Alton Brown Getting Digital; Forgets the Matrix Ate People

TV Personality and chef Alton Brown says his next cook book will be and ebook.

"I want to go where nobody has gone before," Brown said Saturday during an interview at the New York City Wine and Food Festival. "I want to change the way we deal with information in the kitchen." cfnews13

Brown describes one part of the ebook that will have videos shot from many angles that the user can use to pan around him while he is cooking and see every part of the process.  He likened the process to the sci-fi movie The Matrix's special effects.

Kick ass Alton Brown cook book?  Hell yeah.  Comparing it to the Matrix, I get where you are coming from. The comparison does not work for me simply because the movie was about robots that ate people.  Well, not ate, "used as batteries", whatever, potato potato, but keep the movie about retarded kung fu folk fighting all slow mo out of your ebook cookbook workings, please.  The phrase "bullet-time cooking" would have been bad-ass all by itself.

California Says All Library Books Created Equal

A new California law will extend privacy protections for library records to ebooks.  The Reader Privacy Act of 2011 will come into law in Jan 1, 2012 and require government agencies to obtain a court order before accessing electronic retail orders and requests from book sellers. pcmag

Everybody, say it with me now: FREEDOM! That's what I'm talkin' bout.

I Guess Steve Jobs Was More Disappointed by the iPhone 4s Than Anybody

davidgalbraith

Steve Jobs, co-founder, chairman and ex-CEO of Apple computers, passed away today at the age of 56.  In his wake he leaves behind a long legacy of simple, easy to use computing devices that have made their way into nearly every other home in America.  His imprint on the world is vast and he will be missed, not only for his charisma and charm, but for his innovation and impact on not only how we access information but in how we interpret it.  Wired magazine said it best:

"A visionary inventor and entrepreneur, it would be impossible to overstate Steve Jobs’ impact on technology and how we use it. Apple’s mercurial, mysterious leader did more than reshape his entire industry: he completely changed how we interact with technology. He made gadgets easy to use, gorgeous to behold and essential to own. He made things we absolutely wanted, long before we even knew we wanted them. Jobs’ utter dedication to how people think, touch, feel and interact with machines dictated even the smallest detail of the computers Apple built and the software it wrote." Wired

I could be snarky here and point out all the ways Jobs has be condemned as a nightmare to work for, but I feel the title said it best.  Without him, the company may be directionless.  Sure, he could be a dick, but he was a dick that got things done.  The iPhone 4s is possibly just the beginning of crap Apple has plans for that do not include that little bit of "Jobs magic" that made them so special.  I would start selling stock now, folks, because if the trend continues Google's gonna be kicking some ass on the hand held front.

Prison Library News: Two Stories of the Locked Up

Ah, prison.  The place to get away from it all, let your guards down, and take time to focus on your past mistakes without the rest of the world to distract you.  It is like a spa that you can not leave.  You know, except for all the violence and stuff.

Today we look at two stories, one heartwarming and one legal.  Let's get to it.

A program in the Dodge County Jail in Wisconsin allows inmates to record audio books for their children.  The program is meant to connect children with their incarcerated parents and has been a success.  Nothing says "Goodnight, Moon" like 3 to 5 for B&B.  ABCNews

An Alabama prison refused to allow an inmate to read a Pulitzer Prize winning book on the grounds that it was a security threat.  Mark Melvin, the inmate, has sued the prison to allow him to read Slavery by Another Name by Douglas Blackmon, citing censorship.  We can only assume that the inmate found nothing good on cable tv after Charlie Sheen was kicked off 2 1/2 Men this summer.  PCMag

Smithsonian to Whore Out Video Game Exhibit

I'm Batman

The Smithsonian has announced that you too can be a part of their "The Art of Video Games" exhibit next year.  All you have to do to have your name or whatever displayed in the Smithsonian from March to September is give out some of that green, ya feel me?  Starting at $10, donations can be made from this page.  Your name will be taken from your billing information, unless you request different in the comments (barring anything offensive, etc.).  Smithsonian via kotaku

I do not know about you , but I really want a wall of the Smithsonian to be filled with names like "Commndr_Killer" and "Kool_Aider54".  This may be something I can try, even if there is no word yet if they allow URLs, twitter handles, or bad puns from the Simpsons.  I am going to report back as to whether or not Banned Library staff members "Pat McGroin," "Mike Roch," "Ivanna Tinkle," "I. P. Freely" or "Amanda Hugankis" are allowed on the wall.  Wish me luck!

Longmont Library Budgeting for Bedbugs: An Alliteration

After upholstered library benches became breading sites for bedbugs, the Longmont Library in Colorado has had enough with comfortable seating.  The library plans to budget $5,000 for wooden benches this year and more money down the line.  TimesCall

You know what we did back in my day when bedbugs came after us?  Wicker.  And I do not mean that goofy furniture stuff you get from IKEA or whatever.  I mean as in Wicker Man, the original, non-bee style.  Burn that mother down, smiting all the godless bugs back to the hell from which they sprang.

Back in the Saddle, All the News I Missed in One Go

PhotoshopEssentials

So the Banned Library took a little vacation and look at what you folks did.  Calendars, ebook crap, Amazon and that damn Kindle, even Harry ma-fuckin Potter got in on the action.  Well, here we go with the best random sentences I could cobble together in my one non-alcohol infused hallucination.  So hit the jump and follow the pink elephant into the marshmallow pool!

Because it works so well with firemen, the men of the library started a little calendar to show off their cataloging butts for charity.  Nothing like living out that Full Monty fantasy, right fellas?  LATimes

Pottermore, the Harry Potter site, announced that they will not be releasing Harry Potter ebooks until early 2012.  I guess I will have to go back to the pdf scans a 14 year old made and torrented two years ago.  ABCNews

The Amazon ebook "Reamde" by Neal Stephenson came under fire when first it was said to be full of typos and errors, and upon re-release Amazon labeled the ebook as having corrected "missing content."  Amazon had no comment when we pretended to call them on our hand because of our next story.  ChristianScienceMonitor

Amazon officially announced their color Kindle, the "Amazon Fire."  Hilariously, you could equate this to the burning of the amazon jungle to allow for grazing land for cattle.  In this joke, cattle are people.  Amazon via Geekologie

President Obama has set forth legislation that will allow states to opt out of the controversial "No Child Left Behind" program.  I do not have a joke, I just wanted you all to know.  CNN

This article was titled "Books on the Banned Wagon."  That is the single best article title in Banned Books week ever.  hindustantimes

New York librarians can rest easy again knowing that the nightmare book thief has been caught and prosecuted.  With this one problem gone, the library can concentrate on who keeps leaving stinky in the men's restroom.  New York Post

Two, count them, two libraries were infested with bedbugs this week.  The Vancouver area library found bedbugs in their shelves and furniture, as did an Arizona library.  VancouverSun and AZCentral

The Lowell City Council in Massachusetts has voted to ban sex offenders from being at the library during times when children are present.  So remember, get arrested for a sex related crime and you are not allowed into Summer Reading.  BostonHerald

Freaked out, the California State University library was evacuated searched after a patron indicated he had a gun.  The man was found and slapped around like the stupid red-headed stepchild he was.  WashingtonPost

The e-reader app Kobo now allows your friends to see what you are reading and when you are reading it by posting automatic notices.  Your mother wants to know why you would read all that smut.  Your best friend thinks you are gay for Percy Jackson.  Your girlfriend wants to know who "Jane Eyre" is and if she is prettier.  Thanks, Kobo.  USAToday

The Dead Sea Scrolls are gonna be online.  We can get 2000 year old parchment online, but not fucking Harry Potter?  Youtube via BoingBoing