The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 73

Tech THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19,2001 C3 Controversial sites that defiantly promote eating disorders feed Computing: kids an obsession with thinnp.ssx PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BV KATE WEISSKOPF AND JAV CAPERS THE (ROCHESTER. DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE Jinny 'h ii Gudmundsen i. yf GANNETT NEWS '1- i i Sequels help children solve mysteries and build gadgets Web About eating disorders Bowel damage Liver and kidney damage Internal bleeding Heart attack Death Looking for help For more information on eating disorders: Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, Inc. www.anred.com Eating Disorders Awareness and Prevention Inc. www.edap or (800) 931-2237 BY SEKAI MUTUNHU THE (ROCHESTER, Y) DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE Web sites featuring starvation tips and pictures of waiflike young women are part of a growing online pro-anorexia movement that has medical professionals worried that their jobs are only going to get tougher.

"This to me is akin to pornography," said Mary Ellen Webb, a registered nurse who treats those with eating disorders. "1 know the consequences and I know it can really destroy a patient's life." Led largely by young women and teen girls, members of this pro-anorexia Web community find allies in others who are dying to be thin. Anorexics starve themselves; bulimics are binge eaters who overeat and make themselves throw up. Compulsive overeaters are usually obese. They binge or eat constantly as a way to relieve stress and deal with their emotions.

The causes behind such disordered eating are complicated. There is a psychological component that involves a distorted body image and low self-esteem. No matter how little anorexics and bulimics weigh, they have an irrational fear of becoming fat. While most support groups form to help people recover from addiction or illness, pro-anorexia supporters take on family, friends and the medical establishment by playing protruding ribs. "They are pretty disturbing," said Dr.

Richard Kreipe, chief of the division of adolescent medicine at Children's Hospital at Strong in Rochester, N.Y. "The pictures of extreme emaciation that show up on these Web sites which we see in a negative light, they see in a positive light. For them, it is a sign of strength, endurance and how far you can push yourself." At one site, a member checked in to report her progress: "I should have exercised way more but I ate about 900 cals (calories), ran two miles hard and did a leg routine out of one of my magazines (did extra repssets). Well, that's all for today. How'd everyone else do?" At another pro-anorexia site, this is one of many messages that appear: "I love being anorexic.

It's a way of LIFE. A way of death is stuffing your face until you're huge and greasy. If you can control your body, you have absolute power over yourself." That control, said Kreipe, is just an illusion. He plans to broach the topic of pro-anorexic Web sites at an upcoming support group of parents and family members of those battling eating disorders. Although it won't eliminate the problem, Kreipe said it would help if servers stopped supporting these sites.

"My hunch is that there will always be chat rooms hiding behind different labels that won't be easily found," he said. Many search engines have policies against sites considered overtly vulgar or offensive and will shut them down after receiving complaints from other users. This may have already happened with some pro anorexia sites, because of a growing number of newspaper, television and magazine reports about the content and message of the sites. Peer support drives popularity Lisbeth Ornstein, a psychologist in Rochester, N. who specializes in eating disorders and body image issues, isn't surprised by the popularity of pro-anorexia sites.

Many young women with eating disorders get bingeing and vomiting tips through a network of friends; the Web is a convenient method of disseminating that information on a massive scale. "They get even more peer support from this community they've formed by doing it from the privacy of a computer terminal," she said. Another of Ornstein's concerns is that young women looking for quick ways to drop a few pounds could log onto these sites and end up brainwashed by pro-anorexia philosophies. TECHIE Tired of those Web browser windows that seem to pop up from nowhere? This free Pop-Up Stopper software promises to help you control them. A virtual god- send.

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Given the small stature of two of the Cluefinders, this adventure Ui is about finding items to build an "Unshrinker" and solving the mystery of the shrinking phenomenon. To obtain the necessary pieces -for the "Unshrinker," players help the Cluefinders play eight differ- ent games that practice math, lan-, guage arts, social studies and science. All of the games can be played -on four levels of difficulty and will automatically adjust the diffi- culty to meet the player's needs. The games are novel and innova- tive. In one, a rat chases the shrunken Cluefinders inside pneumatic tubes.

Players help navigate the Cluefinders' course through the tubes by selecting those tubes that complete a pattern or sequence. In another j-game, the tiny Cluefinders secure a ride across a toy boat pond on -Taxini, an opera-singing water bug. Taxini lets the Cluefinders earn their fare by helping him with his spelling. 1. As with previous Cluefinders, there is a lot to like about this title.

The intriguing story line about why the Cluefinders were shrunk slowly unfolds as children explore the title. The title even offers closed captioning. OQOQC(outof5) Best for ages 7 to 1 0. The Learning www. learningco.com, (800) 543-9778 for $25.

Windows Macintosh. "The Incredible Machine: Even More Contraptions" This newest addition to The In-credible Machine series offers players 250 new wacky puzzles. In this title, players complete con- traption puzzles to earn their "Doctorate in Contrapology." Effects of anorexia Osteoporosis (over time the lack of estrogen causes the bones to lose calcium) Anemia A weakened heart Liver and kidney damage Dehydration Death from starvation Effects of bulimia Loss of tooth enamel Dehydration Fainting spells Heart irregularities proclaiming their unwillingness to eat as a lifestyle choice. That notion shocks physicians and psychologists who have first-hand knowledge of anorexia's devastating effects. "1 think what this is going to do is keep us in business for a number of years, and I think it is going to potentially increase the number of people suffering from anorexia or bulimia," said Webb, who hasn't viewed any of the sites but has heard about them from clients.

"Parents really have to keep the communication lines open so they can talk to their kids about what they are seeing on the Internet and talk about what is safe and healthy and what isn't." Check out the paintings featured at this Biography.com site, and then try your hand at duplicating a variety of masterpieces. www.biography.com impressionists Find out why Saya, the female protagonist of "Blood: The Last Vampire," makes Buffy, in the words of Wired News, look like a rank amateur. (Consider yourself warned.) www.bloodthemovie.com EDUCATIONAL NASA's Galileo spacecraft adds Jupiter's moon Callisto to its gallery of breathtaking images. Described as a spiky landscape of bright ice and dark dust. http:www.jpl.nasa.gov imagescallisto Sites for lovers of classical music, impressionist art Millions affected About 7 million women and I million men suffer from eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia and compulsive overeating, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.

More than 80 percent of these 8 million have developed an eating disorder by age 20 and an estimated 6 percent of sufferers die. Tips on losing weight, hiding food from parents, controlling binging and using diet pills or laxatives are shared in chat rooms linked to pro-anorexia sites. Some sites feature graphic photographs of girls vomiting over toilet bowls or nude young women proudly dis Travel back to the days before e-mail with a visit to the Bath Postal Museum, which presents backgrounders and artifacts dating back to the Egypt's earliest days of snail mail. A virtual hoot. www.bathpostalmuseum.org COMMUNITY Here's a site that advises you to do something constructive with your road rage join an online community to collectively vent about "good drivers, bad drivers and weirdoes." Includes a jokes section to help relieve the commuting fury.

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In case you don't find what you want there, a handy directory links you to 12,000 classical music Web sites. www.andante.com The Impressionists is a virtual exhibit of the lives and works of the movement's great masters. Internet access stuck in iiciPiHMTiTT(rriv low gear? (MwgaiMi Rural life putting the brakes on broadband access 3f ll 1 narln" Wait Each contraption is presented as a puzzle with an objective, which might be as simple as help-1 ing a mouse get to his hole or as crazy as blowing up a dam so that some alligators can swim home. To complete a contraption, players drag parts from a bin and place them on the contraption .1 workspace. Some parts are tradi- tional mechanical items such as pulleys and motors, but there are also things like dynamite and monkey-powered treadm i 1 1 s.

The workspace always has some unique parts already fixed in position. Players solve the puzzles by trial and error. The puzzle encourages players to "think outside of -the box." This software can present accu-" rate physics models or weird, out- of-this world ones (such as gravi-ty-defying balls). It has a great tu-torial, puzzles with four levels of difficulty, a build your own puzzle mode, and a two-player mode for play on the computer or over the Internet. By downloading a free demo at the publisher's Web site.you can get a taste of what it is like to play.

OOQO (out of 5) Best for ages 8 and up. Sierra, www.evenmore contraptions.com, (800) 757-7707 for $30. WindowsMacintosh. 1 Gudmundsen is the Editor of Choosing Childivn 's Software magazine. E-mail her at Jinnv(alComputing With Kids.

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