Finally its over

I am glad to say that the As are finally over and so is Prom Night. It was one of the nicest nights ever, the food was good and I especially liked the roast chicken which was roasted to how a duck would normally be roasted. My application to be a relief teacher has been approved after some delay due to medical issues and I'm flying off to Penang this Friday. I've gotten a Nintendo DS lite as well, its pink so the boys wont touch it :D Nicholas and I have gotten back together and everything seems to be all going nice and smooth. Fair winds for now I guess, I'd enjoy it while I can then.
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there's fair winds for the world itself, especially those in America. A shooting has been carried out at Westroads Mall in America. The gunman said he wanted to go out in style and was going to be famous. Infamous would be a better term I suppose. It makes you wonder then what the world is coming to, where people are tempted to do evil just to get attention... The work of affluenza I suppose. Quite a number of Americans have been on television and the number increases every year. Guess thats one way to end up on television. Growing up watching cartoons, I was under the impression that America was a nice place where people could pretty much do or say whatever they want. As I grew up, I learnt more about it, the more my impression changed about America. True it is a place where freedom of speech exist, and freedom of religion and all those things but they end up being really...really... screwed up. Pardon the language. They may have freedom of speech, and if its through the media, they'd have to be politically correct, otherwise they may be hounded by the public. For a country founded under One God, they're trying to remove such references so as not to cause tension between the different religions. Speaking of religion, the new film coming up The Golden Compass is undergoing some controvacy due to it being based on a book about "killing God" so said the author. Some Christian schools are pulling the books off the shelf, although I'm not sure if there has been a call to prevent the movie from being shown in certain areas. I already know some of my Christian friends are being turned off by the movie due to its background. Me? I'm just more curious than anything. I've also noticed that more people seem to be more concerned about children in third world countries rather than the homeless out on the streets. It just confuses me really, that people can care more for people whom they never have met and probably never will meet, and worry about them more than the homeless in the streets of America. However, it must also be noted that there are programmes to help the homeless in America, but I'm just wondering where the sympathies of the American people lie: With their people or others? I guess I'm out of things to say for the time being. This is the Captain signing off.

MySpace Hoax Led to Daughter's Suicide

I copied the article from http://www.unsolvedmysteries.com/usm494180.html

Remember this article next time your tempted to rip into someone online. It's as easy as anything to hide behind a computer but the reality is that words are incredibly powerful so think before you unleash them.

MySpace Hoax Led to Daughter's Suicide

DARDENNE PRAIRIE, Mo. (AP) --
Megan Meier thought she had made a new friend in cyberspace when a cute teenage boy named Josh contacted her on MySpace and began exchanging messages with her. Megan, a 13-year-old who suffered from depression and attention deficit disorder, corresponded with Josh for more than a month before he abruptly ended their friendship, telling her he had heard she was cruel.
The next day Megan committed suicide. Her family learned later that Josh never actually existed; he was created by members of a neighborhood family that included a former friend of Megan's.

Now Megan's parents hope the people who made the fraudulent profile on the social networking Web site will be prosecuted, and they are seeking legal changes to safeguard children on the Internet.

The girl's mother, Tina Meier, said she doesn't think anyone involved intended for her daughter to kill herself.

"But when adults are involved and continue to (edit: mess) with a 13-year- old, with or without mental problems, it is absolutely vile," she told the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis, which first reported on the case.

Tina Meier said law enforcement officials told her the case did not fit into any law. But sheriff's officials have not closed the case and pledged to consider new evidence if it emerges.

Megan Meier hanged herself in her bedroom on Oct. 16, 2006, and died the next day. She was described as a "bubbly, goofy" girl who loved hanging out with her friends, watching movies and fishing with her dad.

Megan had been on medication, but had been upbeat before her death, her mother said, after striking up a relationship on MySpace with Josh Evans about six weeks before her death.

Josh told her he was born in Florida and had recently moved to the nearby community of O'Fallon. He said he was homeschooled, and didn't yet have a phone number in the area to give her.

Megan's parents said she received a message from him on Oct. 15 of last year, essentially saying he didn't want to be her friend anymore, that he had heard she wasn't nice to her friends.

The next day, as Megan's mother headed out the door to take another daughter to the orthodontist, she knew Megan was upset about Internet messages. She asked Megan to log off. Users on MySpace must be at least 14, though Megan was not when she opened her account. A MySpace spokeswoman did not return calls seeking comment.

Someone using Josh's account was sending cruel messages. Then, Megan called her mother, saying electronic bulletins were being posted about her, saying things like, "Megan Meier is a slut. Megan Meier is fat."

Megan's mother, who monitored her daughter's online communications, returned home and said she was shocked at the vulgar language her own daughter was sending. She told her daughter how upset she was about it.

Megan ran upstairs, and her father, Ron, tried to tell her everything would be fine. About 20 minutes later, she was found in her bedroom. She died the next day.

Her father said he found a message the next day from Josh, which he said law enforcement authorities have not been able to retrieve. It told the girl she was a bad person and the world would be better without her, he has said.

Another parent, who learned of the MySpace account from her own daughter who had access to the Josh profile, told Megan's parents about the hoax in a counselor's office about six weeks after Megan died. That's when they learned Josh was imaginary, they said.

The woman who created the fake profile has not been charged with a crime. She allegedly told the St. Charles County Sheriff's Department she created Josh's profile because she wanted to gain Megan's confidence to know what Megan was saying about her own child online.

The mother from down the street told police that she, her daughter and another person all typed and monitored the communication between the fictitious boy and Megan.

A person who answered the door at the family's house told an Associated Press reporter on Friday afternoon that they had been advised not to comment.

Megan's parents had been storing a foosball table for the family that created the MySpace character. Six weeks after Megan's death, they learned the other family had created the profile and responded by destroying the foosball table, dumping it on the neighbors' driveway and encouraging them to move away.

Megan's parents are now separated and plan to divorce.

Aldermen in Dardenne Prairie, a community of about 7,000 residents about 35 miles from St. Louis, have proposed a new ordinance related to child endangerment and Internet harassment. It could come before city leaders on Wednesday.

"Is this enough?" Mayor Pam Fogarty said Friday. "No, not by any stretch of the imagination, but it's something, and you have to start somewhere."



Source: Crimelibrary.com