The Good Riddance Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Last week when I wrote the intro to my links post, everything was fine. The very next day, everything went to hell in a handbasket. My usual home health nurse called out sick, and the agency sent a replacement. The replacement was-- without a doubt-- the worst excuse for a nurse that I've ever had the misfortune to deal with, and she was scheduled to come back on Thursday. I won't go into detail because even remembering the ordeal is bad for my blood pressure (which is normally fine), but I was so frustrated and angry after she left that I actually made myself ill. I know. Sometimes I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. 

It took me twenty-four hours to calm down enough to call the agency and tell the staffing coordinator (and this is the exact quote), "I never ever want that woman to darken my doorstep again." "Oh my, it didn't go well?" "No!" I was calm, and I didn't raise my voice. I worked with the public too long to ever throw a fit at an innocent person on the other end of the line.

Thursday, the agency sent a nurse I'm familiar with, and she knows what she's doing. You wouldn't believe the damage that other person did to my leg in less than two days. But there's a happy ending to this tale of woe. From the sounds of it, that person had had several complaints filed against her, and my call was the last straw. She's been fired. Good riddance to bad rubbish!

Once again, my leg is on the mend. I hope you all had a good Labor Day weekend. Denis and I certainly did. Virtual hugs to you all!

Enjoy the links!

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Why Oklahoma's plan to put a copy of the Bible in every classroom matters.
• What is immersion reading?
• Scientists have found a secret "switch" that lets bacteria resist antibiotics-- and it's been evading lab tests for decades.
• GQ is doing the "Men don't read books" discourse again. Here's what we're missing.
• How the Western evolved into the crime novel.
• How the Great Depression fueled a grassroots movement to create a new state called Absaroka. (Absaroka is going to sound familiar to some of us.)
• What clickbait tells us about the evolution of print and online media.
• The hidden racism of book cover design.

 

►Book Banning & Censorship◄

• A survey found that most Americans are unengaged with book banning efforts in public schools.
• The American Booksellers Association is publishing a handbook for fighting book bans.
• Newcomers defeated two Broward County (Florida) school board members who were appointed by Governor Ron DeSantis.
• Hell hath no fury like a librarian scorned in the book banning wars.
• The Greenville County Library (South Carolina) wants to remove trans books from the YA section.
• The Davie County Library (North Carolina) is at the center of a culture war.
• A special investigation has revealed that more than half of UK school librarians have been asked to remove books from their shelves.
• Mat-Su committee (Alaska) recommends the removal of a library book despite an attorney's advice about the book's legality.
• Some in King George County (Virginia) are wary of the influence wielded by the county's "pistol-packing preacher."
• The Department of Justice, 17 states, and the District of Columbia have filed an interest in the lawsuit by a former Cobb (Georgia) teacher who was fired over an LGBTQ+ book lesson.
• The policy concerning who can request the removal of offensive books in Columbus (Georgia) libraries has changed.
• Supervisor Lawson-Remer has proposed a policy to protect books from being banned in San Diego County (California).
• The Katy (Texas) Independent School Board is considering banning books on gender fluidity.
• The Cheyenne (Wyoming) school board has passed book procurement and parental rights policies.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• The ruins of a centuries-old palace that housed dozens of popes has been discovered in Rome.
• This history buff found a scrap of George Washington's tent at Goodwill.
• Divers discovered a mesmerizing Roman mosaic beneath the sea.
• Ancient Rome's Appian Way is now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
• Archaeologists cracked open a 2,000-year-old coffin in Italy's "Tomb of Cerberus." More from Live Science.
• Art historian Adam Busiakiewicz discovered a long-lost portrait of Henry VIII in the background of a social media post.
• An aristocratic tomb discovered in Italy offers clues to a mysterious pre-Roman civilization.
• Divers found crates of unopened champagne in a 19th-century shipwreck.
• Researchers deciphered a cuneiform tablet-- and discovered it was a furniture receipt. (We all know how important it is to keep our receipts!)
• An Egyptian mummy dubbed the "screaming woman" may have died in agony.

 

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• Scientists enlist the help of sea lions to reveal a unique view of the ocean floor.
• Seventeen of history's coolest cats.
• The legend of Jenny, the Titanic cat said to have predicted the ship's fate.
• A disabled eagle named Murphy who nurtured a rock as an egg has become a stepdad to orphaned eaglets.
• Leo, Serbia's hero dachshund.
• A rare ocelot has been spotted in southern Arizona for the first time in fifty years. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
  
• A large desert tortoise was rescued after trying to cross Interstate 10 (!) in Arizona after escaping from Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Ranch three miles away. (I've been to Rooster's ranch, and-- having traveled I-10 numerous times-- I know how busy it is. Wow!)
• Two lions swam nearly a mile through dangerous waters, again and again. (Even worse than trying to cross I-10.)

 

 ►The Wanderer◄

• Will the Tower of London lose its UNESCO World Heritage status?
• Book bars gain momentum around New York.
• A literary road trip across America.
• The Anglo-Saxon village of West Stow, England.
• Stonehenge has a Scottish heart.
• A stunning timelapse of the Northern lights as seen from the International Space Station.
• Every country's favorite ice cream flavor, mapped.
• The world's 15 most walking-friendly cities.

 

►Fascinating Folk◄

• William Kent Krueger on milestones and making the familiar fresh again.
• The governess, in her own written words.
• Dorothy Richardson and the stream of consciousness.
• Discover the special meaning behind Kamala Harris' pearls.
• A statue of Civil Rights leader John Lewis has replaced a Confederate monument in Georgia.
• Can you guess the famous author based on their weird nickname?
• World War I prisoner of war Milutin Milanković solved the mystery of the Ice Ages.
• Leonard Riggio, the man who built Barnes & Noble into a bookselling titan, has died at the age of 87.

 

►I ♥ Lists◄

• Bookish gifts for plant lovers.
• Bookish crewneck sweaters for bookworms ready for fall.
• Eight must-read legal thrillers to captivate you with courtroom drama.
• Ten entertaining movie-related Guinness World Records.
• Green Mountain mysteries: a taxonomy of Vermont noir.
• Vacations turn deadly in these fourteen thrillers.
• Fifteen books about life-changing summers.
• Eight kick-butt books that take place in libraries.

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!