A strain of Staph infection has been reportedly spreading across schools nationwide, coupled with reports of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) type infections diagnosed in recent patients. The infection touched Staunton River High School in Moneta, Virginia and Ashton Bonds, a 17-year old student in that school, died on Monday after being diagnosed with MRSA.

Students at Staunton River High organized a protest over SMS waves and popular social Internet sites, and a day after they took Bedford County district superintendent James Blevins for a tour of the school's state of sanitation. Soon, Staunton River High and all other schools in the county were closed down for thorough sanitation measures. The county officials chose a commercial cleaning company to clean out Staunton High with the 21 other schools will be handled by their janitors.

MSRA is a strain of Staphylococcus bacteria that can be passed simply by skin contact or through passing of material was touched by infected people. It doesn't respond to antibiotics or penicillin but does respond to other drug treatments. Back in 2005 when a major MRSA outbreak occurred, 19,000 people had died from the strain. This may be no eye-eater, but its worse than you would think.

The proliferation of gadgets as well as email messaging has encouraged shyness among people, experts believe. According to Robin Abrahams, a psychologist and etiquette columnist, about 50 percent of people who participated in her research reported being shy in social situations, ever since the technology boom started along with the advent of iPods and other similar devices.

The recent rapid changes in society paved the way for different and varied sets of "appropriate" behavior, and such differences mainly cause awkward situations that some people wouldn't want to encounter.

How do gadgets factor in this situation? Since most devices offer an excuse to be left alone (ie: listening to the iPod, tying something in the laptop and yes, playing handheld games), people tend to become more isolated, opting to be by themselves instead of facing awkward social encounters.

And with online communication options, such as SMS, email and chat, they don't have to be face to face with the person that they're talking to.

Another worrying trend, according to Abrahams, is the increasing tendency to have shyness treated by medical means. "And that's a big problem because medicine can't teach you social skills," said Abrahams.

How to overcome shyness? The psychologist offers to tried-and-tested solutions: communication and practice. And lay off the iPod/DS/PSP for some time.

Apparently, there's a new kind of drought that's being experienced by those of the feminine persuasion. To put that more simply, women are having trouble keeping men interested in them, and SMS could be one of the culprits.

According to a report from News.com.au, that's what came out of a recent dating workshop held in Sydney to coincide with the publication of the latest book on finding and keeping a man by relationships advice columnist Dr Cindy Pan and radio personality Bianca Dye.

Both women, who drew on their own experiences to write their "guide to love and the modern girl" in the book "How to Play Hard to Get: How to Catch and Keep Mr Right, Not Mr Right Now," said that the advent of instant communication, such as SMS, has spawned a whole host of problems.

One of these is chronic insecurity. Sending someone an SMS and then turning yourself into a nervous wreck over the fact that that certain someone hasn't replied yet after five minutes is a sure sign of chronic insecurity (except of course if it's in the context of an actual life-and-death emergency).

So, what advice do the experts have? Turn off your mobile phone. Stop logging on to your computer at midnight and checking emails. "Women need to back away," said Dr. Pan. "They need to trust themselves, trust their attractiveness, and maintain a certain amount of reserve. Don't chase."

Just this Saturday, Nokia held an environmental-themed SMS Slogan Contest in Beijing, China where ten children were given the titles of "Environmental Pioneer."

 

As with everywhere else in the world, text messaging or SMS have also become very popular in China. Chinese youngsters showed off their texting skills by sending in their proposed slogan via SMS. This year, Nokia received more than 200,000 SMS from over 20 provinces in China, all suggesting their own environmental slogans.

China's Association for the Promotion of Environment and Culture was one of the organizers of the said event and they believe that by combining the popular text messaging culture with environmental concerns, they will able to reach out to more Chinese citizens and promote environmental awareness. According to them also, the best way to protect the environment is to teach children to love the environment.

One of the young slogan-senders said in his SMS that hopefully in the future, paper could be made from fibers, and ink could be made from chocolate, so that this way, instead of it adding up to our trash, we can eat the newspaper after reading it. We know we're not alone in saying this, so...altogether now: Aaawwwwww! Smart and cute, just the way little boys should be.