Mike Browne’s Blog

The Forbidden Library: Banned and Challenged Books
Reading challenged or banned books is sort of a hobby of mine. They always turn out to be some of the most thought provoking books I’ve read. Funny how that works. I guess there are people out there who really don’t want the masses thinking. Truly interesting are some of the reasons these books have been banned or challenged. A few examples:

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll. Ace; Bantam; Crown; Delacorte; Dover; NAL; Norton; Penguin; Random; St. Martin. Banned in China (1931) for portraying animals and humans on the same level, “Animals should not use human language.”

The Color Purple. Alice Walker. Harcourt. Challenged as appropriate reading material for an Oakland, Calif. High School honors class (1984) due to the work’s “sexual and social explicitness” and its “troubling ideas about race relations, man’s relationship to God, African history, and human sexuality.” This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was finally approved for use by the Oakland Board of Education after nine months of debate. Banned in the Souderton, Pa. Area School District (1992) as appropriate reading for tenth graders because it is “smut.”Removed from the Jackson County, W.Va. school libraries (1997) along with sixteen other titles.

Fahrenheit 451. Ray Bradbury. Ballentine. Ironically, students at the Venado Middle School in Irvine, Calif. received copies of the book with scores of words–mostly “hells” and “damns”–blacked out. The novel is about book burning and censorship. Thankfully, after receiving complaints from parents and being contacted by reporters, school officials said the censored copies would no longer be used (1992).

and of course…

The Bible. William Tyndale, who partially completed translating the Bible into English, was captured, strangled, and burned at the stake (1536) by opponents of the movement to translate the bible into the vernacular. Beginning around 1830, “family friendly” bibles, including Noah Webster’s version (1833) began to appear which had excised passages considered to be indelicate.

I think Tyler needs to enter The ThinkGeek 2004 Sysadmin Pageant!
Thanks to Wes W for the link.

It’s 7-11… That means free Slurpees.

Catenema.com: Do NOT Try This at Home!

My favourite metal band Ministry has a new CD out called Houses Of The Mole. The first song from the CD No ‘W’ (It alludes to George W) has been released as a free online single which you can download right here. No, not all bands hate MP3. It’s nice to see some of the cooler ones embracing it. Here are the lyrics for No ‘W’:

If this is really living
Then why am I so unforgiving
Half the world is down the toilet
Half on its way

Trust me — 2x

Tell us how you really feel Al.

Check out join the party party for some interesting remixes of George Bush speeches.

Tons of funny and interesting viral ads on Kontraband.com. Nerd Club is a goody!

Check out Kerry + Edwards… LOL!

What a non surprise this is. She didn’t show up for court. Wow. Who would have known that someone as messed up as she is couldn’t get it together to arrive in court at the appointed time? I’m not sure how long she is for this world. She’s a walking tragedy.