Weekend Link Dump

This week's Link Dump is sponsored by more of our Cats From the Past!

Meet Sissy (the tortoiseshell) and Sunny.  We took these two in when their previous owners could no longer keep them.  Sissy was a very shy, timid cat (she had been abused as a kitten,) and it took some time before she was able to trust us.  (She spent most of her first week here hiding under the couch.)  Her biggest quirk was that she would only eat dry food.  She refused all canned food (and we tried every brand out there.)  She was very sweet, and, once she settled in, happy with us, but I'm not sure if she was ever able to truly relax.  Sunny was well-named.  He had congenital health problems, but he was the most cheerful, pleasant cat imaginable.  He was always purring.

They were both adults when they joined our household, and, sadly, they were not with us long.  Sissy died very suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 7.  It turned out she had previously undiagnosed heart disease.  Poor Sunny, as I said above, was never really healthy, and he only lived to the age of 5.

What the hell did Shakespeare look like?

Watch out for those werewhales!

Watch out for those headless ghosts!

Watch out for those shrieking ghosts!

Watch out for those lantern flames!

Watch out for those demonic roosters!

The first heart surgery.

The first Japanese woman to get a college education.

Every week, there's a new Jack the Ripper, and a new solution to the Voynich Manuscript.

A lost Roman herb.

Some myths about Napoleon.

This week's Advice From Thomas Morris:  Men, this is the ultimate guide to What Not To Do With Your...uh, important bits.  Just be warned: this is probably the most gruesome read I've ever posted on this blog.

Norwegian sheep are disappearing.  Missing 411, livestock edition.

Librarians on horseback.

Solving the oldest cold cases.

One of the plots to save Marie Antoinette.

Ancient underwater ruins off the coast of Tunisia.

When celery was a glamour food.  Yup, we're talking Victorians.

The folklore of harvests.

The evidence keeps piling up that Neanderthals were smarter than we think.

Ah, yes, the good old "no evidence" line.

The Shakespeare Jubilee.

The possible link between beached whales and the Northern Lights.

The Night Witches of WWII.

A pagan in 18th century Norfolk.

Medieval London was not the place to go for a quiet life.  Or a long one.

19th century women as "moral compasses."

Orwell reviews Hitler.

The colorful history behind America's first book.

William Birt, buried at the crossroads.

A boulder that's a home to elves.

A "lamentable tragedie" with a surprisingly long shelf life.

Victorian handshake etiquette.

Mysterious signals from deep space.

Louis XIV's court was very gay, in every sense of the word.

The execution of a WWI deserter.

An unusual plane crash.

Britain's Atlantis.

The controversy surrounding some ancient footprints.

The East India Company and the East Indies.

The downside to being an 18th century doctor's assistant.

The life of Mary Howard, Henry VIII's daughter-in-law.

Drunk thespians, faith's vomit, and a caked king:  Just another day at the court of Christian IV.

Canada's first pet cemetery.

Thieving at the theaters.

This week in Russian Weird:  When you don't move, but your house does.



And that's it for this week! Join us on Monday, when we'll look at murder in 19th century New York. In the meantime, here's the Rose Ensemble.  Not the most seasonable song, I know, but I like it.