@copperbadge on Tumblr

So Fox News ran a story about how they think libraries are turning into drug-infested sex dens and I am shocked, shocked that I was never offered any drugs during my 15+ years working in libraries.

faeriekit

Where do they think the sex is happening?? Every single aisle is lit in that horrible LED lighting. The teens don't even make out here anymore.

faeriekit

As a state certified librarian I can assure you that you just have to go into your local library and ask if they're participating in the new Fox News Hysteria program smh. If they're not, you'll just have to renew your library card and use the fun and valuable resources they're offering right now, such as wifi hotspots, museum passes, dvd lending, mid level adult erotica, ebook lending, and printing! 😔

copperbadge

Speaking as someone who did catch several people having sex in the library during my tenure as a circulation assistant, I'd recommend university libraries.

The odds of sex and drugs in the library are not high, but they are never zero.

beradan

Speaking as someone who works in a university library, if I catch people in my library having sex because "Copperbadge said it was ok," you and I are going to be having a talk.

copperbadge

You know what, that's fair. Don't get caught, guys!

copperbadge reblogged

tzikeh

icarus-suraki

faeriekit

Where do they think the sex is happening?? Every single aisle is lit in that horrible LED lighting. The teens don't even make out here anymore.

faeriekit

copperbadge

Speaking as someone who did catch several people having sex in the library during my tenure as a circulation assistant, I'd recommend university libraries.

The odds of sex and drugs in the library are not high, but they are never zero.

copperbadge

jimin-nothing-stronger asked:

Hey Sam! Long-time fan of your writing here. I read Six Harvests a couple of weekends ago and absolutely loved the casual mysticism vibes.

Possibly a weird question, but — what are your thoughts on folk music? I feel like you might vibe with Carter & Grammer’s discography. Carter’s lyrics have a lot of Southern Magical Realism energy. “Tillman County”, “Ordinary Town”, and “Flowers of Evangeline” spring to mind.

Somewhat relatedly, there’s a seriously spooky song called Аделаида (“Adelaide”) by a Soviet band called Aquarium. There isn’t a great translation available, sadly, but it’s about two people in a house who hear the North Wind knocking at the window. The narrator is telling his companion not to worry — the Wind is his friend, and he’s come to clear a path in the sky for the rising of a star named Adelaide — but there’s some seriously witchy vibes. There’s a great bit where the narrator goes, “the pulse you keep hearing — / that’s the scythe striking stone”, which is creepy as hell? But also the North Wind seems largely benevolent, despite being Very Powerful — “he cradles us into his palms”, etc. In any case, I feel like this has some conceptual overlap with the church in Six Harvests that I thought you might appreciate. It’s also a really gorgeous-sounding piece of music, especially with headphones.

Oh yes, I'm very familiar with them! Tillman County and Crocodile Man were both on my regular playlist rotation for years, and Hey Ho and Cat Eye Willie were frequent guests as well. While I wasn't specifically thinking of Carter and Grammer when I wrote Six Harvests it's undeniable that they and other folk artists like them heavily influenced the writing of it in general.

I had a listen to Adelaide and it is very atmospheric. Because of the way I experience music (I guess most people get mental images with music, but the aphantasia means I don't) I tend to lean very heavily towards English-language songs with a narrative, especially when they're slower like Adelaide is. I don't think it'll go into the music library, but it's cool to hear about and I do love the "scythe striking stone" as a poetic concept.

If folks want to listen, I found a pretty good live performance with English subs. I don't know how accurate the subs are, since they translate "scythe striking stone" as "diamond hitting diamond", but the gist comes through, I think.

#jimin-nothing-stronger #music

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dignitywhatdignity

3.75yo: (sees me reading @copperbadge 's Shivadh Romances Vol. 1) Mommy, is that your star book?

copperbadge

LOL! Well it's a star book to me! The second one even has a gold star on the cover...

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copperbadge

I used to spend a lot of time involuntarily on Navy Pier, and it's a nightmare but...the views do compel one.

[ID: Two photographs from the upper deck halfway down Navy Pier; one looks west and shows the ferris wheel and Streeterville high rise buildings with the sunset behind them, while the other looks east snd shows the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre sign and a lake cruise ship docked nearby.]

copperbadge

Hamlet has hamletted! Good night, sweet prince.

Pretty good show -- not what I had anticipated, because I'd been wondering how Izzard would pull it off without just moving back and forth physically in space while doing all the dialogue, and it turns out she just...did that.

Now, that being said, there is something about stripping the play down to a single person that highlights the quality of the writing. Not that we needed to know that Shakespeare was a genius, but it's nice to see such lovely new life breathed into a script that often comes off a bit tired. It took a few minutes getting used to, but once we got into the swing of the play it became very fluid. Actually a very refreshing rendition in the end.

Also there was a repeating bit related to Roaencrantz and Guildenstern that was EXTREMELY funny. I won't spoil it but it was very fun, very classic Izzard.

And now I'm on the bus waiting to go home and enjoy the existential meditation on life that always accompanies a decent viewing of Hamlet.

#chicago Shakespeare #hamlet #suzy izzard

copperbadge

I used to spend a lot of time involuntarily on Navy Pier, and it's a nightmare but...the views do compel one.

#chicago Shakespeare #navy pier #chicago

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copperbadge

On Sunday, AS Roma had an away game against Udinese; I gave the game a miss because I had other stuff, but I thought I'd check the score after the game ended, only to find it was suspended in the 71st minute. One of the players, Evan Ndicka, had collapsed on the field while clutching his chest.

He's fine; he had to be taken to the hospital, but the injury appears to be from a collision with another player, not a cardiac event. It's always scary when a player falls like that regardless of the sport, but even the talking heads agree this was handled extremely well -- the fans fell silent so the EMTs could work, the coaches and captains agreed to suspend the game, and de Rossi, who is still very new to coaching at all let alone as head of a Serie A team, kept his wits about him, got the EMTs onto the field for Ndicka, and put his players first.

The most touching part of the whole narrative, however, isn't the good behavior of fans and staff or that the entire team all went to the hospital to see him -- it's that his inseparable best friend on the team, Houssem Aouar (on the left in the third picture), petitioned the hospital to be allowed to stay overnight with him. Request denied, but still a very sweet gesture.

[ID: Three images of Evan Ndicka, a center-back for Italian football team AS Roma; in the first he is being carried on a stretcher off the field, surrounded by teammates and medical staff, while in the second he is sitting up in a hospital bed, attached to monitors but with an upraised arm and a smile to show he's all right. The third image shows him in a black suit, entering a stadium before a game, sharing a friendly look with Houssem Aouar, midfielder for Roma.]

copperbadge

For those who love a triumphant resolution, I thought I'd share that today Roma and Udinese completed their game. They could have kept playing on the day, but I think it was proper not to; the score was 1-1 when Ndicka collapsed, so they could also have simply declared the game over and gone home with a draw. But the standings in the league are close enough that it really did matter, and particularly it mattered to Roma, who may be able to enter the Champions league if they can hold onto fifth place or climb into fourth.

Today they played the last 20 minutes, and in the ninetieth minute, Roma scored, leading them to a hard-fought 2-1 win against Udinese! And while he didn't play today, news broke yesterday that Ndicka has been cleared to return to practice and the team.

Allora come sempre, daje Roma -- "per la maglia, per la gente, per la Roma", e per il nostro Ndicka!

(Then as always, go Roma -- "for the jersey, for the people, for Rome", and for our Ndicka!)

#as roma #football

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jabberwockypie

sargassostories

Things I’m learning about All For the Game fans: a lot of y’all didn’t grow up with a cheese drawer in your fridge and it shows

sargassostories

wait ok

sargassostories

If you care about cheese, refrigerators, or Andrew Minyard either positively or negatively please reblog for a larger sample size :)

copperbadge

I have a drawer I refer to as the cheese drawer but it's really for cheese and cheese accessories; I also keep mustard, charcuterie meats, and the occasional dipping sauce in there. But it is For Cheese in my mind.

#food #poll #cheese

copperbadge

[ID: Three elderly vinyl record covers with library tags; the first is labeled Soviet Army Chorus and Band, featuring a photo of a large military band. The second shows the rolling Welsh countryside and is labeled Traditional Welsh Songs; the third is a blue and red cover with an hourglass motif, and reads The American Jewish Experience in Song.]

The Chicago Public Library system recently weeded nine thousand vinyl records from its collection and announced a three-day sale; all records $1, cash only. I didn't imagine that there'd be a lot of LPs I wanted, but I do have a turntable and a reputation as a hipster to maintain, so today on the first day of the sale I strolled down to the Harold Washington Library to check it out.

It was startlingly popular -- each group of roughly 30 people they let in was limited to 15 minutes, and even with the time limit it took me 40 minutes to get in. Worth it, though; I came away with a dozen records all told, mostly a mixture of British and Jewish folk music, with a few soundtracks and other oddities thrown in.

But the piece de resistance, the prize find, was Rome With Love by Jo Basile and his orchestra: an album of accordion covers of Italian folk songs from 1957.

I hope it's half as good as the album cover suggests.

[ID: A fourth album cover reading "Rome with Love" and below that "Roma con Amore", labeled "The Italian Accordion of Jo Basile and his orchestra". The cover features a man and a woman on a scooter with Roma plates, dressed in the height of fifties beach fashion.]

#chicago #chicago public library #music #folk music #studying for conversion

copperbadge

Anonymous asked:

Hi Sam! Have you heard about WBEZ's Fast and Curious 5K? The combination of running and Chicago trivia looks like it might be your sort of thing.

I hadn't! It's uh. Conceptually interesting, but also a bit bare bones on how that works, and seems very first-time-event-organizer, which makes me leery. The PR for it is identical everywhere and very short on detail -- it's unclear whether you're doing trivia as you run or just like, a few quick questions at the finish line. It seems like it has to be the latter, since there are timed run options, but choosing a lane based on how well you think you'll do at trivia seems to indicate it's ongoing on the course. Both sound like nightmares in terms of crowd management.

I think the issue for me is that when I'm running I want to be running so that I can focus on when I'll be able to stop running. Like, I can see how there's a kind of runner who would really enjoy it, but an interrupted run isn't for me, and after I run what I want to do is hydrate and take selfies with my finisher medal :D I might go check it out just to see what the scoop is but it's not something I'd register for based on the information available.

#sam runs #or rather hasn't in a long time #gotta get back to it #chicago

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fruitgoat

ghostcrows

due to inflation you must answer my riddles five

zouffle

due to budget cuts i will grant you two wishes

due to recent layoffs there is only one of me and I lie 50% of the time

copperbadge

Due to supply chain issues, Khajit no longer has wares.

copperbadge reblogged

copperbadge

All the weebs love me for my swag and by swag I mean my dope new wax seal of a cat enjoying ramen.

This is by far the most absurd hobby I've ever had but being fair, it's also one of the cheapest. How much joy can be procured for $7? More than you'd think!

[ID: A photo of my hand holding a round stamped wax seal; it is black with a gold center where the stamp impression is placed. The impression is of a cartoon cat with a massive bowl of ramen, using chopsticks to scoop noodles into their mouth.]

cat-appreciator

C’est incroyable! I wonder if it’d work on clay?

copperbadge

It should, although you may need to use some form of spray-release to pull it out of the clay -- when you use the stamp on wax, the wax hardens pretty quickly and you can peel it off, but the stamps are generally rather shallowly engraved, so if you've got a soft medium you're stamping, it may tear or distort when you pull the stamp out. A little bit of oil or possibly just some slip would probably do it. Or if you're stamping a thick enough piece of clay, cuneiform tablet style, it'd probably be okay. Simpler designs with big blocks of space and thick lines would probably work better for clay.

They're fairly inexpensive if you want to purchase and try it for yourself -- most stamps are between $7 and $15 or so on Amazon or Etsy, and the Craspire brand website has just the heads without handles for around $3 (I don't even bother with handles, the heads are big enough to manage without them). This is a Craspire stamp, the Lucky Cat.

#wax stamping

copperbadge

raziya63 asked:

Sam!!!! Mysterious Fistbump gear! https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5V7fwttzPQ/?igsh=MTdsZTFseGEwZTJ4

My first reaction was OH GOD I NEED IT and my second reaction was to google the brand and OH GOD NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS.

I had the thought that I could probably figure out how to sew a version fairly easily, but I also just searched online for "goggle coats" and found some very affordable versions. I have no idea if they'll be any good, it's a company I'm not familiar with that mostly does streetwear based out of the UK, but I'll report back when it arrives. :D

#crafting #raziya63 #the mysterious fistbump

copperbadge

You abandon Dearborn? You leave her alone with only her sister, all her toys, a heated bed, two scratching posts, and a huge bowl of food like a MONSTER? For FIVE HOURS?

Jail for father!! Jail for father for -- is that catnip?

[ID: Dearborn the tortie is sitting on the sofa, dimly lit, gazing upwards past the camera with enormous and very sad eyes. I left her alone for a whole evening and she's not mad, she's disappointed.]

#dearborn and polk #cats of instagram

copperbadge

Some polyamorous kinky beekeeping bisexual extroverted bears just want to watch the world burn.

[ID: A screengrab from the Duolingo language learning app; it shows Falstaff the cartoon bear, but in an unfortunate moment I screengrabbed him with his eyes slitted and no pupils showing, making him look possessed. Or perhaps not so unfortunate, since he's saying "Il fuoco é pronto e possiamo iniziare" which translate as "The fire is ready and we can begin."]

#duolingo #falstaff the bear #ominous

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copperbadge

I had a dream last night that I was moving to a rural lakeside area where the lake had a monster in it, Kelp Kevin. But Kelp Kevin wasn’t a mysterious rumor, he was just a weird big kelp-looking thing that showed up all the time.

And as they were explaining Kelp Kevin to me, the monster himself burst out of the water, and I raised my hand on some weird instinct and as soon as I did he gave me a high five with a big kelpy limb. Then he vanished back into the water and everyone was like “Ayup, that’s Kelp Kevin.”

I hope everyone has a day of equivalent awesome to that of being high-fived by a cryptic lake monster named Kevin.

copperbadge

Happy seventh anniversary to Kelp Kevin, my own personal cryptid. Nothing but high fives for you, bud.

#cryptids #monsters

copperbadge

thewalrus-said asked:

Hi Sam,

Did the signed bookplates for Royals & Ramblers get sent out? I finally started reading it last night (really enjoying it so far!) and it occurred to me that I have no idea where the signed bookplate for it got to. Did they go out? If so, do you still have the address it went to? I moved last year and I'm worried PayPal's address was my old one.

If it turns out I just lost it, no worries and I'll donate for a second one next time you have a book out :D Thanks!

...ahh fuck. I forgot. Fuck! Again!

Well, the good news is they haven't been sent out yet, the bad news is that's because I forgot I was even doing them. :D I do have all of the names and donations though, so I will get on that this week and next. My very sincere apologies and THANK YOU for the reminder!

I'm posting this publicly so the other people who donated for bookplates see it -- I'm not sure which address is yours but if you want to send me your current address, you can send it to my askbox or to copperbadge@gmail.com just to ensure I've got the proper one.

#thewalrus-said #shivadhverse