While I compose a decent entry...

...please read this blog entry by my friend Jon.

In a nutshell, it discusses why all this coverage of Michael Jackson's death is ridiculous...and makes you wonder if there is any hope we, as a whole, will ever change our profit-driven motives.

Miss Bimbo drives same old stereotypes

If you think outlandish stereotypes of women don't exist in new emerging social media, then you might want to look at Miss Bimbo.

I first spotted this Web site in April when I was writing an essay for an international communications class. My specific essay aimed to cover how women are represented in some aspects of the global media, and through various links and research, I found Miss Bimbo, an insanely popular Web site based in the United Kingdom.

Here's an excerpt from my essay describing the Web site...and just how ludicrous it is:

Miss Bimbo is an “online virtual reality social networking game…where bimbos from around the world can join one another and be proud and happy of bimboland." This company is based in the United Kingdom, and it gets most of its revenue from advertisements. Miss Bimbo, which is very popular in Europe, is so controversial because of how the online game is actually played. Anyone 13 years or older can sign up for an account, and there are more than 700,000 “bimbos” worldwide.

Once people have created their bimbo, they manage the bimbo as if it were a real person. It must be fed, find a job, look for a boyfriend, and accomplish goals to move up levels in the game. The controversy kicks in with the appearance of the bimbos and the accessories. All bimbos are incredibly thin, and once a bimbo is first created, the only clothes available are tiny T-shirts and very short skirts. (I actually registered with the Web site in order to see firsthand how sexist and demeaning the concept was).

In order to keep a bimbo happy, things much be purchased, and some of the more questionable items include breast implants and face lifts. Diet pills used to be an option to keep your bimbo at a designated weight, but they have since been removed due to negative public reaction.

It’s almost overwhelming on where to start criticizing Miss Bimbo first: the actual name, the appearance, the goals, the products, the reinforcements of negative stereotypes of women. This Web site’s average user is 19 years old, so it obviously catering to the pre-teen and teenager crowd—and that is an incredibly influential part of anyone’s life, where identity crises are a commonality. To encourage young girls and women to sign up for this virtual bimbo (which implies stupidity on the part of the female character) in order to look “great” and attain goals of fashion and social excellence does a great injustice to women everywhere.

One of the main creators of the company and Web site, Nicolas Jacquart (a man), said, “It is not a bad influence for young children. They learn to take care of their bimbos. The missions and goals are morally sound and teach children about the real world."

If by "morally sound" he meant "stereotypically insulting," then yes, I’d agree with him. But the fact of the matter is this caters to a young audience, and the images presented only perpetuate the views that women should be tall, skinny, tan objects of sexual desire. For Jacquart to say that Miss Bimbo also teaches “children about the real world” is also incredibly narcissistic and paradoxical. The real world does not have to involve insulting stereotypes of body image and other insecurities. Rather, the real world does involve those things because they are reinforced in global media such as Miss Bimbo. Yes, some parents help out this Web site by allowing their children to demean themselves through shallow and short-lived materialization. But if Miss Bimbo did not promote this shallow image of the real world, then the real world could then change to one of gender equity and to one where women to do not have to have these body image pressures placed upon them.

Video of the Day: Absolutely incredible stop-motion art...using only Post-It Notes.

Milton Bradley: Go home

This is one of the greatest points of the regular baseball season because it pits the two Chicago teams together for the second time.

The White Sox and Cubs always fill up the seats, and as a Sox fan, I always hope for a smashing of the Cubs. Well, after yesterday, I think Cubs fans will want a smashing of one of their own: Milton Bradley.

Yes, it's the man who infamously shares the name with a board game company. Bradley threw a tantrum in the dugout after a lazy flyout in the bottom of the sixth, and he took it out -- in typical Cubs fashion -- on a Gatorade cooler. Niiice.

So what did Sweet Lou do? He finally did a good thing: Pinella told Bradley to leave. Get out of here. Go home.

I thought Bradley's low point with the Cubs was earlier this month when he threw the ball into the stands with only two outs in the inning. WRONG.

Keep in mind this is a guy who is making $7 million this year and $23 million over the next two years.

What's the phrase I'm looking for...oh, yeah. Waste of money.

Bradley was this year's "missing piece" for Cubs' fans' "World Series puzzle." Turns out, he has been a step above a cardboard cutout of himself (and just barely). He's batting under .240 and only has five home runs. It's times like these that make me relish in the fact the White Sox have Jermaine Dye, a humble, consistent producer ( .282 BA, 17 HR, 43 RBI so far) who flys under the radar.

It's not as though the Cubs didn't know what they were getting into, however. Bradley has had a past of being a complete nutjob.

Maybe Bradley should heed Pinella's order one step further...and just stay home. He's been a distraction every step of the way so far this year, and with the trade deadline coming up next month, the Cubs should consider two things (and this is coming from a White Sox fan): 1. Trade him. Actually, there isn't a second "thing." They need to trade him. He had to have been on a short leash coming, but we all know Bradley's position within the Cubs is safe.

And why? Because the Cubs management so foolishly gave him so much money. He's not going to be sitting on the bench while making $30 million.

It's players like Bradley that make these Crosstown series even more heated, but Bradley can be easily handled by opponents. Really, he's nothing more than a toy anyway.

Video of the Day: By far, this is one of the nastiest home runs of this year.

You make my world go roundabout

This past spring, I drove around in my first career roundabout in Carmel, Indiana. After six years of seeing stop signs and lighted intersections, this roundabout threw me for a loop (no pun intended...that would've been too lame), but it was surprisingly simple to use. And to go one step further, roundabouts are more efficient and safer than a typical crossroads intersection.

I first heard what a roundabout was last year, and now after being through a couple recently, I am convinced many more intersections need to make the switch permanently.

Several studies have shown that roundabouts, first and foremost, are safer than stoplights and reduce injuries and deaths in car accidents. A roundabout just about eliminates a head-on collision and T-boning (unless an absolute moron drove the wrong way in a roundabout). In intersections that were replaced with a roundabout, there were 39 percent less crashes and a "76 percent decrease in injury-producing crashes." And fatalities? Those fell almost 90 percent.

We're also living in an age where everyone and his or her mother is trying to "go green" and save the environment (myself included). Roundabouts do just that, as they cut down maintenance costs of traffic stoplights by thousands annually, save gas mileage (most times, you only need to slow down to around 15 miles per hour--there would be no more idling at red lights), consequently reduce carbon dioxide emissions drastically (about 30 percent), and lend themselves to landscaping.

The internal combustion engine is one of the polluting inventions, but it's so ingrained into our driving society that we need to roll with it and slowly evolve into alternative forms of transportation. Roundabouts not only ease traffic and stoplight eyesores, but they also prevent crashes and are better for our environment.

They are not being developed because of stubborn officials in charge, but thankfully, 23 states are on the roundabout bandwagon. I think it's getting very close to the time where we stop talking about how cool and innovative roundabouts are and actually move to their mass implementation.

Video of the Day: Don't believe me? Well, listen to this lady. She knows what's up.

Richard Nixon -- as if things could've gotten worse for his reputation

President Nixon: I thought things were bad enough when he and his administration pulled one of the biggest political scandals in the history of the United States.

But after the unleashing of new audio tape from right after his second inauguration, his already defunct reputation took another blow.

Nixon declared that abortion was detrimental, but some specific cases called for it:

Nixon worried that greater access to abortions would foster “permissiveness,” and said that “it breaks the family.” But he also saw a need for abortion in some cases — like interracial pregnancies, he said.

“There are times when an abortion is necessary. I know that. When you have a black and a white,” he told an aide, before adding, “Or a rape.”

"When you have a black and a white."

Wow, Dick. I think even for the '70s, that was incredibly racist. What's more is that he made that comment before including rape.

The sad thing is, I'm sure there are still people who would agree with Nixon. There is still a lot of growing up to do for a lot of people.

Video of the Day: Freedom is "ringing" in the ol' U.K.

Obama press conference

President Obama covered a wide array of topics today during his press conference, most notably touching on health care, the unemployment rate and Iran.

Iran is by far the most burning issue. The video of Neda that surfaced a few days ago (viewer discretion strongly advised: this video is very graphic and depicts an innocent human dying) shocked the world as it spread virally across the Internet. President Obama briefly touched on Iran, saying that the "Iranian regime still has a clear, open path to international acceptance, despite the violence of the recent crackdown in Tehran."

I'm curious how you all felt President Obama handled himself during the press conference. If you didn't see it, you can still see what his talking points were and how he responded to reporters questions in the first link above.

Did he say enough about how this health care reform is going help out citizens of the United States? What were your reactions when you found out the unemployment rate will probably reach double digits? And what about Iran? This is one of the most serious issues today...is the United States doing enough?

Regardless, the video of Neda is a true testament of what we all take for granted here. This poor woman--who was merely demonstrating--was killed for a freedom that we could easily take advantage of here.

We must realize that even with a terrible health care system and a crumbling economy, there are people in the world who are suffering far worse fates.

Video of the Day: In case you forgot what Lebron's magical 3-point buzzer-beater looked like during this past playoffs against the Magic...too bad the Cavs choked harder than P.J. Carlesimo versus Latrell Sprewell.

I can't stop looking at my fantasy baseball team

It's true. I can't stop looking at my fantasy baseball team.

I have been playing fantasy sports since I first started surfing the Internet in middle school. The first fantasy sport I ever participated in was at Small World (which has since been swallowed by Sporting News). It was great--I felt the power of a general manager at my hands. I was "buying" players. They were on my team. And now, checking my team is one of my essential functions of even going on the Internet.

This is how bad my "disease" has gotten (and I know other fantasy managers in my league have it as bad--or worse--than I do...and it's times like these when I wish Bill Simmons could be in our league. I'm sure he'd understand our delightful plight.):

I go to the league homepage every day. After perusing the league posts to see who has been talking trash, I click on my team to see how they did the night before. The days where I see my team batted .160 and my pitching staff had an 8.53 ERA lead me to fits of internal cursing, shame, and a desire to trade/eliminate every last one of them. But the days of a .400 batting average and an ERA under 2.00 make me crap for joy.

Of course, there are the numerous mediocre days that fill in the norm, but all scenarios lead to one result: I wind up staring at my team. For minutes. Sometimes, for an hour...or more. There's a constant feeling of "How can I make my team better?" How can I improve my lead? How can I comeback from such a terrible week? Why did David Ortiz suck such a big one for the first two months of this season, and why am I still looking at his face on my team? In fact, I just looked at my team again...right now. I had to take a break from blogging (of all things) to see if my team has miraculously changed.

It didn't.

I'm currently in the middle of the pack in our league, which consists of die-hard fantasy baseball addicts and friends of nearly eight years. I probably will not win this year, but there's still a feeling that maybe my team will breakthrough over night. All I want is fantasy baseball immortality, and my only solution right now is staring at my team.

I love it. It's my drug. Better this than crack, I suppose.

Video of the Day: As a former mascot, I can appreciate this act.