Stacy Horn

Not a good sign of the books-times. I worked here years ago, although it was a terrible experience. At the time the place was being run by this truly unpleasant, humorless person. It always felt to me like she was playing the part of a being a manager, from something she’d observed in a business school class perhaps, but she had no real talent for it. She’d assume this go-get-’em attitude except she was not encouraging or inspiring, she was petty and punishing, making otherwise passionate, engaged employees the least productive group I’ve ever seen.

All day long she’d have us move whole sections of books to one floor or another, or to one side of the room or another, always thinking she’d find the perfect arrangement, the one layout that would magically increase sales, and unfortunately this was the only play she had. She had no other ideas and did not welcome any of ours. The whole time I worked there I moved books up and down stairs and across the floor. Over and over and over. I wonder if customers picked up on the vibe-of-misery whenever they shopped there?

This is not a comment on Barnes & Noble, by the way. It was one brief period in one store which I am very sad to see go. Ha! You can see me taking the shot. I don’t always to remember to make sure I’m not in the reflection.

Someone tweeted how Obama had just signed a five year extension of Bush-era warrantless wiretapping. It was not long after Instagram had announced they were going to sell people photographs without their permission. The tweeter noted how there was a huge uproar about selling photographs without permission, but warrantless wiretapping hadn’t raised a peep.

It was a very good point. It made me want to make a list of all the liberties we’ve lost since 9/11. It’s probably already out there. I just googled it. It’s out there all over the place and it’s not pretty. Here’s the NYCLU’s list. I’d post more but I have to run to the dentist. More about that another day! (Also not pretty.)

Update: Here’s an article about what Obama just signed. This part in particular freaked me out—how could anyone have a problem with this amendment: “By a vote of 52 to 43, the Senate on Friday rejected a proposal by Mr. Wyden to require the national intelligence director to tell Congress if the government had collected any domestic e-mail or telephone conversations under the surveillance law.”

The Empire State Building on New Year Eve. If you didn’t watch my movie of this you might want to, because it was a beautiful light show.

Can you believe this?? What will they think of next? Thank you, Empire State Building lighters!

This has been reported all over the place, but homicides are down so much in New York that right now more people kill themselves here than are murdered. About 475 people kill themselves every year and as of Friday homicides are only up to 414. I spent some time researching suicide a long time ago, (thinking I might write about it, but didn’t). The best article I read on the subject was and still is: How Not to Commit Suicide by Art Kleiner.

On a much happier note, this roundup of 2012 from Google made me tear up.

More happiness: Nasa Johnson Style, a parody of Gangnam Style. Actual astronauts and astrophysicists are dancing and singing in this video! Just try to not fall in love with all of them. It can’t be done.

And still more happiness from a great Brooklyn animator named Alisa Stern. I have to point out, Alisa made this before this years Christmas Doctor Who aired! (This will mean something to people who watch the show.)

[Video removed because the link no longer works.]

Finally, a happy New Years Eve outfit. It’s not for me, but I love it anyway. And except for the fact that it’s probably leather, that bag in the lower left. I love the color.

I watched this TEDx Talk about climate change and for the love of God. Our lack of response to this issue is insane. Honestly, it’s criminal and unforgivable.

Why this has to be a left/right, democrat/republican issue is even more inexcusable than the way things have evolved with gun control, where at least I can see the cultural divide.

I don’t understand how people with families can sit by and do nothing. Your grandchildren are going to suffer. It’s like we don’t care about the end of the human race. I know some politicians must know this, they must be at least somewhat aware that even the few remaining scientists with more conservative positions about climate change are one-by-one accepting how bad it is, and yet they stick to their party’s platform in order to stay in office, perhaps saying to themselves, “It won’t be quite as bad as they say, and in any case we’ll rally and do something about it later.” But watch this video. The speaker addresses that line of thinking.

Good cat sign: Sometimes Finney wants to be on my lap and Bleecker is already there. Instead of going away he tries to see if he can fit somehow, without touching Bleecker. He can’t. On this occasion I picked him up so he could curl up with me without technically laying next to Bleecker. I tried to get a picture using the computer’s camera. I call this: Two Tiers of Cats.

Look at those faces. In that moment my cats were the cutest cats in the world. Every moment there’s a contest, and in that moment my cats won. Congratulations boys!