Link Smorgasbord, October 2015

I'm a Librarian Who Banned a Book: Here's Why
Really worth a read.

The UK’s New Consumer Rights Act Will Protect The Right to Return eBooks
Neat

Virtual Privacy Lab - San Jose Public Library
This is pretty cool

On The Radical Notion That Women Are People
An author reflecting on feminist science fiction, and the sociopolitical issues of today vs those of 40 years ago.

Paperless Post
Cute

It could be worse
A disturbing read, but one worth reading.  The speculative nature of the post is uncomfortably realistic.
The gamification of social conformity, overseen by an authoritarian government and mediated by nudge theory, is a thing of beauty and horror; who needs cops with nightsticks to beat up dissidents when their friends and family will give them a tongue-lashing on behalf of the government for the price of a discount off a new fridge? 
But don't worry, I could make it a whole lot worse.
20 Design Rules You Should Never Break
Some really good guidelines here.

MIT Master’s Program to Use MOOCs as ‘Admissions Test’
Interesting

Cyberpunk yourself – body modification, augmentation, and grinders
On merging body modification and technology.

http://www.libraryextension.com/
Browser extension that lets you check if a book/ebook is available in your library catalog while visiting online bookstores (at least Amazon, not sure of 100%  universal compatibility).  Only works in Chrome for the time being, and your library must ask to be added (note, this supports consortia, and C/WMARS is included)

The Bane of Banality: Frodo Baggins
This caught my eye in particular due to the Middle-Earth group read I'm taking part in.
Simply put, things happen to Frodo; Frodo doesn’t make things happen. He needs significant assistance or an outright bailout in virtually every situation. This, coupled with his increasingly whiny temperament, serves to remind us about how ordinary he truly is.
Raiders of the Lost Web
I've posted stuff along these lines before - the internet is incredibly ephemeral, a shot of now and our interests.
The web, as it appears at any one moment, is a phantasmagoria. It’s not a place in any reliable sense of the word. It is not a repository. It is not a library. It is a constantly changing patchwork of perpetual nowness. 
You can't count on the web, okay? It’s unstable. You have to know this.
Fiction Beer Company
I want to try this beer just on principle.  Also, I LOVE their logo.

Google book-scanning project legal, says U.S. appeals court
A significant case, with undoubtedly positive and negative ramifications down the road.

Metadata that kills
We live in a world where if you live in the right place reading the wrong book can literally be a death sentence.
Descriptive metadata is never neutral. It reflects our understanding of our society, and our interpretation of how we think the world should be. It is unavoidably evocative of not just a book, film, or song, but rather the whole society which gave it genesis. When developed, particularly Western, countries wind up determining codes and classifications, a very specific illustration of the world is drawn which is a slim sliver of human understanding of the world.
French City Introduces ‘Short Story Dispensers’ In Public Areas
Cute and creative.

Cartographic Emporium at gozzys.com
Need maps for your game?  Check this out.  Seriously.

http://donjon.bin.sh/5e/
Absolutely incredible resource for RPGs, the link in particular goes to the D&D 5e tools, but there's so much here.

NOOK GlowLight Plus
WATERPROOF

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