The North Shore Spirit Is Laid To Rest

Thanks to Facebook.com I recently caught wind of a petition, in both paper and online form established to save Fraser Field. Located in Lynn, Massachusetts, Fraser Field is currently home to the minor-league baseball team the North Shore Spirit of the independent Can-Am League for the 2007 season.

"Please find a way to bring the North Shore Spirit back to Lynn next year. We're all big Spirit fans. A lot of us kids have spent almost every summer for the last five years at Spirit games. We'll miss going to the games with all our friends and seeing the new friends we made at the Fraser Field. The Spirit is the best part of living in Lynn and the city is taking it away from us. It'll be so sad for the kids that won't have anything to do. We love the Spirit! The city and Mayor Chip Clancy HAVE to find a way to bring the North Shore Spirit back to Fraser Field next season."

I would not have thought twice about submitting my name on the online petition forum powered by iPetitions.com and supporting this local cause headed by young Lynn resident, Victoria, had it not been for University of Massachusetts Professor Ethan Katsh's words of wisdom: "Do you really know what you are signing up for?" It made me curious enough to take the time before clicking the "I agree" box and find out what signing my name actually entailed.

Unfortunately on September 20, 2007, Victoria's 400 plus signatures were not enough to "Save Our Spirit." Team owner, Nick Lopardo posted a letter to fans on their official website announcing that the team would no longer be playing baseball in 2008.

"We have enjoyed many successes both on and off the playing field, none of which would have been possible without your support, for which we are forever grateful. The success of a ball club is not measured in just wins and losses or in strictly business terms, but rather on the faces of our fans, young and old alike. We look out on our field and see children running the bases with our mascot ‘Slugger’ and fathers and sons enjoying a game of catch on our outfield. You can’t put a price on that kind of joy. These are opportunities to teach good lessons of life, family, and community. The North Shore Spirit fan friendly experience has left us knowing all the good that can be accomplished in minor league baseball. We will take that with us. Once again we thank you for your support of North Shore Spirit Professional Baseball and for “Catching the Spirit” here at historic Fraser Field."

Victoria who grew up on Spirit games plans to continue her campaign in order to get the team back on the mound for next season. This morning, Victoria reported 508 signatures both off and online and is eager for more. Check out Victoria's online blog and do your part-after reading what you are signing up for of course and support this good cause.

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YouTube In The Classroom?!

Here's a dream come true for Web addicts: college credit for watching YouTube.

Pitzer College, part of the Claremont Colleges consortium, this fall began offering what may be the first course about the video-sharing site. About 35 students meet in a classroom but work mostly online, where they view content from the San Bruno-based site and post their comments.

Class lessons also are posted and students are encouraged to post videos. One class member, for instance, posted a 1-minute, 36-second video of himself juggling.

Alexandra Juhasz, a media studies professor at the liberal arts college, said she was "underwhelmed" by the content on YouTube but set up the course, "Learning from YouTube," to explore the role of the popular site.

Students control most of the class content and YouTube watchers from around the world are encouraged to comment, Juhasz said.

She hopes the course will raise serious issues about YouTube, such as the role of "corporate-sponsored democratic media expression."

YouTube is "a phenomenon that should be studied," student Darren Grose said. "You can learn a lot about American culture and just Internet culture in general."

YouTube class: www.youtube .com/group/learningfromyoutube

Source: AP
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MySpace.com: 200 Million And Counting

MySpace.com's online community rose to 106 million users during the Fall of 2006 and has been on the incline ever since, but not without a few bumps along the way.

With more and more "tweens" and aspiring muscisians worldwide accessing MySpace daily-an estimated 200 million in recent weeks, the amount of legal work for its creator and everyone's friend, Tom is on the rise as well.

PCWorld.com reported that in 2005, a North Carolina's State Bureau of Investigation arrested a police officer for the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl he lured using MySpace.

In 2006, MySpace took measures to avoid future scrutiny for incidents of this kind by hiring a technical company.

Through this innovative technology, we're pleased that we've successfully identified and deleted these registered sex offenders and hope that other social networking sites follow our lead.

Upon reaching this stage in online life when extreme legal action must be taken in order to protect ourselves and importantly our children, alarms should ring loud and clear in households worldwide.

Southwest News Herald's online columnist Ray Hanania pins the tail on the donkey in his August 27, 2007 column, Big Problem on MySpace.com is not pedophiles

The real problem is not the pedophiles and con artists trying to steal your money. The real problem is us, the regular people, who let this happen by running away from the problem – and then sitting back at home and allowing ourselves to be entertained by shows like "To Catch a Predator." We need to take back the system. We, as a society, need to impose the correct morality and the right principles and restore common sense to our lives, instead of always only reacting after-the-fact. Because responding after-the-fact results in an over-reaction. Take back the Internet. But more importantly, take control of your children. Your child, whether an adolescent or a high school or college student should be on the Internet using MySpace and FaceBook., but they should be doing it the right way. And, the right way is with parental supervision. Know what your child is doing. Get involved. Understand the Internet. And the best way to understand the Internet is to get involved and use it. If you have a child and you have not checked these web sites to see if your child is already there posting obscene photographs, then yes, we can blame the pedophiles and the con artists. But really, the bulk of the blame belongs on you.

A simple click and "Signing Up!" for MySpace will take users inside a big bad world of people, people they do not even know or will probably never know and access to their personal information and inappropriate activites. Despite cautionary warnings, users continue to keep their front doors wide open. Exposing themselves to hundreds of millions of strangers and countless risks each day.

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Criss-Cross Applesauce

My summer internship with the University of Massachusetts Extension
Nutrition Education Program has enlightened me on a variety of topics
since its June 1 start.

After
teaching in several kindergarten classrooms in Lynn, Massachusetts, I
picked up on something I was never taught nor heard of growing up. "Criss-cross applesauce."

This
21st century, politically correct version of sitting "Indian style" is
a popular tool used by teachers at the elementary school level to get
their students to sit and be quiet.

Thinklings blogger, Philip posted similar sentiments regarding "Criss-cross applesauce" in an August 2006 post. Check out the article, Criss-Cross Applesauce and the comments that follow.

What do you think about "Criss-cross applesauce give a little clap. Criss-cross applesauce hands in your lap. Criss-cross applesauce quiet as can be. Criss-cross applesauce eyes on me?"

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Bada Bing, Bada BOOM!

The Sopranos' slices its last piece of prosciutto this Sunday on television's HBO and viewers still remain in the dark regarding Tony Sopranos' fate and the rest of his gangs.

Although, Office Pools are commonly used during college basketball's March Madness, GraphPaper.com created a pool of their own. Instead of predicting which team will make it to the final four, GraphPaper.com allows you to predict the fate of your favorite Sopranos' characters. You decide if A.J. Soprano dies, gets arrested, kills someone else or if Paulie Walnuts prospers, leaves or quits.

The long awaited Sopranos series finale is now in your hands. Choose wisely or be wary of the "lead belly."

Female Genital Mutilation Awareness

A local movement in the Pioneer Valley has begun against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) by New Salem, Massachusetts resident MaryAnne Mohamoud. MaryAnne is originally from Somalia in East Africa where 98% of girls and women undergo genital mutilation. This overwhelming number has driven MaryAnne to encourage others to assist in putting an end to this traditional cruelty across Africa and around the world as well as raise awareness in the United States about the lifetime effects of FGM.

For more information, please click the following link to learn more about the cause and effects of Female Genital Mutilation and what you can do to help prevent and spread awareness in your area.

Boing Boing Boing Boing

Boingboing.net truly lives up to its mantra as a directory of wonderful things. With numerous daily updates of endless conversation-starting topics, I always leave the site learning at least something useful and sometimes even useless, but entertaining of course.

I have rounded up a list of my all time favorite topics from Boingboing's April posts. If they don't shock you, make you really think, debate, research, invest in, converse with others about, above all I hope they make you laugh.

Boingboing's Most Valuable Posts, April 2007

• Coke skin cream? Link
• Fossilized rain forest found in Illinois Link
• Funny coffee mugs to animalize your face Link
• Nike transformer - sneaker robot Link
• Man and horse nap in bank Link
• Fascist America, in 10 easy steps Link
• Timelapse - video of cheese aging Link
• Pack your bagel in a CD spindle Link

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