BOO!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

LOL of teh day!

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Skillz

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Tag, You're It!

I expected folksonomy to be something crazy and complex; and honestly, when you get down to the technical stuff behind folksonomy, it probably is; but when I read that it is merely tagging, I thought what?! That's it? It gets a big name, but it's something common to the point that we don't even really think about it? And really, it is. Folksonomy is an extremely effective tool that most people take for granted, but it is immensely helpful. Tags are what make the search features on a web page so efficient! Take YouTube for example. Every video is tagged and categorized. Say I want to look up the "Kitty Cat Dance" video on YouTube; I type "kitty cat dance" into the search bar, and the "Kitty Cat Dance" video pops up! But I notice, while the Steve Ibsen original is the video that tops the list, there are other videos on the list as well. Why are these here? Because they are tagged under "kitty", "cat", and/or "dance." I select the "Kitty Cat Dance" video, and watch it. The tags for the video are, obviously, "kitty", "cat", and "dance," and the category is comedy. There's also a side bar, that says "Related Videos." The tags on videos allow this feature; because every video is tagged, each video can have a related video list, based on what the tags are. Topping the "related videos" list for the Kitty Cat Dance is "The Mean Kitty Song." So when I check this out, I see why it was on "Kitty Cat Dance"'s related videos list; the tags for "The Mean Kitty Song" are "cory", "williams", "SMP", "films", "kitty", "song", "sparta", and "cat." So, "The Mean Kitty Song" has two of the same tags as "Kitty Cat Dance."

Another one of my favorite web pages that uses tags is ICanHasCheezburger.com. Now, granted, this website is in semi-blog format; most blogs do tend to have tags. However, this is very helpful. For example, I remembered a very cute LOL that I wanted to use in my PowerPoint presentation on Internet Memes; I wasn't sure where on the page I'd seen the LOL I wanted to use, but luckily, the LOLs are tagged. I selected the "Nom Nom Nom" category, and after scrolling for a bit, I find it! "Nom de Bloom," a picture of a kitty eating a flower. Tags also helped me when I was looking for a picture to use in my own most recent blog post; I wanted to find the horrific photoshop mess of Ralph Lauren model Filippa Hamilton. So I went to cocoperez.com, where I remembered reading about the controversial photo. I see a post titled, "The Ralph Lauren Backlash Continues!" and, lucky for me, the tags for this blog topic are right above the title. So I click the "Ralph Lauren" tag, and scroll down a big... there's the blog with the picture I was looking for! What if it hadn't been tagged? I would have spent awhile searching through the blog posts until I found it. Same goes for Nom de Bloom. I would have had to search through pages and pages before I would have found it, yet because it was tagged, my search was considerably narrowed!

So perhaps the art of tagging does deserve the big and elaborate name of "folksonomy." Because if it weren't for folksonomy, I would have spent a LOT more time working on my PowerPoint presentation alone... not even thinking about all the other times I make use of the readily-available tags. Thank goodness for folksonomy!

My rant continues...

HERE IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT! >:( I mean, how stupid is this? Here you have a tall, slender, absolutely gorgeous model... that the people in the photo editing department of Ralph Lauren take a photo of, and edit her down to an unrealistic, skeletally thin woman. The image on the right is Fillipa Hamilton as she really is; the left is the Photoshop trainwreck! And what's even worse about this? Hamilton was fired shortly after the photo shoot during which the photo that was edited took place. Why? Because they (Ralph Lauren) told her that she was "too fat" to model for them anymore. WTF? They fire her because she's too fat?! She's anything but!

This whole controversy began when the website BoingBoing posted the photoshopped picture of Hamilton on their page, stating, "Dude, her head's bigger than her pelvis." Ralph Lauren originally made a threat to sue BoingBoing for copyright infringement, however, they realized that they would not have a case, because what BoingBoing did was not illegal; their use of the advertisement falls under fair use, which includes "comments, criticism, and news reports." Ralph Lauren then retracted their threat, and released this statement:

"For over 42 years we have built a brand based on quality and integrity. After further investigation, we have learned that we are responsible for the poor imaging and retouching that resulted in a very distorted image of a woman's body. We have addressed the problem and going forward will take every precaution to ensure that the caliber of our artwork represents our brand appropriately."

Fillipa Hamilton as well as the National Organization for Women (NOW) have requested that Ralph Lauren apologize to American women; I believe, as well, that Ralph Lauren owes all women an apology. Images like that aren't real, and they aren't beautiful. As it is, women are under enough pressure to be thin and perfect... then to take it five steps further, and shrink a beautiful body down to a sickly and unrealistic size? Because think about it (and women will understand this much better)- thin women are envied. Women are always comparing themselves to other women- and even though they make fun of a women because she's super thin ("she looks like a walking skeleton!"), they do this because they are jealous on the inside. But why be jealous of someone who is thin to the point of being unhealthy? We don't know.

That's the thing, though. That is how bad body image and eating disorders begin; to cope with stress, to gain control, to deal with depression... but instead of actually facing these issues, the person channels all of their energy into how much weight they can lose. This numbs them to the pain of anything else in life; it simplifies life to the point where their worth as a person, their success and their failures, all depend on weight. And all too soon, it spirals out of control.

According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), an estimated 10 million females and 1 million males struggle with either anorexia or bulimia- and that's just in America! As many as 1 in 7 die as a result of their illness, whether it be due to medical complications or suicide. And there are millions and millions more who have bad body image.

Yet the media keeps throwing out these unrealistic images? As if we don't have our TVs and computers telling us constantly that we're fat as it is? (weight loss ads- EVERYWHERE).

Again, I feel bad about this, because I almost sound like I am complaining about Photoshop; I'm not. I think Photoshop is something that can be (and usually is) wonderful, but it's all about the intent. The image of Filippa Hamilton is stepping over the line; because I can guarantee that every single person who is struggling with an eating disorder that saw that picture felt like shit after looking at it, immediately thinking they have to starve and exercise to get their pelvises smaller than their heads. Even to the average woman, it sends a really crappy message- this woman is taller, prettier, and thinner than you; and you will never be this.

I really don't know what to make of this; I'm not one for limiting creativity, but I honestly do think that photos such as this are very dangerous in a world that is obsessed with being thin.

Hai!

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IM, Young'ns, and Pervs >:(

Now that IM is becoming more and more standard in the American home, I honestly believe that children need to be educated on the dangers of things such as social networking, chat rooms, and instant messagers. You know how, as a kid, you're taught not to take candy (or anything else) from strangers? And then, when you're a little older, you learn about all of the sex/puberty ED stuff? (Good lord, I remember having a panic attack and wishing I'd never given the permission form to my mom for that). Well, anyways, I think we have come to a point where society needs to incorporate IM safety into discussions on how to be safe, especially in the S/P ED range (because, you know, hormones and the emotions they stir are more in control at that age).

There are many sick people out there, and what better age to target than those who are on an emotional and physical roller coaster?

Think of all of the idiots who are sick enough to try and lure tweens into having sex with them. I mean, you see TV specials on these often. Quite frankly, I love watching the sting operations. It fills me with joy to think, "Haha asshole, you got caught! Sick F*%$!" I'd even love to be a bait person, if it meant catching some of those pervs. However, what about the times that it's not a sting operation...? And it is actually a young teen? That's the worrisome aspect of all of this. At that age, kids aren't thinking clearly; they want to fit in, they want to belong. Their bodies and interests are changing, but they aren't mature enough to always make wise decisions. They're very emotional, and often listen to their emotions, over rationality.

This also goes way beyond the whole sex aspect.

Megan Meier hadn't even reached her 14th birthday before her life tragically ended, all because of a social networking incident. Meier was a shy girl who dealt with depression, and was not very confident to begin with. She received a friend request from a "Josh Evans" on Myspace. Josh was an extremely good looking 16 year old in Megan's town. For awhile, Josh showered Megan with compliments and seemed genuinely interested in her. Then, things turned ugly. Josh began sending Megan rude messages. He finally send her one that said, "The world would be a better place without you." Tina Meier, Megan's mother, said she could tell something was wrong; Megan had been on the computer, and stormed up to her room in tears. Twenty minutes later, Tina went upstairs to check on Megan. She found her hanging from a belt around her neck in her closet. Megan was rushed to the hospital immediately, but died the next day despite numerous attempts to save her.

Six weeks after her death, Megan's parents discovered that Josh was not a real person. Josh was impersonated by Lori Drew; Megan and Lori's daughter had been friends at one point, but had a fall-out. Lori asked an 18 year old coworker if she could use his pictures to create a fake Myspace account, so should could taunt Megan. Although Drew was originally charged with 3 misdemeanors by a federal grand jury, a U.S. district judge threw out one of the three. The worst part of all is that Drew's daughter and Megan had been close enough to the point where Drew knew about Megan's depression; she knew she was messing with an already emotionally unstable, hormonal teenager.

I don't think Lori Drew received enough of a punishment. She knew Megan was unstable. And honestly, who messes with a young girl like that? What adult tells a 13 year old that the world would be better off without her? Megan was an innocent little girl, who was dealing with enough problems as it was.

My point is that, as wonderful as social networking and instant messager can be, there's a lot of safety issues that need to be considered, and they aren't limited to sexual predators. With cyber-bullying growing, children need to be educated on what to do when someone is bullying them online. Lori Drew didn't pull the trigger, but she sure as hell handed Megan the loaded gun. Kids are young, and they just don't know any better. Even when they do have a sense of right and wrong, there's that funny thing called emotions, and sadly, that often dictates their actions.

So I believe the time has come to be thoroughly educating children on internet safety. When I was Megan's age, it wasn't a real big deal, because my peers felt cool enough to have a computer, let alone the internet. Now that middle schoolers are walking around with, at the very least, cell phones, it's time to start making internet safety a priority in ALL schools.

Mousecatcher!

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Lovato Never Fails to Amuse Me :D

"It was either perfect, or a pseudo-trainwreck."

Photoshopping- what's the point?!

Okay, so we all know that celebrities are photoshopped. I mean, when I was younger, I use to get so sad because I thought that people who looked as perfect as celebrities were real, yet I had so many flaws, I could never measure up. It was bad enough that I had dark skin, hair, and eyes (I'd always wanted to be fair, with blond hair and blue eyes, like my Barbies). Yet when I started comparing myself at a young age to the flawless pictures of celebrities, I found even more reasons to dislike my body. Scars and acne, love handles and thunder thighs, a weird nose, saddlebags... every little "imperfection" was magnified.

It took a long time for me to realize that celebrities are indeed photoshopped. They aren't perfect, they are just perfected by a highly advanced photo-editing software. However, even to this day, I still have to actually remind myself that the pictures aren't 100% real. It's hard, even when you know the truth, not to be slightly jealous. Maybe that's why it's such a big deal to get raw, unedited photos of celebs. Some magazines feature a "Stars Without Make-Up" section; not only are they without make-up, they're not photoshopped. And this sure grabs attention- people long to see the imperfections in the "perfect." You realize that they are human, and have their physical flaws just like everyone else.

So I wonder- why do we photoshop people? Why do we create these fake images? They may be nice to look at, but to be honest, I don't think anything good really comes from them. I know I'm not the only person who has felt she's had to "perfect" herself in order to live up to society's standard of beauty; there are millions of people who struggle with distorted body image, and it's greatly attributed to the fake images. I remember, in particularly, watching an episode of Dr. Phil where a woman who thought she was so hideous, she didn't leave her house for two years. Two years. She was terrified that people would think she was "a monster." Yet, she was beautiful. It's so sad to think she lost two years of her life, and spent more time before and after her period of isolation, hating herself. All because she didn't think she was pretty enough.

I don't mean to sound like I'm dogging Photoshop- I love the program. I just wonder why we think we have to make people look unnaturally flawless and utterly perfect.