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Finally got COVID, which is why I didn’t publish last week. Please get the latest vaccine and wear a mask — to protect yourself and others!
Important Information
Voting Is In Your Self-Interest — theriveter.co
HT @cindygallop “Protecting the right to justice and liberty for all will definitely, eventually, find its way back to you.”
‘VEEP’ star Julia Louis-Dreyfus urges suburban women to join a ‘troublemaker turnout’ effort aiming to fire up 100,000 abortion rights voters in midterm battlegrounds — www.businessinsider.com
Actress and political activist Julia Louis-Dreyfus wants fellow “troublemakers” to join her in driving abortion rights voters to the polls this fall. Louis-Dreyfus explains that the friendly conversations Red Wine and Blue is hoping to spark between now and November are projected to be 15-times more effective than cold calling or traditional door knocking. “Because when we contact our friends, they actually respond,” she said.
So you want to save democracy — here’s what you can do
Via @notthemessenger A guide to volunteering in the 2022 midterm elections, which yes, promise to be just as consequential as the 2020 elections.
- Midterms suffer from a lack of turnout. With no presidential candidate (and therefore no presidential bullhorn) on the ballot, it can be harder to get people engaged and keep them engaged enough to go to the ballot — but these races are hugely important if we want to further progressive policy goals.
- You may or may not be disappointed by those in power. You may be ecstatic. You may have stopped paying attention for a bit — all completely understandable. But the more we push, the more we fight, the more we win, the better able we are to transform the world in the place we imagine.
- Every little bit helps. 20 minutes of phone banking is better than no phone banking. 10 postcards is better than no postcards. $5 is better than no dollars.
- Rebecca Solnit said “I think of voting as a chess move, not a Valentine.” Elections are about choices — given the viable options, we pick the best one.
Arizona judge rules state can enforce near-total abortion ban — www.cnn.com
An Arizona Superior Court judge ruled that a 1901 ban on nearly all abortions in that state can be enforced.
Elizabeth Warren and Senate Democrats Press Crisis Pregnancy Centers on Abortion Data Gathering — time.com
Senate Democrats are asking the country’s largest network of anti-abortion pregnancy centers to provide information about how it gathers, protects, and shares the personal data of pregnant people
In the last year, there’s been a sharp rise in the number of state bills going after transgender-related health care
When school feels ‘like prison’ test scores, college attendance drop
phys.org
Students at high schools with prominent security measures have lower math scores, are less likely to attend college and are suspended more compared to students in schools with less surveillance, finds a new Johns Hopkins University study.
Parents, students complain East Baton Rouge schools field trip was more like church service
More than 2,100 students from Baton Rouge public high schools students were told they were going to a career fair, but were instead taken to a church service where girls were told to forgive rapists and reject transgender identities and boys competed in push-up contests for money.
Virginia Students Walk Out Over Youngkin’s School Transgender Policy — www.nbcwashington.com
Virginia students staged walkouts in protest of Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed restrictions on the rights of transgender students.
East Ridge High School students protest arrest incident — newschannel9.com
RT @TheTNHoller EAST RIDGE STUDENTS WALK OUT: Today students walked out of class and peacefully marched, demanding @hcsotn remove SRO Tyler McRae, who dragged a Black student by the hair, pepper sprayed, and arrested him — all over a refusal to play kickball.
National Archives says it is still missing electronic messages from Trump administration officials
www.washingtonpost.com
The National Archives will consult with the Justice Department “on whether ‘to initiate an action for the recovery of records unlawfully removed,’” according to a letter to Congress.
Innovation
COVID: Chinese scientists develop mask that detects the virus — www.smh.com.au
A sensor built into a mask was able to detect the COVID-19, H5N1 and H1N1 influenza viruses in the air within 10 minutes and send notifications to a device, according to the study led by six scientists working with Tongji University in Shanghai.
An AI from Meta can decode speech from brain activity with surprising accuracy
Researchers at Meta created AI that can decode words & sentences from brain activity w/ surprising, but still limited, accuracy. Using only a few seconds of brain activity data, it guesses what a person has heard & lists correct answer 73% of the time. The AI could eventually be used to help people who can’t communicate through speech, typing or gestures. #AI
Technology
Meta Opens NFT Sharing on Instagram and Facebook to All US Users — www.coindesk.com
Users in the U.S. can now connect their crypto wallets to Instagram as part of the app’s new digital collectible feature, which the tech giant has been testing since May. #NFT
A+E Networks has launched The History Channel NFT Marketplace, a curation of digital collectibles — adage.com
Bi-weekly drops will celebrate historical events, figures and holidays.
Fearing copyright issues, Getty Images bans AI-generated artwork — arstechnica.com
Getty sidesteps potential legal problems from unresolved rights and ethics issues.
Flooded with AI-generated images, some art communities ban them completely
arstechnica.com
Smaller art communities are banning image synthesis amid a wider art ethics debate.
NBC Universal And Samsung Bring The Tonight Show To The Metaverse — www.thedrum.com
Ever wanted to play giant beer pong in Fortnite? Soon that will be a possibility…
What Happens Online in 1 Minute
Tesla’s robot waves but can’t walk, yet. Musk plans to make millions of them— www.nbcnews.com
Tesla CEO Elon Musk showed off on Friday a prototype of its humanoid robot ‘Optimus,’ predicting the electric vehicle maker would be able to produce millions.
Random people are being bombarded with hundreds of unwanted Amazon packages after having their identities stolen by fraudulent Amazon merchants
Amazon isn’t stopping the chaos, and victims say it’s a ‘dystopian horror story.’ Inside the thriving underground market for used Amazon seller accounts that’s causing chaos, identity theft, and distrust in the company’s massive online marketplace
Amazon has a new plan for its home robot Astro: to guard your life — www.technologyreview.com
Amazon’s home robot Astro will be getting a slew of major updates aimed at further embedding it within homes — and in our everyday lives.
Meta Shares New Insights into How to Maximize Your Content Reach on Facebook
As automatic captioning on TikTok and creative audio descriptions on Netflix go mainstream, so does accessibility
How TikTok is becoming the new testing ground for audio branding
As a way to work around licensing fees and gain more control over their sounds, brands such as McDonald’s, Pizza Hut and Chevrolet are enlisting creators to make original music in a new genre of audio branding.
YouTube in challenge to TikTok to give Shorts creators 45% of ad sales
www.reuters.com
YouTube unveiled a new way for creators to make money on short-form video, as it faces intensifying competition from TikTok.
YouTube Tests New Channel Content Personalization to Help Maximize Viewer Engagement
HT @TheTiltNews YouTube will customize content displays based on the user’s preferences. It’s developing tabs — Videos, Shorts, and Live — to allow viewers to tap and see the relevant options.
Twitch cuts how much its biggest streamers earn from subscriptions
www.theverge.com
Twitch is reducing the revenue share with top streamers from 70 percent of subscription revenue to 50 percent after the first $100,000.
How to Unsend and Edit Messages in iOS 16
www.wired.com
With one long press, you can finally unsend that ill-considered rant — as long as both you and your contact have iOS 16.
iOS 16’s editing feature brings out iPhone users’ sneaky side — mashable.com
Apple’s iOS 16 for iPhone comes with the ability to undo send and edit messages. It’s a useful feature for fixing typos…or something sneakier.
Kindle Scribe brings writing to Amazon’s popular e-reader — techcrunch.com
HT @paulkbiba Amazon brings long-awaited writing functionality to its widely popular e-reader line, with the addition of the 10.2 inch Kindle Scribe.
Publishing & Media
Amazon is ending its policy of returns on fully read ebooks
Romance is the Leading Growth Category for US Print Books This Year, NPD Says
BookTok is contributing to the most romance gains, creating a new romance fanbase among younger readers.
Why the DOJ v PRH Antitrust Trial Doesn’t Change the Game for Authors, Regardless of Outcome
Email for Authors: The Ultimate Step-by-Step Guide to Grow Your Audience— kindlepreneur.com
HT @elizabethscraig Email Marketing is one of the most important tools for authors to spread the word about their books. But how do you even start?
Publisher blocks access to ebooks; students, faculty scramble
www.insidehighered.com
Wiley withdraws more than 1,300 titles from a large multidisciplinary ebook collection for libraries as fall classes begin, hindering students’ access to affordable learning materials.
TikTok and Penguin Random House partner bring book tags to #BookTok
TikTok is expanding #BookTok — The new feature in the U.S. and UK allows you to link any Penguin Random House book title in your video through a tagging function #teamPRH
Spotify dives into audiobooks with a library of over 300,000 titles — www.engadget.com
Spotify adds yet another content option to its audio library, but it’s only available in the US for now.
Threats target libraries in Salt Lake, other U.S. cities, prompting police, FBI investigations
RT @PENamerica Threats against Salt Lake City libraries have prompted officials to call in local and federal agencies. According to the American Library Association, threats have also forced temporary library closures in Hawaii, Denver, Nashville, and Fort Worth.
Libraries Across the US Are Receiving Violent Threats
www.vice.com
Librarians and patrons believe the threats were part of a coordinated effort to limit information access, and come amids a recent wave of book bans.
PEN America Report Shows ‘Rapid Acceleration’ of Book Bans in Schools — www.publishersweekly.com
Coinciding with Banned Books Week 2022, PEN America has released an alarming new report, which found that more than 2,500 book bans were issued in some 140 school districts in 32 states during the 2021–22 school year. 41% targeted LGBTQ+ books.
At least 50 groups nationwide have been pushing book bans. They often share tactics, such as “swarming school board meetings” and “using inflammatory language about ‘grooming’ and ‘pornography.’”
newrepublic.com
In the last year, works by more than 1,200 authors were banned, affecting nearly four million students.
Texas Banned Over 800 Books Last School Year
The Lone Star State is making a run for being the most anti-education in the union. “The people banning books appear to be intent on make the world smaller and smaller for American kids until empathy and intellectual curiosity are things of the past.”
Florida teacher wants review of over 100 books discussing sexual, political and LGTBQ+ topics
MT @jonfreadom Stop & consider what’s happening in Escambia, FL. 116 books are being “restricted” in libraries just b/c one person threw them on a list, parlayed from online reviews. ZERO due process. No one even READ the books first.
Censorship Attempts Will Have a Long-lasting Impact on School Library Collections, SLJ Survey Shows
www.slj.com
In the past year, school librarians have faced coordinated, hate-filled censorship campaigns that impact available books and collection development decisions. Here, they share their stories.
‘We’ve moved backwards’: US librarians face unprecedented attacks amid rightwing book bans
www.theguardian.com
From active shooter trainings to cancelled bookmobiles, librarians are caught in the crossfire of a conservative censorship craze
How conservative Facebook groups are changing what books children read in school
www.technologyreview.com
Parents are gathering online to review books and lobby schools to ban them, often on the basis of sexual content.
Closed classroom library pic shocking — www.tcpalm.com
“Quite frankly, teachers are afraid.”
Don’t Say Gay. Or Climate Change. Sierra Club
MT @PENamerica “About 18 months ago, something changed…” @DashkaSlater on the new onslaught of attacks by book banners and the “fundamental difference between having someone criticize you, disagree with you, or even mock you, and having someone try to silence you.”
Overwhelming Majority of American Voters Strongly Oppose Book Banning According to National Poll
MT @veronikellymars A new national poll from @EveryLibrary shows that Americans overwhelmingly disagree with book bans and it is an important voting issue for them, too.
“Stamped” removed from Pickens County Schools — www.foxcarolina.com
RT @PENamerica In a unanimous vote, @PickensSchools board has voted to remove “Stamped, Racism, Anti-Racism, and You” by @JasonReynolds83@DrIbram after a parent filed a complaint. The board also unanimously voted to remove “Perks of Being a Wallflower.” #BannedInTheUSA
Resources on Book Challenges and Intellectual Freedom
As public library leaders and staff consider how to prepare for similar local challenges, being proactive about developing and sharing policies and procedures can help to create clarity and establish expectations around responses to book challenges.
Banned Books, Censored Topics: Teaching About the Battle Over What Students Should Learn
www.nytimes.com
Suggestions for using recent Times and Learning Network articles, videos, podcasts, student forums and more.
Libraries to offer shelter to the vulnerable during UK’s cost of living crisis
How independent bookstores help in the fight against book banning and why it matters
Hundreds of independent bookstores across the country are part of a small rebellion: making banned books available to readers at a time when some public libraries are facing the threat of censorship.
Truth Is Trouble: Toni Morrison’s Advocacy Against Censorship — www.nypl.org
RT @nypl In honor of Toni Morrison’s tireless commitment to anti-censorship advocacy, NYPL is providing unlimited, instant digital access to two of her most challenged works, ‘Beloved’ and ‘The Bluest Eye’ through October 31. #BannedBooksWeek
Here’s Why I’m Celebrating Banned Books Week by Barack Obama — barackobama.medium.com
From the time I first learned to read, books have played an essential role in how I experience the world.
A Tip Sheet for Librarians Facing Harassment from PENAmerica
pen.org
This guide will help librarians mobilize and respond when there are campaigns to remove their books from their shelves that devolve into harassment.
Kid Lit Authors Send Letter to Congress to Speak Out Against Book Banning
www.slj.com
The letter, signed by 1,300 children’s and YA authors and read into the record at a congressional hearing, spoke of the harm to kids from book censorship.
How to beat a book ban: students, parents and librarians fight back
www.theguardian.com
As rightwing campaigns for censorship sweep the US, opponents are finding ways to keep books on the shelves
Podcasters Are Buying Millions of Listeners Through Mobile-Game Ads
Via @ashleyrcarman Podcast companies are buying millions of downloads thru auto-playing episodes populated in free mobile games. Players in mobile games trigger downloads of shows no one may be hearing for more than seconds. iHeart, the top podcast publisher on Podtrac, has bought around 6 million unique downloads per month since 2018. #podcasting
We need to talk about podcast listener numbers
MT @michellemanafy Amazing piece from @EstherKeziaT. If there’s one topic which makes podcasters awkward, it’s listener numbers. Welp, looks like most podcasts probably get fewer listens than you think. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing; it is cause for a rethink.
Publishers: 5 subscriber retention strategies to steal
Retaining subscribers is highly more valuable and less costly than acquiring new ones. So, how do you ensure high retention rates? Research has proven time and time again that subscriber retention is essential to sustainable business growth for digital publishers.
Hearst eyes $12B in revenue as B2B business grows — www.axios.com
The company has branched out from specialty publications to adjacent data and software businesses.
Why Hearst is building a commerce marketplace
digiday.com
Publisher commerce marketplaces aren’t always successful, but Hearst’s Sheel Shah hopes his company’s new marketplace will capitalize on the natural evolution of its readers’ online shopping habits.
Harper’s Bazaar to Launch French Edition in print and online — www.businessoffashion.com
The new Harper’s Bazaar France — the 28th edition of the magazine published globally — will be published in both print and online. #magazines
Parade magazine to go digital only — www.timeswv.com
Officials at The Arena Group, which owns Parade magazine, announced Friday that the company plans to discontinue printing the paper version of the magazine.
Recurrent Ventures is acquiring Dwell, a home design magazine turned-digital media brand, joining assets Bob Villa and Domino
Knight Foundation announces investment in growing local news support networks, publishers of color
Knight commits more than $9 million to uplift vital networks for nonprofit, for-profit, diverse local news publishers.
Epix Rebrands to MGM+ Following Amazon Acquisition — www.adweek.com
Epix is rebranding to MGM+ in January, becoming the latest streaming service to add the “plus” moniker to its brand.
Resources & Opportunities
WMG IRL Outdoor Party 10/12
@WMG_NYC Members: Sign up quick! Space is limited.
Books for Pakistan Auction
RT @BradfordLitFest #BooksForPakistan is an online book auction happening this Friday to raise funds for flood victims. Prizes include signed books, exclusive artwork from #BLF2022 guest @Louiestowell and writing tuition from @Joannechocolat. Get involved: https://bit.ly/3E1YR5I
Bronx Book Festival Pitches 2023
RT @bronxisreading Now accepting pitches for the 6th annual Bronx Book Festival!
Poets & Writers Launches Publicity Incubator for Debut Authors — www.pw.org
Attn: debut authors! @poetswritersinc has launched a publicity incubator to help first-time authors develop a strategic plan to get maximum exposure for you and your book, with @luxlotus serving as lead mentor.
MT @Sj_Fennell Calling all unagented Black women & Black non-binary writers: @literarydesiree and I are looking for a new voice to add to our YA Black horror anthology The Black Girl Survives in This One. Submissions open on 10/1 see full details https://bit.ly/BlackFinalGirls
Apprenticeship — Feminist Press — www.feministpress.org
RT @MargotAtwell If you’re looking to get your start in book publishing, please apply to the @FeministPress paid spring apprenticeship. We’re open to remote apprentices. Please share widely!
Grants for writers in need — The Society of Authors — www2.societyofauthors.org
MT @BookwormVaught In case you’re unaware of these. You can apply at any time and you don’t even need to be a @Soc_of_Authors member
Defend Banned Books. Support the Freedom to Read with PEN America — actionnetwork.org
Sign and share this petition to show your support for diverse literature and writers across the country.
Petition: Don’t Ban Books in the United States
action.everylibrary.org
Proposed censorship measures in several US states could keep you from being allowed to read some books in our Nation’s libraries. Some could also lead to librarians facing criminal charges as a result of their commitment to free speech and access to library materials. Sign the petition today!
Buy a Book, Give a Book w Disney & FirstBook
RT @FirstBook Buy one, give one with @Disney! For every book purchased on http://shopDisney.com from now through Dec 31, 2022, Disney will donate a book to First Book! Your purchase will spark a donation and will help make a difference in the life of a child. Shop now! #MagicOfStorytelling
American Express Fellowship 2022 l Luminary
www.weareluminary.com
This fellowship program is supporting businesses owned or founded by women, a total of 150 Fellowships, with at least 50% awarded to women of color.
The Bond of Live Things Everywhere » New York Botanical Garden
Curated by poet and scholar Joshua Bennett, The Bond of Live Things Everywhere stages Black poetry and performance in the open air, in close proximity to the water and the trees.
City of Forest Day — Forest for All NYC
RT @galeabrewer On October 15, the Forest for All NYC coalition is hosting “City of Forest Day,” a day of activities across the city to raise awareness of the importance of the New York City urban forest. #NYCUrbanForestAgenda