Wednesday, May 26, 2010

VIDEO: Reggie Watts: Out Of Control

GOOD NEWS: Firefox tool erases Justin Bieber from Web

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Justin Bieber is everywhere. And if you're like so many others over the age of 15, you've seen enough. Luckily, a new Firefox add-on lets you remove all mentions of Bieber from the Web in one fell swoop.

The tool, dubbed Shaved Bieber, evaluates any page a person is browsing and censors all mentions of the teen idol. It works on every site, from Twitter to Google to Wikipedia. People can even go to his personal home page and watch as every mention of Bieber is blocked out.

Shaved Bieber is available in two versions: an add-on, which does all the Bieber removal itself, or a bookmarklet, which requires a person to click on it before it hides mentions of the pop star. The tool also censors photos labeld "Bieber" or "Justin Bieber," so users don't even have to look at him.

The anti-Bieber tool was developed by Greg Leuch, a developer for Free Art and Technology Lab. The organization is "dedicated to enriching the public domain through the research and development of creative technologies and media," the site claims.

VIDEO: the Cat and the Crow..Buddies

Moonwalking 4-year-old is China's 'prince of pop'

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Emily Chang, CNN

I first encountered Xiao Bao at a Beijing dance studio. He was wearing a Mickey Mouse T-shirt, zooming around the room, passing out lollipops and bottles of Cokes his parents had brought for our CNN crew. He seemed just like any other four-year-old, incredibly cute, giggly and overwhelmingly energetic.

Then he made a quick change, throwing on a black and gold costume and sunglasses, and suddenly he was China's youngest Michael Jackson impersonator.

As soon as the music started playing he started hip-hopping, pop and locking and moonwalking -- like a pro. My favorite part was that he moved his mouth to the English lyrics to "Dangerous," without actually saying them out loud or understanding what the lyrics mean.

At the end of his routine, he held his last pose an extra few seconds to get the appropriate amount of applause and ooh-ing and aww-ing. He definitely basked in the attention. When asked to tell us his favorite singer, Xiao Bao said in his limited English, "My-co Jay-ke-sun!" Then he collapsed into a fit of giggles.

Wang Yiming, famously known as Xiao Bao (which means "little treasure" in Chinese), first started performing when he was two years old, in a provincial children's talent competition. By the time we met him he had already danced his way through national competitions and television shows. These days, the aspiring "prince" of pop has gone global.

Earlier this year, Xiao Bao rocked out on the "Ellen" show in Los Angeles. Ellen Degeneres, a dance-lover herself, seemed quite impressed.

The attention and travel has been more than his parents could have ever hoped for. Xiao Bao was born extremely premature, weighing just over two pounds.

"The doctor told me they couldn't guarantee anything," his mother Bian Aiqin says. "It would be a miracle if Xiao Bao survived."

Their doctor advised them to assist Xiao Bao in doing physical exercises to build his strength.

"But he was too small for exercises," his mother recalls. "So we decided to play music for him, hoping he'd move to the beat."

And he did.

"To our surprise he was so attracted to the music. He stopped crying the moment he heard the melody," Bian says. When he got bigger he started dancing.

Xiao Bao's parents admit he has not led a normal childhood. After they discovered his love for dancing, the family moved from neighboring Hebei Province to Beijing so Xiao Bao could practice at China's best hip-hop dance studio six times a week.

Their little YouTube sensation continues to appear on television and most recently performed at the Shanghai World Expo. He's met celebrities from NBA superstars to Mickey Mouse himself (during a trip to Disneyland courtesy of "Ellen").

Xiao Bao is currently home schooled, but his mother says she hopes to put him back into regular school when his schedule allows for a normal routine. But they insist they're doing this only because he wants to.

His teacher agrees. "It's normal that when he's not practicing he's just moving around," says hip-hop coach Yang Ling. "Dancers need that kind of desire to perform whenever, wherever."

"He's still a child and there's a long life ahead of him," Xiao Bao's mother adds adds. "Nobody knows what will happen. So all I want is for him to be happy now."

His father, Wang Xiaojun, agrees, "His happiness is dancing."

As we finished our shoot and departed the studio, Xiao Bao still clad in his Michael Jackson costume gave each of us a kid-sized goodbye hug.

No less energetic than when we met him, he bounded into his mother's arms for another afternoon of MJ tunes as China's little Prince of Pop.


Son Stabs Mother Over Cheeseburger

Eighteen-year-old Aaron Williams is facing a felony assault charge for allegedly stabbing his own mother over a cheeseburger.

The incident took place at around 1 a.m. Friday at an apartment complex on West Bancroft in Toledo,Ohio police said. Vergie Williams said her teen son was all tough with his big butcher knife before she pulled out a knife of her own and he took off out the front door.

Indonesian Smokes 2 Packs a Day...But He is Only 2 Years Old!

Taking a deep drag on his cigarette while resting on the steering wheel of his truck, he looks like a parody of a middle-aged truck driver.
But the image covers up a much more disturbing truth: At just the tender age of two, Ardi Rizal's health has been so ruined by his 40-a-day habit that he now struggles to move by himself.
The 56 pound Indonesian toddler is certainly far too unfit to run around with other children and his condition is set to rapidly deteriorate.

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But, despite local officials' offer to buy the Rizal family a new car if the boy quits, his parents feel unable to stop him because he throws massive tantrums if they don't indulge him.

His mother, Diana, 26, wept: 'He's totally addicted. If he doesn't get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick.'

Ardi will smoke only one brand and his habit costs his parents �3.78 a day in Musi Banyuasin, in Indonesia's South Sumatra province.
But in spite of this, his fishmonger father Mohammed, 30, said: 'He looks pretty healthy to me. I don't see the problem.'
Ardi's youth is the extreme of a disturbing trend. Data from the Central Statistics Agency showed 25 per cent of Indonesian children aged three to 15 have tried cigarettes, with 3.2 per cent of those active smokers.
The percentage of five to nine year olds lighting up increased from 0.4 per cent in 2001 to 2.8 per cent in 2004, the agency reported.

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A video of a four-year-old Indonesian boy blowing smoke rings appeared briefly on YouTube in March, prompting outrage before it was removed from the site.
Child advocates are speaking out about the health damage to children from second-hand smoke, and the growing pressure on them to smoke in a country where one-third of the population uses tobacco and single cigarettes can be bought for a few cents.
Seto Mulyadi, chairman of Indonesia's child protection commission, blames the increase on aggressive advertising and parents who are smokers.
'A law to protect children and passive smokers should be introduced immediately in this country,' he said.
A health law passed in 2009 formally recognizes that smoking is addictive, and an anti-smoking coalition is pushing for tighter restrictions on smoking in public places, advertising bans and bigger health warnings on cigarette packages.

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But a bill on tobacco control has been stalled because of opposition from the tobacco industry.
The bill would ban cigarette advertising and sponsorship, prohibit smoking in public, and add graphic images to packaging.

Benny Wahyudi, a senior official at the Industry Ministry, said the government had initiated a plan to try to limit the number of smokers, including dropping production to 240 billion cigarettes this year, from 245 billion in 2009.
'The government is aware of the impact of smoking on health and has taken efforts, including lowering cigarette production, increasing its tax and limiting smoking areas,' he said.
Mr Mulyadi said a ban on advertising is key to putting the brakes on child and teen smoking.

'If cigarette advertising is not banned, there will be more kids whose lives are threatened because of smoking,' he said.
Ubiquitous advertising hit a bump last month when a cigarette company was forced to withdraw its sponsorship of pop star Kelly Clarkson's concert following protests from fans and anti-tobacco groups.

However, imposing a non-smoking message will be difficult in Indonesia, the world's third-largest tobacco consumer.
Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto, a member of the National Commission of Tobacco Control, said Indonesia must also address the social conditions that lead to smoking, such as family influence and peer pressure.
'The promotion of health has to be integrated down to the smallest units in our society, from public health centres and local health care centres to the family,' he was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Globe on Friday.
Health Minister Endang Sedyaningsih conceded turning young people off smoking will be difficult in a country where it is perceived as positive because cigarette companies sponsor everything from scholarships to sporting events.
'This is the challenge we face in protecting youth from the dangers of smoking,' she said in a statement on the ministry's website.


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Boy, 8, tells jury that dad forced him to get gang tattoo

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An 8-year-old boy calmly told a Fresno County Superior Court jury Tuesday that he didn't ask for a gang tattoo and didn't want it, but his father forced him to get one during Easter break 2009.

"It was my dad's idea," the boy said of the quarter-sized tattoo of a dog paw on his right hip. A dog paw is the symbol of the Bulldogs street gang.

"I didn't want it and I cried," he said.

His testimony was a dramatic beginning in the criminal trial of two Fresno gang members who are accused of inking the gang tattoo on the boy when he was 7.

To cap his testimony, the boy pulled down his three-quarter-length pants just enough to show the jury the tattoo.

"It hurts," he said, describing the experience. "It hurts a lot."

On trial are the boy's father, Enrique Gonzalez, 27, and Travis Gorman, 22. A criminal complaint charges them with willful cruelty to a child and aggravated mayhem. If convicted, they face life in prison.

In opening statements, prosecutor William Lacy said Gonzalez held down his son while Gorman inked the tattoo to promote the criminal street gang.

But defense lawyers Douglas Foster and Manuel Nieto said witnesses will testify that the boy pestered his father and threw a temper tantrum to get the tattoo. Once he got it, the boy barked like a Bulldog gang member and proudly showed the tattoo to relatives, Foster said.

"Little boys want to be like their dads," said Foster, who represents Gonzalez. "Little boys also make up stories," he told the panel of six women and six men.

Gonzalez made a horrible mistake when he let his son have a tattoo, Foster said. "He's not perfect, and he won't be named father of the year," he said.

But Gonzalez loves his son, Foster said, and "wouldn't do anything intentionally to hurt his kid."

Defense lawyers said the trial is really about how Fresno police believed a young boy who made up a story because he feared punishment from his mother.

The boy, a second-grader, grew up in a culture of divorcing parents and relatives who have tattoos and body piercings, the lawyers said. Both Gonzalez and Gorman have several tattoos, including on their neck and face. The boy's mother also has tattoos.

The boy, called to the witness stand by the prosecution, told the jury that his mother's tattoos -- including a fairy and a sun -- are "good ones," while his father's tattoos are "bad ones" because they depict gang life. One of his father's tattoos is a Bulldog wearing a mask, the boy said.

From the witness stand, he calmly pointed out his father and Gorman as the culprits who forced him to get a tattoo in Gorman's garage on April 10, 2009 -- Good Friday. As he testified, Gonzalez stared blankly at him, while some jurors jotted notes.

"My dad held me down on a couch," the boy testified.

He said he struggled and told his father to stop, but Gonzalez didn't reply. "I was crying because it hurt," he said.

To show proof of the struggle, the boy pointed out a tiny mark above his tattoo. "I got that line because I moved," he testified. "It's not supposed to be there."

The tattoo hurt more than getting an ear pierced, the boy said, showing the jury his pierced right ear. He also said the pain was worse than a skateboard injury or a spanking from his mother.

He testified that his father forced him to show the tattoo to relatives.

The boy said he is undergoing a painful procedure to have the tattoo removed. But when he's an adult, he said, he plans to tattoo his mother's name on his body.

The trial is expected to take two weeks. Gorman and Gonzalez plan to testify.

A key issue is whether the act of tattooing a minor rises to the level of aggravated mayhem, which carried a life prison term. Defense lawyers say no. That charge is typically reserved for defendants accused of disfiguring acts such as cutting off a victim's arm or setting someone on fire.

Under California law, tattooing a minor is typically a misdemeanor, punishable by six months in prison, defense lawyers said.

Outside court, Foster and Nieto said they weren't surprised by the boy's testimony.

"When kids get things in their heads, it becomes reality to them," Foster said.

Sleeping Passenger Left On Plane For Hours

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Security questions are being asked after a sleeping passenger was left behind for several hours on an arriving flight at Philadelphia International Airport.

Like a lot of travelers, Ginger McGuire, who works at a radio station and a local cable TV channel in suburban Detroit, tried to get some rest on her redeye United Airways Express flight from Washington D.C. The flight landed in Philadelphia just after midnight Tuesday morning.

But unlike her fellow passengers, McGuire, according to police and TSA reports, was apparently forgotten. She was left sleeping in her seat alone for more than three hours after everyone else got off the aircraft.

Records show flight 8080 arrived in Philadelphia from Dulles Airport at 12:27 a.m. The crew and passengers deplaned shortly thereafter.

It wasn't until 3:50 a.m. that a cleaning crew found McGuire still sleeping on the plane.

"I can't believe on a 50 passenger plane that nobody would wake someone up like that," traveler Trevor Hirz said.

McGuire, the report notes, was a properly ticketed passenger. The issue raised by leaving her on the plane is not one of security, but rather the crew's alertness.

A spokesperson for United Airlines released a statement to Eyewitness News that read: "We are working closely with our partner Trans States to investigate the cause and remedy the situation with the customer."

A Trans State spokesperson told Eyewitness News that it is standard protocol to make sure all passengers are safely off the plane at the end of every flight.

The incident remains under investigation.

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