A Fun with Insurance Weekly Link Round-Up

 

 

I'm writing this on Wednesday, and Denis and I are both looking forward to tomorrow when we'll visit the Heard Museum for some exhibits that I've been dying to see. It will be interesting to find out if the museum is crowded, or if most people are out doing their Christmas shopping. With family being thousands of miles away and with the cost of overseas postage, Denis and I usually cheat and go the gift card route. Not only do we cheat, we are also Scroogish and not getting each other anything. Well, we have (new insulation in the attic), but it's not the usual Christmas gift most people think of.  I've had extra expenses most of the year due to my contrary leg which leads me to the fun I've been having with a certain area covered by my insurance.

I like my insurance. I've found that it covers a few things that many other insurance companies don't-- things that have made my life easier-- but there's one area that could definitely use a lot of improvement. That area is the company that is in charge of making sure I have the medical supplies I need for the visiting nurse who comes twice a week to change the bandaging on my leg. It's a joke. They try to send me things I do not need and never send me the items that I actually do need. Bless their hearts. And if I pick up the phone and call to try to straighten out anything, every single solitary time I get the pleasure of dealing with someone who's rude and extremely ill-tempered. They've been trying to bill me for two supplies that I don't need since August. I don't need them. I don't want them. Can I get that explained to the "human" on the other end of the phone? No. I sent the bill back with a written explanation attached as to why I would not be paying it. What happened? They waited and then re-sent the bill. 

I'm tired of dealing with them. They have my phone number. If they really want to take care of this matter, they can call me. I'm going to enjoy Christmas, dangnabbit! And on that note, I'll share a photo from a Christmas past. 

 

 

I hope you are enjoying the holidays; however, if this is a tough time of year for you, I understand and sincerely wish I could give you more than a virtual hug. 

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• How American critics originated Jane Austen scholarship.
• What's new in the world of reading research?
• Has it ever been harder to make a living as an author?
• What's the future of books?
• From farts to floozy: the funniest words in English, according to science.
• How the world's most famous book was made.
• Why we need public libraries now more than ever.
• An unhinged history of American publishing: The Penguin Publishing Group.
• A first-time author lost a book deal after she was accused of trying to sabotage reviews of other authors.
  

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• Most parents rank librarians as trustworthy in a new Parental Perceptions of Librarians survey.
• An author writes about when his own book gets caught up in censorship wars.
• A mysterious woman tells a Texas school board that a Scholastic book sparked her addiction to pornography.
• Conservatives are boycotting Froot Loops for creating a library of diverse children's books online.
• A lawsuit seeks to block a law banning LGBTQ materials and explicit books in Iowa schools. 
• The controversial Parents Matter Act passes the Fresno (California) County Board of Supervisors.
• Wisconsin libraries would have to notify parents about the books their kids check out under a GOP proposal.
• The number of challenges to books expands to more than 500 in Chicago area libraries and schools.
• A "Fight Book Bans" Act has been introduced in the U.S. Congress. 
• Nine banned mystery books to add to your shelves.
  

►Holiday Goodies◄

• Nativity scenes celebrate diverse Christmas culture around the world.
• On the difficulty of giving books as gifts.
• How to build seasonal rereading rituals.
• The uniquely American history of eggnog, everyone's favorite-- or least favorite-- holiday drink.
• Hilarious holiday memoirs.
• The 25 best Christmas books of all time.
• A unique Christmas tree made out of 3,800 hand-painted books at London's St. Pancras train station.
  

 

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• How scientists tracked the movements of a 17,000-year-old woolly mammoth.
• A skeleton with four prosthetic metal fingers was unearthed from a centuries-old grave in Germany.
• Archaeologists have discovered an electoral campaign inscription inside a Pompeii house.
• Sold for $239,000, this map is actually a rare 14th-century nautical chart-- and worth $7.5 million.
• Divers discovered tens of thousands of ancient coins off the coast of Italy.
• A 66-million-year-old fully articulated dinosaur embryo has been discovered inside a fossilized egg.
• A 500-year-old record of the Aztec Empire has come to life.
• Sealed French love letters have now been read for the first time in 265 years.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• These furry-clawed crabs are wreaking havoc in the United Kingdom.
• Watch a helpful sea otter gather cones to bring to the human who is cleaning the pool.
• The ecological benefits of rehoming a national park's booming bison population.
• Orcas are learning terrifying new behaviors. Are they getting smarter?
• Why Australians are growing to appreciate these giant, threatened bats.
• North Atlantic right whale numbers may be stabilizing at last.
• Biologists found 13 freeze-dried mouse mummies atop Andean volcanoes.
• Huge cicada broods have ripple effects on birds, caterpillars, and trees.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• This Hawaiian sanctuary provides safe homes for 660 stray cats while protecting the local birds.
• Campaigners save the Bradford birthplace of the Brontë sisters.
• Explore Austria's underwater hiking trails.
• The "mother vine" in North Carolina may be the oldest vine in North America.
• New Zealand noir.
• A librarian in Idaho transformed a 110-year-old tree into a jaw-dropping Little Free Library.
• The future of the Colorado River hinges on one young negotiator.
  

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Eleven facts about Joséphine de Beauharnais.
• Five surprising facts about Rosa Parks.
• How American librarians helped defeat the Nazis.
• Madam Priscilla Henry, the former enslaved Black bordello queen who built a notorious business empire.
• How Sandra Day O'Connor brought compromise to the Supreme Court.
• Hannah Masury, the high seas heroine who inspired a savage pirate tale.
• Publishers Weekly's 2023 People of the Year: Texas booksellers Valerie Koehler and Charley Rejsek.
  

 

►Best of 2023 Lists◄

• Time's 100 Must-Read Books of 2023.
• Book Riot's Best Books of 2023.
• 2023 National Book Award winners.
• Best Book Covers of 2023.
• Kirkus Reviews' Favorite Non-Fiction.
• AudioFile magazine's Best Audiobooks of 2023.
• The Guardian's Best Books of 2023.
• More Best Book Covers.
• Best Book Covers Redux.
• The Most Scathing Book Reviews of 2023.
  

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• The sixteen books most commonly stolen from high school libraries.
• Time's 25 Most Anticipated Books of 2024.
• The 20 most influential mystery novels of the last ten years.
• Lighthearted murder mysteries for the faint of heart.
• Modern "Golden Age Style" mysteries that are the cat's meow.
• Book finds on Etsy.
• Thrillers where natural disaster looms large.
• Ten of the best disability books of 2023.

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!