"Penguin Random House comprises the vast majority of ebooks published on a yearly basis and Macmillan and Hachette almost comprise of the rest. These companies have recently revised their contracts with the public library. Libraries will now have to purchase ebooks that are only good for two year contracts and then will have to devote the resources to see what books they want to buy again and which ones they do not. This is a far cry from the old policy which only had the library make a one time purchase for every ebook they wanted and could loan it out with abandon. Major publishers are now deliberately sabotaging the library system and their rational is they don’t want to devalue their front-list books and want people to buy them, instead of borrow them." Have we learned nothing from the past two-decades? (Grokked from Jason Sanford)
Then Jason went an interviewed Fritz Foy, president and publisher of Tom Doherty Associates, for his Patreon newsletter. Jason has made that issue of the newsletter public and there's some interesting points made in there. The one that pricked my ears up was, "'All but one title we compared (in the Tor experiment group) had higher sales after the four month embargo on ebook sales to libraries,' he said." There's also a lot of hints as to how Macmillian/Tor may change its pricing scheme for library e-books in the future. But this data dovetails into the experiment Cory Doctorow has been running for a long time now (pay what you want for his DRM Free e-books). Also I think it acknowledges a well know publishing fact that public libraries increase readerships. I know my personal use of libraries certainly fits that (I'll try someone from the library, and if I like I'll buy the book or at least their future titles).
"The Orion capsule aced a critical launch-abort test this morning (July 2), showing that it can indeed get astronauts out of harm's way during a liftoff emergency and keeping the craft on target for a first crewed flight in 2022."
"Interstellar object 'Oumuamua - that strange, cigar-shaped chunk of rock from somewhere a vast distance beyond the Solar System - is, new research has concluded, absolutely, positively not an alien spaceship… OK, well, probably not." Strong side-eye.
"The amount of ice floating in waters off Antarctica has declined significantly since 2014, a new study shows. But the same research — a detailed analysis of 40 years of satellite data about sea ice — shows that the amount of Antarctic sea ice grew unexpectedly for almost four decades before the steep decline, even as sea ice in the Arctic region declined." Whispers, "not all ice is the same."
"It was in talking with those children and their families, she says, that she first realized how many of her patients experiencing the worst health outcomes — those with the highest levels of chronic asthma, for example — were also living with significant adversity, such as growing up in a household where a parent was mentally ill, abusive or substance dependent." No correlate this to what we're doing with minors at our Southern Border.
"Despite FirstEnergy Solutions’ past warnings that its two Ohio nuclear power plants would close if lawmakers didn’t pass a bailout bill by June 30, the company is now indicating that it’s willing to wait a little longer for lawmakers to give them hundreds of millions of dollars in public subsidies." Of course they will. And what does our conservative lead government do? "The Ohio House passed HB 6 in late May; its version sought to charge every Ohio electricity customer $1 per month to raise about $190 million per year in subsidies, and to do away with energy-efficiency and renewable-energy mandates for utilities. However, the Ohio Senate Energy and Public Utilities Committee has spent the last few weeks reworking the bill, rolling back the nuclear subsidies to $150 million per year and keeping the clean-energy mandates (though in in a diminished form)." They're bickering about how much to screw us over, that's what.
"The boy was involved with an assault. But what plays out over the next three hours is a restorative justice conference — a guided conversation between a juvenile who broke the law and the person whom the juvenile hurt."
"A machine at a Facebook mailing facility in Menlo Park, California, alerted employees Monday that a package might contain sarin, according to fire officials." I guess the frown face "like" icon wasn't enough. Yes, there are machines that do this. My old company used to make them. Although many common household items can set off the sensors. (Grokked from Dan)
"China on Tuesday condemned violent protests in Hong Kong as an 'undisguised challenge' to the formula under which the city is ruled, hours after police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters who stormed and trashed the legislature." Only if you think of China wanting full control over the city.
"The U.N. envoy for Myanmar said Monday that progress on alleviating the crisis that led more than 720,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to neighboring Bangladesh has been slow and if there is no action it will be time to 'ring the alarm bell.'" Let's ring that bell now, shall we.
"Soon the tensions escalated, with a black-clad activist striking the conservative journalist Andy Ngo in the face while others slimed him with what protesters said were vegan coconut milkshakes. Mr. Ngo was left bloodied and obviously shaken, reporting the attack in a video livestreamed to his more than 140,000 Twitter followers when a city medic arrived to check on him." Note how the paragraph of collecting weapons during a demonstration fails to mention that was a right-wing demonstration, leaving the impression it was an anti-fa demonstration.
"It was called the 'The Sewing Circle,' an unlikely name for a secret subsect of Navy SEALs. Its purpose was even more improbable: A chat forum to discuss alleged war crimes they said their chief, a decorated sniper and medic, committed on a recent tour of duty in Iraq."
"Members of a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents joked about the deaths of migrants, discussed throwing burritos at Latino members of Congress visiting a detention facility in Texas on Monday and posted a vulgar illustration depicting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez engaged in oral sex with a detained migrant, according to screenshots of their postings." Just your reminder that back in the GW administration they tried to make CBP a professional organization with standards, including a pre-hire polygraph (just like most federal law enforcement agencies). Hiring practically came to a standstill. (Grokked from Kelly Link)
"Customs and Border Protection has launched an investigation into a secret Facebook group for current and former Border Patrol agents who posted derogatory remarks targeting migrants and lawmakers."
"Democratic members of Congress expressed outrage Monday over the growing humanitarian crisis on the southern border after touring two Texas border facilities prompted by reports of deteriorating conditions." And what does Fox News focus on? "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., allegedly screamed at Customs and Border Protection agents 'in a threatening manner' during a recent visit to a southern border facility in Texas, according to a report — after she made the explosive claim that women being held at at least one facility are being forced to drink 'out of toilets.'" First, while both of those happened, they weren't connected. Also AOC may have yelled to stop agents from surreptitiously taking "selfies" with her (which was one of those items covered in the Facebook story above).
"President Trump said Monday he would leave an intelligence presence in Afghanistan, though he has long hoped for a full withdrawal of U.S. military presence from the country." Uh, yeah, Bob.
"The Transportation Department is moving to relax the federal regulations that required Francois to pull over, a long sought goal of the trucking industry and a move that would highlight its influence with the Trump administration. Interest groups that represent motor carriers and truck drivers have lobbied for revisions they say would make the rigid 'hours of service' rules more flexible." Should there be some flexibility? Sure. But what the industry wants isn't that flexibility, they want to be able to push their drivers to the limits of their fatigue. As it is they can drive 11 of 14 hours on duty within a 24 hour cycle.
"House Oversight Committee chair Elijah Cummings (D-MD 7th District) today expanded his investigation into use of personal e-mail by officials in the Trump White House." But her emails? (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
"The study, by researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, does not prove that Russian interference swung the election to Trump. But it demonstrates that Trump's gains in popularity during the 2016 campaign correlated closely with high levels of social media activity by the Russian trolls and bots of the Internet Research Agency, a key weapon in the Russian attack." Waves to my Russian friends. "The study noted that Trump's own policy proposals occasionally seemed to dovetail with Russian propaganda." Funny, that. Also I notice you guys are getting into the office earlier. That must suck. Look, it's going to be a long election. So just relax into the day and get a coffee first. (Grokked from Justine Larbalestier)
"An image graphic purportedly comparing how Obama, Clinton, Bush and Trump celebrated the 4th of July consists of cherry-picked photographs, none taken on Independence Day." Confirmation bias, don't fall for it. But while we're talking about July 4th I just want to make the point about conservatives trying to make this holiday about the military. It's not. This is about the citizens, residents, and even the undocumented who live here in the USA. Don't let them hijack out holiday.
"The Pentagon declined to comment on any costs associated with the July 4th celebration and with the units associated." There is a part of me deeply disturbed by having tanks and armored vehicles "stationed" in the nation's capital. Especially when it's just to stoke the ego of the president.
Tweet of my heart: @ItsDanSheehan Baby Boomers did that thing where you leave a single square of toilet paper on the roll and pretend it’s not your turn to change it but with a whole society (Grokked from Xeni Jardin)
No comments:
Post a Comment