I had the opportunity to attend the Civic Switchboard Institute in Portland, OR over the summer (the what now? https://civic-switchboard.github.io/) and while I really enjoyed the data convos, the best part for me was thinking about connections between academic libraries and their communities.

The hands-on exercises were legitimately good (I have reused one of the handouts for another totally unrelated project) and discussions with the person from my institution that I attended with AND the other attendees were legitimately good and not an excuse to find a snack or a bathroom break.

The reason I mention this now is that an ONLINE VERSION of this great experience is coming up, split across 11/7 and 11/14 and there are, astonishingly enough, still spots available, so go apply for one now: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfbGIpxeYTbU2DjhDSS3wP4CFfr-hfB6f3ui6Z-eZrdk-kS0Q/viewform

🤔 Fascists love Star Wars. Even though the whole point of Star Wars is that fascists suck, and that the universe would be better without them.

🤔 Billionaires love Star Trek. Even though the whole point of Star Trek is that billionaires suck, and that the universe would be better off without them, and that once we get universal basic income and solve SF homelessness, and end the very concept of billionaire, humanity will usher in a real age of technological advancement.

A guy on the chicago subreddit posted some photos of the same storm and this might be the most demonic cloud ive ever seen

I love that the Forest Service accidentally dropped a new This Is Fine image.

Reminder that our submission window is currently open. It will close 11:59 pm Hawaii time on August 31.

Submission information can be found here
https://www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/submission-guidelines/

Feel it, love it 🥰

Summer moments 🌱 artwork from 4 years ago, you can get prints of this in my art store :)
#shopsmall #art #artprint #illustration #nature #inspiredbynature #digitalart #procreate #natureart #colorful

https://www.johannaforster.com/prints

Very sad to learn Raymond Pun won't be stepping into the role of President-Elect of ALA after all, I was excited for his presidency. I hope he's ok though. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/the-scoop/pun-to-step-away-from-ala-presidency/

queer historical romance is my everything and the chemistry between first eloise and cressida, then benedict and paul, THEN francesca and michaela (gender swap! gender swap!) — be still my fluttering pansexual heart. 💖💛💙

i got better

#crossstitch

I tried this last year and it didn't happen but it's worth another shot! My 2y/o son (US, WV/OH) is waiting for a kidney transplant. We've known since he was born that Ripley would need a #KidneyTransplant once he was big enough but every donor, include myself, has been knocked out of consideration. We've come *so* close to finding a donor but it has not happened yet. If you or someone you know would have any interest in being screened, you can visit https://ripley.love/donate

Boosts appreciated!

to the tune of pink floyd’s “money”:

pollen / it’s a grass

that’s all i have so far, but i thought it was pretty good. 🤧

it was still Not Good and i was still entertained despite myself. it kept my brain occupied during my restitching session and that all i wanted. in conversation with star wars, 😬. it’s not a favorable comparison.

plasma swords are cool and kora’s actor is a beautiful human being who i never tire of looking at. the skyscapes are gorgeous and robot king voiced by anthony hopkins getting a paycheck is a hoot and i wish he was in every scene. it was better than the first and i will watch the third. 🤷🏻

thoughts so far: all of the droids are too perfect for this world and pip is the second best screwdriver in sci-fi after the sonic. i was not prepared for how utterly terrifying i would find a force-wielding wookiee.

there had best be lots more flashbacks because carrie ann moss is my queen. yord gives me real d&d paladin vibes and i keep waiting for the effects folks to make his cloak flutter a la xenk in the d&d movie.

we all shrieked when abigail thorn showed up in the last episode and had to rewind it twice so we could actually hear her speak. yay! (go watch philosophy tube if you don’t know of whom i speak — they’re all amazing https://youtube.com/@philosophytube)

i started a huge project yesterday. 1 stitch off. 400 must go. yes, i'm fine.

#crossstitch

went to go see #furiosa this weekend. fury road is on my all-time favorite list. this is not, but i was entertained. here are a handful of review-type thoughts

it was character & plot driven, which i can’t believe i’m saying about a mad max movie. anya taylor-joy does cypher so well, but there was rather a lot of even bb-ier furiosa at the beginning. kids in this universe make me so uncomfortable. we are emphasizing the pre in prequel. is chris hemsworth really just thor now? no capes.

My begonia is about 25 years old. When it gets bruised or bumped, I root and plant the fallen bits, then give them away.
#BloomScrolling

Edit: plant ID is "Beefsteak Begonia", #BegoniaErythrophyllum. The internet says it is one of the earliest hybrids, from Germany in 1845.

Interesting new article for anyone interested in digital history issues -> “Between automated memory and history: blocking ‘sensitive locations’ from Apple Memories” https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/memory-mind-and-media/article/between-automated-memory-and-history-blocking-sensitive-locations-from-apple-memories/B9F494C0829A13A1E7A33D8328D758F5

Stunning century-old illustrations of Scandinavian fairy tales by artist Kay Nielsen, born on this day in 1886 https://t.co/iWZvRYZq3c

We recently published an initial report on our findings as part of our project to investigate “reasonable costs” for public access to United States federally funded research and scientific data. Explore the report https://investinopen.org/blog/the-cost-and-price-of-public-access-to-research-data

The paper focuses on research data as one of the key scholarly output types impacted by the Nelson Memo. The research is supported by the National Science Foundation https://investinopen.org/data-room/reasonable-costs (2/n)