Spies in the Stacks
Lori Bonfitto and Marie Laure Leger have written a play called Spies in the Stacks. It's the story of a librarian being asked by the FBI after the Cuban Missle Crisis to divulge information about her patrons. She ends up becoming obsessed with a Cuban woman she spies on in the library. It will be playing in January at the WOW Cafe Theatre on 59 E. 4th St. in New York.
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
9:35:53 AM
Preorder Redux
It's time to preorder your copy of Revolting Librarians Redux!
[TT] McFarland
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:04:55 PM
Keeping kids in the dark
Web filters tend to block out useful health info for teens.
[TT] ABC News
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:03:35 PM
Censorship in the US
Tad Crawford and Kay Murray have written a nice little overview of censorship in the US.
[TT] Publishers Marketing Association
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:02:42 PM
Jamie Kellner's an idiot
Personally, I don't think it's reasonable for "consumers pay 1 cent per commercial skipped" by their Tivo or their ReplayTV. I also don't think it's reasonable to call these devices "'the Napster of the future." And Jamie Kellner's opinion that not watching commercials is tantamount to stealing is far from reasonable.
If you've ever watched TNN or Oxygen, you've seen the black bar at the bottom of the screen that displays the show name, the network logo, and (in Oxygen's case) factoids culled from the shows. Get used to them, because pretty soon, every network that's threatened by PVRs will be showing little advertising blurbs on them.
[TT] Slashdot
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
12:54:36 PM
You say Illuminati, I say Scientology
It was pointed out to me that the Information Awareness Office logo I referred to the other day looks more Illuminati than Scientology. It's a good point.
[TT] via email
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:29:00 PM
Bush signs .kids act
President Bush has signed the Dot-Kids Implementation and Efficiency Act, which creates a childen-safe domain. (Note I slightly misreported this in my original post. If I ever learn how to read, I'll be dangerous.)
[TT] Washington Post
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:26:00 PM
Flesh Public Library
Ohio's Flesh Public Library recently discovered that www.fleshpublic.lib.oh.us is being blocked by their web filter. So their URL is officially www.piqua.lib.oh.us.
[TT] Library Journal
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:17:05 PM
One who has seen THE EYE!
The New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg chimes in on the Information Awareness Office.
"The Information Awareness Office's official seal features an occult pyramid topped with mystic all-seeing eye, like the one on the dollar bill."
No kidding. Take a look at it. Do Scientologists run the federal government now or something?
[TT] The New Yorker
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
4:44:21 PM
China's sporadic internet censorship
A hint to why China's population is so large: while the government is filtering out news and education sites, they're not blocking porn.
[TT] BBC News
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:04:35 PM
Sensibility
And now, ladies and gentlemen, a sensible way for public libraries to web filtering.
Not that someone isn't complaining: "Why is 14 the cutoff age? Any child at any age is vulnerable to looking at undesirable things on the screen. 18 is better." Probably because the library assumes that by 14, parents have had THE TALK with their pubescent children. That's my theory, anyway.
[TT] The Olympian
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
4:20:29 PM
Homeland Security and a little TIA
Big Brother is coming soon, thanks to the Homeland Security Act! Okay, I'm overstating that slightly, but there is some scary stuff in there, eh kids?
Sort of related is Tom Tomorrow's take on the Information Awareness Office.
[TT] Wired & This Modern World
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
11:18:01 AM
SomaFM: back from the dead
The passage of the Small Webcaster Settlement Act of 2002 means that many shuttered webcasts are streaming again. This is great news for SomaFM fans.
[TT] Thomas
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
1:42:23 PM
Quiz on Harry Potter and the Bible
David Buckna forwarded me the link to Hollywood Jesus' quiz about Harry Potter and the Bible.
[TT] Hollywood Jesus via email
posted by Chris Zammarelli at
10:23:23 AM
