While most people think of the Balloon Boy saga as a great example of what not to do, filmmaker Stephen C. Barber thinks it will make for a great movie.  The film is reportedly being called, Balloon Boy: Guilty Until Proven Innocent and should hit theaters sometime later this year.

Barber has known Balloon boy’s dad (Richard Heene) for about 10 years, and while he apparently doesn’t think like the rest of us, he also has ‘dozens of hours’ of video featuring the father. 

The ‘dad’ in this case was given jail time due to the hoax that played out on October 15, along with a stiff fine.

So, if there is a lesson here- do whatever you want to get famous.  While sure, you may go to jail- there’s still that movie deal (if you know the right people).

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

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Some people will do anything for fame, and some of those stunts can land you in jail.  Balloon Boy’s parents now, while facing down a steep fine, and with his father spending a 90 days in jail, hopefully understand why creating a hoax to be famous isn’t the best idea.

The whole stunt that had many glued to their screen and then outraged at finding out about the scam was just to be famous.  While they did technically get their wish, the stunt cost them a show and now some money and freedom.

Another part of the same sentence?  They aren’t allowed to exploit the story, or their children (at least, for four years).

Richard Heene was sentenced to 90 days in jail, Mayumi 20 days. Furthermore, according to the report, the couple were "given strict probation conditions that forbid them from earning any money from the spectacle for four years."

(Source)

While many are understandably still thinking that the penalty isn’t stiff enough, and that they may not have actually learned any lessons. Hopefully this will prevent others from staging their own hoaxes when chasing fame pointlessly.

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Standardized testing has a lot of opponents, from parents to teachers who are concerned about children only learning some crucial things only to pass the testing. 

However, kids in the Detroit area got the lowest scores on that testing in the Nation.  While this could make anyone a bit upset, the parents chose to take a different route in lieu of extra teaching, or even tutoring.  In a quote from DetNews (a Detroit News website):

Sharlonda Buckman, CEO of the Detroit Parent Network, called for jailing and civil lawsuits against anyone in the city’s educational system that is not doing his or her share to help properly educate children.

"Somebody needs to go to jail," she said in a tearful address to 500 parents gathered Saturday for the organization’s annual breakfast forum. "Somebody needs to pay for this. Somebody needs to go to jail, and it shouldn’t be the kids."

While okay, it’s fine that she wants better education for children, it’s something any parent can agree with.  It’s more the fact that between jail time and class-action lawsuits what Buckman wants is one of the furthest things away from meeting those goals. 

As stretched thin as schools are right now, these could possibly bankrupt them. Even if it didn’t put the financial strain on the system- what would it solve?

Perhaps this is simply another case of irresponsibility all around.  Parents not helping children with homework, no one noticing that a child may need more help.  According to Tonya Allen, who is another member of the group calling for lawsuits and jail time, “"No other city in the history of this test has done this bad".  The group is in agreement that the children aren’t at fault and that it is in fact the teachers who need to pay up, somehow.

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Now we’ve had a few ‘future features’ here in the last week.  They mostly consisted of prospective designs that are still in the concept stage.  This idea is out right now, and is absolutely genius.

‘Masters of Cool’ has come up with the world’s first wearable magazine, and the ‘issues’ can be shipped to anywhere in the world (the way they come is in the image above).

Every time a subscriber wears an issue of T-post, it means another interpretation of the original story. It becomes their own depending on how they choose to talk about it. And information spreads like a game of Chinese whispers.

The company is called T-Post, the idea is really something different which definitely doesn’t seem to appear too often of late. 

How Does it Work?
Every six weeks, subscribers receive a new issue in the mail. News story on the inside. Artist interpretation on the front. All-around conversation piece.

Why?
For T-post’s subscribers, it’s an opportunity to share something interesting about the world, about them, and start a dialog with a complete stranger. While this is probably something better for mom and dad, as children won’t exactly understand the concepts (generally speaking of course).

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It seems with the budding community of online interaction comes more room to scare parents with the mysteries of the internet.  There are countless articles on how to translate ‘txt speak’ and the newest and latest dangers lurking around the next digital corner. (Besides, most of the ‘translate your child’s text speak’ articles use hilariously wrong translations.)

This article I promise will seem drastic, and perhaps maybe even a little scary but it’s something that needs to be said.

Calm down and breathe.

Yep, that is it.  It really is that simple, just calm down and breathe.

Every time there is something new released the news media tends to go a bit overboard if a new rumor starts over something the ‘kids are doing’.  A few years ago, it was ‘rainbow parties’ and perversion involved with wearing a certain type of colored bracelet which were rather popular around that time.

Now, it’s cell phones and the internet.

You would be hard pressed to find someone in real life that has actually done many of the things the media says is actually popular with kids.  Most wouldn’t dare so much as think about doing many of the things that ‘all the kids are doing’ in the scare articles online.

The reason for them is attention and selling papers.  That’s it, fear is something that sells.

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