From the Desktop of Dane Carlson...
The Civil War was not all about slavery: "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union." [From the Desktop of Dane Carlson] 

On Life and Stupidity...
The Most Challenged Books of 2002

"Harry Potter series tops list of most challenged books four years in a row.... The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom received a total of 515 reports of challenges last year, a 15 percent increase since 2001....

The 'Ten Most Challenged Books of 2002' reflect a wide variety of themes. The books, in order of most frequently challenged are:

• Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling, for its focus on wizardry and magic.
• Alice series, by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, for being sexually explicit, using offensive language and being unsuited to age group.
• "The Chocolate War" by Robert Cormier (the "Most Challenged" book of 1998), for using offensive language and being unsuited to age group.
• "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou, for sexual content, racism, offensive language, violence and being unsuited to age group.
• "Taming the Star Runner" by S.E. Hinton, for offensive language.
• "Captain Underpants" by Dav Pilkey, for insensitivity and being unsuited to age group, as well as encouraging children to disobey authority.
• "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, for racism, insensitivity and offensive language.
• "Bridge to Terabithia" by Katherine Paterson, for offensive language, sexual content and Occult/Satanism.
• "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" by Mildred D. Taylor, for insensitivity, racism and offensive language.
• "Julie of the Wolves" by Julie Craighead George, for sexual content, offensive language, violence and being unsuited to age group." [ALA, via The ResourceShelf

[The Shifted Librarian]

I'm sure these books were all challenged by people who either a) haven't read them, b) didn't UNDERSTAND them, c) flunked english in school, d) hated their parents, e) all of the above.

I'm going for e!

 

Busted...
Office surfers may face wipeout. A crackdown on office Internet use could dent demand for online services. Farewell to streaming media, eBay and "The Sims"? [CNET News.com]

Ok....streaming media and eBay...no big. But who the hell has time to play The Sims at work??? If you can play The Sims at work you don't deserve to get fired, you should be management!

 

Too sweet honey child...
The most annoying spam of 2002. A list of the most irritating spam messages sent in 2002 has been put together by an e-mail filtering firm. [BBC News | Technology | UK Edition]