Friday, October 30, 2015

Devil’s Night is upon us! A very happy Halloween to everyone.

Google has gotten into the spirit with a Halloween-themed “Global Candy Cup” game. Unsurprisingly, I picked the green team. (The green team could use some help, incidentally. The yellow team is beating everyone else by a mile.)

My friends in New York have all sorts of Halloween options, from a dog costume parade to scary street performances to good old fashioned pagan celebrations. One of these years I’m going up there to see for myself. (Also, some year, New Orleans.)

 Cassandra reminds us that horror movie icon Vincent Price wrote a cookbook, and now it’s back in print!

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

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Tis the season for haunted attractions, and examinations of those places which are always haunted in some way.

American Libraries has updated its article on haunted libraries across the country. One of the libraries was built over a former cemetery, seriously. You're just asking for trouble.

The Mysterious Heartland takes a look at haunted museums in the Midwest. Cincinnati’s art museum is #2 on the list!

And speaking of Cincinnati, our Music Hall is said to be haunted, too. It’s a gorgeous building, and just a bit spooky, so I believe it.

Cleveland is trying to compete with Cincinnati, with this claim that Claude Monet visited his own exhibition recently. I am skeptical.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Well, hi. What's a terrifying event to befall a spooky librarian the week of Halloween? Stomach flu! I hope to be back to full strength tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy the season.

Friday, October 23, 2015

Happy Friday!

Cincinnatians who like steampunk and/or astronomy and/or history and/or sci-fi should check out the Jules Verne celebration at the Cincinnati Observatory tomorrow night. I won’t be there, but highly recommend going if you can!

Over the past week, with all the new Star Wars material, Bunny was explaining to me why he thinks X-Wing fighters are the worst. Someone at Jalopnik argues that, instead, TIE fighters are the worst. Debate time!

From Julie: Just how many books in the world are bound with human skin?

From Nicole: A probably-not-safe-for-work musical tribute to David Bowie’s…package…in Labyrinth.

And finally, a fascinating (if sad) investigation into one death in New York City. There are so many stories out there, and so many are never known.

Whoa, sorry to get all dark there at the end. Have a spiffy weekend, everyone, and see you next week.

Thursday, October 22, 2015

This week, Airbnb learned that ticking off librarians is a really bad idea. Go librarians!

What happens when something on the internet disappears? The Atlantic investigates, and it’s very good information.

The New York Historical Society is opening a women’s history center, and it looks like it’s going to be incredible.

History time! What were gladiators in Rome really like?

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

I did have some other links for today, but the internet is going crazy because it is October 21, 2015, and we still don't have hoverboards. So enjoy Christopher Lloyd's greeting to 2015, follow the craziness live, and we'll be back tomorrow (unless a DeLorean arrives near us, in which case all bets are off).


Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Good morning! Want to start your day off strong? Regard this Old Time Strongman Morning Routine from the Art of Manliness!

The saga of the doomed Romanovs continues. Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra’s bodies have been exhumed, in order to verify that the bodies found in 2007 are those of their children Alexei and Maria.

The story of Alexander Graham Bell versus Western Union is investigated by David Malki! Good stuff.

For steampunky home décor, Jen of EPBOT has you covered.

Congratulations to Canada, and hooray for new Star Wars trailers!

Monday, October 19, 2015

And somehow, it’s Monday again…

Music: Imagine, if you will, a digital pipe organ.

Art: Hooray for Obvious Plant, bringing unexpected surrealism and humor to ordinary places.

More art, sort of: When underground artists need attorneys, where do they go?

History: Julie D’Aubigny’s life was stranger than fiction. Fortunately, there’s a nonfiction book out about her now.

Friday, October 16, 2015

It’s Friday!

From Julie: A warship from the time of Henry V may lie buried in a river. Let’s dig it up and find out.

Also from Julie: You can see Ada Lovelace’s letters and work at the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford!

From Nicole: An excellent infographic on monsters in literature, ranked by scariness.

From Cassandra: What do we do about mass shootings in America?

Also from Cassandra: An animated short about Borneo, DDT, and how sometimes solutions cause bigger problems. This is depressing, but it does end with cats parachuting in to save the day, so there’s that, at least.

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

Thursday, October 15, 2015

It’s the end of an era! Stephen Fry is leaving QI! Nooo! Although I will be fair and keep watching. Especially if they do more sing-alongs about the Parthenon (or anything else, for that matter).

Remember when Google was going to digitize all the books? Well, they’re still working on it.

If you’re worried about how much information you give away about yourself online, the Trace My Shadow visualizer can help.

And in other visualizer news, Internet Monitor helps you create quite interesting dashboards of information.

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Oooo, there’s a very mysterious star in our galaxy, and it just might be (or have been?) civilized.

Here’s an example of a (wonderful) rabbit hole: Reading about devices used by spiritualists in the 19th century led to the Mysterious Planchette website and weblog, which THEN led to the International Association for the Preservation of Spiritualist and Occult Periodicals!

And finally, here are photos and details of how the Toraja in central Indonesia inter their dead. It’s pretty fascinating.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

It’s Ada Lovelace Day! Ada’s been getting more and more appreciation in recent years, which is fantastic.

If you’ve ever yearned for secret panels or hidden rooms in your home, MAKE is here to help. 

In 1965, National Geographic featured a 25-page spread on the 1964 New York World’s Fair, and now we can all read it for free! Isn’t the internet great? (Thanks, Ada!)

Monday, October 12, 2015

This fall has been really busy, so far. Apologies for the shorter posts. We’ll get organized sooner or later.

Do you know a Guy In Your MFA? (My husband refers to them as “coffeehouse asshats.”)

Meanwhile, Kate Beaton is putting out more stellar work, hooray.

In Saudi Arabia, an all-women book club is subversive enough just by existing. A memory of reading Alice in Wonderland is lovely.

Friday, October 09, 2015

And we’re back! Thanks for your patience, and thanks to everyone who sent in links.

A leftover from Thursday: It’s the end of an era, for OCLC's last catalog card has been printed.

From Julie: Thousands of photos from the Apollo mission just went online for the first time!

From Cassandra: The Draconid meteor shower is underway!

Also from Cassandra: The deep psychological worlds of Peanuts characters. Lucy is the star, of course.

From Zazoo: “Chrissie Hynde goes berserk She should probably not do interviews...”

Also from Zazoo: Chinese kids are wearing plastic plants on their heads. Get ready, world, the club kids are taking over!

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

Thursday, October 08, 2015

One more unexpected day off the computer. Regular posting resumes Friday!

Wednesday, October 07, 2015

Hello! I forgot that today is another dental surgery day (not for me, obviously), so check back tomorrow for links.

Tuesday, October 06, 2015

Today we talk about secrets real and imaginary.

There may still be secrets in King Tut’s tomb, including – possibly – Nefertiti? 

The government is keeping secrets from you. That’s not news. What is news – and art – is the Glomar Response, a project about secrecy and what light gets through and what’s trapped in darkness. The comparison to Fraunhofer Lines (gaps in the spectrum of sunlight reaching the earth) is brilliant.

If you’re over 35 or so, you probably remember the Satanic Panic of the ‘80s, when cultists apparently lurked behind every corner. It turned out that none of this was real. So why did so many people believe in it? 

And finally, in something more surprising than secret, a new Twilight book was just released. With swapped genders. Um. Fortunately, Cleolinda Jones is reading and livetweeting it so you don’t have to!

Monday, October 05, 2015

Happy Monday!

Here are some of the best images from space over the past month, including the blood super moon thingy.

LEDs are getting even better and even cheaper.

What happened to French philosophy? Aeon investigates.

I am in love with these Doc Martens featuring Hogarth art. I have no idea when I’d wear them, or where I’d wear them, but aren’t they gorgeous?

Friday, October 02, 2015

It's another super busy day here. Thankfully it's Friday, and Cassandra is here to help!

First, an article about neanderthals, and how we don't understand them nearly as well as we thought we did.

Secondly, a poem/story by Jenny Hollowell that you can either read or hear, but be warned, it may sock you in the gut. Metaphorically, that is, not literally. Because that would be weird.

Possible updates later today. If not, have a spiffy weekend, and we'll be back next week!

Thursday, October 01, 2015

Hi there. Today is super busy, but take some time to read about the current situation regarding the Librarian of Congress. The Library needs to get into the 21st century, and the next Librarian will be a big part of that. Jessamyn has some thoughts on it, too,  from the perspective of a librarian with a small "l."