July 200331 July 2003 Ya gotta read this
motion to dismiss criminal charges against a teenager who allegedly
called his school principal some nasty things. It is truly delightful. The lawyer from the
public defender's office defends and praises the word "fuck"
-- and the whole "Fuck family" -- with much humor for about 6
pages, citing a bunch of court decisions, several online dictionaries, Porky's,
and Beck along the way. He also does an interesting
analysis of Google search results. God bless The
Smoking Gun. "The
Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that under the provisions
of the Second USA PATRIOT Act, the Bible
will be withdrawn from public libraries ..." Literary
Bar Jokes -- We love series of jokes that build in succession. The
Library Song -- A back-to-school song to the tune of
"YMCA." 28 July 2003
Hundreds of people submitted poems
about a dog eating mother's toes to Poetry.com. They all did
it with a pseudonym of Freemont something-or-other. They were
incited to do this by Dave Barry. 27 July 2003 This
article was cited by both L.A.C.K.
and Bookslut
as another Harry-Potter-is-evil rant, but it really seems to be saying
that the popularity of Potter is merely a symptom of an anti-rational,
overly feminized society. It would be easier to take the author
seriously if she weren't bemoaning the abandonment of science while
citing W. B. Yeats
(The "W" is for "wacky"!) for authority. Besides,
many of the people who really despise science and rational
thought are the ones who also despise Rowling's books. One
of the coolest things we've ever seen: Someone has reproduced several M.C.
Escher images using
Lego bricks! (Scroll down, past the Dilbert characters ...) Very
nice how-we-did-it commentary, too. Michael Moore's new
book doesn't come out until October, and someone has already given it a 5-star
review on BN.com. We wonder if Moore still has time to
add something to his book about President
Bush defacing the U.S. flag. Quite a few flags, judging from the
photo caption. Of course, the President is in
favor of a constitutional amendment to prohibit flag desecration.
(Do a find-on-page for "flag.") We also wonder if the elderly
veteran who comes into our library at twilight to complain
that the outdoor flag isn't sufficiently illuminated has seen this
picture. 24 July 2003 On Comedy Central's Trigger
Happy TV last night, the THTV pranksters had a table set up and told
passers-by that the library would get $500 worth of books if they (the
pranksters) collected 500 pounds of fingernails. People willingly
clipped into the barrel. Heard on a Wendy's radio ad this morning: "The
library doesn't have nuggets." Y'know, when you take sentences out of context, there's
quite a bit of sex
in the new Harry Potter book. "Librarians!
Citizens! Be advised that terrorists are easily identified by their
chosen reading materials." Direct from whitehouse.org, the Terrorist
Reading List. Be ready for a visit from the FBI if your library has
any of these titles. Chances are you've already seen
this, but we feel obligated: Your
librarian hates you if ... Added to Lib.Sigs.:
"Anyhow, kids are very tough. What they find for themselves
they should be able to read for themselves." Ursula K.
LeGuin 21 July 2003
It's got some Telecaster twang and a story from the
headlines ... a country song called She
Said She Was 15, But She Was Really Five-O is resting its boots in BibDitties.
The lyrics mention ma, beer, and doin' time, but you'll just have to imagine the pickup truck. The 2003 winners of the Bulwer-Lytton
Fiction Contest were announced last week. Make sure your mouth is
beverage-free when you read this stuff. 14 July 2003
Looking for a way to pump up your library's summer
reading program? The Summer
Reading Theme Song probably ain't what you're looking for. New in BibDitties. Great library gag in Sunday's Frazz
comic strip. Also in the comics, Agnes
visited the library last week. 1 July 2003
"Dammit Jim, I'm a writer, not a reference
librarian." That's a line cartoonist Tom Tomorrow tosses off in his
explanation of why he's cutting back on the blogging. And here we've been thinking the other way around. Speaking
of the comics pages, Baby Blues continues
its story line about summer reading programs (see our 30 June entry
below), while over in The Boondocks, Huey
and Caesar talk about the CIPA case.
|
Copyright 2003 Brian Smith. Non-commercial distribution of material from The Laughing Librarian is permitted only if the original URL and this copyright notice is included. All commercial distribution is prohibited without written consent of and large cash payments to the author. Some images are from a commercial clipart package and may not be redistributed.