Courtsey of: kopiwrite.com
Does this sound familiar to you? You have a 10 page paper due at 8am. It’s currently 4:35am…and you’re nowhere close to being finished. To make matters worse, you’ve had 18 cups of coffee over the course of 3 hours. At this point, your judgment is slightly impaired and you start to think, “If I just cut and paste THIS paragraph, no one will know, right?”
Michael Jackson. Brittany Murphy. Heath Ledger.
Three celebrities whose recent deaths were the result of, or incidental to, their use of prescription drugs. But the problem that their deaths signal is widespread. Just last week, my local news outlet reported on a high school principal who contacted his students’ parents to warn them of the risks from prescription drug intoxication following incidents of students sent to the ER after overdosing on prescription meds.
And, now, came the news that Michael Jackson’s personal physician, cardiologist Conrad Murray, has been charged in the King of Pop’s death.
As morbid as it sounds, did you know that the term ‘viritual suicide’ actually exisits? Yes, really. There are multiple websites that specialize in this. But, the always classy Facebook is not having any of this ‘virtual suicide’ nonsense.
In late January, Facebook served SuicideMachine.org with a cease and desist order. Suicide Machine is a website which allows you to basically break off all your social networking ties – by deleting your profile/information/pictures from the websites. (Apparently, this website works with Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Linkedin by entering your login information for each respsective website.) After using the service, all your information is erased from the websites, as if your profile was just a long forgotten electronic memory.
(Here’s a definition of Cease and Desist for starters: “A cease and desist order is an order or request to halt an activity, or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization.“)
Have ya heard this chant before?
“Who dat? Who dat? Who dat say dey gonna beat dem Saints?”
From: NFL.com
One step forward…and two steps back? Hmmmm.
Last week, eHarmony settled a class action lawsuit for $2M. Back in 2008, eHarmony launched CompatiblePartners.com, which catered to gay and lesbian customers. However, as a result of the lawsuit, eHarmony must now add a section devoted to gay and lesbian users. In addition, users of the websites will have access to both eHarmony and CompatiblePartners, without paying an additional monthly fee. After all, everyone is entitled to different avenues to find love. Match.com and Yahoo! Personals all cater to the gay and lesbian community, so eHarmony should also join in on that trend. Looks like a step in the right direction!
Perhaps CBS could learn a thing or two from the eHarmony story? CBS has recently faced scrutiny regarding the ads they have chosen to air during the Superbowl. Apparently, the network rejected an ad from Mancrunch.com, a gay dating website. CBS attributed the rejection to the fact that CBS was unsure whether or not Mancrunch would be able to pay for the ad and that the commercial was “not within the network’s broadcast standards for Super Bowl Sunday.” (If you watch the ad, though, it appears to be very ‘PG’ and almost comical.)
Barack and Michelle Obama should be highly flattered…or annoyed.
In recent weeks, both the President and the First Lady have been featured in advertisements, without giving their consent or approval. First, Michelle Obama was featured in PETA’s newest ‘Fur-Free and Fabulous’ ad, alongside Oprah Winfrey, Carrie Underwood and Tyra Banks. PETA admits that they did not ask for the White House’s consent to use the First Lady in the ad. However, since the First Lady swore off fur in a statement back in June, PETA felt this was enough leverage to use Mrs. Obama in their ad. Really, PETA?
(from: www.examiner.com)
Contract law. *yawn* It’s one area of law that I never thought could be described as “fascinating”. However, in the wake of the Conan O’Brien v. NBC drama, I must admit that the subject became more appealing. Here are a couple tidbits about contract law:
From: www.eatsleepgeek.com
There’s been a lot of attack, counterattack between Jack Kirby’s family and Disney, Marvel in regards to ownership of the late comic book artist’s iconic characters. Since September 2009, his estate has been on a mission to reclaim the rights and control of 45 characters like The Silver Surfer, Hulk, Fantastic Four, Captain America, and The Avengers (just to name a few), which he co-created with Stan Lee. Ouch. Those are big names to lose.
Courtesy of: www.mtv.com
It’s okay…you can admit it. You’re addicted – along with the rest of America. MTV’s Jersey Shore has become yet another one of our guility pleasures. All the fist pumping, the faux tanning and the quote-worthy commentary – you just cannot get enough.
One person who HAS had enough of the show? New Jersey Senator, and chairman of the New Jersey Italian American Legislative Caucus, Joseph Vitale. Senator Vitale, sent a letter to Viacom (MTV’s parent company) and requested that Jersey Shore be pulled off the air. “Rather than profit off ethnic stereotypes and derogatory myths about Italian Americans, MTV and its parent company, Viacom, should do the socially responsible thing and pull the plug on Jersey Shore.” Clearly, to the Senator, Jersey Shore is actually offensive – not just another form of MTV programming genius.
