Weird Website Wednesday

One of our Reference Desk staplers met its end yesterday, and a coworker reminded me of an odd blog we'd found earlier this year: The Lives and Deaths of Academic Staplers. A librarian at Middle State Tennessee University decided to "document the destruction of public staplers through their general use" starting with the Spring 2013 semester. They're currently on stapler #13.

Image from The Lives and Deaths of Academic Staplers

This left me thinking about some of the other quirky websites of dubious utility that we come across in the course of the day at Carnegie-Stout, and I thought I'd share a few with you.

How Many People Are in Space Right Now?
The space shuttles may no longer be in service, but that doesn't mean there aren't astronauts, cosmonauts, taikonauts, and other space travelers orbiting the planet.

HORG: The Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group : A Database of Synthetic Taxonomy

Image from HORG

An intensely detailed classification system and archive of those little plastic doodads that keep the plastic bag on your bread closed (occlupanids). If you remember learning about kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species in Biology, you'll probably appreciate the dedication behind this site.

TV Tropes
If you ever wondered how many television programs about girl robots there've been, or why someone might refer to such a thing as falling into the uncanny valley, TV Tropes is there to tell you. Just be wary, if you've never visited before, you're liable to lose an hour.

Wookieepedia
Wikipedia for those of you fluent in Wookiee. Although we'd understand if more of our readers were fluent in Klingon.

Did you know we'll be holding an adults only light saber class on May 4th? Call the Reference Desk (563-589-4225) today to reserve your spot!