or is it?

When I was talking to my friend about animals and stuff and saying that I thought that he should have a larger tank for his fish (instead of the 4.75" bowl that he has now), he said something to the effect of 'it bothers me that you criticize me for having my fish in what is obviously a fishbowl'. This bothered me, but I didn't quite have my finger on the reason for it at the time. However, while I was in the shower this morning, the reason crystallized for me.

It's marketed as a fishbowl. It's sold as a fishbowl. It was bought as a fishbowl. It is indeed a bowl and does indeed have a fish in it. I guess it's a fishbowl. (We sold them at JoAnn-Fabrics as vases.)



It's Twinkies (with a purported shelf-life of 12 years, though this might be urban legend). It's labeled food. People eat it. It has a nutrition information label. It must be food. (Even though it has no nutritional value.)





It's called clothing. It was worn as clothing. A corset must be a piece of clothing. (Even though frequent use leads to back muscle atrophy, rib deformation, and other problems.)








It's marketed as a slave. It's bought as a slave. It's treated like a slave. It must be a slave. (Even though a human being is subjected to utter degradation.)



I guess the point here, is that even though something might commonly be given a certain use, it's good to question those uses. Sometimes a commonly accepted usage is less than healthy or humane.

Congress will vote soon on ownership-issues on the web

"Right now Congress is pushing a law that would abandon the First Amendment of the Internet -- a principle called "network neutrality" that preserves the free and open Internet. Congress needs to hear from you today or they will hand over control of what you do online to companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast."

I'm all for free speech on the web. If you want more information and/or to sign an online petition to keep the web out of corporate control, go here.

Animal rights

I got into a discussion with a friend of mine recently about animal rights. Basically, I was at a petstore with this friend and the kid working there said that he wanted to have a ferret, but just one. I said that he shouldn't have just one, because it wasn't good for the ferret because a human simply isn't active enough to play with a ferret the way that ferrets like to play. I hadn't noticed, but afterwards, my friend said that I had crushed this kid's dreams of having a ferret at all, since from what my friend heard, the kid was barely even allowed one.

Well, I'm sorry if I hurt the kid's feelings; I probably should have been less direct; but I do think that the ferret's well-being is more important than the temporary hurt feelings of the kid. I think that having a pet is like having a child. If you can't provide a happy, healthy environment for it, you shouldn't have it. This means, that if you have a social animal, then you are obligated to provide it with companionship.

Also, you should provide animals with the space that they need. A dog needs both space and companionship. Really, you should spend many hours a day with your dog. This is easier if the dog is in the house with you when you are home. It probably wasn't very fair of us to keep our dog outside in the winter in the backyard. No one wanted to be outside in the winter, so she didn't get much attention, and she wasn't close enough to the street to watch the world go by.

With fish and other small creatures, I think they also need to have a larger amount of space then the bare minimum for survival. Sure; a person can survive in solitary confinement for years with the right food and water, but the quality of life isn't very great. From what I've read, I'd imagine that it is a similar situation for fish.

Bottom line: If you get a pet, think about the pet's quality of life!

On a lighter note, there was a really cute baby ferret at the petstore with some interesting spotty markings. She was very cute and adorable and was climbing right up my arm when I put it down into the cage. If I were allowed to have more ferrets, I would have been tempted to buy her and call her "Spot".

Driving lesson

I took James out driving to teach him how to drive a manual transmition. It was an experience, though I must say, he was easier on my back, neck and transmition than any of the other boys who I've taught to drive stick. We went to an abandoned mall parking lot and I let him drive around for a while, getting that whole 1st gear/clutch/gas thing down. We got as far as 3rd gear there and did a bit of reverse. Then, I took him out to a country road and had him practice up to 5th gear. We stopped a bit after dark and headed home. There's still some practice needed, but on the whole, he's doing pretty well.

conversation hearts

My miniature conversation hearts from Valentines Day are almost stale enough. I like them to be crunchy enough so that I can bite down on them and split them in half vertically to create two perfect hearts.

5 more minutes...

Why couldn't she just leave me in the cage???

Whose job is it to entertain whom?

Sometimes Ratboy just looks really bored...



Often, he gets really excited when I get up and walk across the room, because he thinks I'm gonna do a trick or something... maybe I'll open a DOOR!!!!!!!!!

More outdoor photos

Here are some more photos from out back.

Outdoor photo-shoot

I decided to take the fuzzies outside to take some pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't realize until after I got back inside that my lens was really smudged. Oh well...here are some of the better shots.

Oops...

I put the ferrets back into their cage last night around 9:00 and went grocery shopping. When I got back around 10:00, I heard jingling from the cage. It turns out that I had forgotten to take Fuzzball's belled harness off of her.

I usually take the belled harnesses off of the ferrets before putting them back in the cage for two reasons. The first is so that they are safe and comfortable. It would be horrible for the bell or some other part of the harness to get caught on something. The second is completely selfish. I don't want to hear them flopping around in the middle of the night.

Speaking of night, I had a dream that I had gotten up to get a drink of water, and I heard ferret bells. I looked over into my dark livingroom and saw the silouette of a ferret. At first, I thought it was Fuzzball. I went to turn on the light and Chaos came running towards me. In the dream, I think I decided that I had forgotten to put both of them back in the cage for the night. Then I woke up.

People are often allergic to animals...does it go the other way around?

It has come up often in conversation, the question of whether pets can be allergic to people like people can be allergic to pets. After having considered that people are either allergic to saliva and/or feces, the probability of a pet reacting to a person is minimal since people don't usually spread their saliva by oral bathing and/or leave their feces in random places unlike many animals. So even if an animal is allergic to humans, it is unlikely that we would ever find out.

That's the thought for the day.

Fuzzball and her fur

Here are some pictures of Fuzzball with her newer fur. The vet had to shave her belly to operate, so that is just now starting to come back in. She has no more adrenal tumor hair-loss related bald spots anymore! It's kinda weird; the fur on her 'saddle' came in all fluffy white first and now the stiffer colored guard hairs are coming in. On the top of her head and her behind, there is no fluff, just guard hair. Hopefully it will all fill in soon!

Fuzzies sleeping

Aren't they cute!

Trimming ferret toenails

Have I mentioned lately how great James is? Whenever I ask him to, he comes over and restrains ferrets while I trim their nails. With Chaos it's not big deal. You give him some FerreTone and he's happy to more or less sit there and let you trim his nails.

Fuzzball of course is another story. She fights it the whole way. It helps to hold her by her scruff and drape a blanket around her.

Waiting for the bus

As I stood waiting for the bus, I saw a number of other busses go by and realized that mine was running late.

I saw a couple of taxis drive by and thought about flagging one. Then I wondered if that was even possible here. Apparently, the rules of the game do not allow you to flag a taxi in Minneapolis, for example.

After contemplating whether it was possible or not, I started to consider the cost and remembered the taxi situation in Bolivia. There, they would take you a couple of miles for 3 or 4 bolivianos ($.38 US or $.50 US). I went out into the countryside by taxi for 40 bolivianos round trip ($5.00 US). I spent more on the wine than on the transportation to get there. The bus in town only cost 1.5o bolivianos ($.19 US)...on the other hand, the busses were small, crowded, smelly, and always in danger of breaking down. If you had a couple people standing around waiting for the bus, a taxi driver would often drive by and offer to take you "a precio de micro" (for the price of bus fare).

I came to the quick realization that no American taxi-driver would ever offer to take me or even a group of friends for the price of bus fare any distance. *sighs* The moral of the story is that taxis are affordable for a middle class person in Bolivia, but not in America. (I got where I was going today on time, despite the late bus.)

Fuzzball did it!

Fuzzball actually made it into the litterbox herself when I had her out to play this morning. I wonder if she's feeling well?!

weird dream

I had another strange dream. This time, I was driving across country through a desert. I remember seeing a flock of really large birds, perhaps an eagle or a condor with a bunch of young, though I don't think that birds of prey usually fly in flocks with their chicks or anyone else! I ended up driving into a sandstorm, and the only thing I saw was the back of the vehicle in front of me. I remember braking and hoping that the guy behind me would notice that I was slowing down. I "woke up" in a hotel(?) and realized that I didn’t know where I was going. I tried pulling out a map to figure out where I was. I knew that I had been on I-?, and I had passed an exit for a town named "Beer". When I looked on the map, though, I couldn't find it. I thought that maybe I had been heading towards Los Angeles or something. I called my dad, and he said that I was on my way to visit my uncles in Oregon. At some point within the dream, I realized that it must be a dream and I decided to wake up. I thought that I had woken up in my apartment, but then I realized that the rooms weren't laid out right. Then I saw my brother in the apartment, but it wasn't him now, but rather when he was a kid. (He's pudgy now, but was really skinny as a kid; however he was a pudgy kid in my dream.) Sometime around then, I actually woke up.

The problem with dreams is that you've already mostly forgotten them by the time you write them down. I'm sure literary theory would have something to say about this.

odd dream

I have just the oddest dreams. This morning, it was a kind of medieaval epic featuring elements of Norse, Romanian, Latino, and Fantasy stories. Lots of intrigue, lots of death. Any adventure film maker would have been proud of the battle scenes. Go figure.

Fuzzball and her blood-sugar

I checked Fuzzball's blood-sugar today. It came out at 89. I think that's OK, but I'm writing to the vet just to make sure.

Update: The vet wrote back saying that I don't need to be concerned unless it drops below 60.

Maybe Fuzzball is a thief afterall...

I just saw Fuzzball take a ball of string and carry it off under the couch. Maybe other things will start going missing now.

She really has a completely different character since having had the operation. She is much more sociable now. She sleeps more deeply. Perhaps she's also more interestd in hoarding things.

Chaos is molesting Fuzzball

Fuzzball was sleeping in her little bed, just minding her own busines, when Chaos climbed in and started bugging her. She chased him out two or three times, but then she finally decided to get up and leave. The poor dear then tried to eat some food but he kept jumping on top of her. Now he's ignoring her and is himself in the covered bed...just like a man, I tell you!

Super hyper Chaos boy

Chaos must have rested well yesterday. He's been really active this morning. He's been following me around, hoping that I will do something exciting. I dangled the leather leash over him for a while so that he could catch it. He's been climbing everywhere! He's also been reaffirming the law of gravity by knocking small objects off of my desk.

I had him sitting on my lap and I started tickling his nose with his tail. He bit his own tail! Funny boy.

Tired babies

The ferrets have only gotten up to relieve themselves and grab a quick snack once all afternoon/evening/night. They must have really been tired out! I just put them back into their cage at 10:30, and they just rolled into bed, not really even waking up in between.

Fuzzball walks funny

I can't help but wonder if there is something wrong with Fuzzball's front legs. I suspect that her first owner might have fed her sub-optimal food during her essential developmental phase. Her front legs seem a bit bowed or something. When you look at her walking, her front end seems to be just a bit lower to the ground than one might expect.

Play hard; sleep harder!

See Fuzzball sleep.

















Sleep, Fuzzball, sleep!

Time outside

I had forgotten some notes on campus that I need to write the midterm that I am avoiding writing by posting this blog. So, I asked James if he wanted to go up to campus with me to get my notes and to take the ferrets for a walk. He decided that he was too tired. (Speaking of tired, I'm really tired!) I then called Anna. I picked her up at her place and drove to campus. We went upstairs, got my stuff then walked a ways, eventually sitting down on a green.

As usual, Ratboy seemed to enjoy every minute of it. He was busy looking at stuff and sniffing things. He dug a little deeper in his favorite burrow under the tree. Fuzzball made a couple scratches at the hole and lost interest. She went very slowly. Chaos was running everywhere. She alternated from walking leisurely to lying down and refusing to move. I carried her a lot. When I was heading back to the car after saying good bye to Anna, Fuzzball bit me on the chin. I don't know what her problem was. I assumed she wanted down, so I waited a bit and then let her wander around some more. Chaos has significantly more stamina than she does. She always seems lethargic.

Anyway, after getting home and taking a nap, around 3:00, James and I decided that it was time for breakfast. We decided to do homemade whole wheat pancakes. I needed to get some baking soda to do it, so I left the ferrets with him. They went straight to sleep. They've essentially been sleeping ever since I got home around 1:00.

Oh yeah, I got a really bright sunburn. Hopefully it will be a tan by tomorrow or the day after. Unfortunately, it's only one my back, chest and right shoulder since we were sitting outside facing east, so the tan will be uneven.

Sleeping together

A lovely counter-example to my previous post.

Jay Leno asks people some Bible trivia

Apparently, per the people interviewed by Jay Leno, the Pope either lives in Amsterdam, England or Paris, England. Just in case you were wondering where Amsterdam and Paris are located, it would seem to be England and not The Netherlands and France as may have previously been thought.

Also, a little tidbit perhaps of interest to those near and dear to my heart, the two cities destroyed by God for their sinful ways were the Twin Cities. This might explain a lot...like why I haven't heard from many inhabitants of said cities recently.

That's right Chaos...you can make that bigger

Chaos does the best he can to enlarge any hole he finds himself in. Somehow, I doubt that he'll have much success here, though.

Definitely allergic to Chaos

I was wearing a low-cut tank-top and holding Ratboy. He was licking my chest. I've got redness and swelling where he was licking. Frustrating. I guess I just need to avoid letting him lick me on sensitive areas. Fortunately, it seems to be OK for him to lick my face and hands.

Big hail!

Hail is really loud on my roof. The newscaster says that it's as much as golfball sized hail. I looked out the window and saw hail as big as marble shooters, but no golfballs. I'm hoping that my car isn't getting too dented!

Update: Unlike the windshield of a car of a local reporter, my car is still intact. There are a couple of dents on the hood, but they might have been there before. All is happy in my little world.

Separate beds

Yeah...they often choose to sleep in separate beds, like an old married couple...or maybe those who don't really love each other...

On the other hand, they sometimes curl up together.

Maybe it's just too hot here now to want to be cozy together.

Fuzzy babies

Sorry to those of you who have come here looking for pictures of the fuzzies and haven't found anything; I've been rather busy of late. Here are a couple pictures of the babies in the cage.




I'm pretty sure that Fuzzball has burgundy eyes. Every picture I've taken of her has shown red eyes, but I rarely get such an effect with Chaos.













Here's a shot of Ratboy. He just came out of the tunnel and crawled into the plastic bag that he had left directly in front of the tunnel opening a few minutes before.

Is vinegar dangerous?

We have an electric water kettle at work. It often develops a mineral coating on the inside on the bottom. Sometimes, the coating starts breaking up and little crusties float around in the water. Well, the department secretary told me to boil some vinegar in it to get rid of the mineral deposit. I've done this for quite some time. Today or yesterday one of the women in my office came in and said "hold your breath if you go into the copyroom (where the electric water kettle is), because SOMEONE is boiling vinegar!" I responded, "why yes, I am." She then said that I should boil the water first and then add vinegar afterwards. She said that the vinegar fumes are toxic. I decided to do some online investigation to see if the vinegar fumes really are toxic, and I came across this website. Basically, a science teacher got cited for having a sealed bottle of food-grade vinegar not in a special dangerous-acids cabinet. Go figure...your salad will kill you...or something.

I still don't know if vinegar fumes are toxic (annoying, but not toxic), but if you know better, let me know!

Recap of the last few days

We've had a lot of people visiting the grad program lately as prospective students. I took one for a walk down by my apartment and had another one stay with me. They both liked the ferrets. It was pretty fun to have a "sleepover". It's really a pity that all of my friends who might otherwise be inclined to come through and visit are either married with children or live with significant others.

Fuzzball has been rather friendly lately. :)

The weather was gorgeous yesterday, so I a blanket, a book, a dish of water and the ferrets outside on the green behind the apartment building. I laid out on the grass and tried to read while the ferrets ran as far as their leashes would allow. There was a little boy and his aunt walking by. She was Asian and spoke very little English and probably between 20 and 30 years old. He was Hispanic and spoke perfect English, probably about 5 years old. (I had no solid evidence of him being a Spanish speaker in the beginning, but I had a hunch.) Anyway, I told him that he could touch Chaos, but not Fuzzball. So he came over and pet Chaos. Then he told his aunt that she could "touch this one, but not that one!" over and over again. They went away and came back a few times. All the while, he kept saying how cute Chaos was. He even started picking Chaos up, which kinda irked me because he hadn't asked, but I let it go because Chaos tolerates it. After about the 5 return, I decided that it was time to put an end to it so that I could read in peace. I turned to the boy as he started to pick Chaos up again and said, "¡Déjalo! ¡Él quiere dormir ahora!" (Leave him! He wants to sleep now!) The kid responded, "¿Usted habla español?" (You speak Spanish?) "Hablo un poco español." (I speak a bit of Spanish) "¡Yo mucho!" (I [speak] a lot!) Anyway he finally went away and left me to read in peace. Another Hispanic group came out to sit on the grass. They had a toddler, who toddled over within a few feet of Chaos, but didn't come close enough to touch him, even though I let them know that he didn't bite and it was OK to touch him. Fuzzball was asleep in my purse most of the time.

There was a potluck for the Department linguists at Julie's on Monday. That was nice. There were even a couple of professors there for the first couple of hours. Of course, the boys waited until after they left to get drunk!

Yesterday in the afternoon, there was a going-away-party for Professor M, who is returning to Germany. It's too bad he has to go. He's a real sweetheart (and the extra $36/week in tutoring pay wasn't bad either!).

Today is relatively leisure. I have to go "teach" in a few minutes, but I have a guest speaker coming today, so I didn't have to lesson-plan.

Brain Cells

I was listening to public radio today, and I heard that contrary to earlier belief, brain cells do in fact regenerate. Drink on in moderation!

Fuzzball's belly

Fuzzball's incision has been completely healed for a while now. Here's a picture. You can't really see it here, but she's got some dark stubble growing in. I bathed her today and could see a 5 o'clock shadow over most of her body. If you look at previous bathing pictures, she just looks naked when her puffy white undercoat is wet.

She also has a bit of stubble on her naked spots. It looks like she should be fully furry in a relatively short period of time!

jogging shoes

I went jogging today for the second time since September, the other time being two weeks ago. I had to dig through my car to find my MP3-player, which had been floating around the floorboard since Thanksgiving. Then I had to get a new battery for it, so I walked a few blocks to a Walgreens and bought a couple.

Then I started jogging. I made it about 10 minutes/1 mile. Then I walked another half mile to an athletic shoes store.

The salesman looked at me walking and said that I didn't have anything wrong with my gait, so I didn't need to have special shoes. He showed me a couple of pairs. I asked him about price, and he said it would range from $80 to $90, which wasn't a surprise, since my friend Julie, who recommended the store, had said as much. I asked if there was anything any cheaper. He found a pair on close-out that I tried on. They actually felt better than the other options, as well as costing much less. I paid $62.19 by the time tax was added in. They are "Brooks Radius 04". I wore them home, walking an alternate route of 2.25 miles. I jogged a bit, but only very short increments, maybe 1 or 2 minutes.

It will be a while before I can jog 20 minutes at a stretch and even longer before I get back up to 30 minutes! It's amazing how quickly you fall out of shape and gain weight! It's depressing, really. All the work of a year of training and weightloss, and then you stop for a few months and gain all the weight back!

Ratboy snores

I walked over to the cage this morning and hear a light rumor of a buzz/whine. I moved in a little closer and localized the sound. It was Ratboy! Imagine a bumble-bee laughing. Very cute. I wonder if it's normal for ferrets to snore?

How well do you know me?

I got a link to this quiz site from a friend of mine.


Unlike my friend, I decided to ask questions that people who met me after high school would have chance of answering. (No offense, Dear, but I can't be expected to know the exact name of your high school business organization!)


Anyway, it looked like fun, so here it is. Good luck. (I suspect that anyone who keeps up with this blog can probably answer just about everything on it.)


Take my Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com!

At least my ferrets aren't thieves!

Most ferrets are thieves. I always assumed that all were. However, I haven't caught my babies stealing socks, keys, cords, or anything else that is usually prime ferret booty.

This is a good thing, because I forgot to start the dryer and when I went back to get my clothes right before the onsite-laundry closed for the night, I realized that I'd have to air-dry everything from that dryer. Fortunately, I have clothes racks for that purpose, and fortunately, my ferrets don't seem to be at all interested in them.

Hopefully by tomorrow, and certainly by the day after, the clothes will be dry.

3 miles, 50 minutes (~3.6mph)

I walked from home to work this morning. I saw the 10am bus pull away, so I decided that rather than waiting around for the 10:30 bus, I'd just start walking. I got to campus before the 10:30 bus.

A colleague of mine sent me a link to a nifty site that lets you plot your route and get the distance covered. I plotted it twice. The first time came up as just under 3 miles, and the second as just over 3 miles, so I'm splitting the difference and calling it 3 miles. (*note: You need to click "start recording" and then double click on the point that you want to mark on the map.) It took about 50 minutes. The weather was nice, about 43 degrees. I feel rather refreshed.

Just let him go...

I was watching Cold Case last night while correcting my students' homework. In one particular episode, the detectives catch a murderer and prevent him from commiting suicide.

I can't help but wonder if that was the best thing to do. If the guy was voluntarily going to remove himself from society without the court and prison costs to society, why should the police stop him?

Just a thought.

Went to bed, had a panic attack

I went to bed, hoping to sleep, but instead, I started getting all panicky about who all should be notified if I were dead, dying, in a coma, or otherwise incapacitated. Would anyone know what to do with my ferrets? I decided that rather staying in bed freaking out about it, that I would just make a list and send it to my parents. If you want to be on that list, send me an email to let me know.

On another note, I think that I might be allergic to the ferrets, but I'll deal. I'm not gonna give them up, despite skin irritation!

residually sleepy

I had absolutely no energy yesterday. I didn't get up until 10am, was sleepy all day, took a long nap, was still sleepy, and slept through the night. I didn't have the brain power to get anything done yesterday. It felt like midnight all day. I'm more awake today and playing catch-up, but I think I need to try to go to bed early tonight to try to shake whatever is draining all my energy. I've figured out that I still am not able to process academic Spanish, so I'll just do some mindless homework correction of fill in the blank worksheets for my students.

Flying Ferret!

Yeah...that whole work thing isn't really happening... maybe I should just go take a shower.

This afternoon

I met Julie at the school gym and we power walked for an hour, punctuated by a bit over 5 minutes of jogging on my part while Julie was visiting the facilities. It was nice. We worked out, chatted, and went for lunch.

When I got home, I took the ferrets out of the cage. Fuzzball made her usual tour and then curled up somewhere to continue her nap.

Chaos made it about two feet from where I set him down and curled up in a plastic bag to continue his slumber so rudely interrupted.

Now I'm trying to get motivated to get to work, since I essentially spent most of yesterday in bed, getting almost nothing done. I just had no energy.

Much sadness in ice cream land

It pains me to report that the powers that be seem to have discontinued my favorite ice cream. Everytime that I find one that I like, enough of the rest of the world disagrees and it disappears. *sighs* The search must now continue for a substitute.

What a helpful baby boy!

Ratboy decided to help me correct homework.


Oh wait...I guess Chaos just wanted to chew on my folder. Oh well. Such is life.

Fuzzball's tummy

Ratbaby is almost completely healed, on the outside, anyway.

The inside seems to be doing well, too. She's been playing like normal since about a week after the operation.

She and Chaos hopped around squawking at each other this morning. Much with the wrestling and biting :)

There is a little bit of fuzz on her tummy, but I think it will still be a while before she has fur there again. It was so fuzzy before she was shaved for the operation!

Hair still hasn't grown in at the crown of her head and above her back hips. I'm hoping that it will come soon. The vet said that steroids would slow the hair growth. She's been off of the steroid for a while now.

Playing with Chaos

Yesterday, I found a new game to play with Chaos. As you may know, he really gets excited about doors, particularly when he thinks that one is about to be opened. He also knows that I usually don't go down the hallways in my apartment unless I intend to open a door. So, I walked down one hall, and he followed me. Then I turned around and walked down the other one and he followed me. We repeated this process for a few times until I got bored of it and had something else to do. Heh. Doors.

Study: Prayer doesn't heal

Apparently, science tells us that prayer doesn't heal.

I must say, I'm skeptical of the healing power of prayer, but I've figured that it can't hurt. Interestingly enough, according to the TV news clip on the study, those who were told that people were praying for them actually experienced more complications than others.

My thoughts are that if it makes you feel better and more like you'll get better, than by all means pray! I think a lot of healing is psychological.

No private body armor

Another story on the news:

Apparently the US military has banned non-government-issue body armor. Although the military says that it's now providing troops with the best body armor availible, there are challenges to this.

I would hate to have someone tell me to do something that I believe to be less safe than what I might otherwise choose to do.

The government needs to test this armor and get the best stuff to the soldiers!

Be Afraid...very afraid of MySpace

I was just watching the news and saw a piece warning parents about the evils of MySpace and other such sites. Not only are there sexual-predators, but the students themselves are posting sexually suggestive photos of themselves, as well as photos of youth doing illegal things.

So, what is the solution? I don't know. When I was in high school, I was taking most of my classes at the local college, so I was driving back and forth between the buildings a couple times a day. At the college, I just went to the computer lab and checked my email on Hotmail. At the high school, it was blocked. That was really frustrating. I would imagine that most schools probably block sites like MySpace as well.

But will that solve the problem? What exactly is the problem? Childen are making themselves vulnerable to abuse from adults and other youth. Some students also use the web to threaten others.

I don't think that there is a way to keep kids off these sites. Some might argue that the site should just be shut down, however it serves many adults well. Also, the web being international makes it impossible to shut down such sites even if someone wanted to do so.

Perhaps the best thing to be done is to educate both parents and children about both the dangers and advantages of such sites. Make sure that kids know that it's dangerous to post pictures because they can often be identified by predators and the police. Also tell them such simple things as that posting a zip-code provides more info than posting a town name (I know a kid who had this in a web profile: City: I won't tell you! ZIP: 55414).

It seems pretty clear from attempts to keep kids off drugs and from dangerous driving, that trying to keep the kids from the danger doesn't work. You just need to educate and hope that the kid has been brought up savvy enough to know what to do with the information.