| Online gaming world a forum for sex predators
13-year old Adam Epstein sees the online gaming world as his virtual playground. Log online, put on the headset, and Epstein is talking to and playing with five million gamers around the world."People are from Ohio, Kansas, and I'm in Washington. You can just talk to each other really clear," Epstein said. "I've met people as far away as Russia."It's just a game to Adam, but Detective Tim Luckie with the Seattle Police Department's Internet Crimes Against Children unit says it can be a dangerous one."We're really concerned," he said. "Our problem is parents don't see this as a threat yet."Luckie says online games are the new frontier for sex predators. They use it to disguise themselves as teenagers, connect with children, and target their next victim. Online gamers in at least three different states are accused of using the Internet to lure children.
Blackhawk student in national vocab contest
Amy Stoller had no idea that when she applied for a scholarship online that it would lead to a trip to New York City to compete in the National Vocabulary Championship. Stoller, 17, will square off against 49 other finalists in the Monday event, hosted by the Game Show Network. At stake is a $40,000 college scholarship, one of three top prizes. "The initial (quiz) was only going to take a half hour of my time, so I decided it was well worth it," said Stoller, a senior at Blackhawk Christian School and the oldest of four siblings. She answered 40 multiple-choice questions in the online quiz. Stoller answered enough of the 40 questions correctly on the online quiz to earn a spot in a regional competition in Indianapolis, where she took a vocabulary test in a multiple-choice format.
Ike's playoff push nets a trophy
TACOMA -- Pat Fitterer is not sure exactly what happened between the end of the regular season and the postseason, but he's sure enjoying the ride his Eisenhower Cadets have taken in that time. And with another come-from-behind victory Friday in the Class 4A state basketball tournament, that journey will end by hoisting a state trophy this afternoon. Taylor Elmo plucked Drew Harris' alley-oop pass out of the air and calmly laid it in just before the final buzzer, giving Ike a 46-44 victory over Redmond in the Tacoma Dome. That marked the Cadets' fourth victory in a loser-out game this postseason and sends them into a game at 1:30 p.m. today against Prairie for fourth and seventh place. If Ike (21-9) wins, it will match its 2005 state finish. "The kids have had their backs to the wall and stepped up each time," Fitterer said.
Gettysburg College students test new video game system
Exercising and playing video games might seem like contradictions, but two Gettysburg College students hope their research will prove a new game controller will allow you to do both at once. Health sciences majors Erin Ozdogan and Erika Hempey picked the project for their senior year "capstone" independent research experience. "We're not video gamers ourselves," Ozdogan said. "What we're interested in is what it means really to the child obesity epidemic and the fact that not only children, but the amount of all people dealing with hypokinetic disease which involves not moving and all the disorders associated with (not getting enough exercise); diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure." They hope if their research pans out, children will be raised to play video games on an ExerStation controller instead of the traditional one that accompanies video games.
Rap criticism grows as people tire of troublesome images
NEW YORK -- Maybe it was the umpteenth coke-dealing anthem or soft-porn music video. Perhaps it was the preening antics that some call reminiscent of Stepin Fetchit.The turning point is hard to pinpoint. But after 30 years of growing popularity, rap music is now struggling with an alarming sales decline and growing criticism from within about the culture's negative effect on society.Rap insider Chuck Creekmur, who runs the leading Web site Allhiphop.com, says he got a message from a friend recently “asking me to hook her up with some Red Hot Chili Peppers because she said she's through with rap. A lot of people are sick of rap ... the negativity is just over the top now."The rapper Nas, considered one of the greats, challenged the condition of the art form when he titled his latest album “Hip-Hop is Dead."It's at least ailing, according to recent statistics: Though music sales are down overall, rap sales slid a whopping 21 percent from 2005 to 2006, and for the first time in 12 years no rap album was among the top 10 sellers of the year.A recent study by the Black Youth Project showed a majority of youth think rap has too many violent images.
The future of the web: living online
Second Life, World of Warcraft and a growing legion of similar online communities are becoming more than games. They offer nothing less than a new form of human expression This article appears as part of the April 07 issue of PC Advisor, available now in all good newsagents An online game is an odd place to have your reputation precede you. But that's exactly what happened to me not long ago in the massively multiplayer universe of EVE Online. My character there, a spaceship pilot named Walker Spaight, was minding his own business one day when I got a message from another player, who wanted to know if I was "the same Walker Spaight from Second Life", another 3D online world. Indeed I was, I told him. And the response I got back was curious.
Red-carpet gowns arrive a shade less risky
The moment that our communal Oscar-fashion obsession officially jumped the shark was when Ryan Seacrest -- the E! network's idle host of a perambulating two-hour red-carpet celebrity blow-a-thon -- asked starlet Jessica Biel the name of her dog. Ms. Biel, chiefly of any interest only for her nascent affair with Justin Timberlake, was a sore thumb in bright pink amid a sea of tasteful nude, cream, mint and silver gowns. As expected, few stars were taking any risks. Gowns were generally strapless and sweetheart-neck, and left unadorned, despite the best efforts of the most exclusive purveyors of bling. The nuttiest touch anyone went for would be a one-shoulder effect, or a fishtail hem or an extravagant train fit for a pop bride getting married at an English castle-for-hire. The hands-down winner of the night was Reese Witherspoon, who worked her southern belle hourglass in a strapless Olivier Theyskens black gown that fluttered to filmy chiffon layers and swirled around her newly emancipated tiny feet.
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