Thoughts for the Day

I often think about how long it takes to receive items in interlibrary loans. I can't predict when new items will come in. They tend to come in batches.

I had an odd reference question about a lawyer today at the library. Apparently, the old trick of being both a lawyer and a priest was being played out. First, you get a law degree, then you get ordained, then if you are truly ambitious, you get registered as an auxiliary (volunteer) policeman. This allows you to do a lot of things which your average citizen cannot in the United States, not pay taxes (your law office is your church), consult your law clients as their spiritual counsel, and show your fraternity with the local police. Watch for this kind of thing carefully.

I placed a few items on hold in my attempt to read 6 graphic novels for the graphic novel challenge. The first is Billy Hazelnuts by Tony Millionaire, and the second is Castle Waiting by Linda Medley. Castle Waiting has an introduction by Jane Yolen. It is the story of what happens after Sleeping Beauty wakes up. I am looking forward to reading it.

I really like Tony Millionaire's Sock Monkey. The graphic novel won the Eisner Award in 2004.

I found something to read on the train home today. Detective Story by Imre Kertesz. Apparently, the author won the Nobel Prize for Literature. It is a very brief work, only 112 pages long. This is a good size for a train read. The book is also about the size of a small paperback, even though it is a hardcover. It should be very convenient to read.

I did a minor change to my blog. I searched google using the link search to find who was linking t my blog. I added a couple of sites to my Link Exchange in my sidebar. The first is The Singing Librarian, a rather interesting librarian blog. The other is Monday Morning Power about how to have a very positive mental attitude. The blog can be fun, funny, and uplifting to read.

Todays Wandering Thoughts

I found a couple of books that seemed to be worth reading and placed them on hold. Ten Cent Plague: The Great Comic Book Scare and How It Changed America by David Hajdu. This book came out in 2008. I hope this book has a section on the famous book, Seduction of the Innocent by Dr. Fredrick Wortham written in 1954 on how comic books cause juvenile delinquency. Just to give you an idea of where I stand, I really like the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, http://www.cbldf.org/

There is also a new book called The Philosophers Apprentice by David Morrow. It is science fiction book. David Morrow writes very interesting science fiction. There is a review for it in Locus Magazine already. I think my review will probably be a bit different.
http://www.locusmag.com/Features/2008/03/locus-magazines-faren-miller-reviews.html

I changed something with my link exchange. Money Saving Tech Tips was nice enough to include me in his list of choice links. He has been following my blog for quite a while. So, I decided to expand my link exchange to include sites other than books. http://money-saving-tech-tips.blogspot.com/

I think that the metatags and new banner have considerably improved my traffic. I have not done any keyword analysis of the subjects which I am attaching to my blog. Keyword analysis basically, checks to make sure you are using the keywords which get the most blog traffic. I think at times it can be dishonest. If I really wanted to get a lot more traffic, I would include words like sex, Madonna, youtube, batman, pornography, spam, and similar things. I think it will be better in the long run to just use the right words to describe my blog.

There are a few things I have noticed about keywords. If a keyword is capitalized it is less likely to be a high traffic keyword. Also, it is good to include plurals of keywords; library, libraries, librarian, librarians for example.

Two of my holds came in. The first is Predictably Irrational The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely. The second is a dvd, Wallace & Gromit, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The dvd case has some chew marks on it, probably left by a little kid. There are any variety of things you will find in library books; coffee stains, water damage, shopping recipts, bookmarks, food stains, and other things in library books when they are returned. Very rarely you find one dollar bills used as bookmarks.

I decided to add a list of a few publishing blogs which I found rather interesting with some unique professional content. It is on the sidebar.

I accomplished something I finished reading all seven of the books on the Mythopoeic Award Book Challenge. I also reviewed all seven of the books which is an interesting accomplishment. I rather liked doing the concept of a book challenge. I might even do the Graphic Novel Challenge, although, I have already read most of the graphic novels in the challenge already.
http://foxywriter.com/2007/12/27/mythopoeic-award-challenge/

I tried to read Predictably Irrational The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely, but could not get into the book. The subject was interesting, behavioral economics, but the writing was not. I tried the fifty page rule: read fifty pages before you put a book down and it still did not hold my attention. I will try something else tomorrow. I was surprised because the book reminded me slightly of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt which I liked.