Daily Thoughts 05/18/2012

Alexander Kanoldt: Stilleben II (Still Life II), 1922
Daily Thoughts 05/18/2012

This morning, I read some more of Alexander Pope's version of the Odyssey on the train to work.

This morning, I updated the Twitter and Facebook account.  I also checked the gifts and the displays.  I spent a little more time in the mezzanine checking books to make sure they are in the catalog.

I spent a little more time on Codecademy learning CSS.  One of our library patrons has been practicing on the Javascript portion of Codecademy.  I also helped a staff member with setting up a Lynda.com account and spent some time looking through the bestselling computer books on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Web Bits

Are Libraries Doomed?
http://www.lymeline.com/news.php?viewStory=5426

Trade Must Help Bookshops Compete In the E-World
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/trade-must-help-bookshops-compete-omni-channel-marketplace-downer.html

Read With Me Online

Right now, I am reading, Genellan Planetfall by Scott Gier from the Baen Free Library. It is a free online science fiction book. http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/1932657266/1932657266.htm
You can read it with me if you want. I am on Chapter 9 right now.

Yesterday, I went to my local library but didn't find anything I wanted to read. I spent a little while looking around for something to read but couldn't find anything that I wanted to read. I saw something interesting. My local library subscribes to a few issues of comic books, wolverine, batman, justice league, and superman. We don't subscribe to any individual issues of comic books. They also subscribe to Mad Magazine. At my library we subscribe to Mad Magazine. Mad Magazine is a kind of a guilty pleasure.

I looked at the computer books. There was a book on how to do a Facebook page and a Myspace page. I don't think I want to do this yet. It would probably increase my web traffic considerably, but would create a lot of additional work. I might learn something however. A lot of people when they come into the library I work at use Facebook and Myspace when they sign up to use the computer. I overheard the librarians discussing doing a Myspace page for my local library. That would be kind of funny.

There are actually a few librarians with Myspace pages.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=29505353 This is the Myspace page of the Librarian Dress Up Doll. A warning, the page plays "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" as background music. It might be a good exercise for young adult librarians.
On a more serious note, I found the Myspace page for the American Library Association.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=134390181
I guess, this must be important.

When I was sitting down at the computer in the library. An older guy in his forties was checking the calendar for when the rock band, Judas Priest was scheduled to come to town. I was rather amazed that the band was still together. I remember them from when I was a kid.

Today I went back to the library and picked up a few books. The first is Extremetech Hacking Myspace by John Pospisil, I started reading it today. Right now, I am reading about HTML and CSS. I really don't know much about CSS so at least I'll get an introduction to the subject. I already know a bit about HTML

I have had a chance to look through the manual on MySpace. I don't think this is a service that I want to use. It would require me to do a considerable amount of manipulation of the style of the page to get the results I wanted. Also, Myspace while it has a 90 million user base, is focused on a younger crowd, less literary in nature. Supposedly there are a 1/2 million bands which are registered with MySpace pages. MySpace also has its own record label, MySpace Records.

The manual is fairly complex it goes into how manipulate images, create animations, manage audio, manage video, upgrade background images, change the cursors, prepare an overall design for your MySpace page. This is a lot more than I am willing to do. I have pretty basic skills with this kind of thing.

The other book which I haven't started is Facebook, The Missing Manual, The Book That Should Have Been In The Box by E.A. Vander Veer. Facebook seems to be a more appropriate service for my page. The majority of the users are over 25, they include a recruiting function for employers, and seem to be a service much more focused on professional networking than MySpace which seems to be more of a fun site. I think I am going to review this book.

I was hoping that I could use Book Calendar as my identity, but Facebook is being a bit funny. I am supposed to provide a "real name". I am thinking about this. Also, Myspace is doing the same thing. I tried out Book Calendar as a first and last name, but that is not allowed. I guess something like Jack Kerouac is more believable.

Books Not Reviewed, Morning Thoughts

Good morning. There are a few books which I have read recently that I have not reviewed. The first is The Dragons of Babel by Michael Swanwick. It got a starred review in Publishers Weekly, meaning they really liked it. I enjoyed it a lot as well, but there were a few things in the writing which made me say, this is not for me to review. The main thing which he does that got to me was to do a section on rich fairies. This created the image of Donald Trump in a purple shimmering suit with pointy ears and green skin in my mind. I don't think I could have honestly done the book justice.

Another book which I just read that was very good was Dust by Elizabeth Bear. Once again, I found out that it would be better for others to review this book. There were some odd things in the book which threw me off. For example Elizabeth Bear describes the "New Evolutionary Bible".

Not every book matches with every reviewer. I think sometimes, the wrong writer is chosen to review some books in the popular review sources. I am glad that I have a choice on which books I will review for my site.

I also passed on reading one of Nancy Pearl's choices for books to read, Freedom In Meditation by Patricia Carrington, Ph.D. When I began reading the book, I found it to be quite outdated. It was written in 1977. A lot of has changed in the field of non-religious meditation techniques since the book was written. I think, I may choose another basic meditation book to read that is more current.

Right now, I am reading Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken. It is another environmantal and social justice book. Increasingly, environmentalist books are combining with social justice books. I think it is a trend.

I am thinking about how to improve my site. I should probably work on the page load times. Also, I am thinking about how to learn CSS so I can turn this site into a three column site. It would make the site look a lot more professional. I think blogger does not provide a three column template because it would encourage more commercial sites for their free service. Most commercial blogs are three column to allow for more advertising and break up the pattern of the site. This is my main concern.

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A reader suggested that I get rid of some of my widgets to improve load time so I did. Metaxu Lit Cafe although it had a very professional feel to it did very little for the site. I removed the widget.

I found the Bookaholic Blog Ring to be a far better and more interesting site to keep for a blogring. I even look at it sometimes to read the blogs in the ring.

Technorati generated little if any traffic to my site. Although, people like it, it didn't increase the amount of people visiting here.

The five main sources of traffic to this site come from Entrecard, Blogcatalog, Fuelmyblog, Blogger, and Google.

I also decided to work on improving my traffic within my main sources of traffic. I started a Fuelmyblog group on Blogcatalog. Here is the link: http://www.blogcatalog.com/group/fuelmyblog

This increases the circular flow of traffic between different sites. I think the more linked together sites in a network are the more traffic you may get from them. I also joined the Entrecard Group on Blogcatalog. Many people use similar sites.

I also removed the Cafepress store from my site. I have not gotten any buyers in three months for mugs or nick nacks. It took up space.

I am finding Project Wonderful advertisements to be kind of interesting. Many of the people who advertise using Entrecard also use Project Wonderful. This helps create a traffic network interlinking sites. The more interlinked the advertising and widgets are, the more traffic I will get, especially if the sites are focused on a specific subject.