Thoughts on the Megan Meier MySpace suicide

Posted on November 27, 2007 by david donovan

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312018,00.html

DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo.” Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her. Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.

The next day Megan committed suicide. Her family learned later that Josh never actually existed; he was created by members of a neighborhood family that included a former friend of Megan’s.

Now Megan’s parents hope the people who made the fraudulent profile on the social networking Web site will be prosecuted, and they are seeking legal changes to safeguard children on the Internet.

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“Hot” Gas Costing You More at the Pump?

Posted on July 5, 2007 by david donovan

An MSNBC report today gives us something new to worry about with skyrocketing gas prices – thermal expansion. According to them:

As the temperature rises, liquid gasoline expands and the amount of energy in each gallon drops. Since gas is priced at a 60-degree standard and gas pumps don€™t adjust for any temperature changes, motorists often get less bang for their buck in warmer weather.

Consumer watchdog groups warn that the temperature hike could end up costing consumers between 3 and 9 cents a gallon at the pump.

The effect could cost U.S. drivers more than $1.5 billion in the summertime, including $228 million to drivers in California alone, according to the House Subcommittee on Domestic Policy, which recently addressed it in hearings. The committee€™s chair, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, has long been an advocate on the issue and has new clout as a member of the congressional majority.

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$3,000 for a traffic ticket!

Posted on July 2, 2007 by david donovan

The politicos in the state of Virginia have completely lost their minds.

According to USA Today:

In an effort to raise money for road projects, [Virginia] will start hitting residents who commit serious traffic offenses with huge civil penalties.

The new civil charges will range from $750 to $3,000 and will be added to existing fines and court costs. The civil penalty for going 20 mph over the speed limit will be $1,050, plus $61 in court costs and a fine that is typically about $200.

Virginia’s new traffic penalties are expected to raise $65 million a year and are part of an effort to improve the state’s roads without raising taxes.

A first-time drunken driver will face a $2,250 civil penalty, plus fines and court costs that typically run about $500 or more. Driving without a license? That’s a mandatory $900 civil penalty, in addition to the ordinary $100 for a fine and court costs.

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A Public Service Announcement for the Film and Music Industries

Posted on June 22, 2007 by david donovan

The following is an unpaid Public Service Announcement for the leaders of the Film and Music Industries.

  • Give us our role models back and stop portraying men as weak, helpless, pathetic, softer-sided, women-worshipping wimps. Your films have fostered two generations of panty-waisted crybaby wussbags with not a clue what it means to be a man.
  • Give us our heroes back. Give us leading men who are strong, bold, decisive, powerful and good-looking without being prettyboys. Men like Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Anthony Hopkins and Tommy Lee Jones. Keep the Orlando Blooms in the chick flicks.
  • Tell us stories written by story-writers, not by comic-book artists, or screenwriters with only a glimmer of imagination who are just re-hashing old films and ideas that weren’t any good the first time around.
  • Stop trying to turn every remotely successful film into a “franchise.” We didn’t need three Pirates of the Caribbeans, we didn’t need three Spider-Mans, we didn’t need three Shreks or three Austin Powerses, we don’t need a third Fantastic Four, and we definitely don’t need another Ricky Bobby. But somehow I know, since you dumped the first stinkers on us, you’re going to dump some more as well.
  • Stop trying to turn a 5-minute idea on a Saturday Night Live comedy skit into a 90-minute film with those annoying SNL flunkie comics.
  • Stop assuming that big-budget special effects can be substituted for a weak plot.

Moviegoers will thank you with healthier box-office and DVD dividends.

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