March 2011
59 posts
1 tag
Which Patron Saint Are We Praying To? →
2 tags
H. R. F. Keating, Author of Inspector Ghote... →
Sadly noted:
H. R. F. Keating, the prolific British crime novelist who created Ganesh Ghote, the humble Indian police inspector in Bombay, died on Sunday in London. He was 84.Keating’s literary life was saturated in crime.
Mr. Keating’s literary life was saturated in crime. He wrote more than 40 books of crime fiction, he reviewed crime fiction for The Times of London, and he wrote...
1 tag
iPad Type Writer, The Typescreen | GadgetReview →
McSweeney's Internet Tendency: The Future of... →
2020: All Books Will Be Cross-Platform and Interactive.
Future “books” will be bundled with soundtracks, musical leitmotifs, 3-D graphics, and streaming video.
They’ll be enhanced with social bookmarking, online dating, and alerts from geo-networking apps whenever someone in your locality purchases the same book as you— anything so you don’t have to actually read the...
Fox News ate my nuclear dolphins | Mark Morford @... →
It is 2011 and here is what we know:
Reality is fluid, fact is malleable, cause and effect completely uncertain.
We know what we don’t know, but we also know the opposite.
We are told multiple stories, versions, ideas, adaptations of truth that cannot be verified or confirmed, because our global media has lost nearly all credibility, largely because of, well, you, because everyone wants...
3 tags
eBook Publishers Catch Social Disease | Self... →
Remember when word-of-mouth meant increasing book sales and going viral meant a major hit? Today, word-of-mouth can lead to the kissing disease and going viral means there may not be a cure. Publishers who relied on social networking buzz are waking up the next morning and wondering if their eBooks got a little too buzzed and hooked up without protection. All this is a result of the social web...
Doctors Should Ask Kids: Are You On Facebook? :... →
If the pediatrician wants to know if your kids are on Facebook, it’s not because she wants to friend them.
The question about Facebook, and other queries about a child’s life online, should be part of the medical history doctors take of kids in the age of social media, according to recommendations just outfrom the American Academy of Pediatrics. Parents should find out, too.
You...
Obituary for Diana Wynne Jones | The Guardian →
Like many good writers, Diana Wynne Jones worked for long years in relative obscurity, in her case sustained as a children’s fantasy author by a modestly sized but devoted young readership.
That obscurity provided the freedom to develop her own voice without the distractions of having to build on perceived success. By the time real success found her, in Jones’s case almost by...
‘The Wire,’ now readable as a Victorian novel |... →
RIP: Diana Wynne Jones
British fantasy, science fiction, and children’s author, Diana Wynne Jones died yesterday. She was 76.
Diana has been an inspiration to many of todays working fantasy writers, this author included.
Her contribution to the art will be remembered, and her books will continue to inspire generations of writers yet to come.
Among her most well-known works are; the Chronicles of...
Time Between Thing Being Amusing, Extremely... →
The Laboratorium: Inside Judge Chin's Opinion →
An excellent analysis of Judge Chin’s opinion rejecting the proposed Google Books settlement by James Grimmelmann
A short excerpt from Judge Chins Decision:
Google did not scan the books to make them available for purchase, and, indeed, Google would have no colorable defense to a claim of infringement based on the unauthorized copying and selling or other exploitation of entire copyrighted...
Publishers Fight Hawaii 'Duty to Warn' Bill →
This is another one of those pieces of Really Bad Legislation that seems to be sweeping the country as of late…
The implications of something like this being passed, despite the fact that it violates the First Amendment, bodes ill for any author or journalist.
The Media Coalition this week submitted testimony opposing a bill in Hawaii, House Bill 548 HD 3, that would impose civil liability...
UPDATE: Judge Chin Denies Google Book Settlement →
From Judge Chin’s opinion: The question presented is whether the ASA [Amended Settlement Agreement] is fair, adequate, and reasonable. I conclude that it is not. While the digitization of books and the creation of a universal digital library would benefit many, the ASA would simply go too far. It would permit this class action — which was brought against defendant Google Inc. to...
A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Ebooks and... →
This is a live Google docs discussion. It examines the history and mechanics of the publishing industry as it exists today, analyzes the way the digital revolution reflects recent events in Egypt and the Maghreb, and considers a completely inappropriate YouTube video featuring a randy monkey and an unlucky frog. It clocks in at 13,000 words, and reveals some pretty startling things.
Eisler’s decision is a key benchmark on the road... →
If the implications of self-publishing to the business models of established publishers interests you (and what are you doing here if it doesn’t?), then you need to read the entire exchange they’ve published and the reporting others will do of it.
T- Mobile USA and AT&T Merger Means Faster and...
Following is a statement by CWA President Larry Cohen on the planned acquisition of T-Mobile USA by AT&T:
Washington, D.C. — For more than a decade, the United States has continued to drop behind nearly every other developed economy on broadband speed and build out. The Federal Communications Commission sounded the alarm more than a year ago with its broadband report, and...
The steady drip of Starbucks-Peet's buyout rumors →
All I can say ids it would be a sad day in America were it to come to pass.
Warren Christopher: Diplomat, Lawyer, Public...
Warren Minor Christopher, former US Secretary of State, died late yesterday in Los Angeles. He was eighty-five.
Thank You for your wisdom, insight and guidance.
May you rest in peace well deserved.
Wake up! Today is World Sleep Day →
I’ve just learned it’s the 4th annual World Sleep Day. Nighty-Night
The internet as a model of free speech and access... →
So says Tim Wu, whose new book, The Master Switch, was released yesterday.
He poses the argument that the internet now runs the risk of political censorship – as seen in Libya and Egypt, and in the American reaction to WikiLeaks – but also commercial censorship.
“The internet is about 15 years into its cycle as an open medium,” says Wu, “and at that moment in their cycle,...
Now You See It, Now You Don't.
While everyone is feeling sorry for the Japanese and worrying about what’s going on in Libya…
Republicans in the house and in state governments are busy dismantling unions and taking away funding for education, libraries, child-care, health-care & now… public media.
What’s next?
Our rights? Our dignity? Our Freedom?
When do we really start paying attention to...
Ten Things People Say Right Before Being Punched... →
1. “Pink hearts, yellow moons, orange stars, green clovers — and blue diamonds! Ha ha ha!”
2. “I very much admire your people. I love golf.”
3. “Look! I’m the Lord Of The Dance! Look! Ya-dee-dee deedle-dee ya-dee-dee deedle-dee…”
More at MonkeySee @ NPR.ORG
Medicine's Rising Costs Put Hippocratic Oath At... →
In most medical schools, students recite the Hippocratic Oath together to mark the start of their professional careers. The soon-to-be physicians swear to uphold the ethical standards of the medical profession and promise to stand for their patients without compromise.
Though the oath has been rewritten over the centuries, the essence of it has remained the same: “In each house I...
Best Practices For Amazon Ebook Sales | Digital... →
You have a book. You want an ebook. So all you have to do is upload your cover art and paste in your back cover copy and voila, you have an Amazon.com bestseller.
Right? Wrong.
A reader’s experience in the comfort of a bookstore, where they can leisurely pursue multiple books, read the back cover thoughtfully, and browse through the pages is a completely different experience than shopping...
“Found on the BBC News Headline Page: “Google buys Parrot to aid YouTube”
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How a parrot is going to help is beyond me, but he certainly is a handsome devil.
“I tend to think of a book just completed as something that has prepared me to do...”
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Saul Bellow: Letters Edited by Benjamin Taylor Hardcover, 608 pages Viking Adult
A Facebook for 4chan -- welcome to Canvas, the... →
4chan founder Chris Poole tries to stick it to Mark Zuckerberg with a new, anonymous online community called Canvas.
“Scott Walker, Paul LePage, and Rick Scott as… The Three Stooges.”
– Stephen King Eloquently Rips Into the Tea Party, Taxes, Reagan — Daily Intel
THE ELEPHANT IN THE WRITING ROOM: Being Positive... →
Shhh. Nobody likes to talk about it. There are many reasons for rejection but, when push comes to shove, it’s about the writing.
Omar Sosa's Chilled-Out Piano : Deceptive Cadence... →
In our on-demand world of a thousand daily distractions, mountains of multi-tasking and various ear-itations, the idea of calm and quiet seems so contrarian, so New Age 1980s. And that’s exactly why I welcome the Cuban-born pianist Omar Sosa’s new, resolutely chilled-out album Calma. Sosa is often called an Afro-Cuban jazz pianist, but that pigeonhole is far too small for his...
First Listen: Trio Mediaeval, 'A Worcester... →
The members of Norway’s Trio Mediaeval have a pure, lustrous sound that’s perfect for the ancient works they sing. After a foray into folk music on 2007’s Folk Songs, they’ve returned to the Middle Ages for their fifth album, on which they dig up a collection of florid polyphonic music from the 13th century.
The material on this recording was uncovered at a...
Japan: MSF Teams Trying to Reach Areas Battered by... →
Following the 8.9 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunamis that hit northeast Japan on Friday afternoon, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has two three-person teams attempting to get to the worst-hit areas in Iwate and Miyagi prefectures.
Access to the area by land is currently blocked by the flooding caused by the tsunamis. The MSF teams, which are...
The Economics of Self-Publishing an Ebook →
At first it was just an experiment. Blake Crouch, a mystery and suspense novelist, was not lacking for a traditional book publisher. His last few novels were put out by St. Martin’s Press and he has a literary agent dedicated to selling the rights to his work. But early last year, intrigued by success stories with Amazon’s Kindle store, he decided to release a collection of his short stories as...
““In 30 minutes, 18 [Republican] state senators undid 50 years of civil...”
– Wisconsin Senate Advances Bill Opposed by Unions - NYTimes.com
Susie Bright's Journal : Why Lying About Monogamy... →
Op-ed columnist Ross Douthat has written an argument for the NY Times called ”Why Monogamy Matters” — he says that women with minimal or virginal sexual experience are the happiest women in the land. Wheeeee!
Upon the story’s publication, pink-cheeked schoolgirls in braids floated across the national horizon, clutching bouquets of daises, giggling over something they...
The Theory of Everything: The 2011 Isaac Asimov... →
We mourn the passing of journalist and columnist... →
Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist David S. Broder died today, according to a report in his newspaper, The Washington Post. He was 81 years old.
Broder was a frequent guest on the NewsHour, Washington Week and other political discussion shows for decades.
For morethan a half-century, he wrote a syndicated, twice-weekly column for The Post, covering a broad range of aspects of American...
U.S. Supreme Court Takes On Landmark Fair Use Case... →
Can foreign works that have passed into the public domain in the U.S. be withdrawn by Congress and put back under copyright protection? That question will be addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which this week granted a writ of certiorari in a case, Golan v. Holder, that questions the constitutionality of a federal statute that restored copyright protection to thousands of foreign works,...
“8 MARCH
2011 year marks the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day....”
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WomenWatch: International Women’s Day
How to start your own country : The Kingdom of... →
Publishers Weekly Review: Daughters of Rome, by... →
Quinn’s prequel lacks the darkness of her debut [ Mistress of Rome], but not the intensity. She juggles protagonists with ease and nicely traces the evolution of Marcella—her most compelling character—from innocuous historian to evil manipulator.
Readers will become thoroughly immersed in this chaotic period of Roman history.
Amanda Hocking's Blog: Some Things That Need to Be... →
For those of you who think self-publishing is the only answer, you need to read this blog entry.
I don’t think people really grasp how much work I do. I think there is this very big misconception that I was like, “Hey, paranormal is pretty hot right now,” and then I spent a weekend smashing out some words, threw it up online, and woke up the next day with a million dollars in my...
MoveOn.org Political Action: Top 10 Worst Things... →
The Republican budget would:
1. Destroy 700,000 jobs, according to an independent economic analysis.
2. Zero out federal funding for National Public Radio and public television.
3. Cut $1.3 billion from community health centers—which willdeprive more than three million low-income people of health care over the next few months.
4. Cut nearly a billion dollars in food and health care...
The YA Mafia: A Hashmark too far. →
YA writers around the world got curious & nervous about the term “YA Mafia” when it began appearing on Blogs and Tweets.
“Supposedly there’s this cabal of writers who give one other blurbs, do events with one another, and like each other’s books.”
And… we are warned, they can ruin your career.
Granted, there are many YA writers who have...
