Put Down Pens? No Way!

I'm not done with this road yet ... it's been fun in a guilty-pleasure kind of way.
Please, sir, may I have some more?

Task 14 - Technorati tagging

To be honest, I found Technorati interesting to browse blogs, but the search function was much less satisfactory. It was difficult to refine search terms to filter out the other 6,000 or so blogs that weren't applicable to my search, although I snaffled a sweet, if fairly rudely constructed, site relating to old book images which went straight into Del.icio.us!
The top 100 blogs in Technorati made good reading, but I will seek out better ways of blog searching than Technorati - Google's blog search is somehow cleaner and more refined, if one can say that of a search engine....

Task 13 - Tasty Bookmarking with Del.icio.us

One thing that I've learned from this exercise is that I'm a compulsive signer-upper. I'll join just about ANYTHING of interest to me online. The only problem is which email address to use... depends on the website, usually. I have a range of email addresses from "proper and respectable" to "more casual"... nothing nefarious, as nothing very nefarious has interested me enough.
Suffice to say, I opened a Del.icio.us account without a second thought.
I do like the concept of accessing bookmarks from any computer and any web browser, and also sharing Bookmarks with other intrepid web surfers. It's a little like sharing books... either you're an information sharer, or you're not. Unfortunately, many IT people aren't information sharers - too many subscribe to the "keepers of the secret flame" notion.
Anyway, I dove into Del.icio.us, and I was (quite) well pleased, especially with one of my findings on medieval books of hours, dear to my heart, and my first Del.icio.us search!

Tried the Technorati html tag thing (see Task 14) and found it painful, so have dispensed with it until further practice ensues.

Task 12 - LibriVox and Old Favourites: Heard, Not Read

LibriVox is a very worthy idea. I revisited an old favourite, E.Nesbit's The Enchanted Castle, read by a fellow with a not unpleasant accent. Unfortunately, though, he wasn't Jeremy Irons, so the experience was less than perfect for me :)
I like the hyperlinks to Gutenberg and Wikipedia, as well as various options like RSS and iTunes.
Given that the LibriVox community is made up entirely of volunteers, it is a very commendable venture, nevertheless.
It will be fun tracking down more obscure selections...

Task 11 - GoogleBooks aka Reading Interruptus

Ahhh Google Books... the tease of the book world. To give a taste, but not quite all, and nowhere near enough, of one's most interesting book discoveries is, well, thwarting, to euphemise the experience.
But sometimes a little has to be good enough, and a taste will suffice......... grrrr.

Task 10 - A Not So Secret Vice

Some people do drugs, I do books. At one stage I couldn't walk into a bookstore if I had other shopping to be done, as all responsibility was abandoned in the presence of print.
I've been through detox, and I'm in remission. I even had a huge ceremonial culling a few years ago, that was good for my bookshelves and good for my soul.
My philosophy with regard to books is now "If I'm only likely to read it one more time, then I can give it away, and borrow it from a library if I feel the urge". This is harder to put into practice than one might think - it requires a depth of mental and spiritual discipline. I'm reasonably pleased with my progress, and I find it really quite pleasing now to bid a fond farewell to works of fiction especially, and send them on their way through the world to delight other readers.

The task at hand.... LibraryThing brought it all rushing back. I will be spending, I suspect, HOURS putting in my now diminished, but cherished, collection, and it's going to be LOADS of fun! I won't be too fussed about the exact version of Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow that I own..... I promise. Ummm, my cataloguing proclivity is another story....

Task 9 - Put on Feeds on Plate, THEN Devour

Oops again - did Task 9 without realising it (see Task 8)
Added some more blogs to my Bloglines account from a Technorati search:

• Art from Code - another amazing site full of pretty pictures... with a twist
• Ars Technica - all things geeky
• ThinkGeek - the geek shopper's guide
• Lifehacker - tips and tricks for getting things done
  

I'm not familiar with Technorati, and I don't find the front page especially welcoming, but perhaps that's just an aesthetic thing.
Also added rockchicklibrarian's blog - always interesting and entertaining !