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  Village of the Damned is based on the novel The Midwich Cuckoos and you can kind of see why the producers thought a retitling might be more commercial. #Monsterdon

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  Today in a class we’re looking at a cool alchemical emblem book I haven’t seen before. https://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990095404470203941/catalog

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  “If you don’t use AI you’re going to get left behind.” Gosh, I sure hope so. I see where you’re going and it sucks.

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  It’s my first time seeing this 1482 edition of Ptolemy’s Cosmography with stunning hand-coloring. I think it’s the prettiest blue I’ve ever seen in a book illustration. https://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990025422690203941/catalog

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  The People's Bookshelf in the National Library of Latvia showcases 8,000 books from around the world, each with a message from the donor about why that book is special to them. https://tautasgramatuplaukts.lv/en/ via @metafilter@mefi.social

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  When the cataloger of our fabulous new miniature books collection comes by and asks, “Do you want to see something pretty?” you say yes.

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  Apparently there's an AI company that offered an free one-year trial to anyone with a .edu address, and now that the year is ending is writing them all to say that if they want to continue access to write to the library and get them to pay for it (either implying, or people are misreading, that the library was paying and is now cutting them off.) Nice to see that the "first one's free" approach drug dealers are known for is still a vibrant economic model.

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  I’m learning so much from the latest episode of Off Menu, not least that the UK has a tube cheese called Primula. https://youtu.be/gKB_IAnOBqg

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  A tour-de-force "backless binding" without a spine that according to the bookseller was a showcase of the binder's skill and actually kind of a pain to read. https://www.olsonrarebooks.com/books/p/backless-bindings

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  If this wasn’t on Tubi, I would have thought the film broke, that was so abrupt. #Monsterdon

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  The narrator is so high right now. #Monsterdon

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  RE: https://mastodon.online/@universalhub/117327260997444389 I cannot stress enough how lucky everyone who does this is that I do not have Scanners powers.

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  My favorite book spine is circulating on Tumblr once again and I don't know that I've ever posted it here. https://houghtonlib.tumblr.com/post/66202591072/batman-stephen-d-1584-the-doome-warning-all

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  Tonight on #Monsterdon we’re watching a Scottish-American man improvise unlikely solutions to desperate situations with whatever materials he happens to be locked up with… [touches earpiece] #TheGuyver

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  I’m going to pass on tonight’s #Monsterdon because I’ve seen it before, but I do treasure this screengrab from it.

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  My message to the Fediverse. https://youtu.be/gDc2iF_8wDw

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  The movie that dares to ask the question “Hey, I found some goo, should I eat it?” #Monsterdon

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  I am from Mntehmon, and you are going to have to show me that AI produces gibberish. https://gizmodo.com/which-ai-chatbot-did-this-school-use-to-make-such-a-ridiculous-map-2000800045

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  I question his commitment to Garkle Gotion. #Monsterdon

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  Gizmodo asks “Will We Ever Solve the Problem of Losing Data?” I love this answer: “I know of one data storage form that can be permanent: a library. Or rather, a world full of libraries. Libraries aren’t perfect storage devices (nothing is), but they are fiercely committed to self-repair. A good library is a collection of people, technologies, and practices that pass an obligation—to remember the things we must remember—from the last generation to the next.” https://gizmodo.com/will-we-ever-sol...

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  There’s a newly launched drive to unionize Harvard’s professional librarians and when the organizers asked us what issues we might want them to address, I said I wanted protection against being required to incorporate AI hallucinations in my work, a profound violation of my professional ethics. https://aftermath.site/ai-resistance-tips-workforce-llm-workers/

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  Fly Ergles Fly

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  @universalhub@mastodon.online Stop me if you’ve heard this before, there’s signal problems at Harvard some more.

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  So wait, you’re telling me I take the blue pill, I wake up in my bed and believe whatever I want? That sounds amazing.

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  Finalizing selections for our spring exhibition “Picturing Work” which surveys the history of books of trades and other depictions of labor both early and modern.

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  Interview with Dale Grimes, who holds a number of roles at the University of Tulsa's McFarlin Library, including "Junior Morale Officer, Chair of Impromptu Play Sessions, Director of Hallway Patrol, and, more recently, Senior Nap Strategist." https://libraries.utulsa.edu/blogs/mcfarlinmemo/staff-spotlight-mr-dale-grimes

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  From the website of the company that’s destroying books to feed them into the ravenous AI maw. “A physical book is a delivery mechanism for information. Once that information has been extracted and encoded into an AI model, the delivery mechanism has served its purpose. What remains is paper, ink, and binding material. The book is not destroyed. Its value has migrated. The paper returns to the material cycle; the knowledge enters the intellectual one.” https://www.news.com.au/technology/online...

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  I have been so precisely targeted by a video from the Pointless Notalgia channel breaking down the “Jim never has a second cup of coffee at home” joke from Airplane! that I can only assume there’s a red laser dot on my forehead right now. https://youtu.be/_Iz0IK7qt88

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  100,000,000,000,000 de Poèmes is a work by Raymond Queneau with interchangeable lines of poetry printed on individual strips to allow recombination. https://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990065886080203941/catalog

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  Trigger warning for any conservators out there. https://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990018770280203941/catalog