Short-haired black cat sleeping on the couch. He's snugged up in a corner, on his side, belly exposed. His back feet are curled. One front leg is stretched out on the couch while the other one is curled. His eyes are shut tight.

Ceelo and I were watching a YouTube video about the "other" dark web (i2P). Well, I was. Ceelo was in kitty dreamland. He's been with me a little longer than I thought he would be but that's OK because he's such a sweet man. He'll be going home on Saturday, which is also his 14th birthday!

One of the blogs I follow, One Foot Tsunami, recently had a post about a publisher's plea to support news organizations dedicated to original reporting. I follow a lot of independent news sources, some local and some national. I read my local newspaper daily as well as check the AP and Reuters headlines and I listen to NPR daily.

What about you? Where do you get your news from? Do you feel you are well-informed? Do you wish you were better informed? I lean left but I try to make sure the news sources I follow are quality ones. Speaking from an American perspective, just be aware major news media is being taken over by one particular segment of the political spectrum, some to the point that I don't think they are legitimate news sources anymore. One important part of being well-informed is knowing who's behind your news source!

What's happening with major media outlets has caused a blossoming of independent journalism. These little players are fighting for your attention and your dollars but a lot of them are doing some really good reporting and are worth taking a look at. If you're interested in exploring local or independent journalism or trying to figure out the quality/bias of the news source, I've got some links for you:

Listening

Some podcasts I've listened to this week:

Reading

I wasn't sure what my next book was going to be last week. I ended up getting Chuck Wendig's The Staircase in the Woods from my library wishlist. I don't usually go for horror but I read another book of his, Black Orchard Apple, and it was all right so I decided to give this a try. It had echoes of fairytale-ness about it - a staircase, and just a staircase, in the middle of the woods? Sounds magical!

Or horror-ful, as was the case here. Lots of grossness which was emblematic of stuff the main characters had to work through. There was an ending but it was one of those that kind of left you hanging. Not to be wrapped up in a following book but just because sometimes authors don't always spoonfeed an ending to you and want you to ponder on what might be.

I am very excited about my next book, which I've already started: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien. I've seen the movie several times and it's one of my all-time favorites. This is my first time reading the book, though. I've heard it's somewhat different from the movie but so far it and the movie are following pretty closely. I'm at the point where Mrs. Frisby is entering the rosebush to meet the rats for the first time.

Watching

This past week I've watched another episode each of My Life is Murder (with Lucy Lawless) and the new Matlock.

I've mentioned before that I love fairy tales and I came across a really interesting YouTube video, Is This England's Oldest Fairy Tale?. It's all about the story of the Green Children of Woolpit. I've heard the story before, but not a breakdown of its possible origin. It's from the time of Stephen, King of England, (1135-1154) and, according to this video, is a fairy story from a time before the word fairy was even part of the English language. Well thought out and interesting presentation, highly recommend if fairy tales or strange happenings are also your jam.

Another interesting video I watch this week was Uto-Aztecan Linguist Expert Explains its Fascinating History: Brian Stubbs Interview, which goes over the relationships between various American indigenous languages. The ancient language diversity was pretty amazing and it's so interesting to see how the languages can help trace migration pathways.

Link Lagniappe

OK, I think that's about it for now. I'll probably be back on Wednesday with a tiara post but I'm also thinking I might start doing them every other week again after that. Or not. I'm still thinking that one through.

When I first started using Zonelets I had Disqus set up as a commenting system but it looked obnoxiously ugly and I ditched it. Some people are happy to not have blog interaction but I'd love to hear from you if you have any thoughts you want to share! You can respond through my guestbook or email. If you found this link on Discord or the 32-Bit Cafe Discourse, you can message me there or leave a message on my Neocities profile page.