For small geeks (or big geeks, for that matter): a pen that's also a jump drive. Just make sure no one walks off with it.
The interwebs have changed life as we know it! Nothing will ever be the same! No, really, they're serious. Along the same lines, Mashablekeeps you up to date with social software news, and Brazen Careerist is a neat new find that helps you balance work with your actual life. (Many librarians are not very good at this, we've found.)
Okay, I'm starting off this shortened work week with an absolutely awesome video clip. Before Danny Elfman specialized in spooky soundtracks, he led Oingo Boingo, one of the great bands of the '80s. Before THAT, however, he was a part of the Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo, and they appeared on The Gong Show in 1976. And they won, too! Go watch it, it's only about five minutes long.
A link I forgot to include last Friday: Anarchtee, for people who are mad and are going to wear it on their sleeves, dammit. (Thanks, Cassandra!)
Somehow I hadn't seen Charles Saatchi's free online art gallery, where anyone can post their work, until now. There are some gorgeous pieces on there. Go, artists, and share!
This summer, Chicago will be inundated with Cool Globes, which are not only arty but also intend to educate the populace about global warming. Neat, and worth an ecologically friendly road trip.
And finally, for the newspaper people out there, there's a lovely little article about the history of the New York Times morgue. "A basement full of newspaper still makes newspaper people feel better," says the article, and it's true. I am all about the internet these days, but I would have loved to have worked in the morgue back in its heyday.
Happy Friday, everyone. Yesterday was missed due to more dental incidents (for the record, Bunny is very sick of mashed potatoes and applesauce), but today we are back, with links from others!
First, swiped from Tim: hey, all you hoopy froods, today is Towel Day. Go and do something crazy, or at least improbable.
Found on my own: look, rats as big as cats! I wonder if they would make good pets.
And finally, something good, courtesy of Susan: Goodsearchdonates money whenever you use Yahoo to search for something. Susan's giving money to Koko the gorilla, who will not use the money for evil.
Have a spiffy holiday weekend, everyone. See you on Tuesday!
Today is Slacker Day. (It isn't, really, but it SHOULD be.) Therefore, I bring you games and some ideas about work in the modern age.
We start off with the Results Only Work Environment plan, which I think is brilliant. I would be even more enthusiastic if I worked in a results-based job, instead of one in which I'm here just in case people have questions. Bah.
Inspired by a post on Brendan's weblog, I have a linguistics poll for you: garage sale, yard sale, tag sale or rummage sale? Up in New England it's all tag sales, and Brendan hadn't heard of rummage sales (which we do have here a lot, but never have tag sales). Go and discuss.
It seems like every week brings a new library information society to light. This week we have the Library Society of the World, "for library and information folks who want the advantages of a badly organized organization without having to pay money to be a member of such a beast." (As one of the many librarians-turned-lapsed-ALA-members, I say hooray!)
The librarians at the New Yorker have their own occasional column. I always thought that would be a cool place to work.
Google has a new sort-of-secret search engine in beta. It's called SearchMash, and so far I like it a lot, especially the category breakout options on the side.
A British survey of books recommended for boys centers on sci-fi and action books for the most part. I've only read about five books on the list, but a lot of them sound like they'd be great fun to read, and I've added them to my own "to read" list!
Muslim boys might be especially interested in a new comic, which features librarians as the originators of what turns out to be an epic quest.
Today: world travels and spooky stuff. First, the travels:
Flickrvisionshows you a map of photos being uploaded in real time, which is just completely awesome and also addictive.
America is full of crazy roadside architectural finds, and Agilitynuthas most of them on her site! This is a great inspiration for planning a road trip.
On to spooky stuff. Can people really see into the future, even if only for a few seconds? It looks as though they might indeed. (I would think this phenomenon includes those weird experiences when you "know" who's calling - without the help of Caller ID, I mean - or you know what the next song on the radio will be.)
Transhumanism is getting more and more pressthese days. I'm all for it, myself.
The British Library is helping create a sort of time capsule in Email Britain- if you're in the UK, you can contribute any time this month.
Now you can have your very own sonic screwdriver, like Dr. Who. You may be able to use it to fix electronics, but since we're on Earth and not Gallifrey it might be better to stick with Fixya, which helps the rest of us with repairing gizmos that have gone kablooey.
Atomic food containers! For your toxic leftovers! And then you can have a beer with a label you've created yourself. (Zazoo and Satori and I were talking the other night about how much fun it must be to design labels for wine and beer. This is the next best thing!)
If you have an in-house artist in the form of a kid, perhaps he/she would be interested in contributing to Kid Cartoonists.
(Also, kid artists sometimes grow up to be in advertising, where they come up with ideas like this one, reminding Guinness drinkers to be responsible.)
As music storage gets more compact, the great album art is vanishing. I remember studying album covers intently back in the day...hey! Get off my lawn!
Today: links from others! Well, not really. We have a link from Cassandra (thanks, Cassandra!) and a bunch of links from MAKE magazine, which is wonderful and awesome and deserving of your time.
Architecture + tourism: the Philip Johnson Glass House in Connecticut will open to the public for tours, although it looks as if it might already be sold out for the summer.
Libraries + the internet: are academic librarians too gosh-darned nice? (Not being an academic librarian, I can't really weigh in on this. I do know that law librarians can get downright contentious.)
Wow, it looks as if that Golden Compass daemon quiz below really does change according to people's feedback; yesterday I was a gibbon, today I am apparently an ocelot.
On to links from others! (Also, if you've sent me email and I haven't responded, I apologize - things are still a little frenetic around here.)
Also, just for fun: the bizarre world of minor league baseball mascots. We are big fans of the Montgomery Biscuits at Spooky Librarians HQ. I think our friend Scot even has a baseball cap with the mascot!
Have a spiffy weekend, everyone. See you Monday. Probably. Perhaps Tuesday. (The Great Dental Reconstruction continues...)
I haven't read The Golden Compass yet, but the movie is coming and you can find out your inner daemon. If you don't think I resemble a gibbon (?!?), you can click above and say so.
Not only is Saturday Cinco de Mayo and Boys' Day, it is also Derby Day and Free Comic Book Day. There's something for everyone.
Found via librarian.net: fun with LOLbrarians. If you have to ask, you might be better off not knowing. If you're geeky and well versed in the ways of the interweb, though, you will probably appreciate it.
In all the craziness last week, I didn't get a chance to post about the Great Turtle Race, where you could watch huge sea turtles make their way across the sea. The race is pretty much over, but there are still lots of interesting things to see on the site. Perhaps next year we can watch it as it happens!
What's so great about memorizing piano pieces, anyway? You know, this is a good question. I played piano for a long time and the worst part was the anxiety about forgetting the piece, not playing it.
I am very not a morning person, and caffeinated soapwould definitely help me get up in the mornings...if I didn't take showers at night. Hm.