A Visitor to Casa Kittling Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Denis has started his physical therapy. The therapist is a strapping young man named Marian-- "Like John Wayne," he tells people. I hate to say this, but I wonder how many people today know that John Wayne's real name was Marian Michael Morrison? The visiting nurse has discharged Denis because his vital signs are so good. He got the thumbs up from his spine doctor and will be going to see his infectious diseases doctor next week. Yes, things are settling down into a routine here, but it's a routine that I hope changes as Denis gets further long in his rehab. I know that's something that he wants, too.

 

So... most things might have been routine here at Casa Kittling, but imagine my surprise when I checked the security cameras one morning to see if anything interesting happened the night before and discovered that we'd had a first-ever on-video visitor from a critter most people don't associate with the desert. I'll post a couple of film clips and hope that they work. (You never know with Google Blogger.) Our visitor hung out here for a couple of nights and then moved on. We were hoping he'd stay because when he was here, the feral cats stayed off the property. Ah well.

 

 

 

Enjoy the links!

 

 

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• How libraries survive and thrive in the digital age.
• Jane Austen's Persuasion is having a moment. It's about time.
• A new reality show is looking for America's Next Great Author.
• #BookTok rejoice: TikTok has launched an official book club.
• Where Crawdads Sing will tell us if blockbuster books have a theatrical future.
• How literature influenced adolescent ideas of love in the 18th century.
• The real-life sleuths behind this summer's true-crime masterpieces.
• You can't buy these books.
• The creators of Dark Winds break down the tense season finale and why you can't make a Western without Natives.
• The rise of environmental book clubs.
• North Carolina bookstore owner: Online trolls are trying to ruin my business. I won't back down.
  

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• It's not just books: Comics grapple with bans amid growing culture wars.
• A groundbreaking study explores trauma and stress in frontline library workers.
• There's more than one way to ban a book.
• Book bans versus board rooms.
• The dangerous lesson of book bans in public school libraries.
• What rights do students have to access books?
• A Pennsylvania school board is voting on a Draconian book ban policy.
• A Lafayette (Louisiana) librarian has been threatened with firing for opposing censorship.
• A weird state law allows Virginians to sue books. Politicians are using it to dictate what we can read.
• What is publishing doing to combat censorship?
• From The Guardian in the UK: The right in the U.S. has a new bogeyman: libraries.
• The Utah State Board of Education policy opens the door to book bans.
• Pride Month displays at St.Tammany libraries (Louisiana) draws a crowd of supporters to a library board meeting.
• Libraries must stop pretending they can be neutral on human rights.

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• When authorities dunked outspoken women in water.
• How long does it take to make petrified wood? 
• A medieval woman wore this birthing girdle to protect herself during labor. 
• Federal agents have seized a suspected Fabergé egg from a Russian oligarch's $300 million yacht. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• Footprints reveal that Ice Age children played in giant sloth puddles 11,000 years ago. 
• The tomb of an ancient Egyptian mercenary commander has been found. 
• A tiny gold book found in an English field may have ties to Richard III.
• The 13th-century "Mortar Wreck" is England's oldest-ever preserved sunken ship. 

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Cheetahs will soon be reintroduced to India.
• A photographer captured a perfectly timed shot of a whale sneaking up on unsuspecting whale watchers. (This reminds me of the time I was standing at the stern of a whale watching boat and had a whale come up to check me out. I "neglected" to point out the wonderful creature's presence to anyone else...)
• Watch a mother orangutan's tender moments with her three-month-old baby.
• Meet the canine officers guarding American agriculture.
• New York and New Jersey harbor is the new hangout spot for humpback whales.
• The sightings of fin whales signal a comeback for the once endangered species.
• Here's how we helped save the world's weirdest bird.
• A walrus named Freya is sinking boats and causing mayhem in Norway. More on Freya's activities from Yahoo News.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• On the New Delhi murders and the Indian true crime boom.
• The story behind a 70-year-old cold case murder and the push for Alaska's statehood. 
• Miners just discovered the largest pink diamond in 300 years. 
• People who want to visit the world's tallest living tree now risk a $5,000 fine. 
• Wildfires are setting off hundreds of unexploded bombs on World War I battlefields, endangering the firefighters. 
• Notre-Dame Cathedral will reopen by 2024. 
• Aboard the world's first hot-air balloon restaurant. 
• Agua Caliente Park in Tucson, Arizona. 
• Unprecedented rain and flooding closed Death Valley National Park. 
• Take a look at a private Scottish island with a lighthouse and five-bedroom home that's on sale for less than the average house in America. 

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• How Quinn Martin and his crime shows came to dominate 1970s TV.
• Tess Gerritsen: "There's always comfort in Sherlock Holmes."
• Books on unsung American women in World War II.
• Geoffrey Mark Hays Talsma has been sentenced to sixteen years for his $3 million book scam.
• Nine authors share how they organize their bookshelves.
• Nichelle Nichols, pioneering Star Trek actress, has died at the age of 89. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
• Elizabeth Johnson Jr., the last convicted Salem "witch", has finally been cleared.
• The bookish life of Elizabeth Taylor.
• Watch Mark Hamill work the same Jack-in-the-Box drive-thru where he was fired for doing clown voices.
• Seventeen-year-old Anika Puri invented a low-cost tool to spot elephant poachers in real time.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Caves, cellars, crawl spaces: the power of dark passages in suspense fiction.
• Ten books to introduce readers to disability literature. 
• Eight mystery/thriller TikTokers to follow. 
• Six reflective historical novels that explore changing eras. 
• Fiona Barton's favorite thrillers featuring female detectives. 
• The deadly role of cheese in crime fiction. 
• Eleven wild urban legends surrounding popular songs. 
• According to science, the ten best classic rock songs to fall asleep to. 
• Eight clever ways to tackle your TBR. 

 

 

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 cool. Stay healthy. And don't forget to curl up with a good book!