eSt 2005

Not So Fun Facts

World Murders (per capita). Per capita figures expressed per 1000 population.
Crime statistics are often better indicators of prevalence of law enforcement and willingness to report crime, than actual prevalence.

Murders
1. Colombia 0.63
2. South Africa 0.51
3. Jamaica 0.32
4. Venezuela 0.32
5. Russia 0.19
6. Mexico 0.13
7. Lithuania 0.10
8. Estonia 0.10
9. Latvia 0.10
10. Belarus 0.09

Murders with firearms (per capita)
1. South Africa 0.74
2. Colombia 0.52
3. Thailand 0.31
4. Zimbabwe 0.04
5. Mexico 0.03
6. Costa Rica 0.03
7. Belarus 0.03
8. United States 0.02
9. Uruguay 0.02
10. Lithuania 0.02

Source: Seventh United Nations Survey of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems, covering the period 1998 - 2000 (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Centre for International Crime Prevention)

*Notice that the stat for overall murders is lower than for murders with firearms for South Africa which is in actuality impossible.

PROVINCES AND TERRITORIES RANKED BY HOMICIDE RATE, 2003
PROVINCE/TERRITORY (based on Statistics Canada reports for the year 2003)

PER 100,000
(1) Nunavut 10.21
(2) Northwest Territories 9.55
(3) Saskatchewan 4.12
(4) Manitoba 3.70
(5) Yukon 3.22
(6) British Columbia 2.24
(7) Alberta 2.00
(8) Ontario 1.45
(9) Quebec 1.34
(10) New Brunswick 1.07
(11) Newfoundland 0.96
(12) Nova Scotia 0.85
(13) Prince Edward Island 0.73


TEN WORST STATES FOR MURDER, 2003
STATE (based on FBI Uniform Crime Reports for the year 2003)

PER 100,000
(1) Louisiana 13.0
(2) Maryland 9.5
(3) Mississippi 9.3
(4) Nevada 8.8
(5) Arizona 7.9
(6) Georgia 7.6
(7) South Carolina 7.2
(8) California 6.8
(9) Tennessee 6.8
(10) Alabama 6.6

Scooby Dooby Doo Where Are You?

Woman Jailed for 'Haunting' Owner of Castle

From the Scotsman:

A Polish woman who harboured a grudge against her husband's employer has been sentenced to four months imprisonment for terrorising the boss by making ghostly sounds at his castle-like estate in Austria.

The 42-year-old woman, whose name was not released, was convicted on Friday on nuisance charges after she allegedly spent weeks masquerading as a ghost and making mysterious noises, Austrian television reported.

Police captured the woman on videotape after the jittery owner, who employed the suspect's husband, begged authorities in the alpine province of South Tyrol to solve the mystery.

The haunted owner had complained of hearing footsteps in the hallways and slamming doors late at night at the estate near Austria's southern border with Italy.

It was unclear why the Polish woman had become angry.

Who Would Have Guessed?

Funny world. A new CIA report has concluded that Iraq has become an incubator for terrorists. No one foresaw this happening did they? Besides my 8 year old nephew and Woody Harrelson, and most likely Noam Chomsky said something about this, oh and almost everybody who didn't have their head stuck in a bucket. No WMD's, a new terrorist Ivy League. Good job.

Lost in the Supermarket

I was wandering through the supermarket aisles when I heard the words to an old song. You know how sometimes you just connect to a song so deeply that it changes the way you see things? Well this wasn't one of those moments. This was Pac Man Fever that was bouncing through the Fruit Loops and canned tuna. Like the song says

'I've got Pac-Man Fever, Pac-Man Fever.
It's driving me crazy, driving me crazy.
I've got Pac-Man Fever, Pac-Man Fever.
I'm going out of my mind, going out of my mind.
I've got Pac-Man Fever, Pac-Man Fever.
I'm going out of my mind, going out of my mind.

What a horrible horrible song, but such honest lyrics. It was a big hit in the 80's for a duo called Buckner and Garcia (no relation to Jerry?). The duo followed up with the Do the Donkey Kong which signaled an end to the creative teams brief but glorious career in the limelight. Or did it? Apparently Pac Man Fever is still driving them crazy. You can order the CD online and play Pac man in their arcade.

"A man can't just sit around."

Thanks to Leslie for pointing out this link about Lawn Chair Larry Walters. The man who rose to an altitude of 16,000 ft in a lawn chair tied to weather ballons. I couldn't stop laughing. Apparently he only wanted to go to 30 ft and took beer and sandwiches with him. Actually I did stop laughing when I read the follow up. Poor Larry committed suicide later on in life. I just wish he had done it by floating away into space rather than using a shotgun, but I guess that's not how despair works. John found additional info here. that claims to have the inside scoop on Larry's story. This version contradicts the casual intent of the flight by indicating that Larry took a CB with him and he reported to his girlfriend on the ground with it. In this version "His goal was to sail across the desert and hopefully make it to the Rocky Mountains in a few days". This makes more 'sense' to me, but the Homeresque (Simpson) version of the dude in his backyard with his beer and lawnchair getting in over his head has it's appeal.

Hurray the Search is Over! Take that France.

Almost two years after the War in Iraq started the search for Sadam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction has come to an end... And they found nothing... And no one apologizes and no one is embarrassed, because somehow the world is a safer place and Democracy is on the march...Sigh.

Blogger Seeks Gainful Employment

Earlier this year a Canadian blogger lost her job over content in a personal blog and now Britian has it's first case of someone being fired over blog content. The details are at the link to the Guardian: "he was dismissed without warning for "gross misconduct" and "bringing the company into disrepute" through the comments he posted on his weblog." I guess the thing to keep in my mind is that a blog is not a private journal but a publiction, not that I think he should have been fired however. A sample

Evil Boss then has cheek to ask me to work one of the bloody bank holidays in the week he refused me off. Cheeky smegger. Said no.

I think maybe he was actually fired for being Gollum.

Thank You!

I forgot to add that I recieved this lovely grapefruit Birthday postcard from Leslie today!

Mac Mini

Check out the new Mac Mini only $499.00 US

Up up and Oops

Doing some background research for Burnham's Black Book I came across this story that took place at the first Central Canada Exhibition in Ottawa in 1888. There was a hot air balloon at the fair and a volunteer was asked to hold the balloon rope before it was launched. A 22 year old named Thomas Wensley came forth and held the rope. In fact he held on even as the balloon ascended to an altitude of 1,000 ft when he finally lost his grip and fell to his death over bank street. it's funny to think that he'd be 117 now.

The Way We Blogged

When I first started blogging I wrote as if only two people I knew very well were reading this. Then I was introduced to a whole new group of people mostly Meades among others. It led to some really great fun and friendships but then at some point people I had never met started dropping by and things changed. I was aware of an audience. This lasted for a while but eventually a certain contingent disappeared. I don't think they liked my pontification or perhaps they were just bored, likely both. On the other hand there were some who only liked my political posts and dropped me for not pounding one note on a daily basis.One blogger listing had me as 'inventive' anther as 'eccentric'. For a while the Glob was listed as one of the top blogs at Blogs Canada and the Glob still gets regular hits from that avenue. This is sounding like an obituary for the Glob and Wail. In any case I have arrived in a kind of blog rut. I think this reflects how my life and environment have changed in the real world. On the otherhand here I am blogging.

The fact is I love writing, drawing and photography, so I'll probably keep at it but I'm not certain what the tone of it will be as this is nowhere near an anonymous blog. I'm on the midst of a slow turning point that started last April and prompted me to leave Montreal and the plan is unfolding.

Star ratS

Did you know that rats can not tell the difference between Dutch and Japanese when played backwards? They can't. Dumb rats. Ah, but did you know they can tell the difference when heard forwards!

Black Hole Fun

What could be more fun than the fabric of space and time spinning wildly.

Happy New Year

Okay I'm late and I'm using a picture from last year, but you know I really mean it. Really.

Carlson (Dick) Tucker Circumsized at Last

Remember when Jon Stewart told Tucker Carlson he was a "dick" last fall on Crossfire? Well Leslie just informed me that Carlson got the boot and Crossfire has been cancelled.
Johnathan Klein Chief Executive of CNN News stated "I guess I come down more firmly in the Jon Stewart camp," in regards to Stewart's criticism of the antagonistic abusive shouting matches that are sold as news programs especially, but not exclusively by FOX.
Is this a sign that CNN is travelling a higher road or just a case of a show having run it's course?

Three Views of Grapefruit Rind

Based on a digital photo I took after breakfast.

Owen Sound Sights

Back in Blue

Well I'm back in Ottawa and I feel so ...lonely. After being with friends and family for the past two weeks it just doesn't seem right to be so alone. It's nice to see all the comments while I was away. This blog world is a kind of family in some ways. I've met so many great people through this, like Val, Jack, Painkiller,Cacoa, Gnat, Kat and Leslie and it's a great and fun way to keep in touch with old friends as well. I hope everyone had a great holiday. Yesterday was my birthday by the way and we had a little party with my nephews and niece and a great choclate cake.Bob and Anna called just before midnight my time and sang Happy Birthday to me as did Sophie. Thanks guys that was really great. Jack wanted to stay up until midnight to see the new year in but I was on the phone and everyone else was asleep so he missed it. Sorry little dude!

We had tons of snow and near death experiences on the highways. Lot's of fun. A really classy and classic Christmas. Ahhhhh back to the grind. Good things ahead though. Okay you see I don't feel so blue nor alone now. The blog has served me well once more.

I tunes Shuffle. The Late Night Friday Frozen Ass Special

1. Elton John - Eldeberry Wine ( I didn't know I had this until now.)

2.Neil Young - Thrasher (One of my favourite songs of all time. When I first heard him singh sings " they were hiding behind hay bales" that's what I was doing on Grandpa's farm. A song of moving along your own path whatever the cost and all the hard goodbyes along the way).

3. Brian Eno & John Cale - Spinning Away (This was on a cassette I bought in 1990 or 1991. I remeber P was mad because I didn;t tell him I bought it. I didn't listen to it for years and then I remembered that "all the stars appeared as the great winds of the planets spiral in" last spring. "Some kind of change, some kind of spinning away..." It was all timing for this song.

4.Pink Floyd - Sheep (This was for a disc I never burned about sheep).

5. Billy Holiday - Autumn in New York ( When my friend Caroline moved from Montreal to NYC I put the Frank version on a tape for her. When she came back to visit in the fall she sang a verse.)

6. Frank Sinatra - It Happened in Monterey (When we were young there was a night in Lisbon when Bob suggested we play this Sinatra tape I had bought in the diner and they did.)

7. The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony (The 'riff' is stolen from Andrew Loog Oldham via a Jagger Richards composition. Oldham sued the Verve and sold "his" song to Nike.

8. Jimmy Cliff - I can See Clearly Now (When I first met Sophie she asked me to play the guitar and this was one of the songs I knew and it became a theme throughout our relationship.)

9. Blur - Boys & Girls ( I first saw/heard this on Italian top of the pops equivalent and thought "You ripped of Bowie" and loved it begrudgingly).

10. Dean Martin - Little Old Wine Drinker Me (Excuse me while I kiss this guy. Purple wine haze drunkard music)

Bleak

Just when I think I've heard it all and am thoroughly jaded something like this happens. A woman in Missouri was murdered and her 8 month old fetus was taken from her body.

Photo Archive

I was going through the old photos on a CD my Dad put together last year and found this one of the beach at the cottage probably taken in the 1940's. That tree on the beach was long gone by the time I was born and if you were to stand on the rock from where the picture was taken your view would be blocked by trees.


My sister and I playing in the snow when we lived in Ottawa.


This is Sam Woodson who may or may not be one of the family members who lived in New Jersey. I'll have to ask my father over the holidays. I don't know the woman's name

Okay I didn't quite play the game right. I see Leslie read the instructions.

Instructions -
1. Open up the music player on your computer.

2. Set it to play your entire music collection.

3. Hit the 'shuffle' command.

4. Tell us the title of the next ten songs that show up (with their musicians), no matter how embarrassing. That’s right, no skipping that Carpenters tune that will totally destroy your hip credibility. It’s time for total musical honesty. Write it up in your blog or journal and link back to at least a couple of the other sites where you saw this.

5. If you get the same artist twice, you may skip the second (or third, or etc.) occurances. You don’t have to, but since randomness could mean you end up with a list of ten song with five artists, you can if you want to.

The first ten songs that came up on shuffle not repeating artists were:

I Tunes Shuffle=
1. Loretta Lynn - Portland Oregon
2. Jackson Browne - Late For the Sky
3. Frank Sinatra - Come Fly With Me
4. U2 - October
5. The Stooges - Search and Destroy
6. Nat King Cole - Autumn Leaves
7. Homer Simpson - I Drank Some Very Good Beer
8. Led Zepplin - In the Evening
9. Earth Wind & Fire - September
10.Big Audio Dynamite - Rush

Separated at Birth

James Taylor





Henry Rollins

I Play Your Game

I Tunes Shuffle=
1. Nina Hagen - African Reggae
2. Led Zepplin - Out on the Tiles
3. Haircut 100 - Love Plus One
4. Sneaker Pimps - Black Sheep
5. Ween - Mister Would You Please Help My Pony

Bad Santa

Baa-ad Santa...Eve ill...Santa

Santa's Little Soul Eater

Devil Lights

Santa Claus is Satan

Just a friendly reminder that Santa Claus (Claws? Clause?) is not your friend.


It's a joke goddammit. A fucking joke. Quit taking things so seriously for christ's sake.....or is it?

And Yet More Snow

I had so much to write here while I rode the 16 home and now I don't. I had dinner with Dave and Sayuri and caught the last bus. The driver was strange looking. Like Harry Dean Staton with a beak and eyes like seeds. I'm sure they gave him this lonely late run because he would scare people in the daylight. The bus was an older model with twisted chrome bars which made the taffy coloured vinyl covered seats look like file folders. The lighting was orange instead of white and shone dimly at the front of the bus and with greater intensity over the backdoors. I was the only passenger through the suburbs until we came to downtown. I saw Christmas lights and no other forms out of the sludge splashed windows. That is only a ten minute ride. It's such a small city even if there are a million people here. It never feels that way. Maybe it's the green belt, maybe it's the standard of living, maybe it's the map in my memory of when it was a smaller place.

It's still snowing. I could take that for many more weeks. Calm steady silent layers build up, a comforter, over a blanket, over a sheet, over the earth. It's the perfect place to sleep.

It's Still Snowing

This is my favourite music for the first snow fall.

More Snow But Rings No More

It's still snowing. It's getting deeper and deeper. There is no doubt that winter has come to stay. It's kind of nice. The last few years the real snow didn't come until the end of December. The year before last it didn't snow until the 24th when it arrived just on cue. It's a shame that the LOTR trilogy is over. It had become a Christmas tradition for the whole family to go and see these films over the last three years. I almost expected that Peter Jackson would have pulled a film version of "The Hobbit" out of his hat unannounced as a surprise for this Christmas. He really should make that film if anyone does.

Winter Wonderland

It's been snowing all weekend and powder puffs of white decorate the outdoors.There is a very Christmasy feel this evening listening to the Vince Guaraldi Trio and walking in the quietly tumbling snow. It's interesting to see which embassies put up holiday decor. For the most part all the European ones do and not the rest. The Russian embassy looks even colder than usual with a driveway of trampled ice that separates it's black iron fence from the bunker style main building. The French embassy around the corne, in contrast, looks warm and inviting, more like a large cottage than an embassy. It has large glass windows and when you walk by you can see the orange lights on. It has a peaked roof gabled with snow. The smell of wood fires burning adds a nice touch to the scene as do the Christmas lights glowing in the hedges through their snow covering. There was more tobagganing in the offing this weekend but I pulled a muscle in an ice fall on Friday that almost had me sliding down a hill on my ass.They only cleared the sidewalks this evening after almost a week of icey sidewalks.

Cassette Recording

There's this old mix on a cassette that Killer Kane AKA Bob made for me years ago that I've been listening to a lot on my walks lately. It's amazing how that takes me back to the time when Nikki and I lived on Edouard-Charles. That was a good year but it was also the year that things started their slow descent. I went to SF that winter and she didn't want to come with me and I think I knew then that things were terribly wrong, but I was not ready to concede, but that's all part of the story all played back in 90 minutes on magnetic tape.

Rock Star Assassination

Dec.08th 1980 was the day John Lennon was shot down in front of his home but Dec. 09 belongs to Dimebag Darell the former lead guitarist of Pantera. He was shot to death while performing with his new band Damageplan in a club in Ohio. I'm sure the TV is plastered with this but I don't watch much TV so I'm guessing. In any case it's upsetting but there is a part of me that wonders why, with all the celebrity obsession that exists, this type of thing doesn't happen more often. In a way performers are natural targets as all kinds of emotions from adoration to spite are projected towards them.

International Human Rights Day

Today is International Human Rights Day. Amnesty International is holding a write-athon.

Dragons Dragons Everywhere

I did some Christmas shopping this evening and it wasn't unpleasant. I walked down to Chapters and actually had fun with the saleswoman who entertained me with puppets. We talked about books and Storyland where we had both went as kids. It was an actual human experience. Then when I was in line I met Paula from my Amnesty group so it felt like I was in a village instead of a city.

Dragons were the order of the evening and I got this 3-headed beasty for Joe



Jack got a book called "Dragon-Rider" and for the two to share I bought "How to Train a Dragon".

The puppets were really well crafted. I like this Border Collie


and this Chameleon



All images are from www.folkmanis.com

Old Time Radio

This site has a lot of sample MP3's from old radio dramas. They are kind of cheezy but also kind of fun to listen to with headphones on while your going to sleep.They often include the ads of the original broadcast. Of course I have a preference for the old Horror and Mystery shows like "Lights Out!" and "The Inner Sanctum". They used to play these on CHUM FM on Sunday nights back in the 1980's which is where I first learned about them.


12 year old Miriam Wolfe from the Witch's Tale

Virtual Surreality

I had a nasty head cold over the past two days. yesterday I slept for 13 hours straight and then went to bed at 9:30. So now I can't sleep. One of the few things I did yesterday was to look for Flash games on the internet as that's about all my brain could handle. I found this site with all sorts of free on-line games and some of them were strange to say the least. In one you are a baby seal and you club people and collect their skins. In a Japanese game you are a cartoon photographer who has to take nude pictures of Japanese Manga women to send to aliens. Some of the women demand that you supply them with cocaine before they will pose "a day without drugs on Sexy Island burdens my heart" says one wayward lass. Another poor waif asks you to raise her cat from the dead before she will shed her clothes. I only lasted until I found the town dealer who is a naked Betty Rubble with pendulous breasts who stands on the street corner. I'm not making this up.

All the music is Japanese pop and you can buy different songs in the CD shop in the game, each worse than the previous. And if you don't like the game your playing you can enter the town arcade and play a game where you have to run people off of the road and shoot at cop cars.

I' wouldn't be sure that I didn't hallucinate the whole thing except that you can find it in google.It's called Frank's Adventure 3 and it's weird in that way that only the Japanese seem to have perfected. This is a site that kids would easily be attracted to so I guess they will learn a few things.

Twenty Years Ago

If you haven't seen it yet you should check out the opening of Jonnie's time capsule from 1984.

Gorillas and Volcanoes

Some nice photos by Sebastião Salgado taken in Virunga.

Red Ears

Years ago when I first moved to Quebec one of the things I noticed is that in cold weather everyone wore hats. This seems like the obvious thing to do in cold weather but I had previously been living in southern Ontario where for some reason wearing a hat or toque was not a given. I'm not certain where that practice comes from but I had forgotten about it until moving to Ottawa. Today it is -17 C (1.39 F) with the wind chill. My glasses felt like they were frozen to my face. Even at this temperature I counted five men out of nine without any head coverage. They all had short to medium length hair and their ears were red. I don't remember seeing that in Montreal. It's a small sample but that's more than 50% of men I encountered. In contrast, of the five women I counted, only one had no head coverage and she had long thick hair; three of the five women had hoods in addition to hats. I'll have to do a broader survey but not today, it's too cold outside.

Lucky Guess or Astute?

Make of it what you will, but this is certainly a timely quote

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
H.L. Mencken in the Baltimore Sun, 1920

The Veri-Chip

In October the FDA approved the use of the Verichip a micro-chip that is implanted under the skin and contains identification keys to unlock medical records. The Verichip company is also researching and marketing the chip as a security and financial identification tool. At present the chip can only be scanned at close range. This technology has been used in animals for a number of years. The potential for misuse is great. It's probably an identification technology that will become standard in light of identity theft issues and "the war on terror". Have you ever seen those crackpot religious comics that warn about the government forcing people to be branded with UPC codes. They call these the "mark of the beast". The Veri-chip feeds right into there world view. You don't need an implant to be tracked in the information age. Nor does it guarentee against identity theft for those who can replicate info from one implant to another but the whole idea is certainly creepy when you think of the worst case scenarios.

Foosball Fool

Suze and Sue came up tonight. They have a show on Monday here. We met at a Canadian/Indian restaurant that served vindaloo and nachos. It was a neighbourhood joint and upstairs was a small dance floor and a foosball game. Suze had never played before and Dave and I dragged him up. Sayuri and Sue took one side and Dave and I played the other while Suze watched. He decided to give it a go. He wiped us up. We forgot that he is an Indonesion shadow-puppet master. The foos men where just another set of puppets to him.

The Opposite of Steep

The city is covered with snow and the Christmas lights are up. Tonight I took the 16 thhrough the city centre to Westboro. I couldn't see where I was going because the windows were splattered with mud. I had to peek between the grit and 'feel' my way. As the passengers thinned out I could tell I had reached Churchill and waited for a zig, a zag and a final zig. Dave put a new gate up for Darius with the "gatepounder". There is a tool for everything.

It was fun sliding down the hill but they posted a "No Sliding" sign which was not there last year, says Dave. Even so at the bottom of the hill they had stacked bales of hay because it really is a perfect sliding hill in the middle of the city without much other use in the winter, and they know it will be used for sliding. Sayuri was scared and dug her heels into the snow as she bore downhill. Dave went down with Darius on the leash in one hand. He lept back and forth in Dave's path like the shepherd he is. I rocketed down, 10 years old again, kissing the snow in a bombastic tumble. Here's a diagram of my favourite sliding techniques.




Afterward we headed home and could see the Orion constellation frozen in the dark stratosphere. Once home, I threw my icey pants in the dryer and drank some plum & chili tea that Sayuri had brought back from Japan. It's a strange flavour but one I instantly liked. Winter is here.

God is (a googlependium)

Part I
a killer
a verb
a drug
a very important person
a liberal
a mathematician
a Dj
a virus
a theory in crisis
a lie
a psychopath
a girl
a useless and costly hypothesis

Part II
a magnificent figure to emulate
a customer
a lot like my Granny
a perfect father
a Trinity
a neutral spectator
a phenomenon of the mind
a narcoleptic
a bullet
a masturbator
a welcome guest
a cause of sin
a film with high intentions

Part III
a comedian
a thought
a platypus
a crazy woman
a warrior
a bad salesman
a cat
a dancefloor
a machine
a negro
a scientist
a chubby chaser
a creation of Walt Disney Studios

A Quick One Before I GO

I received an interesting dispatch today on the response to Val's new direction with her latest show "SUPERSIZE".The subject matterleaps into consumer/pop culture. The Melster and company will all be there tomorrow and I wish I could have made it too, alas I find myself tobogganing this evening instead. (Uhm that's not why I couldn't make it by the way). It's been snowing all day, just a light snow but it's building up. I think it will be a rough ride down the slopes however. Pray for me!

Satan is... ( a googlependium)

Part I
a mathematician
a fallen angel
a concept
a role model
a force of evil
a creature
a defeated foe
a defineable (if vaguely) external force
a UNIX based tool
a put down
a spirit being
a 12-minute featurette
a symbol

Part II
a master deceiver
a real turn-off
a real being
a fabricated entity
a Murderer
a shoe salesman
a word
a nerd
a false god
a pickle
a liar
a Woman
a loser

Part III
a fictional character
a Christian creation
a lawyer
A suicide soul bomber
a wrong or slanderous label for a legitimate Egyptian God
a flashier dresser than Jesus
a cosmic force
a lame duck ruler
a bad Jerry Springer episode
a hero
a necessity
a lot more subtle than most
a nice surprise

Parliament Hill Sunday Nov . 28, 2004

What the Hell?

Hey that Satan was a Lesbian picture vanished! I just reposted it and it showed up in the preview. Okay one more time:

Theory Shmeory

K-AT directed me to this web page that satirizes the Cobb County Georgia anti-evolution textbook stickers.

Leslie points out this attempt to ban books that have any gay reference from libraries in Alabama.

And I'll add a piece on censorship of children's literature in Canada

You Can't Keep a Good Devil Down

I'll try this again.

Vanishing Post

That's weird! I had posted these two old bookcovers and now the post has vanished! Funny thing is the books were called "Satan Was a Man" and "Satan Was a Lesbian". Did anyone see that yesterday? I think that blogger cached an earlier verson of the posts page perhaps. In any case I have to sleep but I just thought that was weird that the post vanished. This time it's not a joke.

Web Libel

Here's another current case of an individual being sued for alleged slanderous comments posted on the internet. In this case a woman from Leominster Mass. who was upset with a local car dealership. The case was settled out of court.