My Amazon review of _Alternate Presidents_, a 1992 anthology curated by Mike Resnick.
#cosobookclub

Because I'm sure you aren't the only person to feel as though we slipped into an alternate timeline.
4 stars

https://amzn.to/38UVU5y

An answer to one of the great mysteries: If you’ve ever permanently lost a checked bag, your stuff probably ended up for sale at a store in Scottsboro, Alabama. https://thehustle.co/unclaimed-baggage-store-that-sells-lost-luggage

Someone knows our cats

Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene’ performed in a Medieval Style https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=56&v=ugqQlB5fpuc&feature=emb_logo

The hidden trackers in your phone, explained: How covert code enables your phone’s apps to spy on you. https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/7/8/21311533/sdks-tracking-data-location

A database of online surveillance cameras.
https://www.insecam.org/

Dungeons & Dragons dialogue: Microsoft researchers Revanth Rameshkumar and Peter Bailey have assembled the Critical Role Dungeons and Dragons Dataset, converting 159 transcripts of a popular, live-streamed role-playing show into structured information about 398,682 bits of dialogue. https://github.com/RevanthRameshkumar/CRD3

Florida St. Johns commissioner who voted against county-wide COVID-19 mask mandate last week is now in hospital with “complications from the virus, he went into septic shock and many organs are struggling.”

https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/st-johns-county-commissioner-battles-covid-19/77-d35aac60-5fb3-41ae-93f2-c73b589e4e11

Research shows that building networks of casual acquaintances can boost happiness, knowledge and a sense of belonging. We're missing those during the pandemic. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200701-why-your-weak-tie-friendships-may-mean-more-than-you-think

Only known drawing of extinct giant sloth lemur found in cave In Madagascar
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2020/june/only-known-drawing-of-extinct-giant-sloth-lemur-found-in-cave.html

My Amazon review of The Red Hill by David Penny

4 stars #cosobookclub
A historical mystery set in a non-standard time-and-place

https://amzn.to/2ZiLkBR

Love musicals? I really enjoy this definitive list, from Ethel Merman to Lin-Manuel Miranda.
https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2020/07/the-50-greatest-broadway-musical-albums

Something tells me that lots of people are cooking Latin American food this weekend.

(And not necessarily politically motivated. Surely we're not the only people to think, "Hmm, adobo sounds yummy. We haven't had those flavors in a while!"?)

https://twitter.com/nostalgicuItra/status/1281375113556963328

The periods of adversity that bred these scrappy dishes came and went, but the foods are here to stay. They’re ingrained in family recipes, local food lore, and regional menus, but not as relics of anguish or curios of hardship. These six dishes live on as beloved weapons, instrumental in the fight against despair, distress, and hunger. https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/historic-comfort-foods

A culture of big toothy smiles needs to focus on eyes, an expert argues. https://www.futurity.org/face-mask-smiling-emotions-2396152/

>> Who wore red high heels in pre-revolutionary France? Totter forward absolutist Sun King Louis XIV who, as part of his campaign to pacify the aristocracy, declared that only those in royal favour could climb into them.
Why red is the colour of sex, power, danger and desire https://www.economist.com/1843/2020/07/10/sex-anger-lust-danger-the-semiotics-of-scarlet

>> Though it was the contemplative life of the monastery that brought him to Naples, it was the worldly pleasures of cooking and eating that made Corrado’s name. At the court of Michele Imperiali, Prince of Francavilla, he was given the magnificent title of Capo dei Servizi di Bocca, literally translated as "Head of Mouth Services." https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2020/07/07/how-neapolitan-cuisine-took-over-the-world/

Kodak ad from 1972: "Find Kodak in the Yellow Pages under 'microfilming.'" https://i.imgur.com/sdokiPMg.jpg

You'd have to do the 70s for me to find a match, but I laughed.
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/what-your-favorite-80s-band-says-about-you