Archive for the In other news Category

Facebook Pulls Roger Ebert Page for Drunk Driving Comment

By on June 21, 2011

Here’s some weird gossipy nonsense for you:

Roger Ebert’s Facebook Page Removed Following Comment about Ryan Dunn

Facebook briefly removed Roger Ebert’s Facebook Page for a violation of its terms of use, after Ebert made a comment about the recently deceased Jackass star Ryan Dunn.

Just like in his tweet, Ebert posted the sentence “Friends don’t let jackasses drink and drive” to his Facebook Page, which resulted in complaints from several Facebook users.

Facebook reacted by removing Ebert’s page completely, but only briefly; the page is now back up.

 

This entry is filed under D.U.I., In other news and tagged , . | 33 Comments

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

By on April 3, 2010

This is outrageous and so sad. The current state of the addiction treatment industry fosters predatory behavior — well at least their own. Next time, maybe The Alcohol Cure Corporation/Foundation will do a little research and take a lesson AA’s brilliant zero-accountability, no one’s at the wheel business model.

The Federal Trade Commission is suing a company that touted a phony cure for alcoholism, charging that it tricked hundreds of problem drinkers into paying hundreds or thousands of dollars for a service prescribing ineffective concoctions of natural supplements, and then threatened to reveal the drinkers’ alcohol problems if they canceled their memberships.

I tried to have a look at their website, but it’s gone already. I did find some pages frozen in time, though. It’s just a cavalcade of crackpot science! I couldn’t have invented a parody of a scam that looks crazier than this. I don’t even know where to begin explaining their outrageous claims… so just got have a look. Continue reading If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

This entry is filed under Alternatives to AA, In other news. | 6 Comments

Trolling for a Husband in Alcoholics Anonymous

By on February 14, 2010

Here is story in an Australian woman’s magazine about about a woman who joined AA and pretended to be an alkie in order to troll for a husband. She claims she did so to find a sober guy. Personally, I would have recommended she hit a mosque or a Mormon singles group. She would been subjected to the same type of dogma, but at least her potential beaus would not have come with all that extra baggage. On the other hand, this gal seems far out crazy, so maybe an AA group was the best place to find herself a soul mate. It looks like she successfully landed herself a doctor, and so far, so good – but I’ll bet you a case of vegemite this won’t last too long.

The piece is interesting, and the comments are just as interesting: I joined Alcoholics Anonymous to find a husband.

This entry is filed under In other news and tagged , , , .

WoW!

By on August 2, 2009

Addiction therapists signing up to World of Warcraft

Medical staff are creating their own ‘avatars’ in online fantasy games such as World of Warcraft in the hope of treating youngsters addicted to virtual worlds.

A recent report by Sweden’s Youth Care Foundation described World of Warcraft as “more addictive than crack cocaine”. The game, which attracts almost 12 million players every month, is set in a fantasy environment, with users taking on the characters of dwarves, elves and wizards, interacting with other players throughout the virtual world.

Dr Graham said that some players were so addicted to these massively multiplayer online games that they played them for up to 16 hours a day, leading them to neglect their social lives and education.

He has called on Blizzard Entertainment, the company that makes World of Warcraft, to waive or discount the costs associated with joining the game so that therapists can more easily communicate with at-risk players in their preferred environment.

“We will be launching this project by the end of the year. I think it’s already clear that psychiatrists will have to stay within the parameters of the game. They certainly wouldn’t be wandering around the game in white coats and would have to use the same characters available to other players,” said Dr Graham.

This entry is filed under In other news.

Thank you.

By on June 25, 2009

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjLGEZZ7CG4]

This entry is filed under In other news. | 3 Comments