How well do you see color? Source: Shutterstock.com

Sometimes in the middle of the work or school day, your mind starts wandering. This becomes more of an issue when your job revolves around the Internet. That’s how I found myself spending about twenty minutes taking the Online Color Challenge from X-Rite.

The gist is pretty straightforward. There’s a row of colors and the two on the ends are set for each row. You move around the color squares in the middle into the proper order. This test is based on the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test, where you do a similar color ordering, but with actual little “color caps” in a kit that you physically put in order.

Well, the idea may be pretty simple, but that certainly didn’t mean I thought it was easy. When you hear the directions it’s like, “Oh yeah, sort colors? Totes can do that!” Then I started and was freaking out about where to put the little squares. I’d second guess myself. I’d look away from the computer screen, and my eyesight had started to go a little nutty. I will say though by the time I went to hit submit, I felt pretty good about my answers.

I’m sure you’re dying to know how I did! Well, I got an 18, and at first, I had no idea what that meant. After I put in my gender and age info, it showed me a little scale that went from 0 to 99. Apparently the best score I could get was zero (a wizard of color acuity!) and the 99 meant the lowest color acuity.

So I guess looking at it on the scale, my color acuity is close-ish to being good? I tried to do some research, but I had kind of a hard time finding out the average score for my age, so right now, I guess I’m a little at a stand still.

According to the test site, there’s apparently quite a big difference between color vision issues when it comes to men vs. women. For women, 1 out of every 255 have some sort of issue with seeing color, but for men, it’s 1 in every 12. I already have pretty blurry vision (full-time glasses wearer over here!), so should I be concerned about how I can discern color now too? Right now, I think I’m doing all right, but it was still pretty interesting to test it out.

Still, I thought this was a pretty cool challenge and it ended up being harder than I thought it would be! I know this online one is based on this other test that has been the subject of studies and used by health professionals, but I’m guessing there could be some variation between doing the actual test versus online.

So that said, if you are really concerned about how your eyes see color or just your eyesight in general, talking with a doctor is probably your most official bet. However, if you’re just looking for a little bit of of a distraction, you may want to see how you fare at the color challenge yourself!

Did you take the color challenge? How did it go for you? Did you have better luck than me finding something online about average scores for your age? Have you ever had issues with how you see color? Tell me in the comments!

What Gives You Tired Eyes Anyway?

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New Steubenville rape pictures and details have emerged–and they’re so scary. | Source: Shutterstock

As if the Ohio football team rape case couldn’t get any more horrifying, there’s more: Steubenville rape pictures were taken at the time, and they’ve made their way online.

You may remember last week when the Anonymous hackers group posted a video of some sadistic guys bragging about the brutal gang rape of an unconscious 16-year-old girl. The whole thing is sick, twisted, and super disturbing. But the only silver lining here is that these idiots who were so proud of the atrocity that they committed were also stupid enough to document it–and it’s what wound up getting some of them caught. (Like the Justin Bieber pot pics, only, you know, super harmful.)

Now, cell phone photos indicate that there may be two more victims of the Steubenville rape epidemic.

A football teammate of Ma’lik Richmond and Trent Mays–the guys being charged with the rape of the first victim–had photos of two other girls on his phone in various states of consciousness and undress. They’re lying face down on the same carpet that the photos of the first victim showed. Uh, what is wrong with these people?

The only reason the pigs that recorded this aren’t being charged with it is because some of them were smart enough to erase the photos before cops confiscated their phones for the investigation.

More details about the rape that got everyone talking are emerging, too, and they’re horrifying. Seriously, read on at your own risk:

Apparently, following a football win, the guys were eating at a friend’s house together when they started texting people to come party. The rape victim was one of them, and she was supposedly friends with some of the guys–a few of whom were said to have dated her, so you’d think they’d have more consideration or respect for her, her safety, her well-being, her humanity. Nope.

There were multiple parties that night, and in testimony, people said they saw her drinking from a cup at the first party–and that’s it. When she got to the second party, she wasn’t coherent and needed help walking. Who helped her? Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond, who were the same guys who allegedly raped her. Chances are she was so out of it that their help standing made her feel safe enough around them to let her guard down–that’s if she was even coherent enough to make that kind of a decision.

The victim threw up in the street, then left that party with Trent Mays and Ma’lik Richmond–who assaulted her in the car ride on the way to the next party. By this time, a witness who recorded the incident–and then deleted it–said she was talking, but no one could understand what she was saying. At the third party, she was completely silent. At one point, two of the guys held her by the wrists and ankles and led her into the basement. Once in the basement, she threw up again, then sat on the floor and fell to her side.

Shortly after that, a witness came into the basement and said she was on her stomach naked on the floor.

Ma’lik raped her while Trent tried shaking her shoulders to wake her up, and she was totally unresponsive.

Someone sent a photo of the girl to her mom’s phone–and then her parents took her to the hospital and to the police. Okay, can you just imagine for a second what that had to have been like? For her? For her mom?

No one’s sure what was in the cup at the first party, and too much time passed between the assault and when she reported it to run a toxicology test to see if she’d been drugged–though it sure sounds like she was, because it’s very, very hard to get blackout drunk and sick from one beverage unless it’s laced with someone a lot more sinister. What’s more, the victim showered–which got rid of physical and DNA evidence.

This is not the victim’s fault. She didn’t even know what happened to her. She had no recollection of anything after the first party. Chances are, she’s learning the details as quickly as the police and courts are. And even if she did remember and chose to shower and not report it? That doesn’t mean the rape is her fault. Ever.

The only people at fault for the Steubenville rape are the Steubenville rapists–and the disgusting excuses for human beings who recorded the incident instead of intervening and helping the victim. The very least they could have done was retain the evidence, accept responsibility and help bring these other monsters to justice. Our thoughts are with the victims, and may these atrocities be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. They’ve earned it.

What do you think is an appropriate punishment for the Steubenville rapists? How do you think more rapes like the Steubenville gang rape can be prevented? Tell us in the comments.

This girl almost got raped. Read her story.

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Do your parents watch your every phone move? | Source: Shutterstock.com

Dealing with smartphone contracts through your cell phone provider can already be a hassle. But what if you had to sign another iPhone contract – one that your parents wrote for you?

Well, that’s the story for one 13-year-old boy, who got a smartphone for Christmas along with an iPhone contract of 18 rules that were written by his mom. The story has generated some debate, and I want to know what you guys think.

I feel like if my parents handed me this particular contract when they gave me a phone, I would just be like “OKAY, YEAH, WHATEVER, I SIGN, LET ME PLAY ANGRY BIRDS NOW!” Then later when I actually read through the rules, I know that to a few of them, teen me would have said “WTF?” (in my head of course, as my mom would not be happy with that language).

According to a few of the rules, her son can’t bring it to school, shouldn’t have it out in public and he also should be cool with leaving it at home a lot of the time. For that last one, the mom tells her son not be worried about having FOMO (props to this mom for knowing what that is!) if he doesn’t have his phone. I think teenager Meg would be more worried about having FONGMAP or “fear of nobody getting me after practice,” and I’m actually pretty sure that is the only reason my parents even bought me a cell phone as a teen.

If my parents tried to lay out when and where I could use my iPhone, regardless of their good intentions, I think the first message I’d take away is “You don’t trust me to be responsible.” The mom who wrote the contract has said that she hasn’t gotten that response from her son, but she has from other people commenting on her rules.

Source: Shutterstock.com

Still, in the grand scheme of the contract, I do think this mom here offers talking points on some important topics that maybe aren’t at the front of every teen’s mind. Things like the consequences of taking naked pictures or not walking around with your eyes glued to your phone (which can be really dangerous).

As much as I could see my teen self being totally offended by my mom handing me this iPhone contract, I totally feel for this mom. If you’ve ever babysat, you know the kind of panic there is when you realize all of the things that could go wrong. I imagine for parents it is like that every single day and you just want to keep your kids safe and also well-rounded. Different things work for different families, and if this iPhone contract works well for them, then awesome.

Personally, I know I’m going to be a totally overprotective mom. It’s just my personality. I pledge now though to keep in mind that when future mom Meg is writing up a list of phone rules (or by that point, who knows what technology we will have), I will take a second to consider how teen Meg would have felt about the whole thing and proceed from there so everyone in my family is happy.

Do you agree with some of the rules in this iPhone contract? Did your parents make you sign some kind of contract before getting your smartphone? If your parents gave you these rules about how to use your iPhone, what would you say? Tell us in the comments!

Was the iPhone App Snapchat Really Just Designed For Sexting?

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The effects of diet soda and other diet drinks have been debated–and now depression might be one of them! | Source: ShutterStock

There are some awesome effects of diet soda: You can enjoy the sweetness and bubbles of something delish without packing on the calories, which is a big incentive. Diabetics can enjoy soda without affecting their blood sugar, which lessens the feeling of missing out. Sounds pretty win-win, right?

Well, it might not be. There have been lots of reports about negative effects of diet soda that have had questionable results and findings–no one’s really sure if it causes cancer (so far, you’d have to drink a whole lot for a really, really long time to show any changes–and they’ve only studied mice, so take it with an enormous grain of salt) or makes you gain weight by increasing cravings for sweets (what a cruel world!). Now, another possible effect of diet soda has emerged: It’s being linked to depression. Yikes!

New studies have found that people who drink four or more sodas of any kind every day were 30 percent more likely to suffer from depression that people who didn’t drink as much soda at all. People who drank diet soda were 32 percent more likely to be depressed than people who didn’t drink soda daily, and diet soda drinkers were almost 10 percent more likely to have depression than people who drank regular soda. Phew, that’s a lot of numbers–got all that?

Good, because there’s more: Diet soda isn’t the only culprit. Apparently diet fruit drinks might bum people out, too. People who drank diet fruit drinks daily had a 51 percent higher chance of being depressed than people who didn’t.

We’re like, “But they’re so delicious! Say it ain’t so!”

Thankfully, it was just a link, not a direct cause. The researchers admit there are a ton of other factors that can affect your likelihood of depression: Your BMI, family history, stress, and just how your life is going in general.

There is, however, a drink that may stave off depression: Coffee. The same study showed that people who gulp down four or more cups of java a day were less likely to be depressed. That may be because caffeine acts as a brain stimulant–or just because it’s so yummy–but the jury is still out.

We’re not trying to make you panic and throw all your Diet Coke into a river. That would be terrible for the aquatic life. But maybe just don’t drink so much of any one thing all of the time, whether it’s diet soda, fruity diet drinks or regular stuff. Maybe those people were depressed because they didn’t get a ton of variety in their hydration. Seriously, the same thing all the time? Boring!

Do you buy all of the negative effects of diet soda and diet drinks, or do you think it’s just hype? Have you ever noticed what you eat or drink affecting your mood? Tell us in the comments!

Are you depressed or just sad?

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So why jeans? There are 1.7 million teenagers are living in homeless shelters, and jeans are the top requested item these teens ask for from their shelters. This is the sixth year of Teens for Jeans and in the past five years, they’ve collected 2.5 million pairs of jeans. Amazing!

So instead of having those jeans that don’t fit anymore take up space in your dresser, why not donate them to this awesome cause? Starting on Jan. 14, Aéropostale and P.S. from Aéropostale stores will serve as the collection sites for your jeans (FYI, you are totally able to donate any brand of jeans though). The stores will be collecting donations until Feb. 10.

As if just doing a good deed wasn’t enough, for every pair you donate you get a 25% off coupon for a new pair of Aéropostale and P.S. from Aéropostale jeans. Seriously good karma! If you’re interested in taking this on as a bigger project, you can set up a drive at your school (there are some sweet prizes if your school collects the most jeans!) and there’s also the opportunity to win a $5,000 scholarship for yourself by getting the word out about homeless teens to your friends. For more details on all of this, you can visit TeensForJeans.com

Also, if you have a sec, check out the video below that’s packed with some super cool celebrities who’ve been involved over the years. I give you the go-ahead to basically tell people you and these celebs are BFFs if you participate.

Do you love jeans? Have you ever donated to Teens For Jeans before? Have you ever donated clothes before to any organization? Have you ever led a community service project at your school? What was it? Tell us in the comments. 

3 Awesome New Ways To Wear Denim

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Malala Yousufzai has been released from the hospital after being attacked by the Taliban. | Source: YouTube (CNN)

We first shared Malala’s story back in October. If you remember, Malala kept attending school in Pakistan even after the Taliban banned girls from receiving an education. She even blogged under a pseudonym for the BBC about her experience.

She generated international attention for her actions and her advocacy for girls to have access to education. Tragically though, while she is such an inspiration to us, her government saw her as a threat, and on October 9, Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban.

Even while in recovery, Malala has gathered support for her work and her bravery. She was on the short list for Time‘s “Person of the Year” award, and Malala actually narrowly edged out President Barack Obama (who ended up being selected by the magazine as “Person of the Year”) in a poll conducted by Today as the individual that viewers felt deserved the 2012 honor.

The United Nations declared November 10 as “Malala Day” in her honor and there’s a lot of people who have expressed their support for her to be up for a Nobel Peace Prize. Despite the personal hardship she has endured, Malala has also continued to look out for others. In December, Malala asked that a college in Pakistan not be renamed in her honor because it could put the students attending there in danger.

If you’re not too familiar with Malala, we urge you to take a few minutes today to read up on her story – you could start with some of the links we’ve included here! It’s easy to take something like an education for granted, and Malala reminds us that attending school is not something to which all girls have access. Malala isn’t totally in the clear yet, as the hospital’s statement said she will still have to keep going to doctor’s appointments and she is scheduled to have surgery in a few weeks. In the mean time, let’s all try to keep Malala, her work and her bravery in our thoughts.

Are you familiar with Malala Yousufzai? What do you hope that people learn from her work and her bravery? Let us know in the comments!

Get to know other girls in the world who are making their voices heard.

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Did someone really roofy her own parents just to go online?! | Source: ShutterStock

We know the Internet is a big deal, but would it lead you to slip drugs to your parents?!

Reports say that a girl in California was having a friend over on a Friday night and they wanted to go online. Problem was, her parents turned off her Internet connection at 10:00 PM. (It’s unclear whether it was automatic or if her parents manually did it themselves each night.) So what did the gal and her pal do? They bought her parents milkshakes . . . and laced them with sleeping pills so they could go online. WTF?!

Cops said her parents finished only about a quarter of their milkshakes before they started getting sleepy, and they stopped because they tasted weird and felt grainy. So gross and so scary! The girl’s friend gave her a ton of prescription sleeping pills to pretty much roofy her parents with so they could go online.

Her parents fell asleep, then woke up a few hours later feeling hungover, but went back to sleep. When they woke up in the morning and still felt groggy and sick, they went to the police station to take drug tests. When the parents tested positive for the drugs, they told the cops what happened–and the girl and her friend were arrested and shoved in juvenile hall. Police said that if the girls were 18 or over, they could have been facing legit prison time. Just to go online. Is it really worth it? (Spoiler alert: It’s not.)

When cops asked the girls what happened, the daughter of the roofied parents basically just said their Internet rules were “too strict.” Dude. Is your FOMO that bad that you risk making your parents super sick–or worse–and get yourself thrown behind bars? And um, just to go online on a Friday night?

No one knows what the girls planned on doing once they got Internet access, but it doesn’t matter. Listen. We love you, and we really love that you read our stuff here on Gurl. But if you have to roofy your parents to connect to the Internet, it’s probably not worth it. Just wait until the morning. Or, you know, go to a friend’s house whose parents let her log on at night–or maybe just ask your folks to let you stay on later for once. Whatever you do, please don’t slip sleeping pills to mom and dad.

Would you ever drug your parents to get what you wanted? Do you think this girl should be punished for slipping sleeping pills to her parents? Why do you think she felt the need to roofy her parents to go online? Tell us in the comments!

What are your parents doing on FB?!

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Hackers group Anonymous exposed a video of alleged rapists–but is it hurting the rape victim, too? | Source: ShutterStock

You’ve probably heard of the hacker group Anonymous. They’re a group of hackers who say they hack in the name of good. They’re kind of everywhere, they’re pretty intimidating, and they often, despite their reputation, have pretty decent intentions. They recently exposed a group of gang rapists from Big Red High School in Steubenville, Ohio who drugged and raped a 16-year-old girl from a neighboring town.

The Anonymous hackers leaked a video of the “Big Red Rapists” bragging, laughing, and joking about the brutalities they inflicted on this girl. I’m not going to post the video because it’s seriously one of the most disturbing, unsettling, sickening, and downright horrifying things I’ve ever seen. The reason that hackers Anonymous and their subgroups released the clip is because despite the girl being assaulted and drugged by multiple people, only two were charged. Some people think that because many of the rapists were on the Big Red High School football team–a big deal in the Ohio Valley area–that the town has been covering up for their high school “heroes.” So you figure, these guys pretty much deserve what they’re getting, right?

Here’s where it gets a little messy, though. While Anonymous hackers released not only a video of the alleged rapists–who also reportedly tweeted about the rapes–they also released the addresses, phone numbers, and personal information of the accused rapists and their families.

While there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that everyone involved with this horrific crime needs to be brought to justice and punished to the fullest extent of the law, I’m not entirely sure this is the best way to do it. Anonymous said that they’d release the information if the rapists in the video and accused of being parties to the rape didn’t issue apologies to the victim, who will likely be scarred for life. But it may be pretty dangerous for the victim herself for Anonymous to launch a cyber attack on her attackers.

Let’s be real: The rape victim is likely incredibly traumatized by whatever it is went down, and rightfully so. But having everything drudged up in the media probably isn’t making her feel any better. I think it’s commendable and wonderful that she has so many people on her side, and I love that people are so passionate about bringing her some form of closure and relief in the matter–but this form of vigilante justice is likely not what she really needs right now.

There’s also the issue that, even with gross videos like this, at the end of the day, people are still innocent until they’re proven guilty. The appropriate move may have been to send this video to the authorities, not post it online for the entire world. And releasing the home addresses of these monsters is a little unfair to their families, who most likely didn’t know anything about the incident until the rest of the world did–and who, chances are, had nothing to do with it.

You can watch the video here at your own risk (it’s seriously horrifying) and learn more about the case here. These guys absolutely need to be brought to justice–but there has got to be a better, more fair way to do it.

Do you think the Anonymous hackers are doing the right thing by exposing the alleged rapists? Do you think the town is covering up the rape case because the alleged rapists are on the football team? Tell us in the comments.

These guys aren’t the only ones who think rape is okay. Scary stuff.

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In Colorado, legalized marijuana led to pot smoking clubs–where people 21 and up won’t be bothered for smoking weed. | Source: ShutterStock

The pot smoking clubs are becoming popular in Colorado, where–as a lot of you already know–under a new law, people over 21 can carry up to an ounce of marijuana and are allowed to up to grow six marijuana plants. People over 21 are allowed to smoke in private places, but not in public–which is pretty much for their own good, since marijuana is still technically illegal under federal law (which trumps state law always).

The difference between a pot smoking club and a bar with booze (besides the smell)? At bars, people buy alcohol. Since marijuana isn’t legalized nationally yet, pot smoking clubs can’t actually sell marijuana to people who spend time there smoking weed.

Colorado’s marijuana clubs are also serving a different purpose than a bar. Most landlords and building owners don’t care if you drink in your own apartment or house, but a lot of them have rules against smoking–be it pot or cigarettes–because of the smell, the potential damage to property (booze may stain a carpet, but a misplaced cigarette can start a fire). Pot smoking clubs provide a private place where people who register, pay a fee, and are over 21 can smoke without getting into trouble or evicted.

The director of one of the first legal marijuana clubs in Colorado, Club 64 (named after Amendment 64, which legalized marijuana in the state), said that they want to extend the club to not just be about smoking weed, but about getting friends together to do all sorts of stuff–from mountain biking to rafting and skiing. We’d just advise not to bike, raft, ski–or drive–high.

Do you think pot smoking clubs will become as popular as bars? Do you think other states should legalize smoking weed? If smoking weed were legal where you live, would you go to a pot smoking club? Tell us in the comments!

No legalized marijuana where you live? Here’s how to deal if you’re caught with weed.

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Can acne medication like Accutane cause suicide? | Source: ShutterStock

Accutane used to a prescription-only oral acne medication in the U.S., and it was supposed to only be prescribed for the most severe cases of acne as a total last resort. But after reports of Accutane users becoming depressed and committing suicide grew more and more rampant, the drug was pulled from the market. There were also a slew of lawsuits against Roche, the company behind Accutane, for causing “inflammatory bowels.” You can imagine how pleasant that would be. (Ew.)

However, Accutane is still sold overseas. A new epidemic of Accutane-related suicide cases have risen in the U.K., and there are cries to pull the medication–known there as Roaccutane–from pharmacies.

This may seem like it doesn’t have too much of an effect on you if you live in the states, but it does. It’s really easy to buy medications like Accutane online without a prescription. You might be tempted to try it out if your own acne treatments from your dermatologist don’t do the trick. Please don’t. Not only is it illegally, but it’s so dangerous, because you have no one to go to if you have weird side effects like depression or worse. Clear skin is not worth your life!

Have you ever had bad experiences with Accutane? Do you know anyone who’s been suicidal because of Accutane? Do you think Accutane causes suicide or that there’s more to the story than that? Do you think Accutane was rightfully pulled from shelves? Tell us in the comments!

What do guys think of girls with acne? Find out!

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