Friday, May 29, 2020


Happy Friday, all! 

Sanctuary Astrology sends out an occasional newsletter, and their most recent was “free fun stuff to do for each sign.” They had all sorts of interesting resources, but the best was Astronaut, a website that shows you bits of the newest and most “unseen” videos uploaded to YouTube. We got hooked on it last night and saw everything from graduations to accordion playing to classes, all around the world! 

Have a safe and spiffy weekend, everyone. See you next week. To show you how our week has been, here’s an update from MC Marmot, trying to land the March Mammal Madness Recap satellite.


  

Thursday, May 28, 2020

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

Hey you! Wanna be a DJ? Now you can mix to your heart’s content using public domain music, thanks to a new project from the Library of Congress! It’s still a work in progress, but it looks like fun. 

Speaking of music, Janelle Shane asked some AI to write some song lyrics. It…did not go well. At all! Although some of it did turn out rather poetic. 

 And here’s something great: a squirrel obstacle course! No squirrels were harmed and it’s a fantastic look at how ingenious they are.


   

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Street artists have reflected society’s recent changes. Check out The Rebel Bear for some especially good stuff!

 In local news, the Bicycle Card company is being demolished; here’s a neat little story from their history about hiding secret maps in a card deck.

 For something completely random, experience Pac-Man as a first-person shooter!


Friday, May 22, 2020

Happy Friday and happy long weekend, although it’s very weird this year! 

I used to work at a newspaper, long ago when news librarians were a thing, and this is how I remember the workplace. 

For some entertainment, check out Live from Snack Time, where NYC children tell you how it is. My current pandemic-related favorite: “Adult: Well, how’s your family, are you getting along? Kid: Well, they aren’t my family anymore.” 

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


Thursday, May 21, 2020

Today’s Google Doodle is a wonderful musical odyssey which teaches you about the mbira! 

If you’re stuck inside (or bored of going on neighborhood walks), try quarantine bingo

If you have access to some good paper and you love vintage computers, try recreating them via Papercraft! 

And finally, the Public Domain Review has a fantastic book on old English customs. Did you know that hot cross buns date back to Roman times?


Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Hello! 

How about some games today? You can be a Marginalia Hero, fighting medieval beasts with a click of the mouse! Or you can try navigating the International Space Station with NASA controls, which looks incredibly difficult. 

It’s the centennial of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, huzzah, and here’s a look back at the film. Love those sets.


Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Hello! Crazy busy day here as we start to talk about "reopening" and all that good stuff. Back soon with links!

Monday, May 18, 2020

Happy Monday! 

In the art world, there’s a battle going on to save Oslo’s Picasso murals. 

In the history world, there’s a battle going on about forged and/or stolen Biblical-related papyri. 

In the film world, there is…no battle, hooray, just a story about how several stuntmen embodied Jason Vorhees over the years. 

In the AI world, things are always weird, and this collection of escape rooms is no different. (I particularly like “The Room with a Chance of Being In It.”)


Friday, May 15, 2020

Happy Friday, everyone!

We don’t have much in the way of links today, so please enjoy the sounds of a treehouse with a fireplace during a rainstorm (sounds unsafe, but hey), and we’ll see you next week. Have a safe and spiffy weekend, everyone.


Thursday, May 14, 2020

Today we’ve got some links about medieval Britain and modern America to entertain you. 

First, the Yanks.  At the Library of Congress, one of their efforts aims to use AI in the Chronicling America newspaper digitization project. 

Meanwhile, Cincinnati’s airport now has a giant floor-scrubbing robot zooming around. 

In Shakespeare’s time, the plague was a regular occurrence that often shut down theatres for months. Pestilence and plague mentions abound in his works. 

Over at the Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments, you can see and hear a whole cacophony of creations!


Wednesday, May 13, 2020

One of my favorite places in the world, Mont-St-Michel, is having a rough time during the pandemic. 

Vogue takes you on a virtual tour of vintage Paris. If you like the old film that's included, you’ll love Guy Jones’s YouTube channel, where many vintage films are available! 

The Met Gala’s theme this year is “About Time,” and the gala itself had to be postponed until possibly October. The exhibit looks amazing (as always) and happily, people at home celebrated Gala time by creating fantastic DIY versions of previous looks. (I was really looking forward to this year, with the theme and all; I hope they get to have it later this year.)


Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Creativity in a time of crisis! 

Maker Faire is going virtual this month, check it out. 

Our local arty neighborhood is making “scarecoronas” to put in their front yards! 

In other local news, the May Festival – and other choirs – is trying to deal with the pandemic’s effect on singers.


Monday, May 11, 2020

Happy Monday, everyone. 

A year ago, we went on a cross-country trip (and boy, are we glad we did it last year instead of putting it off). We stayed in a hotel in Iowa that had a room devoted to Dvořák and I didn’t know the whole story behind it, but evidently he came to Iowa and found a spiritual home of sorts there. 

Can we escape from information overload? One artist tried to live in complete darkness for a month. He went slightly mad during the experiment (and his eyes changed color temporarily!!), but it sounds fascinating. 

Autocar has a fun slideshow of never-sold Volkswagen models. 

XKCD is always great, but I particularly love this one. Once again, could anyone have imagined this world a year ago?


Friday, May 08, 2020

Happy Friday! Hope everyone is safe and well out there. 

From Cassandra: The surprising boldness of Kentucky governor Andy Beshear. 

Also from Cassandra: Remote teaching as an introvert. 

From Zazoo: A followup from yesterday’s Sesame Street article, about how the show got its name! 

Also from Zazoo: RIP to Kraftwerk member Florian Schneider. 

The BBC has made dozens of images of show sets available, from AbFab to Doctor Who, so you can use them as backgrounds! 

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


Thursday, May 07, 2020

While current events are more or less at a standstill, why not look back at history?

 That’s what Slate did with this look at the box office from 1922. 

Also, Craig Calcaterra writes about “Today in Baseball History” while the current season is on pause. 

The Library of Congress is 220 years old this year, and is celebrating online. 

The New Yorker writes about 50 years of Sesame Street! While there are some problems with the article (for instance, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood did not stop in 1975!), the story about the brainstorming session for the show name is brilliant.


Wednesday, May 06, 2020

Museums have been holding virtual “curator battles” every Friday online, and their “creepiest item” showdown is one for the ages. If you’re on Twitter, check out their latest, which I think is about hats!

An enterprising British brewery is offering Londoners a “pub in a box,” complete with Spotify playlists and snacks!

Tuesday, May 05, 2020

Greetings!

We haven’t checked in with Public Domain Review for a while, but behold, they have public domain Zoom backgrounds for you. 

We have the 21st century dystopian pandemic now. Where are the utopian flying cars? Back in the 1970s, there was an attempt to create a flying Pinto. It…did not go well.

Meanwhile, archaeologists have discovered remnants of an early multicultural community in Europe. 

Bill Lucey explores the wide world of podcasts! (Like him, I have not devoted much attention to podcasts yet. Someday soon!)

Monday, May 04, 2020

Hello and happy Monday!

The Supreme Court has finally entered the 21st century. Today, you can watch a livestream of oral arguments in a case. 

And speaking of history and whatnot, Folderol celebrated its 20th anniversary sometime last month. Twenty years of links! How crazy is that? Thanks to everyone who has read, commented, sent in links, and supported this tiny little endeavor throughout the years.

Friday, May 01, 2020

Happy May Day (both ancient and modern) and Beltane and Friday!

From Cassandra: Quarantine workouts for every astrological sign! (I’m particularly intrigued by the one for Aquarius, via Haus of Sweat.)

Also from Cassandra: Frida Kahlo knew how to handle being isolated. 

From Bunny: “A playlist to ‘music in dead malls’.... the new hip thing. People are taking pictures of empty and abandoned malls and playing audio manipulated music over them. It's nostalgia, creepy atmosphere and depression all rolled into one! My personal fave on the list (so far) is 'God Only Knows' by the Beach Boys.”

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