The Fifteen-Minute Lake Weekly Link Round-Up

 

The visiting nurse continues to be pleased with Denis, his progress, his attitude, and his vital signs. Now, if we could just get the physical therapist to show up! I have a secret goal-- something that I really want to do at the beginning of October, and it all hinges on Denis's recovery. That means getting the physical therapist in gear.

 

Other than medical professionals showing up, it's been rather quiet here. Quiet and extremely humid, which is something I do not enjoy. I was beginning to think that this year's monsoon was going to pass by Casa Kittling, but this past Saturday, we finally got some rain-- and more than just a sprinkle or two.

 

 

Fortunately, it wasn't enough rain to fill the pool with mud, and although it looks as though you could go fishing on Lake Kittling, the water-- once it stopped raining-- was soaked into the ground in about fifteen minutes. That big cactus out front is very happy, as are all the rest of the trees and shrubs.

 

I hope your summer has been (and continues to be) a good one. Enjoy the links!

 

 

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• How making art improves mental health.
• Some surprising good news: Bookstores are booming and becoming more diverse. 
• Authors are speaking out against the trend of reading and returning eBooks. 
• The great publishing resignation exposes the failings of the industry. 
• First person plural point of view books. 
• Why is Latin a dead language? 
• How do books become valuable? 
• Adventures in writing time travel. 
• Does reading fiction really increase empathy? 
• Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London novels are set for a TV adaptation in the UK.
  

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• The Los Angeles Times: Why inappropriate books are the best kind.
• The Vinton (Iowa) Public Library has reopened after attacks on its "liberal agenda" forced a mass resignation.
• Oklahoma threatens librarians: "Don't use the word abortion."
• Salem-Keizer (Oregon) rejected a second book ban request and keeps Gender Queer on local high school library shelves.
• Residents have rallied around a book rejected by the Muskego (Wisconsin) School Board for its focus on the Japanese American experience during World War II. And may I just interject here:

• A school district in Independence, Missouri has banned a book for having a nonbinary character.
• Two hundred people packed the Ashland (California) Public Library seeking the removal of health books they see as pornographic.
• The Boone County (Kentucky) Board of Education listened to opponents and supporters of LGBTQ-related books that are available to public school students. 
• Bedford County (Virginia) school libraries will be sending email alerts to parents telling them what books their children are checking out. 
• A sex education text has been rejected by a Miami (Florida) school board after parents invoke the "don't say gay" bill. 
• Wake up, theatres: Do you think they'll stop with book bans? 

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• The hidden ancient Roman "Bridge of Nero" has emerged from the Tiber River during this severe drought.
• Cavers have discovered a 200-year-old mine, untouched since the day it was abandoned.
• Searching for a lost medieval city somewhere in Wales.
• Caligula's Gardens, long hidden beneath an Italian apartment building, will be going on view.
• Seven famous mummies and the secrets they've revealed about the ancient world.
• The lost city of Natounia, a real-life "Helm's Deep", has possibly been discovered in Iraq. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• Signs of cancer have been found in a mysterious pregnant Egyptian mummy.
• A gold Viking ring was unexpectedly found in a stash of cheap jewelry from an online auction.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• For the first time, rainforest chimpanzees have been seen digging wells.
• 55,00 beluga whales are on the move, and you can watch their migration live. 
• Did nature heal during the pandemic "anthropause"? 
• Here in the Phoenix metro area, a mother duck and her ducklings went for a morning waddle on Interstate 10 and had to be rescued by two Department of Public Safety officers. 
• A new type of service dog is helping people with dementia by fetching medicine, easing anxiety, and wearing a GPS. 
• Woodpeckers don't have shock-absorbing skulls. 
• Malaysian customs officials seized a stash of animal parts worth $18 billion. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• The beloved Monarch butterfly is now listed as an endangered species.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• Welcome to the library of the 21st century.
• Watch the Interceptor Trashfence stop a literal wall of garbage from flowing into the ocean.
• Is the silence of the Great Plains to blame for "prairie madness"?
• The social importance of the tearoom.
• This video shows raging floods surging in Yellowstone.
• One of my favorite places in the world: Canyon de Chelly National Monument.
• This luxury resort in the Maldives is hiring a "barefoot bookseller." Someone get me an application!
• The Rio Grande River runs dry in Albuquerque.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Did Khutulun and other warrior women actually fight in the Mongol Army?
• The Governor of Texas says that Bo Jackson covered all the funeral expenses of the Uvalde victims' families. 
• Harini Nagendra and The Bangalore Detectives Club. 
• Meet Romay Davis, the 102-year-old Black female Army vet honored with a gold medal for her groundbreaking service in World War II.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Great locked room mysteries.
• Small town mysteries.
• Make room for the new cozy mysteries.
• Forty Final Jeopardy questions that all three contestants got wrong.
• Ten mystery/thriller Booktube channels you've got to follow.
• A map to the best treasure hunting mysteries.
• The fifty greatest fictional deaths of all time.
• Seventeen readers share the funniest book they've ever read.

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!