Daily Thoughts 04/23/2012

Fumi yomu yūjo  Print shows a woman seated on a bench reading a scroll, one end of which a cat is playing with from under the bench.  Date Created/Published: [between 1757 and 1783, printed later]  Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-jpd-00551 (digital file from original print)
Source: U.S. Library of Congress

Daily Thoughts 04/23/2012

I have been steadily reading An Economist Gets Lunch by Tyler Cowen.  I rather liked the section on barbecue.  His descriptions of the differences between Mexican and United States barbecue are interesting.  He also does a good job of describing the different types of Chinese cuisine in America.  I was surprised by his support for GMO food.  He made a very different case for this.  I am not a fan of GMO food.

This morning, I updated the Twitter and Facebook account for the library.  We are also hosting World Book Night tonight on April 23, 2012 http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/

I also read the latest New York Times Book Review and spent some time preparing future orders in Title Tales.  I also checked the current events display.  I helped someone with creating a LinkedIn profile today for finding a job.

Today was very quiet and peaceful.  I also checked the Collection Management sheets where we take patrons requests at the reference desk and the gift books.  There were a few young adult titles to add to the classics section.

On the way home, I read some more of Infoquake by David Louis Edelman.  It has this feeling like you might read in Wired magazine where the author is a classic silicon valley high technology libertarian startup kind of guy except for three hundred years in the future.  There are even redwood trees in one part of the novel.The author is a programmer so there is quite a bit about future concepts programming.

I also read some more of An Economist Gets Lunch. Tyler Cownen is writing about why Mexican food is better in Mexico.  He also explains the different cuisines in China and why they are often better than the Americanized versions.  Part of it is about the economics of food production, farming, and the difference between large scale mechanized food production, more local agriculture, and artisanal food production.  He makes a strong stance against highly processed junk food.

Web Bits

Iverse to Launch Digital Comics Library Service
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/digital/devices/article/51628-iverse-to-launch-digital-comics-library-service.html?goback=.gmp_2655023.gde_2655023_member_109864954