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The story is about a young mentally retarded janitor named Charlie who volunteers to take part in an experimental intelligence-enhancing treatment. Algernon is a laboratory mouse who is also 'enhanced'. The story is told from Charlie's point of view and written as a journal which he was asked to keep as part of the experiment. Succeeding entries trace Charlie's ever-increasing comprehension and intelligence as both treatments continue, until he reaches super- genius level. All seems to be proceeding according to plan, with results light-years better than what had been anticipated, until a flaw is discovered by Charlie himself. The neural enhancement cannot be sustained, and the young man is doomed to return to his original self, with his decay recorded in the journal. The reference to Algernon in the title refers to the laboratory mouse, which Charlie adopted as a pet.

The story is extremely effective because it is told from Charlie's point of view, and as Charlie's mental state shifts, it is reflected in his writings. He becomes depressed, for example, when he poignantly realizes he can no longer understand his own proof that his mind will decay away.

In British ColumbiaBritish Columbia or simply B. French: la Colombie-Britannique is the westernmost of Canada's provinces. It was the sixth province to join the confederation of Canada (in 1871). As of 2004, the population was 4,168,123 British Columbians . Geography Its ca, CanadaCanada historically the Dominion of Canada is the second-largest, and northernmost, country in the world. It is a decentralized federation of 10 provinces and 3 territories, governed as a constitutional monarchy, and formed in 1867 through an act of Confe, in JanuaryJanuary is the first month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, and has 31 days. It is named for Janus, the Roman god of doors and gateways. The original Roman calendar consisted of 10 months (304 days). The Romans originally considered winter a monthle 1970Events January events January 1 Construction begins on Arcosanti, by Paolo Soleri, in Mayer, Arizona, located 65, miles north of Phoenix, Arizona. January 1 Unix epoch at 00:00:00 UTC. January 12 Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian civil war. January, the Cranbrook School Board bannedBooks have been forbidden and burned many times in history. Some of them: Index Librorum Prohibitorum in the 16th century The catholic church forbid some books that could be against their faith During European domination by the nazis books were burned by this grade nine text from the curriculum and the school library, after a parent complained that it was "filthy and immoral". The president of the BC Teachers' Federation criticized the action. This book was part of the BC Department of Education list of approved books for grade nine and was recommended by the BC Secondary Association of Teachers of English. A month later the board reconsidered, and returned the book to the library; they did not, however, lift its ban from the curriculum. [Mind War: Book Censorship in English Canada, p. 37; Not in Our Schools! p. 9] It should be noted that whereas the full novel does contain material about the character's personal life i.e. flashbacks of pubertic experiences that may be highly objectionable to many people, the original short story is squeaky clean in this regard.

In 20042004 is a leap year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 2004 calendar), and has also been designated the: International Year of Rice International Year to Commemorate the Struggle against Slavery and its Abolition Elections are to be held in 73 co, an episode of the television series Century CitySet in Los Angeles in the year 2030, Century City follows the legal team of Crane, Constable, McNeil & Montero. At the helm are the firm's four partners, the founder and senior partner Hannah Crane; veteran attorney Marty Constable; the pleased-with-himse had a plot line in which a formerly retarded man sues to keep the implant which had given him superior intelligence. It was discovered that the implants were causing their recipients to die.