Posts filed under 'The Buzz'
Opinion
“My daddy died this year in Iraq. I am going to give mommy the Angel pendant that daddy put on mommy when she was having me. I had it in my jewelry box since that day. I love my mommy.”
That is the text of an essay written by 6 year old Alexis, winner of the Libby Lu Hannah Montana essay contest. The lucky girl won a Libby Lu makeover plus tickets to see Montana live in NY in January, including airfare and accommodations. She even won a special Hannah Montana goodie bag. What little girl wouldn’t go to the end of the earth for such an opportunity?
Alexis made that trek—accompanied every step by her mother Priscilla Ceballos, who wanted her daughter to win at any cost. The end result was this: they created the entire tale of Alexis’s father dying in Iraq; in fact there’s no soldier involved whatsoever. Priscilla has admitted that she and her daughter “ […] did whatever we could do to win.”
Club Libby Lu, who chose Alexis’s entry presumably out of sympathy, is reviewing the matter. Their rules didn’t stipulate the entries needed to be true, and Priscilla is using that as the excuse for her behavior. As it presently stands, Alexis and Priscilla will retain the prize.
Detail of photograph by Jim Simonson. Some rights reserved.
Club Libby Lu’s glamorous stores are a great deal of fun for young girls. Even for older ones—I visited and made my own cosmetics there for the experience when I was in my mid-twenties. Yet if the company awards Alexis the prize they will be committing an injustice. They will teach impressionable children that taking advantage of loopholes, if not outright lying and cheating, is acceptable.
For the daughters of fathers who truly have died in Iraq, it’s a slight. Club Libby Lu should be ashamed to award a prize to a girl who claimed such a tragedy simply to win, when there may well have been children applying who’ve endured the real deal and remained silent. Lying to win is bad enough without also cheapening the sacrifices and suffering of others, which is precisely what Libby Lu will allow Alexis and Priscilla to do if they don’t revoke the prize.
I’m disappointed in Club Libby Lu and I hope as they review the situation they will reconsider their approach. Just because an essay contest could be open to creative interpretation doesn’t mean that lying—and however you paint it, it’s a lie—should be tolerated.
Sources & More information:
Fox Dallas / Fort Worth
MSNBC
The Dallas Morning News
WFAA
Wizbang
Yahoo News
December 29th, 2007
2007 was The Year of the Social Network. It might as well be a new marker somewhere on an astrological calendar.
Every year Google & other search engines publish a report of the most searched-for terms over the previous 365 days. These terms constitute the “buzz”–what’s really hot on cyberspace and therefore in the real world. Often the buzz is intertwined with what’s big in entertainment, what’s being hotly marketed in stores, and major stories that make the news. The buzz is what matters to us—lots of us.
Of the top 10 fastest rising (global) searches in 2007, Google reports all terms involve social networking or sites with social interaction—except #1, which is the Apple iPhone.
Badoo, Facebook, and Hi5 (consistently among the top searches on Yahoo every day) are the three terms that represent sites designed solely for social networking. eBuddy, another term on Google’s top 10, is a web-based instant messenger allowing users to utilize accounts on MSN messenger, Yahoo messenger, AOL AIM, and other popular options—even if the user’s access is otherwise blocked (such as instant messaging disabled at work or school). Again, a search term steeped in a social theme.
Online games with community features, for adults and children, also ranked highly this year. The wildly popular Second Life remains at the top of search engine charts, while up-and-comers WebKinz and Club Penguin [our review here] (both social sites for kids that involve virtual pets, like the once-juggernaut Neopets) underscore the fact that children today are very ‘net savvy. They’re a new powerhouse market on the www—WebKinz necessitates purchasing stuffed animals that can be played with online, so every child enjoying the WebKinz site is adding a little more cash to Ganz’s (the creators) pockets.
Video sites such as YouTube and Dailymotion also achieved global search stardom in 2007. YouTube is a phenomenon that’s now part of our everyday lexicon, as sure as if Merriam-Webster put it front and center on their dictionary. Sites like Break.com, Funny or Die (who will ever forget Pearl, the abusive 2 year old landlord in Will Ferrell’s short masterpiece this year?), and MySpace Videos also remain popular, but YouTube reigns supreme. Dailymotion was created to focus on animated videos, but a visit to the site reveals it is a cornucopia of live action as well. Both sites allow for user interaction, again bringing social networking into the scheme. Users can create channels, rate videos, leave comments, interact in groups, and more. (Tip for 2008: Keep an eye out for a growing niche video site with the same features, but focused solely on cute pooches: World Wide Fido.)
Google’s top 10 terms for the U.S. contains many of the same searches, with the addition of TMZ (notorious celebrity video and gossip site, which also encourages user interaction through comments), social networking site MySpace (the founders of which also made Barbara Walters’s list of the ten most fascinating people of 2007), tragic Anna Nicole Smith, breakout TV show Heroes, and the Transformers movie.
What we can take away from 2007’s buzz is that the Internet is once again the place for socializing. In its earliest days the ‘net was about interaction, too—before the “Information Superhighway” it was all bulletin boards and chat rooms, remnants of which can still be found in newsgroups such as Usenet. The emphasis now has come full circle. Sites like Facebook and MySpace invite people of all ages to keep up with existing friends and make new ones. The fact that so many sites are also geared towards children just goes to show this trend will not abate. A whole new generation of social networking is on the rise.
I think it will be a safe bet that such sites remain popular in 2008. Safe bets for regular searches will also include celebrities, movies, music, games, TV, and sports. In fact, Yahoo’s Buzz Index tracks all these categories daily, so they are sure to remain themes. But dotted here and there across the board will be sites that allow users to form relationships, network, promote themselves, share their creations, play games together, and otherwise engage in activities where it takes two (or millions) to tango.
Dina Ely is a freelance writer, poet, and author of short fiction. Readers can contact her at dely723@yahoo.com
December 28th, 2007
I’m unashamed to admit The Oregon Trail is one of my all-time favorite video games, and I doubt that any game will ever top the excitement it gave me as a child. So imagine my delight when I discovered the series is (technically) still being produced! Bigger, better, fancier with every edition—in my day it was an Apple IIc simpleton, just a smidge above the world’s most basic ASCII art (no color, like the early version most recall). Now it has…imagine this…actual graphics, proper animation, and sound effects that don’t consist entirely of strings of beeps!
To be fair, I did know about the advances in the game back when the 4th edition was released. I bought a copy and enjoyed it until an OS upgrade (XP) meant I could no longer use it (compatibility mode, no dice). It was simple point-and-click stuff, but much prettier than its predecessors. Every incarnation seems to be improving.
I’d have purchased the latest version when I saw it in a shop, but Vista (my latest OS…I’m also unashamed to admit it’s my favorite Windows OS thus far) wasn’t listed as a supported OS—probably because this edition was actually produced in 2000, when Vista wasn’t even on the horizon. I didn’t want to waste the whole $10 it’d set me back to get my hot hands on it, so I gave it a pass. It was in fact bundled with the latest version of Where in World is Carmen Sandiego?, so you know it was a big sacrifice.
If you’ve been living under a rock for the past 20 years and haven’t experienced the game yourself, let me give you the low-down. For educational purposes it simply can’t be beat. It’s a wonderful introduction to the history of the untamed American west, and it’s a great glimpse into life before all the comforts we know today. Everything from foraging and hunting to self-administered prairie medicine is covered. It may seem like stuff modern kids don’t need to know, but trust me. They’ll love knowing it.
Photo by Glenn Scofield Williams. Some rights reserved.
Playing it as an adult was fantastic for nostalgia factor, but also taught me new lessons. It’s a library of knowledge that my ancestors possessed, as my paternal family went west in a covered wagon and carved a home on the sometimes unforgiving prairie. I miss it now that advances in Windows technology have rendered me incapable of reliving the joy of The Oregon Trail.
However, all is not lost. For those who can’t play it and either want to introduce a new generation to the fun or recapture fond memories, there are options available for online play!
Happy trails!
December 21st, 2007
United States president George Bush may have done more than just stir the proverbial pot yesterday when he was quoted threatening World War III, during a speech about Iran yesterday.
“A nuclear-armed Iran could lead to a third world war because of the Islamic state’s determination to destroy Israel.
If Iran had a nuclear weapon, it’d be a dangerous threat to world peace,” Bush said. “So I told people that if you’re interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in ensuring Iran not gain the capacity to develop such weapons.
I take the threat of Iran with a nuclear weapon very seriously,”
Strong words from a strong leader of the largest super power in the world.
I could barely believe it when I heard about it. Yes, there is trouble in the mid-east. Yes, we are already involved in a big war.
But World War III? Nuclear bombs?
Perhaps people need to pick up the National Geographic from June 1999 where post-bomb photos were published highlighting the skinless citizen masses of Hiroshima trudging through the rubble after a nuclear warhead exploded 1 mile above their city.
Melting everyone instantly at over 1 million degrees.
Well, I guess not everyone was melted at impact. A few made it, sort of.
That was the end to the last big war.
How a repeat of that nightmare will solve anything is beyond me.
Will we somehow get through a global nuclear war and all go back to our lives, finally the disputes and the fighting over?
Those that die will be the lucky ones.
**********************************************************
You may copy this article, please just provide a link back to the source.
http://www.topblogcontent.com/2007/10/18/world-war-iii/
**********************************************************
October 18th, 2007
October 17th, 2007
If you love Dogs and videos of dogs and how cute they are look no further WorldWideFido.com
October 17th, 2007
I’m scared, that is for sure.
I’ve been a surfer, boater, swimmer, diver my whole life. I’ve swam in the oceans on virtually every continent, and there hasn’t been one time that I didn’t say a little prayer under my breath to protect me from these damn sharks.
They are everywhere around Florida. Rarely do I see a big one, but I see them almost every week.
Trained, cold, killers who no nothing more than to just rip and tear and swallow. No regard for your life, your friends, your arms and legs.
Now this guy catches a 800 pounder off the coast near my home. Sure, it was out in deep water. Sure I have a better chance of getting hit by lightning.
It doesn’t help with the fear.
I think I can honestly say, Sharks are the only things that really scare me - and with good reason.
They will hunt you down, chase you, and bite with the intent to kill. And there’s not a dang thing you’ll be able to do about it.
So, hats off to the good old Florida boys who hauled this one in and killed it. One less sea monster I have to worry about today.
Ad: If you are a blogger, get some great free (legal) content here.
October 17th, 2007
Finally a Barbie with the sense to cover up.
All these years, Barbie has been seducing poor old Ken. It is about time she covered up her bodacious bod with a proper veil and dress.
Anyway, weighing in at 4.2 oz and standing 5 inches tall, “Razanne” gives the 1.2 Billion Muslims in the world something to relate to.
According to a report by CNN.com the Muslim barbie ‘has the body of a pre-teen’.
Kind of weird, but hey, whatever floats your boat.
Barbie, say ‘Salam’ to Razanne.
October 12th, 2007
