In South Africa, a new "trend", if you will, has emerged.
Its to help lesbians.
Its not an education program, or a support group, or an acting troupe that makes fun and educates people on what its like to be a lesbian.
No, no, its brutalizing and raping lesbians.
But hey! Its only to make them straight again!
In South Africa, many females have become more open with their sexuality, and now they pay a price for it, too.
They are being beaten, raped, gang raped, stabbed and left in ditches, rivers, garbage cans, alleys, ect. And this is supposed to show them "what they are missing".
Hell, many women in the United States are very fearful of having sex and relationships after being raped, I'm sure being a lesbian and being raped would be worse, and being a lesbian and knowing that you're being raped because you're a lesbian must be very painful.
The only reason that this has come to light as of late is because several of the victims are more well-known females.
One victim, Eudy Simelane, is a former star of Banyana Banyana, one of South Africa's popular women's football teams, as well as an activist for human rights and the first women to live openly in her hometown of Kwa Thema. In 2008, at 31 years of age, Eudy Simelane's body was found after she was brutally beaten, gang raped, stabbed 25 times in the face, chest, and legs, and left in the creek in the park near her home.
This was the first case that really brought to light what is going on, not just to South Africans but to the world.
It is very sad, but I can only hope that has a human rights activist she would be happy to know that people are learning because of what happened to her.
South African males are claiming that the rapings are to "make the women straight". Their behaviour is "wrong" so this is to show them what they are "missing out on".
Unfortunately, the South African government has done just about nothing to help these women.
I hope that this becomes more widespread knowledge to Americans and something is done to help. We have groups for the women who are raped in Darfur, and this should not be any different.
Women's Rights are Human Rights.
Makes me think more people should see the movie Boys Don't Cry. Maybe if they see the same thing happening to an American they will feel the impact.
Interviews with some of the victims.
Really?
Yeah, that just happened.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Student Loans are SO last season.
Nowadays, There are lots of ways for middle school and high school age girls to save up money to pay for their college dreams.
Working a part time job.
Participating in programs or competitions that give scholarships and grants.
Student Loans.
And now, for some North Carolina girls, using birth control!
Teen girls living near the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, can now enroll in a program called College Bound Sisters, which pays them to not get pregnant.
The program is geared towards helping young women with dreams of college actually reach those goals.
Hows it work?
The program is split up into two separate age groups, girls ages 12-14 and girls ages 15-18. Each group meets for an hour and 30 minutes once a week, where the girls get guest speakers, food, field trips, demonstrations, and an "assortment of media coverage".
There is also a quarterly meeting held for the parents of these girls, to teach them about issues adolescent females face today.
And here's the icing on top of the celibacy cake:
make $1.00 everyday you're not pregnant!
That's right!
The girls will be paid $365.00 a year to not have babies. Every week, $7.00 goes into an account and cannot be accessed until she is enrolled in college.
Granted, there are eligibility requirements:
-You must be a female, between the ages or 12-16 in order to enroll
-you must want to attend college
-you must be willing to attend the weekly meetings
-you must not have never been pregnant
-you must have a sister who has had a baby before the age of 18
Plus, there are incentives!
girls receive $5.00 at meetings to cover travel expenses, as well as other incentives being offered periodically to get them to stay in school, etc etc.
Check it out here
So, this program is very...interesting, and I'm sure controversial.
Pros would be that it provides the opportunity for many young girls to making money, being educated, form relationships, and it keeps them out of trouble once a week.
Cons being.....a lot of things.
Why should we pay a young woman to not get pregnant?
What kind of world are we living in where people want to pay kids to go to school, to not have kids, whatever it is.
They are kids, there are plenty of adults who cant afford to have kids and still have goals that they want to achieve, and theyre not getting paid.
The program is run by 3 R.Ns. Only two are pictured, and they both appear to be white, female, and old (and im sure by the standards of the girls who would be attending the program, grandmotherly)
Now, maybe this is racist, maybe this isnt, but the picture posted on the website of girls in the program feature all african american girls. I dont know about being african american, but the picture make it appear as though those females are having children more or at least enrolling in the program more. Im not saying that these three women are not qualified. What I am saying is when I was 13 year old if I walked into a program and the instructors were old enough to be my grandma, I probably wouldve hated it, at least until I got to know the instructors. Also, if they did have someone who was maybe, say....a success story from the program, a young, college attending woman for the girls to look up to, maybe that would be beneficial. Someone who is a role model, who knows the movies, music, celebrities, and issues that these girls see in their day to day lives?
On one hand, I do understand that by these girls having siblings who had children at a young age, they might think that it is "acceptable"behaviour. However these girls are also seeing a lot of the hardships their sisters are going through too.
I understand that they cant afford to pay everyone, but I feel like a lot of the girls who really should be in this class, wouldn't be because they don't have a sibling who had kids at a young age or because their parents wouldn't let them.
While I am a very firm supporter of sex education in schools, I don't think students should be paid for anything other than at a job. For 100s of years there have not been incentives for students making the right decisions. I didn't get pregnant in high school and you know what I got? The same things that everyone else who didn't get pregnant in high school got; a chance to continue my life without having a kid.
Why should I get paid for that?
The fact that I dont have the added expense, stress, and responsibility of having a child is payment enough.
And why is it fair that boys cant be in the program?
It takes two to tango.
Girls arent just going out and making babies without a guy around.
If a young man and a young woman had a baby, and the man did not help in raising the baby, he would be the bad guy, right?
So shouldn't he receive the same opportunities as his female counterpart?
I think thats only fair.
Whether you agree or disagree, the program exists, and Im interested to see in later years if teen pregnancy rates have been affected by this program.
Really?
Yeah, that just happened.
Working a part time job.
Participating in programs or competitions that give scholarships and grants.
Student Loans.
And now, for some North Carolina girls, using birth control!
Teen girls living near the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, can now enroll in a program called College Bound Sisters, which pays them to not get pregnant.
The program is geared towards helping young women with dreams of college actually reach those goals.
Hows it work?
The program is split up into two separate age groups, girls ages 12-14 and girls ages 15-18. Each group meets for an hour and 30 minutes once a week, where the girls get guest speakers, food, field trips, demonstrations, and an "assortment of media coverage".
There is also a quarterly meeting held for the parents of these girls, to teach them about issues adolescent females face today.
And here's the icing on top of the celibacy cake:
make $1.00 everyday you're not pregnant!
That's right!
The girls will be paid $365.00 a year to not have babies. Every week, $7.00 goes into an account and cannot be accessed until she is enrolled in college.
Granted, there are eligibility requirements:
-You must be a female, between the ages or 12-16 in order to enroll
-you must want to attend college
-you must be willing to attend the weekly meetings
-you must not have never been pregnant
-you must have a sister who has had a baby before the age of 18
Plus, there are incentives!
girls receive $5.00 at meetings to cover travel expenses, as well as other incentives being offered periodically to get them to stay in school, etc etc.
Check it out here
So, this program is very...interesting, and I'm sure controversial.
Pros would be that it provides the opportunity for many young girls to making money, being educated, form relationships, and it keeps them out of trouble once a week.
Cons being.....a lot of things.
Why should we pay a young woman to not get pregnant?
What kind of world are we living in where people want to pay kids to go to school, to not have kids, whatever it is.
They are kids, there are plenty of adults who cant afford to have kids and still have goals that they want to achieve, and theyre not getting paid.
The program is run by 3 R.Ns. Only two are pictured, and they both appear to be white, female, and old (and im sure by the standards of the girls who would be attending the program, grandmotherly)
Now, maybe this is racist, maybe this isnt, but the picture posted on the website of girls in the program feature all african american girls. I dont know about being african american, but the picture make it appear as though those females are having children more or at least enrolling in the program more. Im not saying that these three women are not qualified. What I am saying is when I was 13 year old if I walked into a program and the instructors were old enough to be my grandma, I probably wouldve hated it, at least until I got to know the instructors. Also, if they did have someone who was maybe, say....a success story from the program, a young, college attending woman for the girls to look up to, maybe that would be beneficial. Someone who is a role model, who knows the movies, music, celebrities, and issues that these girls see in their day to day lives?
On one hand, I do understand that by these girls having siblings who had children at a young age, they might think that it is "acceptable"behaviour. However these girls are also seeing a lot of the hardships their sisters are going through too.
I understand that they cant afford to pay everyone, but I feel like a lot of the girls who really should be in this class, wouldn't be because they don't have a sibling who had kids at a young age or because their parents wouldn't let them.
While I am a very firm supporter of sex education in schools, I don't think students should be paid for anything other than at a job. For 100s of years there have not been incentives for students making the right decisions. I didn't get pregnant in high school and you know what I got? The same things that everyone else who didn't get pregnant in high school got; a chance to continue my life without having a kid.
Why should I get paid for that?
The fact that I dont have the added expense, stress, and responsibility of having a child is payment enough.
And why is it fair that boys cant be in the program?
It takes two to tango.
Girls arent just going out and making babies without a guy around.
If a young man and a young woman had a baby, and the man did not help in raising the baby, he would be the bad guy, right?
So shouldn't he receive the same opportunities as his female counterpart?
I think thats only fair.
Whether you agree or disagree, the program exists, and Im interested to see in later years if teen pregnancy rates have been affected by this program.
Really?
Yeah, that just happened.
Friday, June 26, 2009
“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
In the case of Kimberly Vlaeminck, she has no choice but to look at the stars any time she looks in the mirror.
The 18 year old Belgian girl and her family are suing a tattoo artist for tattooing 53-56 stars of varying size on her face.
As with any story, there are two sides here.
Kimberly claims that she went to the Romanian tattoo artist and requested three small dots under her eye. The artist, Rouslan Toumaniantz, then convinced her that three stars instead ofthe dots would be more visually appealing, to which she agreed. She then claims that the pain was so great during her tattoo that she went to sleep to avoid feeling it, and woke up to find, much to her dismay, that she had 56 tattoos on her face, all on one side, going from above her eyebrow, to her nose and back across her cheek to her chin. She is now suing the artist, saying that he didnt speak French or English well so he misunderstood her, and would like the courts to require him to pay for a lazer removal procedure, which will cost several thousand dollars worth of money. The claim has also been made (though it has not been said whether made by her or her lawyer) that she was drugged or hypnotized by the artist so he could do this tattoo without her knowing.
The tattoo artist, Rouslan Toumaniantz, claims that the girl came into his shop knowing exactly what she wanted. While she did not give him an exact number of stars, she explained that she wanted them to be across the entire side of her face, of different sizes, and gave Toumaniantz the liberty of deciding the exact number, which he discussed with her and gave her an estimate of "around 55 stars" before he even started tattooing. He also claims that she was awake the entire time and even looked in the mirror several times during the tattooing procedure to see the progress he had made.
See a picture of the tattoo here
So heres my opinion:
1. There is no way she was asleep during her tattoo unless she was drugged or on some sort of drug. I have 4 tattoos, and even the ones that didnt hurt, theres no way you would sleep through it. Some of these tattoos are right on her brow bone and under her eye. Anyone who has a tattoo on a bone knows that it is very painful. When I got a tattoo on my ribs and asked the artist how it would feel, he said to me "getting a tattoo on a bone feels like having your **** slammed in a car door". And while I dont know what that would feel like, Id say what I felt and that description sounded about right to me. Furthermore, if the pain was so great, as she claims, she wouldnt have been able to fall asleep. Sleep is caused by total relaxation or exhaustion, and unless she ran a triathalon before coming to get her tattoo or (once again) was drugged or using a depressent, theres no way she would be sleeping.
2. If the artist didnt speak the language well, how is it possible for him to make all of his statements in both english and french in court without the use of a translator? Did he just magically learn the language overnight? Doubtful.
3. Why exactly would a tattoo artist drug someone just to do a tattoo? I dont know about in other countries, but I know in America if a tattoo artist has a tattoo he/she really would like to do, they can generally find someone fairly easily who will let them do it on them, and often times do it for a free or discounted rate in exchange for letting them use a photo of it in their publications/advertisements. If a tattoo artist were to drug someone for the sake of a tattoo, they would obviously be caught, lose their lisence, their job, their shop (if they own one) and who knows what else as a result of that. I highly doubt Rouslan Toumaniantz would put everything on the line for the sake of 56 stars on someone else's face.
4. Didnt the 18 year old girl notice something was wrong when it was done? If she was truly unhappy, she should not have paid for the tattoo that is now covering the entire right side of her face. However, she did pay 50 pounds (currently equivelant to around 83 american dollars) and even left a tip for the tattoo artist.
5. This is not something I read, just a question I have...I was wondering if the artist did this tattoo free hand? He could have, but I dont think that he would have because the face has so many contours and changes in shape, it would be much more logical to draw the design on a seperate paper then use transfers to put a non-permanent ink drawing on the surface of her skin. That is how a lot of tattoo artists in America do their work, and If that is the case, I would assume that he showed her the trasfer on her skin before he started tattooing, so she could make sure that she liked the placement and the size of each one, etc. Again, that is just something I was wondering upon reading up on this lawsuit.
All in all, I have to agree with the Tattoo artist, who claims that the girl was more than satisfied until she got home and her boyfriend and father became extremely angry with her. That is when she told them she was asleep, possibly drugged, what have you.
It was later released that the 18 year old girl is admitting to having lied because her father and boyfriend were so angry, and didnt think that he would want to sue the artist.
She said that she was thrilled and "initially adored them", only now she realizes that she looks "like a freak" (her words, not mine) and has altered her future and the rest of her life because of one decision she made without thinking it through.
The kicker?
The tattoo artist initially agreed to pay for 1/2 of all costs to have her tattoos removed because he doesnt want to have an unsatisfied client.
However, once the girl admitted to having lied, he withdrew his cash offer and is now saying he will require all customers, regardless of age or tattoo, to sign a detailed page describing the exact tattoo that they want.
The girl even wants to keep the ones on her forehead and temple because she thinks theyre
"cute".
Really?
Yeah, that just happened.
The 18 year old Belgian girl and her family are suing a tattoo artist for tattooing 53-56 stars of varying size on her face.
As with any story, there are two sides here.
Kimberly claims that she went to the Romanian tattoo artist and requested three small dots under her eye. The artist, Rouslan Toumaniantz, then convinced her that three stars instead ofthe dots would be more visually appealing, to which she agreed. She then claims that the pain was so great during her tattoo that she went to sleep to avoid feeling it, and woke up to find, much to her dismay, that she had 56 tattoos on her face, all on one side, going from above her eyebrow, to her nose and back across her cheek to her chin. She is now suing the artist, saying that he didnt speak French or English well so he misunderstood her, and would like the courts to require him to pay for a lazer removal procedure, which will cost several thousand dollars worth of money. The claim has also been made (though it has not been said whether made by her or her lawyer) that she was drugged or hypnotized by the artist so he could do this tattoo without her knowing.
The tattoo artist, Rouslan Toumaniantz, claims that the girl came into his shop knowing exactly what she wanted. While she did not give him an exact number of stars, she explained that she wanted them to be across the entire side of her face, of different sizes, and gave Toumaniantz the liberty of deciding the exact number, which he discussed with her and gave her an estimate of "around 55 stars" before he even started tattooing. He also claims that she was awake the entire time and even looked in the mirror several times during the tattooing procedure to see the progress he had made.
See a picture of the tattoo here
So heres my opinion:
1. There is no way she was asleep during her tattoo unless she was drugged or on some sort of drug. I have 4 tattoos, and even the ones that didnt hurt, theres no way you would sleep through it. Some of these tattoos are right on her brow bone and under her eye. Anyone who has a tattoo on a bone knows that it is very painful. When I got a tattoo on my ribs and asked the artist how it would feel, he said to me "getting a tattoo on a bone feels like having your **** slammed in a car door". And while I dont know what that would feel like, Id say what I felt and that description sounded about right to me. Furthermore, if the pain was so great, as she claims, she wouldnt have been able to fall asleep. Sleep is caused by total relaxation or exhaustion, and unless she ran a triathalon before coming to get her tattoo or (once again) was drugged or using a depressent, theres no way she would be sleeping.
2. If the artist didnt speak the language well, how is it possible for him to make all of his statements in both english and french in court without the use of a translator? Did he just magically learn the language overnight? Doubtful.
3. Why exactly would a tattoo artist drug someone just to do a tattoo? I dont know about in other countries, but I know in America if a tattoo artist has a tattoo he/she really would like to do, they can generally find someone fairly easily who will let them do it on them, and often times do it for a free or discounted rate in exchange for letting them use a photo of it in their publications/advertisements. If a tattoo artist were to drug someone for the sake of a tattoo, they would obviously be caught, lose their lisence, their job, their shop (if they own one) and who knows what else as a result of that. I highly doubt Rouslan Toumaniantz would put everything on the line for the sake of 56 stars on someone else's face.
4. Didnt the 18 year old girl notice something was wrong when it was done? If she was truly unhappy, she should not have paid for the tattoo that is now covering the entire right side of her face. However, she did pay 50 pounds (currently equivelant to around 83 american dollars) and even left a tip for the tattoo artist.
5. This is not something I read, just a question I have...I was wondering if the artist did this tattoo free hand? He could have, but I dont think that he would have because the face has so many contours and changes in shape, it would be much more logical to draw the design on a seperate paper then use transfers to put a non-permanent ink drawing on the surface of her skin. That is how a lot of tattoo artists in America do their work, and If that is the case, I would assume that he showed her the trasfer on her skin before he started tattooing, so she could make sure that she liked the placement and the size of each one, etc. Again, that is just something I was wondering upon reading up on this lawsuit.
All in all, I have to agree with the Tattoo artist, who claims that the girl was more than satisfied until she got home and her boyfriend and father became extremely angry with her. That is when she told them she was asleep, possibly drugged, what have you.
It was later released that the 18 year old girl is admitting to having lied because her father and boyfriend were so angry, and didnt think that he would want to sue the artist.
She said that she was thrilled and "initially adored them", only now she realizes that she looks "like a freak" (her words, not mine) and has altered her future and the rest of her life because of one decision she made without thinking it through.
The kicker?
The tattoo artist initially agreed to pay for 1/2 of all costs to have her tattoos removed because he doesnt want to have an unsatisfied client.
However, once the girl admitted to having lied, he withdrew his cash offer and is now saying he will require all customers, regardless of age or tattoo, to sign a detailed page describing the exact tattoo that they want.
The girl even wants to keep the ones on her forehead and temple because she thinks theyre
"cute".
Really?
Yeah, that just happened.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Maybe she is running an underground sea world....
It was in the news today that a 99 year old woman living in Washington DC had a water bill increase by nearly 4,000%
She normally pays about $30 for about 3,000 gallons of water per month.
Her bill this time was $1,182 for 139,876 gallons of water in the past month.
She says she did not use this amount, and honestly, I don't see how she could have.
Lets break it down:
139,876 gallons per month is approximately 4,512 gallons per day.
We will use the month of May as an example, and assume that all of the items in her home were conventional and not of the water saving variety.
in order to reach her goal of 139,876 per month, she could do any one of the following:
Flush the toilet 752 times/ day
Take 45 (ten minute) showers/ day
Take 90 baths in a full tub/day
Do 72 full loads of laundry/day
Run her dishwasher 300 times/day OR hand wash her dishes 150 times/day
Shave her legs 225 times/day
Brush her teeth 451 times/day
Wash her hands 2.256 times/day
any one of these things would reach what her bill stated she used.
Now I ask you,
how does a 99, nearly 1oo year old woman use that much water?
Chances are, she didnt.
The kicker?
The company that billed her is making her pay.
Really?
Yeah, that just happened.
She normally pays about $30 for about 3,000 gallons of water per month.
Her bill this time was $1,182 for 139,876 gallons of water in the past month.
She says she did not use this amount, and honestly, I don't see how she could have.
Lets break it down:
139,876 gallons per month is approximately 4,512 gallons per day.
We will use the month of May as an example, and assume that all of the items in her home were conventional and not of the water saving variety.
in order to reach her goal of 139,876 per month, she could do any one of the following:
Flush the toilet 752 times/ day
Take 45 (ten minute) showers/ day
Take 90 baths in a full tub/day
Do 72 full loads of laundry/day
Run her dishwasher 300 times/day OR hand wash her dishes 150 times/day
Shave her legs 225 times/day
Brush her teeth 451 times/day
Wash her hands 2.256 times/day
any one of these things would reach what her bill stated she used.
Now I ask you,
how does a 99, nearly 1oo year old woman use that much water?
Chances are, she didnt.
The kicker?
The company that billed her is making her pay.
Really?
Yeah, that just happened.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Newsworthy?...reviews
In this modern day and age, sitting down to watch the 5 o'clock news is just not possible for many of us. So how do we keep up to date on the happenings of the world? The Internet!
So, I decided to look at different websites for daily news updates and review them. I chose which ones to review by typing "news" into my favourite search engine and reviewing the first 4 that came up. In order to be fair, I decided to look ONLY at the home pages. So now I ask, How Is THIS newsworthy?!
(all websites visited on June 18, 2009)
1. ABC NEWS
The feature story is interesting, its about DNA tests proving a 55 year old man was not the kidnapped boy everyone thought he was. Thats about the only main item I saw as newsworthy. Sure they have links to things that are important to readers like information on NASA moon landings and the economy, but those are just small links in an average size print. However, there are pictures and even a little blurb for classic news gems such as...."Al Roker Squares off with Heidi and Spencer?" and "Cher: Chaz embarking on a difficult journey".
The first article is about a semi-feud between tv broadcaster Al Roker and the famous for being rich "Stars" Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag...if you dont know who they are, they are on several MTV reality shows which follow them around as they live VERY well funded lives, the original show being The Hills.
The second article is about singer Cher's daughter with Sonny Bono, Chasity Bono. Apparantly she is undergoing a sex change operation, and the article is where Cher describes her feelings on the whole thing.
2. FOX NEWS
For a company that is somewhat notorious for some less than successful shows sprinkled among some very succesful shows, I would say their news site is not ...decent.
The top 1/3 of the page is filled with links to thigns that seem like hardhitting news stories. "U.S. military tracks N. Korean ship suspected of carrying weapons, missile parts or nuke materials" and "Ex-Marine: 2 friends confess to killing boss, wife". They even have a section with stock updates. The rest of the home page though...thats a different story. There is an entire section called "Features and Faces" that, at least on this day, seems entirely based on the celebrity scene and gossip. There are 8 pictures, each with an accopmanying title and caption. I have listed the titles and captions here:
1. Porn Star Sex Scenes Cut
Sasha Grey's first legit role called for three sex scenes, but all were axed from Soderbergh's film
2. Where are 'Friends' Now?
PHOTOS: The cast, the famous guest stars — even Gunther! Find out whose career is on fire, and who's waiting tables
3. No Death for 'Heaven' Dad
'7th Heaven' actor Stephen Collins doesn't understand how Christians can support the death penalty, calls for repeal
4. 'I May Not Understand'
Cher speaks out about daughter Chastity's decision to become Chaz, says she will support the surgery
(apparantly that is newsworthy to a lot of people!)
5. Wearing Little is 'Liberating'
Anna Paquin goes nude on HBO hit 'True Blood,' shows grown-up side in new Self
6. Joel Cheating Rumors
Did Joel's estranged wife's relationship with hot young designer end marriage?
7. 10 Celebrity Smokestacks
PHOTOS: Someone get these stars some nicotine patches, and tell them velvet ropes don't prevent cancer
(this one includes photos of some of hollywoods biggest celebrities on their smoke breaks)
8. Smaller Package, Good Thing
The 2009 Nissan 370Z has a big new trick up its sleeve
(at least this one is a car report!)
The rest of the page is filled with advertisements, links to the different fox news shows, etc.
3. YAHOO NEWS
The one website I was expecting to be flooded with gossip....wasn't. Doesnt this say something about America today? The websites that are actually supposed to be news stations are made up mostly of gossip, but the search engine page was almost entirely news!Includes a featured section, as well as top stories, most popular, local news and weather, U.S. news, world news, politics, business, science, technology, health, travel, sports, "odd news", opinion. And fear not, gossip lovers, they have an entertainment section! However it is appropriately located in a small area and doesnt explode all over the screen like Paris Hilton's Diary threw up on my computer.
4. GOOGLE NEWS
I had the same outlook for google news as I did for yahoo news but was once again, proven wrong. In this case, however, they didnt have anything entertainment based what so ever. Strictly news, barely any pictures, and the pictures that were there were thumbnail size.
In closing....
News sites should give me news, not celebrity gossip. If I wanted celebrity gossip, I would get it from a gossip site. Enough people have gotten so caught up in the lives of celebrities that porn stars turned actresses is considered newsworthy enough to make it on the home page of a website.
Ranking of these news sites, best to worst, based on the amount of actual news present on the home page.
1. Google
2. Yahoo
3. ABC
4. Fox
Really?
Yeah, that just happened.
So, I decided to look at different websites for daily news updates and review them. I chose which ones to review by typing "news" into my favourite search engine and reviewing the first 4 that came up. In order to be fair, I decided to look ONLY at the home pages. So now I ask, How Is THIS newsworthy?!
(all websites visited on June 18, 2009)
1. ABC NEWS
The feature story is interesting, its about DNA tests proving a 55 year old man was not the kidnapped boy everyone thought he was. Thats about the only main item I saw as newsworthy. Sure they have links to things that are important to readers like information on NASA moon landings and the economy, but those are just small links in an average size print. However, there are pictures and even a little blurb for classic news gems such as...."Al Roker Squares off with Heidi and Spencer?" and "Cher: Chaz embarking on a difficult journey".
The first article is about a semi-feud between tv broadcaster Al Roker and the famous for being rich "Stars" Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag...if you dont know who they are, they are on several MTV reality shows which follow them around as they live VERY well funded lives, the original show being The Hills.
The second article is about singer Cher's daughter with Sonny Bono, Chasity Bono. Apparantly she is undergoing a sex change operation, and the article is where Cher describes her feelings on the whole thing.
2. FOX NEWS
For a company that is somewhat notorious for some less than successful shows sprinkled among some very succesful shows, I would say their news site is not ...decent.
The top 1/3 of the page is filled with links to thigns that seem like hardhitting news stories. "U.S. military tracks N. Korean ship suspected of carrying weapons, missile parts or nuke materials" and "Ex-Marine: 2 friends confess to killing boss, wife". They even have a section with stock updates. The rest of the home page though...thats a different story. There is an entire section called "Features and Faces" that, at least on this day, seems entirely based on the celebrity scene and gossip. There are 8 pictures, each with an accopmanying title and caption. I have listed the titles and captions here:
1. Porn Star Sex Scenes Cut
Sasha Grey's first legit role called for three sex scenes, but all were axed from Soderbergh's film
2. Where are 'Friends' Now?
PHOTOS: The cast, the famous guest stars — even Gunther! Find out whose career is on fire, and who's waiting tables
3. No Death for 'Heaven' Dad
'7th Heaven' actor Stephen Collins doesn't understand how Christians can support the death penalty, calls for repeal
4. 'I May Not Understand'
Cher speaks out about daughter Chastity's decision to become Chaz, says she will support the surgery
(apparantly that is newsworthy to a lot of people!)
5. Wearing Little is 'Liberating'
Anna Paquin goes nude on HBO hit 'True Blood,' shows grown-up side in new Self
6. Joel Cheating Rumors
Did Joel's estranged wife's relationship with hot young designer end marriage?
7. 10 Celebrity Smokestacks
PHOTOS: Someone get these stars some nicotine patches, and tell them velvet ropes don't prevent cancer
(this one includes photos of some of hollywoods biggest celebrities on their smoke breaks)
8. Smaller Package, Good Thing
The 2009 Nissan 370Z has a big new trick up its sleeve
(at least this one is a car report!)
The rest of the page is filled with advertisements, links to the different fox news shows, etc.
3. YAHOO NEWS
The one website I was expecting to be flooded with gossip....wasn't. Doesnt this say something about America today? The websites that are actually supposed to be news stations are made up mostly of gossip, but the search engine page was almost entirely news!Includes a featured section, as well as top stories, most popular, local news and weather, U.S. news, world news, politics, business, science, technology, health, travel, sports, "odd news", opinion. And fear not, gossip lovers, they have an entertainment section! However it is appropriately located in a small area and doesnt explode all over the screen like Paris Hilton's Diary threw up on my computer.
4. GOOGLE NEWS
I had the same outlook for google news as I did for yahoo news but was once again, proven wrong. In this case, however, they didnt have anything entertainment based what so ever. Strictly news, barely any pictures, and the pictures that were there were thumbnail size.
In closing....
News sites should give me news, not celebrity gossip. If I wanted celebrity gossip, I would get it from a gossip site. Enough people have gotten so caught up in the lives of celebrities that porn stars turned actresses is considered newsworthy enough to make it on the home page of a website.
Ranking of these news sites, best to worst, based on the amount of actual news present on the home page.
1. Google
2. Yahoo
3. ABC
4. Fox
Really?
Yeah, that just happened.
Youtube users.....
This one applies to a lot of video blogging type sites, but youtube seems to be the worst offender.
1. Im really tired of seeing videos of your 3 year old colouring
See an example here
Sure, little kids can be cute and all (sometimes), but why would I want to watch him colour? Parents, not everyone thinks the things your kids do are as cute as you do, and unless Im being paid by the hour, I have better videos to waste my time with.
2. Im really tired of seeing 100's upon thousands of videos of girls dancing. I can go to a club and see the same exact thing....plus a face to go with it! If youre going to be so ballsy as posting a video of you dancing, at least put your face in it. Is it hot? In a sleazy "that girl is gettable" kind of way. Do I want to see it on Youtube? No. Newsflash sweetie(s), the only guys/girls who are looking intentionally for these videos are not going to love you or care about you...they want to see you being seductive without having to pay for it. Its like a virtual lapdance. Im not trying to take away from your talent...Ill admit, not everyone can physically do what you're doing, but really....Ive seen the same dance 100 times now. See an example here
3. Some of the random comments you people leave on other people's videos are just plain stupid. Constructive criticism is one thing, but causing stupid arguments and just being plain rude is pointless. People who act like that only do it because they dont have the personality to be honest with people in real life, so they feel the need to be completely honest to someone who cant even tell who you are. Stop using the internet as a security blanket.
Also, if you get so easily offended by what some random skeezer on the internet says to you....then you need to build up some self esteem.
Example: In a video posted by sxephil, he asked viewers what they would do if they had one day left to live. Hownicewaslt responded with:
1. Im really tired of seeing videos of your 3 year old colouring
See an example here
Sure, little kids can be cute and all (sometimes), but why would I want to watch him colour? Parents, not everyone thinks the things your kids do are as cute as you do, and unless Im being paid by the hour, I have better videos to waste my time with.
2. Im really tired of seeing 100's upon thousands of videos of girls dancing. I can go to a club and see the same exact thing....plus a face to go with it! If youre going to be so ballsy as posting a video of you dancing, at least put your face in it. Is it hot? In a sleazy "that girl is gettable" kind of way. Do I want to see it on Youtube? No. Newsflash sweetie(s), the only guys/girls who are looking intentionally for these videos are not going to love you or care about you...they want to see you being seductive without having to pay for it. Its like a virtual lapdance. Im not trying to take away from your talent...Ill admit, not everyone can physically do what you're doing, but really....Ive seen the same dance 100 times now. See an example here
3. Some of the random comments you people leave on other people's videos are just plain stupid. Constructive criticism is one thing, but causing stupid arguments and just being plain rude is pointless. People who act like that only do it because they dont have the personality to be honest with people in real life, so they feel the need to be completely honest to someone who cant even tell who you are. Stop using the internet as a security blanket.
Also, if you get so easily offended by what some random skeezer on the internet says to you....then you need to build up some self esteem.
Example: In a video posted by sxephil, he asked viewers what they would do if they had one day left to live. Hownicewaslt responded with:
Welcome!
Welcome everyone to The Rant Spot!
A blog where ...in case the title wasn't a complete dead giveaway....I rant about the current things going on in today's world.
If there is a subject of interest you would like me to find out more about, please let me know...
Enjoy!
A blog where ...in case the title wasn't a complete dead giveaway....I rant about the current things going on in today's world.
If there is a subject of interest you would like me to find out more about, please let me know...
Enjoy!
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Really?
Yeah, that just happened.