Sinfest

[nathan]

[Darqcyde]

Makes me wonder how many computers could have been bought with the $$$ spent in Iraq... ya know... just sayin...

I take the conspiracy route and blame all the news media outlets that having been trumping this up. I'd put money many of the people pushing for coverage on this aren't friends or fans of Rupert Murdoch's and now it's just spiraling out of control...ok so maybe that's only a minor factor

on a related note I bet it's gonna be a good time soon to buy up Newscorp stock
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...if a single leaf holds the eye, it will be as if the remaining leaves were not there.
http://12ozlb.blogspot.com

[cletusowns]

[cletusowns]

[cletusowns]

[Sojobo]

[WheelsOfConfusion]

I'd like a thousand dollars.

[bun bun]

OK, first of all, I second that this is a parenting issue. Republicans don't like "big, bad government doing all the regulating" when it comes to corporate interests, but are perfectly OK with micromanagement of family life, e.g. who can have sex with/marry whom, who has to keep a post-rape child, who can learn what in science class, etc.

I told my father about this, and his immediate comment was, "Internet soliciting is only a problem if the kids are dumb."

He didn't mean it literally. He meant that if children act like idiots, it's because their parents are careless, or, likewise, idiots. If children are not taught by their parents how to use the internet correctly, or if those children have no common sense, then that's when the internet gets dangerous. If a parent allows a child to use a potentially dangerous tool like a deer-hunting gun at a younger age than one where the child can reasonably be expected to use the tool properly, then that is BAD PARENTING. It's the same issue with use of the internet.

[MsFrisby]

[Major Tom]

besides, if he means he's looking up shelf numbers, i've noticed that many libraries have non-internet computers set aside for that task.

if he's trying to look up 'important' stuff on the internet, he's got his own computer, doesn't he? go home.

[MsFrisby]

Oh, yes! If he meant looking up a book in the catalog, there isn't a library that I've been in that didn't have catalog dedicated computers just for looking up stuff that was on the shelf or checked out in the library. And these computers? Almost never all full.
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A person's character is their destiny.

[cletusowns]

[Major Tom]

by that logic, no shelf space should be wasted on children's books, the majority of fiction or any non-fiction topic that doesn't strike you as important.

if it isn't serious research material or a worthy use of the facility, in your estimation, it has no place.

by the way, i don't think you're thinking of public space. i believe you would be happier holing up in a privately granted institution that kept out the curious riff-raff.

[Him]

I post from a library, most fo the time, as I do not own a computer. I am glad our politicians, for all their faults, at least cares about the common welfare.
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"Moderation in temper, is always a virtue; but moderation in principle, is a species of vice. " - Thomas Paine

[Dogen]

The problem I see with your argument, cletus, is that you seem to assume libraries are for educational (read: academic) purposes only and that any other use of their resources is "funning it up" and thus okay to be restricted. This is contested by the fact, as Frisby and Tom pointed out, that many libraries have not just fiction sections but also graphic novels (my library has the entire Sandman series), movies, CDs, popular magazines... even telephone books from around the country. These "hardcopy" materials are intended for entertainment purposes every bit as much as myspace or sinfest (telephone books excepted perhaps). Access to these materials is generally unrestricted except by time for material checked out.

It would seem to me that the more logical alternative to legislation (do we really need a law that says we can't look at myspace in a library? they have nothing better to do?) would be the imposition of time allotments by the libraries themselves, such as Frisby said hers uses. This would give people both access to entertainment (be it reading sinfest, random articles on wikipedia or posting on myspace) and to other, academic, online resources. This also seems the simpler solution, and personally I tend to feel that generally simpler is better.

Of course, I may have just misunderstood your argument entirely.
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"Worse comes to worst, my people come first, but my tribe lives on every country on earth. I’ll do anything to protect them from hurt, the human race is what I serve." - Baba Brinkman