• YouTube: The Place To Air Your Dirty Lau

  Why is it that everyone these days see YouTube as a place to air their dirty laundry? It's ok to make a fool of yourself all in good fun and throw it up on the internet for the world to see, but some people go to the extreme.

  The latest YouTube horror story comes from a 16-year-old who has been arrested for abusing a baby. He would put the baby on an inflatable pillow and then would jump on the pillow which would send the baby flying across the room. The 8 month old baby could be heard crying in the video that was later posted on YouTube. A highschool teacher was shown the video by another student and called investigators.

  The teen has been arrested and charged with cruelty to childern in the first and third degree. The teen who videotapped it was not charged with a crime. [Source: Switched]

  I'm glad to hear that the video has been pulled by Google.

   

• Weak Economy Fuels Major Cutbacks

  Some skeptics seemed to think all the talk about a recession was pure speculation, however time tells all and the going is not so good. I don't even need to mention the steadily rising gas prices that is having a major effect on many industries that are directly and indirectly associated with it. Or even some of the outlandish changes some people are making just to get by. Maybe some don't see it as a recession because they're not experiencing the same woes that others might be. Call it a recession, call it a weak economy, call it what you want...but things are really starting to take an interesting turn and it's not all good.

  As many as 12,000 full and part-time positions will be going away due to the planned closures of 600 Starbucks stores. The previous plan was to close only 100 stores. Now don't get me wrong here, while I do understand that there were some very fundamental business mistakes that Starbucks made and as a result they are having to cut back to the core of what their business is all about (coffee), this is still not good news to the 12,000 workers who will find themselves looking for other employment in a time where people are trying to hold on to their jobs. 

  Another major cut back and sign of the times is going on at the LA Times where 250 jobs will be getting cut because of the continuing slump in ad sales. YAHOO reports that a half-dozen major newspapers announced layoffs of around 900 jobs. Let’s not forget that our very own Seattle Times announced recently that they would be cutting 200 jobs and I just so happen to know someone’s job that got cut as a result of that.

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