Thursday, March 31, 2016

Today is Transgender Day of Visibility. Love and strength to all of you.

Hooray for Jess Nevins, captain of the League of Extraordinary Librarians!

Japan is planning a national manga center, which should be amazing.

What Is My Movie helps you remember the name of that one movie, the one with the guy and the building, you know…

Booklist Reader lists (some of ) the weirdest names in young adult literature. (Yes, Renesmee made the list.)

Tomorrow we have links from others, plus a Folderol video celebrating Opening Day. No April Fools!

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Right, then. Where were we? Oh, it’s Wednesday. That means spooky stuff and maps, usually.

Maps! Maps lie! Maps do not represent the truth! See? (Video, about two and a half minutes, can be watched without sound, very cool.)

Photos of abandoned ski resorts in Europe. It’s sort of like looking at abandoned amusement parks.

The National Library of Medicine is running an online exhibit on murder pamphlets, mostly from Great Britain but some from the U.S.

And lastly, if you ever wanted to make fake barbed wire, here’s a tutorial. As someone commented, it’s good for fantasy weapons but also good if you’d like to discourage neighbors in a harmless sort of way.

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Today is chock full of meetings. In the meantime, check out this live map of ISP attacks. You can pretend you're part of a video game. Back soon!

Monday, March 28, 2016

Happy Monday!

Did you know there’s a whole movement to go back to classical painting and sculpture? Meet Jacob Collins and his school. 

Warren Ellis IS James Bond’s…writer in a new series, huzzah. 

Who was Henry Wriothesly? Some think he may have been Shakespeare’s lover. 

Sending books to prisoners can get confusing. Slate examines some books which were allowed, and some which were banned.

Friday, March 25, 2016

Best of Good Fridays to you.

Are you signed up to This? You get five articles a day, and they’re all fantastic. I highly recommend it.

The weekend cinema may be all about Batman v. Superman (or, my favorite renaming of it via Cinesnark, Superhero Face Punch), but look at the teaser photos for the upcoming Batman LEGO movie. It looks so fun!

From Zazoo: “Microsoft learning robot turns racist! This is what the Internet will teach you…”

And now, for something completely different: Our weekly Folderol video takes you into the world of drugs. Many thanks to our resident scientist, Tracy, who writes all our hard science scripts!



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

Thursday, March 24, 2016

And we’re back! But we know a lot of people are off tomorrow, so today we’ll feature some reader links.

From Julie: You can look at Richard III’s grave with the modern magic of 3-D technology! It’s pretty amazing. 

Also from Julie: The Sutherland sisters and their somewhat ridiculous hair. 

From a co-worker: A library book comes back, fifty years overdue. Oops.

From Nicole: Modern literary definitions. Hee.

From Twitter: If, like me, you are sickened by what’s going on in North Carolina and other states, you can show you’re an ally with the I’llGoWithYou movement.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Once again. Stay safe, everyone.

For some lighter reading, the Mammals in the March Madness do not disappoint.

Folderol is taking tomorrow off for general errand-running and checkups and whatnot; back on Thursday.

Monday, March 21, 2016

Happy Monday!

 Last week was “Trash Week” on Atlas Obscura; I missed it while it was happening, but now you can go back and read all the stories in one go. I especially like this one about a secret trash museum.

The first VR Cinema has opened in Amsterdam!

Venice is the most endangered site in Europe, according to a new report. (Also, please save the Helsinki airport, it looks amazing.)

What’s it like to create sounds for video games? Pretty wild, judging from this article.

Friday, March 18, 2016

Happy Friday!

More Mammal Madness! And look, Charon’s art is now for sale, which is all kinds of wonderful.

If birds are more your thing, the DC Eagle Cam is here for you. They’re taking bets on when Egg #2 is going to hatch – get your guess in soon!

A belated St. Patrick’s Day look at Irish beauty through the decades. This is really interesting.

FiveThirtyEight is following the basketball version of March Madness and updating the odds live. Fun to watch!

From Cassandra: Anonymous vs. Donald Trump. Get some popcorn and watch the show.

And back to animals we go for this week’s Folderol. Sneaky poisonous animals, that is. Beware!



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

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Happy St. Patrick’s! Be safe out there.

It’s also Shakespeare Week. Want to write like the Bard? Here are some tips! 

Libraries and makerspaces are a great combination for communities.

How many amendments have we proposed for the U.S. Constitution? Over 11,000! And most of them were crap! The Washington Post takes a look at some of the stranger ones.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

I forgot about yet another great seasonal contest: It’s time for the Name of the Year competition. Go, Furious Carney!

Those who share my fascination with numbers stations may be interested in Unfavorable Semicircle, a YouTube channel which disappeared after weirding everyone out but has recently returned. 

The Vintage News has news of the older and interesting happenstances for you!

New York City’s subway maps are intricate and not totally accurate, geographically speaking, so one enterprising soul has taken it upon himself to fix that. You can see (and buy) poster versions of the maps, too.

Tuesday, March 15, 2016

It’s primary day here in Ohio, so we’re all about the contests today.

 First off, the election chaos, courtesy of FiveThirtyEight. (Having a primary on the Ides of March seems…ominous.)

Mammal March Madness continues! Here’s Round 2! 

The original March Madness begins on Thursday, and Bill Lucey is here with some facts and figures on the Big Dance. (Example: there are 9.2 quintillion possible bracket combinations. Yikes.)

Eurovision is coming! The Eurovision Lemurs have you covered! Hooray!

And if you are not into competition, here’s a nice article on Justine Frischmann, formerly of Elastica, and her paintings, which are beautiful.

Monday, March 14, 2016

Happy Pi Day! 

March Sadness pits sad songs against each other. I, um, may have most of these songs.

Listen to this fairground organ play “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It’s perfect and amazing.

Morrissey is “considering” running for mayor of London. (From Zazoo, who added, “November spawned a mayor?”)

Friday, March 11, 2016

Happy Friday!

From Holly: This is probably the most amazing version of “Blue Monday” which has been or ever will be produced. (Possibly the spookiest, too!)

 From James: The London Helicopter is an interactive map of London’s tourist attractions, and can steal hours of time from you. It’s very cool.

From Julie: Can you judge a book by its cover? How about judging it by a single page? 

From Twitter: The madness of March mammals continues! Here are the results from the Mighty Giants bracket. 

And for our video component this week, we’re going with the hard science. Which organs can you live without?




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

Thursday, March 10, 2016

I hope you’re following along with March Mammal Madness, because I’m slightly obsessed with it at the moment. Here’s the latest round, featuring mammal mascots! During these battles, I learned why goats have such weird eyes, and also that the sculptor of that spooky Denver Airport horse was killed by his own creation. YIKES. (Also, the heckling from a gila monster via Twitter is pretty great.)

A fellow librarian recommended 99 Percent Invisible. I haven’t checked it out yet, but I’m intrigued. Speaking of: if you, dear reader, have any suggestions for podcasts and/or YouTube channels, please let us know!

And lastly, here are library signs, some more verifiable than others, but all entertaining.

Wednesday, March 09, 2016

The Mammals March Madness competition has been so fun already, and also educational. Did you know caribou can see UV light, for instance? Here’s a recap of what went down in the “Chill Division” last night. Team Marmot!

Today’s Google Doodle is all kinds of amazing, celebrating Clara Rockmore’s birthday with an interactive theremin! 

Cryogenics (or cryonics, or freezing one’s head, however you term it) is…still a pretty unreliable plan, as it turns out.

And lastly, here’s a lovely little story about a man who lived in a tiny town, had a raccoon as a friend, and may have been otherworldly. Or maybe he was Dickon from The Secret Garden. Hey, it’s possible.

Monday, March 07, 2016

Happy Monday! Today, we’re about innovative ideas.

Martin Molin has built an amazing music machine, which runs on marbles, basically. Here it is in action (and I bet you have this melody in your head for a while after watching), and here’s some explanation on how it works. 

Artist Laurent Grasso’s installation shows colors inspired by solar winds to Parisians stuck in traffic.

The Etsy shop Que Interesante relabels crayons with chemical labels, helping kids (and adults) learn more about chemistry. Brilliant.

Friday, March 04, 2016

Happy Friday!

From Julie: Art from old book pages. Gorgeous.

 From Cassandra: Social psychology is at a crossroads.

From us: Squirrels! Have a spiffy weekend, everyone.


Thursday, March 03, 2016

It’s World Book Day! CNN has a list of beautiful libraries for you, and I also found a great list of library-related places in New York City.

 Speaking of NYC, the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a new logo, and some people don’t like it at all.

The Complete Review is a website which aims to, well, completely review all the books out there. The New Yorker delves into the site and the man who created it.

Wednesday, March 02, 2016

Thursday is often my busy day, but this week decided to get ahead of itself. Here are some quick links!

A mummified captain of a ghost ship has been discovered. It’s true! (Bunny’s comment: “His hair is still perfect.”)

Behold, a digital paper doll, designed by Kate Beaton! Have fun! (But you might want to turn down the sound.)

Are you ready for March Madness? Not the basketball kind, but the mammalian version? Mammal March Madness starts in just a few days! You can view the brackets here, and follow along with the competition on Twitter.

Tuesday, March 01, 2016

It’s St. David’s Day! I didn’t know much about the day (or the saint) until today. (I am finding more and more possible Welsh in my genealogy, so I’m trying to learn.) Google's UK page has a lovely Doodle honoring the day.

It’s also Super Tuesday here in the United States. There is no Google Doodle for that. The good people at FiveThirtyEight have a preview of both the Democratic and Republican proceedings, and will update throughout the day/night.