U.S. students suffering from Internet addiction

American college students are hooked on cell phones, social media and the Internet and showing symptoms similar to drug and alcohol addictions, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Maryland who asked 200 students to give up all media for one full day found that after 24 hours many showed signs of withdrawal, craving and anxiety along with an inability to function well without their media and social links.

Susan Moeller, the study's project director and a journalism professor at the university, said many students wrote about how they hated losing their media connections, which some equated to going without friends and family.

"I clearly am addicted and the dependency is sickening," said one student. "Between having a Blackberry, a laptop, a television, and an iPod, people have become unable to shed their media skin."

Moeller said students complained most about their need to use text messages, instant messages, e-mail and Facebook.

"Texting and IM-ing my friends gives me a constant feeling of comfort," wrote one of the students, who blogged about their reactions. "When I did not have those two luxuries, I felt quite alone and secluded from my life."

Few students reported watching TV news or reading a newspaper.

The American Psychiatric Association does not recognize so-called Internet addiction as a disorder.

But it seems to be an affliction of modern life. In one extreme example in South Korea reported by the media, a couple allegedly neglected their three-month-old daughter, who died of malnutrition, because they were on the computer for up to 12 hours a day raising a virtual child.

In the United States a small private U.S. center called ReSTART, located near Redmond, Washington, opened last year in the shadow of computer giant Microsoft to treat excessive use of the Internet, video gaming and texting.

The center's website cites various examples of students who ran up large debts or dropped out of college due to their obsession.

Students in the Maryland study also showed no loyalty to news programs, a news personality or news platform. They maintained a casual relationship to news brands, and rarely distinguished between news and general information.

"They care about what is going on among their friends and families and even in the world at large," said Ph.D. student Raymond McCaffrey who worked on the study. Loyalty "does not seemed tied to any single device or application or news outlet."

(Reporting by Walden Siew; Editing by Patricia Reaney)

Indonesian police barred from penis enlargement

Forget about getting a job as a police officer in Indonesia's Papua if you have had your penis enlarged. You won't get it, according to local media reports citing the Papua police chief.

An applicant "will be asked whether or not his vital organ has been enlarged," said Papua police chief Bekto Suprapto, quoted on local website Kompas.com.

"If he has, he will be considered unfit to join the police or the military."

The ban was applied since the unnatural size causes "hindrance during training", said police spokesman Zainuri Lubis in Jakarta, quoted by news portal Detik.com.

Indonesia's remote easternmost province is home to Papuan tribes, many of whom are known for wearing penis gourds.

A low-level separatist insurgency has waged in the resources-rich part of Indonesia for decades and there is a heavy police and military presence there.

Papuans use a local technique to achieve the enlargement, according to a sexologist quoted by local newspaper Jakarta Globe, wrapping the penis with leaves from the "gatal-gatal" (itchy) tree so that it swells up "like it has been stung by a bee," the expert said.

(Reporting by Olivia Rondonuwu; Editing by Sara Webb and Sanjeev Miglani)

ANIOz woman puts struggling poet husband up for sale on eBay

Melbourne, April 24 (ANI): It has emerged that an Ivanhoe woman has put her struggling poet husband "up for sale" on eBay.

Sonya Semmens decided to offer up the chance to become patron for her husband, Cameron, 35, to give him much-needed financial support after son Spencer's birth.

For 25,000 dollars, the buyer will get one year's patronage of Semmens, a book of poetry dedicated to him or her, a complete set of Semmens' catalogue of works and acknowledgement of their support at performances.

"Cameron Semmens, Ivanhoe performance poet who has dedicated his life to the wit and wisdom of well-crafted words, and brought meaningful entertainment and thoughtful inspiration to thousands of Australians for more than 20 years," the eBay product description read.

"For the right patron, he's a good investment," the Herald Sun quoted Sonya as saying.

"Without patronage there would have been no Beethoven, no Michelangelo, no Shakespeare," she stated.

On Semmens' website, he sums up the pleasures and sorrows of his art/poetry life, quoting English poet Robert Graves.

"There's no money in poetry, but then there's no poetry in money either," he wrote. (ANI)

New $100 bill

New $100 bill: Too sci-fi?
The Treasury unveiled a revamped version of the $100 bill, complete with futuristic new security features. Some critics want a refund
posted on April 21, 2010, at 6:38 PM
The new $100 bill. Photo: Getty
Best Opinion: WSJ, The Awl, Death + Taxes

The U.S. Treasury has released images of a redesigned $100 bill with new, Bladerunner-esque security features. Benjamin Franklin now consorts with a blue 3D security ribbon and a "bell in the inkwell" security stamp whose color fluctuates from copper to green (watch a video preview below). While Gawker's Hamilton Nolan damned the futuristic new look as "embarrassingly colorful" — "it looks like a god damn child's crayon scratch pad" — other critics embraced the redesign, which will enter circulation next February: "This is money that tells you it is coming from the future," says Alex Balk at The Awl. "It's... confident and a little aggressive." Matt Kiebus at Death + Taxes is also dazzled: "The United States Treasury just made the most complicated piece of currency my eyes have ever seen," he says. "It's new, it's shiny, I want it." Here's an FX-heavy video from the U.S. Treasury outlining the changes:

SCARING ?? DON'T MISS 2 C TILL THE END OF THIS VIDEO