Bookshelves by Grant Snider

I really like these comics by Grant Snider. Be sure to visit his webcomic for more!

I have a few of these books on my own shelves. I haven't tried wearing one for a hat...yet!

The secret bookshelf would be nice, and the homemade would absolutely be what a bookcase would look like assembled by me. I had to put together two metal bookcases* that my parents found at a yard sale and it was a pain in the ass.

*They're not really bookcases, but those metal shelves that people put in their garages and such. They do the job of holding my books pretty well, though.

RIP Aretha Franklin

The Queen of Soul and the most absolute of legends.

Well, at least they're not the Orioles

So recently I've decided to get into the great American sport of cricket baseball and picked the Washington Nationals as my team to root for. Mostly, that's because they're the closest team geographically to where I live. I like them, they've got a lot of good players, and they're fun to watch.

via Wikipedia.

Having said that, holy shit are they sucking dick and balls right now. Dick.and.balls. On Sunday, they lost to the Chicago Cubs 7-6 after spending most of the game in the lead and with the game locked in their favor. Similarly, the first game in their four game series against the St. Louis Cardinals ended with the latter winning after trailing to the Nats for most of the game. Tuesday? Same. The Nationals aren't a terrible team. They've just hit a rough patch like a lot of teams do, but goddamn, it sucks watching them eat shit.

It could be worse, though. They could be the Baltimore Orioles, who are so godawful this year and so far behind in their division (dead last), that the closest they'll get to the post-season is if they buy tickets to the games.

Ancient public library discovered in Germany

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.

The remains of the oldest public library in Germany, a building erected almost two millennia ago that may have housed up to 20,000 scrolls, have been discovered in the middle of Cologne.

The walls were first uncovered in 2017, during an excavation on the grounds of a Protestant church in the centre of the city. Archaeologists knew they were of Roman origins, with Cologne being one of Germany’s oldest cities, founded by the Romans in 50 AD under the name Colonia. But the discovery of niches in the walls, measuring approximately 80cm by 50cm, was, initially, mystifying.

“It took us some time to match up the parallels – we could see the niches were too small to bear statues inside. But what they are are kind of cupboards for the scrolls,” said Dr Dirk Schmitz from the Roman-Germanic Museum of Cologne. “They are very particular to libraries – you can see the same ones in the library at Ephesus.”

 I wonder if they've found a list of all the overdue scrolls that were never returned?

The Arrowverse has found it's Batwoman: Ruby Rose

Credit: Official Arrow Twitter.

So sayeth Entertainment Weekly and others. Interesting choice. Surprising too, given that Ruby Rose isn't exactly an unknown actress and I figured that her star status would put her just beyond what The CW would be willing to pay for her to play Batwoman. I'm not complaining. She's a good actress and it'll be interesting to see her playing a superhero.

Fans of Discovery's Sylvia Tilly have something besides the second season to look forward to

Because it was announced yesterday that Tilly is going to be the subject of her own novel written by veteran scribe Una McCormack called The Way to the Stars.

Despite being an inexperienced Starfleet cadet, Sylvia Tilly became essential to the U.S.S. Discovery finding its way back home from the Mirror Universe. But how did she find that courage? From where did she get that steel? Who nurtured that spark of brilliance? The Way to the Stars recounts for fans everywhere the untold story of Tilly’s past.

It’s not easy being sixteen, especially when everyone expects great things from Tilly. It’s even harder when her mother and father are Federation luminaries, not to mention pressing her to attend one of the best schools that the Federation has to offer. Tilly wants to achieve great things — even though she hasn’t quite worked out how to do that or what it is she wants to do. But this year, everything will change for Tilly, as she about to embark upon the adventure of a lifetime — an adventure that will take her ever closer to the stars…

The book hits shelves January of next year, the same month the second season of Discovery starts.

Ladies, gentlemen, and others: THERE'S BEEN A HEIST [UPDATED]

According to the BBC, two individuals stole several TWO crowns and an orb from the Strängnäs Cathedral in Stockholm, Sweden and then made their escape across a lake in a speedboat. The purloined items were part of the Swedish crown jewels and were the funeral regalia of Charles IX and his wife, Christina of Holstein-Gottorp (presumably they're talking about her and not Charles IX's wife They were).

They haven't found the two thieves yet, but there's an understandably large manhunt for them. I believe they should be questioning the whereabouts of one Canadian Cal at the time of the heist.

Edit: It turns out that the BBC article was referring to Charles IX's wife and not his granddaughter.