(caveat: we are v drunk) A: so if soup is round and dumplings are triangler, what shape is a soup dumpling? Me: trapezoidal. A: so then what food is a rhombus? Me: grilled cheese.

There are a couple of threads within here so click through the replies to find the actual conversation that started all this but I'm drunk enough to reshare it with all of you, all like three of my followers, you're welcome and goodnight

Alexander Danner@alexanderdanner.bsky.social · last mo.

The weirdest thing about @librarybrandy.bsky.social figuring out that she's autistic is that she is suddenly much more insistent that soup is inherently *round*.

While this is, objectively, the Wrong Cover (sorry, Dan, but it's true), every word of this essay lands. I loved this book as a kid and I love it now, for some of the same reasons and some new ones that only come with age. (Why does OutOfPrint not have shirts of this? Why is there no Folio edition?)

dan sinker@dansinker.com · 3mo ago

I wrote about The Westing Game, book bans, and not lying to kids as part of my "Foundational Texts" essay series. dansinker.com/posts/2026-0...

Today in middle school: Convo w/5th grader: Kid: the eraser came off my pencil. Me: where is it? K: in the pencil sharpener. Me: .... Me: why is it in the pencil sharpener? K: I put it there. Me: ....why did you put your eraser in the pencil sharpener? K (as if I'm being dense): to.... sharpen it?

I honestly don't know why I find this absurd little story strangely beautiful.

Dinosaur Comics!@qwantz.com · 7mo ago

Sherlock had gone "full Sherlock" when dressing this morning and even Watson had to be like, okay you're dressed like Sherlock Holmes, WE GET IT www.qwantz.com/index.php?co...

3yo: “daddy’s phone is in his pocket!” me: “that’s true!” 3yo: “why isn’t mummy’s phone in her pocket?” me: “… buckle up, kiddo, we’re gonna discuss five hundred years of fashion and misogyny”

I read this book and loved it, but didn't pick up on the neurodivergence because the character seemed perfectly typical to *me* and *I'm* not considered neurodivergent. Multiple friends: "Uh, you are, it's obvious; we've known since the minute we met you. Did you... *not* know?" I guess I do now!

Rachel Gutin@rachelgutin.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Fiction Standout #6: Hemlock and Silver by @tkingfisher.com is an original take on the Snow White story. It features a gloriously neurodivergent protagonist - who is not the Snow White character, and it plays with standard Snow White tropes in a refreshingly nonstandard way.

"but it's everywhere now so we just have to accept it's the new reality" motherfucker we can just stop putting it everywhere! we did it with asbestos and CFCs and lead-based paint or petrol and make-up with arsenic in it! if everyone is using something and it's bad, we can choose to stop!

Sebas@ohlookbirdies.bsky.social · 11mo ago

"anti-AI people should just learn more about it" motherfucker I know so much about it, that's why I'm anti-AI

I will forever be the cranky old lady yelling at AI to get off my lawn. This was a worthwhile perspective. theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art

Book math is showing up an hour early to pick up your preorder on release day just so you can take it home and let it cure like a prosciutto for eight months

I'm so sorry to not alt-text these, but I have Story to Tell You All. Screenshots from where I told it to my library team group chat. (1/?)

Healey tells RFK to kick rocks; all MA residents can get covid vaccines. Governor Healey Announces Immediate Steps to Ensure Vaccine Availability in Massachusetts Amid Trump, RFK Rollbacks | Mass.gov www.mass.gov/news/governo...

This book was short, and packed--not a bit of wasted space. The dark side of being a teenage girl and young woman--the obsessions, desires, power--and finding your way to who you are and who you want to be, but not in the happy-sunshiney way. Really good, and yes, very weird.

Porter Square Books in Cambridge & Boston@portersqbooks.bsky.social · last yr.

It's #WeirdBookWednesday AND #WomeninTranslationMonth So today, let's hype Jawbone by Monica Ojeda, translated by Sarah Booker. Think Shirley Jackson (strong start) meets Secret History (hell yeah!) plus an academic essay about the work of Edgar Allen Poe! (All rig--huh?) Just, trust me.

i can see this one is going to get a lot of use

Janice Hough@leftcoastbabe.bsky.social · last yr.

Daily Mail now is reporting "Bill Clinton wrote 'warm & gushing' letter included in Jeffrey Epstein's infamous 50th 'birthday book." Ok. If files show Bill Clinton is guilty of being a client, as a long-time supporter of the ex-President I can say he should go to prison. Sad but not difficult

Our IT guy sent my school laptop for a warranty repair of a purely cosmetic issue, and the loaner he left immediately gave me an error message about "the trust between this workstation and the primary domain failed" so I'm looking into couples counseling for them so I can get some work done

As I'm going to bed, I remember that I woke up this morning with a particular song in my head, a song that started in a dream. At some point last night, my subconscious Rickrolled me.

JUST IN: The staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services was placed on administrative leave this morning, following a meeting between IMLS leadership and DOGE staff.

Entire staff at federal agency that funds libraries and museums put on leave

The staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services was placed on administrative leave this morning, following a meeting between IMLS leadership and DOGE staff.

npr.org

JUST BECAUSE THE CLOWN CAR GOES VERY FAST DOES NOT MEAN IT ISN’T FULL OF CLOWNS

Micah@rincewind.run · last yr.

the speed at which these guys have broken everything has given a lot of folks who should know better the impression that they are an unstoppable force and the only option is to negotiate the terms of surrender just because the clown car goes very fast does not mean it isn’t full of clowns

This is the best piece of reporting I’ve seen so far on what is going on at IMLS. I encourage everyone who cares about the key role that libraries and museums play in the United States to read it. news.artnet.com/art-world/do...

DOGE Descends on the Institute for Museum and Library Services

DOGE employees and a new acting director showed up at the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) on Thursday for an intended 'raid'

news.artnet.com

One thing I love about Dan Sinker's writing is that he's so honest about the things that are broken and seem irreparably so, but he always has a thread of hope. That's what I try to hold on to.

dan sinker@dansinker.com · last yr.

In light of everything happening, I wrote about how the KKK in the 1920s felt unstoppable, about the people that fought against them anyway, and about how fascism always fails. dansinker.com/posts/202…

If information is an ecosystem, fighting misinformation by teaching information literacy is like fighting climate change with “forest-fire-preparedness classes.” It’s still a great idea, but temper your expectations.

What's one book you read this year that you'd recommend? Doesn't have to be FROM this year. I really enjoyed Everyone in My Family Has Killed Somebody, by Benjamin Stevenson.

"I love coffee," my coworker says. "I'm kind of a connoisseur," he adds, dropping a Seattle's Best pod into the Keurig and carefully placing his Dunkin Donuts mug beneath.

Hey @alexanderdanner.bsky.social looks like @xkcd.com saw our table

Randall Munroe@xkcd.com · 2y ago

Advent Calendar Advent Calendar xkcd.com/3019

I woke up out of a dream the other night that I was protecting either a baby dragon or a dragon egg from a young sabertooth named Maggie. We escaped by jumping off a low cliff into the ocean.

I disliked my job doing page production for biomed journals, so I did what I always did in times of personal uncertainty: I went to the library. As I walked through the doors, it hit me: THIS is the place I belong, where I've always felt most myself. 2y grad school, 9y public lib, 11y school lib.

The Halo-Halo Librarian 🇵🇭🇺🇲👩🏽‍💻📚@infoandhalohalo.bsky.social · 2y ago

Many of us are skeeting Librarian origin stories today. Here's mine. #Skybrarians #AcademicSky 📚📜

This place exists in London and @alexanderdanner.bsky.social did not go? Who did I even marry? www.thecheesebar.com/seven-dials/

Reading The Bird's Nest by Shirley Jackson and remembering why I love her writing so much. "Mr. and Mrs. Arrow brought with them, and spread infectiously, an air of unfading wallpaper and practical carpeting, of ironclad and frequently unendurable mediocrity."

Me, to Alexa: Computer, play Tchaikovsky. Alexa: Ludwig van Beethoven has a new album out. Would you like to hear it? Oh, does he now.

Except in our older house, in which there are pretty much 2 circuits, "most of kitchen" and "both bedrooms, bathroom, living room, dining room, front hall, the rest of the kitchen, and possibly part of the house next door." I fantasized about buying the place just to rewire it.

Randall Munroe@xkcd.com · 3y ago

Breaker Box xkcd.com/2848