Still frantically reading and working on reviews for other venues but I thought I’d pop in and say hi because I miss you all even though it has only been two days. Seems silly, but there it is.

I have a couple links to share because links can be fun!

I first saw the article about someone photocopying their cat at a Wisconsin university library in my library news feed. It linked to an article about it at Time Magazine. Time linked to the original news story from the Badger Herald (Wisconsin’s mascot is Bucky Badger). The photos are hilarious. But now it turns out no one has actually been bringing their cat to the library and photocopying it. The copies found around the library were photocopies of photocopies that students were leaving trying to inject some levity and stress relief during midterms. Is it bad of me to say I am disappointed there wasn’t actually cat smuggling and copying going on?

Few things are as entertaining as an author insulting another author. After Pepys saw Midsummer Night’s Dream he wrote in his diary that it was “the most insipid, ridiculous play that I ever saw in my life.” Stephen King said of Stephenie Meyer of Twilight fame, “The real difference is that Jo Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can’t write worth a darn. She’s not very good.” Ouch. More at the link.

Ever wonder what the English spoken by Shakespeare really sounded like? Or Chaucer? What about the English in Beowulf? And how might King Arthur have sounded? The curious can find out here. I can recognize Shakespeare as still being English, Chaucer, only a few words. After Chaucer no one is speaking any kind of recognizable English but it sure does sound pretty.

Finally, my geeky science fiction heart is absolutely thrilled that the Large Hadron Collider is going to be used next week for an experiment to try and discover a parallel universe. Scientists have no specific parallel universe in mind, any one will do, they are just trying to prove they exist at the moment. How totally awesome is that?