A Get Off My Lawn! Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Wednesday night, things took a bizarre turn here at Casa Kittling. Just before 7:30 PM, someone rang the doorbell. When Denis answered, it was a police officer wanting to make sure we were all right. Five minutes before, our neighbors called in a suspicious person messing around the side of our house. (Good neighbors!) Sure enough, when we checked our security cameras, there was a very agitated young man looking at the side of our house, climbing on top of one of our sheds, and acting as though he were being stung by bees. Then he walked back down the driveway and off the property.

 

Shortly after 2 AM, I decided to check the cameras to see which feral cat was roaming around in our backyard. Instead of seeing feral cats, I saw another man walking up the driveway with a flashlight. He, too, examined the side of the house, then walked around the far side of our large shed. The last clip showed him walking back down the driveway, talking on his phone and carrying what looked to be a backpack.

 

 

 

When I checked the cameras this morning, I saw the first man that the police were checking on walking back up the driveway at 10 AM, but I never saw him walking back to the street. Since that had occurred about half an hour ago, I told Denis to use extreme caution when he went out to empty the recycle. He didn't see anyone.

What in the Sam Hill is going on?!? Stay off our property, blast it!

While I'm pondering our recent popularity, please enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Should we abolish literary genres?
• Can you guess the last lines from these ten classic novels?
• The 19th-century novel that inspired a Communist utopia on the American frontier.
• The teddy bear was once seen as a dangerous influence on young children.
• Subversive student writing at the Carlisle Indian School in the early twentieth century.
• How social media causes people to choose sides by overwhelming the human brain.
• How Norway became a literary powerhouse.
• The forgotten history of the chapter.

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• Jane Smiley on what it's like to have your book banned.
• A central Arkansas school district will reinstate access to library's digital learning tools.
• The Murfreesboro (Tennessee) City Council has repealed its decency ordinance.
• A Massachusetts police chief apologizes after a middle school was searched for an LGBTQ+ book with "concerning illustrations."
• A few spearhead the majority of book bans, impacting free speech.
• The Washoe (Nevada) library board meeting resulted in hours-long public comment. Again.
• Public libraries vs. quorum courts: an ongoing local conflict throughout Arkansas.
• The U.S. District Court has blocked Iowa's "staggeringly broad" book bans and teaching restrictions.
• Librarians, who lost their jobs for not banning books, are fighting back.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• Australia's oldest known bird tracks are 120 million years old.
• The world's oldest cat door has been letting working cats enter Exeter Cathedral since the 14th century.
• This forgotten masterpiece was hanging above an elderly French woman's hot plate. Now, it's heading to the Louvre.
• A 117-year-old shipwreck has been found in Puget Sound.
• This 3,000-year-old stone slab found in Spain is upending ideas about ancient gender roles.
• 73 pre-Incan mummies, some with "false heads," have been unearthed from the Wari Empire in Peru.
• Professor Bill Sutherland has been cooking 3,770-year-old recipes from Mesopotamia and sharing the surprising results.
• Jane Austen's annotated copy of Curiosities of Literature was put up for sale.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Watch a sneaky bear steal a family's Taco Bell delivery from their front porch. (Why do I always laugh so much when I watch videos like this?)
• A tiny rescued baby red squirrel who is lactose intolerant grows big enough to play with his toys.
• Domestic cats could breed Scottish wildcats out of existence.
• How kingfishers dive head-first into water without getting concussions.
• Endangered birds find a safe haven for nesting and egg-laying in Auckland Airport's taxiway.
• A study has found that cheetahs become more nocturnal in extreme heat.
• Watch a lovestruck flame bowerbird perform a dramatically expressive dance for a potential mate. 
• Watch how hummingbirds fly through narrow spaces.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• During the Covid-19 lockdowns, fish flourished in Mexico's Cabo Pulmo National Park.
• California redwoods "killed" by wildfire have come back to life with 2,000-year-old buds.
• The Sargasso Sea around Bermuda is now at its hottest, most acidic and oxygen-starved, than at any point in recorded history.
• Notre-Dame gets a new spire and golden rooster.
• The ten best places for stargazing in the U.S.
• Donations help save Bologna's 12th-century leaning tower.
• In Sweden, there is no Christmas without Donald Duck.
• Grab your hot cocoa an enjoy these fifteen gorgeous images of snowy landscapes.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• A tale of two visionaries named John Gneisenau Neihardt and Black Elk.
• The lasting influence of Denise Scott Brown.
• How the women of the North Platte canteen fed six million soldiers during World War II.
• Ausma Zehanat Khan on oppression, rage, and crafting a Palestinian detective.
• Mary Taylor, Charlotte Brontë's cool friend.
• Seven trailblazing Latina journalists anchor a new museum exhibition.
• An artist named Daya transforms the tips of pencils into miniature masterpieces.
• Dolly Parton has spent over $500 million on children's books for a sentimental reason.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Bookish planners for 2024.
• Eleven new mystery, thriller, and true crime releases for January 2024.
• The 25 best movie sequels of all time, according to internet voters.
• A list of mysteries in which bookish people must solve crimes at bookish events.
• Books in which rich people (think they can) get away with murder.
• Nineteen old cold weather words to get you through winter.
• Ann Patchett recommends these thirteen books.
• Eleven historical fiction books about women disguised as men.

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!