Miscellaneous
Elle. I mentioned that Abebooks interviewed me for their new "Avid Collector" newsletter (sign-up / newsletter). I thought I'd add that I was pleased and surprised to discover their Avid Reader Bookclub is doing Elle by Douglas Glover. Glover, a Canadian novelist who won the Governor-General's Award for Fiction for Elle, was my wife's favorite writing teacher at Vermont College, and she gives Elle a big thumbs-up.LibraryThing, PaperbackSwap, loaning and swapping. There's been a lot of buzz about swap sites recently. Surely not all LibraryThing users would want to swap or loan their books with others, but 30,000 users and 2 million books is a very respectable starting-point for such a community. I approached arguably the top swap site, PaperbackSwap, to see if we could work together somehow. I'm thinking of some easy way to move books between systems, with perhaps some cross-listing or cross functionality; actually getting LibraryThing directly into the business of swapping is a bit daunting. I am, however, somewhat interested to see if an "InterLibraryThingLoan" system could work. Okay, I admit it, I just want to get my hands on that translation of Palaephatus...
I started a discussion about swapping, loaning and PaperbackSwap over on the Google Group. I'd love to hear more opinions, either in comments here, or over there.
Beta-licious. The blog MoMB, The Museum of Modern Betas, published a list of the most popular beta applications by the number of times they've been bookmarked on Del.icio.us. LibraryThing comes in number seventeen, in between Google Scholar and Blinklist, and above Frappr, Odeo, Rollyo and other beta royalty. This is particularly good in so far as I've never done one of those underhanded, unfair Post to Del.icio.us links. Er, scratch that.
That's it for now. As many of you know, I'm still largely in crazy mode with my new child. I've managed to do some incremental things—eg., the new libraries—during interstices, but substantial work, particularly work requiring my full attention for more than ten minutes is on hold. I hope to get back in the saddle soon. They say the first month is the hardest...
posted by Tim at 5:25 PM
12 Comments:
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Swap & Loan = BookCrossing
I'll be very happy if there's a crossover linking with BookCrossing. Two Million books is something you find on BookCrossing too, and most of them available for swap or loan.
Go talk to Ron Hornbaker, BookCrossing founder, you'll find he's a very cooperative creative mind.
I hope more BookCrossers will lobby you in that direction, because many of us have a large shelf over there and would love to import it here... or vice versa.
As for having a new baby, I can relate. My younger one is just 2 1/2y now, the older one is 6 and Project Myra will always be my baby, even though it's of legal drinking age now.
I have a feeling that if you ever get forums up - especially forums which are linked to individual works - is that still a possibility in the future? - that swapping and loaning will start to happen quickly and spontaneously no matter what you do.
Two Million books is something you find on BookCrossing too, and most of them available for swap or loan.
That is simply not correct. Only a very small minority of Bookcrossers engage in trades. It's the subject of great controversy on the site, and the cause of much vitriol on the part of traders against each other and against those who choose to use BC only for its original purpose - tracking books.
"Most" books on BC are definitely not "available for swap or loan".
many of us have a large shelf over there and would love to import it here
You can already do that. Go to the "extras" page, and you'll see a Universal Import option. You can use that to import your BC shelf. Caveats: it will only import books with ISBNs, and it will also import any books with ISBNs showing elsewhere on the page (i.e. books in the "recently caught" and "recently released" boxes). So you'll want to verify things after you do the import.
I don't know if the trading is as important as the imputing and tagging, but it sounds like fun.
I have 2 little ones, ages 19 and 15, enjoy Liam while you can, one minute they are sleeping in your arms, the next, they are taking your old junk for their Apt.
I hear the part about enjoying while you can. (Although, I'm not sure I want to be "enjoying" hour after hour of using my creative talents in a vain effort to get him to stop crying like a madman.) The taking the junk away part sounds like the payoff... ;)
Incidentally, although I have yet to stake out Mr. Hornbaker's house, my emails have so far gone unanswered. I should try again, they probably went to some dead-letter contact email.
Normally there are five possibilities when a baby is crying:
1) Hungry - needs food
2) Cold - needs blanket
3) Tired - needs rocking
4) Anxious - needs cuddle
5) Who knows?
Once you have gone through 1-4 you're pretty much stuck with empathizing. Why do you think lullabies always sound so sad?
And no, the first month is not the hardest; but it's the most radical change in state, like the first leap into a cold swimming pool. It doesn't actually hurt you, but you are inevitably and profoundly shocked.
Best of luck,
Eric Grunin
Oh, thanks. What is the hardest then?!
Liam adds
5. Needs changing.
6. Needs to poop (coincides with 5).
7. Needs to be burped, or, failing that, throw up
8. Needs to pull his ears off his head
9. Needs to get his arms out of the "bad baby swaddle" so he can pull his ears off his head
Tim
Wow, I suddenly realize how long it's been (9 years) since I had an infant in my care: [3] was just plain wrong, because newborns basically sleep when they need to, period. Of course it should have been the diaper.
(I assume you're confident that he's not pulling his ears because of some discomfort.)
As long as I'm here, I'll add: the one absolutely shocking thing *nobody* talks about is that sudden, strong, and seemingly inexplicable moods wash over *all* parents -- not just 'depression' and not just mothers -- and they occur at many stages of your relationship. If you find yourself asking (and you should) "why am I so happy/sad/tired/angry?", it's happening. All I can say is don't panic. They're usually some old memory that can't find it's way to your consciousness.
Ok, that was *way* off-topic. Pardon the digression.
The topic is 'Miscellaneous', so you're spot on
;-)
I hope Liam will feel better / a bit calmer soon.
Best wishes
sunny
The first month, well, the first few months, are hardest because those are the months in which your firstborn is training you to be a parent. It's an uphill struggle for the wee tyke, no wonder he cries a lot! :)
Really, though: it's the change in state for YOU that's the hardest. Once you have gotten used to the idea that your life has changed irrevocably, it is all much easier.
If gas, try a warm blanket wrapped around the tummy. (run it in the dryer for a couple of minutes.) Some babies respond well to being driven around in the car. Some like being put in their little carriers on top of the dryer when it's running. The vibration seems to soothe them.
Six months from now you will not be able to remember all this. (that's the sleep deprivation kicking in.) And you will already, believe it or not, be missing it.
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