A Ranging Farther Afield Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Well, I'm halfway there. My leg is no longer buried under layers of compression bandaging, it's just my blasted toes that won't stop leaking. My doctor has referred me to another specialist because he doesn't know anyone else who can wrap toes like she can. I've been to this person before, and she's good, but... she's even farther away, and unlike the staff of the wound care clinic who gets me in and out in a flash, there's a lot of waiting and waiting and waiting involved with the place where Kathy the Toe Wrapper works. That might play hell with Dial-a-Ride getting me home after the appointment. But... I want these blasted toes to start behaving themselves, so if this is what I've got to do, I've got to do it. Four out of seven days in the week devoted to medical business. I don't know whether to yawn or do an eye roll!

 

Now for something completely different! How's about this graphic?

 

 

If I could only answer one, I think it would have to be Agatha Christie, although I have to admit that I'd be wondering why any of them would be calling me-- and how they got my phone number! Which call would you answer?

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• How translated fiction captured a new generation of readers.
• The gamification of reading is changing how we approach books.
• The curious link between Oppenheimer, The Terminator, and a forgotten '80s Sting tune.
• Lynn Hightower on writing a heroine with hearing loss.
• The soup that stopped a war.
• How to find a book club online or in person.
• A new adult Marvel crime series will be written by S.A. Cosby, Lisa Jewell, and Alex Segura.
• Europa Editions and literature as a bridge.

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• Florida's drive to scrutinize what kids read is costing tens of thousands of dollars.
• Indiana author John Green calls out the Hamilton East Public Library on its book reshelving policy.
• Should Botetourt County (Virginia) libraries be for adults only?
• Concerns over sex content leads Florida schools to pull Shakespeare.
• Illinois outlaws book bans, but not for incarcerated people.
• Anti-book ban bills have been introduced in the New York State Assembly.
• The Illinois book ban law has gathered steam in the Michigan legislature.
• The truth about Iowa's book ban.
• School librarians inspect "over a million books" to comply with the new Florida law.
• Despite her Facebook post, a Greenbriar (Arkansas) legislator denies that his wife has swapped books from Little Free Libraries.
• The Alabama GOP has joined the discourse criticizing LGBTQ+ content in public libraries.
• Confusion over new laws leads to alleged closure of Escambia County (Florida) school libraries.
• The battle over books comes at a cost.
• Texas revamps Houston schools, closing libraries and angering parents.
• An Iowa school district is using ChatGPT to help remove library books.
• Book battles are raging nationwide, and a Washington library could be the nation's first to close.
• Books banned in other states have fueled the Vermont lieutenant governor's reading tour.

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• An ancient Roman boat from the empire's frontier was unearthed in a Serbian coal mine.
• DNA links 42,000 living people to enslaved and free African Americans buried in Maryland.
• The grocery list sketched by Michelangelo.
• In Colonial Williamsburg, thieving rats save history.
• Metal detectorists discovered 2,000-year-old gold coins in Wales.
• A secret tunnel-- with a key purpose-- was uncovered beneath palace ruins in Poland.
• A storm sank a whaling ship 186 years ago. See the treasures being found by divers.
• From the Sphinx to the Terracotta Army, photos show ten historical sites when they were discovered and after they were excavated.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Two baby condors at Pinnacles National Park are healthy, "adorable fluffballs".
• A zookeeper cured an orangutan's morning sickness with pregnancy tea.
• Watch a man try to trick a squirrel into charging his cell phone.
• Nile crocodiles recognize and react to the sound of crying babies. (That made the hair on the back of my neck stand up...) More from Live Science.
  
• Can peacock vasectomies save this Florida town?
• Bison are being introduced to the Russian Arctic to replace extinct woolly mammoths. But why?
• An injured cheetah remembers the photographer who helped him and becomes friends with him.
• What parrots are saying when they mimic humans.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• Travel memoirs that aren't by the usual white dudes.
• The curious case of the Colorado River's missing water.
• Once a year, this 19th-century Michigan ghost town comes to life.
• Two buildings collapse and others are damaged in record-setting glacial floods in Alaska.
• United will be the first airline to add Braille to its plane interiors.
• Cape Cod: The perfect location for a mystery.
• Why some U.S. cities changed their original names.
• Montana youths have won a key climate lawsuit on their right to a "clean and healthful environment". Yay!

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Five ways of looking at Harriet Tubman.
• That time Eleanor Roosevelt disappeared for ten days.
• What it was like for Carol Spencer to design for Barbie.
• Watch wing walker Gladys Ingle climb from one plane to another to make a mid-air tire change in 1926.
• Scotland's ten best authors of all time, according to The Scotsman readers.
• These artists are redefining the American West.
• My first thriller: James Patterson.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• The bestselling science fiction books of all time.
• Bookstores with fantastic websites for browsing.
• Fifteen obscure words that are pure fire.
• Ten books for fans of Criminal Minds.
• The most haunted movies in Hollywood history.
• The great, reluctant detectives of crime fiction.
• Fourteen of the best books to read on a plane.
• Seventeen thought-provoking books.

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.

No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!