There is a new drug on the scene, and unlike Meth, Crack Cocaine, or Marijuana, this one is legal. Its name is Salvia Divinorum or Salvia for short. It is also commonly referred to as Sage of the Seers, Maria Pastora, or Diviner’s Sage. As a member of the sage family, Salvia is not known for its ability to spice up your food. It is known for its hallucinogenic properties and has been compared to LSD. The main difference between Salvia and other hallucinogenic drugs is the fact that you can legally purchase Salvia and many people are choosing to purchase it over the Internet.
Salvia is native to Mexico and it is believed that shaman have used it for many years, however it wasn’t until the 1950’s that Salvia made its appearance in western civilization. It may be smoked or its leaves chewed and it induces a state where one will feel as if they have experienced a deep spiritual realm or expanded consciousness. However, Salvia’s effects do not last as long as other drugs and due to the fact that it is legal, many concerned citizens and parents are concerned as to what Salvia’s lasting side effects will be. Research has shown that if Salvia is smoked, the effects will last between one to five minutes. If it is chewed, the effects may be experienced between thirty minutes and one and a half hours.
One of the most pressing concerns regarding Salvia is that there simply isn’t a lot of documentation on the subject. In fact, for those who have taken it, the most frequent comment is that the experience is over very quickly. There is no “coming down” period as there is with other drugs. It is as if one minute you are gripped in a hallucinogenic state and the next minute you are back to reality. However, this does not imply that Salvia is safe. Like any other natural substance that man uses, Salvia is not always sold in its natural plant like state. Other forms of Salvia include concentrated extracts that can produce results that are extremely intense. And there are reports surfacing of negative reactions associated with Salvia. In fact, the parents of a high school Delaware student are convinced that the use of Salvia led to their son’s suicide.
Brett Chidester was using Salvia. He purchased it from the Internet and after four months of using Salvia, he tragically committed suicide. His parents have been leading a fight to get Salvia banned throughout the United States. Brett’s home state, Delaware has banned Salvia under what is referred to as Brett’s law, but many other states have not instated any laws banning Salvia’s use. One thing that is interesting is the fact that the Internet has been spreading the popularity of Salvia amongst teens via YouTube. In fact, if you Google Salvia, you will come across a number of YouTube videos that show teens using the drug as well as many educational documentaries on the plant as well.
If anyone understands the pain and shame that comes from physical and sexual abuse, it is Oprah Winfrey. Oprah Winfrey has put up her own money to catch predators, frequently speaks before legislators to appeal on behalf of children, and started a school for underprivileged girls in Africa. That’s why the news of alleged physical and sexual abuse in the past weeks at Oprah’s school for girls comes as an utter shock.
Allegations have come forth in Oprah’s school, The Leadership Academy for Girls that states that some of the women headmistresses inappropriately touched and beat the girls. One girl ran away from the school and told authorities of the abuse that was taking place. Oprah Winfrey has been horrified over the allegations and has publicly apologized to the parents of the girls who attend the school. She has also flown to South Africa several times in the past week to deal with the allegations.
There is no doubt that this comes as a devastating blow to Oprah. Oprah is to be commended for overseeing the problem first hand and for attending the school. One can only assume that if these allegations are proved true that Oprah is going to be overwhelmed with the reality of what happened to the girls that she has invested so much in.
Oprah has publicly apologized to both the students and their parents and has even gone so far as to give her home phone number and her email address to the students so that they may contact her at any time. News media is reporting that the parents do not blame Oprah Winfrey for the abuse; they feel that she truly cares for the children. Oprah even goes so far as calling the students of the all girl school her daughters.
So far, two headmistresses (or matrons as they are called) have been suspended and the principal of the school has been placed on paid administrative lead. The girls have stated that the principal did not act in their best interest and failed to do anything about the abuse.
It should be of no surprise that Oprah would visit the school and address the girls’ needs on such a personal level. She has also hired a special team of American investigators, as well as a team from South Africa, who will investigate the allegations. Oprah has also made available professional psychological services to assist the young girls through the trauma and abuse that they had endured.
Many people are voicing their opinions stating that they think that Oprah will try to cover up any allegations due to the fact that she has the money to accomplish whatever she sets her mind to.
I disagree completely. I don’t think there is any subject that Oprah is more passionate about, than the safety and well being of children. I believe that if the allegations are proved true, Oprah will see to it that the children who were involved will be made financial restitution and there will be no cover-ups taking place. I believe Oprah will make sure that the perpetrators will never be in a position to harm children again.
J. K. Rowling’s recent announcement that the Dumbledore character from the Harry Potter series was gay surprised many longtime Potter fans, and even shocked a few reactionary-types. Nothing new there. But what, if any, is the significance of Dumbledore being gay?
The pundits have been considering this very question, with many of providing long-winded, and frankly laughable, diatribes about the significance of Dumbledore’s sexuality, especially following the Heroic death of the character in the final Harry Potter book of the series.
Some of the pundits found it interesting, or disturbing, that Ms. Rowling chose to “out” Dumbledore at a book reading at Carnegie Hall in New York, with thousands of children in the audience. And to many, the sudden explanation of Dumbledore’s back story seemed a bit too strategic — like an overly contrived plot twist.
Other columnist accused Rowling of cowardice by waiting until the series was complete to bother telling us an important characteristic of one of the main characters. Did Rowling simply omit this information in order to keep sales of the series robust? Given Rowling’s outspoken history, political viewpoints, and the fact that she is one of the wealthiest women in the world, I somehow doubt she withheld Dumbledore’s sexual preference out of greed.
But in the end, Rowland’s timing in revealing Dumbledore’s homosexuality probably has more to do with challenging readers, than increasing sales. The author is well-known to hold progressive and humane political views, and “outing” Dumbledore is simply an extension of her character, and a desire to an enlightened as well as entertain her audience.
Dumbledore is not the real issue here. The “real” issue is our friends, neighbors and coworkers who also happen to be gay. For example, does it matter that they are gay? Does it affect the way we interact with them in any way, or our respect for them as human beings or friends?
This, I think is the real point of JK Rowling’s decision to “out” Dumbledore. Did it affect his character in any way that he was gay? Does it change our understanding of the Harry Potter books because Dumbledore was gay? And finally, does it make us respect Dumbledore any less because of his sexuality?
The answer to all of these questions should be a resounding “no.” But the fact is, there are still places where it would matter if a friend, coworker, family member, or even fictional children’s book character was gay. And that is why Rowling had to do what she did. Dumbledore’s outing was a challenge to all of us to consider our own prejudices.
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For the second time in two weeks, Britney has had a run in with photographers. In the latest incident, she hit a photographer with her Mercedes Benz.
You would think that the paparazzi would learn that it might be best to invest in a good camera with a zoom lens, rather than to continually chase Miss Spears alongside her vehicle while she’s driving. Britney has been followed going to the tanning salon, coming out of court, attending her parenting classes, and even going to the hair salon to don the modernized Sinead O’Connor hair trend. Britney is a musical enigma and the photographers simply won’t leave her alone to the demise of Chris Crocker’s desperate pleas.
If you recall, just last week Britney inadvertently stopped her car over a photographer’s foot as he was trying to get photos of her driving in her pumpkin decked out car. And in a surprising coincidence, Britney’s lawyer will enter a “not guilty” plea for her current case of driving without a license. The charge is a misdemeanor and unfortunately for Britney, the incident was caught on videotape. Britney hit a parked car and was recorded leaving the scene of the crime. Fortunately, the paparazzi were there filming to ensure that Britney was held accountable and paid her debt to society. Britney has made a settlement with the owner of the car and it is believed that the additional charges of “hit and run” will be dropped.
The part about all of this that I find interesting is that her lawyer, Michael Flanagan intends to plead “not guilty” to driving without a valid license. It seems to me that you either have a valid license or you don’t. I am very intrigued how this will play out. I know that it has been reported that she obtained her license back at the beginning of October, but the accident occurred in August. I’ve yet to hear of drivers licenses being retroactive, so time will tell how well her lawyer’s strategy works. With all of the accidents that she has been finding herself in lately, it may not be a bad idea to add driving classes to the other classes that she is being required to take. However, it really amazes me that she is pleading not guilty to driving without a valid license when the media knows that she lived in LA for ten years without a valid California license.
The paparazzi are obsessed with Miss Spears and they’ve known that she hasn’t had a license for quite some time. In fact, it is stated that one of the reasons that she lost custody of her children is because she didn’t get her drivers license as ordered by the judge. It is clearly obvious that Britney can’t drive. Any photographer who refuses to leave Britney alone and places him or herself in harms way by jumping in front of, chasing behind, or running alongside her vehicle deserves what they get.
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There’s no denying that MySpace has become an online phenomena. The social networking site is one of the most popular destinations online, with millions of registered users around the world. Musicians, politicians, priests, authors and of course, students all have MySpace pages and regularly use the site to stay connected with old friends, and make new ones.
But as successful as MySpace has been in the Web 2.0 world, as a company, the social networking site has yet to turn a profit. But that could all be about to change, as MySpace prepares to introduce a selection of online games and other “sticky” content in early 2008.
The move toward MySpace games is seen as an attempt to increase the time users spend on the site. MySpace has partnered with Oberon, a developer of so-called “casual” online games to provide new content for the site. Although details of the expansion have not been fully revealed, MySpace is expected to put games on user profile pages, with a focus on multiplayer games that will allow competition between friends and other users.
The multiplayer games will likely be monetized with online advertising, sponsored tournaments and pre-game, video-based ads, providing a much-needed source of income for MySpace and, so the company hopes, increasing the “stickiness” of individual MySpace pages.
Oberon and MySpace are also expected to solicit game content from third party developers, a move that could see the two companies partnering with dozens, or even hundreds of smaller online game and software developers.
Internet experts see the inclusion of gaming content as a strategy to begin expanding MySpace from a social networking site into a full-fledged Web portal, not unlike Yahoo or MSN. The idea is to create a central MySpace “Hub,” which includes a variety of Web services from social networking, online search, classified ads, online gaming, entertainment and media content, and even a news portal.
If successful, MySpace’s new strategy could finally push the company’s account balance into the black, through expanded advertising and sponsorship possibilities.
But can MySpace really take on the giant portal sites like Yahoo.com and expect to compete for market share? Analysts have mixed views on this, but at least some believe that there is functionally very little difference now between the big portals like Yahoo and MySpace, excepting of course that MySpace has a younger demographic.
But in the end, the inclusion of online games on MySpace will only be effective–and profitable– if the games themselves are good. Good online games = sticky content.
Jessica Seinfeld’s new cookbook is a nationwide best seller, and her appearance earlier this month on the Oprah Winfrey show certainly helped. Her book, Deceptively Delicious, is a fantastic idea that incorporates hiding vegetables in foods such as cookies, cakes, and brownies. There is even a recipe that hides butternut squash in macaroni and cheese. As the parent of a picky eater myself, I find the concept ingenious as well as invaluable. In fact, as a thank you to Oprah Winfrey for the success that the book has received since Jessica’s appearing on the show, Jessica Seinfeld sent Oprah 21 pairs of designer shoes that totaled $18,000 and a note that said, “There are no words.”
It is an interesting way for a writer to express his or her gratitude, isn’t it? “There are no words.” Maybe that is because Jessica Seinfeld didn’t have the words to write her book to begin with.
Accusations of plagiarism are unfolding as parallels between another writer’s cookbook seem to be a bit more than coincidental. The similarities between Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious and Missy Chase Lapine’s, “The Sneaky Chef” are not only obvious, they are being commented on popular sites such as Amazon.com and Oprah.com.
Another slice of this story that is interesting is the fact that Missy Lapine had submitted her manuscript to Harper Collins twice in 2006 only to have her book rejected. Several months later, Collins published Jessica Seinfeld’s book. The same month, Missy Lapine’s book was signed to publication with Running Press.
The most interesting aspect of this story, I believe rests with copyright law itself. In fact, recipes may not be copyrighted. There are only specific ways to create a recipe and a recipe by itself is considered a scientific formula. However, the unique expression of a recipe may be copyrighted. Therefore, the fact that both Jessica Seinfeld and Missy Lapine have recipes that include spinach in brownies is not subject to copyright. If you are making spinach brownies, you can argue that there is one basic recipe for creating the treats, if you want to call them such. However, if the wordings that express the recipes are identical, then there is a good case for plagiarism. I noticed two paragraphs from both author’s books that look surprisingly similar.
Here is an excerpt from Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious:
“While I was cooking dinner, pureeing butternut squash for the baby and making mac and cheese for the rest of us, I had the crazy idea of stirring a little of the puree into the macaroni. … The colors matched -you couldn’t really see the squash in there -and the texture was perfect.”
Here is an excerpt from Lapine’s The Sneaky Cook:
“If you want to hide something in macaroni and cheese, you have to match the color of the dish. You could easily introduce white bean puree in the mac and cheese.”
It will be interesting to see if a suit is filed. These two paragraphs are alarmingly similar, and not in the recipe content, but in the expression of the text. It would be more plausible to have similarities in the recipes, which aren’t under copyright law, then to have two similar scenarios describing matching colors with macaroni and cheese.
Many people also find it difficult to believe that a woman who sends an $18,000 thank you gift of shoes because she has difficulty finding the words to write a thank you note could come up with the words to write her own book. Likewise, many also find it surprising that a woman accustomed to sending extravagant thank you shoes that total nearly $20,000 makes her own baby food and feeds Jerry Seinfeld macaroni and cheese for dinner.
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George Lucas is a very busy man. With four Academy Award nominations under his belt he is the producer of some of the largest grossing films ever. He is good friends with Steven Spielberg, and together they created the Indiana Jones series. However, it is undoubtedly his masterpiece saga, Star Wars, for which George Lucas is best known.
In 1977, George Lucas wrote, directed, and produced the first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, originally it was released as Star Wars, but with the newest additions of the unfolding space odyssey, it was later renamed. Today, Star Wars fans can brace themselves as George Lucas prepares to steer them on another galactic ride. Star Wars is coming to a television set near you! Yes, it’s true. George Lucas has announced that he is working on a television series that will be a computer-animated program. The working tile is, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. George Lucas has stated that the animation series will not be based upon characters such as Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker, but on other characters that are prevalent throughout the saga. Yet, you will hear some familiar voices in the animated show. The actor who originally played C-3PO, Anthony Daniels, has already been signed to recreate his animated character and you will see a number of other familiar characters. Other than that, George Lucas and Lucasfilms aren’t revealing too much of what the story lines will entail. Though he has stated that although the show will be animated, it is not geared towards children, it is an adult program.
Networks may be a bit skeptical regarding how well the new Star Wars series will fare, however I suspect that it will do well. George Lucas has had some ill-fated television Star Wars series and episodes in the past, but times have changed. This is the day of the World Wide Web, adult swim, and computer animation dominates the silver screen. Though there are some nay-sayers who think that the new series will meet the same fate, I disagree. Star Wars is the epitome of science fiction movies, and set the caliber for which future movies strived to accomplish. This is a different generation and today, animated series are widely prevalent. At 63 years old, George Lucas is again trying his hand at animated television and this time, I feel he is going to have a hit. Truly, George Lucas is ahead of his time and though the animated Ewok series from 1985 failed its mission, I think viewers are now ready for what George Lucas has prepared.
If all of the talk about the new series has you in a state of anticipation, you’re in luck. Star Wars.com has a special preview of Star Wars: The Clone Wars online, that you can view as a trailer.
I think once you see the quality of the graphics and supreme computer animation, you’ll agree that George Lucas continues to raise the bar and set the standard for other filmmakers to follow.
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There has long been speculation among Internet experts and online marketers that Google is becoming a monopoly on line. The company’s most famous product, the Google search engine, has dominated the online search world for years now, buying up competitors or in some cases simply regulating them to “D list” status. Even the mammoth yahoo.com continues to lose search engine ground to the Mountain View California-based Google, Inc.
Advertising revenues from Google’s AdSense and AdWords programs continue to grow well beyond expectations. For example, Google’s third-quarter profits in 2007 soared by a stunning 46%, raising Google’s stock price over $100 in the past month alone. Google’s total earnings for the third quarter were $1.07 billion. Compare this figure to last year’s third-quarter earnings of 733 million dollars.
But with its closest competitors so far behind in both the search engines and online advertising categories, could Google be approaching monopoly status? Online marketers, in particular, already claim that Google controls too much Internet “real estate,” and has effectively squeezed competitors out of the market.
Of course, the question of whether Google is too big or not largely depends on your point of view. For example, online publishers and advertisers that are profiting from Google’s growth and expanding advertising network would likely have no problem with Google’s size. But smaller startups, competing search engines and online media companies find that, more and more, the Internet is becoming a one lane highway, and that lane belongs to Google.
Already there is a backlash online to the “Googlization” of the Internet, and despite the company’s rising stock prices, there seems no shortage of competitors willing to wade into the search market waters. Online advertising is another area where Google appears vulnerable. Several new start ups are focusing on specific segments of the market and one new online advertising solution caters entirely to the burgeoning EU market, an area where Google is not “untouchable.” At least not yet…
But as Google, Inc. continues to roll out new products, such as Google Apps, Gmail, Google calendar, Google Desktop and Google News, the Big Brother comparisons begin to have more credibility. Google’s recent acquisition of youtube.com, for example has placed the company on the wrong side of many Hollywood media moguls. The company is currently embroiled in several billion-dollar lawsuits regarding the use of copyrighted material on Youtube.
The outcome of these trials, and the resulting publicity could have a great effect on Google’s future. Will they be able to continue their domination of both online search and advertising? Many experts are skeptical. No matter how unassailable Google appears today, it is unlikely that they can continue their current rate of meteoric growth without encountering serious competition in one or more areas of their current online “monopoly.”
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It’s been a bad run for Britney Spears these days. She’s lost the right to see her children, has probably the most publicized nervous breakdown of anyone in history, and just settled for a hit and run accident. Well, in what appears to be another “brit and run” incident, Britney Spears reportedly ran over the foot of a paparazzi photographer who was chasing her down. It kind of makes you wonder when things will begin to change for Britney, doesn’t it?
Partying in Hollywood is nothing new. It’s been the subject of lurid tales and scandals since the first “talkie” movies graced the silver screen. What is new is the fact that celebrities are being held accountable for their actions and actually doing jail time. It seems that Robert Downey Jr. was the first major celebrity to continually make his appearance known throughout L.A.’s county jail system, but with the likes of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, and Nicole Ritchie making jail stints you would think that maybe celebrities would get the message and begin to clean up their act. Well, maybe a few of them, but obviously, Britney isn’t listening.
When news reporters caught up with Miss Shears, I’m sorry, Miss Spears, as she was leaving the courthouse, she announced to the cameras, “Where’s the party?” Britney has continually been photographed around town, getting tanned, bronzed, lips plumped, and now, “Oops, she did it again” another accident with her car.
In Britney’s defense, we can probably assume that the paparazzi (a TMZ staff photographer) was a little bit too close to her car, trying to take more pictures of the one time former, Queen of Pop, and probably quite frankly deserved to have his foot run over. Paparazzi are continually harassing celebrities and obviously, anyone who attempts to get that close to Britney Spears while behind the wheel deserves what they get.
The Paparazzi are notorious for being involved in hit and run accidents. In fact, just days after Halle Berry announced that she was pregnant, she crashed her car in an attempt to outrun the paparazzi that were following her. She just released the story in an interview and stated how her thoughts turned instantly to her unborn child, and would he or she be safe after being jolted due to the crash. Then, she tells how the paparazzi who were involved in the accident, were still on the scene, taking pictures of her car as it was towed away.
Unfortunately, for Britney this incident will just be filed as another one of her infamous scandals. It will be interesting to see how the press runs with this story. In all reality, this may be one of the few cases where Britney was actually justified in her actions. We know that the paparazzi have been causing celebrities to jump over the edge for many years now. Sean Penn got into a brawl with camera wielding paparazzi back in 85, and not too long ago, husband of supermodel, Heidi Klum, and singer, Seal lost all restraint when eight photographers followed him and his wife. It also isn’t the first time that Britney has had her share of run-ins with the paparazzi. At least this time Britney didn’t use an umbrella, she simply ran over his foot.
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Decades ago, the United States had a real problem with lead — particularly the lead found in house paint, which was found to cause a wide variety of serious health issues. But after rectifying the lead paint problem all those years ago, lead poisoning seemed to be a disease from the Victorian age, with no relevance in the 21st century.
But with the recent discovery of lead-based paint in toys produced in China, there is a renewed interest in lead. For example, an American advocacy group is reporting that many worldwide lipstick brands contain dangerous levels of lead, including cover girl, L’Oreal, and other cosmetic giants.
In fact, of 33 lipstick brands tested, 20 had unsafe quantities of lead, according to the advocacy group, The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics. The levels of lead found in the lipstick ranged from .03 ppm to .65 ppm. Long-term exposure to lead has the potential to raise blood pressure, induce kidney damage and a loss of mental function, among other dangerous effects.
Accordingly, the US food and drug administration is taking the new charges seriously. The FDA is currently collecting lipstick samples for testing as a follow-up on the advocacy group’s results. The FDA is quick to point out, however, that lipsticks have been tested in the past, and have shown no dangerous levels of lead thus far. Nevertheless, the new charges are being taken seriously, and the FDA has initiated a full investigation.
The US is the world’s largest market for lipstick, with total sales exceeding $2 billion in 2006. But with such a huge market, the potential for disaster is also present. If the FDA is able to confirm the high levels of lead, it would mean that millions of American women have been put needlessly at risk by the cosmetics companies. One can almost smell the lawsuits beginning to brew…
A spokesman for cosmetics manufacturers in the United States has responded to the charges, saying that the amounts of lead contained in their products were nowhere near enough to pose a potential danger. But as always in these matters, the FDA will have the final word. Should the FDA’s investigation confirm the excessive amounts of lead in lipsticks, the economic and legal ramifications could be huge.
Cosmetics industry lobbyists in Washington are already at work attempting to minimize the public-relations damage caused by this latest report, and downplay any significant health risks associated with their products. With a $2 billion US market at stake, you can be sure that the lead-lipstick scandal will be tying up the US court system for years to come.
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