More thoughts on HIV-positive muppet in South African version of SS from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"Though as a business the media tends to treat the adult community as largely irresponible, they totally miss an opportunity to see patterns/movements of change, IMO, like this."

I remember when Magic Johnson came back and was playing in the NBA and there was a big stir about all the what if's with guarding him, rough fouls and other contact, etc.

Humans have always feared what they do not (fully) understand; so an awareness campaign about the disease, its implications, how it is contracted, etc is a good thing. There are far too many myths that exist out there.

Heck, content providers shooting more content displaying the use of condoms is also a good thing. I think there has been a rise in adult content displaying the use of condoms over the last couple years and IMO, this is one of the more responsible moves on the part of photographers and content providers in the adult business. Though as a business the media tends to treat the adult community as largely irresponible, they totally miss an opportunity to see patterns/movements of change, IMO, like this.

photo - Does this makes content any less or more saleable? (pictures/movies showing condoms versus pictures/movies *not* showing condoms). Do you (or anybody else in the know) have a take on this by chance?

Life is full of risks. Business is full of risks. The stock market is full of risks. Getting out of bed in the morn is full of risks. Not having the right diet or amount of exercise can increase the risk of developing cancer: http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/734736.asp

So for learning shows like SS to avoid teaching children about interacting with other children who have diseases, especially in an area of the world where this is more common than not, well that seems a lot more irresponsible to me than simply staying with themes like counting, abcs, 911, etc.

I think the real question with this issue, from the opposition side anyway, is "when" is it is appropriate to address and not "if" or "how".

3-7 yr olds, as moody as they are, with lots of questions and concerns (has anybody asked more questions than since they were 3-7?), not to mention minds like sponges, so I have no doubt that they are quite capable of processing this topic.

Perhaps in some cases better than those much, much older.

What do you think?

HIV-positive muppet released in South Africa version of Sesame Street from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"In some respects I feel like it isn't my business at all if the makers of SS feel this is an important topic to educate children about in these age groups."

Didn't catch the msnbc coverage on this topic, but I did see the headlines at google news and thought to myself, hmmm, I wonder how I would feel about that if my kids were watching that and it *was* on the American version of SS, and not a S.African one?

Of course, our children are older than the 3-7 SS age, so these perhaps more mature-themes (for lack of a better expression) would be more acceptable.

In some respects I feel like it isn't my business at all if the makers of SS feel this is an important topic to educate children about in these age groups. I mean, I'm the parent who can choose to let my 3-7yr old (if we had kids those ages) watch the program.

What were the people saying in the msnbc piece? Were they upset or ignorant about this? Was it the usual "sex is evil" type rant?

I know one thing, though, I didn't immediately think it would be a stellar idea if it was done over here, but then over there where 1 in 9 are infected, it very well could be vital to getting the message and education about HIV out.

Then again, I guess some parents of 3-7 yr olds are the best judges for how they feel about this topic being addressed on SS.

Any parents of 3-7yr olds here with an opinion on this?

I can understand learning to count, the ABCs, color and shapes ...

Mother's day coming up from www.ynotmasters.com

"Business can be so transitory at times, but family is as about as permanent as one will ever find"

Outstanding post, plat. I sort of got a lump in my throat reading it.

I lost my mom in Oct of 1996 and nary a day goes by that I don't think about her. We all know humans are not immortal, but when you lose any family member, especially your mother, it brings the importance of life and time into much greater perspective.

Business can be so transitory at times, but family is as about as permanent as one will ever find. Sometimes it's way too easy to take for granted "givens" in life.

And if your wife happens to be a mother, then make her feel very special tomorrow, she deserves it ;)

Spiderman hits big at the box office on opening weekend from www.adultnetsurprise.com

"As long as they don't ruin the momentum with sequels like that godawful Superman sequel with Richard Pryor."

Spiderman broke the record for the biggest selling movie on opening weekend ever ($114 million):
http://www.msnbc.com/news/748034.asp

The weird thing is the movie cost $120-130 million to make, so it is still in the hole lol. Obviously the numbers will change on this one.

In 1992 a young filmmaker named Dan Poole made easily the most inexpensive yet totally cult adaption of Spiderman called: The Green Goblin's Last Stand. He did it to try and impress the Hollywood execs that he could faithfully bring Spiderman to the screen. Amazingly enough this 50 minute movie, which can be seen in its entirety at localorigination.com, was made for a mere $400!

Spiderman also shattered Harry Potter's single day record on Saturday (43.7 million versus 33.5 million).

It's now pretty much a guarantee that we'll see more Marvel Comics superheroes brought to screen. I'll put my bid in, dokk, for The Fantastic Four, did you like them?

As long as they don't ruin the momentum with sequels like that godawful Superman sequel with Richard Pryor. Has there been a worst sequel comics-book to motion picture sequel than that trash?

Blaming parenting for the stupid things kids do from www.ynotmasters.com

"I will admit I haven't covered counterfeiting with my children yet, and I wonder how many other parents do?"

Interesting discussion. I don't know if you can put everything off on bad parenting, though.

I mean some kids just do some really stupid things. And there are cases of families where 2 kids are honor roll students and another kid is in and out of prison.

Look at this story of the kids counterfeiting money with their printers:
http://www.techtv.com/news/culture/story/0,24195,3378342,00.html

I will admit I haven't covered counterfeiting with my children yet, and I wonder how many other parents do?

Let's see, there's the birds and bees and oh, yeah, and that printer is not for rolling out C-notes ...