Youtube kills original RickRolling video

RIP, Rickrolling: YouTube Kills Original Video

That sound you hear? It's the spirit of the Internet being crushed, after YouTube removed the original Rickrolling video over a terms-of-use violation.

Are you sitting down? I have some horrible news for you. YouTube has removed the original "Rickrolling" video from its site due to a terms-of-use violation. Though there are other avenues in which to get a Rick Astley "Never Gonna Give You Up" fix, the original, the one that captured the nation's attention, the video that spurned over 30 million hits, is dead.

In case you weren't one of the lucky many to experience it, to be "Rickrolled" is to be baited by a contextually relevant Web link and then get smacked with Astley's official YouTube music video. "Rickrolling" started in early 2007 on the 4chan imageboard, and a year later spread like wildfire, becoming an unavoidable meme. The use of "Never Gonna Give You Up" stemmed from a 4chan prank called "duckrolling," in which people would be sent to an image of a duck on wheels. SurveyUSA estimated that at least 18 million Americans were "Rickrolled."

It's hard to believe, but "Rickrolling" extended way beyond simple Internet pranks. It was used during protests against the Church of Scientology, touched upon the First Lady, and even gave name to an iPhone virus that changed jailbroken iPhone backgrounds into images of Astley.

As it is wont to do, the Internet leapt upon the meme and tried turning it into something more expansive than it ought to be. Many Geocities-esque sites were born devoted to the cause, including a database and a dubious phone service.

But it's all over now

Google trial could lead to new restrictions on sharing videos online

Testimony begins Tuesday in the Italian trial of four Google executives accused of defamation and violating privacy for allowing a video to be posted online showing an autistic youth being abused.

All four deny wrongdoing. The case could set the tone for new limits on sharing videos and other content on the web.

Google says the case violates European Union rules by trying to place responsibility on providers for content uploaded by users.

The Mountain View, Calif., company also considers the trial a threat to freedom on the Internet because it could force providers into an impossible task - prescreening the thousands of hours of footage uploaded every day onto websites like the Google-owned YouTube.

Prosecutors and civil plaintiffs insist they don't want to censor the Internet, and maintain the case is about enforcing Italy's privacy rules as well as ensuring large corporations do their utmost to block inappropriate content, or quickly delete it.

"It's the first case of this kind in Italy and Europe," said Alessandro del Ninno, a lawyer and expert on Internet law. "The risk is that it will force providers to preventively control the content, something that goes against the very nature of the Internet."

The defendants, who are being tried in absentia in Milan, are Google's senior vice-president and chief legal officer David Drummond, former chief financial officer George Reyes, senior product marketing manager Arvind Desikan and global privacy counsel Peter Fleischer.

The investigation was sought by Vivi Down, an advocacy group for people with Down syndrome, which alerted prosecutors to the 2006 video showing an autistic student in Turin being beaten and insulted by bullies at school. In the footage, the youth is being mistreated while one of the teenagers puts in a mock telephone call to Vivi Down.

The events shortly preceded Google's 2006 acquisition of YouTube.

Google Italia, which is based in Milan, eventually took down the video, though the two sides disagree on how fast the company reacted to complaints. Thanks to the footage and Google's co-operation, the four bullies were identified and sentenced to community service by a juvenile court.

But prosecutors also sought trial for the Google executives, who could face up to three years in jail, for failing to protect the youth's privacy by allowing the video to be uploaded.

"We feel that bringing this case to court is totally wrong," Google said in a statement ahead of Tuesday's session. "It's akin to prosecuting mail service employees for hate speech letters sent in the post."

"Seeking to hold neutral platforms liable for content posted on them is a direct attack on a free, open Internet," it said.

The trial opened in February, with the court so far dealing with procedural matters. In Tuesday's session a company technician is expected to take the stand to explain how Google Video works.

A ruling is expected in July or after a summer break.

The family of the youth withdrew from the trial when it opened, leaving Vivi Down as the main plaintiff in a civil lawsuit attached to the case.

"It is not correct to talk about censorship, this is not our goal," said Guido Camera, a lawyer for the group. "We ask that at least users be made aware of their responsibilities."

Prosecutors say they are aware Google cannot screen all videos, but maintain the company didn't have enough automatic filters in place as well as warnings to users on privacy and copyright laws. They also say Google didn't have enough workers assigned to its Italian service in order to react quickly to videos flagged as inappropriate by viewers.

YouTube stunt ends with teen in coma

Boy thrown into trees after rope tied to sled comes loose from car

A Burlington,Ontario 16-year-old is comatose and in critical condition with severe head injuries after a video stunt gone terribly wrong.

He was badly injured in a secluded church lot near his high school Tuesday while car-boarding – a dangerous YouTube stunt in which teens film themselves being towed behind vehicles on skateboards and sleds.

His 17-year-old friend has been charged with dangerous operation of a vehicle causing bodily harm and criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

The crash happened as a group of teens stood cheering while the stunt was recorded on a cellphone video camera.

Yesterday, Robert Bateman High School students said the group built a sled out of two snowboards glued to a flying saucer toboggan and tried it out earlier that day.

They filmed it and showed the cellphone video to the boy, who agreed to try the stunt.

"The first time they did it, they were going 30 kilometres an hour," said a student.

"The second time, they were going 60 kilometres with (the boy)."

Around 1 p.m. Tuesday, four friends jumped into the car while the teen, wearing a motorcycle helmet and gloves, hopped onto the sled.

"They did four laps of the church parking lot," said Halton police spokesman Sgt. Brian Carr.

On the fourth lap, the tow rope ripped off the sled and the teen was thrown into a line of trees.

The video shows the moment the boy hurtles away, but not the impact.

The other teens picked up the unconscious boy and drove him to hospital.

On a Facebook page set up in support of the boy, the teen's family says he is in bad shape in Hamilton General Hospital's intensive care unit.

"This is his sister," the entry says.

"For all of you that are concerned, this is the newest update. His brain is badly bruised because it was shaken so badly."

"With the first 72 hours, this causes swelling of the brain which is life-threatening."

"He is stable now and still in a coma. All the doctors can do now is monitor the swelling and pray for the best. ... His injuries are extremely severe."

Yesterday, police said teens need to realize such stunts are fraught with peril.

Car-boarding "is not a major problem in Halton," Carr said.

"But it's dangerous. There is no other way of describing it. It's a dangerous event and we advise not to do it."

Dunking Phenom "Jus Fly" Darlington Launches His High Jumping Career

You might remember a recent article here on Double Double Thoughts about Justin “Jus Fly” Darlington.

He’s a 20-year-old slam dunking phenom from Ajax, Ontario whom veteran track coach Daniel St-Hilaire is hoping to transform into a high jumping champion.

Well, he’s off to a good start.

In his first outdoor meet this past weekend in St-Laurent, Que., Darlington surprised St-Hilaire by jumping 2.10 metres to qualify for the national championships next month at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. He currently ranks fourth in Canada this season.

“I’m pretty excited,” said St-Hilaire. “He’s ahead of my expectations.”

St-Hilaire had projected that Darlington could jump between 2.10 and 2.20 metres in his first season in the event.

Watch "Jus Fly" Darlington’s winning jump below:

"How to Kill Classmate" Video Posted to YouTube by 11-, 12-Year Olds

What kind of sociopaths are being raised today? A group of 11- and 12-year old girls posted a video to YouTube (since removed) titled "Top Six Ways to Kill Piper."

They include such time-honored ways as shooting her, making her commit suicide, and pushing her off a cliff. Beth Smith, mother of Piper, told KING5-TV the cartoon was set to a Hannah Montana song called "True Friend" and posted on on the popular video sharing website, YouTube.

Now, some could call this just a joke, but really, it goes to show just how far kids will go in their cruelty to those they don't like in school. With the Internet, the teasing that would once be localized to a school can now go global.

Piper attends Elk Plain School of Choice in Spanaway, WA, as do the girls who made the video.

Worse, while some of the parents were shocked, others dismissed it. Smith said one man blew it off and "said he was making dinner."

The School District says it can't say how the girls were disciplined. But district spokeswoman Krista Carlson told the local TV station that the students involved "have expressed their remorse about this incident."

Here is the video below:


Thoughts??

YouTube battling 'Porn Day' campaign

YouTube was busy deleting porn videos on Wednesday after users of forums at a rival site and an imageboard site declared a "Porn Day" campaign against the popular video service.

The forums at video site eBaum's World and 4chan organized the mass porn "carpet bombing" on YouTube, according to Ars Technica.

YouTube has been removing the videos as fast as it can, but even videos that are removed are still showing up in search results with explicit images in the thumbnails, the report said.

"It could take a couple of days for all the explicit results to be removed from the search results," Google spokesman Scott Rubin told Ars Technica.

In a phone interview with CNET News late on Wednesday, Rubin said that in addition to the porn videos were removed as soon as community members alert YouTube to them, certain channels where the posters were bragging about the campaign and listing the videos were being disabled.

"This group of pranksters thought it would be funny to load a bunch of porn to YouTube," he said. "This is an unfortunate, and I think poorly directed, prank. I think our systems are doing really well at removing content that violates the guidelines."

Graphic teen sex ad that shocked a nation

A FILM clip made for the UK's National Health Service has drawn criticism for its graphic depiction of a schoolgirl giving birth in a playground while being watched by students.

The film's shocking content saw it pulled from video-sharing website YouTube, but it has since reappeared on the site in several forms.

The video clip was made for the NHS in a bid to cut the rising number of teenage pregnancies across the UK, and appears to show real footage shot on a mobile phone.

Warning: Video contains graphic content

It hit the internet as The Sun broke the news in the UK that baby-faced 13-year-old Alfie Patten is not the actual father of Maisie Roxanne, a teenage pregnancy story that made headlines around the world last year.

Shocked viewers responded strongly to the playground birth video, with comments ranging from "pretty sick" to "Are they that bored in Leicester?"

Tim Rideout, chief executive of NHS Leicester City, told UK website Metro.co.uk: "We know this film is hard-hitting but so are the numbers of under-18s getting pregnant in Leicester."

"Nearly half the city's wards are classed as teen pregnancy 'hotspots'."

He said that traditional marketing, such as leaflets and posters, did not get the teenage sex and pregnancy message across to many of the target demographic.

While Alfie Patten has been released of his teenage fatherhood duty - much to his dismay - DNA tests still revealed that Maisie's father was a 15-year-old schoolboy, Tyler Barker.

According to The Sun, Tyler lives on the same estate as Maisie's mother, Chantelle Stedman, herself a 15-year-old who claimed at the time of pregnancy that Alfie was "the only boy I've been with".

"I love Alfie. I lost my virginity to him. There has been no one else," she said.

However, the DNA tests were paid for by Social Services after no less than six teenage schoolboys came forward claiming to be Maisie's father.

Tyler’s family had claimed Maisie was his child since her birth in February.

Locals heard his gleeful brother Jake, 17, running up and down the street outside their council house on the same estate after Maisie was born.

He was yelling: “My brother’s shagged Chantelle. He could be the dad.”

Thoughts?

MPs miss chance to embrace YouTube generation

In the spring of 2007, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, the well-known broadcasting advocacy group, began posting videos and podcasts of Parliamentary committee proceedings on the group's website. When officials at the House of Commons caught wind of the activities, they promptly sent a "cease and desist" letter, demanding that the videos and podcasts be removed from the Internet. A lawyer for the House of Commons argued that posting excerpts from committee proceedings could be treated as "contempt of Parliament."

The group responded that members did not want to remove the videos but would be willing to follow a reasonable procedure to obtain the necessary permissions.

That response did not sit well with the chairs of the Finance and Canadian Heritage Standing Committees, who upon learning that the group was offering webcasts and downloads of their proceedings, asked the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs (SCPHA) to examine the issue to prevent further infringement.

The notion that videos of committee hearings constitute proprietary content that when used without permission raise the potential for allegations of contempt of Parliament will undoubtedly come as news to many Canadians. Using these excerpts in YouTube videos, webcasts, or podcasts has emerged as an important and powerful tool for business and consumer groups to educate the public on policy issues and legislative proposals.

Yet, House of Commons lawyers maintain that many of these activities violate the law and have sent notice and takedown demands to YouTube seeking the removal of videos that include House of Commons and committee proceedings. These include clips that involve satire and parody, since they are seen to "distort" the video itself.

SCPHA hearings held earlier this year revealed that Canada's elected officials safeguard Parliamentary video with highly restrictive licencing requirements that are typically limited to use in schools or for private study, research, criticism or review. Relying on Crown copyright, the policy states that any other use – including any commercial use – requires the express prior written approval of the Speaker of the House of Commons.

This stands in sharp contrast to the circumstance in the United States, where the default presumption is that such videos are in the public domain and can be freely used without permission. House of Commons lawyers portrayed that approach as representing an extreme position.

To their credit, most of the MPs on the committee recognized that changes to the policies in the YouTube era are needed. However, MPs from the three opposition parties expressed reluctance to mirror the U.S. approach, fearing that some videos taken out of context could be "terrifically damaging." Bloc MP Claude DeBellefeuille raised the possibility of lawsuits to enforce the copyright and noted that "we will have to establish rules so that we have some recourse and that remarks can be withdrawn after they have been broadcast and pointed out."

Conservative MP Scott Reid came closest to recognizing the problems associated with retaining certain restrictions, warning against policies that provide that videos are "usable for certain purposes but not for the purposes that lie at the heart of what this speech is for." Instead, he argued that using video excerpts for either favourable or critical purposes would be appropriate.

The committee adopted a liberalized policy that permits non-commercial reproduction without prior permission. Commercial uses still require prior approval, while distorting a video for parody, satire or political comment may still lead to demands for its removal. The new policy is a modest improvement, but it fails to fully realize the potential of public political participation through online video.

From Youtube...To the olympics

Slam-dunk phenom being courted for high jump

Justin Darlington – a.k.a. "Jus Fly" – is used to making great leaps on the basketball court.

The question is whether the 20-year-old slam-dunking wizard from Ajax, Ontario can make an even greater leap – becoming Canada's superstar high jumper.

Daniel St-Hilaire, an extremely passionate, if not a quirky, veteran coach from Montreal, is convinced he can.

St-Hilaire's scouting methods aren't exactly conventional. It started on the Internet when he punched "slam dunk basketball" into Google. Among other things, he came across hundreds of videos of the 6-foot-4 Darlington in action.



"He was like a lost jewel," said St-Hilaire, who once coached Canadian sprint star Bruny Surin.

What he saw left him awestruck: A kid who could do a cartwheel on the court and dunk in one fluid motion. But, even more impressive, Darlington could get his head above the rim when he took flight.



"My mouth opened for five minutes and my eyes went big and I just froze," said St-Hilaire. "I kept playing the video and going in slow motion and freezing it where his head went above the rim. I thought `I never saw a guy jump that high.'

"And I said to myself `Wow, I wonder if this guy can do high jump.' I became a headhunter. I was like `Where could I meet that guy?'"

It turned out St-Hilaire didn't have to go all that far. He located Darlington on Facebook and found out he was from Ajax. They met for two hours at Pearson International Airport when St-Hilaire was flying home from a track meet in Saskatoon in February.



It turns out that a man cannot live off dunking alone. Darlington has travelled throughout Europe and is currently traveling in Shanghai with Team Flight Brothers, a sort of Harlem Globetrotters of the dunking world, but there isn't a huge amount of money to be made.

"He had no incentive, no target," said St-Hilaire. "I said `Here's your target – 2012 (London Olympics). Jump for Canada, make it big and your life will change. Because now you're recognized as one of the best dunkers, but who cares, nobody knows you.'"

At the end of their airport meeting, St-Hilaire said Darlington had only one question for him: "When do we start, coach?"

The education of Darlington as a high jumper has begun, partly under St-Hilaire in Montreal and also here in Toronto under Gary Lubin, who developed Brampton's Mark Boswell, a two-time world championship medallist. They plan to share the coaching duties.

This has all been a whirlwind for Darlington.

"I wasn't even thinking about the Olympics a year ago," he told The Gazette in Montreal recently. "I was hoping that maybe they would make dunking an Olympic sport."

Darlington is planning to enrol at McGill University for September – his mom, Ann-Marie, wants him to put emphasis on his studies – and train in Montreal under St-Hilaire. His regimen will include two dunking workouts per week so he can maintain that skill.

It's a talent he discovered only two years ago. He never really stood out playing basketball at J. Clark Richardson Collegiate in Ajax, but entered a dunk contest in his last year and wowed everyone with his high-flying skills. Things have taken off since then.



"It sort of snuck up on us," said Ann-Marie Darlington, who was a high jumper in high school. "He was trying to match what the others could do in the gym and he realized he was above most of the guys. It was amazing."

Adds St-Hilaire: "He's a born leaper. The legs are like a mutation."

Darlington has a wide array of videos on You Tube under his nickname "Jus Fly," including some with more than 200,000 views and comments like "That last dunk was absolutely sick!"

Former world hurdles champion Perdita Felicien agrees it will be a neat story if Darlington can pull it off, but adds it won't be easy in such a technical event.

"You can have the raw goods, but to have the discipline to study the event and the sport and to be great that way – that's kind of different," Felicien said. "That's probably the hardest part of it."

St-Hilaire said the key will be teaching Darlington the right technique so that he can develop into a true high jumper and not just a leaper.

St-Hilaire notes Darlington has already jumped 2.01 metres after six technical workouts – equal to the height achieved by the sixth-place finisher at last year's Olympic trials in Windsor (the world record is 2.45 metres.) The coach believes he can get up to 2.10 or 2.20 metres this summer.

St-Hilaire already has a golden glint in his eyes as he thinks toward the 2012 London Olympics. He points to Donald Thomas of the Bahamas, who won at the 2007 world championships, less than two years after switching to track from basketball.

"I feel Justin has more potential," said St-Hilaire.

Official who OK'd N.Y. flyby accused of 'felony stupidity'

After a YouTube video showed panicked New Yorkers scrambling as a Boeing 747 flew frighteningly close to the lower Manhattan skyline, a former Homeland Security adviser questioned whether the man who approved the flyby should remain in his White House office.

Fran Townsend, who advised President George W. Bush for more than three years, labeled the decision as "crass insensitivity" in the wake of 9/11.

"I'd call this felony stupidity. This is probably not the right job for Mr. Caldera to be in if he didn't understand the likely reaction of New Yorkers, of the mayor," Townsend said Tuesday on CNN's show "American Morning."

Louis Caldera, director of the White House Military Office, quickly apologized for Monday's incident after the planes prompted workers and residents to evacuate buildings in New York and New Jersey.
"Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision," Caldera said. "While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption."

The Federal Aviation Administration said the aircraft, which functions as Air Force One when the president is aboard, was taking part in a classified, government-sanctioned photo shoot.

An angry Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it "defies the imagination" that an agency would schedule the photo shoot so near the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.

President Obama also reportedly expressed outrage. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said the FAA's decision to not announce the fly-by "borders on being either cruel or very, very stupid."

Witnesses reported seeing the plane circle over the Upper New York Bay near the Statue of Liberty before flying up the Hudson River.

The YouTube video shows dozens of people standing in a parking lot, watching the plane approach. As it nears, they begin to run. Someone unleashes an expletive. "Run, run!" says one person. "Oh my God," cries another.

Two officials said the White House Military Office was trying to update its file photos of Air Force One. The officials said the president was angry when he learned Monday afternoon about the flight.

"The president was furious about it," one of the officials said.

On Tuesday, President Obama told reporters, "It was a mistake. It was something we found out about along with all of you. And it will not happen again."

Bloomberg said he, too, was perturbed.

"I'm annoyed -- furious is a better word -- that I wasn't told," he said, calling the FAA's decision to withhold details about the flight "ridiculous" and "poor judgment."

"Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center defies the imagination," he said. "Had we known, I would have asked them not to."

Linda Garcia-Rose, a social worker who counsels post-traumatic stress disorder patients in an office three blocks from where the World Trade Center stood, called the flight an "absolute travesty."

"There was no warning. It looked like the plane was about to come into us," she said. "I'm a therapist, and I actually had a panic attack."

Garcia-Rose, who works with nearly two dozen patients ages 15 to 47, said she was inundated with phone calls from patients.

"They're traumatized. They're asking 'How could this happen?' They're nervous. Their anxiety levels are high," she said.

Garcia-Rose said she is considering filing a class-action suit against the government for sanctioning the plane's unannounced flight.

"I believe the government has done something really wrong," she said.

Capt. Anna Carpenter of Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland said local law enforcement agencies and the FAA had been given notice of the exercise.

New York Police Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne said the department had been alerted about the flight "with directives to local authorities not to disclose information about it."

Here is a Youtube video of the plane flying low over New York

To fly a plane, this close over the general public, is just plain stupid, this was done as a photo opportunity to "update photos of air force one"?? are you kidding me? this couldn't be done in the air over some air force base away from civilian population? a photograph of a plane in the air is a photograph of a plane in the air regardless of where it is, isn't it?

Thoughts??

The Choking Game: A deadly fad

A deadly game Spread by YouTube, This deadly fad killed Kevin Tork, 15: ‘We have to stop this’

It goes by many names, including “the good kids’ game,” because it’s a way for kids who never drink or do drugs to get high.

It’s also a way for them to end up dead.

Ken and Kathy Tork know that now. Their son Kevin was a good kid — a bright and generous 15-year-old who seemed to have everything going for him. But the boy played what is most commonly called the “choking game” — a fad among teenagers that experts say could more accurately be called “suffocation roulette” — and he lost. Kevin was discovered unconscious in his room by his 11-year-old sister.

“You think the kid’s happy, always has a smile on his face, so you’re not really red-flagged for this until it [happens],” Kathy Tork told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira Friday in New York. She had come to the studio along with her husband and daughter to warn other parents of the dangers of a deadly game that is learned at parties and camps and on YouTube, and which is claiming the lives of kids as young as 9 or 10.

“I would never guess he was doing anything like this,” she added.

Man on a mission
Kevin Tork died on March 30. What made it even more painful for his parents was that Ken Tork had seen a televised report on a young person who died playing the game and talked with his son about it. He told Kevin to promise he would never engage in anything so dangerous, and Kevin promised.

Ken Tork told Vieira he didn’t know how he would be able to go on after his son died. While praying for guidance, he said, he felt his son speaking to him.

“He reached into my heart. He pulled pieces of my heart together when I felt I couldn’t go on,” he told Vieira, adding that his son then gave him a mission: “There are other kids doing this. We have to stop this, and it’s up to you.”

If he could do it again, Ken Tork said, he would have made sure his son couldn’t access YouTube, where many videos are posted showing kids playing the game and giving instructions on how to do it.

“I didn’t go on YouTube to see what he was seeing. I didn’t know,” the father said. He then offered advice to other parents: “Restrict YouTube. Go in right now and password-protect it. Learn the code words for this game. Make it as difficult as you can for these kids to get to these Web sites. They’re showing them exactly how to do it.”

A Deadly game with many names
Among the many code names for the game are the American Dream, airplaning, black hole, black-out game, California choke, cloud nine, dream game, fainting game, flatlining, funky chicken, gasp game, knock-out game, pass-out game, purple dragon, purple hazing, the scarf game, something dreaming game, space cowboy, space monkey, suffocation roulette, and the tingling game.

There are no hard statistics on how many lives have been lost to the game, which experts say is played primarily by tweens and teens up to the age of 16. Deaths, which typically result from kids tying something around their necks and often hanging from a bedpost or clothing rod, may look like suicides, and public health researchers have a hard time sorting out choking-game deaths from suicides and suffocation deaths associated with autoeroticism.

But the federal Centers for Disease Control has identified at least 82 choking-game deaths in the United States from 1995 to 2007. The Web site ChokingGame.net, which attempts to educate parents about the activity, claims that more than 400 kids have died playing the game.

Although kids describe the sensations associated with being choked to unconsciousness as a “high,” that’s really misleading, said.Dr. Thomas Andrew, New Hampshire’s chief medical examiner. Andrew joined Vieira and the Torks to discuss warning signs parents should look for.

What kids call a high is really the light headedness they experience as blood flow and oxygen to the brain are cut off and they pass out. When they regain consciousness, there’s the sensation of a sudden rush of blood back into the brain.

“They get two sensations for one activity,” Andrew explained.

The game is practiced at sleepovers, scout camps and even church camps. After doing it with others, kids may pursue the sensations the game produces by themselves at home.

Andrew listed a number of warning signs parents should look for, including marks, bruises and abrasions on a child’s neck. Also, choking causes tiny blood spots to appear on the eyes and face. Parents should also look for such things as a necktie looped around a bedpost, a dog collar with a leash or a bent clothing rod in the child’s closet — the result of hanging from it.

They should also be alert for a sudden decline in academic performance. Kids who play the game alone may demand long periods of privacy in their rooms. When they come out, they may be slow to react or have slurred speech. Complaints of headaches are also a warning sign.

Ken Tork has started a blog to warn other parents about the perils of the choking game.

“He was the perfect son in every way,” he writes on the blog. “He was happy and fun-loving and caring. He would be the first to jump in without being asked and help where needed. He loved his family fiercely. He loved to laugh and make others laugh. He was in several plays in school, he loved music, basketball, writing poetry and stories. He loved making swords and models and he was the most honest young man there has ever been. He truly was perfect in every way.”

Now Kevin is gone. Ken Tork doesn’t want anyone else to have to go through such a horrible loss. And so he repeated to Vieira and everyone watching: “They’re going to learn by watching on YouTube. Block YouTube. Block access to it.”

He said he will continue hammering on that until everyone is aware of the deadly game. “I’m not stopping till it’s done,” he said.

Goodbye to Google video ads

Google has decided to remove it’s ‘Video Units’ from AdSense. According to an official blog posting, the decision was taken after it was found to have lesser impact than had been expected.

What this means is that video units, which used to show YouTube content, underperformed with AdSense and the result is retirement!

So, as of the end of April 2009, this feature will be completely removed from the Google AdSense program and after that any remaining video units on AdSense publisher’s web pages will either direct users to YouTube.com or start showing top YouTube videos. From those videos you are not going earn a cent though.

That’s why Google recommends removing those video unit codes from your web pages as soon as possible. What about your past earnings? Don’t worry your pending earnings will be credited to your AdSense account.


Personally I don’t like video ads too much, though it was a big hit for some people. What was really disappointing, was you couldn't select specific videos to show on your page to earn your cash, The video units used to display two types of ads: companion ads, which appear in the player above the video content, or text overlay ads, which appears in the bottom 20% of the video content when it is played. The idea was a good one, on paper anyways, Make some money while entertaining your viewer. But, some people finds those ads annoying while viewing a video. They simply passes away, which ultimately may harm your income.

In my view, retiring video units was a good decision. Now you will get some extra ad space on your web pages, which you can optimize to display other ad units and make money online. Go and remove those video unit codes from your website or blog and find a suitable replacement for it. Initially you can try using other AdSense for Content ad formats.

Ponzi-Proof Your Portfolio

Avoid falling victim to a ponzi scheme, with these 5 easy-to-understand tips to avoid falling victim to the next ponzi scam artist.



- Check out the accountant. Call the firm, demand a client list, ask who audits the money-management firm you're considering. A fraud always involves the bean counter.

- Ask the money manager to explain in laymans terms how he (or she) invests. Dont be shy about asking questions. If he (or she) cant explain it, it may be because he (or she) doesn't have a decent (or legal) strategy.

- Do not assume that someone else has done the due diligence. This is huge. Just because there are important or smart people involved, it doesn't mean they have checked the company out.

- Check out FINRA BrokerCheck, a free online tool to help investors check the professional background of current and former FINRA-registered securities firms and brokers.

- Never, ever, put all your eggs in one basket. Even the SEC, apparently, can be fooled.

What is a ponzi scheme? The Ponzi Scheme Explained

I was on Youtube again, and I found this great AP video that explains what a ponzi scheme is, in very easy to understand terms.

Dean Singleton mistakenly says "Obama bin Laden"

I was on Youtube just a little while ago and I came across this somewhat funny (well, to me anyways) video... considering the last posting was also about Dean Singleton.. fitting to put it now I suppose ... Coincidence I found it right now though? hey, I wasn't searching, I just found it! Check it out, let me know what you think...

Dean Singleton, chairman of the Associated Press board mistakenly calls U.S. President Barack Obama, Obama bin Laden.

YouTube blocks music videos in Britain

YouTube is blocking thousands of music videos to British users after failing to reach a new licensing agreement with the Performing Rights Society (PRS), which collects royalties for songwriters.

The move on Monday has angered the PRS, which says YouTube — bought by Google in 2006 — is "punishing British consumers and the songwriters whose interests we protect and represent."

Steve Porter, head of the PRS, said he is "outraged" and "shocked" by the move.

His group released a statement condemning YouTube's tactics:

"Google has told us they are taking this step because they wish to pay significantly less than at present to the writers of the music on which their service relies, despite the massive increase in YouTube viewing. This action has been taken without any consultation with PRS … and in the middle of negotiations between the two parties."

Patrick Walker, the director of video partnerships at YouTube, said the action was "regrettable" but added the PRS is seeking much higher fees, which were "prohibitive."

YouTube pays a licence to the PRS, which allows the site to stream music videos from three major music labels and several independent ones.

"We feel so far apart that we have to remove content while we negotiate with the PRS," Walker said on BBC News.

He said the rates that the PRS was seeking would result in YouTube losing "significant amounts of money on every stream of video."

YouTube is the world's most popular video sharing website.

The dispute between YouTube and the Performing Rights Society for Music that prompted the website to remove music videos could spread to MySpace UK and other music sites, industry sources said.

MySpace UK and other sites are struggling to renegotiate their own licences with PRS, which pays royalties to artists.

One source close to the negotiations said that the launch of MySpace UK's comprehensive music service later this year could be thrown into jeopardy unless it secured an economically viable licence with PRS.

"A lot of service providers are negotiating and renewing licences with PRS right now, but the rates are widely known to be uneconomical," said the source. "Nobody could run an online business on those terms."

The streaming service Pandora was forced to cut off its service for UK users on 15 January after it failed to renegotiate its licence with PRS. Imeem, which reportedly received $15m in funding from Warner Music last year, and RealNetworks are also understood to be renegotiating.

Meanwhile, YouTube and PRS are due to meet in London this afternoon and both say they are determined to resolve the deadlock.

PRS is understood to be basing its royalty claims on the results of the 2007 UK Copyright Tribunal, but the source said the rates PRS were demanding were so high that a free-to-view, advertising-based service would not be able to charge advertisers enough to cover the royalty payment on each video.

YouTube, which started to remove videos last night, repeated its claim that the rates are not sustainable except for sites that charge subscription access.

"However, we want to share the revenue generated from music videos on YouTube with the music industry," said a spokesman. "But at the rate set by the Copyright Tribunal - which is the rate PRS is seeking - YouTube would be losing money with each stream.

"It's simply unsustainable for our business."

A PRS spokeswoman said the ultimate aim of the talks were to come to an agreement, while YouTube said withdrawing videos from UK users was "not a breakdown in talks, but something that had to happen for talks to continue".

Teen cop impersonator drove squad car, worked full shift

A teenager impersonating a Chicago police officer played a minor role in an arrest on January 24, according to Police Superintendent Jody Weis.



On Tuesday, Supt. Weis called on the U.S. Secret Service for a review of the security breach, which he called "outrageous, angering, disturbing and unforgettable."

"In my mind it's almost incomprehensible it could have happened. Unfortunately it did. It's very disturbing, and that's why we want to send a message that this can't happen again," said Supt. Jody Weis, Chicago Police Dept.

Weis said an internal investigation shows seven Chicago police officers broke department rules during the incident. All districts will be re-trained, according to Weis.

The 14-year-old boy- a former police cadet and apparent aspiring police officer- entered the back door at the Grand Crossing District Station on the city's South Side on January 24. He was dressed in regulation clothing and police say it's not clear where he got the uniform. He had no gun or CPD star, but was issued a radio and was sent out with a traffic officer. He worked an entire 5 1/2 hour shift.

"During that time the subject drove the squad car for approximately two hours, interacted with the public while responding to at least five assignments, operated the portable data terminal and participated in the detention of a suspect," said Supt. Weis.

The impersonator played a minor role in the arrest of a violation of order of protection, Weis said. The boy briefly held the suspect's arm behind his back.

After the shift, the teenager and the relatively new female officer he was riding with returned to the station, where a supervisor, unidentified, realized the teen was not an officer and had him arrested.

"I don't know. They weren't paying attention - perhaps- maybe they were lax. That's why we did the investigation. Those answers we have to hold tight until we go through the adjudication stage," said Supt. Weis.

For that reason, Weis said, the names of the 7 officers facing discipline, and the nature of the recommended sanctions cannot now be disclosed.

"Based on contract agreements we can't identify the officers and in these situation if we gave out the ranks it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to realize who they actually were," said Supt. Weis.


How is it so many others missed the fact the teen was not a cop - and unable to legally drive? or the fact that it was a teenager for that matter??

The boy's name has not been released. He pleaded not guilty in juvenile court.

He is no longer in custody, but is wearing an electronic monitoring device.

Hard drive "click of death" demonstrated on video

Have you ever had a hard drive start making that awful clicking sound which you later found out meant certain death? It's not a nice feeling. You know what I'm talking about... Especially if you've never invested in a backup solution. That realization that all of your valuable data might be gone - forever. In this excellent video, by the guys over at TechWareLabs we get a sneak peek into what actually causes the sound and what - if anything - can be done about it. Although it may not make you feel any better if this has happened to you, there's a certain morbid fascination in understanding exactly what caused so much pain and heartache.

Worst EVER airport freak out?

Phone capture video of hysterical woman an Internet sensation

The cellphone video of a Chinese woman freaking out at a Hong Kong airport - because she missed her Cathay Pacific flight to San Francisco - is now one of the most viewed and commented on videos on the sharing website YouTube this week. Do you feel sorry for the woman or find her over-the-top airport breakdown to be amusing? Or, A bit of both?

Saving high-quality YouTube videos to your PC

A question I often get asked, is "How do I save Youtube videos to watch on my pc, or to burn to a disk to view later?" The program I usually recommend is YouTube Downloader, It's a free program that lets you download YouTube videos to watch offline. Increasingly, however, YouTube surfers are finding higher-quality MP4 video files instead of (or along with) the somewhat blurry lower-resolution Flash (FLV) videos.

But guess what? -- there is a way to save these better-quality YouTube videos, too.

Here’s how to do it: Copy the lengthy URL from the YouTube site with the MP4 video (such as http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLALKrrGRBI) and then open up another tab in your web browser. Type in File2HD.com in the address bar. It's not a flashy, pretty site, but its great and gets the job done! You’ll see a box on this site where you’ll paste the lengthy YouTube URL.

Click that you agree to the site’s terms, select "Video" and finally, "Get Files," and you’ll see the MP4 video ready for download.

Finally, right mouse-click on the file name and select where on your hard drive you’d like to save this file.

Voila! it's ready to view on your PC... Another one I get asked, is what's a good program to use to view these files? Well what I use is VLC Media Player.
The awesome thing about this program? It doesn't require any extra video or audio codecs to open a video file, it opens all sorts of media formats, (i've yet to use one that the program couldn't open).

Another program that you can also use, and I've used in the past, its almost as good as VLC (my opinion, some may say this is the better one) is BSPlayer.

Both programs are great when it comes to opening video files that other programs (and to be nice, I won't name any of the other programs) aren't able to, due to not having the proper codecs installed or for whatever other reason.

Hope that helps out a lot of you, or at least some of you... Bookmark this page if want to/have to..