Daily Thoughts 12/21/2015

Monstrous Hog of Landser, Albrecht Durer, 1496

Daily Thoughts 12/20/2015

I checked the library Twitter and Facebook this morning.

Last night, I finished reading The New and Improved Romie Futch by Julia Elliott.  Romie Futch is tracking down Hogzilla a giant pig so he can stuff it for taxidermy.

   The book draws from existing urban legends.   Snopes has an interesting article on giant wild pigs. http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/hogzilla.asp   In the fantasy novel, the pig has bat wings, is a transgenic experiment, and eats everything in site.  There are other urban legends in the story, including rats with eyes in their backs.  This reminds of the Vacanti Mouse, the one with the ear on its back.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacanti_mouse

The story gets more interesting as it gets towards the end.  It touches on environmentalism, hunting, and corporate transgenic research.  There is a streak of paranoia and macabre humor than can be quite entertaining to read.  Put on your tinfoil hat, pour yourself a cup of tea, and enjoy this book.

I also finished watching New Manager Fundamentals by Todd DeWett on Lynda.com

Web Bit

Tumblr's Meme Librarian has the Best Job on the Internet
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/12/21/tumblrs-meme-librarian-has-the-best-job-on-the-internet/

Daily Thoughts 12/20/2015

Portrait of English Writer Herbert George Wells, 1918, Daily Mirror

Daily Thoughts 12/20/2015

I checked the library Twitter and Facebook this morning.

I read some more of The New and Improved Romie Futch.  The book is becoming more and more macabre with its humor.  After being released from the brain experiment, Romie Futch starts making taxidermy dioramas.

I watched some of the Lynda.com training video for New Manager Fundamentals with Todd DeWett.

Web Bits

Paper Rules: Why Borrowing an E-book from Your Library is So Difficult

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/e-book-library-lending-broken-difficult/

How Digital Records Change Lives

https://www.nla.gov.au/media-releases/2015/12/15/how-digital-records-change-lives

Daily Thoughts 12/19/2015

Hand Study with Bible, Albrecht Durer, 1506

Daily Thoughts 12/19/2015


I checked the library Twitter and Facebook this morning.



I checked the displays and the gift books this morning.



I finished reading Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise by Oscar Hijuelos this morning.  The writing was excellent.  I liked that in the end Mark Twain reviews Stanley's autobiography and tells Dorothy Tennant, Stanley's wife that what he writes about Stanley's adoptive father is not true.  I also liked that Oscar Hijuelos describes how Mark Twain joined the Anti-Imperialist league.  It creates a deep contrast with Stanley's forays into Africa.  This book holds deeply contrasting views between its two main characters.  I found this satisfying.



Two books came in for me to read, The New and Improved Romie Futch by Julia Elliott and Secular Meditation A Guide from the Humanist Community at Harvard 32 Practices for Cultivating Inner Peace, Compassion, and Joy by Rick Heller.



I read through a copy of the January 2016 Baker and Taylor Forecast.



I checked out the book, The Girls from Atomic City, The Untold Story of The Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan.  It is the book for the next book club.



The new website is going to be live on Monday.

I started reading The New and Improved Romie Futch by Julia Elliott.  Romie Futch is a down on his luck middle aged taxidermist with bad habits and a heavy metal attitude.  The book is a study in excess with lots of sex and drugs drawing from the worst stereotypes from 1970s and 1980s.  Romie Futch decides to improve himself so takes part in a cybernetic brain implant medical test.  Things get weird, a bit psychedelic, and postmodern.  He is operated on by Dr. Morrow, a clear pun on Dr. Moreau from H.G. Wells.  This is a modern satirical fantasy.





Web Bits

Alberto Manguel to Lead National Library (Argentina)

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/article/205254/alberto-manguel-to-lead-national-library



Against All Odds Print Books Are On the Rise Again in the US.
http://qz.com/578025/against-all-odds-print-books-are-on-the-rise-again-in-the-us/

Incredible Bulk at a Comic Book Warehouse In Brooklyn
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/20/nyregion/incredible-bulk-at-a-comic-book-warehouse-in-brooklyn.html?smid=pl-share&_r=0

 

Daily Thoughts 12/18/2015

Interrupted, Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1880

Daily Thoughts 12/18/2015

I checked the library Twitter and Facebook this morning.

I read some more of Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise.  I am reading about when Mark Twain visits a spirit medium to talk to the spirit of his departed daughter.

I finished watching the Management Tips video on Lynda.com


Web Bits

Google's Perfect Computer

http://www.technologyreview.com/news/544421/googles-quantum-dream-machine/

Harvard Launches "Free Law" Digitization Project

http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2015/12/oa/harvard-launches-free-the-law-digitization-project/

To Lose Our Libraries Would be a National Disaster-- We Must Act to Save Them-- Desmond Clakre

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/18/lose-libraries-disaster-save-strangling-service-reform-technology

Over 100 public libraries have been closed in the United Kingdom in the last year.

British Librarians are Suing Government Over Library Closings

http://www.adweek.com/galleycat/british-librarians-are-suing-government-over-library-closings/113981

 

Daily Thoughts 12/17/2015

Chess Game, Marcel Duchamp, 1910

Daily Thoughts 12/17/2015


I checked the library Twitter and Facebook this morning.


I read some more of Twain and Stanley Enter Paradise.  The concept of paradise in this novel is interesting.  Mark Twain viewed his childhood as a kind of paradise.  In contrast, towards the end of his life, Stanley found adopting a child a kind of paradise and a beautiful thing to do.


I checked the gift books and the displays.


I printed up some of the short guidebooks for the discussion for the film Ellis which we are showing on Saturday.


We discussed the book, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls at the book club today.  The next book we plan on discussing is The Girls of Atomic City:  The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan.


I spent some time preparing for two programs, the film Ellis on Saturday and an Adult Board Games Night, tonight from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.


There is also a computer class for Beginning Excel from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

I played a game of checkers and a game of chess during adult games night.



Web Bits

Have Ebook Readers Given Up on the Library?

http://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/blogs/e-content/ala-bisg-have-ebook-readers-given-up-on-library/

Ebooks Boost Boys' Reading Abilities, Research Says

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/12040488/Ebooks-boost-boys-reading-abilities-research-finds.html?utm_source=Publishers+Weekly&utm_campaign=c46a8953a7-UA-15906914-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0bb2959cbb-c46a8953a7-305072197