Weldon Owen created this neat infographic--slightly tongue in cheek--showing how a book is made:

This is truer than anyone outside of the industry could ever guess. I haven't quit publishing and started a goat farm yet, but there have been times when I was close. Very close.

(H/t @CamPubCo)

According to Gizmodo,

On May 1, a Missouri man named Duane Lester published on his personal blog a post titled "Changes Implemented After MO Auditor Finds ‘Serious Shortcomings' In Holt County Sheriff's Department." 10 days later, the local newspaper for Oregon, Missouri, covered the same story Duane had written about on his blog. In fact, the Oregon Times Observer was so inspired by his post, they used Duane's same headline and his copy! Without permission or attribution. All they did was tack on an extra paragraph at the end. Incredible!
But Duane didn't take this lying down. He went down to the Observer's headquarters and confronted Robert "Bob" Ripley, Publisher and Managing Editor of the Oregon Times Observer, arguably the man responsible for the plagiarism, bringing with him a letter asserting copyright. After a incredibly roundabout and generally difficult conversation, they ultimately cut Bob a check for $500.

Here is the video of the encounter:

"Oh, for pity's sakes ... in a little hometown paper!"

Yep, even little hometown papers must obey the copyright law.

"In my day ..."

In your day, violating the copyright was also wrong.

"You're going to make a fast five hundred bucks."

No, it took a lot of time to write the article they stole.

Why would they even think they could reprint an article in full without attribution and without permission? This is not fair use--it is simple theft.

Here is an MP3 of John's song. Feel free to download it and tell your friends about his music. (Right click to download.)

John is my eldest son. This is one of his compositions. He has a lot of experience playing and singing at clubs, but this is his first video.

If you think that this was a good song, please "Like" it on Youtube.

(Created by Jared Fanning, h/t Visual News)

With such a steep discount, surely there will be a stampede of buyers.

(H/t Dave Barry)

The fish is apparently OK. On the other hand, the cat may now be in need of counseling.

Now that I have hit fifty, being healthy has become one of my major preoccupations. The following infographic from Weight Loss Foods is a sobering reminder of the need for me--and most people--to lose weight.

This is a copy of a letter written by the late great Philip K. Dick. Dick, as everyone should know, was the author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, upon which the Blade Runner was loosely based. "Loosely" is the operative word here. While the story is basically the same, the two works are so different in tone that they seem unrelated. This raises the question, until now largely unanswered, "What would Dick have thought of the film?"

Now we know:

(H/t philipkdick.com)

Dick recognized that it was not at all science fiction as he and his cohort were used to, but something new, different, and in many ways better.

With all due respect to Dick, I cannot help but agree. The book is quite good, but the movie is great. While the book has many great ideas, the movie immerses the viewer in a whole new dimension and opened up new realms of possibility for science fiction writers. This is a rare case in which the film is better than the book, and we are all happier for it.

These are all real books which have titles and covers of either questionable taste or sanity.

Mostly, they are just hilarious.

I don't even want to know what some of these book designers or authors were thinking.

For more inanity, check out 30 Worst Book Covers and Titles at Bored Panda.