3.6: News: Cats for Books

The Ink Sink

This library accepted cat pictures instead of charging late fees. We didn’t tell you about it when it was first happening, but we’re making up for that now.

While we record new episodes, we bring you some highlights from the cutting-room floor.

Warning: We’re up in our feelings about anti-library s*** this episode. Listen with caution if you don’t like cursing.

Send us pictures of your pets (and support us!) wherever you follow: https://linktr.ee/inksinkpodcast

Our sources for this episode:

• Part of "March Meowness" last month, the Worcester Public Library in Massachusetts accepted cat pictures as payment for lost or damaged items: https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/cat-photos-replace-library-fines

• On the topic, here are some cool people (many of them authors) with their cats: https://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/jill-krementz-photo-journal-a-celebration-of-cats/

• Why are we seeing so many new online bookstores lately? https://todayinbooks.substack.com/p/rupaul-launches-an-online-book-marketplace

• Related, RuPaul's new store immediately sees controversy: https://www.vulture.com/article/rupaul-bookstore-allstora-controversy-explained.html

• From Sanderson's blog: He's reached a deal with the company (which he can't talk about yet) that he says gives more fair deals to authors: https://www.brandonsanderson.com/regarding-audible/

• Spotify matches Audible's $9.99 subscription tier: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/94483-spotify-launches-9-99-audiobook-subscription-tier.html

• Scientists behaving badly: how Chat-GPT is getting into the scientific record: https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2024/03/20/the-latest-crisis-is-the-research-literature-overrun-with-chatgpt-and-llm-generated-articles/

• In season two, we talked about how we can recognize what’s truth, and what’s not, on the internet: https://youtu.be/hqL48_yWJRE

• From Reddit: Why ChatGPT is bad at math: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/zl4e1f/why_is_chatgpt_bad_at_math_answer_inside/

• Speaking of AI: a good roundup of how different companies are responding to the new content-scraping reality: https://pressgazette.co.uk/platforms/news-publisher-ai-deals-lawsuits-openai-google/

• Legal Zoom’s silliest laws list: https://www.legalzoom.com/articles/top-craziest-laws-still-on-the-books

• Publishing is getting slightly more diverse: https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/94466-new-lee-low-diversity-baseline-survey-finds-minor-changes.html

• Change your smoke alarm batteries and run the self-clean on your oven. Your regular "let's abolish genres" hot take is here! https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/nov/27/the-big-idea-should-we-abolish-literary-genres

Want to stand up to Amazon and support independent bookstores and also support our podcast? Check us out on Bookshop.org! https://bookshop.org/shop/theinksink

• Kali returns to reading for fun with more cozy fantasy: https://bookshop.org/a/55633/9798987850206

Disclaimer: We receive a commission if you buy a book from one of our book lists. But more importantly, Bookshop.Org donates a portion of its revenue to independent bookstores with over $33 million raised so far!

00:00 Welcome Back! 00:27 March Mewness + Authors and Their Beloved Cats 04:41 RuPaul’s Allstora Faces Pushback 14:20 Sanderson Celebrates Audible Negotiations 19:24 Spotify Also Coming for Audible 22:41 What’s Going on With the Robots This Week? 35:17 Genres Are Good, Actually 39:43 Kali Is Reading Cursed Cocktails 41:20 Thanks for Listening!

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/the-ink-sink/support