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http://www.thecharlottepost.com Cfje Cliarlotte LIFE THURSDAY FEBRUARY 16, 2006 Section MySpace, the latest Internet tar THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK-The Internet has a rising star whose name isn’t Google. Just over 2 years old, MySpace now has 21/2 times the trafific of Google Inc., and it quickly eclipsed Friendster as the top social-networking site where users build laiger and larger circles of friends. Credit luck and acumen; MySpace learned from prede cessors and figured out the riglit tools to package And when its founders noticed heavy usage among musi cians and fans, MySpace embraced that community with custom features. ‘It’s like being at a giant music conference 24 hours a day every day,” said Greg McIntosh, 27, guitarist for Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Great Lakes Myth Society College students, mean while, can rate their profes sors and find classmates or alumni Others play games, view classified ads, send online party invitations or rate the brave on how “hot” they are. Sure, none of these features is unique, but what’s the point of going elsewhere if your fiiends are already on MySpace? “I noticed a lot of my fiiends talking about it, so I went on it and signed up,” said Magda Olszanowski, 24, a University of Tbronto senior. “And I’ve really pressured my fiiends who don’t have it to get it”- ■ Instead of using e-mail and instant messaging. Olszanowski ke^3s in touch with many fiiends simply by posting bulletins on her per sonal MySpace page, known as a profile. There, fiiends can send her a private mes sage or post a public com ment; they can see her photo album or read her Web jour nal, called a blog. The fi^. ad-supported site has gotten so popular among teens—a quarter of its users are registered as minors— that parents, schools and law enforcement officials have taken notice, warning of sex ual predators and other dan gers. Big media noticed, too. Last year. News Corp., the Australian media con^omer- ate controlled by Rupert Murdoch, bought MySpace’s owner for $580 million in cash. The U.S.-heavy site now wants to expand internation ally and on wireless devices, and it is adding such features as video-sharing to become more like a Web portal. “We want people to stay on MySpace,” said Ibm Anderson, its president “We’ll give them whatever they mi^t want to do.” The development comes as the leading portal. Yahoo Inc., becomes more like MySpace, starting a sodal-netwoiidng service called 360 and buying content-sharing sites such as Flickr and Del icio us. MySpace was by no means first. In early 2003, Friendster Inc. introduced a system that connects people for networidng and dating through existing circles of fiiends, rather than random ly or by keyword matches alone. But just a half-year after MySpace launched, it sur passed Friendster in monthly visitors and now ranks 13th among all sites, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. Please see MYSPACE/2B PHOTO ILLUSTRATIONAWADE NASH Looking for love Internet offers a hands-ojf approach to finding a mate By Chens F. Hodges cherisJu)dges^ thedtarlotieposi com Okay, so Valentine’s Day is over, but the search for love isn’t. According to a romance poll fix)m the online site Classmates.com, people are turning to the web to find love. Many of them are seardiing for»the one that got away in high school. “People often wonder how to get in touch with a first love, former sweet heart or other people in their past who they cared about,” Mark Goldston, CEO and president of United Online. According to the Classmates poU, 71 per cent of respondents think more people' wifi turn to the internet to find love in 2006. “Classmates.com is the number one place to start looking for fiiends and acquaintances because tens of millions of mem bers have listed them selves by school, work and military afiiliations,” Goldston said. Charlotte resident Beverly McDuffie said she’d go online to find the college crush that got away If McDuffie reaches out to that lost love, more than likely he’d be happy to hear fiom her if the sur vey holds true. Fifty per cent of classmates.com respondents said they would like to be contacted by an old flame. But has she reached out in cyberspace to touch him? “I haven’t, but I might,” she said coyly See GOING/2B Teen pageant trains girls to reign By Victoria Elmore ntE ch.\rijOTje post The first Miss Teen African American Pageant will be held in Charlotte. The national scholarship pageant and development program for girls IS IS years old is July 7-23. The winner will receive a $10,000 college scholar- sliip and prizes. Deadline for applica tions is Feb. 28. The pageant will differ from the average five-day preparation boot camps for contestants. “By participating in this pageant and developmental program you will train to reign,” said former Miss Black America Rachel Oliver-Cobbin, the program’s coordinator. “It is a prepara tory course in self-development designed to equip the young women with a defined sense of self and pur pose that leads to a more disciplined and courageous life.” After participating in and even win ning pageants, Cobbin noticed that the contests were missing something - an academic component. “The pageants that I previously participated in had little to do with education. You paid your $1200 and walked away” Cobbin said. “Black pageantry didn’t have it together. Therefore, I wanted to create a pageantry that flowed.” Said Keith Cobbin, CEO of the devel opment program and the founder’s husband: “She started doing this when she was 15 years old. After being crowned Miss Black America in 1986, It’s been her vision since then.” The couple created a program that nurtures girb’ gifts, and exposes them to the ones they haven’t discovered. However, the Cobbins will not be the only ones running the show. They’ve brought in scholars who will conduct Please see TEEN/2B Charlotte volunteers ready to start cooking SPECIAL TO THE POST The Charlotte Volunteers in Medicine Clinic will host its second annual “Cooking Gents of Charlotte” on Friday fi^m 5-10 p.m. at Levine Museum of the New South. The event will showcase culinary skills of some of the best male chefs in Charlotte. The fundrais er for the CVEM is designed PHOTO/WADE NASH James Brazelle of Mert’s Heart and Soul is one of the participants in Friday’s event. to promote awareness of Charlotte’s hidden crisis: there are nearly 120,000 residents who do not have access to healthcare because they have no medical insur ance. The event is expected to hpst approximately 500 guests who will eryoy dishes prepared by chefs fix)m Mert’s Heart and Soul, The Charleston House, City Tavern, Presto Restaurant, Creative Catering, Junior’s Chicken and Waffles, as well as others in the Queen City There will also be ama teur and celebrity chefs on hand. Chefs who wish to partici pate in the event should pre pare a dish of their choice and provide decorations for their table with their indi vidual theme. Each partici pant will be recognized in promotional ads on televi sion, radio, print media, and our printed event program Each dish will serve as a tax-deductible donation to CVIM. All proceeds fi^m the event will support patient care at the Charlotte Volunteere in Medicine Chnic, located in the Greenville Recreation Center, 1330 Spaing Street. Tickets are $15, which is tax deductible and available at the Greenville Center and other locations. For more information, call Candace Marshall at f704) 350-1300 or Nilsa Lopez at (704) 336-3367. Designers recall ‘70s, ‘80s in today’s fashion THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK — Fashion designers made their case and now it’s up to the retailers, editors and stylists who attended New York- Fashion Week to wei^ in on what will be in—or out- in the fall. Of course, the real verdict will be revealed in August and September when ordinary p)eople do their season al shopping. The choices for women likely will include 1970s- and ‘808-inspired clothes: skinny pants—even' leg gings—chunky-knit cardigan coats and fiine-knit jersey dresses, shirt- O # O men’s-stjie suits with femi nine lace or tie-neck blouses, bow adornments and a lot of black and other scmiber colors. Pleats and thick belts were all over the runways, while pnwocative, skin flashing dothes were not. Ck)ats, many Please see FASHION/3B McDonald’s fries contain potential allergens THE ASSOCIATED PRESS CHICAGO - And another thing about McDonald’s flies: They’re not gluten-fi:ee. Not long after disclosing that its fi^ch flies contain more trans fat than thought, McDonald’s-Corp. said Monday that wheat and dairy ingredients are used to fla vor the popular menu item—an acknowledgment it had not previ ously made. The presence of those sub stances can cause alleigic or other medical reactions in food-sensi tive consumers. McDonald’s had said until recentiy that its flies were fi^ of ^uten and milk or wheat aller gens and safe to eat for those with dietary issues related to the con sumption of dairy items. But the fast-food company quietiy added “Contains wheat and milk ingre dients” this month to the fiench fiies listing on its Web site. The company said the move came in response to new rules by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the packaged foods industry, including one requirii^ that the presence of common allergens such as milk, eggs, wheat, fish or peanuts be reported. As a restaurant opera tor, Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald’s does not have to com ply but is doing so volimtarily McDonald’s director of global nutrition, Cathy Kapica, said its potato suppliers remove all wheat and dairy proteins, such as gluten, which can cause allergic reactions. But the flavoring agent in the cooking oil is a derivative of wheat and dairy ingredients, and the company decided to note their presence because of the FDA’s stipulation that potential aller gens be disclosed. Boise-based J.R. Simplot Co. supplies McDonald’s restaurants with more than half their fiies. ‘We knew there were always wheat and dairy derivatives in there, but they were not the pro tein component,” Kapica said. “Tfechnically there are no aller gens in there. What this is an example of is science evolving” and McDonald’s responding as more is learned, she said. While the company wanted to make consuma:^ aware that fiies were derived in part fiom wheat and dairy sources, she said, those who have eaten the product with out problem should be able to con tinue to do so without incident. The acknowledgment has stirred anger and some concern among consumers who are on gluten-fi*ee diets since it was post ed on McDonald’s Web site. “If they’re saying there’s wheat and dairy derivatives in the oil, as far as anyone with this disease is concerned there’s actually wheat in it,” said New York resident Jillian Williams, one of more than 2 million Americans with celiac disease, an autoimmune disord^ tillered by ^uten. “They should have disclosed that all along,” she said. “They should never have been calling them ^uten-fi:ee.” It’s not the first time McDonald’s forthri^tness has been called into question concern ing what’s in its famous fiies. The company paid $10 million in 2002 to settle a lawsuit by veg etarian groupw after it was dis closed that its fiies were cooked in beef-flavored oil despite the com pany’s insistem^ in 1990 that it was abandoning beef tallow for paire vegetaHe oil. Last February, it paid $8.5 inil« Please see MCDONALD’S/2B
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