A Hallelujah We're Getting Some Rain Weekly Link Round-Up

 

Another unremarkable week here at Casa Kittling. I may be becoming dull, but I've gotten to the point where I rather like unremarkable weeks, and for some strange reason, this has reminded me of a pet peeve.

I'm sick to death of being hounded to review every person I come in contact with and everything that I buy. How about you? And-- have we as humans gotten so feeble-minded that every time we make any sort of appointment, we have to be reminded by phone, by text, and by email that we do, indeed, have an appointment? For cryin' out loud, I haven't lost my mind yet! I value not only my time but the time of the people I have to deal with. If I make an appointment, I immediately put it on my calendar. I do not need to be reminded over and over again starting two weeks out that I have somewhere I have to be. And to get back to my original thought, the more businesses bug me about leaving reviews, the more I'm tempted to leave them bad ones. Not that I'm contrary or anything...

Yes, I know I have an appointment!

Now that I have that off my chest, it's time to round up some goodies. Virtual hugs to you all, and enjoy the links! (And please keep your fingers crossed that our monsoon season keeps giving us some badly needed rain. Thanks!)

►Books & Other Interesting Tidbits◄

• Copyright is not enough. Why writers need new strategies to stand up to AI.
• How-- and why-- to cull your book collection.
• The Terminator is about the last moments in a woman's life before she becomes a mother.
• Marriage and the maiden name.
• Researchers say the 800-year-old mystery of a lost medieval legend is solved.
• In the wake of court losses, Rhode Island codifies the Right to Read.

►Channeling My Inner Indiana Jones◄

• 18 Egyptian tombs with dozens of gold "tongues" have been discovered along the Mediterranean Coast. More from Smithsonian Magazine.
• Take an exclusive look at three newly discovered medieval shipwrecks in Menorca's "Cove of Mysteries."
• Ancient DNA suggests that Kazakhstan's Iron Age "Golden Man" and other elite Scythians of Eurasia inherited their high social status.
• A long-lost ice-age ecosystem, including fossils of lion-size armadillos and giant ground sloths, have been discovered in a Texas "water cave." 
• Researchers have found an ancient Korean society that practiced sacrifice and high inbreeding.
• See artifacts that archaeologists discovered in this 1,600-year-old Byzantine Christian town buried in an oasis in Egypt.

►Channeling My Inner Elly May Clampett◄

• The spiritual meaning of dragonflies.
• Are moose Colorado natives or introduced outsiders?
• The lucrative bird-singing contests that are pushing species to the brink.
• "Murder hornets" might strike terror in humans, but these frogs can eat them for lunch.
• Scientists found a rare tusked whale alive at sea for the first time.
• Lemurs are having a mysterious "baby boom" in Madagascar. Here's why that might not be a good thing.

►The Wanderer◄

• Life inside Icelandic turf houses.
• This 700-year-old English church nearly closed-- but then the vicar discovered a stash of gold coins under the altar.
• Welcome to Toronto, world capital of the urban raccoon.
• Malaria had nearly been eliminated around a giant dam in the Amazon, but then it came roaring back. Experts just discovered why.
• Ireland launches its permanent "Income for the Arts" scheme, becoming the first government committed to paying artists. 
• See 11 images of mangrove forests and their wildlife, showcasing the trees' beauty and fragility.

►Fascinating Folk◄

• The two Dolly Parton classics she wrote on the same day.
• Meet Sak Tahn Waax, a Maya math whiz who lived more than 1,000 years ago and left behind a "really elegant, complex" formula.
• The public shaming of Jonas Hanway, England's first umbrella user.
• 5 historical figures who didn't actually exist.
• DNA reveals the identity of teenager John Pumphrey who died in the Revolutionary War, cracking a nearly 250-year-old cold case.
• Rebecca Lehmann on Anne Boleyn and the fatal power of unmanageable women.

►I ♥ Lists◄

• 15 books that deserve a sequel.
• 7 fascinating Italian jobs you didn't know still exist.
• The most searched word definitions in every U.S. state.
• 6 comedic crime novels and thrillers.
• 5 suspense novels driven by female ambition and competition.
• 18 new dual-timeline novels.

That's all for this week! No matter how busy you may be, don't forget that quality Me Time curled up with a good book!