What is "blue book"

Blue book \Blue" book`\

1. A parliamentary publication, so called from its blue paper covers. [Eng.]

2. The United States official ``Biennial Register.''

n. 1 A book of statistics or almanac, usually published by an agency or as a trade publication. 2 (&lit blue book English)

1. n. a report published by the British government; bound in blue

2. a register of persons who are socially prominent

3. a blue-covered booklet used in universities for writing examinations

Public Service Responsibility of Broadcast Licensees was a report published in 1946 by the (U.S.) Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which sought to require radio broadcasters in the United States to abide by a number of public service requirements. The report was informally and commonly referred to as the FCC Blue Book because of the report's blue cover.

The Blue Book bound the privilege of holding a lucrative and scarce radio broadcast license to certain public service requirements. The Blue Book specified what constituted sufficient requirements and tied failure to meet these obligations to hearings and to the potential revocation of a broadcast license. Such a standard was never before proposed in the annals of the FCC, and hasn't been proposed since.

The Blue Book—and the commissioners and staff at the FCC who wrote, published, and defended it—faced a considerable backlash from commercial broadcasters. The backlash was tied closely to anti-Communist fervor in the United States in the 1940s and 1950s. Opponents decried the Blue Book as Communist-inspired, pro-censorship, and anathema to freedom.

The backlash was ultimately successful. Those staff most closely involved with the Blue Book were driven out of the FCC; none of the Blue Book's policy prescriptions were ever implemented, and no U.S. radio broadcaster ever lost its broadcast license as a result of violating the Blue Book's prescriptions.

Blue book or bluebook is a term often referring to an almanac, buyer's guide or other compilation of statistics and information. The term dates back to the 15th century, when large blue velvet-covered books were used for record-keeping by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The term has a variety of other meanings:

The Blue Book is a publication of The Jockey Club (U.S.) which lists the highest standard of thoroughbred horseraces in the world, which are collectively known as Group races. Its publication is overseen and approved by the International Cataloguing Standards Committee (ICSC) of the Society of International Thoroughbred Auctioneers (SITA). The ICSC plays a central role as regulator of international stakes quality, and provides a process for requests to have races sanctioned as Group races.

Blue Book is the commonly used name for a United States Marine Corps document officially known as Marine Corps Bulletin 1400 (MCBul 1400). MCBul 1400 serves to publish lineal precedence and seniority information on officers in the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. It is published annually by the U.S. Marine Corps' Deputy Commandant, Manpower and Reserve Affairs. In addition to determining seniority among officers, it is also used to determine promotion eligibility.

The Blue Book is a compact disc standard developed in 1995 by Philips and Sony. It defines the Enhanced Music CD format (E-CD, also known as CD-Extra, CD-Plus and CD+), which combines audio tracks and data tracks on the same disc. The format was created as a way to solve the problem of mixed mode CDs, which were not properly supported by many CD players. The standard is not freely available and must be licensed from Philips.

E-CDs are created through the "stamped multisession" technology, which creates two sessions on a disc. The first session of an E-CD contains audio tracks according to the Red Book. As a consequence, existing compact disc players can play back this first session as a CD Audio disc. The second session contains CD-ROM data files with content often related to the audio tracks in the first session. The second session will only be used by computer systems equipped with a CD-ROM drive, or by special “Enhanced CD players”.

The second session of a E-CD contains one track in CD-ROM XA Mode 2, Form 1 format. It must contain certain specific files inside a ISO 9660 file system, though an HFS file system may also be included for compatibility with Mac OS computers. The mandatory files and directories include an autorun.inf file compatible with the Windows 95 AutoRun feature; a CDPLUS and a PICTURES directories; and an optional DATA directory.

The term " enhanced CD" is also an umbrella term and a certification mark used to refer to different CD formats that support audio and data content, including mixed mode CDs, CD-i and CD-i Ready.

Blue Book was a popular 20th-century American magazine with a lengthy 70-year run under various titles from 1905 to 1975. It was a sibling magazine to Redbook.

Launched as The Monthly Story Magazine, it was published under that title from May 1905 to August 1906 with a change to The Monthly Story Blue Book Magazine for issues from September 1906 to April 1907. In its early days, Blue Book also carried a supplement on theatre actors called "Stageland". The magazine was aimed at both male and female readers.

For the next 45 years (May 1907 to January 1952), it was known as The Blue Book Magazine, Blue Book Magazine, Blue Book, and Blue Book of Fiction and Adventure. The title was shortened with the February 1952 issue to simply Bluebook, continuing until May 1956. With a more exploitative angle, the magazine was revived with an October 1960 issue as Bluebook for Men, and the title again became Bluebook for the final run from 1967 to 1975.

In its 1920s heyday, Blue Book was regarded as one of the "Big Four" pulp magazines (the best-selling, highest-paying and most critically acclaimed pulps), along with Adventure, Argosy and Short Stories.