Afro-centric school could benefit everyone

Segregation is defined as enforced separation of racial groups. The Afro-centric school and curriculum were a response to high dropout rates in Ontario, specifically in black males. The program is voluntary and does not exclude white students or educators -this is not enforced segregation. It is modelled on successful programs in the U.S. and Canada including Nelson Whynder elementary school in North Preston, N.S., a predominantly black community. - Peterborough Examiner

The Black Youth Project Adds a New Voice to the Education Reform Conversation - Education - GOOD

The award-winning University of Chicago political scientist Cathy Cohen is the Lead Investigator for the Black Youth Project, an online research-based hub for black youth between the ages of 15 and 25. The project's new media approach moves the learning about black youth “attitudes, actions and decision making” beyond the ivory tower of academia and into the hands of teachers, student advocates, and black youth themselves. The site includes everything from downloadable social justice curricula and a comprehensive rap lyric database, to blogs by and for young black youth. Cohen highlights some of the resources educators can bring into the classroom, and what black youth, in particular, black males, have to say about schools. - GOOD

Youth exposed to 'black' content

TWO-THIRDS of the Thai media are considered 'black' given that youth are exposed to their sex- and violence-oriented content, a seminar on youth development was told on Monday.

An Abac poll on 'lessons learned from the 2,002 foetuses in establishing creative media' released on Monday revealed that 91 per cent of the young respondents had experienced pornography, with the youngest reported at the primary level. The survey said only 10 per cent of the media could be considered creative and appropriate for children, though no further details were provided. Read more...

Eating disorders rising fast among young kids - Health - Kids and parenting - msnbc.com

By LINDSEY TANNER

A new report on eating disorders cites data showing a sharp increase in children's hospitalizations for such problems.

Among children younger than 12 with eating disorders, hospitalizations surged 119 percent between 1999 and 2006. That's according to government data contained in an American Academy of Pediatrics report released online Monday. - msnbc.com

Wrong message on black offenders

As if Courtland Milloy's recent apologia for Prince George's County's executive leadership failings wasn't sufficient, his diatribe ["Celeb testimonials on doing time need to stop," Metro, Nov. 24] bemoaning the "unfair" imprisonment of African American criminals further insults both the intelligence and morality of law-abiding black citizens. Read more...

Prescriptions for Stimulants, Painkillers Soaring Among Youth

The number of prescriptions for controlled medications such as opioids and stimulants has nearly doubled in adolescents and young adults since 1994.


The trend, reported in the December issue of Pediatrics, mirrors a similar increase in misuse of these drugs, with adolescents and young adults' illicit use of prescription drugs now outstripping all other illicit drug use except marijuana. - US News and World Report

Vital Signs: Anti-abortion group places 'Black children are in danger' billboards in Milwaukee

Pro-Life Wisconsin has teamed up with a national anti-abortion campaign to place 13 billboards in the city of Milwaukee blaming the high numbers of African American abortions in our state on what the groups claim is 'Planned Parenthood's history of racism and the continuing eugenics movement in Wisconsin.' Vital Signs

Join & Support the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

“Could we have done more to get him back?”…”Could we have acted faster?”…”Could we have gotten him back alive?” 


These are the questions that still haunt me to this day – nearly three decades after my six-year-old son Adam was abducted and killed near our home in Florida.


I don’t know the answers to these questions. But I am determined to make sure that no parent ever has to ask themselves these questions again.


That’s why I am asking you to join the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and support our essential work — like Team Adam. Please join today.

Scientists Say They've Reversed Aging Process in Mice

Scientists have been able to reverse the aging process in mice, a stunning feat that may help regenerate organs in elderly humans, according to a new study published online in the journal Nature.

The experimental treatment developed by researchers at Harvard Medical School turned weak and feeble old mice into healthy rodents by regenerating their aged bodies.  Read more...

Obamas say their daughters prefer to just be kids

Their daughters prefer just to be kids, the Obamas said, and avoid listening to the news or reading newspaper headlines. Sasha still writes letters to Santa Claus and anxiously waits for the Tooth Fairy after she loses a tooth, Mrs. Obama said.
The family prays every night before dinner and Obama said it's interesting to hear what his daughters pray for.

Obamas say their daughters prefer to just be kids

Living Forward with John Legend: 'All kids deserve great education'

 

He started a non-profit organization to help him focus his efforts to improve America's public schools.

"The 'Show Me' Campaign is all about fighting poverty," Legend recently told theGrio's Todd Johnson. "And we believe that education reform is necessary to achieve that and so we work with great schools around the country that are doing the right things to make sure that kids, no matter where they come from, can get a great education."  Education'

Can Nicki Minaj cure hip-hop's misogyny?

 

Nicki Minaj might be more aptly called Nicki Mirage -- peddling a false dream of female equality that will come not by reinventing oneself incessantly to meet the standards of the male-dominated hip-hop world, but from engaging a new space where standards of good hip-hop still apply, but casual and abundant misogyny is not the norm.

Read more…

Meet Black Female Teen Golfer Mariah Stackhouse: The Next Tiger Woods?

 

Sixteen-year-old Mariah Stackhouse, of Riverdale, Ga., has become the first ever African American to be chosen to serve as the 2011 player representative on the American Junior Golf Association board of directors.

Meet Black Female Teen Golfer Mariah Stackhouse: The Next Tiger Woods? - BV on Money

Digital Disrespect: Life Online

 

Digital DisresDigital abuse is growing among teens as seen in the recent case at Rutgers University.  Tyler Clementi, only 18 years old, committed suicide after a classmate allegedly posted a video online of him having a gay sexual encounter in his dorm room.  This story of exploitation by a peer shines a light on the serious issues of cyberbullying and the improper use of new technology that poses a danger for kids today.  | BET.com

BET Videos

Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Alicia Keys to Quit Twitter for Charity

The stars are part of a new campaign called Digital Life Sacrifice that will benefit Alicia Keys'AIDS charity, Keep a Child Alive. The entertainers plan to sign off sites including Facebook and Twitter starting Wednesday, which is World AIDS Day, and will not sign back on until the charity raises $1 million. - The Hollywood Reporter

Corporations responsible for over -promoting Gangster Rap

Major corporations are responsible for the shoving down our throats of images that promote sex, drugs, black-on-black crime, and have blocked some of the other forms of rap such as Christian, political, educational, rock, gospel and the 100 other forms of rap not getting equal air play.

Ever wonder why you never hear politicians today coming forward against gangster rap like they did in the ’80s?
That is because those same politicians now have a vested interest in the corporate distribution of this worldwide musical phenomenon. TN Online

PROFANITY, MISOGYNY, VIOLENCE..Blame The MANUFACTURER

 

The often convoluted debate over hip-hop lyrics and images frequently misses the point: mass marketed rap recordings, videos and stage acts are corporate products, and the artists are virtual employees and subcontractors of huge multinationals. Corporate control of the cultural marketplace is the real villain in this story, not artists who did not pick themselves for stardom and cannot on their own alter boardroom business models. Corporations have been usurping and reshaping Black mass culture for decades - hip-hop is just the latest product line.

- Zimbio

Michael Vick Talks to Youth

'You guys are going to be our future leaders in this world,' Vick said at Cross, according to the New Haven Register. 'Set your mind on what you want to do moving forward. And each and every day, you have to think about what's the best thing that I can do to become a better person tomorrow. There's going to be some ups and downs, but it's all about how you bounce back from it; it's all about how you persevere.' - BV on Sports

Teens adrift at sea almost lost hope

AP Exclusive

For more than 50 days, the three boys slurped rainwater that puddled in the bottom of their tiny boat, gobbled flying fish that leaped aboard and prayed for salvation.
Etueni Nasau and his two cousins almost gave up hope they would survive as they bobbed in their aluminum dinghy across the South Pacific for more than seven weeks, before a fishing trawler spotted them by chance and brought an end to their extraordinary ordeal.

'I thank God for keeping us alive all this while, while were drifting out in open sea,' Nasau, 14, told The Associated Press. 'We prayed every day that someone will find us and rescue us. We thought we would die.' - Yahoo! News

Warning Parents of Teens: K2 Incense Not Labeled Smoking Product

 Kelly Pfeiffer

Many teens are not aware that Spice and K2 incense is not labeled for human consumption. Parents of teens need to caution kids about possible side effects.

Parents of teens need to put smoking Spice and K2 incense, also known as "fake weed" on their list of topics to discuss with their adolescent children. Teenagers need education about the dangers and side effects of smoking a product that is legally sold in head shops and even local convenience stores. But teens need to know that the product is not being used according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Read more…

Children 'to be hit by IMF plans'

 

Thousands of children will be hungry and cold if the Government rolls out cost-cutting plans signed off by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), it has been claimed.
A leading children's rights campaigner warned any cuts in social welfare payments or the minimum wage will directly affect underprivileged youngsters across the country.
Fergus Finlay, Barnardos chief executive, called on politicians not to agree to any plan that will plunge households further below the breadline.

- BlackListed News

The Kabul kids aren't alright

 

It's the kids that break your heart in Kabul.

Picking through rubbish dumps for something that might have a worth or scavenging for firewood to keep their family warm. There are ragged youths at every roundabout here tapping on the car window begging for Afghanis or proffering tin cans of burning charcoal that promise to rid your car of evil spirits.|

The daily violence does not discriminate between old and young and the numbers of children ripped apart by IEDs and suicide bombers gets ever higher.

| Al Jazeera Blogs

Study: Alcohol 'most harmful drug,' followed by crack and heroin

Alcohol ranks "most harmful" among a list of 20 drugs, beating out crack and heroin when assessed for its potential harm to the individual imbibing and harm to others, according to study results released by a British medical journal. - CNN.com

The Price of Beauty: Teens Under the Knife

A look at the rising trend of young teens receiving plastic surgery.

Common delivers keynote at 'State of the Black Union'

By Emma O'Connor

When two-time Grammy-winning rapper Common woke up Monday morning wondering what he wanted to talk to Northwestern students about, only one word came to mind: greatness.

'Everyone I'm speaking to tonight has greatness in them,' Common said to the approximately 450 attendees who came to Cahn Auditorium on Monday for For Members Only's third annual 'State of the Black Union' address . The Daily Northwestern

The Tragedy of Black Female Artist

It's ashame that talented female artist like Nicki Minaj & Rihanna feel they have to sell sex to sell music. Their music would sell w/out the pornographic images & they would be remembered in the future for their talent and not their tail.

African American Foster Population Staggering

By percentage, the problem is so bad; the rate of African American children in Houston foster care is more than the rate of the black child population in the city itself.

16 percent of all the children in Houston are black, according to state statistics, while 57 percent of children in the Houston foster care system are black. Unfortunately, this is not a new problem. Read more...

In Hollywood, black teenagers comprise a disproportionate percentage of street youth

According to a study unveiled Wednesday by the Hollywood Homeless Youth Partnership, the number of black youth on the streets of Tinseltown is far greater than those of other races and ethnicities living in similar circumstances.

That reality is one of many chilling facts exposed in “No Way Home: Understanding The Needs and Experiences of Homeless Youth in Hollywood,” a 68-page report that aims at reducing homelessness in the area. Los Angeles Wave

A Generation of Black Youth Is Losing Its Future in the Jobs Crisis

Black youth have the highest jobless rate among all races and ethnicities, and that rate is still rising. In the past year, while other youth jobless rates have flat-lined, blacks and Asians have continued to trend upward. And existing racial disparities have widened across the board since the recession began. As of July 2010, while white youth unemployment rate was 16.2 percent, the jobless rates for black youth was double: A whopping 33.4 percent. - COLORLINES

'Thanks for the Stroke, Ma!' Study Says Divorce May Turn Kids Into Time Bombs

Divorce is apparently the guilt trip that never ends. Researchers at the University of Toronto say divorce may create a ticking time bomb in children, leaving them at twice the risk of a stroke later in life.

Sure. Take all the fun out of divorce. - ParentDish

African-centered education has a strong backer

Milwaukee educator Taki Raton sees the problem with failing black students in very stark terms.

For him, the issues are black and white with very little gray.

'Black people are the only ones who can teach black children, it's as simple as that,' he told me, in no uncertain tones. JSOnline

Past Abuse Puts Homeless Youth at Risk for Early Sex: Study

Homeless youth who were sexually abused as children may engage in sex at a young age because they believe sex is a way to get people to like them, a new study suggests.


Canadian researchers gathered information from 179 homeless youth, aged 16 to 21, from five homeless shelters in Toronto and the surrounding area. Nearly 42 percent of them reported they were sexually abused as children. Females were much more likely than males to report sexual abuse -- 62 percent versus 26.9 percent.

Those who were sexually abused had their first sexual encounter, on average, at age 14. - US News and World Report

Aboriginal youth programs extended

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq has unveiled $50 million in funding over five years to extend programs aimed at supporting the well-being of aboriginal children and youth.

The programs are designed to help meet the cultural, physical, nutritional, social and psychological needs of aboriginal young people, the minister said in a release on Friday. CBC News

Safety Tips for the Holidays

National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

Make your family holiday outings safer and more enjoyable by reviewing the following Safety Tips for the Holidays before you head out to the local mall or public event.

1. When in a public facility always supervise your children, and ALWAYS accompany young children to the restroom. Make certain your children know to stay with you at all times while shopping and always CHECK FIRST with you or the person in charge before they go anywhere. It is important to know where your children are and who they are with at all times.
   
   
2. If older children become separated from you while holiday shopping, have them meet you in a predesignated spot such as the sales counter of the store you were in or the mall's information booth. Teach younger children to look for people who may be sources of help within the store or mall such as a uniformed law-enforcement or security officer, store salesperson with a nametag, person with a nametag who is working in the information booth, or mother with children. They should stay close to where they first became separated and NEVER leave the store/mall or go to the parking lot to look for you or your vehicle.

Read more...

The needless tragedy of youth homelessness in S.F.

There are more than 200,000 homeless youths in California and 1.7 million nationally. And while not all of them have been abducted, all face the tremendous challenges, danger and trauma of being homeless.

San Francisco is known nationally for its generosity and innovation in tackling important social problems. Yet youth homelessness persists. If all the teenagers and young adults in San Francisco who are homeless or marginally housed stood in a line, it would be more than a mile long. Yet there's only one shelter bed for every five young people who need one. Read more...

Targeting youth to start drinking

After several highly publicized hospitalizations and deaths of underage college students that apparently involved Four Loko, the Food and Drug Administration this week gave its creator, Phusion Projects, and its competitors 15 days to eliminate the caffeine. The agency said the mixture can produce “wide-awake’’ drunks and create “hazardous and life-threatening situations.’’ This week Massachusetts joined several other states in outright banning the drink. - The Boston Globe

Elections |Women and youth will taste fruit of Uganda’s oil first

In terms of allocation, priority will be given to those areas that have direct impact to disadvantaged groups like women and youth. Today, health is one such sector that needs serious consideration; only 40 per cent of the health care equipment is working, only 1/3 of the health facilities have basic equipment and supplies for conducting normal delivery while only a few health facilities have all the equipment for basic antenatal care." Daily Monitor

Seattle Cop Stomps Black Youth and Gets Caught On Tape

An undercover Seattle police officer was caught on a surveillance video at a convenience store beating up an African-American 17-year-old, who he thought had been involved in a drug sting last month.

In the video, viewers can see a youth run in to the convenience store, trying to dodge the sting operation where narcotics officers were rounding up suspects. - BV Black Spin

Why mixing alcohol and caffeine is so deadly

By Linda Shrieves

Americans love their caffeine — in coffee, colas and now in their alcohol. But mixed, particularly in high volumes, the combination of caffeine and alcohol can be deadly. That's why toxicologists and doctors are encouraged to see the U.S. Food and Drug Administration crack down on the makers of drinks such as Four Loko and Joose, which experts compare to two cups of coffee combined with the equivalent of four or five beers. Why caffeine and alcohol are so toxic together isn't fully understood, but the combination appears to impair a drinker's judgment more than drinking alcohol alone. That has led to what some researchers call "toxic-jock syndrome." Read more...

Related articles:

• Who else makes alcoholic energy drinks?

• Four Loko's End of Days: "Rest in Puke"

• Alcoholic energy drink's ban fuels a buying binge

Mothers influence daughters' dieting habits

 

Girls whose mothers regularly diet are twice as likely to try to lose weight themselves, according to a survey.

The research, carried out by Sugar magazine for the BBC, also found one in five teenagers said their weight had been criticised by their own family.

Sophie van Brugen reports.

BBC News – Watch video

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes

Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats & Rhymes provides a riveting examination of manhood, sexism, and homophobia in hip-hop culture. Director Byron Hurt, former star college quarterback, longtime hip-hop fan, and gender violence prevention educator, conceived the documentary as a "loving critique" of a number of disturbing trends in the world of rap music. He pays tribute to hip-hop while challenging the rap music industry to take responsibility for glamorizing destructive, deeply conservative stereotypes of manhood. The documentary features revealing interviews about masculinity and sexism with rappers such as Mos Def, Fat Joe, Chuck D, Jadakiss, and Busta Rhymes, hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, and cultural commentators such as Michael Eric Dyson and Beverly Guy-Shetfall. Critically acclaimed for its fearless engagement with issues of race, gender violence, and the corporate exploitation of youth culture.  http://www.bhurt.com/
   http://www.mediaed.org

Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood (Trailer)

CCFC members all over the country are organizing local screenings of Consuming Kids. A screening is the perfect way to raise awarenss about the commercialization of childhood and to connect with other local parents and activists. To find out how you can host or attend a screening, please visit http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org/events/consumingkids.html

Alternate Reality-War on Kids-(Part1)

 

Fast Food Ads For Kids Up Despite Industry Vow

 

If your kids have eaten at a fast food restaurant in the past seven days, you're in good company. According to a new survey by researchers at Yale University, 84 percent of parents say their kids have, too.

Part of the demand you hear from the back seat may be due to the fact that kids today are seeing more McDonald's and Burger King ads than ever before.

The average preschooler sees about three ads a day, according to the findings. Teenagers see about five per day.

Read more @ NPR

For A Healthier Middle-Aged Heart, Try Less Salt As A Teen : Shots

Now researchers say teens ought to cut their salt intake to head off some of these diseases early on.

Using a computer simulation, researchers found that cutting teens' salt intake by 3 grams a day — about half a teaspoon's worth — would reduce by 100,000 the number of teens who get cardiovascular disease by age 50.

Read more @ NPR

East Coast Black Age of Comics Con - Get Ready For the Breakthrough!

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NAFTA + America's Drug Hunger = Mexico's lost generation http://ping.fm/vPlDp

Theatres | Crips & Bloods: Made in America http://ping.fm/6O3Rv

NAACP calls for action to stop violence that leaders say is destroying black youth

The setting will be the Macon County Health Department's parking lot, the same place as a candlelight vigil to remember Claude "Tony" Holmes Jr., 20, who was shot and killed nearby on March 28.

But the message will be that it's time for African-Americans to start doing something about the causes of the violence that is destroying the lives of their young people.

"We're not going to wait for funding or the city," said Jeffrey Perkins, president of the Decatur branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "It's time for our community to stand up and take charge."  Read more...

Sure, McDonald’s is Bad for You, But All Burgers Are Gross

Posted by carolyncastiglia

Does the fact that no burgers rot put the Happy back in Happy Meal?

…or equally not gross, depending on how you look at it.

Remember the McDonald’s Happy Meal that just won’t rot?  It turns out, as bad for you as McDonald’s is, and as gross as their silly putty chicken nuggets might be, their food is not alone in its inability to break down in open air.

Gizmodo reports, courtesy of some very thorough experiments conducted by the folks over at Serious Eats, that “no hamburgers rot.”  Well, no thin hamburgers, that is – ones that are the dimension of a Happy Meal burger.  Not even homemade, expensive organic angus from Whole Foods will rot on your counter.  (Sorry, richsters.  But good job, vegans!)   Read more...

'Big brother is feeding you'

by Brian Copeland

SAN FRANCISCO -- By a vote of 8 to 3, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance banning the sale of toys with fast food meals that exceed a ceiling for calories, fat and sodium.

The law, sponsored by Supervisor Eric Mar, specifies that restaurants will only be allowed to offer toys and other kids' incentives to meals with fewer than 600 calories, fewer than 640 milligrams of sodium, and fewer than 35 percent of calories from fat and less than ten percent saturated fat.  Read more....

Proficiency of Black Students Is Found to Be Far Lower Than Expected

An achievement gap separating black from white students has long been documented — a social divide extremely vexing to policy makers and the target of one blast of school reform after another.

But a new report focusing on black males suggests that the picture is even bleaker than generally known.

Only 12 percent of black fourth-grade boys are proficient in reading, compared with 38 percent of white boys, and only 12 percent of black eighth-grade boys are proficient in math, compared with 44 percent of white boys.

Poverty alone does not seem to explain the differences: poor white boys do just as well as African-American boys who do not live in poverty, measured by whether they qualify for subsidized school lunches. Read more...

Related articles:

• Study: Proficiency Of Black Male Students Far Lower Than Expected
   
• New Report Says Black Males Are Lagging in Schools But Why Does ...
   
     
• Educational proficiency for black students 'far lower' than expected
   

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Video & Photo Editing - Reviews and Price Comparisons from PC Magazine http://ping.fm/8grGn

Under pressure? Survey shows toll stress takes on mind and body

The online survey looked at 1,134 adults 18 and older, 1,136 kids between 8 and 17, and 937 parents of children in that age group. Nearly three-quarters of them reported experiencing stress at levels that exceed what they consider healthy. Among the other key findings:

• Thirty-two percent of parents reported stress levels that qualified as extreme: 8 to 10 on a 10-point scale.

• Parents tended to underestimate the impact that their stress had on their children. That was especially true among parents of “tweens” and teens. More than two-thirds of them said their stress had little or no impact on their children. But 84 percent of kids said they experienced sadness, frustration, or another negative emotion as a result.

• Children as young as 8 said they had experienced physical and emotional health consequences often associated with stress, such as headaches or trouble falling asleep. Those symptoms were significantly more prevalent among overweight or obese kids, who were also more likely (27 percent versus 14 percent) to report eating to make themselves feel better when they felt worried or stressed.

• Young people said they turned to sedentary activities (watching TV, playing video games) rather than physical activity to ease worry or stress.

In a press release, APA head Norman B. Anderson, Ph.D., said that “stress is hurting our physical and emotional health and contributing to some of the leading causes of death in this country,” citing chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes, and depression, all of which are worsened by stress. It could “easily become our next public health crisis," he added.

A hot bath, a vigorous walk on the treadmill or with the dog, 15 minutes of quiet time or meditation—whatever your preferred method for coping with stress, the findings, combined with the large body of existing evidence on the effects of stress and the benefits of reducing it, underscore that the important thing is to do it, now and regularly.

Read the full survey report.

—Jamie Hirsh, associate editor

12 Keys to Success (for your Child)

Below are some of the main key to being successful (They are not in any particular orders).

1. Optimism. Think positive, negative thoughts yield negative results.
2. Faith. Believe in yourself, your vision and that your God will back you.
3. Planning. Know what’s important each day; set your priorities accordingly.  Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail.
4. Determination. Have the courage to stand alone when taking the big risks in life.
5. Vision. Think big, see beyond the present reality, keep success in your mind.  Where this is no Vision the people shall perish – Bible.
6. Attitude Is everything, If you think you can’t, you’re right. Winners have positive attitudes.
7. Goals. Set goals. Plan how to achieve them.
8. Perseverance. Try and try again until the goal is achieved. Never give up. Understand: Learning comes form failing. A loser is not one who comes in last, but one who gives up and never reaches the goal.
9. Knowledge. Water seek it’s own level; If you want to be successful surround your self with: information, people & an environment that caters to your Vision.
10. Purpose. Choose work you like and enjoy doing. Accept your own and be yourself.  You do you.
11. Pray & Meditation.  Pray & Meditation programs and reinforces the minds, body and soul to accomplish your desires.  Prayer aligns forces within, while meditation aligns forces in your surroundings.  You are what you think.
12. Cause & Effect. What you sow you will reap, you only get out of life what you put in, and every deed has a consequence.  Integrity, Morality and Character are the key to true success.

Top 5 free video editing software programs

 

There are many free video editing software programs available for download today, but not all of them are good.

Many programs simply don't do what the manufacturers say that they will do, and others don't provide enough - or any support.

Of course, most free software does not include the same level or quality of support that you would expect to find with software that you purchase.

While you should remember that you get what you pay for, there really is some good free video editing software available. Here are the top five that we have found:

Microsoft Movie Maker

Apple iMovie

Avid FreeDV

Wax

Zwei-Stein

Conclusion

Microsoft Movie Maker for Windows users, and Apple iMovie for MAC users are probably the two easiest to use free video editing software programs available. Both of the products will allow you to do what you want to do with your videos. However, trying out the others, you may find that you are able to add more effects and such to your videos as well. Of all the available programs out there, these are the top five free video editing software programs available.

Read more free video editing software programs

Top 5 free video editing software programs http://ping.fm/BcmbL

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How many people read to their children every night? MLF

No One Cares About Child Soldiers if They're in Guantanamo

 

When I was down in Guantánamo a few months ago, a veteran German journalist let it slip that she didn’t much care for the place.  “This,” she confided in me, and many of the other journalists there as well, “is the worst place I have ever visited in my entire career.”

It’s not hard to see why my superlative-loving friend felt this way: we were covering the case of Omar Khadr, a 15-year-old Canadian captured after a firefight with U.S. forces outside Kabul in July 2002, tortured and interrogated for a few months at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, then transported to Guantánamo.  He just reached a plea agreement that will avoid a trial before a military commission at Gitmo for five “war crimes.”  Four of them, freshly invented for the occasion, are not recognized as war crimes in any other court on the planet.  (Khadr pled guilty to all charges and will get at least one year more at Gitmo -- in solitary -- then perhaps be transferred to Canada for a remaining seven years.)

No One Cares About Child Soldiers if They're in Guantanamo | Civil Liberties | AlterNet

Vaccination rates fall among better educated families even while CDC keeps pushing vaccine quackery

 

Vaccination rates among children insured by commercial health insurance plans have dropped four percent between 2008 and 2009, says a new report by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. In its annual State of Health Care Quality report, the organization revealed that vaccine rates are falling sharply among high-education families.
This trend infuriates the vaccine industry and all the shills who push vaccines, of course. Despite all their high-dollar propaganda, expensive advertising and vaccine booths in airports, Wal-Marts and grocery stores, more and more people are coming to realize that many vaccines are dangerous for children and the seasonal flu vaccines in particular offer absolutely no scientifically-validated benefit whatsoever. They are pure quackery and nothing more.

Vaccination rates fall among better educated families even while CDC keeps pushing vaccine quackery

Oral sex a 'gateway' activity for teens

By Alan Mozes, HealthDay

Most teens who engage in oral sex for the first time will have vaginal intercourse within six months, a new poll indicates.
And half the teens who initiate oral sex in ninth grade will have vaginal intercourse before the end of junior year, the survey of California high school students finds.

'Oral sex among adolescents happens,' said study lead author Anna V. Song, an assistant professor in the school of social sciences, humanities, and arts at the University of California-Merced. 'But there's two contradictory ways it can go from there: There's the possibility that for adolescents oral sex is a gateway to vaginal sex or instead that it's being used to stave off vaginal sex.' - USATODAY.com

We are having all these problems now in education, because the idea at the root of it represents a finite idea that has to end in order for something new and better to come in. MLF

Children believe, as they're born believing that all things are possible. This allows them to create the world they want for themselves. - Dr. Ava Muhammad

Obesity Leveled Off in U.S., Except Among Boys

Viji Sundaram

A recent CDC report may give Americans cause for cheer. It suggests that we have finally turned a corner in our fight against obesity, which has leveled off across most of the population -- except one group: 6- to 19-year-old boys.

Dr. Gautham Rao, clinical director of the Weight Management and Wellness Center at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he is also an associate professor at the School of Medicine, explained why obesity is still increasing among boys. He spoke with NAM health editor Viji Sundaram.

The CDC study suggests that obesity remains a significant problem in some 68 percent of the adult U.S. population. Yet, the study also suggests, there is an increase in obesity among 6- to 19-year-old boys. Why do you think this is?  Read more...

Half of teens who recover from depression relapse, study finds

By Julie Steenhuysen

Teen females are more inclined to develop depression again

Most depressed adolescents and teenagers who get treatment with drugs, therapy or both will get some relief, but nearly half will relapse within five years, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

And females are by far at greatest risk, they said.

"We need to learn why females in this age range have higher chances of descending into another major depression after they have made a recovery," John Curry of Duke University in North Carolina, whose study appears in the Archives of General Psychiatry, said in a statement.  read more...

After-Hours Texting and Media Use May Cause More Than Sleep Problems in Kids, Study Finds

by Honey Berk

 

If your kids wake up bleary-eyed every day and you're concerned they may have a sleep problem, you may want to take a look at exactly what they're doing after the lights go out.

Children who sneak time on their cell phones, computers and other electronic devices after bedtime are more likely to have sleep disorders that may be linked to other difficulties, such as learning problems, anxiety, ADHD and depression, according to a study conducted at the Sleep Disorders Center at JFK Medical Center in Edison, N.J.

Race, Income Affect Care for Ear Infections: Study

Black and Hispanic children with frequent ear infections are less likely to have access to health care than white children, say U.S. researchers.

They analyzed 1997 to 2006 data from the National Health Interview Survey and found that each year about 4.6 million children have frequent ear infections, defined as more than three infections over 12 months.

Overall, 3.7 percent of children with frequent ear infections could not afford care, 5.6 percent could not afford prescriptions, and only 25.8 percent saw a specialist, said the researchers at Harvard Medical School and the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles.  Read more...

White couples 'will be able to adopt black children more easily'

White couples will be able to adopt black and Asian children more easily under Government plans, it has been disclosed.

Barriers preventing white couples from adopting children of a different ethnic background are set to be removed, The Times reported.

Ministers are said to be drawing up guidance for local authorities and adoption agencies that will say race should not prevent children from finding a permanent home, the paper said.

It will put an end to the lengthy process of trying to adopt a child from a different cultural background.  Read more...

Facing axe, the rules that stop white couples from adopting black children

By Daniel Martin

White couples should no longer be prevented from adopting black or Asian children just because their skin is of a different colour, a minister said last night.

New guidelines for councils and adoption agencies, being drawn up in Whitehall, will say that race or cultural background should not stop children from finding a permanent home.

Children’s minister Tim Loughton said in an interview that ensuring a child ends up in a loving home is far more important than matching them with adults of the same racial background.  Read more...

More states add youth-only hunting seasons

Thirty states — including Vermont this year — have passed youth-friendly hunting legislation since 2004, according to National Shooting Sports Foundation spokesman Bill Brassard. Families Afield and the sports foundation began lobbying states in 2004 to create more opportunities for young hunters. Some states, including Montana, already had some form of young-hunter program, Brassard says.

Families Afield's latest report showed that since 2005, more than 418,000 apprentice hunting licenses for deer, upland birds, turkey and waterfowl have been sold in the USA. The report was based on 24 states and found an increase of 100,000 apprentice hunting licenses in 2009.

'Most people today in (state) departments of conservation and wildlife and parks realize that youth are the future of our sport,' says Jack Moore, president of the National Youth Hunting Association. 'They are truly the future of wildlife and habitat conservation in America.'
Some wildlife advocates argue against sending younger children out in the field. - USATODAY.com

Shannon Tavarez Dies of Cancer

Shannon Tavarez, the 11-year-old Broadway singer whose fight against cancer drew the attention of Alicia Keys and Rihanna, has died.

The soprano from Queens, New York, who recently played Young Nala in The Lion King on Broadway, passed away after a long battle with acute myeloid leukemia.  : People.com

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Create Your Own Movies with Xtranormal

 

By Rick Broida, PCWorld Aug 20, 2010 12:18 pm

Text-to-Movie gives you the tools to create your own rudimentary (but cool) animated flicks.Not long after the iPhone 4 shipped earlier this year, I spotted this hilarious parody cartoon on YouTube. (Warning: It contains adult language.)

As always when I watch something clever and creative like that, I found myself wishing for the tools to produce my own little movie (and the hours of necessary free time--but that's another matter).

Turns out the tools are available (and free!) in the form of Xtranormal Text-to-Movie, a simplistic but versatile moviemaking system that runs entirely in your browser.

Create Your Own Movies with Xtranormal - PCWorld