If you didn’t know already, yes, Michael Jackson has passed away at the age of 50.

Honestly, I don’t give him much thought in my day-to-day. I don’t listen to his music on a regular basis. The last time I enjoyed MJ, it was at Frank’s cousin’s house. We listened to his greatest hits as we drank wine and ate finger foods. It was fun. Nostalgic with a dash of creepiness thrown in, since Michael was such an oddity. Because of the “kid” accusations, the skin color changes, the plastic surgery…

When I heard the news of his death, I was sad, though. For the same reasons. Nostalgia, no doubt, peppered with a bit of compassion for the later years of his life. It definitely wasn’t what anyone would call normal. And back before exploiting your kids and family on reality TV became all the rage people kinda thought that MJ went a bit koo-koo because he reached high celebrity at such a young age.

Let that sink in, people. Especially those that have cameras follow them and their children around, branding their faces into the world’s brains.

Speculation on Michael’s family and their contribution to his quirkiness was evident. But come on. Kids and early celebrity/icon generally don’t mix well. Most of us can conjure up examples in our head of child-celebrity gone wrong and parents pimping their kids out while they enjoy the riches.

It is a sad trainwreck. As a culture we put people on pedestals for the wrong reasons, treating a celebrity as god because of how they make us feel or how they distract us, or how we envy them. It no longer requires talent to reach a state of godliness in this country. Celebrity, once somewhat reserved for the exceptional (athlete, musician, actor), is now handed out to those born into circumstance (money or otherwise). It is not enough to simply watch their movie, or listen to their music; we want to know where they buy their coffee, what’s their favorite spot on the couch, refrigerator contents and how the inside of their bathroom looks, including the closet.

Endless, the amount of media generated from the “entertainment” business. From magazines, to television shows, blogs… let’s face it, the celebrity in this country are like drugs — if they were eradicated, how many people would be out of a job? What would we do if we could not peer into the lives of others, dissecting it on a daily basis?

On Monday, news broke that Vanity Fair was planning on running “discreet” and “artistic” photos from a topless shoot with pre-teen and tween hero Miley Cyrus. The photos include a shot of Cyrus, barebacked, clutching a sheet to her bosom… [link]

Click the link up there to read the rest. Great article by Ben Shapiro.

As I was setting my alarm (the television) last night, I caught the news (no idea what channel), talking about Miley Cyrus and the questionable photos. I guess Disney felt that bad or racy press is better than no press? As if Hannah Montana simply doesn’t get enough press.

Something about this, seems entirely wrong to me. Gmail now allows you to change the “Sent” time of your emails (up to 10 per year), all the way back to 2004. Why only 10?

How come I only get ten?

Our researchers have concluded that allowing each person more than ten pre-dated emails per year would cause people to lose faith in the accuracy of time, thus rendering the feature useless.

Hmmm, “…cause people to lose faith in the accuracy of time rendering the feature useless?” OK. I don’t think it is the accuracy of time itself it might cause people to lose faith in, but moreover the integrity of the sender, and email period. If you think for a few minutes on it, there are a lot of ways this feature could be used maliciously (contests, business, personal…etc.).

Gmail developers, in my opinion, could have spent time creating much more useful features. Like maybe a “Future Send” that saves a draft and sends the email at a future date, if they are concentrating on date-based developments. Or streamlining the way mail is handled, like a Forward button as an option (not date-based, but still useful).

I love my Gmail, but Custom Time? People don’t like being tricked; Custom Time could be damaging to those who use Gmail. If I send an email late, I send an email late. I don’t want people to be fooled into questioning themselves because I can’t send a timely mail.

(April Fool’s Joke? )

After an outbreak of pregnancies among middle school girls, education officials in this city have decided to allow a school health center to make birth control pills available to girls as young as 11. – link

Wow that is absolutely ridiculous. Beyond middle schools taking the initiative to provide birth control to kids… the pill? The pill, a synthetic hormone, prevents pregnancy, if taken properly. It also regulates periods. It does not prevent AIDS, herpes, hepatitis, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and on and on. A child as young as 11 years old has no business pumping synthetic hormones in their body, goodness knows there are grown woman that would think twice about putting that in their bloodstream.

At my kid’s school, you can’t take a Tylenol without parental consent — and often without a doctor’s written approval. How the can this even be legal?

…treatment is confidential under state law, which allows the students to decide whether to inform their parents about the services they receive.

Maybe the problem isn’t so much the lack of available birth-control methods, but the lack of sound education and leadership in the school’s environment.

Wow, wow, wow.