Today’s society cherishes youth. Young people are considered to be happier, more beautiful and healthier.

Well today , that is not always case.

An article in USA Today states that 66 percent of adults in the U.S are either overweight or obese. In a report released by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention this year, it stated that a quarter of adults 18 to 29 are obese and it has tripled in the last decade. A third are cigarette smokers and nearly two-thirds reported not having regular physical activity. And to top it off, many are not insured.

So the moral of the story is………..

Youth is not as glamorous as it looks.

Caption: A quarter of adults 18-29 are obese, one-third are smokers and nearly two-thirds do not exercise (Carmen Troesser/The Journal News).

Yes we have all done it at least once……or maybe twice…….OK maybe three times.

Yes I am speaking of that horrible offense……  talking on a cell phone while driving.

On Thursday at 12:01 a.m. the  New York City Police Department will start to severely punish those who “drive and dial” according to a New York Times article.

Officers will be on patrol across the city and will pay extra attention to the issue for 24 hours. Those caught will have to pay a fine of $120.

So people don’t talk on your cell phone while driving because you can get hurt or even die. And it should not be hard: I don’t know about you all, but I am not giving anyone $120 during this times!

BE SAFE!

Caption: Woman uses speaker phone to comply with state cell phone use law( Vincent DiSalvo/The Journal News).

CEO and founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, appeared on the TODAY show with Meredith Vieira yesterday. The goal of the interview was to clear up controversy surrounding a change of their terms of service last week. The change claimed ownership of members’ personal data and postings, even after they cancel their Facebook memberships.

“Frankly, we made a mistake in the last version and issued some unclear language,” Zuckerberg told Lauer. “Our intent is that people own their own information. One of the things that makes Facebook really special is it’s a service that people are using to put up information that they want to share with people that often is very personal, private, intimate.”

If a member decides to leave Facebook and takes down his or her page, he added, “None of that information will be shared with anyone going forward.”

Chalk up one for the good guys.

On Wednesday I covered a program hosted by college students called Teens N Transition at North Salem High School.

College students spoke to high school seniors about they dangers they may face when they attend college.

Teens N Transition is a program of PEACEOUTside Campus-The Lindsey M. Bonistall Foundation. The foundation is dedicated to Lindsey Bonistall, a 20-year-old White Plains woman who was raped and strangled in her off-campus apartment at the University of Delaware in 2005.

“We give them advice from college students,” said Kathleen Bonistall, Lindsey’s mother and co-founder of the organization. “We want to make the college years the best years of their lives, and if we can prevent a family from going through what we endured, we did something.”

Even through college is full of fun and novel experiences,  horrible things do occur.

At least one in four college women will be the victim of a sex assault during her academic career, the New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault said.

And male college students were twice as likely to be victims of overall violence as female students, according to a 1995 to 2002 study cited on the Justice Department’s Web site.

For more info on how to stay safe log on to The Security on Campus  Web site here

Caption: College students face dangers on campus (Kathy McLaughin/The Poughkeepsie Journal).

With the beginning of spring a few short weeks away, there is no need to buy an entire wardrobe for the season. Style Chile recently offered some sound advice on how to stay fashionably conscious and creative during this global economic crisis. The fashion blog suggests to revisit your closet and create three piles for clothes, shoes and accessories that you will:
1. keep
2. discard
3. donate

“Keep the statement pieces, no matter how atrocious or outlandish the statement; trust me, these are the ones that make good vintage in the future,” Style Chile said. Also keep staple pieces like a basic black dress and tailored white button-down.

So a bunch of Harrison cops are in hot water for making sexual jokes on Facebook about the town supervisor, a 74-year-old woman.

The cops made the comments by posting on each other’s walls. As a five-year Facebook veteran, it is time I impart some wisdom.

I’m not a big fan of wallin’. It creates a paper trail for the entire world to see and it’s setting you up for trouble.

It’s not even about the paper trail though. It’s simple hygiene. Nothing annoys me more than looking at a wall filled with posts from one person. Keep it classy and start deleting the extra posts.

I have a rule, anytime someone posts on my wall more than once, they are required to continue the conversation with composed messages.

Oh and don’t even think about Facebook chats. To me, its like the syphilis of social networking. Its just as hard to get rid of too

(Photo by Frank Becerra Jr. / The Journal News )

It seems like every time I log into my facebook account, I see some advertisements claiming that I can apply for a government grant and receive ridiculous sums of money that “I never have to pay back”.

In fact, all I had to do was search “stimulus” in the Facebook search tool and these two ads came up.

Want a free ride, gas and car insurance for a six-month period?

As part of the “Fiesta Movement,” 100 millennials will receive the free Ford vehicle before it launches in the country next year.

Automobile Magazine says Ford is targeting bloggers, YouTube celebrities and other well connected 20-somethings (born between 1979 and 1995) with its “Fiesta Movement” campaign to market the 2010 Fiesta.

As part of the deal, the drivers will complete special “missions” and then share their experiences digitally through social media sites such as Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube.

Registration is open to drivers that are 21 years of age or older. The article says more than 1500 applications have been submitted for the “movement.” Registration here ends at midnight on March 13.

(Photo: AP/Jerry S. Mendoza)

I am not one for celebrity gossip, but I have been following the never-ending Rihanna and Chris Brown story.

If some of you do not know, R &B singer Chris Brown,20, was arrested for allegedly beating up his girlfriend Singer Rihanna,21, about two weeks ago.

The story is all over the television and newspapers and I can honesty say that on my way to work I hear jokes about the situation on the radio each day.

No matter how exciting this story may be to some, it deals with a much bigger issue: Young abusive relationships.

In high school I had a number of friends whose boyfriend’s would verbally and emotionally abuse them. I remember hearing “Oh he did not hit me that hard” or “I got him angry so that is why he did it.”

Do not get me wrong, it goes both ways. There are situations in which men are abused or both parties are doing the abusing.

So are you in a abusive relationship? Here are ways to find out according a BBC relationship quiz.

1. Does your partner harm you physically in any way? (Hitting, slapping, punching, grabbing, shaking etc)

2. Do they try and control different aspects of your life? (Telling you how to dress, who to associate with, what to say)

3.Do they frequently humiliate you and make you feel unworthy?

4.Do they threaten to harm you?

5. Do they twist the truth to blame you for their actions?

6. Do they demand to know where you are at all times?

7. Do they become jealous when you want to spend time with family and friends?

If so, you may be in a abusive relationship.

We are all adults and we make our own decisions. We have the power to stay or leave situations that may be harmful to us. I am not going to tell anyone what to do with their lives.

However I will say that no one deserves to be treated that way.

Caption: Singer Rihanna was hospitalized the night before the Grammys after she was allegedly beaten up by boyfriend Singer Chris Brown.

Due to a ton of complaints, Facebook has backed off on its proposal to permanently house all data on a user, even after said user deletes their Facebook account.

Mark Zuckerberg released the following statement today on the Facebook blog:

“A couple of weeks ago, we revised our terms of use hoping to clarify some parts for our users. Over the past couple of days, we received a lot of questions and comments about the changes and what they mean for people and their information. Based on this feedback, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised.”

I am curious to see how this plays out. If your privacy is a major concern, you may want to consider deleting your current account and sign back up when the terms of service are finalized.