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Katy Perry Down on Rihanna for Dating Chris Brown.

Katy Perry and Rihanna were once BFFs, but now, a man reportedly has come between them: Chris Brown.
Us Weekly reported that because of Rihanna’s rekindled romance with Chris, their friendship isn’t what it used to be.“They aren’t tight anymore because Katy doesn’t approve of Rihanna dating Chris,” an insider told the magazine.

At the Grammy Awards last Sunday, Perry, 28, and boyfriend John Mayer, 35, were sitting in the front row, while Rihanna and Brown were sitting in another part of the audience. At past Grammys, the two girls had sat right next to one another.It was also recently reported that Rihanna had fallen out with Perry because she didn’t approve of Perry dating known womanizer Mayer. When asked about this by Rolling Stone magazine, Rihanna dismissed the report, and laughed, “Katy Perry can date anyone she wants. Besides, who the f*** am I to say anything? I could never given relationship advice to anybody!”

One of the most talked about moments of this year’s Grammys was when Brown, 23, and Rihanna, 24, were spotted smiling and cuddling. The two walked the red carpet separately but once inside the Staples Center, they got cozy, when Rihanna, decked out in a red dress, photographed leaning her head on Brown’s shoulder with a huge smile. The two lovebirds have come a long way in just four years.

On the eve of the 2009 Grammys, Brown assaulted Rihanna, whose bruised face became a tabloid fixture. Brown showed up to a court appearance Feb. 6 in Los Angeles on issues related to his probation with Rihanna by his side.In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Rihanna said public opinion doesn’t matter.

“I wasn’t going to let anybody’s opinion get in the way of that. Even if it’s a mistake, it’s my mistake,” Rihanna told the magazine, out Friday. “After being tormented for so many years, being angry and dark, I’d rather just live my truth and take the backlash. I can handle it.“When you add up the pieces from the outside, it’s not the cutest puzzle in the world,” she says. “But it’s different now.”

That appeal doesn’t surprise me, but it does worry me. As much as I think having these virtual experiences can help a kid test out ways of interacting that they can’t in real life, they also can lead to similar disappointments, hurt feelings and in the worst scenario predatory and unwanted behavior.

In the kid-focused worlds this is less of a risk, but many kids are now playing SIM apps that are meant for adults and allow marriage, and for characters to have sex, even though the graphics don’t allow detailed nudity.

So is this any different than kids playing doctor in real life? Is a child pretending to be more mature than their years online really that different from kids playing house, or playing out these scenarios with dolls or Legos? It’s a tricky question, and the fact that when they are online they are interacting with strangers who could be anyone, anywhere of any age, makes it much scarier. But these new playgrounds really are an extension of modern childhood and today’s digital kids are going to use them in much the same way that kids have always used kid spaces to create their own realities and figure out their world. The key for parents is to know what their kids are doing, pay attention to the ratings on websites and apps -– Common Sense Media is a great place to start as are the reviews on the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store –- and keep the dialog going between you and your child.

In the meantime, I’m helping my daughter shop for a prom dress in the online boutique, weighing in on the pink hair versus the blue, and being a little bit thankful that this is all pretend for now.

2012 Olympics: Australia, Japan Criticized For Olympian Gender Discrimination

Australia — Men up front, women in the back.
Not so fast, Olympians.Sports governing bodies from Japan and Australia are being skewered following complaints that male Olympic athletes flew business class to the London Games, while the women sat in the cheap seats.
Japan’s world champion women’s football team took exception to flying economy while their male counterparts sat in business en route to the games.
“It should have been the other way around,” Japanese soccer star Homare Sawa, the 2011 FIFA women’s world player of the year, said after arriving in Paris after the 13-hour flight, with just the short hop to London left. “Even just in terms of age we are senior.”
The Japan Football Association said the men’s under-23 Olympic team members flew in business class because they are professionals. The women, however, are likely be the bigger draw at the games. Only months after the devastating earthquake and tsunami hit Japan last year, they brought a sliver of joy to their country by winning their first World Cup title.
The Australian women’s basketball team has also been more successful than the men, earning the silver medal at each of the last three Olympics.
On Friday, Basketball Australia said it would make sure the flight flap doesn’t happen again.”(We will) review our Olympic travel policy with the goal of ensuring there is equity between travel arrangements for the men’s and women’s teams attending future Olympics,” the basketball governing body said in a statement.

This year’s Olympics will mark the first time that every competing country will field female athletes. It’s also the first time, after the inclusion of women’s boxing, that every sport at the Olympics will have both male and female competitors.
Gender equality, however, has taken a beating in some circles.
“The simple fact is when a policy results in gender inequality, it’s very clearly not the right policy,” Basketball Australia acting chief executive Scott Derwin said.
Not all the Australian women were stuck in coach. WNBA player Lauren Jackson was in first class because she is an “ambassador” with the airline involved, and Liz Cambage, another WNBA player, paid to upgrade herself to business class.The incoming chief executive of Basketball Australia welcomed the travel policy review.
“In this day and age, there’s just no excuse for men’s and women’s sporting teams to be treated differently when they both compete at the same world-class level,” said Kristina Keneally, a former state political leader of New South Wales. “The disparity is even more glaring when you consider that our women’s basketball team is one of the best in the world.”
In London, Australian chef de mission Nick Green said the national Olympic committee provides round-trip economy airfares for all team members with the official airline sponsor.
“We’re comfortable for the sports to look after their athletes,” Green said. “We give them the travel subsidy to travel. … and the sports themselves determine how they use that.”
Other Australian Olympic teams also fly economy, but some organizations, like Swimming Australia, give its athletes the option to upgrade to business class at their own expense.
Former Australian women’s basketball captain Robyn Maher said the Australian women’s team had repeatedly asked Basketball Australia to justify the inequity.
“Over the years it’s been a multitude of (reasons given) – the men get better funding, so they’ve been able to do it; the men are bigger, so they need more space,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s been a bit of a sore spot, especially since the women are much more successful.”