Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Banned books Following the meme currently circulating, which of the ALA's 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-2000 have I read? Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou> The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling Forever by Judy Blume Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger The Giver by Lois Lowry It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck The Color Purple by Alice Walker Sex by Madonna Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle Go Ask Alice by Anonymous Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard The Witches by Roald Dahl The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry The Goats by Brock Cole Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane Blubber by Judy Blume Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier Final Exit by Derek Humphry The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee >Beloved by Toni Morrison The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton The Pigman by Paul Zindel Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard Deenie by Judy Blume Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice) Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole Cujo by Stephen King James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy Ordinary People by Judith Guest American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume Crazy Lady by Jane Conly Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher Fade by Robert Cormier Guess What? by Mem Fox The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Lord of the Flies by William Golding Native Son by Richard Wright Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen Jack by A.M. Homes Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle Carrie by Stephen King Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge Family Secrets by Norma Klein Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole The Dead Zone by Stephen King The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison Always Running by Luis Rodriguez Private Parts by Howard Stern Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett Running Loose by Chris Crutcher Sex Education by Jenny Davis The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier Of course, most of the books are for middle-schoolers or young adult books -- after all the book banners want to control the minds of youth, so it's no surprise that I haven't read many. Still, what does the list make me want to do? Why, read some Judy Blume! (Via Thoughts from Kansas.) 11:03:59 PM    comment []

Bill Bennett Heals America It’s one of those “I can’t believe he said that” moments. Bill Bennett “I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could — if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down.” (Via Oliver Willis - Like Kryptonite To Stupid.) 10:51:22 PM    comment []

"Newsweek" Confirms Evan Kohlmann's Post: Abu Azzam Was Not Al-Zarqawi's "#2" This week's "Terror Watch" column at "Newsweek" has confirmed what Evan Kohlman reported yesterday on The Counterterrorism Blog - that Abu Azzam was not truly al-Zarqawi's "#2" in Iraq. Reporters Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball dug deeper and interviewed senior counterterrorism officials. They quoted Evan: "“If I had a nickel for every No. 2 and No. 3 they’ve arrested or killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, I’d be a millionaire...this guy was not the deputy commander of Al Qaeda.” And they confirmed his conclusions through their interviews: "Three U.S. counterterrorism officials, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject, also told NEWSWEEK today that U.S. agencies did not really consider Abu Azzam to be Zarqawi’s “deputy” even if he did play a relatively high-ranking role in the insurgency. The characterization of Abu Azzam as No. 2 to Zarqawi is “not quite accurate,” said one of the officials. According to this official, it would be more correct to describe Abu Azzam as a “top lieutenant” to Zarqawi who was involved in “running” terrorist operations in Baghdad—not all of Iraq. Other top lieutenants operate in other parts of the country, the official indicated. Two other officials agreed that Abu Azzam was a senior figure, perhaps the emir (leader), of Al Qaeda operations in Baghdad, and that he was of critical importance in moving funds to insurgent operatives in the Iraqi capital area. “He’s a money guy,” one official said. “He is significant but not No. 2 [to Zarqawi],” said another official." Congratulations to Evan for being willing to report the facts, which is our mission here on The Counterterrorism Blog. And congrats to Messrs. Isikoff and Hosenball for following up with an important story. When the Iraqis or Americans nail al-Zarqawi's #2 (and he will get nailed), we will celebrate it here, but not until it actually happens. (Via The Counterterrorism Blog.) Steve: Randy was on to something. They keep saying they've got #2, but they never mention #1 any more, and all these #2s turn out to be minor functionaries a couple days after the press releases go out. 10:27:16 PM    comment []

THE NATIONAL DEBT: Here's an interesting graph on ... THE NATIONAL DEBT: Here's an interesting graph on debt accumulation in the last few decades and the presidents under whose watch it occurs. Here's an adjusted graph, putting the debt as a percentage of GNP. Draw your own conclusions. (Via Daily Dish.) 10:19:53 PM    comment []

About that Drinking Story that's Making the Rounds Some cogent comments about the National Enquirer piece last week saying that Bush had taken up drinking again. They point out as bad as it would be to have a drunk president, in Bush's case, a sober one could be worse! Oddly, we may have as much to fear from a sober Bush as a drunk Bush if Katherine van Wormer's analysis, published at HNN two years ago, is correct. A Professor of Social Work at the University of Northern Iowa, she contends that Bush suffers from all the classic symptoms of the dry drunk: Exaggerated self-importance and pomposity Grandiose behavior A rigid, judgmental outlook Impatience Childish behavior Irresponsible behavior Irrational rationalization Projection Overreaction Which certainly does seem to describe him. (Via POTUS.) 10:14:04 PM    comment []

GOP history lesson What the 101 Airborne was doing under Republican President Eisenhower What the 82 Airborne is doing under our current Republican leadership Which Republican party did you think you were voting for? Did you get it? edit: come to think of it, which one of these leaders won their war? (Via Sisyphus Shrugged.) 10:06:30 PM    comment []

Daring Fireball: The English-Likeness Monster John Gruber digs into AppleScript and finds it wanting: This is AppleScript at its worst. It was a grand and noble idea to create an English-like programming language, one that would seem approachable and unintimidating to the common user. But in this regard, AppleScript has proven to be a miserable and utter failure. Yup. I spent a lot of time and energy on AppleScript back within a year or two of its first appearance. I even wrote a short book on scripting the Finder for System 7.5, I think it was. The language trips you up so much in its attempt to be like English (though I never got bit as seriously as Gruber does). It's nearly unique, though, in its attempt to create a standard sort of grammar for describing what all sorts of programs and system utilities do. Compare this with the kind of namespace pollution that you have in PHP, which got really out of hand. AppleScript tried to create a concise grammar for dealing with all sorts of different things, where in PHP, it seems, they just kept adding functions! I do have a possible AppleScript programming job on the horizon, though, so maybe I shouldn't condemn it too soon. 9:55:37 PM    comment []

Holy Squid! Photos Offer First Glimpse of Live Deep-Sea Giant Get your Giant Squid Pictures right here! 9:46:43 PM    comment []

Chopra and Shermer This is a fascinating point-counterpoint between Deepak Chopra and Michael Shermer on the virtues of skepticism. It's good reading; I have my personal biases, but it seems to me that Shermer has the best of the argument. I guess I'd ask Chopra what's the alternative to skepticism? Credulousness? If you're not skeptical about things, that is if you don't ask for reasoned proofs of the unusual, how do you know what to beleive? If you're not skeptical, then don't you just believe what the last person told you? How do you decide what to believe? Idealism thus persists in popular culture, but science has felled it on practically every academic front. To be honest, the assault was stunning, and victory was based on the simplest tactic. “Show me what you can prove, not what you believe.” Using experimental proof as its standard, science sent idealism scurrying in baffled confusion. Darwin defeated teleology, the age-old principle that Nature has a goal and purposeful design. I don't see how science is opposite to "idealism," unless by idealism he means credulousness. What I read of science is more idealistic that what I read of, say faith healing. 9:14:21 PM    comment []

"I learned about sex from 'Betty and... "I learned about sex from 'Betty and Veronica,' economics from 'Donald Duck,' and philosophy from 'Peanuts,'" Spiegelman said. "I should have been prepared when aliens took over the government." A report on Art Spiegelman's history of comics lecture. (Via Blog of a Bookslut.) 7:20:05 PM    comment []

Another bucket, please! A brilliant scene from Monty Pythons movie "the Meaning of Life". It's Mr. Creosote's Barfatorium! (Via Jaggle English.) 7:17:58 PM    comment []

Ashley Smith shared meth with captor It's now come out (via her book) that Ashley Smith, who was taken hostage by Brian Nichols after his shooting at an Atlanta courthouse, shared her crystal meth stash with her captor in addition to sharing with him about Rick Warren's Purpose-Driven Life. She says in her new book that she stopped using drugs the night before she was taken hostage, and that it was her hostage experience that persuaded her that she was a drug addict. (Via The Lippard Blog.) 6:58:51 PM    comment []

FREE POT! in San Francisco on September 30th The FREE POT! Patients' Rights Rally in Support of Medical Cannabis will be taking place in San Francisco's Civic Center Plaza from 4:20pm to 8:00pm on Friday, September 30th. The event will include speakers and musical artists. More info about the event On September 15th, the SF San Francisco Planning Commission recommended Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi's proposal for the regulation of medical marijuana dispensary clinics. In an Evans-McDonough poll of San Francisco residents that was released September 14, 91% of respondents had said that they support medical cannabis for people whose doctors recommend it. Free Pot! organizers say that this demonstrates that San Franciscans of all backgrounds expect local authorities to stand up for patients' rights and safe access. FREE POT! is sponsored by Americans for Safe Access, HempEvolution.org, the Libertarian Party of San Francisco, and the California Marijuana Party. (Via SF Bay Area Indymedia.) 6:58:47 PM    comment []

Rates of religious belief correlate with homicide, abortion, early mortality, and STDs Pharyngula cites and quotes from a study in the Journal of Religion and Society which observes that In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies. The United States is almost always the most dysfunctional of the developing democracies, sometimes spectacularly so. (Via The Lippard Blog.) 4:15:58 PM    comment []

Bush's Friend Tom Delay Indicted! U.S. Representative Tom DeLay, the second-highest-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, was indicted by a Texas grand jury on a single count of criminal conspiracy, according to the grand jury clerk. DeLay, 58, who faces up to two years in prison, will temporarily step aside as House majority leader, he said in a statement. House Speaker Dennis Hastert said he will recommend that Representative David Dreier of California to replace DeLay, the Associated Press reported. Two former campaign aides, John Colyandro and Jim Ellis, were also charged with conspiracy by the grand jury in Austin, Texas, said Linda Estrada, the court clerk. Can't wait to see the Hammer behind bars! And I love this, from "Majority Leader DeLay is someone the president considers a friend," said President Bush's spokesman, Scott McClellan. "The president looks forward to continuing to work closely with the majority leader to get things done on behalf of the American people." 11:15:27 AM    comment []

Distant Galaxy is Too Massive For Current Theories Distant galaxy in a Hubble Ultra Deep Field image. Image credit: Hubble. Click to enlarge. Sep 27, 2005 - The latest images released from the Hubble Space Telescope pinpoint an enormous galaxy located almost 13 billion light-years away - at a time when the Universe was only 800 million years old. This galaxy contains 8 times the mass of stars as the Milky Way, and really shouldn't exist according to current astronomical theories. This research demonstrates that mature stars and large galaxies formed much earlier than astronomers had ever expected. Full Story Related Stories Discuss this Story (Via Universe Today.) 8:50:56 AM    comment []

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