There are many reasons that fast food isn't exactly a healthy choice. Most items are high in fat. The calorie count is certainly up there, too. But, there's a new reason to avoid fast food -- sometimes the sense of humor of the staff is a little off.

OK. So it's not fair to generalize. But this one Burger King restaurant in Ohio has some employees with a seriously strange sense of humor. An employee thought it would be funny to take a bubble bath in the restaurant's large, stainless steel sink. Another employee filmed the soapy caper and other employees -- including a manager -- looked on. The video was posted on MySpace.com, but has since been deleted.

Burger King released the following statement: "Burger King Corp. was just notified of this incident and is cooperating fully with the health department. We have sanitized the sink and have disposed of all other kitchen tools and utensils that were used during the incident. We have also taken appropriate correction action on the employees that were involved in this video. Additionally, the remaining staff at this restaurant is being retrained in health and sanitation procedures."

I should hope so. After all, I don't think this is quite what was meant by the "employees are required to wash hands" policy.

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Do social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook put youth in "mental risk?" At least one London-based psychiatrist thinks so. Dr. Himanshu Tyagi thinks kids who have grown up with the internet and who frequent social networking sites may have a skewed view of how true social interaction works. He warns that kids involved with social networking may place less value on their real lives and that this can lead to impulsive behavior.

Of social networking sites, Tyagi says "It's a world where everything moves fast and changes all the time, where relationships are quickly disposed at the click of a mouse, where you can delete your profile if you don't like it, and swap an unacceptable identity in the blink of an eye for one that is more acceptable."

Other experts disagree. While most concur that overuse of social networking sites can be harmful, some experts like psychologist Graham Jones feel that moderate use is perfectly healthy. In Jones' opinion, many people who use social networking sites tend to be quite social in their real lives as well. Their online presence is just an extension of their real-life social behavior.

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What if your insurance premiums reflected the things you wrote on social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, or LiveJournal? Or worse: what if an insurer denied coverage altogether because of your blog? That is the situation a New Jersey court will be deciding on in regards to a pair of girls with eating disorders.

The concept being debated is whether or not these online expressions should be available for review by insurance companies. A class action lawsuit was brought against one insurer for not picking up the claim to treat anorexia and bulimia for two teenagers. The companies say that things posted online, diaries and even emails should be fair game.

How do these things relate to health insurance anyway? Well, these two cases are references a mental illness. For coverage to be extended, the illnesses have to be biologically based -- not peer pressured or externally influenced. A girl's MySpace, for example, may be able to give them an idea on how "biological" their daughter's bulimia is. However the parents don't think that is fair. People have been saying to be careful about what you put online. It is a situation like this which makes you understand what they were referring to.

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MySpace, Facebook, cell phones, chat rooms, text messaging, instant messaging, the Internet at large -- today's parents of teens have a lot of issues to deal with that previous generations never needed to. It can be scary trying to draw appropriate boundaries while still giving your teen room to breathe. Social networking sites like MySpace have long drawn criticism for being a playground for inappropriate behavior and putting kids at risk for sexual solicitation or harassment.

A new study of just over 1,588 10 to 15-year-olds found that, while 25% of these kinds of incidents do happen on social networking sites, the risk is far higher in chat rooms and during text messaging. The study's author believes that this means we should concentrate less on the format of the technology and more on empowering kids to use these new high-tech playgrounds appropriately.

But some are poking holes in her theory, saying that the kids she polled were too young. Facebook and MySpace don't allow kids under 13 and 14 to join, so it's possible that many children in her study have yet to be exposed to this sort of thing.

All I have to say is that I'm glad that I have a few years before this becomes an issue at our house! What do you parents of teens think?

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For any parent out there who has seen any of those To Catch a Predator shows about adults posing as teenagers online in order to make friends and more with unsuspecting kids, this news may be a bit unsettling. Apparently, teens contacted online by total strangers aren't overly concerned about the people attempting to chat with them, and don't question their motives.

According to the report, 44% of teenagers who have posted a profile or pictures of themselves online at social networking sites like facebook and myspace have been contacted by someone they don't know, compared with only 6% of those who do not have profiles. Furthermore, most of those kids aren't worried about why they're being contacted.

I know that when I was a teenager there was no way I would have been allowed to post any information about myself online, and I also think that I would have been freaked out if a total stranger stopped by to say hello. I suppose times do change though and now that these networking sites are the norm, kids are probably more used to making contacts with strangers online. Hopefully, they're being savy about it as well.

What do you parents out there think about your kids making 'friends' with strangers online?

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