Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Today’s links are sort of morbid until the last one. I’m just warning you ahead of time.

The most dangerous autopsy took place in the UK recently, when Alexander Litvinenko’s body was examined.

Some martyrs are forgotten, but their ornamentation lives on. Meet the bejeweled skeletons! 

A Course In Dying examines approaches to death, among many other things. There’s a newsletter, too.

And finally, Google honors Zaha Hadid and her architecture.

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Hello! Here are some historic links.

Martin Manhoff was posted in the Soviet Union in the 1950s, and made several color films. You can see Stalin’s funeral, city life, and more. It’s fascinating.

I took a “which American Revolution figure would you be” quiz – twice! – and got Benedict Arnold both times. The nerve! See if you get someone else. (Is it because I said I like snowy days? Is that it?)

Friday, May 26, 2017

We’ve made it to another Friday!

From Julie: Art from bacteria? Yes! Check out these amazing images. 

Also from Julie: Behold, the spider named for Gryffindor. 

From Zazoo: Muppets in MOMI, coming in July!

Also from Zazoo: Lana Del Ray and Stevie Nicks are collaborating. Seems like the perfect match. 

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

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Greetings. Another busy Thursday with a lot of background stuff going on. We'll be back tomorrow with links from others. See you then.

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Manchester, Syria, Big Sur. It’s a dark week.

Somewhat fitting, then, is this ranking of 225 Cure songs. Most of my favorites are ranked way too low, but to each their own. (I do agree with putting most of the “newer” stuff at the bottom, though.) 

If you’re into history and have a morbid curiosity (hello!), the old admission books from a Philadelphia prison make for fascinating reading.

Monday, May 22, 2017

Happy World Goth Day, fellow spooky people!

Today would be the 75th birthday of Richard Oakes, and marks the date of death for Victor Hugo in 1885.

Preserving film hasn’t really gotten easier with the advent of digital technology, unfortunately.

We’re still watching the Mister Rogers Twitch marathon, and here’s a lovely remix (which I have probably posted before, but hey, it’s Monday, we could all use it).



 

Friday, May 19, 2017

Happy Friday! We’re all still here!

Big Muppet news: a prequel series of The Dark Crystal is scheduled for Netflix! 

Also Muppet-related, from Zazoo: “MOMI is showing a 1990 Muppet special of the Muppets visiting Disney World!” 

Also from Zazoo: Lana del Ray, as photographed by David Lachapelle. It’s as bonkers as you might expect.

William Shakespeare (or perhaps someone working for him) is posting timely quotes on Twitter, and it’s pretty great.

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

Thursday, May 18, 2017

Chris Cornell has died, Roger Ailes has died, a special counsel’s been appointed to investigate the president, and it’s barely 9 a.m. in this “anything can happen at any time” universe we’re in at the moment.

So, with that in mind, why not spend a few minutes helping the Library of Congress solve some mysteries? They have a whole series of “identify this person” photos, as mentioned earlier, and the latest installment is out (and there are still a lot of unidentified people from previous posts).

There’s a new Instagram account, LibrarianLooks, dedicated to showing what we librarians look like.

A drag queen reads to kids in Brooklyn! This sounds like so much fun. Three cheers for the Brooklyn Public Library.

Not library-related at all, just kind of fun: There’s a livecam at the famous Abbey Road crossing, so you can watch people try to imitate the Beatles in real time. (When I last looked, there were some tourists taking photos, plus other people just trying to catch the bus.)

Wednesday, May 17, 2017

Today’s Google Doodle celebrates the 115th anniversary of the discovery of the Antikythera mechanism. We still don’t know exactly how it came into being (or why the technology was lost after its creation), which makes for wonderful mystery.

Wanna buy a cottage in Edinburgh? It’s in a graveyard. (I don’t see the problem here, honestly. It looks amazing.)

Someone went to an art museum and used FaceApp to create smiling masterpieces. It’s pretty great, actually.

Hooray, there’s a new interview with Grant Morrison, and it covers everything from Brexit to Grand Theft Auto.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Someone online compared our current political situation to the first episode of (the newer) Battlestar Galactica, where the Cylons attack every 33 minutes. I agree. (And we don’t even have good jump technology, which makes it more exhausting.)

To counter this, however, there’s a marathon of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood going on right now, showing every episode from 1968 onward (click here to watch live, it's great). We watched a bunch of episodes last night and they are truly wonderful (and, in more than a few cases, truly weird).

The Bletchley Bar in London serves coded cocktails – you have to break the code in order to get the drink! (My dad would have absolutely loved this concept.)

 The NMAAHC has a great post on five black women who bicycled over 250 miles in 1928. (With pictures!)

Monday, May 15, 2017

Happy Monday!

The Eurovision Lemurs have all the details on 2017’s Eurovision. Like many things these days, the winner was a surprise.

In Beijing, thousands of people live in underground bunkers. They’ve made a whole community there, literally under everyone’s noses.

Ursula Vernon talks about working with fairytales, and also about gardening. 

Female Surrealist artists are enjoying a renaissance of sorts, and it’s excellent timing. Here’s a Surrealist Survival Kit for you!

Friday, May 12, 2017

Welcome to another Friday in these interesting times!

 The word of the day is “grok.” It’s a perfectly cromulent word, we are happy to say.

Two ravens have snagged the WikiCommons photo of the year. (The photographer helped a bit.) 

Sarah Palegic is out to change some minds about drag queens and disability.

From Zazoo: Sinead wants to donate her old clothes to transvestites. Any takers?

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

Thursday, May 11, 2017

So, Resistbot is a pretty great way to contact your representatives without calling them. I recommend it.

Unsplash is a free resource for high resolution photographs. Worth a look!

The remains of five archbishops of Canterbury have been discovered, in what sounds like a wacky day at work. 

Thousands of years ago, a scribe detailed how a comet apparently hit the planet and caused a mini ice age. (Um. Can we petition the comet association to visit again? We could use a reboot. And a cooldown.)

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

So. Er. Here we are, then. Can we get the Large Hadron Collider to work on possible alternate universes?

In possibly related news, a dinosaur has been (re)discovered, and has been named after Zuul. Sure, why not.

Back in Tudor England, Mary I used her phantom pregnancy as an excuse to burn heretics. It’s true! 

Here are America’s deadliest highways, shown by state. The worst one is in Florida, which is not a surprise.

Kaiju Big Battel is just amazing and possibly the perfect distraction for when you need a break.

Tuesday, May 09, 2017

Even teething was deadly, back in the good old days. (The so-called remedies of the time did most of the damage, from what I can tell.)

Let’s spend the rest of the day looking at dog names in NYC! (Note to Zazoo & Satori: there are 50 other dogs running around the metropolis with your dog’s name. I’m surprised there aren’t more!)

Monday, May 08, 2017

Good morning. Here are some arty links for your Monday enjoyment.

Art: Banksy is back with a statement about Brexit. 

Art, perhaps: California has a museum dedicated to bunnies. It’s a little different. 

History and philosophy: Plato left Athens after the death of Socrates…but then returned.

Literature: Support this Kickstarter for an alphabet book with multiple cultures, creatures, and creativity!

Friday, May 05, 2017

Friday once more. Be safe out there, everyone. 

From Holly: Pet squirrels were once all the rage! 

From Julie: Breaking news: drunken crayfish are more social. (I’d like to be the person in charge of getting crayfish drunk.)

From Twitter: Angelica Dass is working on a chart of skin colors, and it’s pretty fascinating. (I’d like to see something like this for eyes, too.)

Have a spiffy weekend. See you next week.

Thursday, May 04, 2017

May the 4th be with you. We all need it right now.

Relatedly, here are ways to find government and corporation information online. 

Lady Jane Franklin spearheaded polar exploration, in an effort to find her missing husband. She did much more, too.

Wednesday, May 03, 2017

How do you feel when you find out that what you believed is wrong? A great comic from the Oatmeal.

In related news, Einstein did not get bad grades at school.

Also somewhat related: Romania struggles with tourists wanting to get the full Dracula experience

And now, for something different: Check out this spiral of arches through history, an exhibit at the Islamic Arts Festival.

Tuesday, May 02, 2017

Oy, today got away from me. Here, have a glimpse of the future! SmartFlower creates portable solar energy, and Elbow wants to bring back cassette tapes, but in a cool way.

Monday, May 01, 2017

Good morning and happy May Day. The news is pretty dire, so I recommend Madame Clairevoyant’s weekly advice, once again.

Meanwhile, Patti Smith is living her best life, and has purchased Arthur Rimbaud’s home in France. Wow.