Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Hi all --

We'll be on a short hiatus here while we're dealing with some tough family stuff. We're fine and we'll be back next week, most likely. See you then.

Monday, July 29, 2019

Happy Monday!

Sad news from the makersphere: Make Magazine and the Maker Faires are in trouble. (They’ve been in trouble for a while, but I’ve been out of the loop for a while as well and just got caught up.) Make Community has risen from the ashes, so join up and keep the makers making!

Meanwhile, fake festivals are…a thing? They look kind of fun, to be honest.

Paging Bunny: Eastern Blocks is a photography book depicting the concrete buildings behind the former Iron Curtain.

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Hello! Sorry for the unexpected day off yesterday. Life gets in the way sometimes.

Sunset Magazine almost lost its entire archives, which would have been absolutely tragic. (This is a recurring nightmare for archivists.)

The man who found the Titanic is now searching for Amelia Earhart’s airplane. Best of luck!

The Library of Congress has a great Flickr account, and it’s now added a “Library of Congress Life” account, which shows the daily goings-on.

Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Folk horror, urban wyrd, hauntology…whatever you call it, it’s fascinating, and there’s a lot of it out there. 

(Apologies for the short post! More tomorrow)

Monday, July 22, 2019

Happy Monday! Time for some arty links.

Photography: Check out NASA’s archive of Apollo photos. 

Literature/History: How many copies did some famous books sell in their first year? 

Music, goth department: Peter Murphy is doing a residency in NYC in August, performing all his solo albums, plus a night of all Bowie songs and a night of all Bauhaus. Break out the corsets and boots!

Literature/Art: The Lost Words honors the disappearing words in nature. It’s a beautiful book, too.

Music, 1970s department: Mort Garson’s Plantasia album has been re-released! Play this for your plants. They will love it.

Friday, July 19, 2019

Happy Friday!

Today’s Google Doodle features Mike Collins talking about the moon landing. It’s definitely worth your time. Plus, there's a "how it was made" video! 

From Nicole: An interview with Wendell Berry, covering religion, love, nature, and one’s sense of self.

From Cassandra: In 1959, Isaac Asimov asked how people get new ideas. 

Also from Cassandra: The bystander effect might be a myth! 

Alan Moore is (allegedly) retiring from comics after the latest installment of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comes out, so people are looking back at his body of work and his impact on comics.

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

Thursday, July 18, 2019

I used to go on and on about the Elgin Marbles (well, I still do, but haven’t linked to many articles about them lately). Now the British Museum is “considering” loaning tabots – sealed so that only Ethopian priests can view them – back to Ethiopia. Geez.

The National Book Festival is next month, and check out the very cool poster!

The Atlantic has an assortment of Chernobyl photos taken immediately after the disaster. Chilling stuff.

DNA testing has led to all sorts of discoveries – good and bad – among families, and here are two stories. Family secrets can be difficult to handle.

Meanwhile, in somewhat related material, Springwise tackles an explanation of big data – what it is and where it might be going.

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

More Moon material! The Maphouse looks at 300 years of mapping the Moon. 

Drought has revealed a Bronze Age palace in Iraq. 

Cosplay in America is a great look at amazing costume designs, as well as a calendar of conventions throughout the year. 

Speaking of, Necronomicon (the convention, not the book) is a month away!

Here’s an interesting theory. Can a specific receptor protein make people more likely to see ghosts (or other odd objects)?

Monday, July 15, 2019

Happy Monday!

We start with a vocabulary test. How did you do?

AI Weirdness reports on what tea will be called when it's controlled by the neural net. Something entirely unlike tea, mostly.

Jim Bouton of Ball Four fame has died, and here’s a worthy obituary. 

I had not heard of The Secret Commonwealth until now, but I’m fascinated. There’s a new release out, but you can read the 1893 version online.

Friday, July 12, 2019

Hello and happy Friday! We are back just in time for the weekend.

From Cassandra: Is there another universe alongside us? Scientists are exploring the possibility. 

Via Warren Ellis: A ceramic bowl with an Aramaic inscription about magic and Liliths. Probably.

Via Springwise: Five ways businesses can combat climate change. (Is “combat” the right word? Handle? Ameliorate? Anyway…)

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

Tuesday, July 02, 2019

Today is unexpectedly super busy (they can always sense when some time off is nearby), but let’s talk baseball!

A hundred years ago, the Black Sox won it all and then mostly lost it all. But during the championship series (then known as the World’s Series), it was all about Black Jack chewing gum!

Back in the present, the All-Star game is nearly upon us. Bill Lucey looks at Cleveland and the changes since the last All-Star game there in 1997. 

And now, for something completely different: archives! More specifically, the archives of the UAE and the Gulf. The Arabian Gulf Digital Archive is online and searchable, including some great photographs. 

Have a spiffy and safe holiday and/or weekend! We’ll be back around the middle of next week. See you then.

Monday, July 01, 2019

Happy Monday!

This week brings us the July 4th Northside Parade, one of the best parades anywhere, plus a two-day party surrounding it.

In related local news, Chuck Cleaver is releasing a solo album, so check it out.

Psst! Barbie has gone undercover as an arts activist and is tweeting her visits, spread the word.

You may have heard of Ruritania, and its neighbors Genovia, Graustark and Freedonia, among others. But where did Ruritania get its start? Well, it all began with a prisoner in Zenda…