An I'll Bet He's Got a Sore Butt Weekly Link Round-Up

 

It turned out that things haven't gone as well for Denis as we'd hoped. He's had to go to his doctor twice to tweak the combination of pain killers and muscle relaxers he's taking for the awful pain in his back and hips. He's also had an X-ray and will probably have an MRI sometime within the next week. I hate seeing this normally hale and hearty man hurting, and although it's a relief to see that the new mix of medications seem to be gathering strength and doing their job, I want to see what that MRI will uncover. 

On a brighter note, I shared some security camera footage on my personal Facebook page recently. Not all of our cameras are placed for security reasons; some of them are literally for the birds. Recently, one of the cameras trained on a hummingbird feeder caught footage of a male hummer who was incandescently angry that another hummer was sitting on his favorite feeder. He hovered right in the interloper's face, wings buzzing furiously, his brilliantly colored gorget fully extended... and the interloper was totally unimpressed. So... the next film clip showed the enraged hummer jabbing the interloper's backside with his needle-sharp beak. I'll bet that hurt! 

 

Normally, we see hummers chasing each other around and around in an attempt to keep each other off the feeders because they are extremely territorial. I've seen film showing dozens of hummingbirds all sharing the same batch of feeders, and I am in awe because our colony of hummers would never do that. But we've never seen one hummer stabbing another before, so that camera footage was gold. In some ways, it's funny, but in others it's not because hummers have actually killed each other in such disputes. You'd never ever think that would happen with such beautiful, tiny creatures, would you?

I'll leave you with a new favorite word that I discovered. Now... if I only knew how to pronounce it because I've certainly experienced this several times in my life!

 

Enjoy the links!

[Note: this second tweaking of Denis' meds seems to have worked a miracle. It's so wonderful to have a smiling, ambulatory husband again!]

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• The age of the birth certificate.
• Freedom libraries and the fight for library equity.
• Libraries aren't essential services.
• Pick your next mystery read based on your tea preference. (Kerry Greenwood's Death in Daylesford for me, evidently.)
• Americans are reading fewer books than in the past. (Except for very recently, book sales have been up, so... if fewer people are reading books, the ones who are reading must be burning the midnight oil.)
• Is reader's block a real thing? (Not in this house.)
• Miniature book nooks belong on every shelf; it's just a matter of time.
• Why don't we breathe equally out of both nostrils?

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A 2,000-year-old Celtic hoard of gold "rainbow cups" has been discovered in Germany.
• Archaeologists have discovered-- and begun to decode-- rare medieval runes.
• Take a look at the design of public latrines in ancient Rome.
• Sutton Hoo's treasures were likely crafted at this 1,400-year-old workshop.
• Virtually wander through a Victorian odditorium of curiosities.
• Trinity College Dublin has begun a $100 million project to relocate vulnerable books.
• A rare first edition of The Incredible Hulk comic has sold for $490,000.
• Scientists looking at the first pregnant Egyptian mummy think they've figured out why none were ever found before.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly Mae Clampett◄

• A bird call album has flown over Taylor Swift in the Australian pop charts.
• A vervet monkey has befriended some hostile dogs.
• Watch an armadillo roll around on the floor while playing with some colored balls.
• A hungry badger accidentally unearthed hundreds of ancient Roman coins in Spain.
• What's it like inside a kangaroo pouch?
• A hungry flying squirrel recently interrupted some cozy winter TV time.
• The Columbus Zoo is mourning the death of Coby, the Labrador retriever that was the companion of many baby cheetahs.
• Wildcats have returned to the Netherlands after several centuries' absence.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• How Sidney Poitier rewrote the script for Black actors in Hollywood.
• A few months after dressing up as the Queen, Kentucky toddler Jalayne Sutherland received some Royal mail.
• Ben Franklin lives in your smartphone.
• Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck, Tchaikovsky's patroness.
• Clara Barton epitomized the heroism of nurses.
• The medieval queens whose daring, murderous reigns were quickly forgotten.
• Eight women astronomers you should know.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• The remains of more than 1,000 Indigenous children have been found at former residential schools in Canada. (Sadly, I imagine the same thing will come to light here.)
• The Cahokia Mounds interpretive center is being closed for updates. What is being changed? (My visit to Cahokia had quite the impact on me.)

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Ten of the best Etsy Kindle covers for your new Kindle.
• Twelve historical mysteries to look forward to in 2022.
• The sixteen most dangerous national parks in the U.S.
• Thirteen cozy mysteries for the first half of 2022.
• Ten books about musical subcultures. 
• 40 times kids cracked adults up with their ‘alternative’ names for common things. 
• Eight novels for fans of Mexican Gothic. 
• Seven non-fiction books about little-known historical events.

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!