight memoirs by blind authors.
• Summertime crime movies.
• The twenty most spoken languages in the world.
• Ten audiobooks to help you crush your reading goals.
• Eleven books about death that are bursting with life.

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.

Enjoy your summer with a good book...or three or four!