You should read this for 5/08/2021:
I’m still on hiatus, but managed to accumulate a short list of links.
Art, Music, and Film
Master of Catherine of Cleves: Acquisition of a Previously Unknown Illumination
Books, Libraries, Writing, and Language
It’s tempting to see this as just another isolated incident — like Grand Central’s decision not to publish Woody Allen’s memoir in 2020 or Threshold’s decision to drop Milo Yiannopoulos’s book in 2017.
But I think this week marks a sea change in publishers’ interest in their authors’ behavior. The cancellation of Bailey’s books came just a day after news broke that hundreds of employees at Simon & Schuster have submitted a petition demanding that the publisher cancel its two-book deal with former vice president Mike Pence and refuse to sign any additional contracts with members of the Trump administration. . . . I suspect some major publishers still don’t understand what having a diverse workforce entails. It was never just about making your office look like a Benetton ad. The real goal behind a diverse workforce is a wide range of experiences and ideas — and people empowered to act on them.
Q&A: Martha Wells, Author of ‘Fugitive Telemetry’ The latest installment of Martha Wells’ fabulous Murderbot books is out. These are super books, and really helped get me through 2020.
Substack: the future of news – or a media pyramid scheme?
To begin, the cohort of writers selected by the company remained undisclosed. This created an invisible tiered system dividing those who were actively supported, and those who were taking a risk in trying to build their own subscriber base.
How to Display Your Books Like a More Sophisticated Adult
Coronavirus | COVID-19
Choosing Safer Activities This is a strikingly poorly titled post from the CDC; what it’s really about is If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing many things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic.. The post explains how being fully vaccinated changes safe activities and expands upon them.
What to Do If You Lose Your Vaccine Card First, right now, take a photo of the front and back with your phone. If you don’t have a smart phone, scan it, or make a photocopy at your local copy store or library. I would also suggest that you keep it at home, with other important papers like passports or birth certificates.
Food and Drink
How to Tell If Your Baking Soda and Baking Powder Are Still Good
History and Archaeology
Yasuke: The mysterious African samurai See also: Netflix’s ‘Yasuke’ trailer sees LaKeith Stanfield voicing a legendary Black samurai
Bronze Age treasure found in Swedish forest by mapmaker
A man surveying a forest for his orienteering club in western Sweden stumbled on a trove of Bronze Age treasure reckoned to be some 2,500 years old.
It includes about 50 items, such as necklaces, bracelets and clothing pins.
Archaeologists uncover oldest human burial in Africa “‘Quite spectacular’ discovery shows three-year-old child was carefully laid to rest nearly 80,000 years ago”
Kim Kardashian named in ‘looted’ Roman statue forfeiture claim
The US government has named Kim Kardashian in a civil forfeiture claim for an ancient Roman statue seized at Los Angeles port in June 2016 that Italian officials think was originally looted from Italy.
According to the court documents, the statue, known as Fragment of Myron’s Samian Athena, was bought by Kardashian from a Belgian art dealer. It has been assessed to be an early to mid-Roman empire copy of a statue in the ancient Greek style.
Politics and Society
Breaking Camp Basecamp announced it would ban “societal and political discussions” at work. But the hardest conversations at work were about the company itself.
Science and Nature
Referral link: Curiosity Stream delivers shows across the full spectrum of the non-fiction genre to demystify science, nature, history, technology, society, lifestyle and more. $19.99/year for thousands of films (or $2.99/month).
Technology
How to have better arguments online
Disagreeing well is hard, and for most of us, stressful. But perhaps if we learn to see it as a skill in its own right, rather than as something that comes naturally, we might become more at ease with it. I believe we have a lot to learn from those who manage adversarial, conflict-ridden situations for a living; people whose job it is to wring information, insight and human connection out of even the most hostile encounter.
Basecamp Bans Politics, An Act That Itself Is Political
US Postal Service Is Surveilling Social Media Services Because It Apparently Has Plenty Of Time And Money To Wast
SetApp: A Suite of macOS Apps for a Single Price Affiliate link for a great collection of ver 200 apps for macOS and iOS for a flat subscription fee.
Women’s Work
Kathie Coblentz, 73, Dies; Not Your Ordinary Librarian
A Yankees fan, marathon runner, cinephile, editor, and, yes, a cataloger, she was the New York Public Library’s third-longest serving employee.
FYI: There are no ordinary librarians.
Pay It Forward and Make It Better
Some restaurants have receipts on the walls. Anyone who is hungry can grab one for a free meal
In a growing number of restaurants in Oklahoma, the walls are decorated with hanging receipts.
Anyone can walk in, pull down a receipt and order a meal free of charge. The receipts are put there by customers who prepay for food and tack them to the wall, leaving them on offer for anyone who is hungry.
Something Wonderful
A gay man was targeted for his rainbow house idea. Dozens responded by helping him paint the colorful stripes.
Their First 3-D Printed House
Buy me a Coffee! If you find this site interesting, and would like to see more, buy me a coffee. While I may actually buy coffee, I’ll probably buy books to review.
