Harry Crews is dead. Meet him in this video.

A great Georgia Author who lived hard and died too early. Crews was the son of sharecroppers in Bacon County, Georgia. His father died when he was two. RIP, Harry.

"I don't suppose you could imagine a more alienated human being than a south Georgia sharecropper who must move every year from one leeched-out patch of soil to another. Never owning anything. With his back continually to the wall. Other people get medical care. He gets none. Other people get oranges and grapefruit or lemons to keep from getting trench mouth or scurvy, but he has none. Other people have children who have shoes. But his have none. I mean, if he's not alienated, who the hell is? Maybe if I write about alienated male characters, maybe this alienation comes just from my own life."

More at Harrycrews.com

So you want to be a copy editor

It must be easier nowadays.  This is a hand-edited typewritten manuscript of Crash, by J.G. Ballard, written in the early 1970s.  Via Uncertain Times, and  (TYWKIWDBI.)

How Books Are Born (video)

Sure, high speed printers can spew out the WSJ's full daily circulation in five hours but where's the soul in that? Where's the craftsmanship? To see the magic of traditional book-making in action, check out Birth of a Book.

Glen Milner produced this book-binding vignette at Smith-Settle Printers in Leeds, England as the binders bound Suzanne St Albans' Mango and Mimosa.

Woodstock: Images, daily playlists and links to some tablatures

All available here.

Elmore Leonard’s Writing Advice

Found at Libraryland.

Michael Shermer: Baloney Detection Kit (video)

In a nutshell,the 10 Questions:

1. How reliable is the source of the claim?
2.Does the source make similar claims?
3. Have the claims been verified by somebody else?
4. Does this fit with the way the world works?
5. Has anyone tried to disprove the claim?
6. Where does the preponderance of evidence point?
7. Is the claimant playing by the rules of science?
8. Is the claimant providing positive evidence?
9. Does the new theory account for as many phenomena as the old theory?
10. Are personal beliefs driving the claim?

Take the Oxford Spelling Challenge

A most fiendish spelling test.

Fount at TYWKIWDBI

The $8 billion iPod (TED Talk video)

Neil deGrasse Tyson - We Stopped Dreaming (video)

A most cool Tumblr of automobile interiors

Many, many more here.

Neil deGrasse Dyson and the Most Important Thing to Know About the Universe (video)

"What is the most astounding fact you can share with us about the universe?"

When I look up at the night sky and I know that, yes, we are part of this Universe, we are in this Universe, but perhaps more important than most of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up — many people feel small, because they’re small, the Universe is big — but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There’s a level of connectivity — that’s really what you want in life. You want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant. You want to feel like you’re a participant in the goings on and activities and events around you. That’s precisely what we are, just by being alive.”

In March, read all the books you have been meaning to read (poster)

A couple miore at Brain Pickings.

Predicting the future from 1969 (video)

Made in 1969 at the Post Office Research Station, Dollis Hill, this eight minute film attempts to predict what the future of communications may be like. It is amazing how many predictions they got right: - international video calls - pagers - answering machines - facsimiles - online bank statements - online stock prices - online mortgage calculators - telecommuting and more.

Photographing elderly animals

Jen Stark's sensational paper sculptures.

Several more and some interesting links here.

Made by Hand

A project from the Bureau of Common Goods, Made by Hand was created out of the belief that the things we collect, consume, use, and share are part of who we are as individuals. For example, the food that we eat says something about each of us, as do the tools we use and the chairs we rest on. Objects that surround the space we dwell in tell stories, and not just about us. Where did they come from? Who made them? How were they made?

Each film aims to promote that which is made locally, sustainably, and with a love for craft. Based in Brooklyn, the project takes its influence from the handmade movement here and elsewhere. Here is a sample and more movies at the link above.

Amazon Drops Thousands Of Ebooks From Kindle Store.

Amazon removed more than 4000 e-books from its Kindle Store yesterday, punctuating a spat with the Independent Publishers Group. Amazon wants to sell ebooks for lower prices than publishers have liked. When IPG refused their newest terms, Amazon responded with the book drop


Amazon is under pressure from Wall Street to improve its anemic margins. At the same time, it is committed to selling e-books as cheaply as possible as a way to preserve the dominance of its Kindle devices.

When the Kindle contract for one of the country’s largest book distributors, the Independent Publishers Group, came up for renewal, Amazon saw a chance to gain some ground at I.P.G.’s expense.

“They decided they wanted me to change my terms,” said Mark Suchomel, president of the Chicago-based I.P.G. “It wasn’t reasonable. There’s only so far we can go.”

Full story and extended commentary here>

The beautiful Vennesla Library and Cultural Center (photos)

Welcome to the newly renovated Vennesla Library and Cultural Center in Vennesla, Norway.

Norwegian architecture firm Helen & Hard have created a remarkable space by combining an existing community house, learning center, and public space. The result is, among other things, a  sanctuary for the printed word. The clean green design and open space are as an inviting a space as a community can hope for.

 

Nestled within this vast openness are private study spaces at the end of each aisle.

As libraries continue to operate, here at home and in many places around the world, under extreme financial and political pressure it is refreshing to see that in some places the library is still so highly valued.

Also the branding and use as a cultural center present tremendous opportunities for our libraries as they try an map out the road ahead.

More pics and story at My Modern Met

(Via Book Patrol.)

Insight into urban farming (video)

Massive snow drawings made by simply walking (video)

Step by step this massive snow drawing was trampled into freshly fallen snow by artist Sonja Hinrichsen with the help of 5 volunteers last month at Rabbit Ears Pass in Colorado.