Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book

I heard this report first that a student from UMass Dartmouth had received a visit from the Department of Homeland Security after reserving a copy of Mao Tse-Tung’s “Little Red Book” of quotes through inter-library loan.
My initial impulse was to buy a copy of the book to see what would happen. Thankfully, I didn’t, because later I read on Boing Boing that the story was suspicious and that maybe all the elements of it didn’t add up.
If I’d ordered a copy of the book and nobody showed up, then I’d have a copy of the dumb old book lying around taking up room for no reason. Which made me wonder why DHS couldn’t investigate something more fun. Maybe I should start a rumor that there are secret hidden messages in the DVDs for the First Season of Fraggle Rock, or that page 28 of The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists has a hidden code that unlocks the secrets of the Pyramids. Or maybe that the Xbox game Destroy All Humans is REALLY about destroying all humans. Then I could buy one of them, enjoy myself, and still prepare to have men in black over for tea. I’m sure DAH is a two-player game. Those guys must practice on first-person shooters, right?
UPDATE: It appears that the story about visits from DHS may not really be a hoax. Huh. Maybe I shouldn’t be making jokes about it, then.
UPDATE: It was a hoax.

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Fox blurs cartoon rear end due to FCC worries

Bart's Butt
Bart’s Butt

Yeah, you read that right. According to an AP Story, Fox TV blurred out a cartoon character’s butt on a RERUN of a family guy episode, even though the un-blurred posterior appeared on TV without complaint a few years ago. They made the decision to do so voluntarily, to avoid any problems with the FCC.

Coming soon to a store near you: skirts to cover up those shockingly bare piano and table legs.
Meanwhile, the number of characters shot, stabbed, strangled, decapitated, dumped in wood chippers, cut up with chain saws and otherwise killed and mutilated on our favorite television programs continues without any complaint whatsoever. Mull that one over.

2022-03-15 Update:
The original link to this story is long gone, but there are a shocking number of different versions of Bart’s Butt on the internet, so obviously their concerns were totally justified.

Bart's Butt 2: Electric Bugaloo
Bart’s Butt 2: Electric Bugaloo

Continue ReadingFox blurs cartoon rear end due to FCC worries