Recently by Inga Kirsch

What is considered crossing the line in internet gossip, or is there even a line? Should people's reputations, lives and families be ruined due to internet gossip? Websites like postsecret.com, where "bloggers" send in their deepest secret written on a postcard prove that anonymous gossip is okay, since it is one of the top ten visited websites by college aged females. The creator of the site also publishes books with the same concept. Postsecret.com does not post the person's name who submits the postcard, and postcards with names on them are not posted online or published in the book.

But a new wave of internet gossip is hitting the internet, especially for college aged students. Recently CNN.com posted an article about juicycampus.com; a college Web site that enables students to blog about sex, drugs and gossip. While postsecret.com is completely anonymous, juicycampus.com is not. After visiting the website I was able to facebook search one of the names featured in a title of a blog on the homepage of the website. Is this considered an invasion of privacy, to have embarrassing information posted on a website devoted to campus gossip? Duke, UCLA and Loyola Marymount are just a few of the schools involved. Normally, students fight for internet freedom but in this case student editorials, student leaders, newspaper editorials and posters on the site are fighting against it. Administrators are appalled by the site but can do nothing about it, since it can be viewed outside the student computer network. If employers, siblings or parents were to read the information posted, futures could be ruined and reputations demolished. Besides damaging a student's reputation the site enables dangerous threats to become more widely known. A now former Loyola Marymount student was arrested after allegedly posting a school wide shooting threat on Juicycampus.com. Student leaders and administrators believe the website will die down after the shock value is gone. Is there a line that can be crossed when dealing with internet privacy and gossip and is Juicycampus.com crossing it?

This photo was retrieved from NBC. Amy Peohler playing Hilary Clinton (right) on SNL this past weekend.

For many political candidates thinking outside the box is a strategy that can win them a political victory. In years past television commercials were the newest and most innovative way to campaign. Recently candidates for the 2008 election have been campaigning towards a younger, hipper crowd. The campaigns have become less formal and more creative. Obama has posted music videos by Will.I.Am on Youtube and several of the candidates have appeared on the NBC show Saturday Night Live. Clinton appeared on the infamous SNL this past Saturday night playing herself. The sketch poked fun at the debate between Clinton and Obama earlier in the week. Clinton was asked hard questions while Obama was asked easy questions. The sketch was not intended to be an endorsement for Clinton. When asked if she would like to take the sketch as an endorsement she responded, ‘Absolutely not.' But I still enjoyed that sketch a great deal because I simply adore [Amy Poehler's] impression of me." Other candidates that have appeared on SNL in the past include: Obama, Huckabee, and Giuliani. Clinton plans on appearing on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and she has already appeared on CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman." In the upcoming election the political campaigning is less about what the candidates will do once elected. It seems as if emphasis is on the Public Relations aspect of the campaign as much as the actual campaign if not more. With a "younger" feel to the campaigns do you think more youth will vote in the next election?

This photo was retrieved from NBC. Amy Peohler playing Hilary Clinton (right) on SNL this past weekend.

For many political candidates thinking outside the box is a strategy that can win them a political victory. In years past television commercials were the newest and most innovative way to campaign. Recently candidates for the 2008 election have been campaigning towards a younger, hipper crowd. The campaigns have become less formal and more creative. Obama has posted music videos by Will.I.Am on Youtube and several of the candidates have appeared on the NBC show Saturday Night Live. Clinton appeared on the infamous SNL this past Saturday night playing herself. The sketch poked fun at the debate between Clinton and Obama earlier in the week. Clinton was asked hard questions while Obama was asked easy questions. The sketch was not intended to be an endorsement for Clinton. When asked if she would like to take the sketch as an endorsement she responded, ‘Absolutely not.' But I still enjoyed that sketch a great deal because I simply adore [Amy Poehler's] impression of me." Other candidates that have appeared on SNL in the past include: Obama, Huckabee, and Giuliani. Clinton plans on appearing on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and she has already appeared on CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman." In the upcoming election the political campaigning is less about what the candidates will do once elected. It seems as if emphasis is on the Public Relations aspect of the campaign as much as the actual campaign if not more. With a "younger" feel to the campaigns do you think more youth will vote in the next election?

Mark Zuckenburg founder of Facebook

"Look what this bitch wrote on my friend Amy's wall!" said my very offended friend. "Her boyfriend is totally gong to flip out!" At first I was offended too, but then I thought ‘Wait, I don't even know these people, why should I even care.'
What is it about facebook that causes so much social drama? When one terminates their facebook, they must take a survey. One of the questions asks why you are terminating your facebook page. One of the options is "facebook causes me too much social drama." Even with all this social drama, over 60 million people use facebook everyday! Just judging from the drama I hear about in my sorority revolving around facebook, I'm guessing hundreds of relationships are ruined everyday through the social network. Drama on the site is not the only controversy; there is also controversy over who actually founded the web site.

Facebook was founded by a Harvard Sophomore Mark Zuckerburg in 2004. It was first opened just to Harvard Students but has since broadened to other college students and now everyone.
Two or three other Harvard students claim that Facebook was their idea first and Zuckerburg was hired by them to do the web coding. While hired to encode Zuckerburg allegedly stole the idea and has since made billions. Zuckerburg denies these allegations. Facebook has been sued by these three students and the case is currently pending in a federal district court in Boston.

Many college students believe that facebook and hit it's peak and is on the down ward slope. The new features offered, like the applications and availability to everyone has only made it less appealing to the original college users. What will the drama thriving college students do when facebook is gone???

Lean red meat is benefitial to your health
Photo: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/diet.fitness/01/09/healthmag.bad.foods/index.html

When you think of the words hamburger, ice cream, and pizza the last thing that come to mind is weight loss. But in reality weight loss could be a prospect when eating these foods correctly.

Red meat is definitely not considered a key component to loosing weight, but studies have shown that by eating lean red meat in a low calorie diet can actually help you loose weight. Since meat is so full of protein the hunger subsides after eating a serving of red meat and stays away until the next appropriate meal time. By choosing "extra-lean" meat and lower fat cuts, you can actually do your body a favor by eating a steak or hamburger.

A recent Swedish study has shown that by eating one serving of ice cream a day can actually help you loose weight. There are not any proven speculations to why, but one reason may be due to the combination of the milk and fat in ice cream; helping in weight loss. Not all studies prove the "diary helps weight loss" theory, but there is more positive evidence than negative evidence.

"Many women find that low-fat versions of dairy products like ice cream and cheese just aren't satisfying," she says, "so they may eat a lot of them -- downing hundreds of calories in the process, trying to fulfill their craving -- when just a little bit of the full-fat stuff would have done the trick," says Bonnie Gluck, M.S., R.D., a clinical dietitian at New York Methodist Hospital in New York City.

Normal pizza from the corporate pizza companies is not the only way you can eat pizza. In order to fulfill your guilty craving for pizza, you can make it healthy! Instead of dousing your pizza in mozzarella and pepperoni you can make it with a wheat crust and top it with veggies instead of the normal pepperoni.

So next time you eliminate the idea of eating red meat, ice cream or pizza because of the dreaded calories you can remember there is some positive outcomes for being "unhealthy" once in a while.

Joan Darrah, retired captain, and a lesbian, who served in a variety of intelligence billets from 1972 to 2002, kept her sexual orientation secret during her time in the military. The secret took its toll on her after the "Don't Ask Don't Tell policy took effect. Her navy career was rather "stress free" until the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" policy. When she had to fill out her pre enlistment survey and the question "do you know a gay person, and, if you did, what would you do?" she was physically sick after reading it. She was literally sick of lying to everyone.

President Clinton addressed the issue of gays and lesbians in the military during his presidency; by enforcing the "Don't Ask Don't Tell policy". He believed when he passed the law that no matter what one's sexual preference was it should not determine weather one was able to serve in the military.

Georgia Democrat Sam Nunn successfully headed a group that was able to write into law a ban on openly gay men and lesbians in the military. The only negotiation congress was willing to give Clinton was the exemption of the question asking about one's sexual preference.

So you might be asking ‘why does this matter to me'? Majority of the people serving in the military right now, were recruited from the ages 18-24. And currently if you are an openly gay male or an open lesbian, you are not allowed to serve in the military. Since this is the fiftieth anniversary of the law, many changes to the current law have been discussed. With the upcoming election, the idea of getting rid of the law is prevalent. Joan Darrah believes that with a democrat in office the ban would essentially be dropped. She also says "the younger generation doesn't care at all." So my question to you is: do we care? What is your take on the law as it is right now and the rumors of the upcoming changes/exclusion?

The Full Story:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1707545,00.html