Item.

Danvers High parents recently got an automated call from the principal warning them that if students say or display the word “meep” at school, they could face suspension.

Meep doesn’t mean much, unless you are Beaker – the hapless, orange-haired assistant to Dr. Bunsen Honeydew on “The Muppet Show.”

While meep may be nonsense, what it represented was no laughing matter to the high school’s administration. High school Principal Thomas Murray said students were using it and other words to disrupt school in a particular part of the building on Cabot Road. The term later became part of a disruption some students were planning online.

“It’s really not about the word in particular,” Murray said. “The reason for the message (was) a group of students were instructed to refrain from that language and other language in a particular part of the building.”

Murray gave students “a reasonable request” not to use the word to disrupt school in a hallway, and to stop other behaviors, but they did not listen, Murray said.

“Students were not going along with the direction or refraining from a particular type of language,” he said.

Murray did not elaborate on how the students were acting out. But he did say the phone call home was an attempt to head off a disruption being planned on the social networking Web site Facebook.

There’s only one thing you can say about a situation like that one.

Meep.

Item #2:

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rubbed shoulders with rappers and was hailed with “respect” in a television show on Friday that could help boost his flagging ratings.

Putin, wearing a turtleneck sweater and jacket, went on stage to present awards to participants in “Battle for Respect”, a hip-hop music contest run by Muz TV, a Russian rival to MTV.

“It would have been cool to record a joint track with Vladimir Putin because he is a legendary man and our idol,” sang rapper Zhigan who won the contest. “Let’s make so much noise in his honour that the whole world can hear.”

A presenter told the audience of about 100 young rappers in a makeshift television studio in an abandoned Moscow factory building that he wanted “smiles to stay on your faces throughout the evening”.

Despite hip-hop’s violent image, Putin had a stern message for the rappers about healthy living.

“I do not think that ‘top-rock’ or ‘down-rock’ breakdance technique is compatible with alcohol or drugs,” Putin told cheering hip-hoppers who responded with chants of “Respect, Vladimir Vladimirovich”.

Meep.  Meep.  MEEP!

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