A Demolition Derby of a Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Not much to report this week. Denis and I, who have been going to bed at 4 AM and getting up at 11 AM for many years, have had our routines completely set on their heads since the bathroom remodelers are here at 8 AM every morning. Hopefully by the time this posts, we will have our completed bathrooms and just be waiting for the new shower in the main bathroom which is scheduled for December.

The remodelers told us they'd be done in a week. It would have been nice, but I didn't really expect it. One reason is that nothing has ever gone smoothly in this old ranch house. These guys are used to going in newer homes and tearing out dry wall in the blink of an eye. Ha! In this old ranch house, they had to deal with concrete and thick old plaster complete with a layer of chicken wire. That's going to slow anyone down. But-- as of this writing-- they've soldiered on, and the guest bath is very close to being finished. I'm really looking forward to the final product.

Now all I'm going to do is share a couple of photos and then be on my way.

Before

A little demo, anyone?

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• A handwritten early manuscript of The Grapes of Wrath is being published for the first time.
• This landmark rare book collection focuses on climate change.
• Good news ahead? A patient's depression was immediately "switched off" using an experimental new brain implant.
• From The Guardian: All women know they are prey-- and that no one with any authority seems to care.
• Val McDermid in The Guardian: "Genre readers have less empathy? I'm not feeling that."
• One more from The Guardian, and then I promise to move on: Animals have dwindled in novels since 1835. Is fiction undergoing its own extinction event?
• Hello (bonjour) from your friendly TV translator.
• Frankenstein sets a world auction record for a printed work by a woman.
• Why use a dictionary in the age of internet research?

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• How historians of modern tattooing explore a long-hidden past.
• This relief of a saint's dog shines gold after hundreds of years of pets for the "good boy."
• A rare 16th-century Italian plate sells for over £1 million at auction.
  
• An underwater museum allows divers to explore shipwrecks from the Battle of Gallipoli.
• Researchers are unraveling the mystery of the Greek tomb of "Nestor's Cup."
• The untold story of van Gogh's once-maligned masterpiece, The Potato Eaters.
• Mexico's ancient inhabitants moved land and bent rivers to build Teotihuacán.
• An ornate medieval shield looted by the Nazis will be returned to the Czech Republic.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• This annual starling murmuration is so dense it's called "the black sun." (I saw my first one of these on the east coast of Scotland on my way to Edinburgh.)
• With a nearly foot-long proboscis, this new moth species holds the record for longest insect tongue. Which reminds me of the times I've been touched by butterfly tongues...
  
• Modern crocodiles are evolving at a rapid rate.
• Watch a compilation of the ambassador animals of the Oregon Zoo happily eating pumpkins.
• Owney, the post office pooch who traveled around the world and earned medals wherever he went.
• Rattlesnake rattles use auditory illusion to trick human brains.
• Golden fur in dogs evolved two million years ago, long before domestication.
• Venomous sea snakes that charge divers may just be looking for love.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• As Miss Navajo Nation, Shaandiin Parrish helped her community through the pandemic.
• The secret codes of Lady Wroth, the first female English novelist.
• Groundbreaking archaeologist Ann Axtell Morris finally gets the full cinematic treatment. 

 

►The Wanderer◄

• The books, tragedies, and unsolved mysteries that inspired a new novel connecting Italy and New York.
  

 

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Nine theater mysteries that bring the drama.
• Seven everyday American food additives that are banned in other countries.
• Nine cozy reads with bookish characters.
• Six novels in which romance blooms in the stacks.
• Thirty-one horror films about writing, reading, and the book business.
• From pen stroke to key stroke: on slander in suspense.
• Stephen King's top books, according to Stephen King.
• The fabulous (and sometimes strange) female hairstyles of the past two hundred years.
• Thirteen books to read if you loved The Great Gatsby.
• The twenty-five best movie trailers of all time.

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!