I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.

 If Dr Seuss wrote about data centres as the Lorax:

Here's the exchange, including the poem, for the visually impaired, since I don't think I can fit it in the alt text...from X.

User thisone0verhere: I wanna hear what the Lorax has to say about datacenters please

User alishakwon84:

           I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees.

And frankly, you've got them all down on their knees.

You flattened the forests, you paved every glen,

To build giant boxes for silicon men.

They whir and they blink with a mechanical hum,

While rivers grow thirsty and creeks come undone.

So build with more wisdom, mor sunshine, less smoke.

The planet's not here for one infinite joke.

I am the Loreax. My message won't bend-

You can't upload Earth if it comes to an end. 

 User thisone0verhere: Not gonna lie that made me tear up a little

I love the Lorax. It is one of my three favourite Dr Seuss books:

1. Horton Hears a Who
2. The Lorax
3. The Butter Battle Book 

Here is that bumper sticker that sits square in the middle of my car bumper:

I am sorry to say that I had not heard the story

Juliette Hampton Morgan

of Juliette Hampton Morgan, a white librarian from Montgomery, Alabama, who faced down her city's prejudice and bigotry with editorials typed and sent to the newspaper despite everything from being spat at on the sidewalk to calls for her dismissal to having a cross burned on her front lawn, until I read a post on the Facebook Page Buzzing America. Her story is courageous, sad, and inspiring, all at once. It shows that it's important to find your voice despite attempts to quash it, because what matters is what is right, not what others spout. She was a true librarian heroine. I am so sorry she did not live to see what I hope we can call a flawed but somewhat better world, although we have our ups and downs.  We need more like her today, and librarians like her are at the forefront of a cultural war that threatens to overwhelm patrons' ability to read and think for themselves. The main library of the city where the mayor demanded her dismissal for supporting the rights of Blacks riding the buses of Montgomery is now named for her, and that is part of her legacy, but the story is well worth reading, remembering, and retelling.

She is also an example of how courage often comes in strange packages.  A nervous woman, she had major driving anxiety (boy do I understand that--it's taken years of therapy to mostly be able to drive without too much trouble around town, and I still avoid major roads like New Circle and Nicholasville Road when possible, and I've driven on the Interstate four times since 1993, twice in the dead of night with little traffic). She relied on medicine and the bus system. It was because she rode the bus that she witnessed how Black riders were treated by White drivers, such as pulling off after they'd paid for their fare at the front but before they could board in the back. Despite that nervous disposition, and the fact that it obviously did contribute to the toll the hate speech and crimes against her took, along with her decision to take her life in the end, the fact that time after time she returned to her typewriter for so long, despite it all was very brave, and showed a force of will that many would have found surprising in an otherwise meek-seeming librarian, at least in the 1950s, when we were all supposed to be unmarried, wear sensible shoes, and go 'Shhh.'.

I think next time I dress for Halloween, instead of dressing as something spooky or Disney or such, I'd be tempted to dress in a pinstripe dress with a hydrangea pinned at the neck, with hydrangea earrings and if I can manage it, pin curls, because I instantly felt a kinship with this fine lady, and it would be an opportunity to tell her story. I would hope it wouldn't be an affront to her family; I would mean it as an homage. I'm glad the city decided to honour her by naming the library after her. Times do, fortunately, change.

A joyous Lughnasadh to you!

Enjoy this beautiful video. I don't know much about the band Deloraine except they are Czech and are billed as a sort of neo-Pagan/fantasy/Witcher-influenced group. But this was pretty impressive:

You can torment me, but my last straw is apparently pizza

Woke up with a horrible work-related anxiety dream today where I'd spent an hour trying to sign in and schedule two teenagers who seemed to have endless PROMIS questionnaires to do and that just meant more scheduling for me to do (this is now how it was in real life, of course), and I couldn't progress to the next people till they were taken care of, nor could they go on to their appointment, and it had been an hour. To make it worse, someone showed up with a huge amount of pizza and was giving all the families and staff free pizza and drinks, but I couldn't have any till I took care of this. At this point, my brain had just had it, and I woke up. Apparently, my limit for nightmare torture is being left out of free pizza.

Later, my friend and I were discussing it. He thought it was just my subconscious kicking it up to the surface because I was still looking for a job, even though it's been almost six months. Also, we decided that in addition to our previous determination that my punishments in hell would be constantly looking for fluff after sweeping that keeps appearing and endlessly trying to get a cantilever door back on track, it would be while others were enjoying free pizza at my expense. This is apparently torment in my mind.

But seriously, brain, I could use a little less of that. I will say I've had nothing like that in at least 3-4 months, which made this even more curious.

At least it was just a dream/nightmare, though.

A very insightful comparison

I first heard both of these songs as a college student in the Southern US back in the 80s. I (still!) have a cassette tape version of Peter Schilling's album with both on it. I was taking German at the time (I've had four semesters; it was a long time ago, and I'm currently trying to recover from that with study), and, to be honest, I preferred the German one (I also preferred "99 Luftballons" by Nena to "99 Red Balloons"). I think both unpack more information in a subtler way. I did not know about David Bowie's "Space Oddity" then (it came out when I was young and buried under a rock at home before I discovered pop music of the time) and only made the connexion later. This was a great video, and I really appreciate the comparison of the text and the ideas behind them.



Also, I do not read music, or play an instrument, but this guy explains to me exactly why I react a certain way to this song's lyrics vs. chorus:



And just for completeness, here's Nena's "99 Luftballons".

Exceeding expectations

 

27 Books

Added:

Most adorable thing I've seen this week

 So I thought I'd share it here...

This lowland tapir calf (Tapirus terrestris) was born July 8th 2026 at the Hertfordshire Zoo (@hertfordshirezoo.bsky.social) & is getting some scritches for his itches. Babies have these watermelon stripes to aid in camouflage on the forest floor, but they disappear after ~6 months.

[image or embed]

— c0nc0rdance (@c0nc0rdance.bsky.social) July 28, 2026 at 9:11 PM

For more about my skills and experience (hire me!)

Go to my LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eilir.

 

A little sad

Obviously, I've been listening to/watching a playlist on YouTube today, and this came up. It always brings tears to my eyes. I hadn't seen this animation before. This song is for my mom It came out the day after her death. It's almost her birth anniversary — she would have been 79 on August 3rd. She passed in 2017.

Beautiful to rediscover

Haven't listened to the cover of 'Bird Set Free', my favourite Sia song, by the Brigham Young University Women's A Capella Chorus, Noteworthy, in a while. They do a lovely job, and I love what they do with the T-shirts.