Thursday, September 30, 2004

Telling it like it is...

This is pretty funny... and i really am in awe of the techies who were able to hack.. :)

The Sun (UK) reported that either a malicious customer or a disguntled employee hack into NTL's (a cable company) phone system. Callers to the company were told,
"You are through to NTL customer services. We don't give a (expletive) about you. We are never here. We just (expletive) you about, basically, and we are not going to handle any of your complaints. Just (expletive) off and leave us alone."

What kind of message would be good for the users of the libraries?

hrrmmpp....

"You have reached XXX library. If you have fines on your account... you deserve it. That's for returning your items late/ damaging the items / losing the items. Other than that, if you can't find the items on the shelves, that's cos YOU don't put it back properly or stole from the library. Quit complaining and do something constructive."

Oh well... might not be the best.. but that's the best i can come up in 3 mins.

On a more serious note.. on a blog?? How can it be?? har har... It's the Banned Book Week in the States... They celebrate it to remind themselves of the freedom of speech, freedom to choose and to voice opinions... and to ensure that even the unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints is available to all who wish to read them...blah blah blah...

Anyway.. what i found really interesting were the type of books that were frequently challenged or banned.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Witches by Roald Dahl
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell

Some of these books are my favorites... Where's Waldo's banned?? It's just a simple and fun puzzle book... oh well..maybe there's some hidden pictures that i couldn't spot. Sometimes i really don't understand how people can be so uptight about stuff... does it mean that reading about it will cause a reader to emulate the protagonist/antagoist in the story? Eating fried worms is a great source of protein.. haven't You heard?

Reminds me of how i used to try to grow a money tree by putting, planting and watering coins in a flower pot cos i really thought that it could grow into a money tree.. Damned that Standard Chartered TV ad.. for giving me such false hopes!!....

BTW... the MPH warehouse sale was on over the weekend.. and i spent over $100 on books books and books... it wasn't as good as the Penguin book sale which had lots of great classics and novels on your must-have lists (or books that you have to read so that you'd be seen as an intellectual)... but you still get to get hardcover children's books for $10 - $15. Shel Silverstein's The Missing Piece, A Giraffe and a half and Lafcadio, the Lion who Shot Back, each costing $15.. great buys!!!

Can't wait till the next book sale!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

More banned books:

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html

Isaak said...

Hmm ... even some librarians in Singapore are guilty of being uptight about the contents of books in their collection. Who are we to judge the content of the books? Shouldn't it be left to the individual to decide for himself/herself what is their level of tolerance?

If everything is decided by the 'government', then the call for us to have a more open-minded society would have failed miserably.

olkgal said...

yeah.. where's waldo's banned cos one of the books had an image of a partially nude female on the beach.... someone has got really good eyesight... go figure how tiny the figure must be.. :)

then again... must be the artist purposely slipped in something?