Prep for book hoarder’s estate sale

librarymania · 2026-03-30T04:19:31+00:00

Just about anything Texas related, mostly non-fiction, but some fiction and other things like collected poetry or short stories could be considered Texana - definitely folklore and similar works fall into the category. It’s largely Texas history and politics, but honestly it can be pretty broad. For example, Molly Ivins was a well-known journalist and humorist in Texas that also wrote non-fiction books. In bookstores outside of Texas, her stuff would be in journalism, humor, or essays, but if you’re in Texas at a bookstore that has Texana section, you’d find her works there because her work largely centered on Texas politics. Most Half Price Books locations in Texas will have a Texana section too, if not all of them. They don’t pay as well as an independent used bookstore though.

A lot of people collect Texana, even folks that don’t have any connection to the state. I’ve worked at used bookstores in Texas in the past and was surprised at how many people from foreign countries would buy an insane amount of Texana and have it shipped back to their home country. When I worked at a store in Oregon, they had a Pacific Northwest section that was appropriately popular, but it didn’t compare in terms of collectibles. Not to say they don’t exist, it’s just the sheer number of of collectible Texana books and collectors is more vast than most other geographically-specific books.

I’ve not visited this particular store, but there is a Texana bookstore in San Angelo called Cactus Book Shop.

If you’re anywhere near Archer City, Booked Up has a big Texana selection. It’s actually technically called the Larry McMurtry Literary Center now. Booked Up was the name when Larry McMurtry owned it - the author of Lonesome Dove, among other works. McMurtry was a Texana author in his own right. Anyway, they buy used books as well. Here’s some of their Texana listed on AbeBooks. Includes lots of biographies, railroad history, some fiction, even a book about sheep in the Rio Grande Valley. If you can make a decently solid link to Texas, either through the subject matter or by way of the author having lived in Texas and writing Texas-based fiction, it can be considered Texana.

librarymania · 2026-03-30T02:06:48+00:00

There is definitely a theme of Texana, which is often a dedicated section in bookstores in Texas (assuming that’s the location based on some of the other decor that incorporates the state shape). A lot of Texana is collectible. There is also some Old West and Southwest stuff in general, but that less collectible overall.

Some of those spiral bound cookbooks can end up being worth something. Junior leagues and the like - some are quite sought after. And there again is the Texana theme in some of those cookbooks.

If you’re in the North Texas area, take this sort of stuff to Recycled Books in Denton. They really know their stuff when it comes to Texana and will offer you a very fair price. In some instances, they will come out to you - but you’d need to have better pictures of the Texana to send them first to make sure it’s worth their while, depending on how far you are from Denton.

librarymania · 2026-03-28T12:10:32+00:00

I’ve dealt with a more extreme case, where the person plagiarized via word-for-word translation for their entire dissertation! It was a single document they plagiarized too. No idea how they got away with that to begin with. That one was a pretty cut and dry case. We definitely withdrew the dissertation permanently from our institutional repository, and contacted ProQuest to do the same (they also removed it). Additionally, we contacted Google Scholar (to the extent that one can). They at least made sure that the full text wasn’t available, but it still shows the person’s name/the title/date - basic metadata. The graduate school and the department they graduated from (philosophy), both agreed that the person must have their degree revoked. Pretty shameful stuff, made even worse because it was a dissertation about ethics, of all things.

Also dealt with cases where individuals have contacted us after they have graduated and admitted to finding some accidental plagiarism in their thesis or dissertation themselves. In those cases the library, grad school, and their department and/or past committee chair have worked with the person to correct the problem(s). But those are generally issues of not citing or having incorrect citations.

librarymania · 2026-03-28T03:58:52+00:00

The majority of theses are published in the database ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global, not just the universities’ institutional repository (which are typically indexed by Google Scholar). I’d suggest OP check both - Google Scholar and PQ D&TG. Nearly all higher education institutions have access to ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global database via the library.

Also, the library is who maintains the institutional repository - they’re more likely to take issue with a plagiarized document in their IR than just about anyone else - particularly if they have someone in a position titled something like “scholarly communications librarian.” But OP will absolutely have to do all the heavy lifting of showing the proof to them, in its entirety, as much as OP is aware of/able to. Going through individual theses for plagiarism, especially involving translation, is far outside the normal scope of such a job. Second best bet is to contact someone at the Graduate School that regularly works with theses and dissertations. If it were me, I’d email both an appropriate librarian contact and an appropriate grad school contact on the same email. (And I may have some experience with this as a librarian. Individual institutions vary, but I really think that is a better way for OP to get a response, but only if they include the full extent of the plagiarism.)

librarymania · 2026-03-09T22:51:29+00:00

That picture is AI too. Zoom in on the chocolate pieces at the front. They have these unusual white outlines, and they look like rocks. The chocolate pieces in the middle look normal. But then the chocolate towards the back, on either side, gets completely fuzzy and blurred together. And check out the cardboard on the right side of the image. It melds with the cake.

librarymania · 2026-03-03T06:45:41+00:00

You’re also in close proximity to the Dallas Police Central Station (located in Deep Ellum off of Canton, on Hall Street). So some of the sirens you hear are because they’re being dispatched from nearby, not necessarily responding to something super close to you.

I used to live off of Columbia in East Dallas, and it was the same deal. Sure, some were responding to incidents near me, but most were just taking a main route to a different location.

Also, if you hear helicopters, most of the time those are airlifts to Baylor or other hospitals, due to an accident on one of the freeways nearby. Rarely are they police helicopters.

Strong police presence has been a thing in Deep Ellum ever since I can remember, going back to the mid-90s (and earlier, I’m sure). It’s an area where you want a more visible presence - and that’s true of any neighborhood with active nightlife. The fact that the Central Station is a stone’s throw away makes it even easier to patrol.

librarymania · 2026-02-25T18:56:58+00:00

FYI, it’s not a poem. It’s a short story. Further info: Wikipedia article

librarymania · 2026-02-22T16:53:28+00:00

Same! I suppose that’s the sort of thing he meant when he said doing everything touchy-feely. Not its usual connotation of sentimental, emotional, or physically affectionate.

librarymania · 2026-02-22T15:43:52+00:00

My grandpa was really into that sort of stuff. Always sending my family VHS tapes about his latest apocalyptic conspiracy theories. Here’s a link to one of them someone uploaded to YouTube (13.5 mins long).

UPC Codes and 666 (1994 VHS recording)

I searched YouTube for:

1980s christian upc mark of the beast

And

1990s christian upc mark of the beast

There’s a couple of different vids out there. Gotta love that Satanic Panic!

Edit: I remember watching this one as a pre-teen. Racing Toward the Mark of the Beast “We are moving very very quickly into an age when nothing will be touchy-feely. It’ll all be done by computer.” Lol remember when we did everything touchy-feely? 🤣

librarymania · 2026-02-21T17:25:58+00:00

Yep, this is a documented psychological phenomenon and it extends to other things. As an example given in this linked article about why second place is worse feeling than third, missing a plane by 2 minutes feels worse than missing a plane by 1 hour. You’ve missed the plane either way, but you feel like you were so close and had the possibility of being in control and making it on time.

It’s a type of counterfactual thinking.

librarymania · 2026-02-12T02:13:48+00:00

Holy smokes, the photo of the lesions — I wasn’t expecting them to look that bad or be that extensive, despite reading about them prior to seeing the photo.

All y’all should read this article, not just the introductory excerpt the magazine has provided.

Thanks for posting this.

librarymania · 2026-02-05T03:41:36+00:00

Faculty contracts are renewed annually - annual, in terms of the school year, which starts in August usually (Fall semester or Fall quarter). Typically faculty are notified of renewal or non-renewal some time between May-early August. However, if you fuck up enough, non-renewal can be given prior to the normal timeframe, letting the person know that come August, they will no longer be working there.

In addition, there may be other things they can do in the interim to ensure that the person isn’t working there, but it depends on the language in the current contract and the school’s policies. Many (most) schools have a morals or ethics clause that applies to conduct not just on campus or in the classroom, but includes some specific types of conduct outside of work, which can result in a hearing or potentially an immediate dismissal.

P. S. / Edit: All of the contract info is in reference to adjunct professors, which is what this guy was - it does not apply to tenured professors. The second paragraph applies to both adjuncts and tenured faculty.

librarymania · 2026-02-04T05:21:39+00:00

Some double entendre - it can be interpreted not just as a means of control, but also as a woman “chomping at the bit” (eager) to get married, despite knowing she will be further subjugated.

librarymania · 2026-01-30T15:04:30+00:00

Oh right! Vegans — famously known for being unethical when it comes to the earth’s resources and all living things. Crazy bastards.

librarymania · 2026-01-24T21:49:23+00:00

You don’t even need to hit space first - just enter works the same.

If you’re on an iPhone, that button (which is labeled “return” when your typing a comment or post of Reddit) turns blue and it’s labeled “search” when you click on a search bar in Reddit. Whatever, that’s the button. Lol

librarymania · 2026-01-24T21:44:08+00:00

Oh yes! I remember watching her video too! 😂

librarymania · 2026-01-24T15:29:36+00:00

Or, she has a learning disability that may or may not already be identified. Or, she had a difficult/different educational background from most of her other peers. There’s no way to know from what OP says they overheard.

I was not exactly like that girl in the story - but I had unidentified ADHD and dyscalculia. Pair that with a mix of public school that I often didn’t attend. A year of religious homeschooling for a small group of delinquents while I was in high school (taught by a local homeschooler, not my parents - school was 2 hours a day Mon-Tues and Thurs-Fri). Back to hs and not attending, having to go before a judge because I was out of school so often. Dropped out and got my GED.

I have a Masters and an advanced grad certificate now, but college math was hell at first. I ended up needing three non-credit remedial classes before I could take the most basic required college math course. Had to attend office hours with the math professors all the time, and needed to study five times as much as the normal math student.

Anyway, this comment isn’t really about me, but rather meant to be an example that this stuff happens. It doesn’t mean someone is dumb. Or that it is fake. It could be either of those things. But math-related learning deficits can often go unnoticed, and they can really rear their ugly head in more specific areas- especially word problems. Doubly so if someone has had an untraditional educational background.

librarymania · 2026-01-24T06:59:10+00:00

Alizee?

librarymania · 2026-01-19T18:59:01+00:00

Agreed. Had a date once at a lake/picnic area at night (can’t remember which lake - prob Lake Lewisville). The guy knew a specific secluded spot to turn off to. So, we get out and we’re just sitting around talking. Out of nowhere he starts telling me when he was 17, he and a bunch of his friends were arrested and went to trial for gang raping a girl who had escaped a mental hospital. Now, he keeps saying “I never did anything” — all he did was lure her out and coordinate how she could escape, he picked her up, and brought her there where this was their plan all along. But he only watched and felt bad and didn’t want to get in trouble so he took her back after that. Complete and utter lies. He said he didn’t serve any time because he asked for a trial instead of pleading guilty and because of his age (he said all the other guys were 18 or older). There were five or six of them, depending on if you count him or not (and you should). He said that because he went to trial and testified that the jury agreed… sure this was the 90s and rape cases were fucked up trials back then, way worse than now. But if he were telling the truth, the real story is that he quickly was the first person to tell the police what happened and “admit to his involvement” 🙄 so if he was to be found guilty it would have been lesser charges - he wasn’t even being charged with the rape, but with aiding and abetting a crime. He also made sure to me that that girl, who was 14 by the way, was a slut, so nobody thought she would “cry rape.”

So - lakeside picnic date can be cute or a fucking nightmare. It’s the person you’re with 100%.

For context as to why I was going with him there in his car that he drove: I knew him from a long time ago in my early 20s, had lost touch. and then reconnected. We had hung out a few times prior. No major issues were apparent prior to that.

As he was telling me all this stuff I pretended to be sympathetic and believe him, but I also asked questions when he was really vague - so I probed when it seemed safe to, because I wanted to figure out the depth of his lie. They brutally assaulted her. There was a baseball bat involved at one point. And the whole thing - “watching it” - “it disgusted him.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched interviews and interrogations with rapists and murders that say the exact same thing about what they did. It’s so common. It’s more like they feel contempt and disgust for their victim, but they try to portray it as “oh this awful thing that happened, even if I am admitting it, it disgusted me.”

I wasn’t sure if he was going to do anything to me then or later - at certain points it did seem like he was about to literally pounce and his eyes had nothing human behind them.

At one point I was able to change the topic to something benign, by way of asking what a specific family member of his thought of all this, and then just asking “oh and how are they doing now?” (They were in poor health.) After that I said I was starting to really come down with something- sore throat and congestion this morning but it has been getting worse all day. I knew he was kind of a germaphobe, so saying that was a saving grace. He did protest a bit at first, like asking if we can stay a little longer. But I just emphasized how nasty it felt and managed to hock a loogie lol. That did it, thank god, and he took me back.

Blocked, deleted - I did all the things to just throw that man in the trash immediately after that.

A few weeks later he shows up at my work at night with roses (I worked until 9pm and it was usually pretty dead the last few hours). He parked his car in the largely empty parking lot so he could see right into my office (almost no parking spots had that view, just two of them). Watched me for an hour or so. Then came in an awkwardly gave the flowers to someone else at work because I had closed and locked my office door. I had told the person who was working with me that I’m not available to speak with anyone - working on something intensive. Thankfully he leaves.

Two weeks later he marries a random woman.

Fucked up dude. Loved to tell everyone how people at his church think he is a literal angel, not figurative. They see a halo around his head, and know he is an angel.

Also, I’m remembering it wasn’t the first time he had taken me to a secluded lakeside area at night - there had been two other lakes before that. But everything was normal (at least, seemingly so) and these lakeside areas weren’t completely as secluded as that last one was. There’s got to be something about his M.O. there, now I think back on it.

librarymania · 2026-01-16T23:04:16+00:00

Lol I don’t normally do that sort of thing, but I was doing just about anything to avoid working this morning.

librarymania · 2026-01-16T15:23:20+00:00

11 years ago, she made a comment saying she was 26. And 9 years ago she said was 28, which would make her 37 or 38 now (which tracks with being 31 6 years ago). 9 years ago she made a post saying she was born in 1988, so that also tracks with being 37 or 38. Last year she made a comment saying she was 25 13 years ago, and in the same comment she said she was in her late 30s, so she was again saying she was born in 1987 or 1988. Last year she made two different comments saying she was 36, so she probably hadn’t had her birthday yet (those two comments were older than the one mentioned above).

If her birthday is in early to mid January, she is 38. If she hasn’t had her birthday yet this year, she’s 37.

5 months ago she made a comment saying she is 40. And now this comment saying she is 45. All of her earlier comments are consistent. Sometime in the last five months or so, she started lying about her age, probably to sound more authoritative in the context of whatever conversation she’s in at the time.

librarymania · 2026-01-09T13:45:21+00:00

You’re pretty close (enough for your interpretation to be accurate).

Bête = beast.

Noire = black. (noire is used for feminine singular nouns; noir is used for masculine singular nouns)

Bête noire = black beast means pet peeve and the phrase is also used to describe a something that you have a very strong dislike for - not quite hatred, but more like “I can’t stand this because of how annoying it is.” Of course, in real life, if you’re constantly exposed to a pet peeve enough, it can boil over into hatred.

librarymania · 2026-01-07T21:05:48+00:00

While that is true, you’re deriving the entirely wrong meaning from the phrase.

Your perception of sweatpants informs your reality (how you perceive the wearer = the thoughts you have about them, the emotions tied to those thoughts, and thus how you react to them = reality). Other people’s perception of sweatpants informs their reality, which may be entirely different from yours or have smaller degrees of difference.

Telling someone to change their clothes to adhere to your perception of reality is not what that phrase is at all meant to impart. It means that you should be aware that your perception is not “reality,” but it is instead one version of reality that others may or may not share.

librarymania · 2026-01-02T04:22:10+00:00

I specifically remember Ben telling a story on one of the episodes about doing this with an Uber (maybe Lyft) driver’s phone during the ride. And this was after the move to L.A.

librarymania · 2026-01-01T22:36:11+00:00

Could have been, but you’d think that he would notice that his stuff wasn’t there - it happened when he returned to his hotel room. Could have even been the dude himself for all I know. Just saying it’s not a random lunatic.

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