Cyber Cupid Is a Lousy Shot

Do online romances stand a better chance of creating a lasting match? Well, no says an Australian researcher. According to Psychologist Michael Brambling of the Queensland University of Technology, people are even more likely to exaggerate their good points and hide their bad ones than they are in other types of dating situations. Women are particularly prone to choosing inappropriate partners online.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #43

Shootin' War

A recent Los Angeles Times story discussed the increasing use of camera-toting soldiers to document the ongoing combat in Iraq. While some of the military photographers appear to be very open about what they portray, there is still concern that they could crowd out photojournalists and and present images that are flattering to the military.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #44

Business Casual

A recent Los Angeles Times story discussed the increasing use of Second Life and other virtual worlds for corporate meetings and college classes. Avatars dressed as a zombie or a half man-half lynx certainly redefine the concept of business casual.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #42

I Feel Like Emailing This to 5 Million Strangers...

Email spam--those unsolicited, unwanted, unbelievable and sometimes creepy messages--have been around 30 years, according to a recent National Public Radio story. To some MC101 students, spam is hard to think of as mass communication, perhaps in the same way that it is hard to think of a cockroach as an animal.

But somewhere there is someone who is REALLY lonely who actually reads his/her email spam.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #40

She's NOT Going to Disneyland

He sinks the winning basket in the NBA Finals, hits a winning homer in the 7th game of the World Series, drives into victory lane at the Indy 500, and for a while there was the obligatory "I'm going to Disneyland!" ad.

Top male athletes, according to a recent Los Angeles Times story, are more likely to score big endorsement contracts than top female athletes. And, as one MC101 student pointed out, two of the female sports figures who are getting some good endorsements--Golfer Michelle Wie and Race Car Driver Danica Patrick--have gained their greatest fame competing against men.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #39

Lights, Camera, Culture!

Four brothers of Afghan descent have begun a 24-hour television station devoted to the culture, religion, and entertainment of Afghanistan. A National Public Radio story tells how their bare-bones broadcast operation, run out of a warehouse near Oakland, California, has become an increasingly-important source of information and entertainment for Afghans in Asia, Europe, and the United States. It also has an audience in Afghanistan.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #41