LISNews: Librarian News

This week's program has a somewhat cheerful essay talking about cultural balkanization as seen through the lens of mid-season television show cancellations. Notice was also given that there will likely be a special dropped into the feed without warning during the week as proceedings continue at the World Conference on International Telecommunications.

Related links:

• The Register: US drops ‘net regulation bombshell, threatens WCIT exit -- Pique-propelled pacifier projectile launched at ITU
• ZDNet: WCIT-12 leak shows Russia, China, others seek to define 'government-controlled Internet'
• LISWire: Kudzu Kidz, LLC Launches a New Book, Counting and Rhyming with Friends, fun for all ages!
• Security4Lib - IT Security For Libraries
• Reuters: Internet governance talks in jeopardy as Arab states, Russia ally
• Chronicle of Higher Education: What if We Made Fewer Ph.D.'s?
• AEIdeas: November Jobs Report -- Another nasty, ‘new normal’ month for US workers

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EarlyWord (The Publisher | Librarian Connection) has a post telling about how they answered the question - What Does GCB Stand For?

They are reporting that this post has received 89,000 hits.

Be Very Afraid: The Cable-ization of Online Life Is Upon Us

Imagine what’s possible from Comcast’s perspective: If you can slice and dice traffic, play definitional chess (“that’s not the internet, that’s a specialized service!”), and be the only game in town, you’ll get to replicate the cable model by making sure that every successful online application owes its success in part to you and pays you tribute.

The next time you're working at the reference desk and someone wants to know what kind of computer was used in the classic 1973 movie "Invasion of the Bee Girls," well, now you have a place to turn. " The Verge directs your attention to the Starring the Computer which describes itself as, "...a website dedicated to the use of computers in film and television. Each appearance is catalogued and rated on its importance (ie. how important it is to the plot), realism (how close its appearance and capabilities are to the real thing) and visibility (how good a look does one get of it). Fictional computers don't count (unless they are built out of bits of real computer), so no HAL9000 - sorry."