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The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

Until recently, the German language's longest "authentic" word was the 63-letter Rindfleischetikettierungsberwachungsaufgabenbertragungsgesetz, meaning "the law for the delegation of monitoring beef labeling," according to The Telegraph. But the law was recently repealed, leaving Germans with no reason to use it (except perhaps to lament the loss of the word Rindfleischetikettierungsberwachungsaufgabenbertragungsgesetz). Although it appeared in government documents, it hadn't made its way into the Duden German dictionary, where the reigning champion is the measly 36-letter word Kraftfahrzeug-Haftpflichtversicherung, or "motor vehicle liability insurance." And the Telegraph notes that "a 39-letter word, Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften, insurance companies providing legal protection, is considered the longest German word in everyday use by the Guinness Book of World Records."

The 25th annual Lambda Literary Awards (or "Lammys"), for "excellence in LGBT literature" were awarded Monday night in New York. Winners included John Irving, who won the Bridge Builder Award for being an "ally to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community," as well as the bisexual fiction prize for his novel In One Person. Jeanette Winterson won the lesbian memoir category with Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? Augusten Burroughs won a special Award for Excellence in Literature. The Wall Street Journal notes that the prize was given by The New York Times' Frank Bruni, who said of Burroughs, "He's not just a talented man, he's a freakishly talented one."

The Onion publishes an "op-ed" from Joyce Carol Oates with advice on becoming a famous author: "Success in writing takes serious commitment and a willingness to devote thousands of hours to the craft of having sex with key publishing professionals." (As you might have guessed, the article contains strong language.)

Jonah Lehrer, the disgraced journalist and author who was nabbed for fabricating quotes and other transgressions, is reportedly shopping a book about the science of love. Slate cites "sources in the publishing industry" for the tip.

For The Rumpus, Alec Michod interviews Colum McCann about writing: "It all feels like one big, long, complicated failure. Until it doesn't."

The Japan Times reports that two Japanese men were arrested for allegedly using an illegal smartphone app to steal about $2,000 worth of ebooks.

Brain Pickings' Maria Popova unearthed a 1947 recording of T.S. Eliot reading his poem "The Ad-dressing of Cats": "I bow, and taking off my hat, / Ad-dress him in this form: O CAT!" (Incidentally, the book of poems in which it was published, Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, went on to inspire the Broadway musical CATS.)

Wedgwood is a priest of sorts, practicing his faith in the kitchen, where he has developed a sort of theology of food. Capt. Mabbot insists that he sit down with her each Sunday and share his luscious shipboard creations, and their dinner-table conversations frequently veer toward the mystical.

"I have begun to think of the mouth as a temple, of the kind that Adam and Eve might have made in a cave," he says at one point. "The temple is open on both ends. On one side is the known world, lit by the sun and in the order nature and man have designed. On the other end is darkness and transformation. Between these poles of birth and death, serenity and insanity, lies taste."

All this and tea-smoked, eel ravioli; brandied mango tart; and pheasant mole! Some of the recipes, to be honest, sound a little modern — but I did look up the history of ravioli, and discovered that it was known in England as early as the 14th century. And as the pirate ship sails eastward to a rendezvous with destiny in China, it seems plausible that Wedgwood could be picking up things like miso paste, squid and lemongrass, ingredients that wouldn't seem out of place in a Whole Foods supermarket.

There's certainly more to Cinnamon and Gunpowder than the high-seas cookery, which forms only part of the larger narrative. There's the pirate ship's colorful cast of characters — Mr. Apples, the knitting thug; mysterious twins Feng and Bai; and Joshua, who can neither hear nor speak and becomes a sort of adopted son to Wedgwood — plus buried family secrets aplenty and a thorough condemnation of the inhumane trading of tea, slaves and opium.

But really, this is Owen Wedgwood's story. As he unbends, changing inch by reluctant inch from a pampered landlubber to a grizzled but lusty pirate chef, you'll savor every bite.

If you want to eat like a queen, maybe it's time to break out the cold chicken, curry and cream sauce.

Queen Elizabeth II celebrated the 60th anniversary of her coronation in a ceremony Tuesday at Westminster Abbey. But the event also marks the anniversary of a dish as resilient as the British monarch herself: Coronation Chicken.

The recipe was invented as a solution to a conundrum of royal proportions: What to make – in advance – to serve 350 foreign dignitaries attending a banquet following the queen's coronation on June 2, 1953? Oh, and did we mention that Britain was still living under post-war food rations that made many ingredients hard to come by?

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Working jointly with the FBI, Microsoft says it has disrupted a botnet responsible for stealing more than $500 million from bank accounts worldwide.

In a blog post published late last night, Microsoft said this was its "most agressive botnet operation to date" and the "first time that law enforcement and the private sector have worked together" to "execute a civil seizure warrant as part of a botnet disruption operation."

In English, what happened here is that about 5 million computers worldwide were infected with a program that recorded the passwords of bank accounts online. The so-called Citadel botnet — one of the largest in the world — then sent the credentials to a network controlled by criminals. Using the passwords, they were able to take funds from the accounts.

According to Reuters, which broke the story, thieves were able to steal from dozens of banks including "American Express, Bank of America, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, eBay's PayPal, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Canada and Wells Fargo."

What Microsoft and the FBI did was seize some servers central to the botnet, therefore disrupting communication with about 1,400 of those nodes.

Reuters explains:

"While the criminals remain at large and the authorities do not know the identities of any ringleaders, the internationally coordinated take-down dealt a significant blow to their cyber capabilities.

"'The bad guys will feel the punch in the gut,' said Richard Domingues Boscovich, assistant general counsel with Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit."