The Your Call Is Important to Us Weekly Link Round-Up

 

I'm sitting here with my phone on speaker so I'll know when I finally come in contact with someone with a pulse. I have to admit that I'm getting really sick of listening to their infomercials about catheters, though. When time drags out to over fifteen minutes (and still counting) that "your call is important to us" is a joke. Hire more than one poor soul to answer the phones, for crying out loud, or make sure that lunches and breaks are staggered and your employees know that more than one person should be manning the phones at all times. Sheesh!

I had a setback last Friday. My leg started draining again, so I'm still bandaged up with visiting nurses twice a week and my weekly Friday visit to the wound care clinic. Ah well. This, too, shall pass, but I do wish it would hurry up!

Here is a graphic showing the sort of weather Phoenix went through during the entire month of July. 

We had a couple of days with temperatures just below 110°F, but lately, they've gone right back up to 110° and above. This weather isn't just tough on humans, it's tough on wildlife and even our native plants. Arizona's signature cactus, the saguaro, is one of the toughest plants you'll ever be able to find, and there have been many reports of saguaros collapsing. Since they can weigh more than a ton, I hope no one's property was beneath any of the fallen giants! But... weather that can make these tough warriors fall boggles the mind, doesn't it?

Bandages and heat. How boring! I hope you and yours are doing well.

 

Enjoy the links!

 

PS: I was on hold for 35 minutes, which isn't a record by any stretch of the imagination.

 

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Reconstructing our attention in the era of infinite digital rabbit holes.
• The merch-ification of book publishing.
• Everything we know about The Lincoln Lawyer.
• Which cozy mystery book should you read based on your zodiac sign?
• How to survive and thrive at a book fair.
• Giving a detective series new life.
• Does tracking reading make it less enjoyable? (My advice? If it does, don't do it.)
• How books taught Europeans to smoke.

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• Author Leah Johnson will be opening a store for banned books.
• A Federal lawsuit seeks to block a Texas book ban over sexual content ratings. More from Publishers Weekly.
  
• Montgomery County (Texas) libraries are adding more "conservative" books and limiting youth access to sexually-oriented themes.
• Two San Diego residents checked out Pride books in protest. It backfired.
• The Campbell County (Wyoming) library board is debating the role of librarians in weeding. (Let's face it-- what do the professionals know about it?)
• A patron of the Athens (Ohio) library says, "Thank you for refusing to concede to bigotry."
• Massachusetts parents and librarians are navigating an unprecedented surge in book challenges.
• A school district in Iowa flags 374 books as potentially banned, from Ulysses to Heartstopper.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• The 3,000-year-old untouched burial of a "charioteer" has been discovered in Siberia.
• Missing for decades, a stolen 15th-century letter from Christopher Columbus is heading home to Italy.
• Someone hid a "small fortune" 500 years ago and never returned. It was just discovered.
• Kitchen shrine serpents and more fascinating new Pompeii discoveries.
• Ancient Roman baths-- frequented by gladiator spectators-- have been uncovered in Spain.
• Dental fillings on centuries-old skeletons found under a school in Mexico hint at their origins.
• The ruins of ancient Roman emperor Nero's theater have been unearthed in an "exceptional" discovery in Rome. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• "Perfectly preserved" glassware has been recovered from a 2,000-year-old shipwreck.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• The World Health Organization says highly pathogenic bird flu is behind "unusual deaths in cats" in Poland.
• "Cocaine sharks" off the coast of Florida may be feasting on dumped bales of drugs.
• Rare pink dolphins were spotted swimming in a river in Louisiana.
• Aging mother orcas keep their sons out of fights. (Just goes to show that a mother's work is never done...)
• 488 golden retrievers gathered in the Scottish Highlands to celebrate 155 years of the breed.
• Scientists released a record-breaking number of baby seahorses into Sydney Harbor.
• A black bear was caught napping in a bald eagle's giant nest on a military base in Alaska.
• See stunning images of female birds, often overlooked by wildlife photographers.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• Water temperatures hit "hot tub" levels in the Florida Keys.
• A recent study predicts that a vital ocean current system could collapse as soon as 2025.
• There are at least ten cities with their own psychological disorders.
• The untold story of California's most iconic outdoor bookshop.
• Scotland's pioneering LGBTQ+ bookshop.
• Author RV Raman on the past, present, and future of crime fiction in India.
• The complicated history of crime fiction in Tanzania.
• Twelve McDonald's locations that went rogue.
• July was likely Earth's hottest month on record. (I know it was for Phoenix.)
  

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• The bookish life of Harry Belafonte.
• Ten ancient kings who were too dramatic for your history books.
• 25 big facts about Pee-wee Herman.
• Ornamental hermits were 18th-century England's must-have garden accessory.
• Henrietta Lacks' family settles a lawsuit over the use of her cells without consent.
• Editor Ursula Nordstrom, the fighter behind many of the most beloved children's books of all time.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Eight books about whistleblowers you need to read.
• Visit Big Sky Country in these mysteries and thrillers.
• Enter High Society with these glamorous historical reads.
• Sixteen biographies and memoirs from impressive real-life women.
• Six mysteries centered around movies and moviemaking.
• TikTok is raving about these mysteries and thrillers.
• Unlikely investigative teams in crime fiction.

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!