When Netflix announced their new “Watch Now” feature a while back I got very excited - it seemed like a great way to test out a movie before I committed two hours to it and also it would provide a quick movie fix when I got a sudden urge to see something.

Then I learned that it would only work on PCs…..

I have a Mac and started to resent Netflix. But recently it was announced that Netflix may have a solution for Mac users and a way for us to participate in their instant viewing feature. Apparently the problem has been that Macs don’t have native digital rights management, which stops users from ripping streaming movies.

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Well I guess it’s good that at least one person in the media is acknowledging the damage done in discussing Britney Spears.

Sorta - The AP reports that television’s “Dr. Phil” McGraw says he regrets talking about Britney Spears’ mental health after visiting her in the hospital, but didn’t violate the family’s trust.

“I regret making the statement. It didn’t help. It didn’t work,” the syndicated TV psychologist said Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

McGraw said he visited the pop singer as a family friend, and rejected critics who accused him of practicing psychology without a license.

The Spears family has accused McGraw of betraying their trust by making an “inappropriate” public statement about the singer’s hospitalization.

McGraw had told celebrity news TV shows that Spears was in “dire” need of medical and psychological help.

Now is Dr. Phil is saying such to defend Britney or to now defend himself?

Lesson learned everyone, let’s mind our own business.

For more on the media ethics in psychology and to sign up for the National Alliance on Mental Illness Stigmabusters alerts visit www.nami.org

Monday night I fell asleep watching Millionaire Matchmaker on Bravo, the new show in which Patti Stanger, president of The Millionaires Club (sounds like a fake Highschool team, doesn’t it?) sets up hot women with rich men.

As Jezebel so perfectly explains it Stanger is hired by the men, she gives them makeovers, has them speak with therapists, has them meet with a stylist–anything it takes to give women at least one other reason to date these guys besides their bank accounts.

I think my favorite part of the show is how the captions for the men have their name and then below it the title “Millionaire.” No not doctor, not lawyer, not nice guy. MILLIONAIRE. These men have been twiddled down to what apparently matters most, the cash that burns a hole deep in their pockets yet that same cash cannot fill the hole deep in their hearts… (hey Bravo, feel free to use that tag line).

Stager’s essentially runs a casting agency which finds attractive women to play the role of a Millionaires trophy date. And plenty of men and women seem a-okay with that.

PLEASE check out Jezebel for a great clip in which Stanger discusses how the pool of female applicants aren’t hot enough (they’re only 7s, in her book), and then minutes later bitch about how men only care about looks. It’s a hilariously contradictory clip.

Whether you’re a millionaire or an unemployed, broke romantic looking for love, be careful when using dating services especially online. For tips on how to date online safely visit http://www.consumer.state.ny.us/pressreleases/2007/feb082007.htm

Mercury contamination is accomplishing something that animal rights activists have been trying to do for years: persuade Japanese hunters to stop slaughtering dolphins. As MSNBC reports:

A series of scientific studies in recent years in Japan have documented high levels of the toxic heavy metal in dolphin meat”¦

“¦A leading regional supermarket chain has pulled dolphin from its shelves over the health concerns, and hunt critics in the town say villagers are shunning it. Meat from pilot whales “” a type of dolphin “” was taken off local school lunch menus in October.

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Would you die for your favorite team?

Okay, perhaps that was a wee over-dramatic but research shows that heart risks triples for men watching sporting events.

Researchers looked at the occurrence of heart emergencies during another major sports event “” the 2006 World Cup, which Germany hosted in June and July of that year. Specifically, the researchers concentrated on the number of cardiac events reported by German soccer fans who watched the games.

They found that heart emergencies more than doubled on days the German team played.

Moreover, among men, the number of heart emergencies tripled on these days. In particular, the study suggests, the risk of heart attack increased by 250 percent and risk of irregular heartbeat increased by more than 300 percent for these fans.

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As is the case with many things, the publics focus on the Writer’s Strike has worn off. While they made headlines in the beginning - now we are only reminded that they are on strike when we turn on our television only to find American Gladiators or some Dancing with the Stars like show. (The exception being the premiere of Lost tonight - yay!)

But the unfortunate news that some striking WGA members may be at rich to lose their benefits may bring them back into the news.

About 250 WGA members will lose their eligibility April 1 because they did not meet the plan’s 12-month earnings threshold of $30,823 as of Dec. 31. That’s about 40% higher than the usual number

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I’m not sure if this is empowering or terrifying?

What’s the newest craze to hit ladies in Arizona? Tupperware-style Taser parties!

Thanks to the enterprising savvy of saleswoman Dana Shafman, founder of Shieldher Inc. these gun get-togethers aren’t just popular, they also bring in lots of money.

Much like a Tuper-ware party, women chat, eat cookies, bond. However instead of “ooh-ing” and “aah-ing” over the latest plastic pie container, they are fawning over the palm-sized C2, the latest (and smallest) civilian version of a Taser stun gun.

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It is understandably difficult to pay attention, be outraged, and be depressed by all of the tragedy, atrocities, and terror that surrounds us. At the same time, art, film, and photography have an uncanny ability to snap us out of our desensitized states, and turn the political into personal, and the news into news worthy. Below are some recent photos and click here to see an amazing photo essay from Human Rights Watch of people in Gaza who are being denied medical treatment by the blockade.

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Contrary to popular belief, I do not follow sports. But every now and then, sports, by virtue of its popularity, accessibility, and (I’ve heard, though not experienced) entertainability highlights a social, cultural or political problem, bringing it to a broad, far-reaching audience in a way few other media could.

Such is the case of the cricket scandal, which I saw first hand (through TV) while I was in India last month. First,  India’s cricket player Harbhajan Singh was accused of calling Andrew Symonds, a Jamaican player (the only Jamaican player) on Australia’s team a “monkey.”

Then cricket fanatics blame the umpire, who sided with Symonds, and happened to be Jamaican too, and burn him in efegy.

Yesterday, a Cricket judge cleared Singh of the “racial abuse charge” and said Symonds had provoked his opponent (into being a racist?). And the case seemed closed. Until the same judge said that he shouldn’t have cleared Singh. But he did because of human error. Sound complicated? It is. Read more here.

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10 human rights groups petitioned Israel’s Supreme Court to prevent further reducing supplies of fuel and electricity to the Gaza Strip, claiming it violated international law, “deliberately violates the rights of civilians,” and, as Human Rights Watch put it,

Israel’s rightful self-defense against unlawful rocket attacks does not justify a blockade that denies civilians the food, fuel and medicine needed to survive, a policy amounting to collective punishment.

Yet the Court agreed (with each other) to disagree (with the Human Rights organizations), explaining,

In the case of the attacks against Israel, the damage is not accidental, but rather a result of deliberate and frequent assaults on civilian populations which are aimed at harming innocent civilians.

Just to clarify. Cutting off supplies, denying hospital and medical access, and sealing the border through a coordinated military operation is accidental. And subjecting a group of 1.5 million people to these human rights violations is not aimed at harming innocent civilians.

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