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Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

richardosgood.com

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Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You would be correct there are no "banned books" in America. When people say "banned book" they mean that a certain level of government such as a school board or municipality has "banned" them from being in a public (often school) library. But the headline "In [state I disagree with] they are banning books that have [ideas I agree with]" makes a lot more headlines and clicks. Then people run with the phrase "banned b…

Each state is part of the USA, and each state DOES ban some books. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_banning_in_the_United_Sta... USA is ultra conservative on the average in comparison to just any European state for example.

European countries ban plenty of books, and I actually mean ban.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#372
post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are we talking about this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looking_for_Alaska#Author's_re... (I've not read it, of course, and don't know whether I'd consider it inappropriate for school libraries. However, it sounds like it was not intended as pornography and therefore isn't pornography according to some narrow definitions of that term. In any case, school libraries have such tiny budgets and there are so many uncontr…

NoMoreNicksLeft conveniently left out the (singular!) banned book they were referring to. I believe that was by intent, to make the strawman unassailable. And its easy to attack books in k-12 school libraries. The hard conservative christians attack DEI, sexuality, suicide, witchcraft, and other things regularly. However, we are also seeing direct attacks on funding with public libraries. https://michiganadvance.com/…

Some schools in Democrat-managed cities have already removed two of the examples used in this lightbulb, Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn, because they contain racial slurs. To Kill a Mockingbird too. That's not very common, but if right-wingers started shoving actually racist books into schools, you'll see how many people (rightfully) don't want their kids reading that. And maybe they should, if only to make the point that "book banning" isn't reserved for one party.

The news articles focus on the LGBT books. Notice how they never actually list the titles of books being moved, because readers would see that these aren't classics being witch-hunted decades after publication for some slight reason. Most are new things recently inserted into school libraries with an agenda, and/or books that the majority would find inappropriate for children. Here's the only one mentioned in your second link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_Queer:_A_Memoir and here's a longer list https://uniteagainstbookbans.org/2024-book-bans/

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#374

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I wish they would release a remastered version of the game with updated graphics and movies, with nothing else changed. The game mechanics were great. Beyond Earth was not good in comparison.

As a child I never liked the AI's strategy to plop cities down right next to each other. I should see if I can understand that as an adult. If I was designing a remake/remaster it wouldn't even have updated graphics just change the AI.

I think that there are actually mods for this game chaning the AI. Actually you can create your own custom faction using just config files and notepad - all out of the box:)

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#375

In the USA, the books that are banned are for public schools. They talk about topics like (gasp) LGBTQ and sex things! Now where the USA censors routinely is financial censorship. If you can afford the thing thats fincially banned, the sure, its not banned. But if you cant afford it, youre screwed. And, if you work for a company, they can fire you for any/no reason, INCLUDING your speech off work. In the USA, its "fr…

>In the USA, the books that are banned are for public schools. They talk about topics like (gasp) LGBTQ and sex things! The book that is commonly at the number one spot on "banned book" lists has what would always be called hardcore pornography in the middle of the book. It depicts fellatio literally (not just implying it). It has no educational value, and is meant, within its context, to be erotic/lewd. I can link d…

Most of these "banned books" articles are 8 paragraphs without actually listing the books, because most readers would form a different opinion if they saw what the author is lamenting being removed from the kids' section. Here's #1 for 2024 supposedly: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Boys_Aren%27t_Blue

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Every book is banned by that line of reasoning, if you're distributing it without license. And every movie and every song.

No, only the illegal copies are banned, not the properly licensed one. It's not that Linux src is banned, but a redistribution with the GPL stripped would be.

What does the L mean in GPL according to you?

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://archive.org/details/gender-queer-a-memoir-by-maia-ko...

This is a 240 page book and the page you are linking to is more than half way in. No teen is reading this far in and frankly probably wouldn't even pick up a MEMOIR called GENDER QUEER unless the story resonates with them already. This is besides the point, but did you read the surrounding pages? The main character doesn't advocate for sexual activity of any kind, they actually seem to lose interest and proceed to di…

>This is a 240 page book and the page you are linking to is more than half way in.

Somehow you think you've got a zinger when you point out "they hid it in the middle where people would be less likely to look!" Before, everyone was saying I was lying, but I linked to the exact page and now we've moved on to "and that's a good thing".

No one banned this book. You can buy it. You can sell it in your bookstore. What you mean when you lie and say that it's banned is "we're not allowed to sneak it into the school library and make parents pay for it through their tax dollars even when they wouldn't let their kids read it". That's what you mean by "banned".

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a 240 page book and the page you are linking to is more than half way in. No teen is reading this far in and frankly probably wouldn't even pick up a MEMOIR called GENDER QUEER unless the story resonates with them already. This is besides the point, but did you read the surrounding pages? The main character doesn't advocate for sexual activity of any kind, they actually seem to lose interest and proceed to di…

>This is a 240 page book and the page you are linking to is more than half way in. Somehow you think you've got a zinger when you point out "they hid it in the middle where people would be less likely to look!" Before, everyone was saying I was lying, but I linked to the exact page and now we've moved on to "and that's a good thing". No one banned this book. You can buy it. You can sell it in your bookstore. What you…

> What you mean when you lie and say that it's banned is "we're not allowed to sneak it into the school library and make parents pay for it through their tax dollars even when they wouldn't let their kids read it".

What that implies is that your ideal of a school library is one that only has books that every single parent out of a thousand plus parents approves of.

One with no Christian books that the Satanists object to, one with no science books that the flat earthers disagree with etc.

What a dull dull bland straitjacketed life that must impose.

PS: Ever built a stump-jump plough in your back shed? What is your favourite type of plough? I ask as you went quiet after we last discussed ploughs.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#379

Some books deserve to be banned. I would put Kevin MacDonald's antisemitic trilogy The Culture of Critique, the Turner Diaries ( which calls for mass extermination of non-white groups in the USA ) and Mein Kampf in the realm of books that should be shunned.

Why would you ban Main Kampf? Have you ever even read it? Its ultra important for historical/social and linguistic education. I read it when I was 14, and I'm from Poland. It is AWFUL and PAINFUL to read due to the horrible styling - which amuses me to this day. :) That's why no need to ban it hehehe Nowadays books are for intellectuals, not for the masses... That's why I would be ok for any modern teenager to read a…

When does the movie come out? Totally kidding. Its just propaganda from one of the most murderous regime I can think of, but looks like the USA is going to give it a run for its money.

Re: Banned book library in a wi-fi smart light bulb

#380
post #203

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Unfortunately we do not have a solution for countering this kind of a 'denial of service' attack on information consumption. It is trivial to concoct believable lies as compared to the effort needed to debunk them in a way that is effective at social scale. Perhaps the only weapon is to teach how to think for oneself. Who is going to invest in that in a scale necessary? Those who have the resources to do that do not…

> Perhaps the only weapon is to teach how to think for oneself. Who is going to invest in that in a scale necessary? _Most_ developed countries do invest in the education and teaching of critical thinking. It's not even that expensive. In most countries, if a political party prefers an uneducated voter base, they don't win elections. Or if they do, there are enough working checks and balances (and parties in the oppo…

LoL.

Political parties are very good at making elections about manufactured issues. They strategically polarize the voters by amplifying and creating fault lines within the society.

If what you say is true in your world, I would be sincerely interested to know where would that be (my guesses would be Uruguay, New Zealand). This is not sarcasm, I am genuinely interested. In my world, India, it is as untrue as it can be.

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