Sunday, April 05, 2009

Weekly Link Round-Up

This week I've been busy making lists and trying to get the house in order for The Big Visit. Our niece, her two children and her partner will be arriving Tuesday evening and spending two weeks with us. It's going to be a big climate shock for these four from the UK, and I think the two youngest are going to be spending a lot of time in the pool. Since I've had all this on my mind, my web browsing slacked off a bit, but I seem to have found an interesting mix of tech, fun and news. Just call me Bullwinkle and watch me pull a few rabbits outta my hat.... Books in the News
  • Looking for a portrait of a specific author? You can always head to the New York Public Library's Digital Library.
  • Have you read what the New York Times had to say about the economy putting even more stress on our library system?
  • According to Bookseller.com, US book sales dropped last year. I guess that means I should go to the Poisoned Pen more often in 2009!
  • John Archibald had an entertaining yet sobering post about book censorship.
Books as Art
  • Book sculptor Nicholas Jones has an interesting way with books. You can see photographs of his work at his website.
Bookish Quizzes
  • The Times Online has an article about literary one-hit wonders. It really isn't a quiz, but it does make you think of other authors and books that fit the requirement, thus revving your brain cells a bit.
  • The Guardian has a Spring in Literature quiz. I didn't do so well on it. I'm a Summer Girl myself.
Social Media and Technical Bloggy Stuff
  • Many of us Tweeters are very familiar with Glue. You can meet people with similar interests based upon the places you visit online. (I usually rank high among Glue bookaholics.) If you're on Twitter, you can also win prizes through the Glue Genie. Kristin wrote a blog post about why everyone should get Glue. If you do decide to get it, look me up. I'm "cathyskye"!
  • Problogger has an excellent article on 11 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Being Linked to by a Blogger.
  • Want to see how your blog scores on search engines? Take a look at the Website Grader's Score Tool.
  • After I got my blog score, I immediately found the HTML code I needed to add meta tags to my Blogger template. Meta tags are the code that describes your blog to search engines. Once I'd installed the code, I went back to the Website Grader and discovered that my score had immediately improved.
  • Browsershots is one-stop shopping to check browser compatibility for your blog.
  • Want some jazzy new Twitter buttons and badges? Here's 181 for you!
That's it for this week. Check back next Sunday to see what finds this surfer is sharing!

10 comments:

  1. You always have something fun on your blog so I gave you an ward over at my blog :)

    Zombie chicken

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  2. wow now this is the place to come if a newby blogger wants to learn stuff! another award awaits you here

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  3. Oh my word --- between you and Beth F, it will take me hours to follow all the fabulous links you have provided!

    I think I have to investigate the benefits of glue - it sounds interesting.

    Great wrap up post!

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  4. I've had some really bad experiences with Super Glue, but I don't think you're talking about that...

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  5. It's hard to believe that this list reflects a slow week. I'm going to spend the next hour or more checking all these newat things out. Thanks.

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  6. You have found some really neat sites to visit!

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  7. Thanks, Linda! I'll be over to claim it as soon as I'm finished responding to comments. :)

    Thanks, Beth!

    Thanks, Wendy! I've had plenty of other bloggers help me out, so it's only right to pay it forward. I'll be by to claim my award shortly. Thanks for stopping by my blog!

    Thanks, Molly! Glue can be fun....

    Charlie--You're not the only one who's been up close and personal with that Super Glue!

    Margot--I hope you find something useful and/or entertaining!

    Thanks, Alabama!

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  8. Another great round up of stuff to check out.

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  9. I hope you find something useful or fun, Jenners. Thanks for stopping by!

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Thank you for taking the time to make a comment. I really appreciate it!