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BOOKS -- Exciting new literary terms! (Litrosexual?)

West Central Tribune: BOOKS -- Exciting new literary terms! (Litrosexual?).

BOOKS -- Exciting new literary terms! (Litrosexual?)
Isn't it about time we had some new reading lingo? asap's Book Pusher, KEVIN SAMPSELL, comes to the rescue with his funny and knowing list of tomorrow's terminology ... today.

Published Thursday, November 30, 2006 By KEVIN SAMPSELL

I recently heard the term "cyberlynching" for the first time. Someone explained to me at a bookseller convention that when a book is maliciously attacked by a customer on amazon.com, it's called a cyberlynch. Typically cyberlynches are written by personal enemies of the author. It sounded dreadful, but it was a new word to me and it also sounded cool in a way. I mean, the music industry always has great buzzwords and insidery terms. Like crunk, trip-hop, emo, and mash-up. I thought I'd make up a new gaggle of snappy book-related terms. Isn't it time this antiquated business got hip to some new slang? Here we go!

Austentacious: A book written in the style of, or influenced by, Jane Austen. See Emma Tennant, Karen Joy Fowler.

A hilarious wordplay creation.. fun for all bibliophiles, librarians, word-lovers, the old gang who read...

Wired News: Nostalgia for a Forbidden Future

Wired News: Nostalgia for a Forbidden Future.

Nostalgia for a Forbidden Future
By Jason Silverman| Also by this reporter 02:00 AM Nov, 29, 2006

Long before moviegoers had heard of quantum mechanics, they'd seen a quantum mechanic. He was the guy in Forbidden Planet who fixed the atomic pistols.

Perhaps the most influential sci-fi film of the 1950s, Planet is filled with hints of real science to come. It's got teleporters and laser guns, electronic music and Freudian doublespeak. To audiences in 1956 the film was a landmark, the Matrix of its era, a movie that looked and sounded brand new.

Unfortunately, Forbidden Planet, which is celebrating its 50th birthday with a multi-disc DVD release, hasn't aged particularly well. Most 21st-century movie viewers would have trouble distinguishing it from other '50s sci-fi. It has the same plastic look, the same goofy two-dimensional effects and the same gray-suited white males flying their sleek spaceship as a dozen other films from the era.

Lost Spoilers: Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse on TV Guide's Square Off

Lost Spoilers: Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse on TV Guide's Square Off.

Lost Spoilers: Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse on TV Guide's Square Off

Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse on TV Guide's Square Off talking about LOST during the third season.
Thanks to Lost-Media for the video

Good interview online.. some basic background on "Lost" from day 1...

Official Google Blog: Adieu to Google Answers

Official Google Blog: Adieu to Google Answers.

Adieu to Google Answers
11/28/2006 10:22:00 PM
Posted by Andrew Fikes and Lexi Baugher, Software Engineers

Google is a company fueled by innovation, which to us means trying lots of new things all the time -- and sometimes it means reconsidering our goals for a product. Later this week, we will stop accepting new questions in Google Answers, the very first project we worked on here. The project started with a rough idea from Larry Page, and a small 4-person team turned it into reality in less than 4 months. For two new grads, it was a crash course in building a scalable product, responding to customer requests, and discovering what questions are on people's minds.

Google Answers taught us exactly how many tyrannosaurs are in a gallon of gasoline, why flies survive a good microwaving, and why you really shouldn't drink water emitted by your air conditioner. Even closer to home, we learned one afternoon that our building might be on fire.

The people who participated in Google Answers -- more than 800 of them over the years -- are a passionate group committed to helping people find the information they need, and we applaud them for sharing their incredible knowledge with everyone who wrote in.

If you have a chance, we encourage you to browse through the questions posted over the last 4+ years. Although we won't be accepting any new questions, the existing Qs and As are available. We'll stop accepting new Answers to questions by the end of the year.

Google Answers was a great experiment which provided us with a lot of material for developing future products to serve our users. We'll continue to look for new ways to improve the search experience and to connect people to the information they want.

Good experiment.. now, people.. just call your local public library and get the same service free.. might not be *online* per se or as fast, but it will still give you "answers"...

Librarians Do It For Free : CafePress.com

Librarians Do It For Free : CafePress.com.

Librarians DO have a sense of humor. A librarian asked where to find a bumper sticker like this so I put this together. The proceeds earned from this site will go directly to the friends of my local library. Enjoy!

Stickers, Buttons & Magnets    Back to Top
Sticker (Rectangular) $2.99	Bumper Sticker $3.49

Cool.. and I hope it's okay to let the images come over to the blog.. let me know if not! This was done in humoresque response to Google shutting down its Google Answers project...

Ulrich's Enhancements: Identify Serials that are available via RSS Feed

Ulrich's Enhancements: Identify Serials that are available via RSS Feed.

Ulrichsweb.com – Identify Serials that are available via RSS Feed! The new “RSS Available” Advanced Search limiter makes it possible for users to identify the growing number of periodicals that are providing headlines, recent issues or other content via RSS (Really Simple Syndication). An RSS feed provides content via XML files that are then read by an RSS reader or web browser. CSA is adding RSS availability data to thousands of individual Ulrich’s records so that users can learn about the various frequencies, formats, and providers of these content-delivery feeds. Ulrich’s records also display the URL of the RSS feed(s) for the periodical. Users may create their own lists of RSS feed URLs in Ulrichsweb.com, click on the URL to link to the RSS feed, or cut and paste the URL into their preferred RSS reader.

EFF: DeepLinks: New DMCA Exemptions Granted

EFF: DeepLinks: New DMCA Exemptions Granted.

New DMCA Exemptions Granted
November 22, 2006

The Copyright Office/Library of Congress today issued its determination in the latest triennial DMCA exemption rule-making. Six exemptions were granted, the largest number so far.

Persons making noninfringing uses of the following six classes of works will not be subject to the prohibition against circumventing access controls (17 U.S.C. ? 1201(a)(1)) during the next three years.

1. Audiovisual works included in the educational library of a college or university’s film or media studies department, when circumvention is accomplished for the purpose of making compilations of portions of those works for educational use in the classroom by media studies or film professors.

Interesting decisions on these exceptions.. see the full list in the article, and other places online...

Can’t Judge an E-Book by Its Screen? Well, Maybe You Can - New York Times

Can’t Judge an E-Book by Its Screen? Well, Maybe You Can - New York Times.

Technology Review
Can’t Judge an E-Book by Its Screen? Well, Maybe You Can
By CHARLES McGRATH, Published: November 24, 2006

About a decade ago, some publishers were predicting that books would soon be a thing of the past, and that we would all be reading downloadable texts on portable hand-held screens.

Wishful thinking, it turns out. The book is still with us, with publishers still fretting over the cost of printing them and then controlling inventory, while the various book-replacement devices available back then have mostly been dumped on the recycling heap. They were too hard to read, people complained, and also too heavy, guzzling so much battery power that they quickly grew hot in the hand.

Wary, perhaps, of dashed expectations, Sony has introduced its new version of the e-book, the Sony Reader, with surprisingly little fanfare. The Reader, which lists for $350, is clearly an advance over the old technology, but not so much that bookstore owners have to worry yet. If this is all Sony has come up with, you have to wonder just what they’ve been doing for 10 years.

Back to New Orleans, Gently - New York Times

Back to New Orleans, Gently - New York Times.

Frugal Traveler
Back to New Orleans, Gently
By MATT GROSS, Published: November 26, 2006

IT was a Friday afternoon in late October, and the narrow lanes of the French Quarter were quiet. Fresh paint — pale green, robin’s egg blue, canary yellow — adorned the low, tidy Creole cottages, and the wrought-iron railings of town-house balconies shone blackly in the sunlight. The streets were free of litter, the air unpolluted by the musky odor of all-night parties. But as I wandered the beautiful Quarter, one question stuck in my mind: Where was everybody?

I suppose I already knew the answer. Since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, wreaking havoc across Louisiana and Mississippi, fewer than half the 485,000 residents of New Orleans Parish had returned to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives, according to the city’s Convention and Visitors Bureau. Even in the French Quarter, which was mostly spared the devastation visited upon neighborhoods like the Ninth Ward, “For Sale” signs hung from porch brackets, and on one street, a pickup truck had been abandoned, its hood open, its bed piled high with garbage.

This emptiness, disturbing and depressing as it was, turns out to be perversely beneficial for visitors — the city of exuberant indulgence has, almost overnight, become even more affordable. It’s a strange kind of affordability, though: Because tourists have yet to return en masse, the budget options sit wide out in the open, just waiting to be picked. Although rates have actually risen slightly, hotel deals still abound, last-minute reservations at hot restaurants are a phone call away and curbside parking actually exists. The Big Easy may no longer feel big, but it’s easier than ever.

Coffee's on, dusty books are out at UMass library - The Boston Globe

Coffee's on, dusty books are out at UMass library - The Boston Globe.

Coffee's on, dusty books are out at UMass library
Extras aimed at drawing students
By James Vaznis, Globe Staff  |  November 25, 2006

AMHERST -- To its 3 million volumes of books, the personal papers of US Representative Silvio O. Conte, and the works of William Butler Yeats, the W.E.B. Du Bois Library at the University of Massachusetts has added more features: a café, a lounge, and cellphone isolation booths.

With students shunning its 28 stories and opting to conduct research by mouse click, the library is on an outreach offensive, shelving once-forbidding rules and replacing an old circulation counter with a coffee bar, where hot drinks and soda are for sale and an assortment of pastries are on display behind the counter. Chicken wing deliveries are allowed, along with other previously banned activities, like cell phone chatter.

In the place of old furniture, there are now lime green arm chairs and bistro tables. Instead of closing at night, it is open around-the-clock except on weekends.

Appalachian Trail could be 'canary in coal mine' for eastern U.S. - USATODAY.com

Appalachian Trail could be 'canary in coal mine' for eastern U.S. - USATODAY.com.

Appalachian Trail could be 'canary in coal mine' for eastern U.S.
Posted 11/25/2006 1:23 PM ET

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — It stretches nearly 2,200 miles, a ribbon of mountains and meadows, forests and fauna. But scientists, hikers and land managers say the Appalachian Trail is more than a footpath.

Passing through 14 states and eight national forests from Georgia to Maine — including a 90-mile stretch through Massachusetts — it's also a living laboratory that could help warn 120 million people along the Eastern Seaboard of looming environmental problems.

That's why a diverse group of organizations has launched a project to begin long-term monitoring of the environmental health of the trail, with plans to tap into an army of volunteer "citizen scientists" and their professional counterparts.

Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large: December 2006 v. 6 no. 14

Cites & Insights: Crawford at Large: December 2006 v. 6 no. 14.

Current Issue
December 2006 v. 6 no. 14 - 28 pages (PDF version)

Perspective: A Lazy Man's Guide to Productivity 1-3
Net Media Perspective: "C&I is Not a Blog" 3-11
The Library Stuff 11-14
Library Access to Scholarship 14-25    
Offtopic Perspective: 50-Movie All Stars Collection, Part 2 25-28

In Charleston, History Is Part of the Fun - New York Times

In Charleston, History Is Part of the Fun - New York Times.

Weekend With the Kids In Charleston, History Is Part of the Fun
By MARY SUE LAWRENCE, Published: November 17, 2006

THE elegance and rich history of Charleston, S.C., may at first seem a bit over the top for a family visit. But pastel-colored row houses, horse-drawn carriages, wind-blown forts and live oaks draped with Spanish moss have an appeal to all ages.

STATE OF THE ART; Free AOL Stuff, Courtesy Of Bubble 2.0 - New York Times

STATE OF THE ART; Free AOL Stuff, Courtesy Of Bubble 2.0 - New York Times.

STATE OF THE ART; Free AOL Stuff, Courtesy Of Bubble 2.0
By DAVID POGUE, Published: November 16, 2006

Don't look now, but the bubble is back.

Yes, it's 1999 all over again. Web start-ups are cropping up with names like Bebo, Squidoo and Moblabber. Start-ups like YouTube, less than a year old and unprofitable, are being sold for $1.65 billion. And the business plan known as Free has returned. You know, ''We lose money on every transaction, but we'll make it up in volume.''

One of the most surprising participants in Web Bubble 2.0 is AOL, the company formerly known as America Online. On Aug. 2, it announced what might seem to be the craziest business plan yet: a 100 percent price reduction. The monthly membership fee dropped from $26 a month to nothing.

Was AOL nuts? Should its executives be dragged away by the nice men in white coats?

Interesting tale on the now-free AOL services.. yes, ads will pay for it, but it's built, will they come? The free XM Radio channels sound cool.. no need for the downloaded or CD-based client software anymore, but you can use a new tool called OpenRide (Windows XP only)...

Paris' mode moderne - Los Angeles Times

Paris' mode moderne - Los Angeles Times.

COLUMN ONE
Paris' mode moderne
By Alissa J. Rubin, Times Staff Writer, November 14, 2006

WOULD Ernest Hemingway approve of Wi-Fi at the Cafe de Flore?

If Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe has his way, free wireless Internet will soon be on offer in public places throughout the city, including the cafe haunts on the Left Bank where the master of the chiseled phrase used to write longhand in small black notebooks.

Though it may be a little hard to imagine Hemingway writing "A Farewell to Arms" on a laptop, Delanoe is betting that "le Wi-Fi" (pronounced "wee-fee" here) is one of many changes in Paris that will attract creative spirits as well as legions of young people who might otherwise flee the tradition-bound city for places closer to the cutting edge.