so when does fantasy turn into reality

November 29th, 2008
Mom wants Drew to serve the max - three years and $300,000

I wonder about the response to this

http://government.zdnet.com/?p=4208

the washington post described the incident:

Drew, 49, of Dardenne Prairie, Mo., posed as a teenage boy, "Josh Evans," using a MySpace account to send romantic, then disturbing, messages to one of her daughter's classmates, 13-year-old Megan Meier. Meier thought she was messaging with a new, good-looking boy in town. As the New Yorker magazine said in a January article about the case: "Megan and her peers carried on an online social life that was more mercurial, and perhaps more crucial to their sense of status and acceptance, than the one they inhabited in the flesh."
Meier, who suffered from depression, killed herself in October 2006 soon after reading a message from Drew's account that said: "The world would be a better place without you."

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2008/11/myspace_suicide_ruling_a_water.html?nav=rss_blog


is the question one of how to prosecute some who does this kind of thing (ie picking the laws based on terms of use, or is the bigger question, do you hold someone responsible for manipulating someone else in a harmful way - do you prosecute someone who falsifies identity and then purposely promotes angst in others in a real-life physical setting?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everybody.

i just wanted to wish all my American friends a very Happy Thanksgiving!

i hope you all have a nice holiday. In Canada we celebrated Thanksgiving back in October. But i'll still cook a turkey wing for dinner tonight!

love from,

tara

Editorials

Now..back to the cartoons...no additional help from me today..^_^

The kind of thing that makes us a laughingstock.

Now..that being said...all countries have things that seem to be more prevalent in their country than any other...so people get to set up and maintain their stereotypes. This one seems prototypical American..^_^.

McDonald's sued...

Comments please...^_^

Editorials

Ok..almost didn't make todays post..but better late than never.


For those who celebrated too early...remember 60 days left and no accountability whatsoever. Now..many of these things he was doing won't last more that 2 months as Obama comes in and rescinds the more ridiculous ones....but still....a lot of damage can be done in 2 months....



Why does he act the way he does? (in reference to the previous cartoon) Possibly a quick look at the Texas school system may hold a clue....

Editorials

I've ranted on this already..but I do like it when someone can do it better in a lot fewer words...^_^



After posting this..I'm not sure what it is..^_^. I had a whole rant set up about the silliness of lying to your customers about your product when all it would take is the lowest level of employee to bring down the whole corporation...but I can't find any news article suggesting that Whole was mis-labeling their products. Now I'll just use it as an example of a poorly thought out comic and see if anyone see's something in it that I'm not....

On the humor side...I found this on Digg...

http://www.ridelust.com/road-rage-101-tips-to-piss-off-other-drivers/

I find I regularly do 3 or 4 of them..but that's only because the drivers around me have already pissed me of by doing the other 6.....^_^

Fwd: REVIEW CONTEST & NEW LIVE VIDEOS!!!

From: Ian McGlynn

WIN $50 OF NEW MUSIC, COURTESY OF IAN MCGLYNN

Hey Everyone! A lot of you have been asking about the review contest. First, to write a review on iTunes you must have an account with iTunes. Second, to write the review, go to the "This Is The Sound" album page on iTunes and click on 'write a review'. The last day to submit your review is Nov. 30, 2008. Please read the below press release for more details. In other news...for those of you who missed the recorded and filmed Blue Light Sessions show, we have some good news. 3 of the live performances are up on Youtube for your viewing pleasure. Please leave a comment and tell us what you think! Play Dead: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=01W61ch7pQI Night Driving: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=B1suQjK1YSI Memorial Day Parade: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=yoNzy7Jg5ig Love, Camp McGlynn and the Bailey Park Think Tank We figure that most of you probably lay in bed at night writing in your journal about Ian's music. Just yesterday, Ian's third cousin Larry wrote this on the bathroom wall of The Thirsty Beagle: "Ian's songs sound like flowers trying to grow in my Nana's garden at springtime." Another fan wrote: "Ian's songs sound like music from a cuckoo's nest." Both beautiful sentiments, but only one is likely to remain on Ian's Facebook page. Since it seems so many of you seek an outlet to express your wonderfully unique thoughts on Ian's new album, we have a suggestion for you. And a challenge. Camp McGlynn and the Bailey Park Think Tank is pleased to announce our This Is The Contest. What's This Is The Contest, you ask? Well, it's as simple as this: Listen to Ian's latest album, This Is The Sound, ponder it every waking hour of your day, and then write a review of it on iTunes. We've assembled an all-star panel of judges to vote for their favorite. The winner gets a $50 iTunes gift card. Meet the judges: Gary Nadeau is a director of films, writer of screenplays, and the guy who's doing Ian's first music video. He co-wrote the film Jack, starring Robin Williams, and has been making a bunch of cool shorts for dwell (http://www.dwell.com). Check 'em out, yo. John Mosloskie is not only the producer of This Is The Sound, and a player on it, but he fronts a group of genius musicians called Holler, Wild Rose! who deserve your immediate attention. Ariane Trahan is the founder of No Correct Way, a music publicity and promotion company that is working with us to make This Is The Sound even more special than we already think it is. So, what are you waiting for! Listen, opine, wax poetic, shoot from the hip. Whatever. Just no erotic poetry, please. Oh, and Ian has a brand new website created by Brandon Tutmarc. Check it out here: http://www.ianmcglynn.com

-

Editorials

Awww...is da big bad unions pushed the poor multi millionaire CEO and his minions to the verge of bankruptcy? Poor old CEO. I wonder where the union bashing has been the last couple of decades when "management" was ignoring the future and counting their money? Why is it with repugs that when a company is doing well it's because of skilled management..and when it's doing poorly it's the greedy workers fault? Just once I'd like to hear one of them admit that maybe lack of planning and lackwitted good ol' boys were the problem...not some grunt barely making a living wage. Anyway..if they are so hot on getting these automakers bailed out..rather than bashing the unions they might be saying thank you. The dems certainly owe no favors to the management side...while they may well owe the unions some consideration. Personally..I say let them crash and burn and buy a Toyota....^_^



Here is more the problem with the auto companies. The 80's taught them nothing..in fact, they still behave as if it's the 50's. Maybe they can ask some questions..like why are they always 5 years behind the rest of the worlds automakers? Must be those damned unions. Probably been spiking managements water with lead....^_^

Not that I'm ever known to brag.....^_^

Full analytical report for Cliff

Please bookmark this page; it will be available online for two weeks. You may also print a copy of each section for your records.

General statistics

Total number of questions: 30
Questions answered: 30
Questions not answered: 0
Questions answered correctly: 28
Questions answered incorrectly: 2
Percentage correct answers: 93 %

Your age adjusted IQ score is 142 and the average score for all test takers is 100.

Your Grade ** Gifted **

Anyone with a general IQ this high is considered to be gifted. You have the ability to think critically, conceptualize ideas and form your own conclusions. Your ability to think in patterns and to produce order out of chaos enables you to handle complexities and see logic in everything. Needless to say you are self-aware of your abilities and have the brains for all known occupations. If you think of intelligence as the ability to adapt easily to new situations then you are at the top of the charts.

So...my eternal question is...if I'm so smart (and verbal is my strongest category), why is it I have such a hard time getting anyone to understand what the f I'm talking about? ^_^

PS..this is directly in line with every IQ test I've taken since I was in high school +/- 4 points. Just nice to see my brain hasn't totally given up..^_^ Here is the web site if anyone is interested.ll

http://www.intelligencetest.com

Editorials

hmmm..I think I made a similar comment a day or so ago..but that was about rank and file right wing loonies...not this specific subset.

On top of their little parties....lets also take into account all of the money they've wasted over the last few years trying to raise their name recognition and profile...only to have it tossed away by an idiot executive staff (given that that phrase is not an oxymoron). Not only are they in financial trouble, but their name is now shit on top of it. 20 to 1 they are purchased and subsumed...(or do the purchasing themselves and take the name of the company they purchased..like Cingular did with AT&T).

Second Life affair ends in divorce...

Hi everybody,

i just read the item that Cliff posted at this blog on Friday, November 14, 2008, about the Second Life affair that ended in divorce.

My first reaction was one of disbelief...like can't these people tell reality from fantasy? Why don't they get a life?

But....then....i was thinking about it more and more...and hey, i think i'm the same way as the lady whose partner cheated on her in Second Life. That if it happened to me i would probably react the same way!

Does that mean i'm taking Second Life too seriously...that i'm spending too much time in a fantasy world?

Does it all mean that i'm wasting my real life by living more and more in my Second Life?

What do all of you think?

Love from,

tara

Editorials

I suggest an off shore prison camp for them..I know just the place....^_^



No turkey..turn the axe where it will save us all....



Always room for more clowns at that circus....

Well, that attempt to email a link directly looks ugly as hell. So...let's try this link to Dick Cavett's blog.

Second Life affair ends in divorce - CNN.com

Powered by    * Please note, the sender's email address has not been verified.       Here's an attempt to publish from another site by emailing the article. Hope it works.             Click the following to access the sent link:       Second Life affair ends in divorce - CNN.com*                 Get your EMAIL THIS Browser Button and use it to email content from any Web site. Click here for more information.   *This article can also be accessed if you copy and paste the entire address below into your web browser. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/11/14/second.life.divorce/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

Editorials

Remember..if you click on the comic it will open up in a larger form.

In reading comments from the "wrong" over the last few days(or should that be "the far wrong") since the election, there is actually a section that believes this will happen to them. I say not to worry..we usually leave this kind of behavior up to them and others of the facist stripe (like, say..communists..^_^..totalitarianism is as totalitarianism does..). I don't really mind if Rush and the dittoheads continue to screech their brand of aural pain. I use it as a barometer, and when I hear one of those talking points being barfed up, I know that I am listening to or reading someone who I don't need to pay any attention to about anything. Saves a ton of reading time.



I hope she runs also. It will mean the brain dead "core" of the party is still in charge. Hope she does better in her primaries than Danny Boy managed to. Another guaranteed 4 years with as few repugs as possible is certainly something to look forward to.

Editorials

One of the problems with trying to collect the more interesting of these is that sometimes I look at the comments. In this one..the righties were bemoaning the lack of decency standards while fretting over how Obama was going to destroy the first amendment...really...I can't make stuff like this up....they can't even see what idiots they are when they contradict themselves in the same sentence....morons.



Did I miss the backround on this? Was she really hoping everyone would forget that she swore they were going to charity when she was done playing grown up?



...if one felt that W had a brain, one would wonder what he thinks about the reversals of policy that O has already announced...along with the statement that the incoming admin was keeping an eye on what he would be up to for the last couple of months...ready to reverse any executive orders asap...^_^

Editorials

Yes..it's a little hard for us to gloat over statements we know are not true. It's one of the ways we identify a republican. It's that inability to distinguish lies from truth again.



Believe me..if the world voted for these 2 candidates a new word would need to be coined. Landslide would be too mild. Then again, the republicans don't care anyway....they hate the rest of the world just as much as the rest of the world hates them....

Editorials

You know..there were some others I was going to put up...mostly digs at Palin from both home and abroad...but I think of all those I've seen...Mr. Oliphant here says it best....(..and he did it without drawing the Lincoln Memorial..as at least 12 other artists did....)

Congratz

Congratz America, you have chose the best men for the job, i hope the world will be a better place now.

No editorial cartoon today...

I think we'll skip the cartoons for today...I'm feeling a bit mellower...and with any luck all the people I hate are dead of strokes...so I'll try and be nice for a while. At least until I hear the lies ramping up again..^_^.

An additional note on my friend (and maybe an occasional poster here) Ian McGlynn. If you want to listen to any of his songs...you might want to go to his website. His songs are up there on streaming format, and you can get a good idea of them that way.

If you want to buy a download though, I'd suggest Amazon for that instead of his link to Itunes. Amazon is a good $3 cheaper for high quality non-DRM'ed files ...and no having to mess with Itunes...^_^(for a full album. The price for a single track is the same. In fact, if you insist on Itunes, at least download each track individually...save a bit more than a dollar that way.). But, if you are like most Apple fans and insist on paying more just because Steve says you should...by all means pop over to the Itunes store and send more money to Steve.

(Oh..by the way..I checked. Ian gets the same amount from both places for a sale..so not sending extra money to apple does not affect him.)

Todays editorial goodies...

I'm about to head off into the no man's land that is my polling place. Given that my area is awash in repug idealogues, I can only hope I return in one piece...^_^

...and he still has a couple of more months to finish the job...leaving us in the rapturous state he believes we belong in....

Another good example of this is the ad's from the repug PAC's that have inundated in the last week that even McCain was too embarrassed to approve of. What they were harping about though, in terms that might have worked even 4 years ago...were lies and distortions that this time around had been thoroughly debunked..usually within hours by various bloggers and other net entities..which were then picked up and distributed by a media that seemed to have gotten tired of being kicked around by the right wing blowhards and decided to point out when the repugs were being lying scum...(evoking the standard cries of 'bias"...defined by a repug as any reporting that tells the truth over repeating verbatim their preferred lies..^_^). One can only hope that with the "media" spread out over millions of people and not in the total control of a few big right wing conglomerates the famous Atwater/Rove technique of lying your way into office will be blunted.

...still a couple of months to go...though I doubt this congress will be growing any balls in that time...

Editorials are late today...

I think the last one about says it all. The second I included for "Best use of shitstorm in an American editorial context"..^_^

If these are too small..you can click on them and the should open up in a new window a bit larger...plus you can then make them whater size you want

Clair speaks (sort of)

Hi all, finaly i am in it.
Nothing intresting to tell at the moment btw :)

Freeware

It's not that I mean to hide it...it's just I never think of telling people about things like this.

I highly recommend Gizmo's Best-Ever Freeware site.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/

I don't think there has been a product type in years that I"ve needed that I haven't been able to find there, and I have never been disappointed with the functionality of any of the top rated ones in a category.  If you are doing something and thinking to yourself "there must be a program that could do this much faster"...odd's are it can be found here.  Really good.

Did we all push our clocks back last night?

ah..the old misdirection ploy. Who would have thought it of the good old pachyderms....

Editorials

No..really...I'm sure the Oakland police really are worried about protecting their citizens from the rioting women should Palin lose. Look at all the trouble they had when Geraldine Ferraro lost in her run for VP....^_^



Yeah...I've been thinking this for at least a week or so now. Of course..if all our problems could be solved by spreading lies..I'd certainly be a McPalin supporter...



As a response to Anagen. Really..this did come up after I posted a reply to your voting comment...really....^_^