Thousands of Pirated eBooks Sold

An Australian based company sold ereaders with nearly 4,000 pirated ebooks loaded on them.

This reminds me of the time when Margaret Westerman sold a safe containing millions in Spanish Gold at the Annual Banned Library Charity Auction and Anti-Snake Rally.  At the time, Ms. Westerman thought her grandfather's old safe contained nothing but sand the man collected during his naval career.  When Mark Spencer, local 12-year-old winner of the Bannville Talent Show and Speed Dating, won the safe for $15 dollars and two rattlesnake-skins, he thought he had a wonderful prop for his one man show, "I'm Safe With You." 

Both were shocked to discover the Spanish Gold after the safe was openned by the Bannville Fire Department and Hunt Club.   A small fight and legal battle occured right there in the library over rights to the safe and its contents, settled by Judge Ford Oldman.  Oldman gave the safe to Spencer, as that was the item he bid on, as well as half the gold.  He gave a forth of the gold to Ms. Westerman, as she had technically given up her rights to the contents but it seemed messed up not to give her something to remind of her father.  He took the rest for court fees.

E-book deal's the steal of the century; 4000 pirated books - Maroondah Weekly

Google Offers $1 Million in Rewards to Hack Chrome

Internet browsers are taking all types of scrutiny lately about their lack of security, so Google has decided to step up the competition by offering $1 Million in prizes for anyone who can hack their Chrome Browser.  Funny enough, Google itself plans to claim the prizes as it combines your search and usage data on all its services March 1st.

I don't really want to put Google down.  This honestly will cost them less in the long run as hackers across the world will scramble to find all the errors in Chrome for free and then tell them about it.  Who knows what all that testing would cost?  That along with the publicity (which we can all agree that this little start up needed) will give the company a charge in development that you cannot pay for.

Google Will Offer $1 Million In Rewards For Hacking Chrome In Contest

Students Battle Librarian's Heart

The students of Piper Elementary in Kansas City, KS came to their school librarian's rescue when her heart decided it just had too much and attacked the woman.  The students would not allow the heart to be victorious this day and saved the woman from her body's attempted murder.

Huzzah to the students that would not allow the natural course of life to continue.  I have a theory:  They have such a belief in sparkly forever vampire love that they have completely put aside the notion of death and embrace everyone's life, enough to do war with God and all his creation.

However, I must insist the students in my library would resurrect me simply to ask where the bathroom is.

Students Save School Librarian's Life - fox4kc.com

Top Six Best Movie Libraries

The Oscars are tonight so I decided to look back at libraries in cinema.  The library is an influential setting as it denotes knowledge and a place for the characters to regroup.  And it can have some cool stuff in it.  So here, presented in alphabetical order are the Six Best Movie Libraries:

Ghostbusters: New York Public Library

This is not a made up library, you say.  True, the New York Pulbic Library is a fixture on the biblio landscape, but this movie proves how great it can be: freaking ghosts.  When the boys go on their first job and encounter the irregular stacked books and the librarian ghost, it is hard not to feel a little bad your library is not so haunted.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: Hogwart”s Library

The library shows up over and over in J K Rowling’s fictional tale of the boy wizard, but none so prominent as in the first movie.  This library is badass not because of its fantastical subject matter but because of the Restricted section, a place for evil and uncontrollable books.  Whoa to thee who opens those evil tomes.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: Unnamed Venice Library

Indy checks out the library for a moment before smashing through the floor and finding an ancient crypt below.  While the library itself is not that important a setting, it simply has to be mentioned because of the hilarious part with the “stamp guy.”

Librarian: Quest of the Spear:  The Library

Do I even have to say why this library is awesome?  It holds the ancient artifacts from across history, both magical and mundane.  How cool would it be to catalog Excalibur?

Name of the Rose: Monastery Library

This dark and depressing crime drama set in olden times is home to one of the greatest libraries in written and filmed history.  How many of you wished you worked in a labyrinthine building filled with deadly traps and codes.  Bonus points for Sean Connery in a bowl cut.

Pagemaster: Public Library

Crappy movie only good for mocking and nostalgia, but come’on, the library can turn you into a cartoon.  That’s just a little bit awesome of a plot device in anyone’s book.

Pleasantville: Pleasantville Public Library

While not awesome in the regular sense, it is cool as a narrative device.  In a world without color or passion, books are blank and empty.  As the world fills, so do the books, making the library one of the best places in town.  I have to believe this library is awesome just for that.

Honorable mentions:


Beautiful Mind: Princeton Library
Yeah, not much of a plot point, but images of beautiful windows with reading nooks are awesome.
Breakfast Club: School Library
This movie could be set in any school location, but the dynamic look of library with statues, balcony’s and doors that won’t stay open keep it iconic.
Music Man: River City Library
Again, not all that important to the plot, but the music number is great.
Stephen King’s It: Derry Library
The scene could be left out, but Pennywise showing up and doing a creepy dance in the library was memorable.
With Honors: Widener Library
Maybe I just want to live in the basement of a library with miles of books overhead.
What Dreams May Come: Heaven’s Library
Brief scene with really cool library that you could fly around.  Heaven, indeed.

Special thanks to the project of Movie Librarians for research

Paypal Censors Smashwords Erotic Content?

The ebook website Smashwords says the Paypal told them that they must remove all content that includes bestiality, rape and incest.  Paypal has given Smashwords until Tuesday, Feb 28th or lose the payment vendor's services.

I don't know what to be more scared of here: the fact that a money vendor can censor content or that PayPal does not understand leap years.  While it is a well known fact that PayPal does not allow its service to be used by "adult" vendors for spanky products (check their service agreement), the old arguement of art versus pornography must be once again raised.  Oh, and in case you are wondering, you can get a copy of just about every copy of the Marquis de Sade and Bret Eston Ellis's books on eBay (company has a bit of a connection with PayPal) if you want to have a moral quandry for a second.

As for my second part, PayPal, come'on.  Acknowledge the Leap Year, brother, or go for a "last Friday of the Month" policy.  No reason to be hatin' on an extra day.

PayPal As Moral Police? Forces E-Book Sellers To Remove Certain Erotica Content - TechCrunch

Library Head Wishes Patrons Would Protest More

Pictured: Not Mary Hastler

Mary Hastler, director of the Harford County Public Library, is encouraging her patrons to write, email and otherwise contact publishers who are pulling their support for ebook lending.  Like a scene straight from the classic movie Jerry Maguire, Hastler sent 160,000 patrons a letter outlining what is happening and how they can react.  Unlike Jerry Maguire, Hastler will probably not get to hang out with Renee Zellwegger's son and trade random facts on a couch.

I am totally fine with this approach, and I think that more people should contact relevant parties on issues they feel strongly about, but do you think it will make a difference?  Is saying to a major company, "We want your product, but do not want to pay for it!" the best way to make a point?

How about writing to your congressman to suggest programs that could benefit companies that lend to public libraries and schools?  That would be P.R. awesomeness on all parts.  And, well, every other company is getting bailouts, why can't the public benefit?

Harford library head urges readers to protest in e-books dispute - Baltimore Sun (blog)

Fox News Discovers Books are Targeted to Demographics

The following article link was posted by Fox News as a surprised reaction to the moniker "chick nonfiction."  While not the most original label for a type of nonfiction material (I prefer "womyn truth books), this should not shock anyone too much in a market where Eat, Pray, Love got published and made into a major motion picture.  Every item you see is marketed to some demographic specifically, but not so much that it can't get others involved.

I imagine them wondering the aisles of a nonfiction section.  "Holy crap, why do the cookbooks have pictures of cute or grandmotherly-type women cooking on them?"  "R. Lee Ermy is on so many military books!"  "The Backstreet Boys had a crafting book?"

'Chick nonfiction' moniker designed to put books written by women in their place - Fox News