March 2011 – Page 3 – Into the West

Beyond Planned Obsolescence

Brief blog followup to yesterday’s post about publisher HarperCollins decision to force public libraries to re-license ebooks after just 26 checkouts. A fellow GoodReader posted a link to this open letter from the Pioneer Library System of Norman, Oklahoma to HarperCollins in our discussion topic ‘Ashes of eBooks for Libraries‘ .

Excerpts from the open letter:

Because the publisher assumes digital resources never deteriorate, they have set an arbitrary limit to the number of times an electronic resource can be accessed. Not planned obsolescence. Forced obsolescence. (emphasis added)

Despite statements to the New York Times that HarperCollins hopes this move will, “ensure a presence in public libraries and the communities they serve for years to come,” it may, in fact, do just the opposite. (emphasis added)

If you would like to contact HarperCollins directly they have set up an email address at Library.eBook@HARPERCOLLINS.com

Another link posted by a different GoodReader offered some background as to why the publishing industry executives are reacting so poorly to change: Twelve Common Misconceptions about Book Publishing.

And what’s the next step beyond forced obsolescence at public libraries? How many times will you be allowed to read your ebook before it is removed or held hostage on your virtual bookshelf until you negotiate a ransom by re-buying the content?

21st Century Book Burning aka Control of Knowledge by Conglomerates

A dark day … Tuesday, March 8th … Mardi Gras … the day before Lent begins … Ash Wednesday … the ashes of our electronic books on the shelves of our libraries. Just a few of my grim thoughts after reading this article tweeted by Publishers Weekly this morning:

Librarian’s Launch Boycott in Battle Over eBooks

He died and made HarperCollins the “god” who decided how many times I can checkout a library ebook? Without my local library, and the interlibrary loan system, I would never have read some classic publications, long out of print. As a young adult and later as a harried young parent, my local library saved my sanity by providing endless diversions. Now, decades later, and more secure financially, I happily support my favorite authors by purchasing the expensive first edition hardcovers. I buy books as gifts for friends and family. Those same authors came to be loved by me through … my local library.

Divide and Conquer Chicken Pot Pie

Last week I received an e-mail newsletter from King Arthur Flour that included a recipe for Classic Chicken Pot Pie. I forwarded it to my husband, who spends most of his afternoons watching the Food Network and surprising me with some fantabulous dinner when I walk in the door from work. He found a couple of shows that demonstrated making chicken pot pie, including Anne Burrel’s Secrets of a Restaurant Chef. We’ve watched several of her shows and the one thing both of us have noticed about her cooking is she loves salt. This poses a problem for me, since I’m trying to cut out as much salt as I can from my diet.

Terry decided to try her recipe for Autumn Chicken Pot Pie with respect to the filling. I decided to try the King Arthur Classic Chicken Pot Pie recipe with respect to the pastry shell. Terry substituted potatoes for the butternut squash and pea’s for the haricot verts, the peas were not added to the simmering chicken and vegetables until the last ten minutes to insure they didn’t over cook. The gravy was made from chicken broth that had been fortified by the chicken and the vegetables cooking in it. The end result was a really rich and smooth gravy. By itself the gravy tasted wonderful, in the pot pie it seemed a little sweet without the added salt to offset the onion.

The crust recipe from KAF included a teaspoon of vinegar with the ice cold water, dribbled in by the tablespoonful. Once I got the dough into a block, I covered it with clear wrap and refrigerated it until the filling and gravy were ready to fill the crocks. I rolled out the dough on parchment paper, using the clear wrap as a buffer between my rolling pin and the dough. I admit I was skeptical of the egg wash as glue between the crock and the crust, but it worked very well.

Mossy Chicken Pot Pie

“The crust was to die for, it was flaky and had a wonderful buttery taste.” –Terry

The only drawback I saw to this recipe was the amount of time it took Terry to get the filling and gravy done. The Autumn Chicken Pot Pie recipe claims ninety minutes of ‘cook time’ but we spent nearly four hours … so we definitely have room for improvement.

Hot out of the oven, the pot pies delighted our palettes and stuffed out tummies with home-cooked goodness.

Overcoming Pie-xiety

I admit it. I have ‘pie crust anxiety’ exactly as described in this helpful video I found via the King Arthur recipe site. I searched for ‘pie crust’ recipes and narrowed the results down to two recipes: the Traditional American Pie Crust (rated 3.5 stars) and the five star KAF Guaranteed Pie Crust one. The video included many great tips and a couple of ‘secrets’ that I put into play to make the two crusts for a cherry pie.

Cherry Pie using KAF Guaranteed Pie Crust recipe

I went with the five star rated recipe and I think it turned out well, don’t you?

When the Weatherman Gets the Weekend Forecast Wrong …

Now I’m not sure what to do today. All week long, the weatherman has been predicting doom and gloom for today, including sleet and snow. I had planned to start a fire in the fireplace and bake pies, bread and experiment with a chicken pot pie recipe I found last week.

But if the sunrise (click on photo to see the rest of the album) is any indication of what the rest of the day will be like, do I really want to be confined another weekend in my house? Perhaps the dogs would like to visit the dog park today? If nothing else, I’ll take Apollo on a longer walk this evening. Roxy and I walked before the sunrise, when it was still only 24 degrees.

Wednesday Whine

I woke up to the second day of March with significantly more sleep than I got for the first day. And, a stunning sunrise evolved over the course of my commute from home to Kansas City, Missouri:

Sunrise Wed 2 Mar 2011 over Kansas City, Missouri skyline

I enjoyed my cran-raspberry white chocolate scone (baked Sunday morning) with two cups of average tea (just Lipton for easy prep) while cleaning up log files before monitoring MOSS 2007 crawl a large content source. At least I have no meetings scheduled for today.

I’m looking forward to a short walk at lunch to take advantage of Planet Sub‘s double punch day. This evening, I’ll take a long walk with Roxy during Wolfguard‘s practice.

Ah, the joys of tax preparation season and gathering all the necessary documentation for filing an itemized return, especially when some of your offspring don’t answer their cell phones and may never check or respond to their voice-mail messages.

And the things my husband says when I gather the appropriate information and return his call to relate said information:

“Would there happen to be a pen up here?” meaning the kitchen table.

“I have no idea. I was a secretary for years and have no desire to be one again. I keep mine in my purse.” my reply.

“Well, I only have two places to keep a pen on me, and neither one of them pleasant.” his reply which sparked images that may scar me for the rest of my life.

While speaking to one of my offspring’s significant others, I learned all of them (my offspring and their better halves) are involved in indoor soccer leagues. I feel so left out of the loop. I adamantly requested photos and updates at the first opportunity.

I despair of ever catching up on my group reads. I have at least two left over from February, bleeding over into March. I may drop everything so I can read the newly released (yesterday and in the mail to me right now via pre-order from Barnes & Nobel) The Wise Man’s Fear. The rest of my current reads pile can be found here.

And I’ve been asked to lead the discussion in two different groups, the first on Willis’ Doomsday Book and the second on Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. As if I needed anything else to do.

SciFi and Fantasy Book Club’s currently-reading book montage