These books are banned?

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald – Challenged for language and sexual references.
The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger – Challenged for being “anti white” and “obscene.”
To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee – Banned due to the words “damn” and “whore lady” 🙂
The Lord of the Flies, William Golding – Challenged because the book is “demoralizing inasmuch as it implies that man is little more than an animal”
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey – Labeling it “pornographic,” they charged the novel “glofiries criminal activity, has a tendency to corrupt juveniles and contains descriptions of bestiality, bizarre violence, and torture, dismemberment, death, and human elimination.” (I’ve never read the book, now I wonder why?)
The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien – Burned in Alamagordo, N. Mex. (2001) outside Christ Community Church along with other Tolkien novels as satanic.

“Banned books week”, promoted by Google Book Search just ended. Check out the complete listing of reasons as to why these and many books are banned.

And yeah, right – Frodo IS the anti-christ.

Google’s plans of world domination

Think about it. With the services that Google offers (beta or not) along with whatever future schemes they’ve got, this no-longer-a-search-engine company will soon have the world by the balls.

  • Search
    Getting the obvious out of the way first – Virtually everyone on the net uses Google for search. They have every webpage worth reading in their index. They not only link to webpages, but they also have a copy in the Google Cache. They know what the world wants like noone else.
  • Email
    With their 2 Gigs (and counting) of inbox space, conversations, and a plethora of other features, everyone I know has a Gmail ID. Hell, even my Mom’s on Gmail.
  • Corporate Email
    Why don’t corporates ever go for free email services like Yahoo!? Because having an email ID@yourdomainname.com is much cooler. Google now offers use of Gmail, Google Talk, and other apps for use with your own domain. A whole lot of companies are already doing away with their crappy, unreliable email providers and switching to Gmail.
  • Blogs
    After buying out blogger.com, half the world’s blogs are hosted with Google.
  • Social Networking
    After buying out Orkut, I hardly get any more spam from my friends at Hi5.
  • IM
    Goolge Talk is not very different from the other popular IMs, but it’s integration into Gmail’s interface makes it a winner. Google Talk archives conversations on Google’s servers instead of on the local hard drive. Has VoIP.
  • Desktop Search
    Need I explain? The internet is not enough. They want our hard drives! 🙂
  • Calendar
    Google Calendar. All our schedules, events and other important dates stored on their servers.
  • Library
    Google Print – “Our ultimate goal is to work with publishers and libraries to create a comprehensive, searchable, virtual card catalog of all books in all languages that helps users discover new books and publishers discover new readers.”
  • Notebooks
    We all research online, now Google gives us free scribbling pads. And a specialized search engine for scholars.
  • News
    All the latest news, across all categories, from all over the world. Picture this – you need to know of the recent cases of bird flu reported around the world. Now try this.
  • Google Map Search
    Need to get to that clients place real quick, but don’t want to tell him that your dog ate his business card? Get his address and driving directions. Only available in the US now. Damn I wish Google was an Indian Company.
  • Video
    Google Video lets you share your videos. Even the more intimate ones.
  • Shopping
    We’re froogled.
  • Payment Gateway
    Make your payments online via Google Checkout.
  • Google Earth
    It only gets better. “Google Earth combines satellite imagery, maps and the power of Google Search to put the world’s geographic information at your fingertips.” They also have Google Mars.
  • Office Suite
    There’s no doubt that there is going to be one. They already have a Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Web Page Editor, Database, Calendar, Email, Notes, translation, a picture manager/editor, 3D Modeler, financial manager, RSS news reader, and what looks like a programming environment in the making. I won’t be surprised if they turn their screensaver software into a presentation tool. Only thing missing is an internet connection, but they’re working on that as well. (Read below)
  • Internet Access
    Free internet access for the whole world. Hmm… why not?!
  • Discussion Groups
    Combined with Google various search tools and news alerts, this has amazing potential.
  • Online Advertising
    Using a combination of their search ads, Adwords and Adsense, Google has given advertisers the opportunity to target a highly select audience, and content owners a hassle-free method of making money.
  • Website Traffic Analysis
    This is free, and it’s not just another web counter. In fact, as you’re reading this, I have obtained your location right down to your neighbourhood, the company whcih owns your IP address, where you came from and how long you stayed. Come back after a year or so and I can probably tell you what you’re wearing.
  • Google Galaxy?
    Google has singed a deal with NASA.
  • Do you really need more? (Sigh!) Ok then.

Scary thought – If they really aren’t the good guys they claim to be, this company could demand an entire continent in return for switching their servers back on.

On the other hand – If there’s an ice age now, archeologists in the future just need to access Google’s servers to get a snapshot of everything on the planet, a copy of virtually every webpage on the internet, and what we were thinking at the time. If Google manages to index our DNA soon, the world can just start where we left off.

Saints And Soldiers

sas.jpg

WWII movie with a budget of $1 Million? No famous actors? No foul langauge? Released in 2003 and I never heard of it till now? Can’t be very good, can it? Obviously, I was wrong. Watched this DVD with Martin recently and we actually watched the special features later, it was that good. Being based on an actual event made it even better. Its a shame that more people don’t know of this movie. If you’re a war movie fan, this is a must watch.

Official site | IMDB Page

A Matter of Life and Death

life_and_death.jpg
Iron Maiden’s new album is out – read the reviews!

Iron Maiden return with their fourteenth studio album, ‘A Matter Of Life And Death’. Produced by regular collaborator Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith, The Black Crowes) in London, the album was recorded in a completely live state. At over 70 minutes long, ‘A Matter Of Life And Death’ truly is an album of epic proportions and shows the work of a rock outfit who aremasters of evolution and innovation.

The best Iron Maiden album in almost 20 years!
When ‘Brave New world’ was released, the majority of people claimed it to be Maiden’s best work since ‘Seventh Son’..same again with ‘Dance Of Death’ in 2003. Now here we are in 2006 with their latest opus – A Matter Of Life And Death…and do you know what, this really is their best work since ‘Seventh Son’. In fact, i’d go further and say that it is every bit the equal of the 1988 concept album. Whilst the two records are very different musically, they do share a common trait that very few other Iron Maiden albums have enjoyed – absolutely no filler tracks. AMOLAD is jam packed with 10 songs that are so brilliant, you’ll be struggling to pick out clear favourites after the first couple of spins.

The album kicks of perfectly with the one-two punch of the ‘Different Worlds’ (infectiously melodic) and ‘These Colours Don’t Run’ (semi-epic yet pure grandiose Maiden) – both of which are certain to be a part of their live set when they tour later this year. Following that is another tune that’s a good contender for a live appearance – the utterly sensational ‘Brighter Than A Thousand Suns’. This is one of several multi-layered epics on the album that will have you discovering new things with each subsequent listen – brilliant Maiden, simply brilliant. Other standout songs worthy of note (to be fair they are all ‘standout’ tracks) – ‘The Longest Day’ (Harris excels on bass here), ‘Out Of The Shadows'(beautifully melancholic)..and ‘The Pilgrim’ & ‘The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg’ that have Maiden getting all riffy on us.

A Matter Of Life And Death isn’t just a step-up from BNW & DOD, it’s in a completely different league. It’s almost as if the band were just teasing us on the previous two records, hinting a truly great things but not quite delivering. Well here they are with one of the greatest records they’ve ever made. This is what we’ve all been waiting for – Iron Maiden firing on all cylinders…and isn’t it just a spectale to behold.
London Rocker “thelimey2003”