The If You Have to, Have Fun Weekly Link Round-Up

Fortunately, this past week had more going for it than a yawn. Denis and I spent a few lovely hours at the Heard Museum in downtown Phoenix, and I took so many photographs that it will take me several posts to share the best ones. We're members now, so there will be more trips to the Heard which is a good thing, since I was so excited over one exhibit in particular that I completely missed the room on Navajo weaving.

Now for something completely different. Over and over again, it has been impressed upon me that simple pleasures are the best. Like taking a shower sans trash bags and duct tape. Huh? Well, I've had open wounds on my leg for months, and with the type of bandaging I've had, I can't take a shower without donning a trash bag on my right leg and wrapping duct tape around the top so all the bandaging stays dry...

...it just occurred to me that if Jeopardy! ever had a bandage category, I could probably ace it. Pro-Fore, Unna Boot, Coban 2...

 

While it may be one of my fondest wishes to take a shower without part of me being swathed in plastic, that's not my Here and Now. Here and now, I have to suit up before getting wet.

Well, I've got plenty of trash bags, but when I saw that I was running low on duct tape, I knew I'd have to get more.

You should've seen the look on my face when I discovered that duct tape now comes in prints! As you can see by the photo, I decided to indulge myself. No more monochromatic duct tape for me! If I have to wear plastic in the shower, I'm at least going to have fun with it.

Now I only have to decide which one I'm going to use first. Decisions, decisions!

 

 

 

Enjoy the links!

 ►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• How detective fiction helps a forensic psychiatrist in her work with violent offenders.
• Television commercials are getting much louder-- here's why.
• The reason why a standard piece of paper is 8.5 inches by 11 inches.
• Why do we say "PU" when something stinks?
• The rise of Must-Read TV.
• Every book lover should fear this graph.
• Can a yarn store be a place of healing?
• Norway just passed a law that will require influencers to admit when their photos are edited.

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A Viking "piggy bank" hoard has been uncovered in the Isle of Man.
• A German museum has repatriated a Lakota chief's embroidered leather shirt to his descendants.
• Egypt has found an ancient military vessel and Greek graves in a sunken city.
• A deposed ninth-century king may have called this cave dwelling home.
• Artwork attributed to Picasso was found in a Maine closet after being there for fifty years.
• What the medieval Olympics looked like.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• Massachusetts has become the first U.S. state to enlist Covid-sniffing dogs.
• He? She? Or just plain Cher Ami? Solving a century-old pigeon mystery.
• These moths are so gorgeous they put butterflies to shame.
• Spotting a snow leopard for the first time is a religious experience.
• Watch the cutest baby squirrel making squeaking sounds.
• "This was a first": Animal rescue discovers an owl and a turtle stuck together.
• A photographer captures a perfectly timed shot of a whale sneaking up on unsuspecting whale watchers.
• Cadaver dogs: a nose for murder.

►Fashion, Craftsmanship, Beauty & Fads◄

• The lost art of "Scrap Book" fancy dress.
• The chic garments made from World War II escape maps.
• Traditional quilts from around the world. (My favorite is from Italy and Hungary.)
• The peculiar flapper fad of rouged and decorated knees.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Olympian Babe Didrikson cleared the same hurdles women athletes face today.
• How Anthony Comstock, enemy to women of the Gilded Age, attempted to ban contraception.
• Gilbert Vahé, the man who keeps Monet's famed gardens growing.

 

►No Time Like. Right. Now.◄

• LA County officials will return a beachfront property worth millions nearly one hundred years after it was seized from a Black family.
• A sushi restaurant in Oregon has been ordered to pay employees $280,000 after it stiffed them on tips.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• Liverpool has lost its Unesco World Heritage status.
• Where America's lost luggage ends up.
• The ultimate guide to stunning, surprising, or hidden filming locations.
• The logic behind the interstate highway numbering system in the contiguous United States.
• Crime fiction in San Francisco: from the Barbary Coast to Tech Noir.
• Have you ever been to the Devil's Tramping Ground in North Carolina?
• The world's best and worst cities for air pollution.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Twenty-six BookBub readers share the books that made them better people.
• Seven mysteries filled with family members.
• Thirty puns from the Victorian Era.
• The twenty best Bobs in history.
• Eleven funny murder mystery books.
• Twenty common American behaviors that are considered rude elsewhere around the world.
• Ten books about the aftermath of empire.
• Eight historical thrillers that will haunt you to the last page.
• Ten novels with moral dilemmas that you'll contemplate for days.

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.

Spend some time curled up with a book. It's good for what ails you!