Welcome to the Wednesday Walk Around the Web, where we weave & wind through weblinks weekly. Hopefully you will find the links on offer amusing, interesting, or, occasionally, profound. Views expressed in the Wednesday Walk do not necessarily reflect those of anyone but the writer. Do you have a link you want to see featured in next week’s Walk? Comment on the Walk post at the Place to Be Nation Facebook page, or find Glenn on the social media platform of your choice!
- I wrote a thing about the Pulse massacre, and then decided to use it on the podcast, so there’s that. One more thing, though, about what people have been talking about over the last couple of days. Pride is for the people participating, to show bravery and openness in protesting against a culture that so often condemns and hates us, an absolutely crucial purpose when the marches started decades ago and something that’s still important today. It’s also heartening for those of us who don’t often participate directly, but are bolstered by it. But it can also serve an important purpose for those still stuffed in the closet, to show that no matter what you hear from whoever you know, we’re here, and we will love you. No matter who you are, if you’re queer in some way, there’s a corner of the community that will welcome you. Go to a Pride parade in any major city and you’ll see representation of every ethnicity, every nationality, every religion, every variation on every gender identity or sexual or romantic orientation, and so so many niche interests. We’re here, and we will love you.
- One MORE thing: I dearly hope that anyone forcibly outed by the massacre receives only love. Anyway, on with the linky-loo.
- I don’t remember the exact quotation about glitches/limitations that become beloved elements of nostalgia as soon as they’re avoidable — the narrow range of 8-bit musical tones, vinyl pops, pay-per-view scramblevision, &c. The A/V Artifact Atlas catalogues technical issues or anomalies for you to be careful about when creating media, or introduce into your work to get that old-school feel. (I’m reminded of this whenever I happen upon things like that blog full of Steven Universe clips that look like a 9th-generation VHS copy. TETO and all that.)
- In honor of the elections, women are bringing their “I Voted” stickers to Susan B. Anthony’s grave. (And yes, SBA fought to secure the vote for white women specifically, and others had to wait years or decades longer.)
- Bigots like to claim to be protecting women’s safety in bathrooms these days. That’s why they’re bombing them, of course.
- This Week in Maps: plants of the world, arranged by origin.
- What you leave behind has another life after you, including and especially the change you toss in water fountains.
- I hesitate to post a link which might make you immediately leave our fair site and not visit it again for some time to come, but elsewhere on the internet you can watch all of Key & Peele. There’s no better place to learn about the Liam Neesons.
- I feel like I’ve shared The Richardson Spite House before, but you have to bring it back sometimes to appreciate some good spite-architecture.
- This Week in Cosplay: #CaptainAmericaAlreadyHasABoyfriend.
- Your bank may not be ready for your account nickname to have emojis in it. Hold the phone, are they not storing those nicknames in Unicode? Come on, banks. Also take care of all that predatory lending stuff.
- The Wednesday Walk is here to help, so please take note of ten simple tips that will absolutely improve your sex life.
- After 90 years of work, a complete dictionary of every word we know the meaning of in what we have of the ancient Assyrian language is complete. Intrepid linguists can download the dictionary in 26 parts here. You may think that dictionary wouldn’t change and grow the way ones for modern languages do, and it certainly won’t need as many revisions as our English dictionaries do, but hey, there are still some words to figure out and you never know when a new tablet might be unearthed. Buck up, Assyrian scholars!
- Get your sweetums some jewelry that will show their true nature. Get them a fucking dragon. Or a ferret maybe?
- I’m not sure if a display of the most frequently stolen books is genius or asking for trouble.
- Cry havoc and let slip the histories of Tetris.
