Today's rabbit hole began with a New Yorker article about all the Nazi art that's kept in a military museum in Virginia. Part of the collection is kept for "combat artists," which was new to me, so I went exploring and found the U.S. has had a combat artist program for ages - and still does!

Meanwhile, in architecture, let's take a look at fairy tales, shall we?

Wormwoodiana tells of the supernatural, the literary, and the fantastic (in all senses of the word).

 Happy Friday, everyone!

From Zazoo: Muppets, part 1! "Finally! I've just been waiting my entire life for this to be available... "

Also from Zazoo: Muppets, part 2! "And what is this??? I had no idea..."

From Cassandra: Can positivity become toxic? (Spoiler: yes, it can!)

And lastly, a bit of positivity which is not toxic at all: Fiona, our beloved local hippo, turns four years old this weekend! Here's what she'll be eating at the celebration.

Have a safe and spiffy weekend, everyone. See you next week.

 Greetings!

My father and aunt were voracious mystery readers, and I've been reading a lot of them myself lately. Crime Reads has been a gateway to many wonderful reads, including one I just finished about the Detection Club of (mostly) British authors. It's written by Martin Edwards, who has a blog of his own. Fellow mystery lovers, unite.

If, however, detective novels are of no interest to you...how about sea shanties? They're all the rage now, somewhat inexplicably.

 It's Inauguration Day here in the U.S., and let's hope it's the start of better times. Without getting too much into the politics of it all, I'm glad to see some symbolic art on the mall and at the reflecting pool in Washington. Stay safe, everyone.

 Hello! Just one link today to challenge your brain: Quant Fund or Metal Band? See how much of a streak you can maintain!

 Happy Friday! We'll be off next Monday, and hopefully back on Tuesday. Library moving preparations are ongoing and likely to disrupt pretty much everything for the next few weeks.

From Cassandra, part 1: The ancient roots of Wonder Woman!

From Cassandra, part 2: The new moon marks the "true" beginning of 2021, so maybe we can attribute last week's insanity to 2020 overextending its reach a bit.

From Cassandra, part 3: Why do kids and parents become estranged?

From Zazoo: Here's an article on Elizebeth Friedman. "She was one of the greatest decoders of all time, and is just starting to get the recognition she deserves." There's also a PBS special about her.

Have a safe and spiffy weekend, everyone. See you next week.

 "Librarians with Lives" sounds like a great podcast. (Full disclosure, I have not listened to it yet, as I don't really have a life at the moment; trying to move a library during a pandemic is turning out to be quite an experience!)

In other library-related news, the Library of Congress has new, updated guides to state laws.

The Smithsonian's grand expansion plan has fallen victim to 2020, it seems.

Janelle Shane is back with the drawings of DALL-E! Some are surprisingly accurate. Others, well..