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Saturday, January 31, 2009

Teenage girls chatting on Facebook at high risk of depression

Adolescent girls using electronics to obsess over romantic disappointments more likely to become anxious, depressed.

Of course, girls are more likely than boys to discuss emotions, but actually repeating their feelings over and over can lead to unhealthy activity.

Stony Brook University in New York psychology professor Joanne Davila and colleague Lisa Starr, conducted an experiment by interviewing 83 girls around the age of 13. They followed up with the girls a few years later to continue their testing of depression symptoms.

Their report was published in the The Journal of Adolescence and found that repeatedly discussing problems with friends leads to higher levels of depression.

Davila and Starr also found that text messaging among teens is also a bad idea, because it can make them more anxious.

Other than girls, Davila said that boys are also at risk.

"It's most likely they are discussing the game last night or meeting up, but there's a possibility they could start discussing emotional problems more than in the past which would put them at risk."

Finally a study proves that gossiping via text message or Facebook could prove miserable.


Link to story on Telegraph.co.uk

Friday, January 30, 2009

N.C. State women's basketball coach dies

Women's college basketball lose legendary coach at 66 to cancer.

N.C. State head coach Kay Yow died on Jan. 25 after losing a long battle with cancer, dating back to 1987 when she underwent surgery for breast cancer.

During her career, Yow inspired generations of players, won 737 games, is honored in the Women's Basketball Coach Hall of Fame and is No. 6 on the women's coaching career list.

After Yow's surgery in the late '80s, the cancer returned over a decade later in 2004. Yow was told in 2006 that the cancer had spread to her liver, and took a 16-game leave of absence. Even though Yow wasn't sitting on the sidelines rooting her team on, her players brought a lot of heart and passion to prove to Yow just how much she meant to them.

Watching N.C. State upset No. 1 ranked Duke in the A.C.C. tournament in 2007 really gave Yow a reason to continue coaching. Her players wanted to win the NCAA championship for their coach, and she wanted them to achieve something they could cherish for the rest of their lives.


Following Yow's return, players began wearing pink shoelaces and headbands for breast cancer.

The NCAA also got involved with Women's Basketball Coaches Association's "Think Pink" or now "Pink Zone" to help raise money to be donated to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund.


Teams participating in "Think Pink" or "Pink Zone" would not only wear pink accessories but wore pink uniforms to raise awareness about breast cancer and money for the foundation.

Unfortunately, N.C. State did not make it to the final four, but did inspire people with their determination to overcome ranking status and make an impression early on in the year.


Kay Yow's obituary in The New York Times.

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

The Unborn: Jumby wants to send tweets

If only babies could tweet...oh wait they can!

I wasn't aware that fetuses were capable of sending tweets to people on Twitter, but I guess anything is impossible these days.
Twitter is a site where people can have discussions and send short "tweets" or messages of 140 characters to people. It's a great way of spreading news and reporting on events live, so naturally journalists use it; however, apparently they aren't the only ones.

Baby Tyler's dad hooked his son up to his new invention called a "Kickabee," which sends tweets to followers every time a baby kicks in the womb. The signal is carried through a belt worn by the mother.

Tyler has now become the world's youngest twitter user. Wow.
I wonder how many people would follow Bristol Palin's baby...

Monday, January 26, 2009

Texas basketball coach fired after 100-0 win


Usually coaches are rewarded and congratulated after a huge win; however, Covenant School Head Coach Micah Grimes was fired Sunday after refusing to back off the pressure against opponent Dallas Academy.

Grimes also sent an e-mail to a newspaper on Sunday, claiming that he would not apologize for the large marginal win. He said that the ladies of Dallas Academy should be ashamed, but that he was proud of his ladies for playing with "honor and integrity."

Then again, the academy specializes in helping students with "learning differences," such as short attention spans and dyslexia, and hasn't won a game in four seasons. This alone should have given Grimes a hint that feeding his own winning streak would only crush the other girls.

At half time, Covenant School led Dallas Academy 59-0, so why didn't Grimes pull his main string out and give other players some time on the court? With a lead of 59, Grimes could have afforded to lose a couple of turnovers, rebounds and let the athletes play for the love of the game instead of statistical purposes.

Despite Covenant's lead, Dallas Academy did not give up, which is something that shows a great deal about their individual characters. What started out as a disappointing and excruciating game to watch, soon turned into a teaching session for Dallas coaches.

Link to ABC News story
Link to ESPN video on Dallas Academy