Friday, March 31, 2017

Friday links from others! Thanks, everyone! 

From Holly: There’s a Wax Trax documentary, huzzah!

From Satori: Now you can own a Labyrinth plush worm. Really!

From Zazoo: “Lana del Rey is back with a new album! This time, she's a witch (albeit a good witch) who lives in the H of the Hollywood sign. Where else???”

From Matt Staggs via Twitter: Abandoned Masonic lodges make for some great urban explorations. 

From Twitter: Crayola is getting rid of one of its colors (spoiler: it’s dandelion) and replacing it with another (spoiler: it’s…some kind of blue, to be named later). People get very emotional about crayon colors, I’ve discovered.

Also from Twitter: The AMAZING (and long) story of Oliver Napoleon Hill, a con man of epic proportions who is still revered today. It’s a wild story, and worth your time.

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

Thursday, March 30, 2017

Here’s some good news: The Associated Press has deemed it okay to use “they” as a gender neutral pronoun. Finally!

Some more good news: NASA’s Image and Video Library is searchable, and it’s amazing, and you should go look at it now and think about space and stars and not about how messed up the planet is at the moment.

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Well, today’s links turned out sort of dark. This is your warning!

What happens to houses after tragedy occurs? This is a fascinating article about selling homes which are “haunted” – either by murder or by suspected paranormal activity.

A BBC article on “survival condos” led me to the Survival Condo website. You, too, can own a survival condo if you have a lot of money. They sort of look like the Vaults from Fallout, only much nicer.

Someone built a bot which prints out everything Trump tweets, then burns the paper, then tweets about it. Genius.

Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman in space. Today, she is 80, and a hardline Putin supporter, but she says the same thing about our planet as everyone else who has seen it from afar – protecting the planet is paramount.

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Happy (busy) Tuesday!

The Library of Congress is featuring dirigibles, as shown by this example. 

On This Deity observes the day Virginia Woolf died. 

A ghost plane crash? No one is quite sure what happened over Lake Superior last week.

The Haunted Random Forest festival takes place in Brighton next month and looks fascinating.

Monday, March 27, 2017

When I read that some people keep hearing a fictional character in their heads after finishing a book, my first thought was, “wait, this isn’t something that happens to everyone?” (Hello, and welcome to my brain!) I am now totally intrigued by Hearing the Voice and similar studies.

The amazing Yayou Kusama Infinity Mirrors exhibit at the Hirshhorn (mentioned previously) took a lot of planning to set up properly. 

Beyond Curie has some fantastic posters featuring women in science – ostensibly for the Science March, but good anytime and anywhere!

Friday, March 24, 2017

Happy Friday! Sorry about the light week. We should be back to normal by next week. Hopefully. Maybe.

From Cassandra: Sesame Street has a long and glorious history of mocking our current president. 

From Julie: Scientists have reconstructed the face of a 13th century man from his skeleton. He looks like an everyday sort of person!

Have a safe (and spiffy) weekend, everyone. See you soon.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

It’s time for the Peeps to appear, both in stores and in the annual Legal Peeps contest! Diorama deadline is March 31st.

Urban librarians, unite! And help fix the world, it’s in dreadful shape at the moment. (Their swag shop link isn’t working, but apparently there is zombie librarian swag out there somewhere.)

An archivist’s dream: Finding a treasure trove of candy wrappers, ticket stubs and more in the crawlspaces of a Chicago theatre.

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

It’s not too early to start thinking about Halloween! Well, maybe it is. But if you’re the type who doesn’t think so, the Order of the Thinned Veil may interest you.

This epic Twitter thread is…well, it’s just epic. (And still going!)

Mammal Madness continues! Follow along with some rodent-themed recaps!

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Good morning! It's a super busy day here. But it is also World Poetry Day, so take a few minutes to explore and dream. See you soon.

Monday, March 20, 2017

Alas, it is once again Monday…

Poor Yorick has been portrayed by many skulls over the centuries – some real, some fabricated. 

Philip Pullman’s new trilogy is not a sequel, nor a prequel, but an “equel.” Hee.

The other day, we were wondering what happened to Google Glass. It turns out that it’s alive and well in factories. Who knew?

I love currency art, so this NY Times article is right up my alley.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Happy St. Patrick’s Friday. Stay safe out there, everyone.

From Julie: Here is a project I can get behind – cycling to draw figures (in this case, a happy goat) via GPS.

From Cassandra: Reading aloud as adults can bring unexpected comfort, especially in tense times.

From Twitter: tape in the form of “toy blocks” (LEGO, etc.)!

Also from Twitter: Classic movie lines, performed by Sesame Street characters. They’re all great, but Grover doing “Top Gun” is my favorite, I think.

See you next week, everyone! Also, more March Mammal Madness videos are available for your viewing pleasure/confusion. (Even NPR got in on the action!)

Thursday, March 16, 2017

We have a smorgasbord of somewhat library-related links for you today.

Musical history link: the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts has acquired Lou Reed’s archives. 

Beautiful link: Endpaper designs! I love these.

Depressing link: Russia is shutting down the only Ukrainian library in Moscow. 

Absurdist mystery link; Who’s hiding empty AI bottles throughout the public library? 

Fascinating (if somewhat ominous) link: What will happen when the Queen dies. (The “Rats” system sounds especially odd.)

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

In the midst of March Madness (both basketball and mammal), there’s also the Name of the Year tournament, featuring real individuals with real (incredible) names! 

Now I Know is always a source of great information, but today’s is especially interesting to me: “The Invisible Wall Around Most of Manhattan” taught me about eruvin, something I had no idea about until today (and am now finding out how much more I don’t know)! Highly recommended.

Conflict Kitchen, located in Pittsburgh, features cuisine from areas with which the U.S. is currently in conflict. It’s sobering, educational, and delicious, somehow all at once.

If you need a break from the world, the Konica Minolta Planetarium can take you (virtually) into the Yakushima Forest with its “Star Night Healing” program. This looks amazing.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Oy, Daylight Saving Time, are you really necessary? (Nothing personal, you understand. I just like sleep.)

The Smithsonian has a great list of the world’s smallest monuments. Check out the mice fighting over a piece of cheese!

Friday, March 10, 2017

Happy Friday!

In a heartwarming story, a monastery adopted a dog and gave him a tiny friar robe. It’s super cute. 

From Zazoo: A Gowanus artist creates a dynamic “RESIST” sign in building windows. 

Also from Zazoo: Gillian Anderson’s new book looks fascinating. 

Also also from Zazoo: RIP, Tommy Page. 

 As the March Mammal Madness continues, some random rodents have recapped the action so far. (You, um, may recognize some voices. Or puppet faces. Maybe. I don’t know.)

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

Thursday, March 09, 2017

Sometimes, going down rabbit holes lead to great discoveries. Like this possible Templar structure! The Mirror has the photos, the BBC has the details.

I think I may have been born at the wrong time – I’d have been pretty good at library hand, as long as fountain pens weren’t involved (being a lefthander means lots of contorting and/or smearing).

Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Mirror Rooms” exhibit at the Smithsonian is drawing record crowds. I’d love to see “The Souls of Millions of Light Years Away” in particular. Go if you can – it looks like this is something that needs to be experienced in person!

Wednesday, March 08, 2017

Happy International Women’s Day. Here’s to facing down adversaries with strength and grace. 

Tonight the division battles begin in March Mammal Madness! It’s entertaining and educational!

The “Walled Off Hotel” in Bethlehem is a real hotel, operated by Banksy, and opens this weekend. Check it out, it’s amazing. (Check out the “questions” section too.)

Alternatively, you can stay overnight in a floating capsule, and land on an island the next morning if all goes well. It’s supposed to begin at the end of this year in a Dutch-themed amusement park in Japan (which looks pretty wild in and of itself). This sounds absolutely perfect to me. Your mileage may vary.

Tuesday, March 07, 2017

Hello! It's another crazy day here. Hopefully this is not the new normal.

For our one link today, behold the gorgeous Futuracha Pro font, which changes as you type! I would send out all my correspondence using this font if I could.

Monday, March 06, 2017

Good morning! We are a bit scattered today, so there’s just one link. It’s a good one, though – check out these early 20th century magazines, celebrating surrealism and modernist art.

Friday, March 03, 2017

Happy Friday!

If you’re on Twitter, check out the ongoing #sciart tweetstorm. It’s gorgeous.

From Holly: All hail Joey the pet squirrel, who defended his home from a would-be burglar!

From Julie: The amazing story of the “Polish Schindlers” who protected Jewish people against Nazis in an extraordinary way.

Also from Julie: A look at the Wodaabe culture in Chad, and how men decorate themselves in a ritual for women. It’s pretty amazing.

From Zazoo: A Mardi Gras float celebrates the life of George Michael! 

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

Thursday, March 02, 2017

Hi there. Sorry about yesterday – we had some wild weather and not much power for posting purposes!

The Atlantic’s Timeline function shows you what’s happened in the world throughout your lifetime. It’s mostly serious stuff, but this cracked me up:


“This is what Hollywood thought teenagers looked like the year you became one.”

(Many a person has compared me to Ally Sheedy in the above photo.)

Also from the Atlantic: A Benedictine monk is helping to save Islamic manuscripts.

“Never read the comments” is well-known advice. But what if you had to prove you’d read an article before commenting on it? One news site in Norway is experimenting.