News and views from the News and views
In the Legal News department, Senator Dan Kotowski (D-Mount Prospect) has proposed a more reasonable piece of legislation to help students deal with potential danger on the Internet. The Internet Safety Education Act would require school districts to provide education about Internet threats and risks. Imagine -- teaching, not blocking!
In the Fun Department, I've learned from Jessamyn about Archie McPhee's new temporary tattoos for librarians. Gotta get me some.
And for anyone who wants to know more about our visit from klezmer group Veretski Pass, you can stream the interview/performance they did for the WILL AM Focus 580 show. Hot music, amazing people!
In the I Can't Believe It Department, there's the incredible story of the hapless substitute teacher who may serve up to 40 years in prison for exposing children to pornography because she couldn't figure out how to shut off pop-up porn ads. Never mind that the computer she was using was a Microsoft Windows 98 machine running an outdated version of Internet Explorer, the school's license for its firewall program had expired, the machine's anti-virus software was expired and lacked any anti-spyware tools, or that the prosecution hadn't conducted a basic scan of the computer's hard drive with anti-spyware software.
Then there's the outcry over 2007 Newbery Medal winner The Higher Power of Lucky by librarian Susan Porter because she used the word "scrotum" on the first page of the book. The 10-year-old main character overhears the word being used when another character says he saw a rattlesnake bite his dog on the scrotum. Being 10, she naturally wants to know what it means. I wonder if this controversy plays out differently in rural areas where animal body parts are the stuff of everyday "normal" conversation.
Finally, in the Very Cool department, the Online Gargoyle has been named a finalist in the National Scholastic Press Association "Online Pacemaker" competition. Nice!
In the Fun Department, I've learned from Jessamyn about Archie McPhee's new temporary tattoos for librarians. Gotta get me some.
And for anyone who wants to know more about our visit from klezmer group Veretski Pass, you can stream the interview/performance they did for the WILL AM Focus 580 show. Hot music, amazing people!
In the I Can't Believe It Department, there's the incredible story of the hapless substitute teacher who may serve up to 40 years in prison for exposing children to pornography because she couldn't figure out how to shut off pop-up porn ads. Never mind that the computer she was using was a Microsoft Windows 98 machine running an outdated version of Internet Explorer, the school's license for its firewall program had expired, the machine's anti-virus software was expired and lacked any anti-spyware tools, or that the prosecution hadn't conducted a basic scan of the computer's hard drive with anti-spyware software.
Then there's the outcry over 2007 Newbery Medal winner The Higher Power of Lucky by librarian Susan Porter because she used the word "scrotum" on the first page of the book. The 10-year-old main character overhears the word being used when another character says he saw a rattlesnake bite his dog on the scrotum. Being 10, she naturally wants to know what it means. I wonder if this controversy plays out differently in rural areas where animal body parts are the stuff of everyday "normal" conversation.
Finally, in the Very Cool department, the Online Gargoyle has been named a finalist in the National Scholastic Press Association "Online Pacemaker" competition. Nice!
Labels: books, gargoyle, humor, legislation
3 Comments:
The seven words you can't say in a children's book...
DANG.
That's crazy.
I recently heard something about this on NPR... I laughed, thinking about this post. Then I had to put it here.
The lady said "It's the only way to get kids to read these days! If you really want kids to read, put a picture of a breast every 5 pages!" It was funny.
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