Surplus Cats

Things I’ve enjoyed on the Internet lately:

• threadbared has been looking at standardization, street style and style blogs. This post Footpath Zeitgeist on Street Style includes links to their discussions on the subject while looking back at earlier takes on the subject from 2007.
• Too Many White Girls at Jacket Whys. Race in young adult fiction is something I’ve been spending an inordinate amount of time thinking about lately. (I’m worried I’m going to get it wrong in my book.) “But the dearth of black people on the year’s mainstream book covers is pretty appalling.” –Could not agree more.
• Disquisitions on Alternate History at Westerblog. Scott Westerfeld[1. who followed me back on Twitter!] has a video up from a talk at BookExpo America he gave with other YA authors about alternate history.
• “From the Wilds of America” – Analyzing the Idea of “British Colonial America” in Steampunk [Essay] from Racialicious. — Race in steampunk culture. “As pessimistic as Melancholic Steampunk sounds, it is also a definition of steampunk that gives SoCs[2. Steampunks of Color] the opportunity to confront our histories, since we cannot afford the luxury of nostalgia for the past.”

Ok, now from the science section of my feed reader:

• Keeping an Eye on Inflation at Catalogue of Organisms. Taxonomic inflation, that is. This is fascinating.
• Fossil hunting– Digging up extinct viruses in reptilian genomes at erv. That’s “genomes” not “gnomes” and while you might not think it could get any cooler than the notion of reptilian gnomes –erv will not disappoint. Let me assure you that this is awesome.

This might seem like quite a mixed bag, but every bit of it fits into my book research.

Oh! While I’m linking to things that are cool — check out Heidi’s blogathon campaign. She’s blogging for Rainbow Pride WV.