The Power of the Single Story

A TED talk from Chimamanda Adichie about how limiting a single story of a place or person can be and the importance of noting similarities between people instead of just presenting the negative differences. There's a super awesome part about reading 'American Psycho'.

Fight for Copyright

Of interest to fellow Canadians at least:

All three opposition parties shot down the Conservative government's proposal to make copying CDs, games, DVDs, music, or whatever else for personal use illegal.

The federal government's proposal to make consumers liable for legal damages of up to $5,000 if they break digital locks to copy movies, video games and electronic books for their own personal use appears dead on arrival — with all three opposition parties on Tuesday speaking out against this key provision of the Conservative's copyright bill.

The controversial legislation to modernize Canada's copyright law is expected to clear a key parliamentary hurdle as early as this week when MPs vote to send it to a House of Commons committee for closer scrutiny. Critics for the Liberals, the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democrats all stood up in the House of Commons Tuesday to support updating the law, but said they will be proposing amendments to the digital encryption provisions before a final vote.

Unless the Conservatives win over at least one opposition party, the bill cannot pass the House of Commons.

Citing "concerns" over the bill's technological protection measures, Liberal industry critic Marc Garneau said any copyright law "must allow Canadians who have legitimately purchased a CD or a DVD or other product, the ability to transfer their purchase onto personal devices such as an iPod, or make a personal backup copy on their computer, so long as they are not doing so for the purposes of sale or transfer to others. We do not believe (the bill) achieves this principle," Garneau told the House of Commons.

Bookshelf Stairs

I want some.

Teen Book Generator

To be honest, I'd read most of these.

Post-Apocalyptic wraith murder mystery! Were-jaguar in feudal Japan falling out with friends! (How did he even get there? Clearly this one is a series.) Maybe he timejumps to Word War III and becomes famous! Post-apocalyptic werewolves overcoming tragedy! Angel/demon murder mystery in Detroit! Dragons in Feudal Japan solve a murder mystery! World War III zombie roadtrip! Shape-shifter World War I romance! Zombies in space coming of age! Wait. Does that last one work? Sea monsters in space and the big dance! WE COULD MAKE IT WORK!

The History of Books and New Library Technologies Dispensing With Librarians

The history of the book! A very short history ("nice hat"). I wish it was longer; it was dynamic and entertaining. Found this in Conor Dougherty's Wall Street Journal article, New Library Technologies Dispense With Librarians, which is also interesting and talks about good ol' book vending machine stuff.

"Why DRM Doesn't Work"

A comic from The Brads:

Stephen King on E-Books

Another quickie - an interview with Stephen King in which he talks about e-books. Apparently he wrote something exclusively for Kindle readers, which annoys me (I don't like 'exclusive' anything when it comes to books). I expect it has been transferred to other formats by now, though, so I'm okay with that.