A Looking Toward the Future Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Today, Denis undergoes back surgery. 

 

No, I'm not sitting in the hospital typing this post. It's Thursday. Let's backtrack a bit. Denis has been hospitalized since last Thursday evening. Tuesday, we finally got to see pictures of his spine. The infection caused so much damage to the L2 and L3 vertebrae that the surgeon is going to clean up those vertebrae and get rid of the small piece of bone that's pressing on his spine. Then he's going to put in what he called a jack to straighten and stabilize his spine. I know it's going to take awhile with healing and physical therapy and the like, but I'm certain this is the most important step in giving me back my ornery, smiling husband. I've been a front-row observer in what severe pain can do to a person, and I wouldn't put my worst enemy through it.

 

In the mean time, here are some photos I took of what's been going on here at Casa Kittling. I call it our future racetrack.

 

 

 

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• What's up with Nora Ephron and serial killers?
• Crime fiction is having a TV moment, and that moment isn't going to be over any time soon.
• Why time loop stories keep coming back. 
• According to Emily Maguire, there's no shame in reading whatever books you want-- literary snobs be damned. (An attitude I've espoused my entire life.)
• Rachel M. Harper on her love of libraries. 
• The, like, totally radical history of using "like" as a discourse marker (which, like, drives me, like, totally insane). 
• How growing up in the digital age impacts young minds. 
• "Criminal profiling has been fooling us all." 
• How do you decolonize the Golden Age mystery? Read more historical fiction. 
• What Jane Austen teaches us about who (and who not) to trust. 

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• Eight non-fiction books about censorship.
• Book bans in prison cuts inmates' lifeline to the outside world.
• Margaret Atwood responds to book bans with an "unburnable" edition of The Handmaid's Tale. 
• The long history of book burning.

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• An eerie "yellow brick road" to Atlantis has been discovered atop an ancient undersea mountain.
• Ancient rock art depicting a divine procession has been discovered in a secret chamber beneath a Turkish house.
• Remembering the unsung Egyptians who helped discover King Tut's tomb. 
• Reconstructing the menu of a pub in ancient Pompeii. 
• The tomb of an ancient Egyptian dignitary who read secret documents has been discovered. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• Ukrainian soldiers discovered fourth-century urns while digging defense trenches. 
• An ancient molar found in Laos could fill in a gap in human history. More from Live Science.
• Thousands of prehistoric pits have been found around Stonehenge.
• An underground city unearthed in Turkey may have been a refuge for early Christians.
  

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Will the jaguar return to the American Southwest?
• This woman adopted a tiny Muscovy duckling that was rejected by her mother at birth.
• The population of vaquita porpoises has dwindled to ten, but a rebound isn't out of the question.
• A study has found that planting trees and shrubs will bring woodland birds back to farms.
• A rescue dog named Logan has gotten a new mission with an elite bomb squad in Hungary.
• Ruby, a Rhode Island dog whose inspiring story of going from shelter dog to lifesaving police K-9 became the subject of a recent Netflix movie has been euthanized.
• Did cats really disappear from North America for seven million years? 
• Eighty-four egrets were killed after workers cut down protected bird nests in a Texas neighborhood.
• German cat owners have been ordered to keep their felines inside for months in order to protect a rare bird during its breeding season. Since domestic cats are the biggest killer of songbirds in the world, I say good for Germany in doing this!
  

 

►The Wanderer◄

• Design your dream home and discover in which Austen house you should live. (I took the quiz and my answer was Pemberley. I'll take it as long as all the servants come with...)
• An idea that needs to become standard: An intergenerational playgroup in Australia brings children to a nursing home to hang out with the older residents. It's a win-win as far as I'm concerned. 
• The Puerto Rican island where 1,500 monkeys rule. 
• A new island is emerging off the coast of New Jersey, and endangered birds are flocking to it. 
• Is this your last chance to "See Rock City"? (I remember seeing this a lot on road trips as a child.) 
• This one's for Kate and me: Yes, you can hide evidence in our lakes.
  

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Martina Navratilova, thriller novelist.
• The uneasy symbiosis between T.S. Eliot and Groucho Marx.
• James Lee Burke on personal tragedy, national trauma, and the search for salvation.
• A ten-year-old Pennsylvania girl has been named the world's youngest opera singer.
• The adventures of Nellie Bly need to be taught to children in history class.
• High school activist Jack Petocz has been given the PEN Award for organizing protests against the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Ten close families in literature.
• Thirteen readers share their favorite non-fiction books.
• Ten books about Kenya by Kenyans.
• Seven cozies with animals solving crimes.
• Eleven historical fiction books exploring royalty around the world.
• The real life crimes that inspired Agatha Christie.
• Eleven crime books set in Las Vegas.
• Ten places for chocolate lovers around the world.

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!