How many times have you said to yourself, “Facebook is so taking over my life!” Between endless wall-posting, scrolling through thousands of pictures of you and your friends, checking up on people you haven’t talked to in years, and the joy of poking, Facebook never gets old.  And yeah, you know that there are probably a few pictures on the ol’ Facebook that aren’t all that flattering, if you catch my drift. But luckily Facebook exists entirely within the virtual reality of the Internet. Once you leave your computer or put down your BlackBerry, you are blissfully free to live your real life. All the silly, frivolous fun of Facebook is available at your disposal, and you can come and go as you please into that thrilling digital realm.

But what if you couldn’t step away from the Facebook culture? This clip from the BBC shows what your world  would be like if Facebook really did take over your life…and the universe.

If you woke up this morning and were dismayed again by the lousy headlines in the news about the economy, don’t fret — because it looks like there’s all sorts of chaos going on around the world.  According to these two videos, it looks like Japan is having issues controlling public disturbances…

In the first video, we have a Western tourist flopping around naked in the moat around the Imperial Palace in Tokyo (where the Emperor lives). He’s having a grand ol’ time while local police try to woo him out.

And in the second video, a stray monkey gets stranded in a Tokyo train station, causing all sorts of ruckus from waiting straphangers as the primate leaps off into the crowd. Read More »

Every time we pass a cute kitten in a pet store and have a momentary desire to take it home, we immediately flash forward to our future: Oprah, a housecoat, macaroni and cheese and 13 cats roaming around our small, one bedroom apartment.

And it scares the crap out of us.

But now we realize that crazy cat ladies have nothing on a new breed of wackadoodle: fake baby lovers.

These crazies have been all over the news lately after a recent BBC documentary aired. Basically, these women buy real-looking baby dolls and treat them like they are real. They put them in car seats, buy them cribs and take them places like a real FREAKING CHILD.

Only they are not real. They are dolls.

And these women are nuts. Just watch that video. You will never look at Cabbage Patch Kids the same way again.

The good news to come from all this is that maybe we can all buy cats now without fear of that slippery slope into spinsterhood. The bad news is that I have to rid my apartment of any and all stuffed animals out of terror that I may become a crazy fake baby lady if I don’t get a boyfriend soon.

Recently, the Department of Health in England conducted a study of heavy drinkers to find out why they drink. Through a series of focus groups (which is probably the last place a hungover person wants to be) the health professionals concluded that heavy drinkers fall into 9 basic categories.

They outlined their conclusion here.

A lot of the categories overlap, and many categories aren’t included (“It tastes so good,” for example. Or, “I love that cotton mouth feeling in the morning!”). However, I found the study to be interesting and somewhat applicable to the average college lady. Personally, I have fallen into every one of these categories…in a single weekend, but maybe this thing has some merit.

Any maybe my mom was right: “Lauren, no one puts beer in their cereal. You have a problem.”

The report was written for a British man, so I took it upon myself to bring you the facts in words you, a college coed, would understand. Which group do you fall into? Which group do you want to fall into? And why is everyone all “you have a problem” all the time?! Read More »

Here’s a shocker: BBC News reports that young girls face increasing pressure to become sexualized at younger ages, and besides becoming sluttier and sluttier, they also give into self-destructive habits to cope with social stress.

My first thought? Oh, no! Save the children. My second thought? Ummm, obvi?

When I was young, my role models were Barbie and Kelly Kapowski. Barbie had an impossible waist paired with magic tits, and Kelly Kapowski had cheated on Zack Morris with college boy Jeff, her boss at the Max. Parents today are concerned that the Bratz dolls negatively influence girls’ body images. I think they look like ghetto skanks with big heads, myself. But I suppose if they are inspiring young girls to seek a ghetto-skank look, there is cause for concern.

But I digress. BBC reports that girls are suffering from various social anxieties: two in five girls studied knew someone who had self-harmed; two in five knew someone who had panic attacks; and one in three knew someone with an eating disorder.

These problems suck; I know, I’ve dealt with all of them. I went through a brief bout of anorexia when I was thirteen, dropping to 104 pounds on a 5′7” frame. When I started eating again after an intervention, knives and razors became my friends. Read More »

I don’t know if it’s just me, but it really seems like a day doesn’t go by without seeing some story about torture in Guantanamo Bay or a new revelation into CIA secret prisons. At first I was stunned, then I was disgusted. Now I’m just plain mad.

Mad that hundreds of men and women are being held and tortured without legal recourse;

Mad that such actions only make the rest of the world angrier at America and therefore more likely to attack us in the future;

Mad that a handful of powerful men are destroying our chances to bring about resolution in the Middle East.

And mad that at one point I dreamed of being a part of it all. Seriously.

I was a junior in high school when 9/11 happened. I waved the flags, prayed for our troops, and supported the Patriot Act. I even went a step further—I decided that I wanted to join the CIA. Already fascinated by international affairs and politics, I was enchanted by the thought of accessing/gathering raw data, traveling, and serving my country.

It wasn’t until spring semester of my sophomore year that I changed my mind. I was meeting with a ret. Marine Captain to plan my course into the agency, via military intelligence. Near the end, I told him how excited I was at the prospect of developing my analytical skills in combination with physical ability. He paused.

“Um… actually you probably won’t be analyzing much, per say. Why don’t we focus on getting you physically prepared?” Read More »

“Things are very confusing, looks like we are heading for a civil war and total destruction, its a ticking time bomb, any thing can happen any time”

That quote comes from Raj, in Harare, Zimbabwe on the BBC’s comment page.

Zimbabwe’s election (held March 29th) still has no clear winner. The opposition, led by Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC) accused incumbent Robert Mugabe of “preparing for poll war”.

The opposition petitioned Zimbabwe’s High Court to demand the immediate release of the poll results.

The Zimbabwean Electoral Commission (ZEC) countered by questioning the courts jurisdiction over the issue.

On Saturday, moreover, police prevented the opposition lawyers from entering the court to give their arguments. Luckily they made it into the court on Sunday.

On Monday the High Court ruled that it does have jurisdiction. The judge heard the case Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party said it wanted to re-check the election results because it feared discrepancies…. Right. Read More »

Zimbabweans headed to the polls this past Saturday (March 29th) in a historic vote challenging President Robert Mugabe’s 28-year iron grip on the presidency.

The challenging party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), announced soon after the polls closed that they were in the lead. According to the BBC, as of Monday night, (March 31) they claimed that their candidate Morgan Tsvangirai, had won with 60% of the vote.

While Mugabe has intimated that he will honor the people’s decision, the delay in announcing the decision has many fearing the worst.

Nana Ampofo, an analyst for Global Insight, told the BBC that; “It’s still not clear that the election results are fixed but there are definitely reasons to be concerned.”

Rumors abound of election rigging: Read More »

In my last post I discussed how, despite President Bush’s claims of success within Iraq, secretarian violence continues to force Iraqis to leave their homes in fear of their lives. At least four million Iraqis have left their home country since the beginning of the war.

Leaving Iraq is only the beginning of their problems. Thanks to this large number, it is increasingly difficult for an Iraqi to gain asylum.

How difficult you may ask? Read on:

→ According to the Independent, Iraqi asylum applicants within the European Union rose by 98% between 2006 and 2007. In 2006 there were 19,375 and in 2007 there were 38,286.

→ Within many countries traditionally known for their openness to refugees such as Sweden, the saturation of the system brought on partly by the deepening Iraqi refugee crisis, is resulting in a backlash. Read More »

I would consider myself a bit of a foodie. I like good food and I will try most anything once.

I say most anything because this I will not try.

We all know that China partakes in some odd cuisine, but a restaurant that specializes in PENISES? And TESTICLES?

At China’s only specialty penis emporium, located in Bejiing, you can try the penis and testicles of a Russian dog, donkey penis (good for the skin), reindeer and snake. Apparently, snakes have two penises each. More for the eating, I suppose??

Nancy, the “nutritionist” as she calls herself, served BBC food writer Andrew Harding an array of penises and testicles. She also gave him a deer blood and vodka cocktail to wash it all down.

The restaurant serves a “penis hotpot,” similar to fondue but will prepare the food anyway the customer desires. Some like it raw. And that’s what they get. Read More »