1) There are times when only the original Klingon will do. Netflix wants to make sure their Klingon and Vulcan subtitles are accurate, so they're taking down Star Trek III: The Search for Spock until they can get the translations right. Apparently, dubbing just annoys people, and Netflix figures it can get the translations done within a week.
Or maybe they've managed? Any brave readers out there with a) Netflix accounts and b) fluency in Klingon, Vulcan, or both who can tell me? Is it improved?
2) Speaking of Klingons, Industrial designer Katharina Unger’s Farm 432 has figured out what to feed your friends when they visit: They've designed a grow your own grubs kitchen appliance that lets you turn one gram of black soldier fly eggs turn into two point four kilogram of larvae protein in a mere four hundred and thirty-two hours--or eighteen days, for those of you who, like me, wondered and, like me, need a calculator to figure these things out.
When I shared the news at first, people kept asking "But what do you feed them?"
According to Farm 432, while the "Black soldier fly adults don´t eat, the larvae can be fed on bio waste, therefore the production almost costs no water or CO2." So: kitchen scraps to tasty, fried larva in just over two weeks! Yummy!(?)
This has all kinds of benefits. Not only can you save the environment by eating a low-impact protein, you can lose weight on a low-fat diet, and you can serve it raw to your Klingon and Ferengi friends while lightly crisping it for the less-adventurous humans. It's a win-win-win scenario.
See more: Farm 432 found first at NY Daily News.
3) Speaking of multi-legged creatures (at least, potentially so; you're supposed to eat the flies before they hit that stage), I continue my obsession with spiders Wired just posted a gallery of spider photos by Nicky Bay, and they are indeed "Exquisitely Weird.".
4) Spiders aren't just eight-legged bug-killing machines. It turns out they have different personalities, and in social colonies, take on different roles. Some run to attack, some stay in the center, where they presumably are doing something useful, though the studies described in this Wired article haven't gotten to that yet. Perhaps they are dreaming up different web designs? Or just wanting to be left alone to read for a while, undisturbed by graduate students thinking up new and creative ways to simulate insect landing. Hm...maybe the spiders that attack under those situations are not so much "bold" as "gullible and insanely optimistic."
5) Jack Longino, a biology professor at the University of Utah, recently published a paper on thirty-three new species of ant found in Central America and the Caribbean. He describes them as "horrifying to look at up close" and named most of them after various Mayan demons. This is from someone who likes the creatures! They are pretty cool-looking, I have to admit. See also this article from the University of Utah news for more detail and images.
6) You can always count on The Mary Sue for good stuff. Here, the staff has found some awesome noir Star Wars posters by Dean Reeves. My favorite is "This Gun for Hire" though "The Big Sleep" comes close! What about you? Got a favorite?
Libraries, Libraries, and More Libraries
6) Libraries are awesome! Libraries in airports? Even better! Some libraries are still pretty much the local library: You need a card to check books out and had better return them on time. Others are more relaxed: Travelers can take books with or without promise of return, although (and this does wonders for my faith in the human race) many people do return the books, even if they have to mail them back.
7) Got an abandoned Walmart? Turn it into a library! That's what McAllen, Texas did. It's gorgeous! Take a look. I'm very fond of the libraries around here, but I'm almost jealous.
8) Have you read about the Little Free Library movement yet yet? If not, take a minute to do so! Or, just accept that they are little boxes where individuals share books with their neighbors, with no expectation said books will actually be returned, and where sometimes complete strangers add more books. It's also organized.
Now that you know that, take a look at this gallery of 5 of the Coolest Little Free Libraries on BookRiot.
9) And here is a gallery of "62 of the World's Most Beautiful Libraries" on MentalFloss. Why 62 and not 60 or 37 or some other number? Who can say?
I admit to some mild disillusionment on one count: It doesn't look like the author, Jill Harness, actually did a worldwide photographic tour of libraries herself, which would've been awesome and would have made me wonder how I could get such an assignment, but hey, it is a great collection of images all the same.
10) And while we're counting, here's "25 hilarious street art and mural works" courtesy of ebookfriendly.com. Several of these are about libraries and many are on library walls. Me, I like the Dr. Seuss mural best. How about you?
Miscellany (As opposed to the rest of the chatter up there).
By the way, remember Arwen Spicer of Hour Before Morning? The film well on its way to completion and has been submitted to various festivals (more on that later). She's now working on another film, The Eater, so if you're in and around Eugene and want to contribute your skills as a costume designer to an exciting and interesting independent project, contact her. To find out more about the job, check her advertisement here. The movie also has a Facebook page where you can look at concept art and see updates on its development.
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