Mary and Mike just welcomed their first child this morning at 8:50. 
I’m an uncle all over again!
Introducing: Reagan Lindsey Tuck
I Don’t Miss High School
… or why my kids will never have access to MySpace (or whatever unpoliced social networking site comes along by then).
See this story about eight high school teenagers (6 girls and 2 boys) being arrested for luring a 16 year old “friend” to the house of one of the arrested and ambushing her and beating her up, even knocking her unconscious at one point by slamming her into a wall.
The media refers to it as a “fight”, but generally a fight will include the other party involved fighting back. If you see the video, you can see she did very little to fight back and was just constantly beat down.
So what horrible, disgusting thing did this girl do to deserve such a heinous punishment? She supposedly “bad-mouthed the other girls” on her MySpace page. Excuse me? Someone talks bad about you on a MySpace page so you and 5 of your girlfriends beat the living daylights out of her? How petty …
Trash talking on a My Space page is what led to this beat down according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. But the victim’s mother says it wasn’t her daughter who bad-mouthed the girls on the social networking page. It was someone else.
Talisa says “Well we knew that someone had hacked into her My Space because she made us aware of it.”
I’m actually inclined to believe that the MySpace got hacked. It is extremely easy to get into someone else’s MySpace page, whether by guessing (or knowing) their password or phishing or by hijacking their login or other means. Add to it the fact that the victim told her parents her MySpace got hacked (presumably before the attack happened), then I’m led to believe that she more than likely didn’t post what was supposedly so horrific that such a beating was deserved.
They videotaped the entire beating and were going to post the video on YouTube and MySpace to publicly humiliate the victim.
The victim’s father is furious with internet companies that post the videos.
Patrick says “I’m very upset with these internet companies as far as I’m concerned My Space is the anti-Christ for children.”
While I agree MySpace is NOT a place for children to be on, I can’t exactly hold them, or YouTube responsible for the video being posted. So many videos get posted to both websites that it is literally impossible to moderate them. The manpower and time it would take to police every video is too great. Plus, they simply provide the tools, they don’t control the content, nor do they control the actions of their users.
Now, the beat-down was going to happen regardless of YouTube’s existence. Though, you could argue that the comments never would have been posted to the internet and the beating wouldn’t have happened if MySpace didn’t exist. But MySpace surely isn’t the first, and only, social networking site. It could have easily have happened on Facebook, Friendster, Blogger, MSN Live Spaces, Xanga. It could have happened over Instant Messaging or on a web forum post or you name it. To single out MySpace and YouTube is oversimplifying the problem and looking for someone to blame.
One thing I will admit, more than likely it was YouTube’s existence to prompt the teens to videotape the entire beating. But that’s the good thing about this entire sadistic situation, the evidence is all there. Instead of humiliating the victim like they originally planned, it’s now being used against all 8 involved as they’ve all been arrested and are being tried as adults. Ha ha, the joke’s on them!
Court records show all of the teens are charged with kidnapping and battery.
The kidnapping charges are first-degree felonies that carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. The battery charges are first-degree misdemeanors that carry a maximum sentence of a year in jail.
Three girls also face a third-degree felony charge of tampering with a witness, which carries a maximum of five years in prison.
I hope they throw the book at them! I’m glad they’re being tried as adults and facing SERIOUS felonies and their lives are ultimately over at this point, before they really had begun yet. They did it to themselves and really, they’re getting what they deserve. I just hope they see some extended jail time because there is no telling the psychological harm the victim will be dealing with for some time.
Maybe I’m being a little harsh on the accused, but when you hear things like this:
Even though those involved could face prison time, Judd says the teens showed no remorse after their arrests.
“When they were in a holding cell, they were all laughing,” Judd says. “One of the teens arrested, who is a cheerleader, asked, ‘Does this mean I’m going to miss cheerleading practice tomorrow?’ The others were cutting up and said, ‘It looks like we won’t be going to the beach this weekend.’”
… it just makes my blood boil and realize these girls really are just the scum of the earth. And do I really need to point out the likely wonderful job the parents did raising these attackers?
Not too surprisingly, the parents have already announced that the victim will not be returning to public school as she is still having nightmares and is still healing. They will home school her from here on out. I can’t say I blame her.
I know I’ll continue to follow this story as I hope everyone involved gets what they deserve.
New Tools
I’ve been neglecting the Jetta quite a bit lately and I think it’s time I give it a bit of much-needed TLC. Coming home from Disneyland a couple months ago, I got my first-ever “Check Engine Light” on the Jetta. It only took me about 65,000 miles and 5 years, but I got one. I scanned it with my VAG-COM, and found that the problem was a thermostat that’s stuck open. The only real problem is the car takes a little longer to warm up from cold, and if it’s cold enough out, the temp my go down a little bit. But with the mild temperatures that we enjoy out here in San Diego, it’s not that big an issue. I asked myself, “Why stop with just the thermostat? While I’m in there, why don’t I just replace the timing belt and water pump?” The 1.8T motor uses a rubber timing belt instead of a chain, so it’s not as durable as a timing chain, and even though VW recommends changing it at 105,000 miles, I’d rather not chance it. The 1.8T is an interference design, so the pistons will slam into the valves if the timing belt breaks, causing major damage. Also, another weak point of the 1.8T is the stock water pump. It uses a plastic impeller which is prone to shattering or separating from the shaft, causing the engine to overheat. It’s driven by the timing belt, so it only makes sense to replace it at the same time as the timing belt with a new water pump that’s built with a metal impeller. I’ve also noticed it running a little rough at times or dropping power and it definitely feels like it’s misfiring. I scanned it again using the VAG-COM and the computer is reporting random misfires in the number 1 and 3 cylinders. I went ahead and ordered a set of new spark plugs and two new coilpacks, as they may be the problem as well. I figured I’d at the very least replace all the spark plugs and check all the coilpacks and if any looked bad, I’d replace them. If they all looked good and the car still ran well, then I would just keep them in the car as spares in case one ever went bad. Now that you have all that backstory, I can tell you that my dad and I have decided we’d tackle this big project on Saturday. I was reading a DIY guide about changing the timing belt on a 1.8T today, and it listed the tools needed to perform the job. I was taking stock of my tools and realized I was missing quite a few of the tools needed for the job (not to mention things like a spark plug socket and whatnot). I pulled up Sears.com and started looking for the tools that I would need. I quickly realized by the time I bought all the tools and pieces I needed, it would cost nearly as much as a whole new set. So I thought maybe I could find a decent tool set on sale or something. I didn’t have to look long because, lo and behold, Sears had a sale on a 260-piece Craftsman Mechanics Toolset! They already had $70 off as it was, and I found a promotion code for an additional $15 off. So all in all I got the toolset for $85 off it’s original price! I’m quite pleased and excited and am very much looking forward to breaking them in this weekend! 
