werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 06/10/2026This is one reason they often kind of resent humans. "You all keep dying and then I have to learn new names!!" 010
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 29/09/2026They do! That's where we get rosewater from. A lot of people want bouquets with no scent. I don't understand it either, but it's definitely a thing. We might be thinking of different varieties of wild rose, but the ones I'm familiar with will drop their petals in a hot second once cut. 010
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Yes, but there's no reason why greenhouses can't grow varieties for their scent instead of sturdiness and long even stems. There are plenty of older-style roses in gardens and greenhouses. 110
Reposted by @werelibrary.bsky.socialKJ Charles @kjcharleswriter.com · 25/09/2026Whenever I think about AI anthropomorphism I come back to Murderbot and the AI in Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, for both of whom I have shed tears. Because a human made them up *really well*. 820416
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 25/09/2026I'm fine with encountering genuine human bullshit. I'm not used to going "hm, is this entire website and everyone listed on it a figment of an algorithm's cut-rate imagination?" 010
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Yes! As a librarian, I'm used to being able to evaluate how reliable/authoritative a source is. Sometimes I'll use a not-great source because it's the only thing I can find or it's a casual question where I don't really care.... 110
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 24/09/2026"To my little bush, from her Ilse. Christmas 1929". I have so many questions, starting with how "little bush" ended up a pet name. Anyone know if that was common in Germany in the 1920s? 010
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Butter knives are tiny and while you could injure someone with sufficient determination, it would be blugeoning damage. 140
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 24/09/2026Fascinating! To me, this is a table knife, or if we're obviously not talking about cooking utensils, just a knife 120
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 22/09/2026I think that's an uncharitable reading. A lot of genre fiction is based on particular experiences, interests, traits, etc. of the author, including "be prepared to learn random facts about insect taxidermy, because the author is Like That and has access to the internet". 100
Reposted by @werelibrary.bsky.socialDr Darren Abbey @thebiologistisn.bsky.social · 21/09/2026I rarely talk about those with multiple PhDs because it is very unusual for a real person to do that, but I will henceforth be using their PhD count as an exponent on their title. 0152
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 22/09/2026This book is part of the series Studies in Education and Religion in Ancient and Pre-modern History In the Mediterranean 120
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 22/09/2026And kids grow out of books so quickly. Sure, you can save them for the next kid if applicable, or pass them on to another family with a kid the right age, but you're usually not going to want to buy and keep all 57 books about sharks aimed at 3-4 year olds. 1261
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 22/09/2026But I like the implication that it will require divine intervention to cook lentils without onions and have them taste good. Or even better, @becausechaucer.bsky.social suggests that it sounds like God Almighty is something one keeps in the kitchen cupboard, like a blender. 021
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 22/09/2026From a book of medieval Iberian cooking: "If you want to cook the lentils without onions, you may do so, with the help of God Almighty." That last clause is clearly just a thing one says in this culture... 131
Reposted by @werelibrary.bsky.socialElle @elleisanisland.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Pope Leo XIV has been gifted a massive green orb and honestly not now massive green orb 76869861133
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 19/09/2026Plenty of people physical borrow books from the library rather than buying them. And ebooks can't be accessed simultaneously unless the library pays for that. They're also often a subscription service rather than something the library owns permanently. 010
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Library ebooks are either limited to one borrower at a time (and yes, libraries have to buy multiple "copies" in that case if they want more people to be able to read them at once), or can be accessed by multiple users simultaneously in which case they are *obscenely* expensive. 130
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 18/09/2026Do you know what the title/author/anything of the study is? I'd love to learn more! 030
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 17/09/2026If I'm keeping my own records, I also want a "n/a, book was not for me", because there are plenty of books that I disliked because I was just extremely not the target audience, but which I might recommend to someone else who I know would like it. 000
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 17/09/2026I guess to me the question is, does 6/10 mean average as in a solid book that doesn't do anything spectacular but is well worth reading, or does it mean mediocre as in nothing is exactly wrong with it but it's kind of meh and I probably don't want to read it. 000
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 17/09/2026Yeah, there are a few short books that are still long reads (This is How You Lose the Time War is a good example for me -- the dense poetic writing meant I only wanted to read little bits at a time and then let them simmer), but usually I think of 400 pages as standard novel length. 010
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 14/09/2026I've found many children's picture books genuinely moving. There's a...directness? to them, because they're for people who haven't yet learned flowery language or complex metaphor and reference. 020
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 11/09/2026For me the worst is when it offers to summarize the latest chats with friends. Um, no. I am talking to people I like. I want to read all 57 messages in this thread; that's the point. Even if I've been away for two weeks, AI doesn't know what I think the important bits are. 041
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 11/09/2026They included one satire article (an IRB proposal from Victor Frankenstein) and all but one of the tools missed that it was humor, which is pretty much the central point of that article. 000
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 11/09/2026It's so annoying. The research librarians where I work did a comparison of how accurate the various AI bots were at summarizing, and for science they're moderately accurate (though unnecessary since that's what the abstract is for). For anything else, they're pretty terrible. 110
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 11/09/2026I remember programs having little summaries at the beginning back in the 90s. They're a useful way to decide whether you want to watch the whole thing! 001
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 06/09/2026I didn't know that and his profile doesn't say anything about it. I'm not likely to dress up as an ICE agent, but if you're going to do satire that could get people killed if taken seriously, you need to mark it in some way as satire rather than assuming everyone knows you're a comedian. 020
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Sir, if you think I can change my skin pigmentation at will like a cuttlefish, I cannot help you. :-b 000
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 04/09/2026But there are tons of other books in that genre, published both before and since Harry Potter. Why not go read one of those? 100
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Those are the most cheerful lima beans I've ever seen! 110
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 03/09/2026Large Francis Building, from @tkingfisher.com 's Daggerbound 627133
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 03/09/2026@tkingfisher.com 's Large Francis Building 010
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 02/09/2026You will feel approximately 3% more butch after drinking this tea. It is perfect. 020
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 31/08/2026And half the time, the fancy version might have high-quality artisanal whatever in it, but it's genuinely less tasty than the original. 000
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 27/08/2026The early 2000s were an unfortunate time in government publications, design-wise. It was clearly the time between when graphic design programs became widely available for laypeople, and when people realized that this doesn't mean you can just make Steve From Accounting design things. 030
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 27/08/2026I can date a US government document published between about 1950 and 2000 to within about 5 years. Though you also get outliers like this, which is from 1979 and doesn't credit the absolutely brilliant illustrator. It's about the Galileo probe missions, done in the style of Galileo Galilei. 190
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 27/08/2026Library work is really good for developing these. I have an *encyclopedic* knowledge of European Jewish library stamps, and after having to catalog all the NASA government publications we own... 130
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 26/08/2026I'll definitely take another look at the blue once once they're fully dry! The project has been going for about 10 years, so there are hundreds of varieties in it at this point. 110
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 26/08/2026The whole thread is great, but this particular line is even funnier with no context 030
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Ok, Batman hoverfly is immediately going on my list of Bugs To Find Just For The Name (I was unrepentantly gleeful when I finally saw a perplexing bumblebee). 110
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 26/08/2026Yep. I'm not sure if it reflects well or poorly on me that my attitude is "yes, yes, the world is going to end in a week but right now THIS NICE LADY LOST HER SQUASH AND I WILL MOVE HEAVEN AND EARTH TO FIND IT FOR HER". 160
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 26/08/2026I want to run away to the swamp and dwell among the pillbug scholars! 050
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 25/08/2026I mean, I'm mostly worrying about the stuff going on now rather than hypotheticals; I just have clinical anxiety and thus a broad bandwidth of space to worry about many things ;-) Are AI-powered drones *not* plausible? If there's a reason they're unlikely I'd love to know it. 000
werelibrary.bsky.social @werelibrary.bsky.social · 25/08/2026I'll ask our bean coordinator :-) They've been working on a landrace bean strain via crossbreeding a whole big medley of stuff for several years, so at this point I'm not sure if any of the parent beans were an identifiable variety. 110
