A reminder for parents to stay vigilant while their children are on the internet came this week from a somewhat unexpected source. It seems a Pennsylvania school is being sued after the deputy principle went ahead and punished a 15 year old student for "inappropriate behaviour" while he was in his BEDROOM. The "inappropriate behaviour" is of course rumored to be in the context of self pleasure.

How did the deputy principle even know about this event taking place you ask? It seems the webcam in the school provided macbook was remotely turned on allowing live, remote viewing. The deputy principle was certainly all to happy to furnish the boy with photographic evidence.

The FBI have now been called in to investigate the potential breech of multiple federal and state laws. The scary thing is it isn't isolated to this one child. There have actually been rumors going around the school between students that the teachers were spying on them through the webcams with a large amount of students claiming the little green activity light on their webcam would turn itself on randomly.

But beyond the obvious privacy issues this sparks off I fail to see where any one at the school thought that had not only the right, but responsibility to discipline a child for actions taking place in their own home. Their authority ends at the school gate as far as I'm concerned. What a child does whilst in the care of their PARENTS is certainly none of the schools business. The school district board now claims to have disabled the feature, but given they had denied it's existence for months, and are trying to cover up this whole indecent I really don't believe much they have to say.

This is certainly a case in proof that you really CAN'T allow your child, even teenager, alone with a computer that is connected to the internet. Of course that doesn't mean you have to sit next to your teenager while they muck around online like you would a younger child, but it does mean computers with internet access should be in high traffic walk ways of the house. In this way you can glance at their screen (and the activity light of the webcam) every time you walk passed. If they're rushing to close something down when you do, then you know you need to investigate further.

The internet can be an utterly powerful tool, which enables better education, flow of truth and friendships. But it does need to be understood properly BEFORE you mess with it, and children (and teenagers) need to be supervised while using it and taught proper, responsible usage skills.

iTWire Article 1
iTWire Article 2

It's funny to think I spent my childhood until I was 5 in Missouri, I've been to every capital city in every state of the USA, plus much more of the country. But I'd never even heard of the quaint city of Branson Missouri until today. I actually stumbled across it quite unexpectedly, but from what I can see it's a pretty nice place to visit. Peace and quiet, a rest from the busy rat race. Boy could I use one of those, how about you?

If I lived in Missouri still I reckon I'd have to check out some Branson vacation packages or perhaps even just take a random drive there one day. I mean what's not to love about a place that has more than 40 theaters, showing musicals, magic acts and comedy shows? Fishing, swimming and just hanging out in that peace I was talking about earlier. Wow, I think I might shut my eyes for 10 minutes now and imagine being in Branson,

I don't know if I've mentioned this before but I'm actually a fan of post modern furniture, I find the whole design concept pretty snazzy. So it should come as no surprise to you that now I've found a website dealing specifically in such furniture that I'd want to share it with you. There is something about the clean sleek lines, mixed with some pretty outrageous colours that just looks really cool.

I'm sure when Sarah and I move to the Farm and start making the guest houses I will have to decorate one of the houses in a modern theme. So, given my excitement at finding such a website I'd love to hear from you on what you think about the style. Is it for you? Not for you? Likes and dislikes... just comment it all below