St John

I love my Roomba. Yeah, it pushes the dirt around more than it actually vacuums anything, but it pushes that dirt around all by itself, no human intervention required.

The Boy likes to buy cheap products that work for two months and then explode. None of that malarkey with a Roomba. Mine has not worked consistently and reliably for nearly 15 years now. You can't buy that kind of quality these days.

@rowmyboat@glammr.us Paging at NYPL is a great way to get experience, and they have some dynamite collections. Otherwise keep an eye on the uni listserv because that's where other libraries post about internships. If your friend wants to be really proactive, it doesn't hurt to visit libraries or archives in person and chat with the people who work there.

Today from the #archives of the #TimeLibrary: police investigate a bizarre dance being performed by a young woman...

#Libraries #Librarians #Archivists

There's a guy next to me in the gym on a recumbent bike idly twirling the pedals while listening to something playing out loud on his phone. The bike isn't even switched on.

I do love the people who drag themselves to the gym at 6 am and then *don't* exercise out of spite.

Is something happening today?

The number of taxi and rideshare apps that offer me a discount is TOO HIGH. Bitch, my plans today were to stay on the sofa with an extra large bag of cool ranch Doritos. I'm not going to order a ride just because you give me a discount.

@leadore @zeborah @considermycat Ah, you may be right that it doesn't carry class implications in some places — there are a lot of regions of the US I'm not closely familiar with. Here's a litmus test, though: when you sit down in a restaurant and the waiter says, "Hello, ma'am," do you reply, "Hello, sir"?

@zeborah @leadore @considermycat Yeah I think a simple "Excuse me!" would always be acceptable. I'm from Australia so you're likely to get called "mate" a lot, which I definitely like better than "sir". "Mate" traditionally has more masculine connotations but tends to be used very generically in Australia so you could use it for women too. It's a handy little word. I will say though that I haven't lived in Australia for some years and the culture has become very Americanised.

Also, any love for the new cover? I've spent a ton of money on these in the past, but this time I just wanted something fun and minimal to get it out there. All my books are priced to sell. Pick yourself up a bargain!

It's been three years since I put my remaining #novels for sale as ebooks and took a break from writing. Enough friends convinced me they don't do ebooks so I finally did a print edition of my favourite, "Activate the Device!"

It's a #queer #scifi space adventure. Enjoy!

https://a.co/d/23bGEgr

#Books #Bookstodon #ScienceFiction

@mcc@mastodon.social If you're ever in New York City, I hope you'll visit the Horological Society where I'm a librarian. In addition to WiFi and electricity, we will also bring you tea and coffee and show you some cool watches!

@considermycat We could also just do away with all the servile bowing and scraping. One of the more alienating things when I moved to the US is the way everyone calls you sir or ma'am like you're the landed gentry in a feudal state.