American Madness

Each year some Nazi-like parents in the middle of the country feel that some fantastic book is offensive and should be banned from libraries. Pretty much it depends on the community to decide whether to follow through on this parents request and ban the book or to allow freedom of speech to prevail and make all books available to the masses.

Unfortunately there are a number of books that have been banned from public schools and libraries across the country. Last year the book at the top of the list for banning was “And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell about a pair of male penguins that raise a baby penguin.

Why do I bring this up now you ask (and I’m glad you did)? Well, this upcoming week, starting tomorrow (sept. 29th) and going through October 6th, is Banned Book Week, sponsored by the American Library Association. The motto for the week is “Free People Read Freely.” Accoridng to the website:

Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year. Observed since 1982, this annual ALA event reminds Americans not to take this precious democratic freedom for granted. This year, 2007, marks BBW’s 26th anniversary (September 29 through October 6).

BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

To take part in banned book week all you need to do is pick up a banned or challenged book and read away. Do it in public, don’t be afraid to let people see you reading it, after all, that is the point, isn’t it?

Oh, also related, USA Today reports that the Federal government, after receiving enough pressure has decided to put banned religious books back into prison libraries.

For a list of banned books you can check out the ALA website, the site Banned Books, or just do a quick Google search for them. Or if you are too lazy for any of that you can just pick up Fahrenheit 451 or To Kill a Mocking Bird.or all the Harry Potter books, so, you’ve got some options.

In choosing a picture for this post there were so many good different images to choose from I decided to put a link to the Google Image Search here.

As I type this I know my computer is headed for a crash, so I am going to make this brief, to the point and save it before I reach the point of impending doom where I actually loose data.

Anyway, I came across this article the other day about… well, the title kind of explains it: “Peruvians get sick from apparent meteorite crater,” of course, you guessed it, this is another one from Reuter’s “Oddly Enough” section of the paper meaning they don’t really see it as news, but more of a fluff piece that people will enjoy reading and maybe even have a nice little chuckle over.

Well, I read the article, the gist of it being that over 100 Peruvians who have visited the site of an apparent meteorite crater (that crashed down over the weekend of the 15th) have been vomiting and experiencing massive headaches. After some researchers had a chance to check it out they said, yes, it probably was a meteorite and that folks were probably getting sick from the gases it had released.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t exactly find that to be very comforting, nor would I think the sick Peruvians would either. I’d want a much more detailed explanation of what these so-called gases were and an explanation of how long these symptoms were going to last (as of the writing of the article folks were sick for as many as 3 days already). A mysterious meteorite falls to Earth and folks near it start getting massively sick- this sounds like the start of a comibook or Sci-Fi monster movie, not something to be written off and tossed into the “Oddly Enough” bin.

Also, I guess there is a moral to this story- Don’t go visiting random craters that mysteriously appear over the weekend, you never know what they might contain or what might happen to you.

When Monsterous Peruvians infect with some space virus come attacking your town, don’t say I didn’t warn you…

Okay, time to restart.

Next weekend we have one of my favorite city wide events happening:

Open House New York is a day when a number New York buildings and sites throw their doors open and invite the public to come and see what they’ve got going on. This is the 5th year te program has been running and each year it just seems it get bigger and bigger.

In the past I have gotten a chance to visit: the “Hidden Harbors” around the city, the Marble Cemetery on 2nd Avenue (one of the oldest in the city), the Free Mason’s Lodge on 23rd Street and the High Line.

Almost all of the locations are free to visit, though some do require a reservation in advance and some of them fill up pretty quickly, though you have a slight advantage, the listings just went up today. It’s really worth checking out and there are some awesome places to see, so check their website for participating locations (and more will probably be added in the next week) and take a peak at some of the hidden treasures of the city.

I am hoping they again offer a chance to see the City Hall Subway Station alog gthe 6 line… Otherwise I might just have to illegally ride the train around the turn… Nah, I’m just kidding, I would never do anything like that

Yes, it sounds like gibberish, but apparently it is an all-in-one search engine/desktop utility- It has a clock, calendar, notepad, calculator, Google-powered search engine, plus a number of other links, features and functions.

What I really like about Poodwaddle isn’t any of that- it is the special clocks page.

So you click on the clocks link and it takes you to a page with a number of different style clocks, big deal. But if you look closely at the top there is a set of scrolling clocks that track various statistics based on previously recorded data, watch as 18 people a day contract leprosy, or keep an eye out for the 100,000,000 person is born this year (should be happening in about 2 or 3 days), or as other species become extinct (approx. 52 so far today or almost 20,000 this year). It is interesting to watch the various statistics. There are other clocks to checkout, but this one is by far my favorite. Neat little site to just check out though.

I am a sucker for nostalgia television.

Unfortunately I have found that a lot of the shows I loved as a kid just don’t live up to their hype. What never fails though are the opening credits of the shows. You remember those theme songs as if the shows just got canceled yesterday (or as if you watched them every single day during your formative years). Those opening notes put a smile on your face and have you fondly remembering your favorite show without having to see all the poor, poor acting or super cheap (or super-old) special effects.

Now you can watch the opening credits with all the theme song glory on YouTube. Rather then having to sort through all the shlock on YouTube to hunt down these gems, you can simply check them out on LuiscmkTv’s Video Page, where 100 different opening credits are posted. It’s an excellent way to waste a few hours and relive the television of your childhood.

I received a bottle of Ty Ku in the mail the other day. It sounded pretty interesting as a Sake mixed with liquor and I was looking forward to trying it out, especially after my recent trip to Japan. Then the other day I found out that the Joy of Sake festival is in New York City today, and as you might want to head there for all your fine Sake tasting, I figured this made a good tie-in for a post, so I made a point this weekend to drink some Ty Ku.

The bottle, as you can see, is pretty impressive: frosted glass with a green liquid inside. When you lift the bottle from the table it lights up, glowing green as you pour the beverage (or as the website says: “the patented bottle illuminates with a soft green glow when ever it is poured, creating yet another industry first, and setting a new standard in out-of-the-bottle thinking.”)

The materials I got with the bottle name drop like all other marketing materials do, citing Leonardo DiCaprio, Paris Hilton and other famous names as fans of Ty Ku. After trying Ty Ky for the first time all I could think was that these celebs must be lacking taste (though, in all fairness, I never thought Paris Hilton had any taste to begin with).

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The bloggers here at AmericanMadness (and Peter Shankman from PR Differently) occasionally share articles with each other over email, earlier this week we were “discussing” Fred Thompson in the context of the article “Fred Thompson: Desperate Republicans Cheer for a Reagan Wannabe” posted on AlterNet.

Of course his various television and movie roles were discussed (including his stint as the air traffic controller in Die Hard 2) and the article touches on his platform- or lack thereof. Matt Taibbi writes that Thompson doesn’t have much of a campaign, that in terms of US politics, he is essentially a new low, not saying much about anything while he is on the campaign trail, putting off tougher questions and saying we need change without ever really addressing what needs changing and how. Taibbi seems to fear that Thompson will get elected by being the candidate that allows voters to daze off while listening to him speak and not actually missing anything, he compares Thompson’s campaigning to watching television, you don’t really need to pay attention to it and it allows you not to really think about anything. Based on all of this Taibbi seems to think that Thompson has a pretty decent shot at the ‘08 elections.

I find myself agreeing with Taibbi’s view that Thompson has a shot but for different reasons. Forget the fact that he isn’t saying very much in his campaigning (which technically only “officially” started at the beginning of September) and that he is behind on the fund-raising efforts where McCain and Giulliani both have a significant lead on him. I think what gives Thompson his best shot at scoring the bid for President and possibly winning in ‘08 is Law & Order.

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Remember about 5 years ago when everyone was all abuzz about the new “Do Not Call ” Registry? You signed up and it prevented telemarketers from getting your information and calling you. Great idea, and for the most part it worked. If you are still receiving what you believe to be are telemarketer calls, well that is probably because you have done business with the company, they can retain your number and harass you for up to 18 months after the initial business was conducted.

Anyway, when you initially signed up for the National Do Not Call Registry it was for a 5 year period, and those 5 years are just about to elapse (well if you signed up during the first year at least). It might not be a bad idea to head on over to their website and re-sign up for the registry to keep your cell phone and home phone telemarketer free for the next 5 years, or you can simply call them at 1-888-382-1222.

Oh and if you feel like you have still been getting telemarketers calling and it was unrelated to something you purchased (and your name is on the registry) you can report them and they will receive a fine up to $11,000 (though charitable organizations, political or survey work are all exempt).

Google is being sued yet again. They must be pretty used to this feeling by now. It is starting to seem like every other day produces a new lawsuit for Google. A lot of the suits they settle out of court, especially the ones involving product theft and stolen ideas. They figure keeping their name out of the news is probably a good idea if they’re to keep their squeaky clean image.

Well, I am guessing this time around they aren’t going to settle. Dylan Stephen Jayne is suing Google for $5 billion for…wait for it… “Crimes Against Humanity.”

Yes, you read that correctly, he is suing Google for crimes against humanity. He’s claiming that Google aids terrorists and has put his personal safety at risk. How so, you ask? (And I’m glad you did.) Well, let’s allow Dylan to explain for himself:

“I, Dylan Stephen Jayne, plaintiff, has [sic] a social security number that when the social security number is turned upside down in its entirety it is a scrambled code that does spell the name Google®.”

Dylan clearly feels that this scrambled coding in the name Google that is the equivalent of his social security number makes him a prime target for identity theft. And who wouldn’t be worried? The Google name is blasted all over the internet these days with nary a thought of Dylan’s personal security.

I, for one, think Dylan has a very strong case here, full of merit; anyone claiming it is just “mental illness” and that he is a kook is just plain crazy.

It all almost looks fake-

The images in this gallery, posted at Pics Yard (a site I am not that familiar with that has no information on it) are pretty incredible. Bullets caught on high speed camera, fired through crayons, roses and various other objects make this a really eye catching gallery of images.

Though there isn’t much else to it. Just the 12 images, not much else- though the pear does remind me of the opening credits to C.S.I. (which starts its new season this Thursday).