The Hurry Up and Wait Weekly Link Round-Up

 

 

Another week of "nothing much" here at Casa Kittling. Well, that's not exactly true. It's just boring stuff-- doctor's appointments mostly. Denis has been waiting to undergo a procedure, and that procedure seems to need forty-'leven advance tests before it can be done. Nothing major, just time-consuming and aggravating. 

 

I've been experiencing my own little song and dance with trying to get a biopsy scheduled. I'm beginning to think that many medical professionals' brains turn to mush during the holidays. Once again, nothing major, just aggravating when you want to get something over and done with.

 

 

 

All this makes Denis and me even more determined to get out and do something non-medical at the end of the month, since it's my birthday and our twenty-first anniversary coming up. 

 

So while we're fighting off the scheduling blues, enjoy the links!

 

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• We can be drowning in old books, but getting rid of them is heartbreaking.
• Publishing, under pressure, after a difficult year.
• Scientists have invented the first vagina-on-a-chip.
• Indigenous activists are criticizing the Avatar sequel.
• BookTok's busy year: plagiarism scandals, period drama, and CoHo.
• What it's like being an eBook developer.
• Social Security has been denying disability benefits based on a list with jobs from 1977. (Pardon me while a little steam escapes my ears. Some of those jobs don't even exist anymore!)
• A romance book boom fueled by TikTok and pandemic blues.
• In defense of pop culture references in books.

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• The Wentzville (Missouri) School District has returned 200 temporarily banned books to shelves, but 17 books are still inaccessible.
• Medina County resident  Robert Oberlander wants Uvalde (Texas) Consolidated Independent School District to remove library books that he says promote transgenderism, pornography, Black Lives Matter and critical race theory. (Roughly 1,000 books.)
• The absurd year in educational censorship, from gay penguins to the Gettysburg Address.
• School librarians are in the crosshairs of right-wing book banners and censors.
• A recent petition opposes change to Rapides (Louisiana)  library policy on books dealing with gender identity.
• When adults banned their books, these teens fought back by organizing.
• The books banned in your state's prisons.
  

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• For 158 years, a Cézanne portrait hid behind a still life of bread and eggs.
• Peek inside a newly discovered Roman sanctuary showing life in the Netherlands 1,700 years ago.
• A purse lost in the 1950s has become an unexpected time capsule revealing what life was like then.
• Experts say stone dart tips found at a site in Idaho are the oldest known weapons in the Americas.
• A Norman Conquest boat project could be dead in the water because of EU red tape.
• Vandals destroyed 30,000-year-old Indigenous cave drawings in Australia.
• Thirteen tombs-- most over 1,800 years old-- have been unearthed on a mountainside in China.
• Archaeologists have discovered the heads of three Greek gods in an ancient city in Turkey.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Why do some black bears have brown fur?
• A relocated "nuisance" bear traveled nearly 1,000 miles to return to a national park.
• When squirrels were one of America's most popular pets.
• Photos show how cats see the world compared to humans.
• Drones are being used to spot sharks that wander too close to busy beaches.
• Watch a raccoon happily try to catch falling snowflakes.
• A snowy owl normally seen in the Arctic has been found "vacationing" in southern California.
• The 50 oddest names for groups of animals.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• Six lessons we've learned from Covid that will help us fight the next pandemic.
• To get to know Portugal, explore its azulejo tilework.
• More than 300 people live year-round in Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth. Here's what it's like.
• BEM Books & More is entirely dedicated to Black food writing.
• Ten unusual libraries from around the world.
• Crime and the City: Karachi.
• Author Carole Johnstone on moving to Scotland's Outer Hebrides.
• Exploring Mexico's Zone of Silence where radio signals fail and meteorites crash.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Iran's rich history of feminist rebellion.
• Every TIME Person of the Year since 1927.
• Library Journal's 2023 Librarians of the Year.
• Marcie Rendon's long journey to ward-winning novelist.
• How women's contributions to fighting Fascism were forgotten.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Sixteen new historical novels based on real women.
• Eleven chilling wintertime mysteries and thrillers.
• Kirkus Review's 40 Most Anticipated Books of 2023.
• The highest grossing films from 1976 to 2022.
• The scariest books ever, according to Stephen King.
• These legal thrillers will have you glued to the page.
• A collection of obsolete and disappearing sounds.
• 2023 Edition: The 58 best crime drama and thriller shows on Acorn TV.

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.

Start the New Year off right by curling up with a good book!