My fake internet friend Dustin went to see the IRL Amazon store:
Amazon Books—yes, Amazon named their bookstore Amazon Books—is across the street from a Tommy Bahama, at the entrance to an upscale outdoor shopping mall named University Village. (The mall resembles neither a University nor a village, though it does have very nice landscaping, a place that sells athletic woolens, and a Starbucks at either end.) It opened at 9:30 yesterday morning. When I arrived at eleven there were a dozen people being held outside by a man with a walkie talkie “to prevent overcrowding.” Some in line had heard about the opening on local TV spots. Many took photos in line and again once they were in the store. “Who’s inside?” a woman with three visible bangles asked me. I told her that I did not think any authors were inside, but that the store was opening today. I did not use the phrase Day One, but wondered whether the staff, including presumably Walkie Talkie, had taken a moment before opening that morning to reflect on Amazon’s jargon, including that bit of eschatology. He did seem to have a zeal.
In case you missed it, our very handsome tech goth is now Marco, instead of Maria, and we are going to be joyously plugging his top surgery fundraiser until he has top surgery or the world ends in fire and/or water.
LOOK, now, words have MEANINGS, and I do not accept that American wizards say “no-maj” instead of “muggle,” that is FUCKED and I will NOT allow it:
In shifting the franchise away from the U.K., author J.K. Rowling — who also wrote the movie’s screenplay — is poised to introduce several new words into the Potterverse lexicon, and the most significant might be what Stateside wizards say instead of Muggle: “No-Maj” (pronounced “no madge,” as in “no magic”).
NO. Nope. No.
I always like hearing about the desert island reads of others (and Mallory and Roxane took part!)
My town of Salt Lake City has just elected its first openly gay mayor:
While Utah is very red, Salt Lake City tends to be a reliable outpost of blue. Before Becker, Salt Lake City was led by Rocky Anderson — another LGBT-friendly Democrat who pushed environmental issues, opposed the Iraq war, and in 2011 launched a new political party. The last time the city elected a Republican mayor was in 1971.
Salt Lake City is home to the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church, which is culturally conservative and has supported anti-same-sex marriage laws, including and most famously Proposition 8 in California.
But the city is also home to a thriving LGBT community, and while those two cultures are sometimes at odds, they also, sometimes, are not. Case in point: Both sides came together earlier this year to pass a non-discrimination bill.
Licorice is nasty, but I admire stubborn people:
Kado imports licorice from 10 countries and stocks powder, tea, liquors, syrup, roots, and even toothpaste — all flavored with licorice. But most customers are partial to the gummies, which come in numerous shapes and flavors. Varieties from Italy, France and Belgium are often made by small, family-owned operations and often infused with local ingredients like mint, violet, honey or laurel. Salmiak licorice, for example, is seasoned with rock salt and produced in Nordic and Baltic countries. In addition to selling to regulars, Kado gets strange orders from licorice-lovers in far-flung locations, including a monk who ordered by post from the Brazilian jungle. “I actually just got a call from a prisoner in Berlin,” Böge says, of a local order. “They’re allowed to have one package weighing two kilos a year and he wanted to order two kilos of licorice.”
It’s not been a good year for cat owners. Previous research has indicated that not only does your pet see you as an inessential landlord, but they also tend to view us as idiotic, furless cats who can’t hunt. This new study, led by the Bronx Zoo and researchers at the University of Edinburgh, has compared the domestic cat (Felis silvestris catus) to the Scottish wildcat (Felis silvestris grampia), clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), snow leopard (Panthera uncia), and African Lion (Panthera leo), and has essentially concluded that domestic cats are like miniature lions in terms of their overarching personality.
Leslie Miley’s departure from Twitter, and what it means for the future of black leadership in tech:
Though Miley was laid off as part of Twitter’s cuts in October, he says he had already told Twitter that he had planned on leaving at the end of October. He also passed on the severance package so that he could speak openly about his experience at Twitter. So, it seems as if Twitter was hoping to silence Miley by bundling him into the company’s layoffs.
A particular low moment for Miley, he wrote, happened when he asked a question at Twitter’s engineering leadership meeting about what specific steps Twitter engineering was taking to increase diversity. Twitter’s senior VP of Engineering responded, “diversity is important, but we won’t lower the bar.” Miley did not name names in his post. A visit to the leadership page on Twitter’s website will reveal that the company’s SVP of engineering is Alex Roetter.
Deleted comment of the day:
Lisa Hanawalt ALSO did an XOXO talk, and I think she’s very cool and talented:
