You may remember that last fall we linked to a legal research article by local law librarian Glenna Herald. She's written another article and, once again, we are proud to feature it here!
Foucault's Pendulum in the Paris Pantheon, which featured prominently in Umberto Eco's book of the same name, has been irreparably damaged. There are similar pendulums around the world, and all of them are amazing, but nothing quite like the one in the Pantheon. Very sad.
Did you know there's a National Gang Center? Well, there is, and their published history of street gangs makes for fascinating reading. The cartels mentioned in yesterday's post make an appearance here as well.
Would you believe that surveying librarians about their attitudes toward sex would be a fireable offense? It was in 1992! But the survey results are finally out. Keep in mind it was the early '90s, especially when you get to the questions about hottest celebrities. Ha.
Speaking of the UK, the festival calendar indicates that everyone there loses their minds the last weekend in May. (Is this true, UK readers?) There are races involving wool sacks and festivals hunting for nonexistent earls (and then throwing them in the sea - !!) and that's only the beginning of the list.
Meanwhile, over here in America, we are celebrating Memorial Day weekend in solemn fashion with, er, the Kinetic Grand Championships. Maybe someone will include a wool sack or an Earl in their construct.
Back to the unserious (but keeping with the "unholy" theme): are you looking for something more out of life? Do you find yourself wondering "what would Cthulhu do?" Perhaps this commercial can help.
ArcAttack! performed at the Maker Faire last weekend. If you didn't see them, you can at least view some filmed performances. Tesla coils galore!
If you are in the UK this weekend, try your best to check out Alex CF's show in London. It's beautiful and weird and spooky and altogether wonderful.
You may have seen homes with a steampunk design flair, but have you seen a steampunked baby room? The Steampunk Duo is creating one! (And a baby to go with it, too.)
In the United States, meanwhile, the mad scientists and gadgeteers and futurists and steampunks are gathering for the Maker Faire in California. I am envious.
If you're interested in finding new art from new artists in New York, nAscent is the place to look, it seems.
If you're interested in finding art based on myths, Lost Myths is lovely! And fun!
The waters may be receding, but the damage from the floods in Nashville has affected hundreds of instruments stored in facilities and museums. NPR has a heartbreaking story.
It was National Library Week, then it was National Privacy Week, and now it's (National?) Children's Book Week! Celebrate by reading to a kid, or reading a favorite childhood book. I recommend the Jenny Linsky series, myself.
It's almost Friday, take heart. If taking heart is not an option, the World's Strongest Librarian offers ten ways to make your day even worse!(The reverse is hopefully true as well.)
You may remember the amazing "steampunk Star Wars" outfits seen at conventions lately. Outland Armour, the group behind these creations, had the bad luck to be in Nashville when the floods came, and many of their belongings -- costumes included -- have been lost. If you'd like to help them get back on their feet, a site is up and running, and donors even have the chance to win some prizes!
May is "steampunk/neo-victorian month" over at the Floating Academy, which specializes in Victorian studies and is a great read during the rest of the year, too!
Two great sites I have managed to overlook until now: Exhibition Hall, an online fanzine touching on several steampunky aspects, and Steampunk Costume, which covers many things besides costumery!
And finally, for anyone who has imagined their body as a machine (especially, as both the poster on Coilhouse and I have done, for those who imagined the war being fought inside their body during childhood illnesses), Man as Industrial Palace is a wonderful short animation.
The most popular names of 2009 have just come out, and Isabella has beaten out Emma for the most popular female name in the U.S. these days! Jacob is still king of the boys' names.
Is Globish (aka global English) becoming the language of the planet? Some think so.
Also from Julie: the robots are going to kill us all! Well, if we give them knives, that is. And if we don't get out of their way fast enough. So maybe it's our own fault.
From Cassandra: entertaining epitaphs. None refers to being killed by a robot yet. YET.
From Satori: if you are plagued and aggravated by constant dinner indecision, this site is for you. (Language may make this a little unsafe for work, so perhaps you should wait till you're in a kitchen. WITH A ROBOT. Aieee!)
Pssst! Did you know it's Privacy Week? Shhh, don't tell anyone!
It's also election day in the UK; ResourceShelf has a great page of links to help you follow along.
The new library service: providing groceries. Man, I thought I was moving on from my college job as a supermarket cashier...
The Beijing Olympics and the Shanghai World Expo have been chipping away at the often-hilarious "Chinglish" translations, much to the dismay of many, including me. A shop actually labeled its extra-large sizes as "lard bucket"? How can you not love this sort of thing?
I completely missed the "Open Graves, Open Minds: Vampires and the Undead in Modern Culture" conference at the University of Hertfordshire which happened last month, but the program is still up and you really need to see the names of the presentations. "Vampiric Economies at the Anglo-African Margin"! "A Fledgling Biopolitics of Vampire Addiction"! They're all like that, and they all look great!
If you're up for even more morbidly themed humor, check out the UK-located Deathlist. Sometimes it's surprising who's still alive. (Betty Ford? I had no idea!)
If you thought yesterday's combination of Scorcese, Hugo Cabret and 3-D was odd, here's what I bring to you today: the Gorillaz, Alan Moore, and alchemist John Dee. IN AN OPERA. That's going to be hard to top.
