Congrats to free_dreamer, who won Dream for Me by Becky Black!

Congrats to Melanie, who won Upside Down (Inside Out #2) by Andrew Grey!

Randonymity

• I got a new ring this week.

Bookity

• New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance)

• Book and publishing news from Dear Author.

• Becky Black with five reasons you should start writing now.

• “Pages ain’t nothing but a number (or, let’s all stop judging people by how much they read)“. (via maderr)

• New words added to the online Oxford Dictionary (not the OED) include “fandom” and “mansplain”.

• Books and a black kitty – perfection.

Think, Make, Do, Learn

• Outside’s list of the 16 greatest places to live in the US. (via neighborhoodr-minneapolis) (Spoiler: Duluth and Minneapolis both made the list.)

• Sage Francis wrote “Conspiracy to Riot” about the protests surrounding the 2008 Republican National Convention in St Paul, MN, but what’s happening in Ferguson reminded me of it, unfortunately. (video contains sounds and scenes of violence) (But this is a very promising development in Ferguson, finally.)

• What’s the most expensive thing that you can fit into a size 11 shoebox?

• Google has underwater photos on Street View.

• 22 old nicknames for animals.

• The Xcel Energy Center and Visit St Paul (MN) are selling the Spamboni.

• “11 mundane objects that are statistically deadlier than sharks“. (Bednado isn’t as catchy as Sharknado, I guess.)

• Best bedroom paint colors for sleep. (It’s dark when you’re sleeping. Does the paint matter that much?)

• Animation of how bad California’s drought is.

• Which country is the right fit for you? (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Canada…)

• “Robin Williams taught us the joy of being weird“.

Cookity

• Quick fondant made with Jell-O and marshmallows. (via Lifehacker)

• Nutella crepe cake.

• Tomato soup cupcakes.

• No-cook tomato sauce.

• 13 recipes using fresh tomatoes.

• Strawberry gazpacho with grapes and goat cheese. (via The Kitchn)

• Grilled corn and summer squash quesadillas.

• BLT bites with avocado cream.

• V-8 juice.

Gluten Free

• Carnitas.

• Old Bay popcorn and peanuts.

• Healthy zucchini muffins.

• Blueberry muffins with coconut flour.

• Cookie cups with no-bake cheesecake filling.

Crafty

• Crochet covers for boring drawer and cabinet knobs. (via CRAFT)

• Knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool

• 30 Minneapolis murals. (via neighborhoodr-minneapolis)

• You’ve perhaps never heard of Paul Bissonnette, the NHL hockey player who pretty much won the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge (a helicopter was involved). GPOY. (NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman took the challenge, too. There’s a little sidebar in the linked article on the NHL’s site that has links to even more challenges.)

• Neil deGrasse Tyson and Felicia Day narrate a video about the Mars Curiosity rover.

• Spoonbridge and Cherry.

• Linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

• Twin Peaks as an NES-style video game.

• 11 crazy S’Mores combos. (National S’Mores Day was apparently this past Sunday.)

• Edible chocolate LEGOs.

• Captain Picard facepalm cookie. (via The Mary Sue)

Wha…?

• Pre-muddied sneakers/trainers.

• Candy apple flavored M&Ms.

• Christmas tree shaped ice cream is already out there.

• Inject bananas still in the peel with fillings.

• Restoration Hardware mailed 17 lb/7.7 kg catalogs to its customers.

LOL

• Gandalf uses a Mac?! *gasp* (The tags on this post are great.)

• 16 texts to exes.

• Fake fitness tracker that tells you what you’re running from.

• Universal converter box. (Hover cursor [or long-press on mobile] for additional text.)

• Eeep!

• Exactly what I see when I close a door with the kitties on the other side.

• Velcro!

• Talk to the butt.

Teh Cute

• Pallas cat and babies! Black kitten! Baby pandas! Fennec and babies! Sandhill cranes and baby. Baby snow leopard! Kitten!

Reading Update

• *whistling*

“….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….” -Chaos

Randonymity

Last weekend, I actually used something I learned in high school!

…cutting a mat for a print. 😀 I’ve had that print for several years, but because it’s square and the precut mats that square frames have would covered most of the print, I’ve put off hanging the print until now. (Print from Kerry Beary’s etsy shop.)

Bookity

• New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance) and Tor.com (UF, genre benders, scifi, fantasy)

• Book and publishing news from Dear Author.

• Dear Author reviews three ebook subscription services: Kindle Unlimited, Scribd, and Oyster.

• Testing the (custom) waterproof Kindle Paperwhite.

• “50 words that sound rude but actually aren’t“.

• Book-cut art.

Do, Think, Make, Learn

• Based on your political beliefs, which US town/ZIP code (by state) should you live in? (via Lifehacker) (For Minnesota, my match was Minneapolis and the ZIP code I currently live in – the ZIP code I previously lived in (six blocks away) was also in the mix.)

• Free MIT photojournalism class.

• Make feather wand toys for your cat(s). (via CRAFT)

• There’s a worldwide kale shortage. (via The Kitchn)

• What’s the fastest way to get a letter from Chicago to New Jersey?

• Fist bumps transfer fewer germs than handshakes or high fives.

• Skin cancer rates are rising in the US and “we need to do something”, warns the Surgeon General.

• “Your giant American refrigerator is making you fat and poor“.

Cookity

• 15 sweet corn recipes.

• 17 no oven summer supper recipes.

• 10 tapas.

• Grilled stuffed mushrooms.

• Grilled cauliflower “steak” burger. (via The Kitchn)

• Vegan roasted pepper pasta. (via The Kitchn)

• Avocado, strawberry, and goat cheese sandwich. (via The Kitchn)

• Sauteed zucchini with chorizo and lime.

• S’mores macarons. (via The Kitchn)

• Blackberry ombre popsicles. (via The Kitchn) (They are beautiful!)

Gluten Free

• Nutella chocolate mousse.

• Vanilla bean creme brulee.

• Zucchini Parmesan.

• Fresh tortellini.

Crafty

• Looks like a great sock pattern to break up pooling.

Cool

• T-Rex pasta portioner.

• Sculpture.

• More uncommon dragon hoards. Kitten hoard!

• Minneapolis Paul and Babe mural.

• Linkity and knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

• Things that Disney characters do that would see you ostracized if you did them.

• An alarm that brews coffee to wake you up.

• Borg cube minifridge.

• Leathermanesque hair clip.

• If you’ve ever wondered what Morgan Freeman would sound like on helium…

Wha…?

• Cheese Curls of Instagram.

• Pulled pork pizza.

• Pumpkin Pie Spice Jif Whips.

• Fitness wristband that shocks you if you don’t meet your exercise goals.

• Chair that looks, feels, and smells like human skin.

• “Russians regain control of rogue lizard-sex satellite“.

• Twin Peaks/Muppets mashup art.

LOL

• The Hobbit, summarized in two words.

• Game of Thrones blooper reel.

• Oscar Meyer wants to buy the world’s largest catsup bottle.

• Beware the headcan(n)on! (Hover cursor for additional text.)

• New Simon’s Cat!

• Sleepy black cat.

• Could be Chaos…

Teh Cute

• Bison and baby! Penguins and babies! Baby cheetah and puppy! Otters! Kitten invasion! Baby fox! Fancy bird and baby! Moose and babies! Tiger and baby! Tiger and baby!

Reading Update

• Look! Over there! In the sky!

“Hmph! Everyone knows that ‘C’ is for ‘Chaos’.” -Chaos

“Where is the ‘M is for Mayhem’ print?!” -Mayhem

Contest(s)

• Blodeuedd’s giving away How to Lose a Lord in 10 Days or Less by Elizabeth Michels. Closes July 26. US & Canada.

Bookity

• New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance)

• Book and publishing news from Dear Author.

• Book linkity from Smart Bitches.

• What does the American Library Association think of Kindle Unlimited?

• “Body parts all over the floor“. (Thanks, Jase!)

• Two JRR Tolkien biopics seems an excess.

• How to write in the style of the 17th/18th centuries. (via tracykitn)

• Why, yes, yes I would.

• Truth.

Think, Make, Learn, Do

• Take a test from the BBC to find out what sport you were made for. (via exemplaryetoile) (Cycling is my sport, which is actually true.)

• Why do LEGOs keep washing up on the shore in Cornwall? (via expemplaryetoile)

• 50% of Canadians live in the red areas on this map. (via ninjaboots)

• 25 vintage photos of Chicago.

• See where Voyageur 1 has traveled during the page 36 years.

• NASA used a satellite to figure out how bad the current drought is in the western US.

• US food and supplement recalls. Listeria-contaminated fruit recall.

• Lifehacker users picked their five favorite antivirus programs. (Spoiler: Avast! Free Antivirus was later voted the best in another post. I’ve been using it for… a long time.)

• Sitting might not be as deadly as previously thought.

• Product trademarks and genericization.

• Make your own hybrid notebook. (via Notebook Stories)

Cookity

• Salted caramel s’mores. (via The Kitchn)

• Caramel fudge brownies with marshmallow cream.

• Lemon lemonies (bars). (via anna-sugarfairy)

• Red bean ice cream.

• Boozy mudslide popsicles. (via The Kitchn)

• 15 blueberry recipes.

• 10 easy vegan meals.

• Summer succotash and green rice.

• White pizza with avocado, spinach, and mozzarella.

• Slow cooker pork carnitas.

Gluten Free

• Apricot crumble bars.

• Blueberry crisp.

• Chocolate-frosted brownies.

• Chocolate ice cream sandwiches.

• Chocolate love gelato.

• Dairy-free “ice cream” recipes.

• Zucchini yeast bread.

• Super fluffy English muffins.

Crafty

• Knit linkity from kmkat.

Cool

• TARDIS shower curtain.

• Doctor Who 50th anniversary LEGO tribute video. (via The Mary Sue)

• 29 very cool satellite photos. (via oops-ohdear)

• Starry Night made from Hubble Telescope images.

• “Scully likes science“.

• I live about 2/3 of a mile out of frame on the upper right of this photo. (There is much less traffic where I live!)

• The strange intersection of dinosaur skeleton sculpture and pink flamingos.

Cool or Wha…?

• Ice cube trays: TARDIS, Death Star, Easter Island, and more.

• Death Star rug.

• “I could eat a horse” pasta measurer. (via pipervaughn)

• “Eye of the Tiger” played on a dot-matrix printer.

• The Royal Guard at Buckingham Palace playing the Game of Thrones theme. (via The Mary Sue)

Wha…?

• Raw egg tableware.

• Fortunately, Fried Chicken Oreos are fake. But apparently Root Beer Float Oreos are real.

• You can get a personalized novelty toaster.

• 170-foot tall bottle of catsup is for sale.

• 11 silly smartphone cases.

LOL

• Majestic photobomb.

• The weirdest bits from each NHL team’s Wikipedia page.

• Accidentally insulting birthday cakes. Logo fail cakes.

• Not a witch, but this is one reason I have black cats.

• Kitties – so helpful, in so many ways!

Teh Cute

• Tiger! Cats! Kitten! Kittens! Okapi and baby! Penguins! Red panda and babies! Baby lynx!

Reading Update

• The usual. 🙂

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Chaos

Bookity

• New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance) and Tor.com (UF, PNR)

• Writerly linkity from Becky Black.

• Eden Winters on keeping your characters in character.

• How to use Scrivener to organize your writing.

• “A guide to fanfiction for people who can’t stop getting it wrong“. (via agentpantybunches)

• JK Rowling wrote a new Harry Potter short story.

• If you love to read, you’ll appreciate these illustrations.

• 10 books that have stayed with me in some way.

Think, Learn, Do, Make

• Monuments to cats.

• 10 companies own most of the food brands.

• How much real dinosaur is in a plastic dinosaur?

• How many snowflakes would it take to cover the world in six feet of snow?

• NASCAR physics explained by Neal deGrasse Tyson.

• The baseball All-Star Game at Target Field in Minneapolis will feature self-serve beer machines.

• Go inside the Twinkie factory.

• 20 tidbits about chocolate.

Cookity

• Zucchini marinara.

• Baked summer squash.

• 12 ways to cook zucchini and summer squash.

• Grilled cherry tomato skewers. (via The Kitchn)

• Green beans and butternut squash salad.

• Grilled cauliflower burgers. (via The Kitchn)

• Parmesan polenta fries with Bloody Mary dip. (via The Kitchn)

• Summer corn cakes and grilled bread with spinach pesto.

• Herbed chicken burgers with spicy aioli.

• Spicy Korean grilled chicken.

• 11 sweet and savory pies.

• Sriracha maple bacon.

• Easy strawberry shortcakes.

• Strawberry lime basil shortcakes. (via The Kitchn)

• Two-ingredient healthy oatmeal breakfast cookies.

Gluten Free

• Coconut egg cream.

• Chocolate doughnut holes.

Drinkity

• Mai Tai.

• Frozen gin and tonic.

• 15 fruity, boozy spritzers. (via maderr)

Crafty

• Knit a cute kitty. (via bronwyngreen)

• Knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool

• Great photo of Minneapolis. And another of Minnehaha Falls.

• Play a demo of Catlateral Damage to experience the life of a cat. (via The Mary Sue)

• Great quote about magic and technology – and not the one you’re thinking of.

• Thunderstorm cloud lamp or ceiling light. (via pipervaughn)

• Princess Bride scenes in LEGO. (via bronwyngreen)

• The Academy Award-winning animated film The Triplets of Belleville is about “a badass little granny (with a limp and hint of mustache) as she tracks down her cyclist grandson who’s been kidnapped by the French mafia“.

• Embroidered Calvin & Hobbes.

• Wee geeky knits.

• Tour Adam Savage’s Cave via Google Street View. (Or you can tour the world’s largest cruise ship.)

Cool or Wha…?

• Vintage typewriter-style tablet keyboard.

• Microwave that will be able to count the calories of what you’re heating.

• Hostess announces the return of the Chocodile. (I’d never heard of it before.)

• 10 baking-related items. (via tracykitn)

• VW Camper Vanesque trailer.

Wha…?

• There’s no Wha…? this week?!?!

LOL

• Where should you live in Canada? (via Paperback Writer) (I got Prince Edward Island, “one of Canada’s three Maritime provinces and the smallest province in the nation, is best known as the idyllic setting of Anne of Green Gables. It’s a truly beautiful and quaint place, especially if you love beaches, wide open spaces, and abundant world class seafood.”

• Sesame Street’s True Blood parody.

• When a sandcastle cake goes awry. Possibly NSFWish?

• How to survive a trip to IKEA.

• Word.

• So true.

• Poor exhausted kitty.

• Bugs or ghosts.

• Such drama!

• Bad doggy!

Teh Cute

• Baby quoll! Cat and kittens! Baby snow leopard! Lynx and babies! Black kitten! Snowy owl and babies! Baby fennecs! Baby otters! Baby chinchilla!

Reading Update

• Look! Over there! In the sky! 😉

“…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…” -Mayhem

*baleful glaring for no particular purpose* – Chaos

Congrats to Samantha, who won All Kinds of Tied Down by Mary Calmes! All Kinds of Tied Down will be released by Dreamspinner Press on July 4.

Congrats to Sandra O, who won Diversion (2nd ed) by Eden Winters! Diversion will be released July 4 by Rocky Ridge Books.

Randonymity

• Since Friday’s a holiday here, it was brief linkity today or no linkity… Oh good, glad you see it my way now. 😉

• We had a bit of rain on Sunday – this was 12 blocks south of me. With 11.36 in/28.9 cm of rain in June, we were only less than 0.31 in/0.8 cm from breaking the record for wettest June, set in 1874.

• Jeanne and I saw the world’s largest plane fly over my neighborhood Wednesday evening.

Contest(s)

• Becky Black’s giving away a paperback copy of the Not Quite Shakespeare m/m romance anthology. Closes 9 am UK time, July 5.
• Becky black is also giving away an ebook copy of her forthcoming m/m scifi romance, Dream for Me. Closes 9 am UK time, July 8.

Bookity

• New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance), Tor.com (genre-benders, scifi, fantasy), and AAR (romance)

• Dear Author doesn’t seem to be doing their news posts anymore, alas.

• VacuousMinx on the Facebook research scandal.

• Becky Black on understanding publishing is based on risk.

• Charlie Cochet with part four of building your author website.

• “Burned out on blogging?“

• Get some absolution from a librarian.

• Book-inspired benches.

• Inflatable book life jacket.

• Writer’s mood ring colors.

Think, Learn, Do, Make

• “What would happen if all the bodies of water on Earth disappeared?“

• How the immune system works. (via The Mary Sue)

• GM has recalled more vehicles this year than it sold the past seven years.

• 15 unusual July holidays.

Cookity

• Brownie ice cream sandwiches. (via The Kitchn)

• One-bowl chocolate cake.

• Dark chocolate ice cubes.

• Blueberry waffle cookies. (via The Kitchn)

• 12 ways to eat corn.

• 12 easy smoothies.

Gluten Free

• Chicken KFC-style.

• Soft hamburger buns.

• Sweet potato and pecan doughnuts with praline icing.

• Lemon poppyseed bread.

Cool

• In Canada, as written and performed by Colonel Chris Hadfield and his brother Dave. (via demotu)

• This is a true thing!

• Queen Elizabeth II on the Iron Throne.

• TCPride would’ve been too much walking for me this year, but here are a couple cool bridge pictures celebrating Pride.

• Linkity and knitting linkity from kmkat.

Cool or Wha…?

• The Ministry of Silly Walks is now a video game.

Wha…?

• You can buy Swett, South Dakota, for $400,000.

• Coffee and wine. Combined. In a can.

LOL

• Daniel Radcliffe, what are you doing?!

• Some physicist humor from Neil deGrasse Tyson.

• Sam Gagner’s Tampa Bay Lightning career was only a few hours, but there’s a tribute video!

• June’s best autocorrects.

• Ugly wedding cakes.

• I can picture Chaos doing this.

Teh Cute

• Baby tigers! Baby red pandas! Muskox and baby! Cheetah and baby! Otter and baby! Tiger and babies!

Reading Update

• *waves*

We were all very cozy during the crazy Sunday rain…

“I’m outta here if there’s another flash of lightning!” -Mayhem

“Mom will keep us safe, May!” -Chaos

Congrats to Engese31, who won the signed paperback copy of Becky Black’s two novella m/m science fiction romance anthology, Travelers: Tilt!

Randonymity

• Hey, there’s actually going to be a contest next week. 🙂

• If linkity seems a bit sparse this week, it’s because I’m tired (from a thunderstorm that started really early this morning and kept me awake) and a bit frazzled (I have a handyman here this week to do a partial bathroom remodel).

• I live on a big hill, so no flooding here, fortunately. But our governor has declared a state of emergency in 35 Minnesota counties. It’s the wettest year on record to date… and only 6 inches less than our ANNUAL normal precipitation level. Professional kayaker takes on the raging Minnehaha Falls. Photo gallery.

Contest(s)

• Blodeuedd’s giving away a copy of The Trouble Next Door by Marie Harte. Closes June 26. US & Canada.

Bookity

• New releases: Fiction Vixen (UF/romance)

• Apple has settled the ebook antitrust case.

• An appeals court has ruled that Sherlock Holmes is public domain.

• Once again on women writing m/m.

• On writing and reading fanfic.

Think, Learn, Make, Do

• Famous LA streets when they were dirt roads.

• The US Supreme Court has ruled that you can’t patent an abstract idea – you have to actually make something. Bad news for patent trolls, poor things.

• The US Patent Office has canceled the Washington Redskins’ trademark registration.

• Whooping cough has reached epidemic level in California.

• 25 unusual phobias.

• A post from me (I know! Gasp!) about adding comments to things when you reblog them on Tumblr. (Some people get kind of crazy when people add comments to their stuff, which is pretty amusing, since usually their stuff are gifsets they’ve created from videos for which they do not own the rights.)

Cookity

• Zucchini pasta with lentils.

• Tomato chutney.

• Sicilian green olive salad.

• Fluffy ricotta pancakes.

• Green goddess quinoa salad bowl.

• Potato and chorizo salad.

Gluten Free

• Oreo Cakesters-style pies.

• Lemon blueberry cake.

• Moon pies.

• Butterscotch-chocolate-toffee cookie bars.

Cool

• Stanley Cup Final hockey hugs.

• LEGO Grand Budapest Hotel.

• The CBC’s hockey playoffs closing montage.

Cool or Wha…?

• Typographic building blocks.

• Wonky-lined notebook.

• Scratch-off globe for travelers.

• X-Wing knife holder.

Wha…?

• Some spiders can catch and eat fish.

• Clown-themed motel.

• A company allegedly forced its employees to practice an onion-based religion.

Tunity

• A fun song about coffee and work.

• “The Dark”, a lovely song by Ben Kyle (Romantica) and Ryan Adams.

LOL

• Cake Wrecks quotation mark abuse cakes.

• 21 Father’s Day autocorrects.

• Poor Fred.

Teh Cute

• Pallas cat kitten! Baby red wolves! Baby red flying fox! Baby tigers! Baby clouded leopards!

Reading Update

• Hahahahahahahahaha.

“What was that noise? Was that the handyman’s truck?! Should I run and hide before Mom tries to lock me in the kitty room?” -Chaos