Link Smorgasbord, November 11 - 17

Why “Magic: The Gathering” Matters
On how Magic: The Gathering (and by extension other games) is more than an amusing diversion for the socially maladjusted.  Rather, MtG helps develop critical thinking, imagination, vocabulary, social skills, and more.

Amazon e-book offer riles independent bookshop owners
So what seemed to be a prank to many booksellers when initially contacted turns out to be an actual program by Amazon.  Amazon is trying to reach out to independent booksellers asking them to sell Kindles, similar to the partnerships between some indie bookshops and Kobo.  Booksellers seem generally less than amused by the program so far.

Google Books ruling is a huge victory for online innovation 
I'm torn between utter shock that this was ruled in favor of the scanning project, and not surprise since we know how much money Google has to throw at the project.  Check out the summary judgement for full details.

Some more on the ruling from other bloggers:
A win for Google? Yes. A win for you? Maybe… (LibrarianShipwreck)

Fair! Google Books case dismissed.  (librarian.net)
Google Books and Black-Box Copyright Jurisprudence (Go To Hellman, from the 18th, but I wanted to include it with the rest)

 Bill Gates: Here’s My Plan to Improve Our World — And How You Can Help
For some reason I've found several articles relating to Gates and his mission in the past few weeks.

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