The Turning a Blind Eye Weekly Link Round-Up

 

I'm usually good about taking care of business in a timely fashion. But I do fall off the wagon from time to time. This past weekend was one of those times, and I purposely turned a blind eye to any and all "Needs To Be Done" here at Casa Kittling and kept my nose firmly ensconced in my book. Bliss! I need to do that more often.

Poor Denis! If having two loose screws in his back wasn't enough, now he needs to be checked out for bursitis in his hip. As for me, I haven't had my consultation with the vascular surgeon yet, but I have had the results of the ultrasound on my leg. "No vascular insufficiencies" were found. I do wish I could consult this woman via telephone because she has all the personality of an iceberg. Oh well. If the worst that happens to me that day is a little frostbite, I'll still be having a good day.

It may be impressed upon Denis and me almost daily that growing old isn't for wimps, but there's not a day that goes by without us laughing and joking several times. Life is too precious to spend it moaning and groaning, right?

On that note, I'll leave you with another t-shirt from my virtual closet and with hugs and wishes that, no matter what happens, you find something to smile and laugh about. Stay cool, stay healthy, and enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Old books can be loaded with poison. Some collectors love the thrill.
• Little Golden Books: The new format of fandoms.
• Want to go viral? Tell your story in 22 parts. (A Dickensian tradition finds a new audience on TikTok.)
• How memorizing poetry can expand your life.
• Watch 100,000 dominoes topple to the ground in an eight-minute display.
• "Books that made me forget I was reading" is trending. But what does it mean?
• On lying about reading, or how one person learned that Stieg Larsson is good, actually.
• Wix's AI will now write whole blog posts for you. (No, thank you.)
• An early study suggests that injectable goo could fix joints without surgery,
  

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• Open Road Integrated Media has launched a geo-targeting service to fight book bans.
• Rioters burned the Spellow Library in Liverpool, England.
• The court has ruled that the Mat-Su (Alaska) school district must return most banned books to the library shelves.
• Prosecutors plan to charge a former central Kansas police chief over his conduct following a newspaper raid.
• Garland County (Arkansas) residents have submitted a petition for a ballot measure to cut library funding.
• The Greenville (South Carolina) School District met to discuss their book banning policy.
• The King George (Virginia) school board is considering banning two books from middle school.
• Alpena (Michigan) voters approve a library tax despite the fuss over sex-themed books.
• The Arlington (Texas) City Council appointed to the advisory board a person who called for the library director's firing.
• Advocates react to Utah's ban of 13 books in schools and libraries.
• The appeals court delivers a mixed decision in the Iowa book banning case.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• A fabled sword known as the "French Excalibur" from medieval folklore has disappeared.
• Ancient stone circles in Norway were hiding a dark secret: dozens of children's graves.
• Archaeologists unearthed a 4,000-year-old ceremonial temple in Peru.
• Scientists say that ancient DNA reveals the possible cause of a mysterious population collapse 5,000 years ago.
• The remains of hundreds of 7,000-year-old "standing stone circles" have been discovered in Saudi Arabia.
• A mysterious Maya underground structure has been unearthed in Mexico.
• A stunning Tang Dynasty mural in a tomb unearthed in China may portray a "Westerner" man with blond hair.
• Venus of Brassempouy: the 23,000-year-old ivory carving found in the Pope's Grotto.
• Rock carvings of ancient Egyptian pharaohs have been found underwater near Aswan. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• These backpack-wearing dogs have an important job to do.
• The return of the Ojibwe pony, the Midwest's native horse.
• A record-breaking 17 California condor chicks hatched at the L.A. Zoo this year.
• Why physicists tried to put a ferret in a particle accelerator.
• A rare blue tree frog has been discovered in a remote area of Australia.
• An out-of-place "devil bird" wows spectators in Maine, the first anhinga ever seen in that state.
• Yosemite's peregrine falcons are rebounding thanks to unlikely allies: rock climbers.
• Feast on 15 ferocious tiger photos from the Smithsonian photo contest.

 

►The Wanderer◄

• Nashville's Parthenon Museum has returned hundreds of Pre-Columbian artifacts to Mexico.
• Inside the controversial plan to turn a hotel where Jane Austen attended balls into student dorms.
• The Yellowstone Biscuit Basin explosion may have created a new geyser.
• America's first board game was an idealized "travelers' tour through a young nation.
• The Loch Ness monster look-alike lurking beneath Lake Tahoe.
• Why are giant, ancient tropical trees dying?
• The Marquesas, remote volcanic islands in the South Pacific, just became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
• Why Sedona, Arizona is a prime location for crime fiction.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• Elisha Zepeda, BookTok's favorite book designer.
• Six epic female warriors you don't want to mess with.
• John Andrew Jackson, the Black fugitive who inspired Uncle Tom's Cabin and helped end slavery in the U.S.
• Richard Norris Williams, the star tennis player who survived the Titanic and went on to win Olympic gold.
• Ella Jenkins, the First Lady of children's music.
• Brazilian sculptor Michel Torres Costa turns bolts, nuts, and other scrap metal into strikingly detailed sculptures.
• Janel Hawkins raises the (sand) bar with her creative beach sculptures.
• Reintroducing T.J. Newman.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Six crime and horror books featuring unusual narrators.
• Non-fiction about natural disasters.
• Six mysteries about female friendships gone wrong.
• The Delhi Laine mysteries are for bibliomystery lovers.
• Dive into the underworld of the Ozarks with Elsie Arnold and the Ozark mysteries.
• BookPage's most anticipated books of fall 2024.
• New non-fiction about reproductive health and healthcare.
• Thirteen writers who really loved cats.

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!