Wildly popular YouTuber Joey Graceffa's instagram got hacked last night. Late last night Joey tweeted "Today has been a struggle."
When it seemed like everything was back to normal this morning just hours later his account got hacked AGAIN.
This needs to stop.
With his 2.1 MILLION loyal followers, it's important Joey gets his instagram back...for good. Everyone tweet @instagram and try and help Joey get his account back!
In the meantime, hang in there Joey! We're pulling for you!
Not drinking for 45 days straight seemed like an impossiblity at first. I have tried giving up alcohol a few times before and had only lasted through the second week.
This time I promised it was going to be different.... but I barely believed myself!
This seemingly insurmountable goal was met yesterday as Easter was upon us and it was very.... anti-climactic. In a good way.
Here are a few things I learned from being a sober Sally for Lent:
1. It wasn't that difficult.
It's not that hard to say no to drinking. At least, it wasn't as difficult this time. Perhaps it's because I'm 28 and the last time I tried I was 22. The first few days I had some heavy hitting invites to go drinking and it seemed tough saying no, but once I got used to saying no it got easier and easier.
Taking it a day at a time helped. "Just for today I won't drink" is a great way to keep going. Pretty sure that's also a tactic used by Alcoholics Anonymous and hey, it works.
2. Lent is a great excuse for anything.
Sometimes we need an excuse to not do something. When offered a drink I just said "no thanks," no big deal. If pressed on I would say "nah, I gotta do it for Lent."
3. The responses were great.
Some people reacted as if I was giving up a kidney to save a long lost relative...
"Gosh I don't think I'd be able to do that...you're so strong!"
Others were nice. They'd give an encouraging "oh good for you!" Or "wow that's awesome you're doing that..."
Or they were just confused: "Oh you gave up drinking for Lent..so like..you gave up just beer right? So you can still have whiskey right.....?"
4. It's a better excuse than "sorry, I'm an alcoholic!"
Not that I am, but saying you're giving up drinking for Lent is better than saying: "I'm sorry I don't want to partake because I feel like drinking alcoholoc beverages has had a negative impact on my health and my wallet and my career and my personal relationships..."
The most pressure I felt was at restaurants. If I was an alcoholic it would be the worst place to go! "What? Just water? It's happy hour right now why don't you get a 2 for 1 special? Or a pitcher of margarita for 1/2 off...we also have our bottomless mimosas for $7...."
Side note- I think there should be a rule against alcohol pressure at restaurants. I'm not sure what that rule would be or how it would be enforced, but servers, be wary, the person you're offering a drink to just may be an alcoholic!
5. I feel great.
45 days straight of zero hangovers. Zero wasted time and money "getting wasted." Not as many bad decisions...the list of positives goes on!
I highly recommend giving up drinking for Lent, or for Passover (is that a thing??) or for any excuse you give yourself. A friend of mine does "sober October" and seems to work great for him.
As I said as Easter came and went it was very ant-climactic. I didn't go booze crazy last night. Nor do I feel like drinking tonight...and I'm on vacation!
I haven't even had a drink yet.
Will I soon? Probably.
At least I now know I can do it; and if I can do it, you can too!
Wishing you the best in success,
Tremain
Today Google launched The YouTube Kids App, a safe haven for children to enjoy videos without their parents worrying about coming across a video with sexual content or curse words. Seems like a great idea right?
My initial reaction as a non-parent is yes, it's a good thing. Most parents want their kids to stay in a safe zone of non-cussing, non-sexual content, which is pretty dang hard not to come across on YouTube, as many non age-restricted videos have an exorbitant amount of cussing and sexual content.
However, upon downloading the app to see for myself (I'm the 1,000th downloader woo-hoo!) I discovered it to be chalk full of... "Most popular songs of Barney" and Disney's Frozen "Let it Go" playlists....*deep breath in .....siiigggghhhhh.* Also, it has some coca-cabana
theme music on a constant loop that I'm sure even the kids will get annoyed with after the first minute or two.
Yes, I realize the app is for kids (and very small children at that) but Barney and "Let it Go" cover recreations sound as if Jigsaw from Saw created the app just to torment parents. I can hear him now. If I had kids Jigsaw would say: "Mr. Hayhoe....wana play a game? I have downloaded the YouTube Kids app to your Galaxy tablet. You must allow your son to be on it at full volume for 8 hours straight as you drive through the Sahara desert. If you even slightly get annoyed, the tablet will explode, killing your first born child and yourself in the middle of the desert."
Ok, ok so this is a dark/dismal/extreme instance to say the least, and I'll be the first to admit and I'm wildly exaggerating and way out of my jurisdiction writing an article about an app I spent no longer than two minutes on.
Hilariously though, the YouTube Kids App requires a parental password. Yes, YouTube Kids app has a spelled out pin code (mine was five-three-two-two...I think) because, you know, kids can't read numbers if they're spelled out; plus, kids need a parent to type in a password to access kids' content...?
Hey YouTube, shouldn't it be the other way around?
How come adults have to enter a password on an app that's for kids? Shouldn't the 'regular' YouTube app require a 'parental password?' Just a thought...
Google/YouTube is very strict in allowing who or what channel can post on the Kids app. As no surprise, I tried searching for Jenna Marbles, to no avail. I tried searching my personal channel, to no avail. By limiting searching to only content that is approved by YouTube and screened just for children is good and all, but doesn't that defeat the purpose of YouTube? AsdB of now there's no sign of kid YouTubers; just mainly nightmarishly annoying sing along content....
Overall I do think it's a good idea. The execution isn't fantastic, but the good news is YouTube now has a platform for kids to play and parents to feel safe that their child's mind isn't being tormented by Five Nights at Freddys videos.
The question is, will we see kid YouTubers on the YouTube Kids app? Will they even be allowed? Perhaps, only time will tell. After all, it has only been a day.
