links for 2010-05-31

• Dancing Typography / Never Gonna Give You Up
  As Vanlal said, "The best way to get RickRolled." And he's right.
  (tags: rickroll animation typography via:vanlal)
• Stop Top Two
  Please vote NO on Prop 14. From the site: 'Proposition 14, also known as a Top Two election system and mistakenly called an “open primary”, would abolish our current party primary elections and replace it with a free for all June election to pick the top two candidates for the November election. Only two candidates will appear on the November ballot, even two candidates from the same party, and write-in candidates will no longer be allowed.' (via crism)
  (tags: politics california election)

KublaCon 2010 Arrival

KublaCon 2010 Arrival

Originally uploaded by cygnoir

We have only been at KublaCon for a few hours, and I am exhausted. While I expected to have enough energy to write a proper entry on how it feels to be among my people, a single photo will have to suffice for now.

Nice

“Excuse me,” said someone behind me.

I turned around. A young man who had been working quietly for hours had approached the reference desk.

“Yes?”

“I just wanted to say … you are so nice.”

He must have overheard me working with another patron. I smiled and thanked him. And kept smiling.

While I would like to say that the work is its own reward, it is not enough when so many other negative things detract from it. Compliments like this buoy me for days.

Glaucus atlanticus

I watched the fence-entangled dog video that a few folks have mentioned, and through the magic of related videos, I caught my first glimpse of Glaucus atlanticus, the blue ocean slug.

You will want to see more.

Desiderata

Eighteen years ago, I first read Max Ehrmann’s prose poem “Desiderata” in the room description of a MUD. It resonated deeply with me, and I tend to revisit it when my life feels like an ill-tailored suit.

Desiderata

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

© 1927 by Max Ehrmann

I promise not to kill you.

I promise not to kill you.

Originally uploaded by cygnoir

I have had spiders on the brain since I started to receive feedback on my elevator story, so when FunkyPlaid pointed this creature out to me, I was happy to dust off the old Rebel.

Today was a day much like any other day except for the part where I broke down in tears while speaking to a total stranger. (At least I was locked in my office at the time.) But then the total stranger made my day. I was cheered, so I went to the Apple Store just to touch an iPad. It was heavier than I expected, and more beautiful. I almost bought a new pair of earbuds but didn’t. Then some people at the train station insulted my hat. When I got home, FunkyPlaid was waiting for me and the cats sat on opposite ends of the futon and we ate Thai food and the rain made quiet sounds all above and everything ended up all right.

links for 2010-05-25

• Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room, LoC
  Handy newspaper and periodical resources from the Library of Congress.
  (tags: newspapers periodicals libraries america)
• Facebook Absolutely Must Die
  From the post: 'And what does F?is?bùk? mean? "Absolutely must die." F?i means "not," s? means "die," and bùk? "impermissible, cannot." In other words, F?is?bùk? may be rendered as "cannot not die" (double negative), i.e., "absolutely must die."'
  (tags: language facebook)
• booktrade.info – Book Trade Announcements – Weidenfeld & Nicolson Acquire New Novel By Steve Martin
  I enjoyed "Shopgirl" immensely, and am looking forward to Steve Martin's newest, "An Object of Beauty".
  (tags: books)
• New iPhone to land in US on 7 June • The Register
  From the article: "The pattern is a familiar one, since the original iPhone launch in June 2007, but the big difference is that Google is now Apple's avowed enemy, not close ally. Google executives used the firm's own developer conference last week to attack Apple at every turn, and Jobs is likely to respond during his own keynote. In a weekend open email, he said there was 'not a chance' that Android could surpass Apple on the technology front, says Gizmodo."
  (tags: iphone apple)

It’s My Phone

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Hawk and I went to Anchor & Hope for dinner. It was a wonderful evening: we crossed off #48 on 7×7′s 2010 Big Eat SF list, plus I told a story that made Hawk laugh.

He mentioned that I might want to lead with the story next time. So here I am, not leading with the story.

After work and before I was due at Anchor & Hope, I headed to Westfield because, despite it being a large collection of stores I avoid, it has one thing I love: Maido, a lovely stationery shop filled with fountain pens and notebooks and tiny stickers shaped like frogs and kittens and wheelbarrows and what appear to be smiley-faced boogers.

I kicked around Maido for a while, checking out the happy booger stickers, and then did something I rarely do: I skipped the escalators in favor of the elevator. Now, I am no elevator-hater; I merely prefer the grace and poise of open-air perambulation. But I was weary, and the route to the escalators brought me past the salespeople who yell at me that I need “skincare solutions”, so I elevated instead.

As the elevator opened and I walked toward it, I heard a high-pitched alarm sound behind me. Suddenly, a young man carrying a large Abercrombie & Fitch shopping bag ran at full-speed into the elevator as the high-pitched alarm sound grew louder. Confusing even myself, I ambled right in too.

As the doors closed, and with only the two of us in a small, gently-moving room, it became obvious that the high-pitched alarm sound was emanating from the man’s bag.

“That doesn’t sound good,” I said affably.

The man looked at me, slightly out of breath, and said, “It’s my phone.”

I watched with vague interest as he took his clearly-silent phone out of his jeans pocket, flipped it open, and pantomimed pressing a button over and over again.

“Can’t shut it off,” he added.

A second later, the elevator bell dinged, the door opened, and the man darted out. I wandered off to look for a security guard, pondering two things:

1. The man thought I was naïve enough to mistake a security tag alarm for a ringtone.
2. I saw no need to correct him.

links for 2010-05-24

• 'Lost' Possibly Still Airing In Parallel Dimension, Desperate Fans Report | The Onion – America's Finest News Source
  I love The Onion! "NEW YORK—Desperate fans of the recently concluded television series Lost are speculating that the program is continuing on in a parallel dimension somewhere, and that alternate versions of showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are currently writing new episodes of the series. 'It's very possible that a sideways world running concurrent to our own exists, and that a facsimile of myself is happy, fulfilled, and already gearing up for the season seven premiere of Lost,' said 36-year-old Kevin Molinaro, who, along with more than 20 million other hopeless fans, has recently booked multiple roundtrip tickets from Los Angeles to Australia in hopes of traveling through a vortex in the space-time continuum. 'I just have to find a way to get there. We all do.' According to data from Google analytics, searches for 'How to build/detonate/use a hydrogen bomb to open up a multidimensional wormhole' have increased 10 millionfold since the episode aired."
  (tags: humor lost)

Who You Gonna Call?

Thank you, NYPL, for allowing Improv Everywhere to create this. I laughed out loud, as did many library patrons. (via Alanna)