Woman charged after teen commits suicide

I originally wanted to have my last post before the weekend be something funny or humorous, but I read this story and felt I had to comment on it.

It seems as if the States is ready to start charging people with using the Internet to bully people. This is happening after a 49-year-old woman was charged after she allegedly created a fake Myspace account, started an online relationship with a 13-year-old neighbourhood girl, and then somehow convinced the girl to commit suicide.

“Prosecutors say Lori Drew and others created the fake MySpace persona of a 16-year-old boy to woo neighbor Megan Meier for several weeks, then abruptly ended the relationship and said the world would be better off without her.

“Meier’s 2006 suicide by hanging, just hours after she read those final messages, made worldwide headlines and prompted calls for social networking sites like MySpace to crack down on cyber-bullying.”

Read the full story here.

People can be so cruel. You would think a 49-year-old adult would know better. I’m actually at a loss for words. I can understand if you say something mean when you’re angry, but this was something the adult did for weeks. Shouldn’t she have felt guilty at some point during the act? And what does this teach her daughter about morals?

Some people just have no sense.

Too rough?

Nothing too serious heading into the long weekend, but here is an odd story that made me laugh.

“A Canadian man who asked his lover to carve a heart-shaped symbol on his chest during a rough sex game almost died when she accidentally pressed too hard and punctured his heart, a newspaper said on Thursday.”  Read story here.

13-year-old pays for escorts, plays Halo

This story is too funny not to share.

It seems a 13-year-old Texas kid ordered a credit card for himself from his dad’s account. He took his friends on a spending spree, and at one point ordered two $1,000 a night escorts/hookers.

“Asked why he ordered two escorts, Ralph said he thought it was the thing to do when you win a “World of Warcraft” tournament. They told the suspicious working girls they were people of restricted growth working with a traveling circus, and as State law does not allow those with disabilities to be discriminated against they had no right to refuse them.

“The $1,000 a night girls, sensing something up, played “Halo” on the Xbox with the kids, instead of selling their sexual services.”

The kid was convicted of fraud for the credit card thing, but the story is one of the funniest I’ve read in a long time.

Read the rest of the story here.

I’m bored of Facebook

I realized the other day that I don’t spend nearly as much time on Facebook as I used to. I still use it to keep in contact with friends, to plan events and what not, but I don’t spend as much time surfing it as I used to.

I saw this video, which kind of sums up why. Note, I do have some applications on Facebook, but it’s generally ones like movies, books, Boggle, etc., things I would do or talk about if I was talking to friends in real life. But I keep away from zombies and werewolves and things like that.

Also, if you ever receive an application request from me, it’s probably because I hit the wrong button, so just ignore it.

P.S.- I realize it’s ironic that I use Facebook to promote people to read my blog, and yet I’m writing this post.

Home Alone?

So it finally happened. Okay, it probably happened before, but this was the first one I remember hearing about.

It seems as if a family boarded an airplane in Vancouver, and forgot to bring their kid. They remembered their luggage, their toothbrushes, their passports, but seemed to forget their two-year-old boy.

I understand there was some confusion over who had the kids once the parents got separated at the airport, and they weren’t seated together, but still, it’s their son!

I wonder if it’s too late to make a fourth Home Alone movie.

George Blackburn

I always hate it when I find out something that I wasn’t prepared for.

When compiling my list of things to do in my life, I found out that George Blackburn passed away. Most people don’t know who he is, but he was a Second World War vet who wrote a trilogy of books about the war (the books were called The Guns of Normandy, The Guns of Victory and Where the Hell Are the Guns). He wrote them for his grandkids, but the books ended up being published in 1997. In 2001, he was awarded the Order of Canada.

Blackburn lived in the Alta Vista area at the time, so I met him in person and chatted with him about his time in the war, his books and being named to the Order of Canada. I enjoyed talking to him. He led an interesting life, and knew how to tell a story. This was about a month after I had become editor of the News, and he was the first awesome interview I had done.

When the story was published, he took the time to write me a three-page letter telling me that he liked the story, the feedback he was getting because of it, and what was new in his life. It was the first really positive letter I had received (different than a letter to the editor). He gave me a signed a copy of his book, but I haven’t gotten around to reading it.

That’s why I put it on the list. I’ve always wanted to read it, but never found the chance. While publishing the list, I wanted to get the names of all three books, and found out he died in November 2006. It left me feeling sad.

I’m glad he appreciated the story I wrote, and I’m glad I had some sort of impact on his life.

52 things I want to do

This is a follow-up to a post where I mentioned I was creating a list of 100 things I’ve always wanted to do. I couldn’t come up with 100, so for now it’s at 52, but more can be added to it later.

Read the list, let me know what you think, and tell me what ones are your favourite ones.

 

1. Watch an NHL playoffs finals live

2. Go to a Raptors game

3. See a baseball game at Fenway Park

4. Write a book

5. Visit Australia

6. Get my weight back to 180 pounds

7. Run for city council

8. Have a professional wrestling match

9. Watch Firefly and Serenity

10. Play in a poker tournament in Vegas

11. Go to the NHL draft

12. Get Earl Emerson’s autograph

13. Watch the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania live (this is half done, as I’ve seen Wrestlemania already)

14. Finish paying off my line of credit

15. See Buddy Wasisname in concert

16. Bring Vanessa to Labrador City

17. Create a scholarship in my name

18. Win a journalism award

19. Attend a Habs playoff game

20. Learn to juggle

21. Play Great Balls of Fire on the piano

22. Go rock climbing

23. Be in the Guiness Book of Records

24. Lift the Stanley Cup

25.Meet one of the cast of Buffy, Angel or Lost

26. Go on a cruise

27. Visit the Statue of Liberty

28. Get my high school sweater back (I lost it, it was my favourite sweater of all-time)

29. Have a bad movie marathon

30. Make a geyser with Mentos and Diet Coke

31. Go to an auction

32. Read the Bible

33. Visit the Alamo

34. Tell Sandra Oh she looks like my wife

35. Learn to dance

36. Finish my university degree

37. Visit Hawaii

38. Learn to drive a manual car

39. Get 1,000 different NHL autographs

40. Donate blood

41. Learn to stop on ice skates

42. Get a dog and name it kitty

43. See an NHL game in 6 Canadian cities (already been to one in Montreal and Ottawa, so 4 left to go)

44. Complete a first aid course

45. Read every Harry Potter book (I haven’t read any yet)

46. Hit a home run (I’ve hit plenty of inside the park home runs, but never one over the fence)

47. Get 500 hits in one day on my blog

48. Throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game

49. Research my family tree

50. Watch the Superbowl live.

51. Be on a game show

52. Read the Guns of Normandy and the two followup books

The right to live

Should a father have the right to refuse chemotherapy for his son?

That’s a debate going on right now. A boy in Ontario has leukemia, and the father says the son only has a 20 per cent chance of surviving. The 11-year-old boy didn’t want to continue with his treatments.

“He doesn’t want to die this way, he would rather die at home in a peaceful, comfortable way,” said the father in an article found here.

So the son doesn’t want to continue, and the father respects his son’s wishes. But the Children’s Aid Society disagrees, and has taken the son away and has him locked up in a hospital.

So who should have the right here, the father or the Children’s Aid Society? It’s a difficult issue for sure. I think there should be a way for the two sides to compromise. Maybe do the chemotherapy, and if the boy gets worse, then the son’s wishes could be honoured.

But I’m pretty sure the kid doesn’t want to spend the last few months of his life locked up and involved in a court battle.

Stupidest season of Survivor

I finally managed to get caught up on this season of Survivor. Going into tonight’s season finale, I just have one thought:

Man, these people are the stupidest people that have been on Survivor yet.

For those who havent watched, it’s fans versus favourites. Ten fans went up against 10 former Survivor contestants.

The stupidity started off in the beginning when the fans started booting off strong players because of a stupid alpha male issue. Then, they kept saving the weaker players, like Chet, who all voluntarily left the game anayways. Then, there were four consecutive weeks of players being blindsided and not knowing what was going on. The final o newas when a player, Erik, who knew he was the next to go, gave up his immunity. He was then voted out by everyone in the tribe.

I’m sure even Jeff Probst, who has seen a lot of stupidity throughout the 16 seasons on the show, is saying, “Man, you guys are dumb.”

Maybe they should start doing IQ  tests before joining the show.

The worst is Natalie. This girl is so cocky, but she hasn’t done much. It was Cirie’s idea to get Erik to give up his immunity. It was Parvati’s idea to blindside Ozzy. Natalie acts like she’s the strongest players, but is pretty much useless.

Thankfully, the season ends tonight. It will be nice to watch it again when there are smart people on the show.

Canadian talent

The newest Playboy Playmate of the year has turned out to be a Canadian, the first one since 1982. (Read the story here).

Twenty-two year old Jayde Nicole, from Port Perry in Ontario, was announced as the winner this week. She follows other great Canadians such as Pamela Anderson and Shannon Tweed.

Glad to see Canadian talent is still being supported in the States.