Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Today is a Links from Others day! That’s because it’s really a Friday here on the regular Folderol – we’re taking tomorrow and (actual) Friday off. Fear not, however, because tomorrow we’re beginning an Advent Special right here, which will get posted each day. Stay tuned.




Julie sent in all kinds of great stuff over the last week, such as:



-- the return of the Great Bed!

-- the opening of the Super Library! (It looks a little like a Jawa Sandcrawler.)

-- historical newspapers now online!

and

-- more discoveries at Stonehenge!



Cassandra sends in a chilling report on Rio’s police forces.



Zazoo sends in a wacky report on the Muppets performing on X Factor.



Satori sends in a fantastic report on new traffic signs appearing in New York – in haiku form. I think every city should adopt this standard!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Steampunk on CNN? Yes! The Geekout Blog points out that steampunk is excellent at encouraging strong, capable women.




Speaking of excellence, Jha’s fantastic website Silver Goggles explores the issues of colonialism and diversity in steampunk. (If you haven’t been able to tell yet, I am fascinated with these topics, and thrilled to death someone is exploring them!)



During World War I, a tiny microcosm of British society existed in a German prisoner of war camp, bizarre as that sounds. The story of Camp Ruhleben is now online.



Behold the Hudspith Steam Bicycle – possibly impractical, but fully functional!



And lastly, some art for inspiration: Jim and Tori Mullane make incredible birds from found objects, and Jim Doran creates tiny worlds inside an Altoids tin.

Monday, November 28, 2011

Happy arty Cyber Monday!




The Lego Christmas tree is up (up? built? set?) in London; go and see it if you can.



If you’ve drunk too much over the long weekend, you may identify with some of these Soviet-era anti-alcohol posters. (I like the one depicting a man who has attacked a tree in a drunken rage and is now full of remorse.) The whole website is great, too.



Star Wars minimalist posters! Lando’s is best, of course. Although R2-D2’s is pretty good, too.



And finally, far away in a land which looks like Tatooine, Qatar is creating whole art museums.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

It’s almost Thanksgiving! Bill Lucey has some great facts about the holiday. I didn’t know FDR changed the date briefly.




And if it’s Thanksgiving, that means it’s also time for the National Dog Show. Hooray!



Bill Lucey also pointed out that the changes in the Catholic Church’s Missal go into effect next week. It sounds as if things are going to be very confusing for a while.



Meanwhile, over in the UK, a huge system of underground caverns has officially connected Cumbria, Yorkshire and Lancashire! This will be very useful when the zombie apocalypse happens. I bet.



And lastly, the Easter Island Statue Project aims to examine each and every structure, from the top down (and they go pretty far down, as it turns out) in hopes of discovering more about their creators. Neat stuff.



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

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The video’s not up yet, but the drawing has been held for the Vampire Empire books! Below is the full list of winners from our giveaway; email me at jinnet(at)gmail.com with your mailing address and the books will be on their way!




Ghosts of War (ARC) – Page Turner

Ghosts of War – Craig WF Smith

The Falling Machine – Steampunk Kindle

Hearts of Smoke & Steam – Don Beyer

Doctor and the Kid – Soundofthunder

Horns of Ruin – Alden Ash

The Greyfriar – Richard PF

The Riftwalker ARC – Barry Huddleston

The Riftwalker – Sean Harrison





Wondermark is also running a contest, and the first batch of entries are hilarious and wonderful.



We finish up this shortened holiday edition with steamer ships galore and a tribute to Philippa Fawcett, math scholar extraordinaire.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Today is an ethereal, ghostly sort of day, and so we are featuring fairytales.




Alice in Wonderland has inspired artists around the world…including Salvador Dali, whose Alice paintings are now viewable online.



Fairytalemood is a Tumblr site dedicated to all art and words of onceuponatime.



For those of a certain age who remember Death personified as a “perky goth girl,” here’s some information on the woman who served as inspiration for her look.



The Muppets are not fairy tales, but they definitely serve as ambassadors to the realm of the weird and the wacky. Behold the Muppabet!

Friday, November 18, 2011

Happy Friday! Wow, Thanksgiving is next week. I am woefully unprepared.




I am also woefully behind on email and updates in general, which is why I have not responded to Laura yet, but she sent in a link to her wonderful Questionable Advice site (this is my favorite post at the moment) and everyone should go visit it now! Many thanks!



Brendan provided a link to a relative’s weblog; at this rate, the Quirk descendants shall conquer the web any day now. Catherine writes for the Washington Post and National Geographic, and has her own site as well.



Holly sent in the perfect gift idea for the tiny exterminating Dalek in your family, as well as this fantastic photo gallery of black cats auditioning for the chance to act with Peter Lorre and Vincent Price in Tales of Terror (and there are photos of both actors with the cats, too!). Most of the cats are reacting as you might suspect. Hee.



Cassandra sends in a horrifying, eye-opening story about the Roma population in Kosovo.



In potential good news, could a new energy source be the answer to many of today’s problems?



Have a spiffy weekend, everyone! See you soon.

Thursday, November 17, 2011

The Occupy Wall Street’s library is in shambles, despite what the mayor’s office says.

Also, here’s a lawyer saying librarians are unnecessary.

Depressed yet? Sheesh.

In brighter news, twelve libraries and museums have been chosen as “learning lab sites” and the Library of Congress continues its trend of being fantastic by launching ViewShare.

Have you ever wondered what time is best for posting online? For maximum readership, consult this handy “is the internet awake?” chart.

Tomorrow: links from others!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

The American Censorship pop-up is intentional and just for today! Go and be educated!

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Congrats to the winners of the book giveaways! The winners for the Vampire Empire books will be posted soon.




If you’re looking for more contests, check out the Steampunk Empire’s countdown to its 10,000th (!!!) member.



In news which sounds like the beginning of a Jules Verne novel, a powerful x-ray beam will be aimed at the planet’s core.



Also Vernian, but unrelated: Look, airships!



Clockwork Watch, a multimedia project, is on the horizon. Go and see, and support it if you like.



The last link of the day is most definitely Not Safe For Work, so consider yourselves warned. It’s a photogallery of women from a New Orleans brothel in 1912, and is fascinating, but some women are clothing-deprived.

Monday, November 14, 2011

Happy Arty Monday!




Music: Weird Al is alive and touring and having a great time.



Conceptual art: Christo has a new project – this time, he’s covering a part of the Arkansas River in Colorado.



Film: Saul Bass, the man behind many of the amazing film titles you see on screen.



Graphic design and crowdsourcing, too: The New York Public Library is transcribing thousands of vintage menus, and you can help!



Fashion: Well, sort of. The Florida Marlins baseball team is now the Miami Marlins baseball team, and the new uniforms are…uh…colorful?

Friday, November 11, 2011

Happy 11-11-11! Why not watch odd, ninja-like figures contort themselves into clock time for you?




From Brendan: Behold the steampunky, extraordinarily detailed Mekkanika font!



From Cassandra: Behold the Letter People! I forgot all about these guys.



Also from Cassandra: Alice Dreger has been named a 2011 Visionary by Utne Reader for her work with intersex issues.



From Julie: the time-eating clock, which is made of pure awesome, is on tour!



Also from Julie: a devil’s face has been revealed! This is how many a horror movie begins.



From Zazoo: Brooklyn has its very own superhero, and he got his powers from falling into the Gowanus Canal. Hee.



Have a spiffy weekend, everyone! See you next week.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Add London to the growing list of cities hosting an Occupy library! I hope the occupiers are careful when they take books to their tents, though – according to a 1908 article, reading in bed can be quite dangerous.




The latest plagiarism scandal is almost confounding: a would-be author cobbled together sentences, paragraphs and even entire pages of spy novels to fashion a thriller...of sorts. It’s rather amazing. (See side-by-side comparisons here!)



I initially read that the Hipstery specialized in “mystery t-shirts” and thought they meant mystery novels. But no! It is even cooler than that! And not really book-related at all, but I’m linking it here anyway.



Our giveaway is almost over; many thanks to everyone who’s been participating. Below, some bloopers from our attempts at running a proper contest drawing.





Tomorrow: links from others!

Wednesday, November 09, 2011

Between elections and Armistice Day, there’s not much going on this weekend in terms of festivals, with the notable exception of the Phoenix Parade of the Arts. Arts on parade! Literally!




So, as a result, we’re going spooky today! I’m fascinated by numbers stations, and a recent article on one mysterious station by Wired led to this discussion on Metafilter, which then led to listening to recordings from the Conet Project, and, well. Go and investigate, and then imagine these voices in the dead of night, with some echoing static, transmitting from an unknown location….

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

Watch this space! Videos announcing the contest winners will be posted soon! (Sir Reg was in rare form; we’re trying to edit some of his more, er, exuberant exclamations, so as not to offend delicate viewers…that much.) And it’s not too late to enter the contest for the Vampire Empire books; you have until Friday to get your name in the running.




In other steampunkesque news, another theory about the true identity of Jack the Ripper has tangible backup…in the form of a surgical knife.



How to Be a Retronaut continues to demonstrate how to be awesome – in this post, by examining career prospects for women circa 1902.



It’s wonderful to see how cities customize their steampunk celebrations. For Wichita, it was the “Emerald City Steampunk Expo”!

Monday, November 07, 2011

Happy Monday! Today, it’s all about art.




The Italian city of Ravenna is celebrating its biennial exhibition of mosaics this month; it looks amazing.



Dabball is an app which lets you play with art – and then buy it if you like!



The origin of spray paint, and its adoption by graffiti artists, is the subject of a New York Times article.



For some people, living is an art in and of itself, like the couple EVA & ADELE.



And even after life, there can be art – Life Art Coffins is one example!

Friday, November 04, 2011

Happy Friday, everyone! Today’s links are sent in by others and show how well they know me. To wit:




From Zazoo: Bram Stoker’s journal has been discovered!



From Julie: Queen Victoria’s undergarments are up for auction!



From Cassandra: an asteroid is coming! Also from Cassandra, an article on how the rich have sabotaged everything for the rest of us.



From Bunny: a dog which is missing its two front legs, but is still incredibly happy and perky.



Also from Bunny: awesome photos involving squirrels, peanut butter, and toys. You know we’re going to try this over the winter.



Have a spiffy weekend, everyone! See you next week.

Thursday, November 03, 2011

The Librarian in Black tells some truly creepy stories about stalking in the library and even at library conferences. Keep spreading the word and fighting back.




It is Movember (Bunny tells me he’s going to try to participate, just for kicks) and it’s also American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month.  Also something about turkeys, I think.



English needs to steal some more words, and here’s a starter list! I think I could use all of these. I can definitely use "tartle."



For those of us who love old glamorous photos, I point you to Old Hollywood. Gorgeous stuff, especially their Halloween postings.



Tomorrow: links from others, plus the weekend! Huzzah!

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

It’s the week after Halloween, and you know what that means – time to throw pumpkins through the air! Yeehaw!




Well, it’s also time for Guy Fawkes night. The bonfires in the UK will be burning, and even here in America we’re throwing some parties.



Also, the Italian Job Race is on – look for zippy Minis speeding by.



For those still looking for ghosts, check out these amazing photos of an abandoned school in Japan.



And finally, your moment of weird: Polish priests are blessing manhole covers, in hopes they won’t be stolen. The manhole covers, that is, not the priests. Er.

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

Happy Day of the Dead/All Saints Day! And many thanks again to all who entered (and, in some cases, are still entering, depending on the deadlines) our giveaway contests; the first winners will be announced shortly.




We are scrambling about a bit today, so this will be abbreviated. Consider the dystopian future H.G. Wells imagined, if you are feeling gloomy…or brighten up at the fact that November means National Novel Writing Month, and steampunk.com is featuring its own forum for NaNoWriMo participants.