I’m Pretty Sure I’m Going To Fail My Saving Throw On Minority Monsters Again.  They’re Just So

I’ll have to remember this!

SMALL TALK TIP FOR PEOPLE WHO HATE SMALL TALK: Ask people if they have any pets. This is light and impersonal enough to offend no one. People who have pets are usually pretty excited to talk about them and show off pictures, so there’s a good chance that you will be looking at kitties and doggos. People who don’t have pets will usually talk about the pets they wish they had, or have had in the past. People who neither have nor want pets are pretty rare.

Pride mermaids!  I love that they aren’t all the basic fish-base.

❤️💛💚💙💜 TA-DA!! Here’s my contribution to Pride month!! If you’d like to see any other flags/mermaids just message me and I’ll add them on here!! ❤️💛💚💙💜

Make a little birdhouse in your soul!

I think I see it

This is one of my pet peeves, and I’m going to loosen its leash a little.  The way the Big Five publishers handle e-books “sales” to libraries is depressing.  (I put “sales” in quotes because it is frequently more like leasing than buying.)  Libraries pay more, have limitations on the number of check-outs (which can only be used sequentially, no matter how many people are waiting to read the book), and/or have limitations on how long they can “own” an e-book.  Libraries also have to make their patrons jump through numerous hoops in order to access their e-books.

Want some examples?  These are books currently on the New York Times best seller list.

Where the Crawdads Sing -- list price: $26 (hardcover), e-book price on Amazon: $15, e-book price for a library: $55 (for a 24-month lease)

The Art of Racing in the Rain -- list price: $17 (paperback), e-book price on Amazon: $9, e-book price for a library: $17 (for 26 check-outs)

Becoming by Michelle Obama -- list price: $32.50 (hardcover), e-book price on Amazon: $15, e-book price for a library: $55 (for a 24-month lease)

Bitterroots -- list price: $28 (hardcover), e-book price on Amazon: $15, e-book price for a library: $60 (for the earlier of 52 check-outs or 24 months)

Bear in mind, if a library needs more copies of a physical book to fill holds, their vendors have it at a discounted price.  If not, the library can go to any bookstore or even to Amazon to get the book.  For an e-book, libraries can only buy from a small collection of companies because library e-books need extra restrictions to allow patrons to check them out at all.  A library can’t just go to Amazon to get e-books at consumer prices because they wouldn’t be able to loan that copy to people.

Libraries are fighting to preserve your right to borrow e-books

Creating barriers to access to e-books, which is what publishers are doing to resist dominance by Amazon, says Jessamyn West, disrupts the public good libraries were created to serve. Public libraries exist in large part because they are necessary to a functioning democracy, West writes.

As publishers struggle with the continuing shake-up of their business models, and work to find practical approaches to managing digital content in a marketplace overwhelmingly dominated by Amazon, libraries are being portrayed as a problem, not a solution. Libraries agree there’s a problem – but we know it’s not us.

This is totally a feature!  We should exploit the coat hangers out of it.  

Does anyone know if it works the same for different flavors of English?  If a group of people from the US, Canada, Britain, and Australia are all absolutely coat hangered, are they all in the same condition, or are some of them drunk, some of them shocked, and some of them just confused?

you can make nearly any object into a good insult if you put ‘you absolute’ in front of it

example: you absolute coat hanger

Please vote! Even if it feels like you are only voting against the worse candidate or voting for the Less Bad candidate -- we need those votes to make sure we don't get the worse candidate.

Also, vote in all of your local elections if you can. Those are the people who decide whether books get banned in your community's schools and libraries. They decide whether your local police department gets training on de-escalation procedures or bigger guns. They are behind your community's social safety nets (or lack thereof), what types of community events are held, what's in your local parks, and much more.

Voting for Democrats is the "leaving the house, getting some exercise, and drinking more water is good for your mental health" of societal change. Everyone keeps telling you to do it, worst of all your mom keeps telling you to do it, and it's not a magical cure-all, but it actually works and rotting in your room shitposting does not help in either scenario.

I'm doing my best to keep libraries free, queer, and weird!

I forgot to reblog this when @awfulhorrid originally posted it!  We came home one day to find a flier for a Republican political candidate on our door.  Apparently, the “We’re Glad You’re Our Neighbor” yard sign was too subtle.  I hope this gets the point across because it’s going to be a little while before we can afford to paint the whole house in rainbow stripes.

Our Flag Proudly Flying

Slowly, but surely, we’re making this house our home. Today I installed a new pride flag (Philadelphia version) on the front of the house. This makes me happy! There’s also a smaller “shadow heart” garden flag with the six color pride rainbow out in the yard.

@the-other-sandy, weren’t we just talking about Grapenuts?

Grapenuts

Neither grapes nor nuts.

The closest thing to gravel still considers fit for human consumption.

Possibly a major joke being played on the human race by hamsters.

[swoon] Sea dragon artwork!

Another set of print packs available to go along with the Daily Paintings Book 

http://ForgePublishing.com/shop