Open Writing

Ms Ogg is a character from Terry Pratchett's renowned Discworld series of satirical fantasy novels, who in this actual cookbook "is handing down some of her tasty and, above all, interesting recipes." Some are more interesting than others. For instance, there's a librarian in the Discworld books who's an orangutan (which Pratchett maintains is the perfect physical form for librarians based on reach and fashion-sense) whose simple recipe for "banana" is "Ook," or "Take one banana." I'll leave to your imagination the details of Nanny Ogg's more intriguing culinary delights, such as "Wow-wow Sauce," "Dried Frog Pills," and "Rat Vindaloo." Just know that my wife was suitably impressed by a lovely Pink Wobbler I presented for dessert last week.

Sadly, our library doesn't own Ogg's worthy tome, but I've requested that we buy it. Occasionally there's misunderstanding about how seriously librarians take the public's suggestions for acquiring new library materials. We purchase over ninety percent of the items patrons request, although sometimes a desired book is too specialized or expensive, but most often they fill holes in the collection. "Request For Purchase" forms can be downloaded from the library's website or obtained at the reference desk, and they help improve our library's usefulness.

It's usually best to correct misconceptions quickly, since they tend to spread like wildfires on military testing ranges. Take the Krankawa ear wax myth. Students in Texas must study the state's history in elementary, middle, and high school, and somewhere along the line, I learned that ear wax was used as an insect repellant by the Karankawa Indians, an extinct tribe who lived in the mosquito-havens along the Gulf Coast. Few institutions are better equipped than a library to discredit erroneous assumptions, so I used ours to find the truth. The excellent Health Source: Consumer Edition database included an article on ear wax from the Harvard Health Letter that noted that cerumen, or ear wax, is a natural antibacterial, antifungal substance that's a natural ear cleanser. Slow, rhythmic movements of the ear canal help the stuff ooze out, carrying trapped debris, and the American Academy of Otolaryngology suggests letting nature take its course and leaving your wax alone unless it's causing a problem.

What's more, the authoritative "Handbook of Texas Online," which contains nearly everything about that state and its history, has a section on the Karankawas that states "They often smeared their bodies with a mixture of dirt and alligator or shark grease to ward off mosquitoes." Dispelling erroneous myths is liberating, and I feel better knowing the truth. However, I wish I hadn't learned about cockroaches predilection for crawling into ear canals.

StraightDope.com is a favorite source of authoritative, insightful, and engagingly-written answers to reference questions. When asked about the roach-ear connection, the StraightDope.com editors replied, "Happens all the time," and described the medical debate over the best method of extracting them: drowning them with mineral oil, which is problematic since "the insect takes a while to go through its death throes in the patient's ear," or using lidocaine.

This latter method "was seemingly demonstrated when a patient showed up with cockroaches in both ears (Unanswered question: what was this guy doing?)" Doctors used mineral oil in one side, causing the roach to die "after a valiant struggle." Lidocaine was used on the other ear, and "The roach exited the ear at a convulsive rate of speed." Other lidocaine-fueled attempts didn't fare as well, though, with the roach dying in the ear after puncturing the eardrum, and "the lidocaine penetrated the inner ear and the patient had the whirlies for the next five hours."

Looking before leaping's always a good idea. As actor Bradley Whitford noted, "You don't want your credibility banana to turn brown."