Shared posts

08 Dec 05:48

beastsofbosch: Bosch bird demons from The Garden of Earthly...

Cary

I wanna do a Bosch xmas tree someday...













beastsofbosch:

Bosch bird demons from The Garden of Earthly Delights and The Temptation of St. Anthony triptychs

Available on redbubble as sticker sets!

first three demons here and second three demons here

08 Dec 05:46

mandalorianreynolds: This improved my mood 200%

Cary

They see me rollin'...



mandalorianreynolds:

This improved my mood 200%

08 Dec 05:22

ed-longshanks: asgardreid: holyfilaments: Me “Call the cops...



ed-longshanks:

asgardreid:

holyfilaments:

Me

“Call the cops like I give a fuck”

the last thing a journo sees

03 Dec 18:27

klaus-hargreeves-katz: thebibliosphere: annagetsthefabulousbabes: tzikeh: owl-librarian: sasgalul...

Cary

Vintage cat content

klaus-hargreeves-katz:

thebibliosphere:

annagetsthefabulousbabes:

tzikeh:

owl-librarian:

sasgalula:

coolcatgroup:

scaliefox:

switch-up-snowfox:

flimflamflummox:

shampooligan:

you know what lets actually bring back lolcats, they were so simple and so benevolent. like check this out

Here’s my favorite lolcat:

Next stop: Noobshire

it’s often the cute meme’s that age well once you get past the “literally everywhere” phase.

I like this classic

More classics

I went through almost ten years of photos on my Facebook page go find this

But WAIT! DO NOT FORGET. the granddaddy: 

HOLD UP THERE 

SKIPPY 

“I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER” GOT FAMOUS OFF THE BACKS OF THE PIONEERING LOLCATS

THIS WAS IN THE BEFORE-TIMES 

WHEN THEY WERE KNOWN AS 

CAT MACROS 

AND THEY DIDN’T HAVE TO MAKE ANY SENSE

AND NOW YOU WILL HAVE TO SCROLL THROUGH A FUCKIN’ FEW MORE

image
image
image
image
image
image
image
image
image
image
image
image

  https://youtu.be/UF2bVxFRKhA

THERE WAS A SONG.

“Jesus Christ it’s a lion get in the car!” still pops into my head on a regular basis. Same with “eh meh gherd” (“oh my god”).

Also long cat. I’m sad no one posted long cat.

Also- I can’t find it right now, for some reason- but the “happycat has run out of happy” was referencing not just the format of “[thing]cat is [thing]” but specifically another meme with an identical cat smiling (“happycat is happy”). Possibly it’s the same cat.

02 Dec 04:56

birjani: lovetalkmp3-deactivated20191030: rb muslim cat for good luck 🥺 Cats are Muslim...

Cary

Holy cat content

birjani:

lovetalkmp3-deactivated20191030:

rb muslim cat for good luck 🥺

Cats are Muslim confirmed once again

01 Dec 06:55

So it’s been 11 months. This is her first time curling up with me and falling asleep. She...

So it’s been 11 months. This is her first time curling up with me and falling asleep. She started coming up wanting pets after 3 months but didn’t like being held, before that if she got stressed she would run to our bed and pee on it. It’s been slow trust progress as a Feral Rescue, but we never gave up. She’s still warming up, but I think she knows she has a warm home she won’t lose now.


Who knows what she went through as a kitten when she was caught. But she’s always been skittish about being picked up. She also survived feline distemper with the help of a blood transfusion and a good vet shortly after getting picked up off the streets.

26 Nov 01:06

cobrilee: whatis-andwhatshouldneverbe: kiyannasquotebook: hedwi...













cobrilee:

whatis-andwhatshouldneverbe:

kiyannasquotebook:

hedwig-dordt:

margarita-repulsa:

tritiated:

musician-forever:

facingthewaves:

mediamattersforamerica:

This, coming from the same network whose favorite doctor argues Michelle Obama is too fat to be credible on nutrition.

I know we all say we should burn Fox News to the ground but like…honestly. We should burn Fox News to the ground.

What the fuck

So “normal” weight kids are overweight? what the actual fuck

You see,the problem is children are happy. How can we ruin this,fellow Decepticons?

Strictly speaking they are feeling “less bad” than in earlier years. It’s not even that these kids are happy, they are less unhappy.

“You have to be afraid to hurt everyone’s feelings.” Is it your goal to hurt children’s feelings? Like on purpose?

If i were a happy fat child, it wouldve made my teens and young adult life a lot fucking easier, shine on happy fat children, fuck what that skinny sad old people say

These people can get fucked. My kid, despite being an athlete, has thick legs and a bit of a tummy. He spends hours on the ice each week between practice and games, and practices at home several times a week as well. He also plays baseball, basketball, and football with his classmates at recess and after school, and runs in gym class.

But because his body isn’t scrawny and stick-thin like his teammates and classmates, he confesses to me that he feels fat and like no one wants him to play with them because he’ll just slow them down. Even when his teammates call him the hero of the game because he got a shutout, he still worries that his size makes him an undesirable teammate.

So yeah, these people can go to hell and take their hate-filled cronies with them. I have spent years trying to undo the harm society’s obsession with thinness has caused for myself, and now for him, and I’ll be damned if these assholes are going to take that progress away from us.

HOW CAN WE RUIN THIS FELLOW DECEPTICONS

13 Nov 17:31

The Oddly Autocratic Roots of Pad Thai

Cary

I recall hearing about the govt noodle carts, but never heard the whole story.

The Oddly Autocratic Roots of Pad Thai:

southeastasianists:

As World War II approached, Thailand was in a precarious position. For years, the country’s leaders had clutched their independence closely, worried about the French and English, who had colonized neighboring Cambodia, Laos, and Burma. Now, Japan was expanding imperially into East Asia, having invaded China in 1937.

In response, Plaek Phibunsongkhram’s government took action. As part of a national campaign called “Noodle is Your Lunch,” the Public Welfare Department gave Thais free noodle carts and distributed recipes for a new national dish: pad Thai.

At the time, the dish was little known, and no one called it “pad Thai.” In rice-centric Thailand, then known as Siam, the dish seemed more Chinese—similar noodle dishes likely arrived in Thailand centuries earlier with Chinese traders. But Thailand’s prime minister, who first rose to power as part of a military coup against the longtime monarchy, had spoken. As part of his strident nationalism, he wanted all Thais to eat pad Thai.

A noodle project may seem trivial in the context of world war. But Phibunsongkhram, better known as Phibun or Pibul in the West, thought it was the very seriousness of the situation that demanded this response.

Phibun believed that a strong national culture, including pad Thai, was key to Thailand remaining independent. Thailand was surrounded by colonies that European powers had justified on the basis of civilizing and modernizing their populations. Plus, Japan, which coveted control of natural resources, was creating an empire in East Asia. “We must be as cultured as other nations,” Phibun told his ministers in a speech. Otherwise, “Thailand would be helpless and soon become colonized. But if we were highly cultured, we would be able to uphold our integrity, independence, and keep everything to ourselves.”

Weiterlesen

12 Nov 23:57

girls night!

Cary

I love them and fear them...

11 Nov 20:45

nerdlingwrites: profeminist: https://www.instagram.com/thedailyp...















nerdlingwrites:

profeminist:

https://www.instagram.com/thedailypolitique

The white tears in the notes are… WOW. You’d think I’d be used to it by now but I am always boggled by the intensity of white fragility.

08 Nov 00:08

spacecase-inez: leiaorganaoil: Happy Birthday Carrie Fisher![B....













spacecase-inez:

leiaorganaoil:

Happy Birthday Carrie Fisher!
[B. October 21st, 1956-∞]

“When I love, I love for miles and miles. A love so big it should either be outlawed or it should have a capital and its own currency.” - Carrie Fisher

Happy birthday, Space Mom.

07 Nov 21:43

betweenparallels: elierlick: Ending the stigma of drug use will...



betweenparallels:

elierlick:

Ending the stigma of drug use will save lives.

“Never Use Alone” is a number you can call when you have no choice but to use when you’re alone.

If you call (800) 484-3731, an operator will answer your call, and ask for your first name, location and whether you have any allergies, or medical conditions. After you’ve given us this information you can go ahead and inject your substance. After you’ve ingested the substance, we will continue communicating with you. If you do not respond after 30-45 seconds, we will notify emergency services of a possible overdose at the location you’ve given us.

We will never shame you, judge you, or preach at you to quit. If you are ready to quit though, we have treatment resources for every state in the US. Regardless if you have insurance, or not. We will do our best to connect you with the help you need. please call. We are on standby.

—-

This seems like a solid and real thing, I did my best to vet them and found their FB:
https://www.facebook.com/Neverusealone/

They also seem to help with getting Narcan.

05 Nov 19:10

Divider sticky notes /Decibel X/Public speaking tip

by claudia
Cary

Why have I never seen these sticky notes before?

Sign up here to get Recomendo a week early in your inbox.

 

Organize your notebooks
I’m a notebook hoarder/collecter and regularly use 2-3 different notebooks a day for work, journaling, lists, brain dumps, etc. Sometimes I need to flag pages to revisit and instead of post-it notes, I’ve been using these Redi-Tag Divider Sticky Notes ($5). These are so useful for indexing your notebooks and annotating pages. I’m still spread out all over the place, but this helps me keep track of what’s important. — CD

Measuring noise with your phone
Decibel X is an app for the iPhone ($3.99 per month, also available on Android) that is a noise meter. It pretty accurately measures noise on a decibel scale. I use it to monitor the noise levels in restaurants and workplaces in an effort to increase quiet. When I am recording podcasts I use it to ensure there’s little background noise. It’s also entertaining and instructive to measure sound levels outside in nature and urban areas. — KK

The only thing you need to know about public speaking
“The only thing that truly matters in public speaking is not confidence, stage presence, or smooth talking. It’s having something worth saying.” This is from Chris Anderson’s book, TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking. — MF

Werewolf, intense social game
When we meet for family reunions, or gather with friends, our favorite group game is Werewolf. Classrooms and corporate retreats also play Werewolf. It’s a deduction/deception game, extremely social, that is as much fun to watch as to play, so it can involve everyone. The games are exhilarating, surprising, and addictive. The only gear you need are some cards. While you can get by with an ordinary deck of cards, a set of dedicated Werewolf cards makes it much easier. After you’ve played a number of basic games, it’s easy and fun to play with variations, which are supported by this deck of Apostrophe Werewolf cards ($11). — KK

Battery powered security light
The Lumenology Portable LED Motion Sensor Light ($30) is powered by three AA batteries. It has a light detector and motion detector, so it shines only when it detects motion at night (saving the battery charge). It comes with two different mounts: one is magnetic and the other is a flexible tripod that can work as a regular tripod or be wrapped around a pole or a branch. I used the magnetic mount on my front gate and it shines a bright, wide spot of light for 30 seconds when anyone comes to the gate. — MF

More eyeballing measurement tips
Recomendo reader Wendy shared a follow-up tip to last week’s Recomendo, she says “Another tip I read once about eyeballing measurements is to take pinches of salt and place them in your other hand till you think you have a teaspoon, then measure it against a real teaspoon. Do the pinches over and over till you get a consistent amount per teaspoon. I figured mine out so that I get ¼ teaspoon per pinch. Super handy for salting stuff, but also works with herbs. But in the case of herbs, remember how much a teaspoon looked like in your palm.” — CD

 

If you’re enjoying Recomendo, check out Book Freak, which shares short pieces of advice from books once a week and What’s in my bag?— each week one interesting person shares four favorite things in their bag.

-- Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson

01 Nov 14:20

bubonickitten:having memory problems is like being an archaeologist of your own life and it isn’t...

Cary

It me

bubonickitten:

having memory problems is like being an archaeologist of your own life and it isn’t nearly as exciting as it sounds

bubonickitten:

love how sometimes i’m like “oh, i should put this somewhere safe so i don’t lose it and know exactly where to find it later!” and about a month later i’m standing in my ransacked room trying to get into past me’s mindset like some kinda amateur historian on one of those history channel treasure hunting shows trying to get into the mind of a nineteenth century pirate to figure out where they hid some possibly nonexistent apocryphal loot

01 Nov 01:10

Video Archive: WDIO-TV Halloween Weather Report

by PDDTV
Cary

Want to see something scary?
This is what local news was like back when I was a kid.

From the haunted film vault comes this 1970s clip featuring WDIO-TV weatherman Jack McKenna, two mice and Dracula. Also featured at the end are anchorman Dennis Anderson and sportscaster Bill Stefl.

Happy Halloween!

The post Video Archive: WDIO-TV Halloween Weather Report appeared first on Perfect Duluth Day.

31 Oct 14:41

AI Will Soon Be Able To Decode Your Poop

by BeauHD
Cary

#smartass

Microbial health company Seed is launching a campaign to collect 100,000 fecal photos to build what developers say is the world's first poop image database. The campaign dares you to "give a shit" for science by uploading photos of your feces so that scientists can use it to train an AI platform launched out of MIT. Developers say that your photos could potentially help the approximately 1 in 5 people in the U.S. who have chronic gut conditions like irritable bowel syndrome. The Verge reports: Here's how citizen scientists can contribute to the cause. To participate, go to seed.com/poop on your phone (because taking your laptop to the loo is weird, and the page doesn't allow you to submit a photo unless you're using your phone). Click on the big purple button that says "#GIVEaSHIT." You'll be prompted to enter your email address and whether you're on a morning, afternoon, or evening poop schedule. Then, if you've already dropped a deuce, you can take or upload your photo or you can ask for an email reminder to be sent to you according to the time you indicated. After you've submitted your stool for posterity, the image is separated from the metadata (your email address and other potentially identifying information) so that your donation can remain anonymous and HIPAA compliant. A team of doctors will diligently look through every image received. (Yes, that is a real job for seven gastroenterologists who take notes on what they see in the pictures.) Poop can fall into seven categories identified along the Bristol stool scale, which can tell you and your doctor whether you're constipated, lacking fiber, have a serious case of the runs, or somewhere in between. The doctors' insights into your poop will help train artificial intelligence models to understand the same things the doctors see in the image. Similar training systems are used to teach self-driving cars how to identify a tree or a cat in the road, according to David Hachuel, a co-founder of the startup Auggi, which is building the platform.

Share on Google+

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

31 Oct 00:35

windu: YOU’VE GOT MAIL (1998) dir Nora Ephron

Cary

Via a friend recently:
So, like, irony is hilarious at times.If you've ever seen 1998's You've Got Mail you probably cheered on the scrappy little kid's bookstore that was around the corner from multi billion dollar Fox Books. Well, it was actually based around a real little bookstore that was around the corner from the original Barnes and Noble and had two other B+N moving in around it, circling like sharks. https://www.westsiderag.com/2017/06/25/how-a-childrens-bookstore-coming-soon-to-the-upper-west-side-played-a-big-part-in-youve-got-mailThe real irony is that little bookstore has now watched all those B+N open and close and held on there only to fall when a local bakery, that paid part of the rent to use the cafe area, also closed earlier this week. So now I'm totally bummed that my favorite little bookstore has to move and won't be across the street from work anymore.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-books-of-wonder-relocate









windu:

YOU’VE GOT MAIL (1998)
dir Nora Ephron

28 Oct 05:55

NoCal, Josh Edelson

Cary

Wow. Beautiful horror.

28 Oct 05:40

exgynocraticgrrl-archive: 9 Black butch lesbians share their...





















exgynocraticgrrl-archive:

9 Black butch lesbians share their stories in The Butch Mystique (2003)

24 Oct 23:28

Minor Offenders Can Substitute Jail Time for an Art Class at the Brooklyn Museum

by Hakim Bishara
Titus Kaphar, “Shifting the Gaze” (2017), Oil on canvas, 83 × 103 1/4 (courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery and the Brooklyn Museum)

A new program in New York City allows people arrested for minor offenses to avoid jail or court appearance by enrolling in an art course. A pilot run of the program has shown a reduction in recidivism and an improved view of criminal justice agencies among participants, a study by the Court Center for Innovation says.

The city’s Project Reset allows people who are arrested for low-level offenses — fare beating, painting graffiti, shoplifting, and trespassing, among others — to avoid prosecution and incarceration by taking a two-hour course at the Brooklyn Museum. After finishing the course, cases are dismissed, arrest records are sealed, and no criminal court record is registered. Drug offenses are not included in the program. They are treated in another city program called Brooklyn Clear.

“It’s about holding people accountable, but doing it in ways that promote human dignity,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez at a press conference at the Brooklyn Museum on October 21. “It requires individuals to view and discuss a piece of art with people they don’t know,” he added. “They’re asked to create their own art, to think and find meaning in that art.”

The art course at the Brooklyn Museum, sponsored by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and supported by the New York Police Department (NYPD), was launched in the spring of this year as a pilot program. So far, 200 people have participated in the programs and had their cases dismissed, according to Gonzalez. An earlier version of the project that involved art courses in community centers was launched in Brownsville, Brooklyn in 2015, and it was available only for 16 and 17-year-olds (it was later expanded to all ages in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and the Bronx). Another section of the program offers discussion groups that allow participants to reflect on the conditions that had led to their arrest.

A study conducted by the Center for Court Innovation, a partner in the project, shows that participants had fewer re-arrests and new convictions, and longer times to re-arrest and conviction, compared to individuals who have not taken part in the program.

Bob Thompson, “Judgement” (1963), Oil on canvas, 60 x 84in (© Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY; Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery LLC, New York, NY)

Participants at the Brooklyn Museum program are divided into two age groups (one for ages 18 to 25 and another for age 26 and older). Sessions are held by teaching artists Sophia Dawson and Kraig Blue. The younger group’s class focuses on Titus Kaphar’s “Shifting the Gaze” (2017) while the older group discusses “Judgement” (1963) by Bob Thompson. According to Adjoa Jones de Almeida, director of education at Brooklyn Museum who spoke at the press conference, the artworks were chosen for their “potential to spark dialogue around themes of agency, defining our own narrative versus being defined by others.”

Kaphar’s “Shifting the Gaze” is based on a 17th-century Dutch portrait of a wealthy white European family, which he strategically painted over with white paint during a 2017 TED Talk, leaving visible a Black boy believed to be the family’s servant.

The classes include a group discussion of the artworks and an art-making workshop. “After we take a look at Titus Kaphar, ‘Shifting the Gaze’ we go back and kind of recreate some of his process in this painting,” said Dawson at the press conference. The artist said she provides the participants with news articles and images from the museum’s collection to create collages that can “shift the gaze on how someone looks at you personally […] on how people see your community, your neighborhood.”

“It definitely helped me avoid the anxiety of having to attend an actual court date for a mistake I made,” Jessy Singh, a program participant who was initially arrested for shoplifting, said at the press conference. “It helped to make me feel human in a system that often criminalizes people for like the smallest of things, bad choices, wrong place wrong time.”

The post Minor Offenders Can Substitute Jail Time for an Art Class at the Brooklyn Museum appeared first on Hyperallergic.

22 Oct 04:29

Photo

Cary

traces fingers downward.... seems plausible



21 Oct 19:53

Photo





21 Oct 08:14

ANNOUNCING THE 2020 SOCIAL JUSTICE KITTENS CALENDARIt’s 2020,...









ANNOUNCING THE 2020 SOCIAL JUSTICE KITTENS CALENDAR


It’s 2020, and a dozen all-new Social Justice Kittens insist on sharing their own radical memories, experiences, identities, stories, and voices! Once again you can stand back supportively as these cuddly customers utilize pre-colonial and marginalized knowledges to expose new and increasingly terrifying forms of power and oppression!

Dare to announce how much you admire their bravery as these feline fighters battle dark forces including—but not limited to—white supremacy, colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, sexism, classism, homophobia, islamophobia, ableism, ageism, speciesism, transphobia, and xenophobia. 

Or maybe shut the hell up and stay in your lane as they break through to new realms of radical healing and transformative resistance!

The Social Justice Puppies are back, too, and they’re more complicit than ever! They may claim to disgust themselves, but deep down many undoubtedly refuse to acknowledge the intersectional nature of their guilt. These pitiful patriarchal pups will never properly atone for their role in millennia of oppression! There are no cookies here for them—or you! There are only…kittens!

As usual, every bit of kitten and puppy dialogue is sourced from genuine social media posts. Nothing has been taken out of context or misrepresented—these are all faithful to the original courageous declarations which continue to delight and inspire.

To be clear: This is a real, glossy, full-color, 12” x 12” grid-style wall calendar, ready to order NOW and shipping immediately.

Jezebel.com said it best: “The absolute best cat calendar!”

Order here: https://buyolympia.com/Item/liartownusa-social-justice-kittens-2020

19 Oct 09:04

nerdnag: alienducky: sewickedthread: planeoftheeclectic: pe...

Cary

Makes sense...



nerdnag:

alienducky:

sewickedthread:

planeoftheeclectic:

personalprofundity:

redcabbageparty:

mzminola:

tanoraqui:

bladeoffenris:

amiseeingyourcolourormine:

raserus:

LIL BABBY

U CANT SCARE THE OCEAN

GO LAY DOWN

IT LOOKS LIKE TOOTHLESS

I like to believe that all the dragons in the world were magically cursed and turned into cats. But cats have never forgotten where they come from, hence the attitude.

I nearly didn’t reblog this but the above comment makes more sense than anything I’ve ever heard.

…that’s…that’s actually a story my mom used to tell me when I was little? That a dragon showed up at someone’s cottage so they gave it milk. And the dragon enjoyed the milk, so it kept coming back and got smaller and softer and purry-er until eventually it wasn’t a dragon anymore, it was a cat, and that’s where cats came from and why we keep giving them milk.

She might have gotten the story from Ursula K. Le Guin, or I have confused it with a different dragon story.

That’s also why cats tend to hoard their toys behind the couch!

Actually the story is even older. Written by a woman named Edith Nesbit, first published in 1899, it is called “The Dragon Tamers”. It predates Leguin and other fantasy biggies like Lewis and Tolkien.

Nesbit actually can be credited with being one of the first authors that began to shift myths and legends to more fantasy-like stories (fantasy as a genre how we know it, wasn’t around then because it was just part of literature, especially British literature). In fact, many scholars who study fantasy literature and children’s literature believe that, since her children’s stories were so popular with children in England, the stories and their content prompted Tolkien (the first to coin fantasy as its own genre in his essay “On Fairy Stories”) to take up the stories of dragons and elves and fairies as they’d have been children when she was writing.

Tolkien was born in 1892. He would have been 7 when “The Dragon Tamers” was first published. Edith Nesbit did a LOT for modernizing myths, legends, and lore as a children’s author, maybe more than we will ever know.

http://www.online-literature.com/edith-nesbit/book-of-dragons/6/

Let’s hear it for Edith Nesbit.

@nerdnag dragons are cats!!!

I’ve been saying for so long that cats originate from dragons!!!

19 Oct 08:18

snarp:I am NOT asking for assistance in this mattersnarp:I don’t know how to stop being stupid

snarp:

I am NOT asking for assistance in this matter

snarp:

I don’t know how to stop being stupid

13 Oct 22:26

trilliath: kelagon: malformalady: Before the availability of...











trilliath:

kelagon:

malformalady:

Before the availability of the tape recorder and during the 1950s, when vinyl was scarce, people in the Soviet Union began making records of banned Western music on discarded x-rays calling it ‘bone music’. With the help of a special device, banned bootlegged jazz and rock ‘n’ roll records were “pressed” on thick radiographs salvaged from hospital waste bins and then cut into discs of 23-25 centimeters in diameter. “They would cut the X-ray into a crude circle with manicure scissors and use a cigarette to burn a hole,” says author Anya von Bremzen.

I started to tag people who’d think this is cool
And then I realized that’s probably everyone

That middle one says “элвис пресли“ (Elvis Presley)

05 Oct 00:32

This is why classes need library instruction

kamikaze-kumquat:

mandalorianreynolds:

thebraveandthebroiled:

christina-articulates:

scary-murphy:

plaidadder:

tikkunolamorgtfo:

librarian-amy:

okayto:

okayto:

Student: I can’t find any scholarly articles on this subject!

Me: Okay, what’s the subject?

Student: Creating a culture of sharing in west-coast technological companies.

Me: Alright, and what/where have you tried searching?

Student: I searched “creating a culture of sharing in west-coast technological companies” on the library website!

Me:

I’m still mad about this because it happens frequently. Students at all levels of education need library and research instruction–they should get it before graduating high school, they should be getting it in several different classes in college, and there should be something in grad school–seriously, there are people in my master’s program who don’t know anything besides Google.

And don’t say “they should have learned in [previous level of university education].” Do you think every person continues education within a few years of their first degree? THEY DON’T. Even if they did get a then-good introduction to research, you think nothing changed between 2008 and 2018? How about the doctoral student I met today whose last degree–and last experience with academic libraries–was in 1996? How about the guy in my master’s cohort who got his bachelor’s degree in 1987?

Because look. See that very specific topic the student wanted? There may or may not be actual scholarly articles about it. But here are a few things you can do:

  • First, zoom out. Start broad. Pick a few phrases or keywords, like “tech companies” and “culture.” See what comes up.
    • Actually, back up. First, does your library’s website search include articles, or do you have to go into a database? My library’s website searches some of our 200+ databases, but not all. And you’ll need to find (in advance search or adjustable limiters that pop up after your initial search) how to limit your search to scholarly and/or peer-reviewed articles.
  • What other keywords are related or relevant? For the search above, you could use a combination of “silicon valley,” “company/ies” or “organization/s,” “sharing,” “collaborative,” “workplace culture,” “social culture,” “organizational culture,” and those are just the ones I can come up with off the top of my head.
  • Did you find something that looks promising? Great! What kind of subjects/keywords are attached (usually to the abstract, sometimes in the description section of the online listing)? Those can give you more ideas of what to search. Does it cite any articles? Look at those! Some databases (ilu ProQuest) will also show you a selection of related/similar articles.
  • If you’re researching a very specific topic, you may not find any/many articles specifically about your subject. You may, for example, have to make do with some articles about west-coast tech companies’ work cultures, and different articles about creating sharing/collaborative environments.

That said, this student did the right thing: they tried what they knew to do, and then reached out for help.

They tried what they knew to do, and then reached out for help.

I get goddamn professors pulling this shit, there is not one single level in the academy where research literacy isn’t lacking.  

Also: Everyone has forgotten how to browse the stacks. As in, find a book that’s relevant, go to the stacks, then look at what’s near it on the shelf. You will find stuff that way that would never turn up on a search. It really works and can be a useful supplement to electronic research even though it involves your corporeal form and books made out of paper. 

my law school requires a legal research class. you take it as a 1L, and it’s mandatory. you are signed up for it automatically along with all your other 1L courses. it’s a wise thing to do, because you’re fucked as a lawyer if you don’t know to find, you know, the law.

I have a library and information science degree, which I often refer to as a degree in google, and I’m only being a little facetious with that. I often impress people with my ability to find things online, but it’s only because I’ve taken so many classes in research methods that I know how to phrase a search well. It’s so important, not just in school! 

Goddammit there is so much information and so many way to access it that it burns my biscuits when we don’t give students the tools they need to succeed at this. Hell yeah all y’all above!

And here’s what I’ve got to add:  

Ask a Librarian

Seriously guys librarians are here to help. We would love to help you find the right resource for your particular informational need and we’ve been trained to do so as efficiently and effectively as possible. Nowadays you don’t even have to go to the library in person as many libraries offer online chat services as well as the option to contact via email. Further, and I think very importantly we are dedicated to our patrons rights to privacy. To quote the American Library Association the “rights of privacy are necessary for intellectual freedom and are fundamental to the ethics and practice of librarianship.”  

Search the Stacks

This is one of my favorite ways  to immerse myself in an area of study. While a good subject or keyword search will lead you to some good results sometimes is just as fruitful to go the library and plunk yourself down in section and browse all the books in a topic area. Libraries will label the (book)stacks based on whichever classification system they use and you can use the links below to figure out which area of the stacks you’ll want to look through.

Dewey: used in public libraries

LOC /Library of Congress: classification system used in university libraries

http://www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit03/libraries03_04.phtml

Online Books

Some websites like gutenberg project are dedicated to making public domain books accessible to the public. Using the search term public domain books is a good way to go about looking for more sources of them. Open sourced is another good term to use when trying to find freely accessible books online and that’s not just limited to fiction books but textbooks are also offered by various sites.

Project Gutenberg is an online archive of tens of thousands of  books that have enter the public domain that can be freely accessed.

Openstax is one website that provides access to Higher Ed and AP open sourced textbooks.

Libguides and Pathfinders

As stated above librarians are in the business of connecting people to resources. If we can’t do so in person then we also do so by creating guides that can be found and used when we aren’t around. These guides are filled with search terms, books, articles, reviews, lists, links, and anything else we think would be helpful for patrons trying to explore a particular topic area. 

Pathfinder is a particular term used for these guides. Libguides is a particular platform which to host these guides. Using either word at the end of your search terms online will bring up guides that have been created in that particular subject area. Or you can explore libguides directly with your search terms to find what guides librarians across the country have created.

Note: Using pathfinder in your search terms may pull up resources about Paizo Publishing’s same titled tabletop RPG series and while dragons are cool you can modify your search to library pathfinder to exclude these resources.

Other than using a search engine or libguides directly I find a great many pathfinders on university library sites. Usually what I do is find a university’s library webpage, find their pathfinder/research guides/guides section, and then browse through their lists of guides. These are generally organized by field of study so just pick the one you are interested in and look through the resources they have listed.

Some of the resources will be accessible for anyone while some might be locked for students of the particular university.  If the article, book, or resource is locked by a school portal you can either search for it online outside of the university portal or you can go to your own university/public library to see if they have access to the resource there. Even if they don’t have it currently in their collection libraries are often connected with other branches and may be able to request an interlibrary loan of what you need.

Online Reference Resources

Sometimes the problem isn’t finding information but finding good information. Below are two sites that I use regularly to help me with this issue when searching online for resources.

The Reference and User Services Association of the American Library Association gives a list of the best free reference sites on the internet

The Ipl2 is a good authoritative source to find general information on a variety of topics. Even though the website is no longer updating there are still a plethora of subject guides that can be explored.

Open Sourced Journals and Articles

Just as there are open sourced books and textbooks so too are there open sourced journals and articles available. Again  you can add the term open sourced when searching for these resources.

DOAJ is the Directory of Open Access Journals and you can search through here to find both articles and journals freely available to access.

Journal Article Tips

Finally whenever I’m searching through journal articles there are a few things I always like to keep in mind.

Build context. Once you find an article that is relevant to your search you can do this by exploring the citations. Both those that the article you are using references in its bibliography and those that reference the article itself. 

Every database is going to do this differently but generally with a few clicks you can find out who has cited an article that you have read. If nothing else try popping the title of your article into google scholar and you’ll see a blue ‘Cited by’ below the description. Also in some cases you can click on the author directly in a database to see what else they have written in the subject. Totally ask your librarian for help navigating the particular database you are using again they will be stoked to do so. 

Building this context of literature by finding and reading these extra articles is important to building a critical understanding of your topic and will allow you to build the best possible defense of your arguments. This will also allow you to see if the article you’ve initially selected is in itself a viable position or if it is an outlier of its field.

If you can try and find reviews of literature articles and special issue/special topic editions of journals. These are your best friends in the resource world as these types of articles and journals compile a great deal of information on particular topic in a tiny space. They are immensely helpful in building context in an area of thought and useful to finding out what to read further to be informed in an area of study. Add those words to your search terms to see if you can get some useful resources.

Goddamn…

We should be taught this in MIDDLE SCHOOL.

This is a more important skill than being able to WRITE COHERENTLY.

This is not just a writing or academic skill, this is a CITIZENSHIP SKILL.

Did…did they take this out of school? When I was in middle school we were taken By Class to the school library and the librarian gave a lecture on how to us the library and it’s resources. Of course, at the time all they had was the card catalogue, but we were taught how to read the cards. We were taught the dewey decimal system and how to search the stacks. Then the teacher gave us an assignment that made us go to the public library and use the knowledge we were given. I don’t remember if I was taught to look through journals then or if that came later, but I eventually learned it. Either way, I was taught that way back in the 80s…

WHEN THE EVER LIVING FUCK DID THEY STOP TEACHING THAT IN SCHOOLS? IT’S A GODSDAMN NECESSITY IN THIS AGE OF INFORMATION. INFORMATION IS FUCKING USELESS IF YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO FIND IT!

Gods…we are failing kids so fucking hard in this fucking country…

04 Oct 20:48

Popper

by John martinez
Cary

I can sympathize... I just had a tiny little ingrown whisker at the corner of my lip and now it looks like I'm a little kid with Koolaid mouth

04 Oct 18:55

ofcoursethatsathing: This dog mask to haunt your dreams. I legit...







ofcoursethatsathing:

This dog mask to haunt your dreams. I legit thought that was cat woman for a solid 20 seconds.

[ LINK HERE…] 

03 Oct 02:40

cat-cosplay:Critters today.cat-cosplay:Every October 1st Things become a little…...

Cary

Quality scaredy-cat content

cat-cosplay:

Critters today.

cat-cosplay:

Every October 1st Things become a little… Stranger.

cat-cosplay:

Or for you Silent Hill fans this October 1st.

cat-cosplay:

It’s October 1st, you know what that means…

One last zombie one.