BingoDOG - General thread

I think questions on interpretations of squares and such should still go in the 2014 thread, but for general chatter, discussion of books we're considering, etc, feel free to bring it on this way. :)

Post wouldn't be complete without handy link to the wiki.

Just an FYI - I added several books to the Books About Language: Fiction list. There are some gems in there - coming from a linguist ;)

Ah nice, that's one I haven't even started looking into yet, it'll take a little more work methinks, so I'm procrastinating with it. :P

I've marked a few books on the lists (added them to my lists) just to have something to go on. The lists are looking good, and I'm hoping they continue to grow.

Oh, I need to remember to come back and peruse through the wiki...

I was hoping we'd make it to 500 messages on the other thread before moving over here. :)

We wouldn't have. At least not on the single thread, because I would have continued it. I almost never read anything over 200. They just take to long to load.

lol. I don't think solely-text threads take long until they hit at least 300, and I only have ADSL with pretty crap speeds, compared to most people I encounter. :P

Well, we made it to 450+ on the other thread.....so close to 500. I haven't had any computer slowness problems since the stone ages of dial-up. *cue shrieking modem here* :)

I added some books to the Language List - some with translators, some with interpreters, some written in dialect. Are those ok? I was trying to think outside the box about what "language" could mean.

On the wiki, do we want to declare an official order that books should be added? Alphabetically or something? I'm just thinking it could get quite random and cluttery when a lot of people start adding titles. Also, how do we want to handle duplicate titles? Should each person just add their name to the existing title or should everyone add their own? Duplicates are most likely to happen with categories like Published in 1915.....the selections are pretty slim for that one.

I'm in favor of doing it like the TIOLI challenge and how the Reading Through Time wikis are set up: alphabetical by title (words as The and A don't count) and each participant has its own entry. Duplicates are handles by starring them - marking them as shared read.

Example:

1. The Hunt for the Red October by Tom Clancy - Samantha_kathy
2. *May Day by Jess Lourey - Samantha_kathy
3. *May Day by Jess Lourey - Her_Royal_Orangeness
4. Patriot Games by Tom Clancy - Samantha_kathy

Alpha is always the preferred method of adding things to wikis, imo.
I'd say everyone add the title again, so that people can put their rating next to it (if they choose to add one).

Re: language, I'm not sure what you mean, especially for dialect. Do you just mean a novel where the character is using dialect, or it's something about dialect? If it's not actually dealing with the language itself, then that doesn't sound like it fits the theme, to me...

ETA
I don't think they need stars. I don't really see the point of that.

Alphabetical makes sense to me. I changed the "instructions" on the wiki to indicate that. (If the general consensus seem to be non-alphabetical or something else, it can be changed to reflect that.)

With dialect, I'm thinking something like where the bulk of the novel is written in non-standard English, like Their Eyes Were Watching God. The reader is not just experiencing a story, but a language.

I don't know, I don't think that's "about language." If anything it seems it'd be more representative of cultural aspects than language.

@MarthaJeanne, any opinions here?

10> Don't forget "an" - The, A, & An don't count.

13> I agree that those aren't really about language. I wouldn't list them as suggestions for the category. However, if someone really wanted to read one of those as a stretch, I could see it. For that reader, it would be about the language.

>13 .Monkey.: I'm rather amazed at the list. There are certainly a few things on there that I probably wouldn't count myself, but Without reading the books, I still see how they might fit. But this idea seems to be quite fruitful in getting people recommending a very wide range of books.

Thank you to the person who went ahead and alphabetized the existing titles in the wiki! It didn't even occur to me when I was entering mine :)

Thanks to those who have added to the wiki. There seems to be a number of good choices awaiting us!

Would the Wizard of Oz be considered a genre bender? Children's and SF?

I was just looking at the list of Authors who LibraryThing and spotted quite a few names from my wishlist: Joe Hill, Jo Walton, Maria Semple, Elizabeth Bear.

I also see on there David Brin, Diana Gabaldon, Lisa See, John Green, Laurie R. King, Laurie Halse Anderson, Naomi Novik, many more. That square won't be as hard to fill as I thought it would.

>18 cyderry: I don't think I would consider it a genre bender since children's books come in all genres. I would look for something that combines genres. In children's fiction, The Golden Compass comes to mind, which is science fiction-fantasy-steampunk.

I just added my known entries to the wiki. I realized that my BingoDOG list and my 2015 TBR list will be very similar!

>21 LoisB: - Me too! As I was planning everything, I realized how many could qualify for my TBR challenge.

Funny, unless I'm choosing it because it's been ignored for a while, I'd be purposely avoiding including my TBR titles for it. I use it as a way to try and knock out those that've been lingering too long unread. Which, yeah I may try to do for some of these, but not many. Multiple challenges = multiple means of encouragement for reading yet more books off the shelves! :D

I'm using the Bingo as a way to check books off the TBR list, so I'm hoping as many books as possible will come from there.

>24 PawsforThought: I'll be reading as many as possible off my shelves, but it mostly won't be titles from my 24 chosen for the TBR Challenge.

>24 PawsforThought: I'm doing the same thing, I should be able to read 22-23 books from my bookshelves. For some suggestions, I only have one choice but for others, I've up to 6 choices so it should keep things interesting and not too constraining !

*bump*

Any news on the unveiling of the bingo card? Anyone found some great books that qualify for bingo categories? Etc.

>28 Her_Royal_Orangeness: Haven't started yet. There are months left before 2015, you'll have to pace yourselves. I have plenty of other things on my plate so it's not at the very top of my priorities.

I came across something fun to help out with the genre bender square:

http://blender.genrify.com/

oh that's great!

My in-laws are in town right now so my time at the computer is limited, but it'll get done with plenty of time to spare for the new year, lol.

Just to get a schedule going forward -- who is working on bingo cards? And, if you are, could you give an approximate release date? Is it possible to be wrapped up by mid-October so as to coordinate with the CATs, or are a few extra weeks needed?

Also, if anyone else wants to give crafting a bingo card a try, feel free to do so. It would be fun to have a few to choose from!

Why does it need to be wrapped up by mid-October?

I am going to do a bingo card but I can't give you a time frame for when it's going to be finished. And I don't understand why people need it to be done before December (I'll definitely be done by then but I can't say more than that). As long as they're up before the new year, we'll be fine. People know what the squares are going to be so if anyone wants to plan ahead they can do that anyway.

Please don't worry about it, PawsforThought. With several people making cards (I know we have at least one more person who has volunteered and several with the know-how) we'll have a few for those who like to set up and start early, and it'll be fun for us last-minute types to have several choices.

I think we can all understand being busy and this is certainly not something to drop other obligations for. Thanks for responding so quickly!

I intend to finish mine, but (as usual), I'm with Paws here. The things in the squares have been set already, everyone already knows them, so what difference does it make when the actual images are out? They don't impact anything, except a visual in peoples' threads, which aren't needed until the challenge starts.

But yes, everyone who is at all interested should toss their hat in, the more options for people to choose from, the better! :)

It only took me 15 minutes to throw together a bingo card that is functional but lacking in eye appeal. I expect to be mindblown on December 31 when we see the results of four months of artistic effort. :)

Could you show it to us, HRO? I'm curious to see what a bingo card with our ideas on it would look like.

Functional, but certainly nothing to make a graphic artist gasp with wonder. :) Here it is....

Ohh, nice! Awesome to see our ideas laid out in a card.

If I can actually read some of the books I picked for 2015, I see a BINGO in my future!

That looks fantastic.

Excellent, HRO! The free space should be to read a CAT, but that's a quibble. Thanks for putting it together. I suddenly want to browse my shelves...

I changed the free square to read a CAT. Glad the other "visual" people appreciate my small attempt at a bingo card. :) It'll do until the true artists give us the real deal.

>44 Her_Royal_Orangeness: You're putting the pressure on! I hope people won't be disappointed with the end result. :/

>39 Her_Royal_Orangeness: Ooooh, nice!

>39 Her_Royal_Orangeness: - lovely! Very nice to get a visual.

>45 PawsforThought: No pressure. Just add some colour and fonts and maybe a few graphics and it will be infinitely better than what I threw together. I just wanted to create something for those of us who, like me, wanted to see a visual representation of the list.

That one won't be usable with the marker utility, though, it doesn't have the same dimensions/margins as the RandomHouse one.

>49 .Monkey.: I don't even know what a marker utility is. Ha! :) I just found a blank bingo card on google images and added text. I'm certain you can do far better than that!

Testing...

<img src="http://www.lshelby.com/Utilities/Bingo/bingocardC.php?type=CAT2015&color=green&markers=9-13-20-5-24-6">



Hmmm....
Looks like I accidentally nudged my boxes down a bit. Will fix.

Also, I don't currently have the ability to mark off the READ A CAT space. I'm guessing y'all will want that one markable?

...

Anyone interested in a blank card png to create your own markable cards off of?

Edited to update card. :)

>50 Her_Royal_Orangeness: In the other threads it was discussed a bunch, someone (in another group, 100 books?) made a utility people could use to mark off the spaces, like on real cards. She offered us to use it for this, but with the (quite reasonable) requirement of making the squares in the same place as that RandomHouse card so she wouldn't have to do a lot of work finding new plot points for them.

>51 LShelby: I used the other one as a template, so I think I ought to be good. :)

>50 Her_Royal_Orangeness:
That above is what a "marker utility looks like", for those of you who haven't see it yet.

You copy off the "magic code" at the top, and past it into your message, except that you fill in the numbers to match what YOU have read instead of the randomly selected boxes I used for the example.

You can also change the color of the markers. I just thought green would look good with the "leather" background I slapped in there.

>52 .Monkey.: What are you doing about text alignment in Gimp? I want the text in the squares to be centralized (like in >51 LShelby:) but Gimp only allows left- or right- alignment. And I can't seem to find a way to allow different lines of text to be different sizes (like in the CAT square in >51 LShelby:). I miss Photoshop.

I haven't gotten to the text yet, I could swear it had a center, though. Hmm. If not I'll probably just eyeball it.

>55 .Monkey.: I'm just testing things out now, I need to change the colours, but wanted to see what the squares would look like with text. Right now, not good.

Since so many people are already setting up their threads, this is especially useful, HRO. I'm worried that without something they can use in their threads, the BingoDOG will be forgotten -- many people are already planning which books they will include in their own challenges!

edited to add that this is clearly no longer a problem!

I just posted a list of squares with possivle reads on my 2015 thread, bingo card to be added :D. I've seen more people reserving a space for the BingoDOG, too. It's not so easily forgotten, especially when people begin playing it in January, then everyone will remember and hopefully join the fun!

Yeah, I have a hard time believing people are going to forget something they've spent so much time planning.

>51 LShelby: Beautiful job! Just one quibble...square #17 should be "Genre Bender," not "Gender Bender." But it looks really cool, especially with the marker function!

>60 christina_reads: Whooops! Thanks for the catch!

...

It would be nice if someone said, "Yes, of course we need to be able to mark 'Read a CAT'", though. I will feel really stupid if I change the code to make it markable, only to discover that it really was supposed to be a free space all along.

...If you do want it to be a free space, I probably ought to put a marker on it as the default, since it's not obvious that this is what is intended.

>61 LShelby: You're welcome! Personally, I'd like the "read a CAT" space to be markable...it would bother me to leave it unmarked, especially since I'm aiming for a cover-all bingo and will (hopefully) be marking all the other squares!

>61 LShelby: I absolutely want to be able to mark off "Read a CAT".

I created one on a spreadsheet. If I save it as a pdf I'll be able to post and update. Unless there will be an easier one available. I left the centre as "free" but I like >39 Her_Royal_Orangeness: "read a CAT" option.

ETA While I dithered over my post, a host of you posted.

>61 LShelby: Yup, I definitely want to be able to mark off "Read a CAT"!

>55 .Monkey.: I found it! Yes, yes, yes! Took me a while, but it's there (the central alignment).

>64 VivienneR: It's not just an option. We decided ages ago to go with "Read a CAT" as the middle square.

Yep, I want to be able to mark all the squares, including the Read a CAT square, as I too will be going for a black-out bingo.

Even though I thought I had been following the threads all along, I missed the part about "Read a CAT!" Can someone give me a brief description or give me the comments reference numbers so I can scroll back through and catch up? Sorry, I must have missed school that day! :-/

Okay, looks like I got it fixed. :)

(I would that all my coding changes were as simple as that one!)

People making cards based on the earlier RandomHouse version take note!!
The little numbers need to be changed for the last half of the card, so that the center box will have a number 13, and the last box is a 25. (And do, pretty-please, add numbers to your cards if you are making them to be used with the marker utility.)

>69 Tanya-dogearedcopy: It was suggested that instead of having "free square" as the middle square, that would be "read a cat" (any cat) instead. And it was universally liked (I don't know if we ever voted on it but I can't remember a single person being against it so we went with it). Can't recall any comment numbers, though.

>51 LShelby: Oooo. Shiny! That's just great.

>71 PawsforThought: Thank you! I'll take a book that I'm reading for either the HistoryCAT of SFFFCAT and use it for this square! :-)

>51 LShelby: Can you remind me what the other marker colors available are?

>74 Tanya-dogearedcopy:

Where I have green up there in the example, you can use any of the following colors:
aqua, black, blue, fuchsia, gray, green, lime, maroon, navy, olive, orange, purple, red, silver, teal, white, and yellow

It should also work if you use color hex codes like 008080 and FFCCFF.

>75 LShelby: This looks great! Thank you!

Squares 2 & 3 have typo: Reminds and Unfamiliar. I also want to vote for the option to mark the center square.

>74 Tanya-dogearedcopy: The card looks fabulous, and I will probably also use the green markers; but then again I love to play around!

Thank you! :-)

I am duly impressed. *applause*

>76 LoisB: Thanks!

I have been trying to upload a typo-fixed version and am getting connection problems. That's... not good.

Edited to add: Oh, whew! It looks like it was a temporary glitch. They should be fixed now.

Okay bingo people - I need someone to choose a book for me. Thought it would be more fun, if it was chosen by someone playing along. I'm open to pretty much anything. First with the recommendation is it.

>80 LittleTaiko: From your wishlist - Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin

Thank you! That fits neatly with one of my categories and is a book I've been interested in reading for quite some time.

>82 LittleTaiko: That book gathered dust on my shelves for ages and I finally read it this year. I can't believe I waiting so long. I really enjoyed it! Hope you do too.

I'm going to ask someone to pick a book for me here as well for the BingoDOG. Please choose a fiction book for me from my GRTB collection.

>84 Samantha_kathy: A Thousand Splendid Suns

Oohh, nice pick LoisB! I'll definitely have fun with that one.

I enjoyed it! Hopefully, you will too.

>51 LShelby: -- The Bingo card looks great. Thank you.

>51 LShelby: I love the Bingo Card and I love playing around with the various colors of the chips!

>88 VioletBramble: >89 DeltaQueen50:

Thanks! :)

My understanding is that we have at least two more versions of the bingo card artwork on the way, so don't make too many plans based on what I've got there -- you might like someone else's version better.

One thing I learned doing this in the 100 in 2014 group, is that it is really, really nice to have a variety of different cards and marker colors being used. Otherwise all the cards look so much the same that they start mentally blurring together.

That was why I thought multiple people doing it was a good idea :) But I think there might only be one version coming, I know Paws is working on hers. I left the group, so no bingo for me.

Yeah, I've still got my version coming, but those who want to plan everything out now will do well to go with LShelby's version as I'm still tinkering away - it's not a main priority at the moment. It will be done in time, though.

I was going to ask one of you to pick a book for me but I'm not sure how to go about it. Nearly all the books I have in my LT library are books I've read or am reading (I usually only add them when I start reading them). So not sure how to give whoever wants to pick a selection of books to choose from.

I'll pick for you! We can figure it out somehow :D

>93 .Monkey.: Deal!

>51 LShelby: - Soooo Cooool !!! I 'm having fun just playing with the different colours.

The books that came today included two I have planned for the BingoDOG. Now I just have to not read those two until January.

I haven't been in on any of the discussion for the BingoDOG because I thought I had enough on my plate, but now I'm getting curious! I have a couple of general questions, though. It seems from scanning the thread that most people are intending to plan ahead and complete the entire card. I was thinking of making it more like real bingo, though, and leaving it to an element of chance. What I would do is read whatever I felt like at the moment and look after finishing a book to see if it matched a square. If it does, I can cross it off. Then I'd just see how long it takes to get a bingo (5 in a row or 4 corners plus the middle square). But that seems like a really different challenge than the rest of you are doing.

Is there room for a different take on the challenge? Anyone else planning something similar?

>97 japaul22: That's exactly what I'm going to do. Some people are going to try for a bingo row/column/corners, some for the whole shebang. It's whatever you want to do.

>97 japaul22: My plan is the same as yours. I will not be planning my reading based on the BingoDOG categories, but if it matches a square I'll cross it off and hope that I get a bingo, or maybe more than one by the end of the year. There are a few categories that seldom come up in my reading that will probably remain untouched.

>97 japaul22: That's sort of my plan too, although I'll be aware of the various squares -- so a little bit of cheating will go on. (for me. If anyone else does it, it's not cheating.)

>100 RidgewayGirl: The only way you'd be cheating is if you crossed over squares where you haven't read a book that fits. That's it. There's no other way to cheat at BingoCAT. Whether you plan your reads or go by chance, it's still by the books.

Paws, you are spoiling my fun! : )

>97 japaul22: That's what I planned to do. I thought it would be fun to see how many of my reads randomly matched up with the bingo categories.

Great! Now I'm getting excited about using the BingoDOG card! Thanks to everyone who chimed in to get me up to date on their plans.

>97 japaul22: For the most part, that's what I'll be doing, as well. But, I can be "competitive" (even if it's with myself!), so I suspect closer to the end of the year, I might make more of an effort to pick books that will/might fit. We'll see!

I have a few(??) books designated to read in 2015 and if and when I read them, then I'll check my card to see if they fit.

I made list of titles that might fit, and even though I entered them on the Wiki, I'm not treating it as an ironclad commitment! Nine times out of ten, I override my own choices, but it's nice to have the list just in case I'm feeling stuck one day.

I'm opting for a simple BINGO (five connecting squares.) After that, I'll see what else I might be game for :-)

I'm definitely planning on covering the full board. It's a great opportunity to read some books off of my shelves and I'm fitting them in with the Alpha Kit where I can so more bang for the buck. If they work in with the SFF or History challenges then even better, but that's really pushing my luck.

I hope I can fill the whole thing.

What I don't see on the Wiki is where to find a board and how that works.

MESSAGE 51

>109 MarthaJeanne: I was going to ask when we got closer to January.

How do we mark off the squares we finish? I guess I need a more step-by-step explanation than message 51.

In fact, I think for me, we need to start with - how do I get the picture of the unmarked card to copy to my thread! Step by step... :-)

Then, how do I mark off each square?

Thanks so much! :-)

>109 MarthaJeanne: & 111 The card in >51 LShelby: is the first (and currently) only one that has been finished and published here. There will be at least one more (I'm making one but I stated early on that it'll be closer to December and I've been very busy lately so it might take some extra time).
If you go and look in the Bingo discussion thread(s?), there will be an explanation given about a way to mark off the squares as you finish books that fit.

#111 by @LibraryCin>

copy the text in brackets (including the brackets) from #51. At the end of the text you see green&markers= with a bunch of numbers. To include the unmarked card in your thread, paste the whole thing, then delete the numbers after green. That will give you an unmarked card. When you fill a block, add the number of the block after 'green&markers=' and add more using a dash between each.

Clear as mud?

ETA: Not enough caffeine...

I've favorited that explanation, majkia, so I can use it when I need it.

>113 majkia: that explanation worked for me. Thanks!

>111 LibraryCin:, I am with Cindy, I will need a step by step to participate. I will need to know how to get the card and how to use the tool. These explanations get lost, etc. hard to find later. How do you "favorite" an explanation? Does that make it so you can find it?

>116 Kristelh: As I wrote in >112 PawsforThought:, only one card has been posted yet. It's the one posted in >51 LShelby:. There will be at least one more and it will be posted here in this thread. LShelby has a tool that will be implemented and all you'll need to do when the cards have been uploaded and she has put the tool to use is change the colour and the numbers in the code. It will all be posted here and it will all be explained.

>116 Kristelh: You can favorite a post by clicking on the "more" at the bottom of the post you want to favorite and that will come up as an option.

Then to see a favorite post, when you're on the Talk page, on the bottom of the left hand side is an option for "more." Click that, and you'll have the option to look at posts you've favorited.

>118 RidgewayGirl:, thanks, I tried it out, I think I have it. LT does have a learning curve to it, at least for me it does. Perhaps only for the technologically challenged people.

>112 PawsforThought: and >113 majkia:

Thank you so much for the explanations! That is very helpful! :-)

>112 PawsforThought: I will wait to see yours before I make a decision on which one to use, then. I don't plan out my books this far ahead, anyway, so I'm ok to wait, as long as I know where to come back for the explanations! ;-)

>113 majkia: How do you mark a reply as a favourite? I'd love to do that, too. Thanks, again!

>118 RidgewayGirl: Thank you, again, RidgewayGirl. I have favourited the explanation and >51 LShelby:. I still want to see Paws' version of the card, too, before I decide, but that makes it all easier to find later. :-) I had never before looked at the "More" link under the posts, so now I know what's there.

>119 Kristelh: Kristel, I (mostly) don't think of myself as technologically challenged, so I don't think that's it. My guess - LibraryThing just has sooo many features to it, it is a lot to learn.

ETA: Or maybe that's just my "excuse"! ;-)

I work in IT but I'm new to this site so I've been asking for a bit of help as well :-)

If anyone is still unclear on how to use my card marking utility, just post me a message and I'll walk you through it. :)

I'm pretty sure I promised I'd have the bingo card done before December but I'm afraid it's looking like it won't happen just yet. I have, for the past two months, been working more than full time while fighting off the flu or something like it, and now I'm having software issues. I'm trying to get it fixed and when I do, it won't take long to finish.

Sorry about the extra waiting time.

no worries, paws

>124 PawsforThought: Feel better soon, PfT.

Hang in there !

Aw, Paws, take care of yourself first, we'll wait!

Well, the software is working properly again, so at least something is going right.

YAY! Hope more gets better.

First time I've seen this group (I was involved in 2010, 2011, etc), and seeing the description, it's a bummer! I was so ready to see people in 2050 (when I'm 75) giving themselves an aneursym trying to read 2500 books in 365 days (50 categories, 50 books per category). Alas, not sure if I'll try to do this in 2015 or one of the other challenges. I'm a little more picky about what I read and only have a couple of topics/genres that I read. Maybe I'll have to do 20 Bizarro and 15 Chess books. Hmmmm.....

>131 ThrillerFan: I was so ready to see people in 2050 (when I'm 75) giving themselves an aneursym trying to read 2500 books in 365 days (50 categories, 50 books per category).

LOL!

>131 ThrillerFan: LOL, I think if it was just a matter of numbers, people would try to read 2500 books in 2050! I expect that we would see a lot of children's books and graphic novels! :-D

For myself, I topped out last year at 169 titles. Even if I were retired though, I don't think I would want to read more than 200 books a year. There's so much that needs doing! #bucketlist :-)

When I first retired and joined LT, it was the 999 challenge year and I actually did it twice - 162 books - that was the most I've ever read in a year and I've never come close again!

I think it's become more of a category challenge for most of us and less a numbers thing. And some of us can't even come up with that. But we still enjoy looking at what everyone is reading.

Do we want a monthly bingo dog thread?

Interesting thought! Yes!

>136 majkia: Good idea, otherwise the general thread will become too long.

136, 137, & 138> Just a thought, but what about threads grouped by categories? Not one for each, but maybe grouped by things that sort of go together, like:

based on a fairy tale / mythical creature / prophesy or omens / genre bender / read a CAT (similar and some overlap)

reminds you of childhood / unfamiliar subject / author with ancestor's name / owned 1 year+ / outside comfort zone (personal. different for everyone)

translated / set in other country / about language / epistolary / based on other work (mostly about language)

autism / LGBTQ main character / opposite gender / animal is of importance / by an LT Author (different types of people)

scientists / natural disaster / historical event / published 1915 / chosen by someone else (history, some overlap & leftovers)

>139 BookLizard: I like the idea of one thread per month for whatever we are reading and finding that fits the BingoCats. Even though I like the groupings you suggest I would have serious trouble figuring out where to put what!

I was thinking about one wiki category for each BingoDOG category (25 in all). That would allow us to look at what others are reading in the category and maybe get some BBs.

The wiki is set up that way.

Oops! This is what I get for answering questions early in the morning - before caffeine. I totally forgot about the wiki being established, and that the question was asking about a thread not the wiki!

I am in favor of a monthly thread where we can post our updated Bingo cards.

Alright! So I promised I'd make a bingo card and then I had to postpone when I was uploading it. And now... Well, now I'm done. Right in time for the new year and all.
Just one thing, though. I haven't made one bingo card. I made three, because I'm clearly crazy.
One is a pirate themed one, which might be a little difficult to read for some people (not all the squares, but a few of them) but hey! Pirates!
The second one is a comic themed one with speech bubbles and faux-onomatopoeia because onomatopoeia is the greatest thing in the world.
And lastly, there's an art deco one. It's a sleeker and more serious than the others, and if someone wants to print out their bingo card but not waste a fortune on ink I'd recommend this one as it's in greyscale.

Hope you like them and sorry about keeping you all waiting for so long.
LShelby will make a post with the images and urls when she's worked her magic on the online bingo marking tool-thingey.

>144 PawsforThought: So excited! Thanks!

>144 PawsforThought: Ooh, yay, I'm excited to see them! The art deco one particularly intrigues me...

I withdraw my suggestion from post 139. There's so much overlap between all the categories, we may as well do a thread a month..

>147 BookLizard: I thought it was a nice idea...

>144 PawsforThought: And those sound fun!

>144 PawsforThought: Wow, these are AWESOME... as hopefully you will all be seeing:

<img src="http://www.lshelby.com/Utilities/Bingo/bingocardC.php?type=CAT2015-AD&color=purple&markers=9-13">



<img src="http://www.lshelby.com/Utilities/Bingo/bingocardC.php?type=CAT2015-CB&color=red&markers=20-5">



<img src="http://www.lshelby.com/Utilities/Bingo/bingocardC.php?type=CAT2015-P&color=green&markers=24-6">

Oh wow! Which to choose, which to choose!

I want the first one. Now, in language non-Geeks can understand, how do we do this?

>151 majkia: I know, right?

While y'all are trying to decide, here's the user manual. :)

Usually the easiest way to use the utility is to just copy the line above the examples I posted above, and paste that code into your post, and then fix it so it shows the right markers.

After you've set your card up, it's usually easiest to go back to the last time you posted it, click edit and copy it out of your edit box. That way you only have to worry about adding your new boxes to the markers list.

If anyone is having any problems with this, please send me a message and I'll see what I can do. Okay?

Have fun!

And now the explanation of how the code works. :)

<

This tells the web-browser not to print out the following text

img src="http://www.lshelby.com/Utilities/Bingo/bingocardC.php

This tells the web-browser to fetch an image from my website...
But hahaha! I have fooled the browser, and I have actually sent it to a little BINGO Card utility program not a regular image file. >:)

?

This tells my program that there will be some additional information for it. The stuff that comes after the ? is the stuff that is important to the user.

type=CAT2015

This tells it what type of BINGO card to send.
CAT2015-AD means "show Category Challenge 2015 Bingo Card - Art Deco"
CAT2015-CB means "show Category Challenge 2015 Bingo Card - Comic Book"
CAT2015-P means "show Category Challenge 2015 Bingo Card - Pirate"

All you have to do to switch between cards is change the little letters after CAT2015

&color=green

This is where you pick the color of your markers.
You can use any of the following colors: aqua, black, blue, fuchsia, gray, green, lime, maroon, navy, olive, orange, purple, red, silver, teal, white, and yellow

It should also work if you use color hex codes like 008080 and FFCCFF

&markers=24-6

This tells the program which boxes the markers need to be on. Just list the box numbers you want divided by dashes. The numbers can be listed in any order.

">

And this tells the browser, "all right we're all done fetching the image you can go back to showing text again."

Hope that makes everything nice and clear.
If not, let me know, and I'll try again. :)

I can-NOT resist the pirates!

Those are fantastic!

154> Aye!

>144 PawsforThought: I love art deco! Thank you!

All three are terrific. I can't make up my mind...

They're all great, but I'm learning toward the comic book one.

>144 PawsforThought: Wow, they're all gorgeous!

I'm so glad you like them and are all so enthusiastic. It was a bit of work so I'm glad it paid off.

Bonus points to anyone who can tell which two real life islands I used (and abused) for the pirate's map (the two larger island, the tiny one is all made up).

These are amazing!! Decisions, decisions...

I love those Bingo card choices! Amazing job everyone involved in creating the cards! Well Done!

thank you to all the artists for their efforts!

Beautiful bingo cards!

>162 LittleTaiko:, >163 lkernagh:, >164 cyderry: & >165 rabbitprincess: Glad you like them!

PawsforThought, they all look fantastic. Thank you.

And thanks, LShelby, for doing technical things.

And now to choose which one to add to my challenge.

I, too, am having trouble deciding!!!!

Thanks PAWS, fun, fun fun!

>167 RidgewayGirl: "And thanks, LShelby, for doing technical things."

It was a pleasure.

I taught myself how to do this sort of thing by creating games/web-toys for my Author website. So it's all associated with "something done for fun" as far as I'm concerned.

Doing the BINGO Card one has been especially cool, because people actually use it. Makes me happy! :)

Thanks Paws for these AMAZING cards, it'll be difficult to choose though :)

Thanks LShelby for the technical part of the fun :)

I'm waiting not so patiently now to come back from my London's trip to use those ...

Beautiful Bingo cards, thank you. Since I live in the Pittsburgh area, it has to be the pirates card.

>153 LShelby: Oh, my goodness, can you come and live with me so I can ask you to explain computer stuff to me any time I need it?

>173 ccookie: I think my husband would complain. :)

DARN!

It's so exciting seeing my Bingo card with a marker on it!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/185276

Thank you for the card, and for such a clear explanation of how to do it.

>176 MarthaJeanne: Congrats on getting the first one already!

That book should have been finished last year, but we watched Fledermaus last night, so come midnight I still had a dozen pages to go.

That leaves last year's Nonfiction challenge with 'Other' as a category, which I wanted to avoid if possible.

I got my first square: Bride of the Rat God by Barbara Hambly has prophecies, signs and portents galore.

I'm going with the comic book one! :D I probably won't end up clearing the card, but if whatever I'm reading happens to fit a square, I'll add it.

I got a square :)

I've got 2: https://www.librarything.com/topic/180957 (scroll to bottom)

I'm working on two!

I accidentally got my first square. Who would have thought that a book called Horrorstor would really be horror? Completely outside my comfort zone. LOL.

I bagged my first one with Soulless, which has werewolves & vampires which are (fortunately) suitable mythical.

Three down so far - have a hunch my pace will slow down pretty quickly once I get back into the swing of work and real life.

So weren't we going to have a monthly thread for what we're reading?

*looks around for someone "in charge" to start one*

Oh no! Do we have to go back to real life and work?

The earliest ones will be the easy ones. I'm guessing that it will get harder in a few months.

#187 by @BookLizard> *looks back at booklizard* Anyone can start a monthly thread. You could do January.

Ok, I had a review for my first BingoDOG I wanted to post, so I started a thread for January BingoDOG. Hope that's ok!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/185929

And, mostly because I just haven't wanted to take the time, I'm (at least so far) sticking with the original BingoDOG card that was posted a while back. I LOVE the new ones and probably would have used the comic one, but I'm just lazy... :-)

Thanks to LibraryCin for posting the January thread. Again, it is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/185929

>153 LShelby:, it worked, wow, I can't believe I made it work.

Thanks for the cards! I have chosen the lovely Art Deco one.

>195 soffitta1: You're more than welcome. :)

OMG!!! How am I going to chose between all these great Bingo Cards! PawsforThought and L.Shelby did a fantastic job and really launched the BingoDog in style!

>197 DeltaQueen50: Thank you! It's nice to have many of you be so enthusiastic about them.

oops

>150 LShelby: WOW! Those are amazing!!! Thank you so much for doing them!

I've been trying to decide what I'll be reading this year and I've got a question about one of the blocks. The block "read a book where the protagonist is of the opposite gender" - opposite gender from whom? I missed most of the original discussion. I looked at the wiki, but I couldn't figure it out from the books listed since I haven't read any of them.

>201 dudes22: Opposite from you.

Oh ok - I wasn't sure if it was me or the author.

>200 LauraBrook:
Aw gosh. I didn't hardly do nothing -- the code was already written.

PawsforThought is the one who spent hours doing super nifty artwork.

But I'm glad everyone is having fun with it. :)

>204 LShelby: Well, you did help me upload the damn things when LT wouldn't cooperate!

>204 LShelby: & >205 PawsforThought: Thank you both, then, for your wonderful work! They're all amazing!

> 206 I agree!

>150 LShelby: >153 LShelby: What fun! I wasn't going to do another bingo challenge this year, but I love the cartoon one and they come with markers too! So I'm in. Just one stupid question though, because I'm not actually in the Category Challenge this year, but I imagine the middle square allows you to read a book from any of your own categories, am I right?

>208 Smiler69: Although it does refer to the three CATs, it's supposed to be like a free square, so if you aren't doing them, it seems like you could use your own categories instead.

208> Also, you don't have to participate in every month of the CATs. If one of the categories happens to coincide with something you like, you could just read one book that fits. The random CAT might be good.

>204 LShelby: & >205 PawsforThought: Super job on the bingo cards! Thank you very much, you've made it even more fun!

I love all the bingo cards! I decided to go with the Art Deco one, and I'm looking forward to actually reading a qualifying book so that I can play with the marker colours :)

Sorry to ask (again!). I know I asked somewhere before, but I can't remember where I asked and I don't remember where to go to look!

Can someone refresh my memory on where to check for LT authors? Thanks so much!

ETA: If only I'd gone looking before I posted. I found it already! Thanks, anyway!

(For anyone else wondering, it's under Zeitgeist, then Authors.)

Hm ... does the author of a memoir count as an LGBTQ "character"?

Ifthe author's sexuality is a part of the story, I would be inclined to say, "Yes." For instance, David Sedaris has several stories across his collections of essays, anecdotes, and memoirs about his homosexuality; and he's definitely a character! :-)

>215 Tanya-dogearedcopy: The author identifies as bi now, and identified as a lesbian during part of the time in which the memoir takes place, but her sexuality isn't an important part of the book. (I was thinking of Orange Is the New Black.)

I'm sure I'll read something else that qualifies this year. Just antsy to play with my bingo card. :)

I would count it. But then, the book I counted, you only find out about the character's orientation at the very end. (It does suddenly make sense of a lot that went before.) And you can always change it if you find something better.

>216 madhatter22: I would count it.

I'm adding my thanks to your great Bingo cards with a yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. I've added five reads to my card so far.

Question. What about a book of short stories? There are 15 stories, three of which were first published in 1915. Does that count?

Enter Jeeves

>220 MarthaJeanne: I count short stories as separate "books" if they were originally published separately.

220> It counts for 20%

Just kidding. It's up to you if you want to count it or not. Since you're asking, it makes me think that on some level you feel like it's taking a shortcut. How many pages are those 3 stories put together? A short story could be 5 pages. If added up they are enough to count as a novella, I'd count it.

BINGO!



Dreaming Spies - protagonist= Mary Russell
One False Note - portents
Temptation and Surrender - other country - England
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend - Autism
Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor - Correspondence or letters

223> Congrats! Are you also going for the Coverall Bingo or are you done?

Question for everyone. How do you feel about changing the book you read for a square? For example, I read a book for a CAT and used it for the CAT square, but now I read another CAT and the first book could be used for a different square. What do you think? Fair or cheating?

If I read a book that fits a square better I may change it.

>224 BookLizard: Yeah, I think it's fine to switch around which books you assign to which squares.

>224 BookLizard: I'm personally planning to stick with the square where I first assigned the book. I might replace it with a better book for that square, but I don't want to move an individual book once I've picked a spot for it.

Of course, I say this now, but we'll see how I feel later on....

>>224 BookLizard: I don't think that I'm going to be able to get the coverall because there are several squares that I will never get. I promised myself that this year I was only going to read books I wanted to and several squares hold no interest for me.

>224 BookLizard: You can do it however you want to, but for me, I won't be changing things around once a book is assigned.

>223 cyderry: - congratulations!

There are now two March threads

https://www.librarything.com/topic/188726

http://www.librarything.com/topic/188504#

Official March thread:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/188504

>153 LShelby: I was experimenting with putting a second bingo card into the same message. The card showed up, but the markers didn't work. Did I do something stupid?



Obviously. Because the marker isn't showing here, either. Got it.

>233 MarthaJeanne: I see a single red marker on spot 8.
What are you seeing?

I've put two bingo cards in the same message before. It shouldn't be a problem.

It is a problem if you copy the first one and strip out the numbers, including the last two characters. I find it interesting that the card itself showed up.

I started a topic for April reads.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/189623

>235 MarthaJeanne:
If the marker information is missing the utility sends out just the card without any markers on it.
Basically the program loads the card image in first, and then checks for the marker numbers, and loads in a marker for each number, and then sends the combined picture out.

You can probably do weird things like ask for the same number twice and so have that marker be less transparent, because there's actually two markers on top of each other.



Yep.

You wrote:
">

And this tells the browser, "all right we're all done fetching the image you can go back to showing text again."
-----
Without that it shows the card, but not any numbers that have been entered.

>238 MarthaJeanne: Really?

... does some testing...

Quite right. Mine is showing all the markers listed except the last one. (Which, if there is only one marker listed, would mean no markers.)

...give me a bit, I'm sure I can figure that out...

Ah!

The reason it still mostly works is because the supposed "image url" is split into two parts: an address, and the extra instructions that come after the ?. The browser knows the actual address ends at the ?, so it does go to the right place to get its image. :)

But it also garbles the instructions a bit by adding extra stuff at the end (because it doesn't know where to stop), so the bingo utility can't figure out where the last marker is supposed to go, and just skips it.

hmmm, just wondering about the "mythical creature" one. How are people defining it? Would vampires and/or shapeshifters count? Opinions? Thanks!

>241 LibraryCin: I wondered about that, too, so I ran a few searches and look at several definitions and discussions (and got seriously sidetracked into mythical vs mythic). At any rate, I concluded that most agreed that weres, shifters, vampires an the like few into the mythical category. I hope that's in line with what everyone else is thinking!

>237 LShelby: The thing I liked was learning I could conceivably do the Bingo card twice, with the markers showing darker for the second book in each category.

Ok, I doubt I'll be able to do that, but it's still fun to consider it.

>243 RidgewayGirl: - That's interesting Kay. Not that I plan to do a second card, but I would have liked to mark off second books I read for some of the blocks.

>242 Dejah_Thoris: Just to confirm, you concluded that weres... "fall" into the mythical category? :-) Autocorrect, I'm thinking!? Thanks!

I agree that vampires/werewolves/etc. would count as "mythical creatures."

I am at the point where pretty much any book I enter will complete a row for a Bingo! I just added Daughter of the Blood by Anne Bishop for the "Book Where Prophecies and Portents Are Part of the Plot".

>246 christina_reads: Great! Thank you! I will go ahead and count it, then. :-)

>248 LibraryCin: I saw in your post you only have 3 more squares to go. It would be interesting to find out where everyone is at this point. I have 4 squares to go, and I think I know what they all will be. I doubt I'll go for a second card, though.

>249 sturlington: For the three I have left, I have something in mind for two of them (but for 1915, I had to go off my tbr; mostly, I'm trying to stick with the tbr). I am not planning to do a second card, either, though.

Genre bender, in general, sort of confuses me, so I'm hoping I'll know it when I "see" it! I think there was lots of discussion about what genre bender means and I've looked it up a couple of times thinking what I was reading might be it, but I decided not. I mostly come up with "mixed" genre type books that I want to call a genre bender, but from what I've looked up, I don't think that's really it.

>250 LibraryCin: I think I may have cheated on the "genre bender" square. My choice was a mystery novel that had unexpected fantasy elements, but that might be more of a "mixed genre" than a "genre bender." Nonetheless…it subverted my expectations of the mystery genre, so I feel like it's okay? But maybe I should do more research on what constitutes a "genre bender."

I have seven squares left on my (first) Bingo card, but I have plans for most of them! I don't anticipate any trouble finishing by the end of the year, but I probably won't do a second card.

I still have 10 squares to go. I am not doing well on any of the sci-fi category.

>245 LibraryCin: Whoops, lol! Yes, I definitely meant 'fall' there.

I have 7 squares to go. I'm "reading" an audiobook for one of them right now. I started Herland for the 1915 category but put it down about halfway through. I might try to finish it.

I have three squares left including the middle one which I can fill at anytime.

I have ten squares left; and not a single BINGO yet! I expect to close out my card by the end of summer though; but I don't think I'm going to start another card. Unfortunately, I've let my attention languish in regards to the SFFFCAT and HistCAT, and I'd like to rectify that. I've had a horrific reading slump for the past six months; but I think after having consumed some lighter fare. I might have my reading mojo back! :-)

I have six squares to go.... five, once I finish Of Human Bondage - 4 chapters remaining - which will fit the "published in 1915" square.

>253 Dejah_Thoris: Haha! Thank you!

I have nine left, but no Bingos yet. I'm trying to do a couple every month so I finish a little early and won't do a second card.

>250 LibraryCin: - I found the genre bender idea to be confusing too so I went to the wiki and looked at what others were reading and also at the list link and just picked a book that was on my TBR. The one I picked also fits the SFFF for next month so that's good.

The whole creature thing is totally up to individual readers to decide what counts - as are all the squares, it's your bingo card, it's your choice!. Personally, I wouldn't count vampires and werewolves as mythological creatures because to me "creature" primarily refers to animals, and vampires and werewolves are kind-of human. Human-based at least. I know the word "creature" can refer to humans as well but to me it doesn't work. But it doesn't really affect my reading in any way as I wouldn't have read book with vampires or werewolves anyway.

I agree, interpretation of each square should be up to the reader. I would count anything from mythology or folklore as a mythological creature, including vampires and werewolves. As for genre bender, I used a book that had combined two unrelated genres ,fantasy and Western.

Well, I'm going to make everyone feel great, I have 16 to go! I've had an overdose of RL this year and my reading has been hit and miss. Next week my sister, who has been living with me for 7 weeks as her broken hip healed, will get her medical release and will be able to go home. We both look forward to her being able to drive and do things for herself again! I have TBRs for all but 2 squares and I'm reading one that I should finish over the weekend. I'll complete the card by the end of the year which is really all I care about. This is the first year I've played Bingo though and I think it's fun.

Four left for me - really hoping to get to them in the next couple of months.

I just added Diary of a Provincial Lady to the Epistolary Square and with that I have four squares to fill in. I am torn as to whether I will fill in a second card, but I suspect I probably will.

I have seven more on the second card. I will probably try a third one, but some of the squares get harder to refill.

At the moment I'm just taking what comes.

I have 12 to go, but I'm not in a hurry and not particularly worried about finding books that will fit. Something will come along.

Would the polio epidemic in the forties be a natural disaster?

>267 Kristelh: I think it is, although it may not fit the original intent of the choice. Go for it!

It depends on your definition of the phrase, as always. Some define natural disaster as a force of nature relating to geological issues (floods, earthquakes, extreme weather) but some include everything that isn't directly cause by humans (and so include diseases). SO it's up to you, as always.

>268 Dejah_Thoris:, >269 PawsforThought:, thanks, I think I will use it.

Thanks for all the extra discussion!

>260 PawsforThought: Originally, I wasn't thinking of vampires/werewolves at "mythical creatures", as I was thinking dragons and/or creatures from myths. It was only after I finished the book that it occurred to me it might work!

It's really easiest to just go with our own interpretations, anyway, I guess.

>261 sturlington: That's also originally what I was thinking for genre bender - two unrelated genres mixed in one book, but the definitions seem much more complex than that, and I got confused and just can't come up with anything (at least that I might read!) that would fit, so I might just have to go back to that definition.

I have 13 left and just got my first bingo. So far I've just let the books fall where they may; I want to continue like that for as long as possible and see what happens!

June thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/191727

One left to go Natural Disaster and I could use Nemesis for that one but holding off in case I can get to the Johnstown Flood.

>274 Kristelh: You're one ahead of me Kristel. I have two to go: Genre Bender and 1915.

I'm working on both ancestor's name (should finish tonight or early tomorrow) and chosen by someone else to finish mine.

>275 LibraryCin:, what are you going to read for 1915?

>275 LibraryCin: I have two possibilities that came from... somewhere (I think one was posted in the BingoDog thread already at some point in time).

One is a Bobbsey Twins one, I believe, and one is Sherlock Holmes, I think. Let me look it up...

(I did figure that would be my toughest one - probably not one I would just happen to read otherwise, whereas I expected I would probably just happen to read one of each of the others at some point through the year...)

OK, yes, my options were:
The Valley of Fear / Arthur Conan Doyle
OR
Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat

I read Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat (Gutenberg). Not great, but not bad, either.

I'm going to continue this topic. It's beginning to take longer to load.

>278 LibraryCin: Bobbsey Twins on a Houseboat would work for The random CAT on the water.

>280 Kristelh: oooooh, thanks Kristel! I wonder if I can fit it in?

>279 MarthaJeanne: I'll go check Gutenberg right away. Thanks!