The Twitter So Far

So, after having been on Twitter for a couple of weeks, how do I like it?

My primary use, and initial reason for joining, was to follow and support some of the grass-roots opposition to the Foothills Library relocation proposal, the subject of most of the recent posts here. (Never my intent for UF to become a one-issue blog; the Foothills issue should reach a resolve when it finally gets voted on by City Council, probably sometime in mid-March. Posts here should get back to their regular varied mix after that.)

It's been useful for that. Bit of a learning curve, but the Twitter Help pages are pretty useful. (Not always the case with other sites and apps.)

I've added some non-library sites to follow, but it's something I'm doing slowly. A lot of chatter and small talk, a lot of interesting links. Fun, but also another time-sink, of which I always have too many. Even with following less than a dozen Twitter feeds, it's been hard to keep up sometimes. (That Scalzi fellow posts so often I sometimes suspect he Tweets in his sleep, or keeps clones chained to keyboards in his basement or something.)

I see some people on Twitter who are "Following" hundreds or even thousands of others. That seems... unsustainable. How many of those Twitter feeds do they actually read, and how do they pick and sort and choose?

If the fiction I've got out for submission to various markets starts selling, or if I ever get off my butt and finish prepping a couple of self-publishing projects I've had in mind, Twitter will probably be very useful for promotion and publicity.

In the meantime, I'll stick with it, with a bit of caution and an eye on the clock.

Foothills Library: Open Letter to Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers & City Council Members

TO: GlendaleMayor Jerry Weiers and City Council members

Re: Foothills Library relocation proposal

What is a building worth?

A building is not just the land it stands on, and the materials it's built from. The worth of a building comes from the use to which it's put, and how well it serves that use.

In the 2nd appraisal of the Foothills Branch Library building, buried deep in the 150 pages, one line stood out for me:

"Functional obsolescence = $0"

What that line means is that the Foothills Branch Library building is as capable of fulfilling its function as the day it opened. It was designed to serve as a public library, it has functioned as a public library since 1999, and according to the appraiser's report, it is capable of continuing to serve as a public library for many more years.

I submit that, with no loss of function, there has been no true loss of value. The functional value of the building is the same as when it first opened. The financial value should, at a minimum, be the same as when it was first built for 7.8 million. The low market value in the appraisals is a function of a still-incomplete economic recovery, and a large glut of business properties on the current market.

And even that original cost doesn't reflect it's complete value. A truer value might be the replacement value, the cost of building an identical or similar library structure today. That cost would be around 17 million dollars.

But that replacement value isn't the complete value, either. Good libraries (and I consider the Foothills Branch a very good library) provide a public value to cities and their residents. That's a figure hard to put a dollar amount to, but its a large figure, much larger than even the 17 million dollar replacement value for the building.

Accepting an offer of a mere 5 million dollars for a building of such high value would be very, very foolish.

How much is a book worth?

Eviscerating Foothills Library's collection of printed books by eighty percent, one hundred forty thousand books, and moving the remainder into one-quarter the space at the Aquatics Center would also be very, very foolish.

The Aquatics Center was not designed as a library. Moving the downsized library into those spaces at the Aquatics Center would be a kluge, a fix-up, a make-do. The functional value of the smaller space would be less than the functional value of the same square footage in the current, designed-as-a-library, building. The library space at the Aquatics Center would be a degraded version of what we currently have. Foothills Library is a first-class library. At the Aquatics Center, the best we could hope for would be a second-class library.

And, lest we forget, the Aquatics Center would be losing some its current space, taken over by the downsized library. Its own functional value, as an Aquatics and Recreation Center, would be degraded. It too would suffer a functional downgrade, from a first-class facility to a second-class facility.

No, no, no, we are told. The new library space will be as good as ever, we are told, because the library will be going digital. The library of the future, we are told, won't need printed books, or the shelves to hold them, or the square-feet of floor to put the shelves on.

There are many problems, though, with what we have been told about the digital future of libraries. Problems practical, aesthetic and economic.

The practice of "browsing the stacks" is a common one among library users. If you need a particular book, by a particular author, about a particular subject, you can go straight to that spot. But sometimes what you want is just a good book, an interesting book, a well-written book. How do you find those books?

Sometimes you just walk slowly past the rows and shelves of books, scanning spines and covers, titles and authors' names. Something catches your attention. Maybe it's a brightly-colored spine among a run of dull ones. Maybe it's an intriguing title. Maybe it's an author's name you've heard of, but never read before. Maybe you're even looking for a particular author's books, but the books by adjacent authors on that shelf catch your interest, too.

Think of it as a bibliophile's version of window-shopping. There's luck, and serendipity, and coincidence involved. Sometimes it seems like a little bit of magic, too. I've found wonderful books and writers by such browsing, books and writers I'd never have had reason to specifically seek out. It is one of the joys and treasures of a good library, particularly a good-sized library with depth and breadth to its inventory. (Foothills' current inventory of 175,000 books seems about ideal to me.)

In a digital library, or at Amazon and other online booksellers, the experience of that simple footloose wandering is largely lost. Over and over again, a leading complaint about digital catalogs is the inability to browse easily and casually. If you know what you're looking for, if you have a particular title or author or subject, if you can guess the right keywords to search on, digital catalogs can probably take you there. But you can only view a fraction of a fraction of a digital catalog at a time if your search is just for "something interesting". It's slow, and frustrating, and unsatisfying.

With printed books, stacked on shelves, I can browse hundreds of titles in just a few minutes. That's why I, and many others, hope digital books never completely supplant printed books.

I said above that there are economic problems regarding the idea of an all-digital library. Let's crunch some numbers.

Under the relocation proposal, some 140,000 books would be culled from Foothills' current inventory. At first, the public was told those books would be "sent to Main and Velma Teague branch libraries." This turned out to be – let us use a polite phrase – non-factual, and was later revised to state that only a portion would go to Main and Teague, with the remainder to be either sold or donated.

I'd estimate that Main and Teague would probably only be able to absorb about 20,000 of those books, mostly titles Main and Teague don't already duplicate in their own holdings. But let's be generous and say they could take 40,000. That leaves 100,000 titles, a nice even number to work with.

For the new library space at the Aquatics Center to provide a selection with the same depth and breadth as the current printed inventory at Foothills, the new library space would have to replace those 100,000 titles (or a similar selection) with digital versions. This wouldn't be the "expansion of library services" promised in the proposal, it would just provide a digital equivalent to Foothills' current physical holdings.

How much would that cost?

Researching the topic, I found 2013 data that libraries pay pretty close to retail price for printed books. On average, about seven dollars ($7) for mass market paperbacks and about twenty-seven dollars ($27) for hardcovers.

The average cost, to libraries, for a digital book, also in 2013, was... sixty-three dollars ($63).

Does that surprise you, Mayor Weiers, Council members? Those numbers surprise a lot of people.

When a library buys a printed book, they buy an object. They own that book, and they can keep loaning it out until it literally falls to pieces if they want.

When a library pays for a digital book, they're buying a licensing fee, permission to download that book's file to library patrons' devices. Not only does that licensing fee cost more than a printed book, but usually that digital file can only be loaned out to one patron at a time (as if it were a physical book) and only for a limited number of total lend-outs (as if it was accumulating wear and tear like a printed book).

Let's crunch a few more numbers:

If the library space at the Aquatics Center were to match the depth and breadth of the current Foothills Library, to be as good as what the city already owns, they would have to increase their digital holdings by at least 100,000 titles.

The cost for that would add up to... lemme see...

Six Million, Three Hundred Thousand Dollars ($6,300,000).

The City of Glendale would have to spend every penny of the five million dollars offered by Midwestern for the Foothills building, plus over a million dollars more, just to digitally replace the Foothills materials they seem so casually intent on disposing of. But somehow we're also supposed to pay for remodeling the Aquatics Center, and moving the remnants of Foothills there, and buy shiny new computers and other tech, and somehow still have over four million dollars left to pay down a small fraction of the city's debt.

The numbers simply don't add up. The promises aren't believable.

What is a city's reputation worth?

This proposal has brought Glendale into the media spotlight, both locally and nationally. It's not a very flattering light. Glendale is becoming a laughing stock. Not only did previous city administrations toss the city into a black hole of massive debt, but the current administration wants to sell one of its most-appreciated and socially valuable assets at a loss, and tries to pass it off as a good deal. Glendale's government looks like a pack of clowns.

This relocation proposal is one of the shoddiest and most incompetent sales campaigns I've ever seen. From the first day it went public, the flaws and bad data, the spin and half-truths, the misleading promises and lack of timetables, and especially the sheer audacity of trying to pass off the evisceration of a well-stocked, well-housed full-service library as an "expansion", have been pointed out and criticized.

This proposal is a train wreck. As more and more of the true background of how this proposal came to be conceived and presented comes out, the sleazier and more deeply dishonest it appears.

The only clear lesson in this entire affair so far is this: The Glendale city government cannot be trusted to tell its citizens the truth.

Cut your losses, Mayor Weiers and council members. Kick this proposal to the curb, as quickly as you can. Because a lot of people are angry and disgusted over this. And I can make this personal promise: If any council member votes to approve this so-called "expansion", I will do everything I can to see they are not elected to another term.

Sincerely,

Bruce Arthurs

The Foothills Library War: An Introduction, Overview & Linkfest

When a library is endangered, I get concerned. The first book I remember reading, Space Cat, when I was six years old, came from the library. I've been a constant user of libraries since, no matter how many books I bought and still own. Any time Hilde and I have moved to a new city, one of the first things on our agenda has been to get a city library card.

Libraries are important. Not just to us personally, but to the public and to civilization at large. The growth of public libraries over the last 150 years or so has been one of the most progressive, beneficial, and praiseworthy accomplishments in American history. 

When it's my own local library that's endangered, I get very concerned.

Many people, even locally, haven't heard about this yet. I'm writing this post as an introduction to the issue, both for people affected locally and those people in the general public who care about libraries.

First, a little background. OK, a lot of background, but even this barely scratches the surface. :

I've been spending a lot of time the last few weeks here in Glendale, Arizona, where Hilde and I have lived since 1985, trying to help save our local library branch, Foothills, from having 80% of its books removed (about 140,000) and the remainder of the library's holdings moved from it's current 33,000 square-foot building and crammed into a 9,000-sqft space at a nearby city aquatics/recreation center. (Bad news for the rec center too, because they've been using those meeting rooms for classes and things like table tennis.)

The Foothills Branch Library serves the northern portions of Glendale. It opened in 1999, on land purchased from Midwestern University, a large osteopathic college located across the street. The purchase contract stipulated that MWU would be given first option to offer to buy the land and building at some future date.

Midwestern made such an offer in early 2014, for 5 million dollars. Knowledge of that offer only became public last month, when a proposal to accept the offer, downsize the library, and move the remainder to the recreation center was placed on the city council agenda. That triggered three public meetings earlier in February, before the various advisory committees for Recreation, Libraries, and Arts. (The Foothills library has a massive Dale Chihuly glass sculpture, valued at $400,000, hanging from its lobby ceiling. Midwestern's offer included the purchase of that, and other valuable public art, as part of the sale.)

At the meetings, the city's Recreation head, Eric Strunk, and the newly appointed Chief Librarian Michael Beck gave a Powerpoint presentation in support of the proposal. The Powerpoint presentation has been widely criticized for dubious and confusing numbers, highly lacking in hard data, the lack of any mention of negative impacts,  and using not-to-scale conceptual drawings of how the rec center space would be used. (The drawings also use false perspective to make the rec center's rooms appear larger than they actually are.) 

But what really sticks in people's craw is that this proposal to eviscerate and downsize the library is labelled "an expansion of library services". Yes, "expansion"; they really used that word. (The rationale is that digital offerings, and equipment to access them, will be expanded. By how much? How  quickly? Are there any guarantees the city will authorize an adequate budget -- in 2013, the average price a library paid per ebook was $63; the average cost for printed books in libraries that same year ranged from $6.17 to $27.78 -- to expand digital offerings? Vague answers, or none, to those and many other questions. Smoke and mirrors and bullshit.)

Besides the prospect of seeing their library gutted, residents are also upset about the $5 million dollar offer from MWU. The library's construction originally cost 7.8 million. A similar building constructed now would cost about $17 million. If Midwestern gets the library building for only $5 million, many Glendale residents would consider that to be, literally, a steal. (Two appraisals, one by MWU, one by the city, both came in under $5 million for the building's value. There have been questions raised about the city's appraisal process; the appraiser was paid $4,999; under the city's requirements, if he had asked for a single dollar more, $5,000, the appraisal would have had to be publicly posted for bids and the city council advised, instead of being kept hidden for nearly a year until it came to light.)

Why would the city of Glendale even consider this? Previous city administrations made high-risk investments in bringing sports venues to the city -- a football stadium, hockey arena, baseball training camp -- none of which have brought in the predicted revenue for the city, and have instead left Glendale saddled with massive and continuing debt and expenses. It was bad business deals that got us into this mess; why make yet another bad business deal that will only give partial and temporary relief? (If the entire $5M was used to service those debts, it would pay for less than four months of the hockey arena's expenses alone.)

The public has been extremely opposed to the sale, and the proposed move to the rec center. One poll noted 93% disapproval. At the three meetings, when members of the public were given a chance to speak, no one spoke in favor of the sale. Regardless, there's a great deal of concern that during the months between MWU's offer to buy and the public finally learning of the offer, there may have been a handshake-under-the-table deal between MWU and the city that the sale will be approved no matter how loudly Glendale citizens object.

The various advisory committees will meet again in March, to decide on a recommendation to the city council about the proposal. The city council will meet some time after that for a final decision.

This is way more than you probably want to know about local Arizona politics, but libraries, books, what make a city a good city, all those are important.

Links to various websites, news articles, blogs, and other commentary and information:

This page on Glendale Public Library's website provides links to the Powerpoint presentation, conceptual drawings, an updated FAQ sheet, the two appraisals of the library building, and a form on which to submit comments. I'll be making a later post about the FAQs -- some of the answers don't pass the smell test, and some of the information in the updated version is only there because too many people called foul on obvious BS -- and on portions of the city's appraisal.

Best Commentator To Date:

The best reportage on this has come from Joyce Clark, a former City Council member, who's been doing a continuing series of reports about the library issue on her blog,  Joyce Clark Unfiltered. Below is a list of posts so far:

• Jan 29th, An Idea Whose Time Has Not Come
• Jan 31st, Foothills Branch Library...see past the hype
• Feb 4th, Love Your Library... Work To Save it
• Feb 5th, Purchase Contract for Foothills library land
• Feb 6th, A bit of this...a bit of that
• Feb 10th, Foothills Library...why bother?  This particular post is a eloquent piece about the many benefits beyond lending books that a decently-supported library provides to its community. Well worth reading for its own sake.
• Feb 11th, The "Library War"...Round 2
• Feb 12th, Library War...Round Three
• Feb 13th, The library war...who wins?
• Feb 14th, Library War continues

Other Library Supporters:

Facebook: Save The Glendale Foothills Library

Twitter: Save The Library 

Twitter hashtags: #savethelibrary #stopthetrend

Facebook: Friends of the Glendale Public Library

Individuals speak out:

Shelley Mosley, retired Library Manager: Look Past The Hype

Valerie Burkhardt Betters: text of an outstanding speech given at 2/11 meeting; well worth reading, and I'm planning to highlight it in a separate post.

News Reports:

New York Times, 1/26: Albatross of debt weighs on super bowl city This recent NYT piece gives some background of Glendale's financial woes.

Your West Valley, 2/6: $5M deal would move Glendale's Foothills library to rec center

KTAR 12 News, 2/9: North Glendale residents not thrilled by library sale

Your West Valley, 2/11: Residents throw book at proposed north Glendale library sale

KTAR, 2/12: Arizona Coyotes subsidy prompts proposed sale of library branch: More background on the high-risk gambles Glendale made, and lost, on its sports venues investments.

Glendale Daily Planet, 2/12, Glendale Citizens Not Buying Sale of Foothills Library. This is the most through coverage of the Feb 11th meeting I've seen. (There's even a picture of me!) You have to scroll down to find the story; this local online paper is presented as a single very (very) long webpage, rather than providing links to separate presentation of each story.

I speak at the Feb 11th Foothills Relocation meeting.
Photo by Ed Sharpe, Glendale Daily Planet

arizona.newszap.com, 2/16, "Potential library relocation causes community concern"

Glendale Star, 2/17: Foothills patrons defend their library

Miscellaneous Documents:

factsheet on 2012 sales tax increase; In 2012, voters approved a city sales tax increase that was supposed to enable the city to deal with its debt problems and continue to provide public services. Among those services: "libraries".

Cholla Chats, Sept 2014: This City Council member's newsletter reported that MWU may be planning to build a seventh specialty college, one for Speech Pathology. There's been speculation that, if MWU succeeds in buying Foothills Library, they would use that as a wedge to buy the adjacent dog park and ballfields for the new college.


How To Help:

The Glendale City Council needs to understand that a good public library system is invaluable. It benefits the citizens, and it benefits the city. Downgrading the library system degrades the city as a whole; it affects business investments, the influx of new citizens, and the city's public reputation. Does the council really want Glendale to be perceived as "Detroit On The Desert"? That's the message passing this horrible proposal will send.

The "invisible benefits" predicted for the sports venues (growth of surrounding property, increased property values, etc) have never been met. The invisible benefits of public libraries, the benefits that come about when minds, particularly young minds, are used and exercised and given the widest possible opportunity to learn and grow, have been proven time and time again.

This is a list of email contacts for Glendale's mayor and council members,and a link to a map of the city's districts:

• Mayor Jerry Weirs: jweiers@glendaleaz.com
• Ian Hugh, Cactus District: ihugh@glendaleaz.com
• Bart Turner, Barrel District: bturner@glendaleaz.com
• Lauren Tolmachoff, Cholla District: ltolmachoff@glendaleaz.com
• Gary Sherwood, Sahuaro District: gsherwood@glendaleaz.com
• Sammy Chavira, Yucca District: schavira@glendaleaz.com
• Jamie Aldama, Ocotillo District: jaldama@glendaleaz.com
• Glendale District Map

Even if you're not a Glendale resident, letting the Mayor and Council know how important public libraries are, to individuals and cities and society at large, will help. Please write. 

"I do not believe that all books will or should migrate onto screens: as Douglas Adams once pointed out to me, more than 20 years before the Kindle turned up, a physical book is like a shark. Sharks are old: there were sharks in the ocean before the dinosaurs. And the reason there are still sharks around is that sharks are better at being sharks than anything else is. Physical books are tough, hard to destroy, bath-resistant, solar-operated, feel good in your hand: they are good at being books, and there will always be a place for them. They belong in libraries, just as libraries have already become places you can go to get access to ebooks, and audiobooks and DVDs and web content." (Neil Gaiman, 2013)

Foothills Library: An Alternative Proposal

FOOTHILLS LIBRARY: 

AN ALTERNATIVE PROPOSAL:

Midwestern University's proposal to purchase the Foothills Branch Library building from the city of Glendale is reportedly for use as a medical/dental library and study space.

Midwestern University, a large osteopathic educational institution, has been on a building frenzy for several years. The additions to their property surely must be several hundred thousand additional square feet by now.

If MWU takes over the Foothills Library building, resulting in the drastic downsizing of a widely-loved library (an 80% reduction in inventory and square footage, the remainder to be crammed into several meeting rooms of the Aquatic & Recreation Center, rooms the Aquatic Center would no longer be able to use), it will seriously downgrade Midwestern's reputation and regard in the community. 

Glendale would have to replace a well-stocked, full-service library with an inferior Circle-K sized version, that might eventually be mostly digital. (What kind of budget would need to be appropriated to replace the lost printed books with digital versions? Especially since many publishers charge libraries substantially more for an e-book's licensing fees, sometimes three to four times more, than a printed book costs?)

Everyone loses with that deal.

I suggest, rather, that Midwestern either retrofits some of their recently-added space, or adds square footage to upcoming construction plans, and builds a nice compact mostly-digital library of their own.

Such a library, on Midwestern's current property, would have numerous advantages: It would be more convenient for MWU students to go to. If digital libraries are the wave of the future, surely Midwestern would want to get an early lead on such an upgrade. Culling outdated medical reference material from their current library, and moving to digitize much of the remaining material, would also free up space to use as study areas. And having a more centrally-located library on their current property would mean MWU students wouldn't have to go to the far corner and across the street from their current property to use the Foothills Library building.

And there's this: The remodeling and equipment purchases to install the reduced, mostly-digital, public library into the Aquatics Center space is estimated to cost about a million dollars. (That does not include any budget for increasing digital holdings.) If Midwestern spent triple that amount, three million dollars, to establish a similar mostly-digital library, MWU would still SAVE two million dollars over their five-million dollar offer for the Foothills Library building. Glendale citizens get to keep a full-service library, the Aquatics Center doesn't lose useful space.

If MWU builds its own digital library, everyone wins.

Since such an alternative proposal would save MWU several million dollars, I would like to suggest they make the grand gesture of donating one million dollars of that savings to the Glendale Public Libraries, for upgrades of equipment and providing a larger inventory of digital books. MWU would regain its "Good Neighbor" reputation again, and the MWU library would move towards the digital future. And Glendale's libraries would get to move towards that future along with it.

If that were to happen, everyone really wins.

(This is a slightly revised version of a flyer I handed out to a number of people after the February 11th Library Council meeting at Foothills Library. It's also a more expansive version of the remarks I made when speaking at that meeting.) (I'll be making more posts on this subject. This barely scratches the surface of how much is wrong and foolish about the proposed sale to Midwestern U. Google "Foothills library relocation" for more background. The best coverage on this has been coming from a continuing series of posts by Joyce Clark, a former Glendale City Council member, at joyceclarkunfiltered.com.)

A Kickstarter For "Mom & Pop Move Their Comic Shop"

While I stopped following comics a few years ago when the nearby comic shop closed down, I still get some info about the business by cultural osmosis. And I read and collected comics for enough years that I understand why so many people still do.

All About Books & Comics has been a leading comic shop in Phoenix for decades, but owners Alan & Marsha Giroux recently lost the lease on their long-time location. (The doctor next door offered the landlord more rent when the lease became due to expire; AAC's footage will be turned into a new waiting room.) Moving to a new location will cost about $33,000.

The 2008 recession hit a lot of comic shops hard; the store I shopped at wasn't the only one that folded in the years afterward. AAB&C has managed to be a survivor, and -- even though I've never shopped there -- I think it's worth contributing to, to let it continue its service to comics fandom. (Also, pretty cool t-shirts if you pledge $25 or more!)

Here's the Kickstarter page: Mom & Pop Move Their Comic Shop

More On Foothills Library -- Joyce Clark: "Foothills Library... Why Bother?", plus other links

Following up on the previous post's mention of the proposal to downsize/shrink/gut the local Foothills Branch Library here in Glendale, AZ:

Joyce Clark is a former Glendale City Council member who's been posting some of the most informative and useful commentary about the Foothills Library debacle. "Foothills Library... why bother?" is a eloquent piece about the many benefits beyond lending books that a decently-supported library provides to its community. A quote:

Today’s public libraries are part refuge and part community center. It would surprise you to know that many people who visit a public library don’t borrow a single book. For some it is a quiet sanctuary, warm and dry. You could sit there all day and not be bothered. It wards off the loneliness of life for others. Yet, in a fit of schizophrenia, it is a place of constant activities…you can take a class, participate in a book club discussion, hear a visiting musician or enjoy a lecture. Moms can take their little ones to story time to discover the wonderful, magical world of books.

It is a resource to those looking for a job, or needing to use a computer because they can’t afford one or the cost of the internet even if they had a computer. It is a place where a research librarian has helped countless numbers of children to do research for a writing assignment. 

Its wealth is beyond measure…books, magazines, newspapers, CDs, DVDs, movies.  You can use, read and borrow anything within its four walls…for free. Digital media is fine. I use it often, very often but there is something special about a book. The use of digital media is growing and should be encouraged but not as a replacement for the brick and mortar public library but as an enhancement to its offerings.

More from Joyce Clark here, with some background for the whole mess: Love Your Library... Work To Save it.

azcentral.com, the website for local newspaper The Arizona Republic and Channel 12 news, has a news story and video: "North Glendale residents not thrilled by library sale"

Googling around on the subject of digital libraries, I found this photo from one of the all-digital BiblioTech libraries in San Antonio, TX:

Good God. Being crammed in nearly elbow-to-elbow at long rows of sterile workstations is not anything like my idea of what a library should be. This looks more like a commercial call-center than anything else. I find it ghastly and horrifying. Is that really supposed to be the future of libraries?

There'll be another public hearing on the  proposal tonight, February 11th at 6:00 PM, at the Foothills Library in the Roadrunner Room. If you're local, and can attend, please do. I'd suggest getting there early; over 400 people on Facebook have indicated they're planning to come, plus any non-Facebookers like me, and I'm not sure the Roadrunner Room can hold that many.

Slow Adapter Adapts, Slowly

I guess it would help to actually let people know about this:

Bruce Arthurs ‏@BruceArthursAZ   3m3 minutes ago3 minutes ago I have succumbed to the concise side of the Force, and signed up for Twitter.

But you still can't make me sign up for Facebook.  There are limits.

I've been following a few people's Twitter accounts manually, but the final push to sign up came from the city of Glendale (Arizona; there are a lot of Glendales) proposing what they call an "expansion of library services".

This "expansion" involves selling off the Foothills Branch Library building (the one Hilde and I use) at a substantial loss, gutting the book collection by 140,000 books, and shoving the remainder into an 80% smaller space at a nearby recreation center.  There's much, much more to the story, mostly enraging, and it's still developing. A lot of people are very upset, myself included, and Twitter is one of the primary venues for coordinating and communicating. I'll probably have a lot more to say about it after a public meeting tomorrow evening.

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Come With Me Now - Kongos Cover by Korbe Canida

Korbe Canida is a rising local musician in Phoenix with a helluva voice. 

Other YouTube videos are here. She was recently profiled in the local New Times paper. ("...when she starts to sing, her powerhouse vocals captivate. Her sweet gaze, which she holds with each intent listener, keeps audience members transfixed and brings some to tears.") A recent Kickstarter for her first EP successfully funded; the EP should be out in the next month or two.

The "nerd glasses" isn't an affectation; she plays D&D. (Hey, this is ostensibly a science fiction blog; I gotta make a connection somewhere.)

Weekly Links, 2-5-2015

Writing/Publishing Links:
Kameron Hurley on how "writing every day" doesn't work best for everyone: Life on 10,000 Words A Day.

Alex Shvartsman on The Art and Science of Anthology Editing.

Deborah Ross on How To Succeed As A Writer In 2015.

(I've posted my own comments on the last two.)

Last minute addition: Kristine Kathryn Rusch on Business Musings: Following The Crowd.



World/Political Links:
This story has, rather appropriately, gone viral already, but hey: GOP Senator: Don't Force Employees To Wash Hands After Using Toilet. This is the triumph of ideology over sanity. The GOP's tolerance and endorsement of extremists and public menaces like Senator Tillis is a major reason why I haven't voted for a Republican office-seeker in years.


Related to the above: The Sepsis Alliance is an organization promoting awareness and prevention of sepsis (aka "blood poisoning"), runaway infections that are the third-leading cause of death in the US and leave large numbers of survivors with physical and mental impairments. A primary cause of early infections developing into full-blown sepsis is insufficient education and enforcement of sanitary procedures.


Food/Cooking Links:

Cooking Will Be Suddenly Awesome If You Buy Any of These 19 Products. (Pictured: The Defensive Swordsman.) [via Cascata Nerina]

Modern Farmer gives an interesting overview of The New Food Police.

Oh dang, I missed National Chocolate Cake Day on January 27th! To make up for it, here's baking-savant Dorie Greenspan's recipe for Double Chocolate Marble Cake.


Art Links:

Here, Kitty, Kitty....  Because nothing says "Sci-Fi" like a Cowboy Space Bear riding Rocket Sharks in pursuit of a Space Cat With A Jetpack. Doing it in black-velvet-painting style is a bonus. (Design by Cory Freeman and chazwick31. I liked it so much I bought the t-shirt!)


Zim & Zou are the team of Lucie Thomas and Thibault Zimmerman, French artists who work in paper, leather, and other materials. The image at left is a sample of their work. The link above goes to a large list of other projects they've posted on behance.net.