A Requested Title the Library Doesn't Own

A patron came in today and asked if we had a book. I had to say that we didn't but we have a similar title. The patron said they didn't want the new book by that author, they wanted the original book that was published in the 1950s called:
To Kill a Hummingbird.

The patron asked since we don't have it, could we order it. I explained no, and why. Even though it should exist, that book doesn't.

Missing Simile

Why doesn't anyone ever say "Cute as a zipper"?

I'm Just Saying.

I won't bother to reprint one of the latest little pop
science news stories making the meme rounds.

Let me imagine that the following is suitable for any debate using behavior of animals in nature to support any advocated human behavior in society. I'm not getting all caveman flame by any means. However, I do wonder does this mean anything that shows up in nature is appropriate for some analogous behavior in human society, or only ones that seem sensible to the people looking at it? How is that different from the majority or the most vocal doing what is right in their own eyes? If we get to claim support from this natural phenomenon, does not anyone else get to claim support from any other natural phenomena they find that support their opinion on some issue? To be entirely fair, I do think God should be credited and charged with the saves and the losses in natural disasters: I just don't think it is rhetorically useful to cherry pick part of an evidence while discounting similar evidence that doesn't fit the position. At that point, just say you're right and events in nature don't justify nor condemn anything in human society.

A Random post from a Transatlantic Journey

The beer was ordinary Heineken; the olives were Spanish
green. I don't know what the price was about.

Beer and I thought complimentary green Spanish olives. At a little bar behind the Teatro Romano, Cartagena, Spain. Saw no menu. Admission to Teatro Romano, €6.00; food & beverage seen here: €13.50; learning to check for costs before ordering in a foreign bar: priceless

Writing on writing: A short short

Writing on Writing

  When I took driver's ed, it was held at a near-by college campus. The driver's ed simulation room was near-by the freshman English composition classroom. On a bulletin board between the two rooms, students' one, two or three sentence works were posted. Some were amusing; some were "meh"; I assume for the sake of argument, some were horrible, but I can't remember any of those.
The one that I remember all these years down read like this: "A guy asked me for an aspirin. I gave him a Mydol."


My short short for this post is in the picture at left, transcribed below:

Some students, unwilling to revise their writing, seem to imagine themselves as some kind of Pontius Pilate of composition saying, “What I have written, I have written.” (cf. John 19:22)

Small Amusements

Small amusements
Originally uploaded by YorickWell.

Word Play
Humor Test. This is only a test.

1. A character has photographic memory. That jogs my mind that I, too, have an art image-based memory. We call it "sketchy."

1.1 Marty Feldman's character in Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975) had a "phonographic" memory.

2. Today I was raring to go! I got up, got ready and headed off to work. I was up and molecule! (Which as you no doubt already know is even more than "up and atom".)

3. These are tense and scary times. Two of us were getting ready to go to a work event in a colleague's car. I called, "Shotgun!" and the person with me ducked to a crouch, scanning all around and shouted, "Where??!!!"

This concludes our test. If this had been actual humor, the words you just read would have been followed by official chuckles, giggles or guffaws.

What are you reading now?

I'd just like to say that I find it humorously ironic that a number of participants the the Summer Reading Program miss the line on the Reading Log that says prizes are available July 2. I guess it's compartmentalized reading.

A Riff on Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift wrote, "He was a bold man that first eat an oyster."
Polite Conversation. Dialogue ii. cited in Bartlett's Quotations.


I would say, "They are bold persons that first use e-readers in their 60s or 70s." In a way, I find the situation also analogous to walking--it seems simple and self-evident when one is doing it and has done it for a while, but the interplay of all the muscles and signals from the brain and the inner ear are quite daunting when one considers them as a list of things that need to happen in coordination. In e-reader land, the list of tasks to be accomplished at least once before they can start reading a book on the handheld machine can be annoying if not daunting.

Item 1. A person needs an online relationship (account) with the company that sponsors / subsidizes / sells the E-reader. If she doesn't have one, this is not necessarily "intuitive" to set up. And she still doesn't have any library ebooks yet.

Item 2. A person needs an "Adobe Digital Editions" I.D. and / or he has to register / authorize his e-reader with the email address from item 1 above. And he still doesn't have any library ebooks yet.

Item 3. A person needs to download and install on her computer and / or her e-reader Adobe Digital Editions, Overdrive Media Console, Blio reader app, or the OneClickDigital Media Manager. In the case of Adobe DE and Overdrive MC, she has to authorize those apps with the email address from items 1 and 2 above (which should be the same email address; I'm just saying...) And she still doesn't have any library ebooks yet.

Item 4a. A person needs to navigate the particular library ebook interface (another technical term) to choose a book, check it out and download it to the desktop, laptop, or e-reader.

Item 4b. Downloading the ebook may involved saving it to the desktop computer, laptop computer or the e-reader itself. If he downloads to one of the traditional computers, he will have to know how to move the ebooks to his ereader using his USB cable; if he downloads straight to his e-reader, he will have to be connected to wireless and know how to connect his ereader to that.

Providing that everything went smoothly without electronic or physical obstacles intervening, she may have a library ebook title now. Understandably, that's a lot of new stuff to get what one used to be able to just walk in the door and pull off the shelf. If you're are showing your father, grandmother, older friend or other relative how to navigate this process, be patient but not condescending. If it doesn't go smoothly at first, you may have to overcome something scary as oysters. Once they are reading on the machine, they should be happy as clams!

A Neologism for you

Sportsrighteous—one who is haughty about professional athletes’ ability and performance versus their broader philosophy.

e.g. “There’s so much more to life than baseball,” said the professional ball player.
        “Most B-Team guys say that,” said the sportsrighteous fan.

A Timely Book for 2012 (kind of repeated from a previous post)

Twilight of the A-Pooh-Calypse-Oh!

A Story of the End of the World and Latin Dancing For the Very Young-----------------by Timothy Sparrow, 1998.

I was reminded of this because of the recent comic New Adventures of Queen Victoria:

And because I expect to be as disappointed by December 21 this year as I was during the (non) arrival of the Jupiter effect--the alignment of a bunch of the planets in the solar system-- on or near March 10, 1982.

It's all about making odd connections

I almost feel like this needs an idea tree or something to show when things occurred simultaneously.

While de-selecting outdated consumer guides [weeding],

I was reminded that my dad had said (as part of my instruction for pulling weeds from the yard), “A weed is any plant someone doesn’t want growing there.”

Then I thought how weeding items from the shelves (particularly books) is like pulling unwanted flowers.

That made me think I’d like to write an haiku about “filing away unwanted flowers”

I decide that the syllable count is closer to 7 than to 5 on that phrase, so I plan to write around it.

I’m counting the syllables and changing things around, when I try “file.” “File” looks like one syllable, but as I say the word, it seems to me I say it in two syllables-[fye-ul]. I can’t believe that’s right so I look it up in two different dictionaries (New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd ed., and American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed). Both indeed claim that “file” is one syllable. (So why does it come out as two when I say it, albeit a very fragile 2nd syllable?)

While I looked down in the dictionaries, I noticed next the word “file’” which is described as “powdered sassafras leaves used to thicken soup, stew, or gumbo.” Ha! You may be aware in the Hank Williams’ song, “Jambalaya (On The Bayou)” has the line mentioning “fillet gumbo.” I thought it was a gumbo with fish fillets in it. But no! It was file’ gumbo, which doubtless any of you southern, not to say Louisiana types, already knew.

But now I’ve forgotten how I wanted to arrange my haiku, except that it had the line
Filing unwanted flowers
In the middle.

Still. I think it is an apt metaphor for librarian de-selecting items.

Hmmmmmm. I’ll try this:

Books sent, shelf to bin
Filing unwanted flowers
past lost tomorrow.

The new car adventures

My car got 36.9 mpg on the way up this trip. I filled up right after I arrived so the mileage wouldn't be diminished by any city driving. I suspect that not running the airconditioning for any of the trip may have made a significant difference.

On the way up, I had another rest area adventure. Some woman approached me and asked if I had jumper cables. I said yes, and then her male companion said they were over in the Pontiac further down in the parking lot.

He said it was a new battery and he didn't know why it had died over night, but it might be loose cables, because he had jiggled one the day or the week before and the car had started right up after it seemed like it wouldn't.

When I got over there I pulled out a couple of box wrenches I have in the trunk to see if they'd fit the battery terminal attachment. These, however were the small bolt posts that go into the battery. I had to get my socket set. After trying about eight sockets (because I could see that it was a small size, but I had no idea what size that really meant for a socket--the first few I tried were too small, the next were too big. Finally I narrowed down to the right one.

I'm sure any real mechanically inclined person with an adequate sense of depth perception would have got it in one or at the most three. I also looked at the water level as long as I was there and found that four of the six battery cells were low on water. I told him that would need to be fixed, too.

Anyway, tightening the battery terminals had no effect on the starting of the car. Next I attached my battery using the cables. We did it the safe way--negative cable on my negative battery pole, positive on my positive and then negative on metal of his car and positive on his positive battery pole. It still didn't start. Sooooooooooo I went ahead and put the other negative on his negative battery pole. The car headlights came on at that point.

"Oh! The lights were on all night," he said, shocked. "That's why the battery died over night!"

As he smiled and continued to watch his headlights, I said, "Turn your lights off."

Then with my car set to revving a little higher than idle, I told him to get in his car and start it. I stood by the jumper cable to take it off his battery as soon as he started (in hopes of not destroying nor damaging either his nor my electrical system).

His car started. I pulled away the cables. I told him: don't let it die--it won't start again. I left him and his companion to do whatever they planned next.

Words from somewhere in the Lawn

About once a year I seem to have to learn a lesson that one would think I should have already learned: once spring hits or even nearly, mow the wretched lawn when you get home. Don't let it sit for a couple weeks because you feel lazy; don't skip the sunny day because it's too hot, and then skip the rainy day because it's too wet (although certainly a rainy day is too wet, so do it first!).

All of this driven home because I have mowed for about 4 and a half hours today, not counting the time spent walking to the hardware store and back for a mower spark plug. And there are still 2 spots out front that were too high/dense to finish cutting today, as well as the parking strip on the side that is not as bad but is only about half done because I worked most of the time out front except for when I ran out of gas and had to go to the back to re-fill: then I'd mow the side on my way back out to the front.

Also, the stupid mower (the machine, not just me) is years old. It goes well enough on normal one-week grass, but it bogs right down on the 3-4 week denser stuff. I think much of the weariness I feel now is from pulling the tortuous start rope every time the thing bogged down in spite of my efforts to mow small bits and keep it running.

I'm off to bed to sleep the sleep of the exhausted if not the just.

Don't Try this at Public Property

This was a somewhat imaginative & creative act on a library statue. I suppose it was technically recycling, given that the bicycle helment was actually cracked and of no further use as a protective device. There may be some mundane justification in as much as May is bike to work month.

Still, the officious one in me says this is just a step away from valdalism. If adding a bike helmet was good, perhaps one might think changine the paint scheme would be better. No.

(And in fact, as soon as person in charge realized the statue had value-added wardrobe, person at work was asked to remove it.)

Die weißen Tauben sind müde

I heard this tune and knew it was trying to be heroic/tragic/epic. I looked up the translation of the lyric (I could get, "Come here Marie" and knew that fliegen had something to do with flight, but that was about as far as my German language aptitude could get me on my own).
While I was looking, I also found a video on youtube.

The music is admittedly bombastic, but I find that to be one of its charms. In someways, this is a musical version of "Dover Beach" by Matthew Arnold. Of course it's a good deal different, written years apart in different languages. But the emotion, the angst is spot on between them two.

It reminds me how silly I am when I'm all angsty and lonely. I still am angsty and lonely, but I know it's silly to look at. :-P





--German from lyric site, translation by google---
Hans Hartz - The White doves Are Tired
Infos Info Interpret: Artist: Hans Hartz Hans Hartz
Album: - --
Songtext-Nummer: Lyrics number: 61931
Eingesendet: Submitted: 02.12.2005
Einsender: One person: ErichG ErichG

Videos Videos Für Hans Hartz - Die Weißen Tauben Sind Müde von Hans Hartz wurden noch keine Videos gespeichert. For Hans Hartz - The White doves Are Tired by Hans Hartz were no videos.

Komm her Marie ein letztes Glas, ---Come here Marie one last glass,
genießen wir den Augenblick, --------we enjoy the moment,
ab morgen gibt’s statt Wein nur Wasser. From tomorrow, there's only water instead of wine.
Komm her und schenk uns noch mal ein,--- Come here and gift us again,
soviel wird morgen anders sein ----so tomorrow will be different
Marie die Welt wird langsam blasser. ---Marie the world is slowly faded.
Die weißen Tauben sind müde, ---The white doves are tired,
sie Fliegen lange schon nicht mehr. ---they fly long, not more.
Sie haben viel zu schwere Flügel; ---You've spent too heavy wings;
und ihre Schnäbel sind längst leer,--- and their beaks are long empty,
jedoch die Falken fliegen weiter, ---However, the hawks fly further,
sie sind so stark wie nie vorher; ---they are as strong as never before;
und ihre Flügel werden breiter, ---and its wings are broader,
und täglich kommen immer mehr, ---and daily more and more
nur weiße Tauben fliegen nicht mehr. ---only white doves fly no more.

Bleib doch Marie, ---Stay but Marie,
der letzte Rest reicht für uns beide alle mal. ---the last remaining enough for both of us all times.
Ab morgen gibt’s statt Brot nur Steine, ---From tomorrow, there's only bread instead of stones,
komm her und schenk uns noch mal ein, ---come, and gift us again,
denn so wie heut wird’s nie mehr sein; ---because as today's will never be more;
Marie die Welt reist von alleine. ---Marie travels the world on their own.
Die weißen Tauben sind müde, ---The white doves are tired,
sie Fliegen lange schon nicht mehr.--- they fly long, not more.
Sie haben viel zu schwere Flügel; ---You've spent too heavy wings;
und ihre Schnäbel sind längst leer,--- and their beaks are long empty,
jedoch die Falken fliegen weiter, ---However, the hawks fly further,
sie sind so stark wie nie vorher; ---they are as strong as never before;
und ihre Flügel werden weiter, ---and will continue their wings,
und täglich kommen immer mehr,--- and daily more and more
nur weiße Tauben fliegen nicht mehr.--- only white doves fly no more.

Sieh dort Marie das leere Bett,--- Look there Marie the empty bed,
der Spiegel unsrer großen Zeit.--- the mirror of our big time.
Ab Morgen gibt’s statt Glas nur Scherben. ---From tomorrow, there's only instead of glass shards.
Komm her und schenk uns noch mal ein,--- Come here and gift us again,
den letzten Schluck vom letzten Wein, ---the last sip from the last wine,
Marie die Welt beginnt zu sterben. ---Marie the world begins to die.
Die weißen Tauben sind müde, ---The white doves are tired,
sie Fliegen lange schon nicht mehr. ---they fly long, not more.
Sie haben viel zu schwere Flügel; ---You've spent too heavy wings;
und ihre Schnäbel sind längst leer, ---and their beaks are long empty,
jedoch die Falken fliegen weiter, ---However, the hawks fly further,
sie sind so stark wie nie vorher;--- they are as strong as never before;
und ihre Flügel werden weiter, ---and will continue their wings,
und täglich kommen immer mehr, ---and daily more and more
nur weiße Tauben fliegen nicht mehr.--- only white doves fly no more.

Die weißen Tauben sind müde,--- The white doves are tired,
sie Fliegen lange schon nicht mehr.--- they fly long, not more.
Sie haben viel zu schwere Flügel; ---You've spent too heavy wings;
und ihre Schnäbel sind längst leer, ---and their beaks are long empty,
jedoch die Falken fliegen weiter,--- However, the hawks fly further,
sie sind so stark wie nie vorher; ---they are as strong as never before;
und ihre Flügel werden weiter,--- and will continue their wings,
und täglich kommen immer mehr, ---and daily more and more
nur weiße Tauben fliegen nicht mehr. ---only white doves fly no more.

Only because it's a pun--no political content intended:

Hillary Clinton & Barack Obama are in a neck and red-neck race to the Democratic Nomination for President.

Does this mean we should drink bottled water after all?

"AP Probe Finds Drugs in Drinking Water
By JEFF DONN, MARTHA MENDOZA and JUSTIN PRITCHARD –
A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows."

Presuming that this is really true in the absolute sense, one has to wonder how did those drugs and stuff get there? The article goes on to talk about all the un-completely-metabolized drugs coming out of people.

Ick Ick Ick!!!!

If I had wanted to be drinking recycled toilet water, I would have tried to become an astronaut! Of course, some of the bottle water is just city water in a landfill-clogging poly-plastic bottle, but this kind of story does make "bottle glacier" water seem a bit more attractive!!!