I came across a few very interesting statistics today, from mediapost.com, which show that Facebook directs more traffic to news sites than Google Reader and Google News. More importantly for news websites, 78% people linked to a news site from Facebook will visit the site again, compared to a 64% return rate from Google News.
The trend continues when broadcast news sites are examined (e.g. CNN)- 77% return from Facebook, and 64% will return if linked from a Google site.
I was shocked to read that Twitter only directs 0.14% of a news site’s traffic, until I read that the survey only examined links from twitter.com, when most Twitter users use software or another client.
Google.com still directs more traffic to news sites than any other site, but I think news sites will concern themselves mostly with the loyality of visitors, and according to this piece of research, the loyal visitors are being linked from Facebook.
Just go to http://www.hotspotla.com and on the front page hit the free listing button and fill out the free listing form. Don’t forget to look around the site, we are growing. We have great marketing tools for subscribers to market to the social networks, via a very powerful Blog, email blasts, video commercials, and splash websites, all help with the optimization of your business. Our commitment is to help business create more traffic into there business, weather it be a brick and mortar store, a website or just calling! Please contact, info below.
POSTED AS A COMMUNITY SERVICE BY GADABOUT-BLOGALOT
Edgewood Chamber of Commerce’s Welcome Wagon
Hello Chamber Members! What a beautiful day God blessed us with today!! We have 2 new members to the Edgewood Chamber of Commerce! Please add them to your contact lists so you can network with them.
The Edgewood Chamber of Commerce would like to welcome Little John’s Towing! Little John’s Towing has 24-hour service including weekends. They not only tow they provide tire changes, lock-out service, storage, jump starts and gas runs. Add this number to your cell phone: 832-9457 or 259-7744. Trust me…when you need these services, you never have a phone book handy! Little John’s Towing also has a web site: www.littlejohnstowing.com . We are so pleased to add Little John’s Towing to our membership.
The Edgewood Chamber of Commerce would like to also welcome Park & Shine. Park & Shine is a mobile automobile appearance service. Their services include: detailing, scratch & dent repair, windshield star repair, headlight restoration, and interior repair. What a great service since we don’t have a car wash in Edgewood…they come to you!! Park & Shine’s contact information is: 281-3010 or 321-3599. They also have a great web site: www.parknshine.com . Welcome to the Edgewood Chamber Park & Shine! Wishing you all a great day!
Robin Foshee, Executive Director
Edgewood Chamber of Commerce
505-286-2577 office 505-948-6963 cell
Check us out on Facebook!!!
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Edgewood Chamber Friday Blast For March 12, 2010 (gadabout-blogalot.com)
Hackers have flooded the Internet with virus-tainted spam that targets Facebook’s estimated 400 million users in an effort to steal banking passwords and gather other sensitive information.
The emails tell recipients that the passwords on their Facebook accounts have been reset, urging them to click on an attachment to obtain new login credentials, according to anti-virus software maker McAfee Inc.
If the attachment is opened, it downloads several types of malicious software, including a program that steals passwords, McAfee said on Wednesday.
Hackers have long targeted Facebook users, sending them tainted messages via the social networking company’s own internal email system. With this new attack, they are using regular Internet email to spread their malicious software.
A Facebook spokesman said the company could not comment on the specific case, but pointed to a status update the company posted on its web site earlier on Wednesday warning users about the spoofed email and advising users to delete the email and to warn their friends.
McAfee estimates that hackers sent out tens of millions of spam across Europe, the United States and Asia since the campaign began on Tuesday.
Dave Marcus, McAfee’s director of malware research and communications, said that he expects the hackers will succeed in infecting millions of computers.
“With Facebook as your lure, you potentially have 400 million people that can click on the attachment. If you get 10 percent success, that’s 40 million,” he said.
The email’s subject line says “Facebook password reset confirmation customer support,” according to Marcus.
Top US site Facebook is finally cutting down on the need to type whole words (BEd: It’s reall annoyin in thi day an age) when searching by integrating an auto complete function. What this means is that, after entering a few letters into the search bar, a drop-down menu will appear with suggestions on people, events, groups and Pages you’re connected with or on more general results.
“If you don’t see what you are looking for in the drop-down menu, you can go to the search results page by selecting “See More Results” from the bottom of the drop-down menu. You’ll be taken to the full results, where you can sort by different categories and refine your search further,” explained Facebook engineer Wayne Kao.
The search auto suggest feature is currently being implemented so it can take a few days before it becomes available to you
Online competitive intelligence service Experian Hitwise has concluded that the week ended March 13 has seen Facebook pass Google in terms of popularity, in the US.The super popular social network (Facebook) has claimed the top spot in the US before but only on certain days (Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’ Day), so beating Google for a whole week is certainly a big milestone.
Both sites were head-to-head though, with Facebook.com capturing 7.07% of all visits made by US web surfers, while Google.com held a 7.03% share. Looking at growth, Facebook has jumped 185% compared to the same week in 2009, but Google only went up 9% and the trend is likely to continue. Google will probably just have to get used to being number two.
Back in grade school, children and teens alike took to trends as fads. Whether it was the MC Hammer Pants or the throat-constricting turtlenecks, we’ve all been there. At the time, these fads were the center of our worlds but I’ve since them learned that they always end up in the Salvation Army bin by the end of the year. Like fruits, fads often spoil when you least expect it, even when you’re aware that it’s still there.
Spoiled fruit can upset a stomach, but what about spoiled methods? Is your way to communicate outdated if not expired? Why not give your audience something new to taste?
Cross-networking in the twenty-first century has become an easy way for businesses and groups to broaden the borders of their website. Networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Ning allow users to hold events in their local communities, promote their products or services, and encourage followers to “fan” their pages. Bloggers on WordPress and Blogspot can add widgets to track their followers and add links of their other networks to the sidebar so that their audience may be directed to one of their other designated sites. Each site works hand in hand with the other, allowing followers and fans alike to jump from one destination to another, tasting every possible stream of information that you share. These interconnected networks are like cross-bred hybrid fruits: new and refreshing for the parched throat. Definitely a fruit to be savored, not left out to rot.
With free live streaming, CBS has managed to collect $37 million in ad revenue with 2010 NCAA March Madness on Demand (MMOD). It’s the “only major sports event that is broadcast live and in its entirety for free on the Internet“. With 7.52 million unique visitors in 2009, no wonder advertisers like Warner Bros. are willing to spend the big bucks. But how does MMOD attract so many users?
First of all, there is a share tab that connects to all major social media including Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo! Buzz, StumbleUpon, Digg, and an RSS feed. It’s about giving consumers what they want, and for free. A high quality video option with picture-in-picture capabilities is available in addition to the standard player. And the Developer Platform allows any publisher to link directly to the MMOD video player. CNN, ESPN, and Facebook are ready to take advantage of this, as well as many smaller publishers.
And then there’s the Boss Button. If you click on it now, the above image will appear on your screen informing you that it has not been unveiled yet. However, it promises to provide a “business-like” image to instantly hide the video player from your boss if you are watching at work.
If this isn’t good enough, you can download the Premium NCAA MMOD iPhone app for $9.99.
Social media is a conversation; it’s a number of platforms, a set of tools that enables conversation, engagement, transferal of thoughts, ideas and information…
It’s New York New York…the City that never sleeps
Its Old Man River…it just keeps rolling
It’s a neverending networking event!
So many times I hear ‘I’d like to try Twitter, give it a go, see what it’s all about, but I don’t have the time’ and I say ‘just dip in and join in the conversation…you can dip in and out, or you can stay around a bit longer, make some contacts, read some interesting stuff you won’t see anywhere else’
I believe it changes the way we communicate, because there’s no end! If you phone someone – a client, a candidate, a contact – then there’s a beginning and an end to the call, and if you want to move forward you need to conclude with an action. You can’t just pick up the phone an hour later and say something else.
But with social media, there’s always a chance to pick up the conversation, anytime! Whatever you talk about, you’re engaging with people. As long as you’ve got something interesting, engaging, informative or just plain funny to say, then people won’t mind hearing from you.
There are very few HR professionals and recruiters from the UK on Twitter, which is a shame. I would love to be able to build an online rapport with them. I speak to many in the US and chat about all sorts of things. I have often asked them ‘if I was US based, then you could well be my client or my candidate – if that was the case, how would you feel about the conversations that we have?’
They usually tell me that it wouldn’t make any difference, that the business and personal can easily mix…this is who I am, take me or leave me. They feel the same about Facebook. In the UK though I think it’s a bit different, it’s more…
No Facebook Please, We’re British!
Will it change? I think it will, eventually!
So for this post I’m going to throw down the challenge to everyone from the UK reading this who is not blogging, tweeting, contributing to groups on Linked In, or generally joining in the conversation…
After being ousted from my last writing job, I decided to pull a Conan and take my act on the road, er…Internet….via my own blog.
Naturally, it’s not going to rub all potential employers the right way. After all, I often rift on the entire concept of finding a job because I find the whole concept pretty ridiculous.
I mean here you have millions of people out of work vying for like 2,000 jobs.
And there are a lot of hypocrisies with finding a job:
- Employers demand error-free cover letters and resumes, yet I find typos in their own job ads.
- We’re told as job hunters to always show up on time for an interview, yet interviewers are often late.
- Some employers want samples before granting an interview, yet if you give them an inch, they want a mile.
In this day and age of Google, Facebook, and background checks, you have to be careful what you put online.
I mean, hey I’m not stupid. Whoever is going to consider me for a job will do a search online see what comes up.
They’ll find this blog, and hopefully they’ll see that Willblogforlols is an unemployment blog that takes a look at the lighter side of finding a job.
Now like I mentioned before, not everyone’s going to like what I write. They may find some of the content on my blog offensive and not appropriate for someone who’s seeking a job.
Some may even say that this blog could sabotage my chances of getting a job.
But you know what I say?
You have to have a sense of humor about all this.
They have a have a sense of humor about all this.
It’s sort of like rushing a fraternity, where you have to suck up in order to get in, and take whatever crap comes your way.
I think most employers will get that, and those that don’t, well, maybe I just don’t belong at a company that doesn’t believe in having a sense of humor.
This is a forum where I can express myself, be creative, and blow off some steam about this career nightmare.
I know this particular post wasn’t particularly funny…more of an editorial.
So I’ll leave you with an LOL.
Why’d the chicken cross the road?
It had no choice. It got hit by a Prius and the owner couldn’t stop .
Mobilen som høj-relevant medie
I dialogbranchen hvor Undertegnede samt min medskribent er opvokset og pt. boltrer sig, tales der meget om relevans. Det er en af disciplinens vigtigste byggeklodser. Der sigtes således oftest på kommunikative elementer, som med størst sandsynlighed har relevans for den enkelte – eller i hvert fald lugter af det. Det kunne i praksis være segmenterede tilbagemeldings-mails på baggrund af surveys, direct mails på baggrund af bopælskommune eller tilrettede mysites på baggrund af online adfærd. Mulighederne er mange.
Hvor on- og offline mailings, surveys, Mypages og SMS er disciplinens grand old men, vil jeg plædere for, at mobilen som seriøs kanal først nu er ved at bryde igennem for alvor og i den grad er brugbar i en relevans-kontekst.
Jo, jo, der har i mange år været tale om Mobile Marketing, med SMS som drivkraft, ligesom WAP netværket har leveret spil og andre web-tjenester. Men mobilen har været betragtet som et værktøj i en isoleret niche, hvor en en inbound og/eller outbound SMS er grundelementet i kampagnen. I den integrerede marketing-proces giver dette bestemt visse muligheder i en given kampagne. Men som relevant tværmedialt dialogværktøj er mulighederne få. Og det er naturligvis ikke kun en mangel på forståelse for dialog eller kreativitet hos de mange mobil-løsnings leverandører, vi kan bebrejde – den teknologiske udvikling bærer også en del af skylden. Vi er blevet lovet guld og grønne skove af diverse mobil-selskaber længe, men som med så meget andet der kommer derfra, har det været varm luft.
Men vi har nu påbegyndt en ny æra, hvor mobiltelefonen i bedste Macluhan- stil i sandhed bliver en forlængelse af det menneskelige legeme. En æra hvor ringefunktionen er blevet et tertiært produkt. Jeg betragter da heller ikke længere mit Iphone abonnement som et mobilabonnement men derimod som et medie-abonnement. Det er først nu, at mange af vores våde drømme om mobilen som brugbar dialog-utility går i opfyldelse – også i et marketingperspektiv. De mange smartphones og de yderst brugbare applikationer i den fyldige Itunes app-store er konkrete eksempler på udbredelse. Ja, selv det stigende antal af smartphones-besøg på min arbejdsplads hjemmside er et solidt hint.
De 4 elementer der har udløst mobilens relevans-potentiale i Danmark
Vi har vidst længe, at mobiltelefonen havde et uudløst potentiale her i Danmark. Vi har jo kunne skæve mod Østen og USA, hvor mulighederne (som altid) er mange flere. Men det er altså først nu, at en egentlig potentiel høj “relevans-værdi” i brugen af mobilenheder i Danmark er blevet udløst. Jeg har i den sammenhæng identificeret de fire grundelementer, som jeg mener , har gjort dette muligt:
1. Teknologien fungerer godt nok til uproblematisk og gnidningsfri brug
2. Applikationerne er (vel-)udviklet
3. Brugerne er beviste om mulighederne og kender konventionerne
4. Brugen af de sociale medier har skabt en kultur, hvori der findes et naturligt behov og ønske om instant messageing. Med udbredelsen af Twitter og Facebook er logikken på plads: Ord som “status opdatering”, “What are you doing right know?” og “real-time” hænger uløseligt sammen.
Som sidste punkt antyder, spiller kulturen omkring de sociale medier og on-the-go, efter min mening, en afgørende rolle. Og hvor første bølge af applikationer og sociale utilities gjorde det muligt at sende ex Tweets via en appliaktion (før og nu også via SMS) fra mobilen, kombinerede anden bølge dette med brugerens geografiske position. Vi er efter min bedste overbevisning et sted i den tredje bølge, hvor ovenstående social location sharing kombineres med direkte word-of-mouth i form af anmeldelser/tips og et ekstra deltagende incentive-niveau i form af fx et spil/konkurrence-element.
Og så de to eksempler
To applikationer som er indbegrebet af tredje bølge er Foursquare og Gowalla. (som jeg selv nyder godt af). Og ingen grund til her at koble flere ord på disse to sociale netværk. Via nedenstående links kan du blive meget klogere (jf. naturligvis også evt. de officielle sites). Og så er det jo som bekendt bedst at prøve dem selv.
1. Foursquare
2. Gowalla
Når vi holder foredrag om tilgangen til de sociale medier i et marketingsperspektiv, runder vi af med et kig i krystalkuglen: Hvilke tendenser ser vi i DK? Hvad kommer der mere af? Og lur mig om disse to applikationer ikke er med næste gang, vi skal på turné, som repræsentanter for denne tendens. Jeg vil i øvrigt poste brugs-eksempler her på bloggen. For der findes allerede gode cases på den kommercielle brug af både Foursquare og Gowalla.
Location services will soon be implemented to probably the most popular social network today, Facebook. Or, in other words, you will be able to post your current location online when changing your status. This feature should become available to its users during the next few months.
Though a neat little feature, most profiting from it will be the users using their cellphone (or iPad?) to access Facebook. Others can probably do the same just typing the city name in their laptop.
Norman Rockwell…what can I say? He was such a wonderful illustrator. The way he illustrated life was genuine. A whole story could be told in a single illustration without one word being written. All you had to do was really look at the picture, and you could somehow relate to what he was trying to tell you through his art. He was perfect for his time.
I often wonder what he would be illustrating if he were still here and illustrating daily living today! It would definitely not be the same!
Like the illustration he did of the girl getting ready for her prom. Instead of a girl looking innocently in a mirror,with her dress in hand, I picture a girl running off to a tanning salon, a nail salon, possibly sitting in a limo with friends.etc. How would he illustrate that today?
Okay, cell phones! I could picture him illustrating someone walking with a cell phone…better than that…shopping while talking on the cell phone! Yes, can’t you picture this illustration-a person standing in a checkout line at the store, maybe the 12 items or less line, and he’s got the counter cluttered with grocery items (more than 12 obviously)and he’s holding up the line, completely oblivious to the fact of all the disgusted looks on peoples faces in the background! Yes! I’ve even experienced that one!
How about illustrating a woman putting on makeup while driving to work, I can definitely see that one. Hey, I have seen that one…in person!
Or instead of an illustration of a child sitting there quietly reading his book, he’s now being illustrated at the kitchen table or on his bed on his laptop! How about a group of friends sitting around playing a war game on their huge, flat screen tv… all their eyes intent on the screen, snacks all around and arms flying every which way.
I can picture an illustration of guys watching the super bowl on television with fists and angry faces up to the tv! Oh yes, with snacks and beer everywhere!
It would definitely be a different world to illustrate today! I’m just glad Norman Rockwell was here for the time he was meant to be here, even though his illustrations will continue to be popular in any time period. It’s nice to just thumb through his illustrations and see a less stressed and down- to- earth America and I’d like to remember his illustrations this way.
Now, can you picture what he would have done with this “gossip” illustration I posted here, if he were to illustrate something like this today? I shudder at the thought…mmmm…cell phones, facebook, blue tooth…
I prefer not to think about it!
Thank you, Norman. We love you and I think we would all agree you were perfect for your time!
I said I would, and I did. But it wasn’t easy, something about Windows Movie Maker just didn’t like the aspect ratio of my clips and made my Zune look super skinny. I don’t want anorexic Zune HD.
I think the video is pretty good for a little chopped and trimmed production. It features two made-up Facebook peoples for privacy reasons, and their dialogue is pretty funny. At least I think so, cause I was the one who wrote it. The video basically goes through everything you can find in the Facebook app, which is not as much as the one on the iPod/iPhone, but it’s only version 1.0. More will come, mark my words.
This video also marks the launch of Three My Thought’s YouTube channel, which can be found here. I promise I will make it look nicer.
Good morning, Social Rabbit here with your guide to the world of social media.
13 reasons social media works is responding my the post 13 excuses for social media not working, I can’t really give you 13 excuses and let you loose on the world, so here are the responses with facts and figures to back it up, no more excuses people!
1) No Time… All it takes is an hour a day, as this article shows you how… 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening
2) Facebook fan pages don’t work for my industry. Facebook pages are used by a huge number of different industries out there (I don’t want to say all, as I haven’t checked to be honest!). There are case studies on Movie releases, Police stations, Charities, cafes, non-profits, restaurants, pizza places, small businesses, it’s not just products, but services as well. As a service you can promote special offers, position your business as an expert and use your fans as a mini focus group.
3) It’s a fad. Nope, NO. Facebook has been around since 2004, MySpace since 2003 and 6/7 years on they are still growing, as well as other social networks. The advertising spend on TV and print is decreasing and companies are moving to online. Groundswell blogs that social networks will be like ‘air’ in five years time. It’s not going anywhere.
4) No one I know uses it. This is hard to believe, 400 million people on Facebook globally and growing, LinkedIn has 60 million professionals on it. People are using it in their personal life, and they ar using it to talk to companies. Go and ask your clients/customers, I bet more than you think are using it.
5) My friend tried it and it didn’t work for their business. Social media is not a shoe you try on and everyone loves it, you have to build it to suit your audience. You need to look at your audience, how old they are, what they are interested in and use this info to engage them in your social media. It is not a one size fits all approach, look at what has worked for similar businesses in your industry.
6) People where I live don’t use it. Check out this link, it will show all the countries globally where people are using Facebook, and that is just one social network. Unless you are living on the Moon it’s very very very unlikely that no one is using social media. I have just checked and astronauts have been using Twitter on their space trips since 2007! If you are interested here is their Facebook page.
7) I have no idea what to do. This is a lazy excuse. There is so much information on the internet you could read about it for weeks and still not get through it all. Good starting points are looking at the Mashable website (also available as an iPhone app) and do a search for what you want, you can also find events on here. Check out the Social Rabbit Facebook page, as there are resources on there. I could talk about this for hours, but a good place to start is to ask someone, even Rabbit’s are friendly!
I will take too long to learn. Easy answer – outsource it! Obviously Social Rabbit can help, but there are also lots of people out there that specialise in social media. Just talk to them about what they have achieved for previous clients, and maybe even chat to past clients before you jump in.
9) A Facebook page does not mean sales increase. True, if all you do is create a page and wait for people to come along, because I can tell you right now that ain’t going to happen. One page I have just started to work on – BodyBolster, has had 18 fans since June 2009, they hired Social Rabbit this week, and overnight we doubled their fans to 36. The secret to this is actually talking about the page and updating content!
10) Only geeks use Twitter. OK, harsh I know, but it depends on your definition of geek, is Ashton Kutcher a geek (he has the largest number of followers on Twitter with 4.6 million),or what about Oprah with 3.2 million followers. Or Dell computers making $3 million from sales directly related to Twitter, or Best Buy electronics store in the USA using it for customer service. I would say Twitter users are clever enough to know where their audience are and to engage with them.
11) People in my industry are not computer literate. It’ all about education, social media is like email was when it first started, it took while for everyone to get it but now people can’t imagine a world without it.
12) Who’s interested in us? The world is changing, people want to deal with people, not faceless companies. People like the reassurance that comes with knowing the people in the company – they want to connect with them.
13) There’s no point changing how we communicate. That’s fine, but your audience are moving into social media, so if you don’t look at it for your business you are going to miss the boat. Think about how frustrating it is when a company you deal with doesn’t use a certain technology that would save you time, they probably said it’s just a fad, no point in changing, so what would you do? Move to another company that offers what you want – You don’t want that to happen to you.
Hopefully this has helped you understand why social media is such a ‘hot potato’ at the moment. I would love to hear your thoughts, just click on the add a comment link below.
For a recent project we needed to show list of users with some basic information and with multiple select options, just like facebook friends selector for selecting friends, groups, projects etc…
This is generally a requirement in most of the social networking projects, with minor changes here and there.
So I decided to build a plug-in with some easy configuration options, which should work independent of the type of object to be shown in the list.
It’s a nice FB like user interface to select multiple elements. We can configure it easily by some parameters as described below.
The features I’d like to highlight are:
FB like user interface.
Word filter.
Templates.
Auto complete.
Effortless integration and easy to customize.
For more information on setup and download click here
You just need to call the helper with required parameters, on the page where you want the list to be displayed
<%= awesome_selector :objects => @users,
:field_names => ["name","email"],
:form_post_url => users_path,
:template => "template_1",
:auto_complete_field_name => "name",
:image_url => "avatar_photo_url(:thumb)",
:max_selection_limit => [5, 'Sorry, you can not select more users.'] %>
Currently there are two templates available ‘template_1′ and ‘template_2′. An example of the generated list is as follows:
template_1
template_2
After submitting the form, selected object ids are available as params[:selected_element_ids] separated by comma.
Thanks to the following for their kind contribution to the JS libraries used in this plugin.
Like any college student would, I felt my heart drop a little bit when I got the notification on my iPhone: my mom had just added me as a friend on Facebook. Fortunately, I’m not stupid enough to advertise every minute detail of my life for the consumption of the Internet, so it wasn’t a matter of “oh no, mom’s going to see pictures of me from that school girl-themed frat party in freshmen year.” It was more of a, “what social life do my parents actually have that they’d need to interact on a social-networking site?” Of course, I couldn’t deny the friendship of my own mother, so I waited a couple hours and eventually confirmed the request.
I actually surprised myself with how not-embarrassing it was to see my mom in a domain that I’d typically reserved for college kids seeking a distraction. She’s always been a pretty cool mom, in her own right. I smiled looking at her pictures — shots of my dad, brother and dog (and of course, a few less-than-glamorous ones of me) — memories I haven’t visited in the bustle of my busy collegiate life.
From: http://myparentsjoinedfacebook.com/
I’ve never been one to truly accept the idea of the generation gap, until today. In my nightly phone call to my parents, my mom made a point that piqued my interest. “You go on Facebook and talk to all these people you just met. When I go on there, I’m coming across all these people from the past.” No huge breakthrough, I suppose. I guess it’s just something I’d never thought about. Of course, my stupid reporter instincts were like “Ma, you need to write a column about that or something.” I just find it so interesting to think about the way social media affects the 20-somethings compared to our 50-something parents. She told me that she’d found a few of my grandma’s cousins’ children. No one has heard from them in years. Talk about shrinking the size of the world through the Internet. I might take back those horrible things I said about that stupid series of tubes in my last post. Even I’ll admit, that’s pretty cool how connected we can be to each other (until it gets creepy, of course).
Oh, and of course, a few hours later, I get the friend request from my dad. My brother refuses to add him, but how could I say no? These people changed my diapers and helped me through every single life crisis of the last 22 years. I couldn’t possibly reject that.
So here’s to the people who love us the most, regardless of what our “Jobs/Education” and “Relationship Status” sections say.
Are you on Facebook? Do you love brand new luxury retail and residential buildings? Become a fan of MODA on Facebook! With approximately 45,000 square feet of retail space and 346 apartments, MODA sits in the heart of Jamaica, Queens at 89-14 Parsons Boulevard. The property has easy access to several transportation options, a 500-space underground parking garage, and is neighbored by national and international retailers like The Home Depot, Old Navy, and Walgreens.
King Polo/Associated Supermarkets has already signed onto the project as an anchor of the building, but there is still room for your restaurant, daycare center, nail salon, or other retail use! Hurry and call 212-213-6480 while there’s still space available. In the mean time, log onto your Facebook page and become a fan of this amazing new development.
-Entirety of this act takes place within Macbeth’s castle
-Scenes are inside the castle, and out, it seems the majority of the actions occurs inside the castle, while Banquo and Fleance’s parley takes place within the courtyard.
- As these scenes occur within in the castle, the setting can be described as being man-made.
-From the description, the space doesn’t seem extremely cluttered or sparse, but several items are mentioned specifically, ‘the curtained sleep’ This makes the area seem well furnished.
-There is much praise given onto the castle in the beginning of the act, especially from Duncan and Banquo.
Time:
-The defining scene of this act (the murder of Duncan) occurs during the night
-Banquo states ‘There’s husbandry in heaven; their candles are all out” referring to the stars. This is also significant as the stars also represent fate.
- The night is made to seem dark and foreboding, this is emphasized by Fleance stating “The moon is down”
Context:
-These scenes occur after act one. This is after Macbeth has learned of his advancement and after he has been convinced by Lady Macbeth to carry out the murder against Duncan.
-The setting doesn’t change from the scene immediately before, except night has fallen on the castle
Act Analysis:
-The majority of the elements of the scene are dark and foreboding. Macbeth accentuates this by referencing Tarquin, amongst other images to create a dark and evil tone.
-In terms of staging this scene, the lighting would be definitely toned down, angles could be used in lighting to create dramatic shadows, especially in Macbeth to communicate to viewers evil resolve within him.
- The castle is presented as dark; therefore, the colors used would be cool colors, such as greys and blues, and even black
-The tragic aspect of this play comes out in this act, as Macbeth murders Duncan. The murder of a character presents the human suffering, which characterizes tragedy.
Hey Awesometownies,
It’s been a while since my last post, but I really haven’t had a good idea for something to blog about. This week I think I will vent my frustrations and pet peeves about the wonderful world of the social networking sensation that is facebook. I think it’s safe to assume that everyone who reads our blog has a facebook account, and if they don’t this blog will be pointless to them. So if that’s you, you should stop reading this and spend a minute out of your life and get caught up with the rest of America.
Since I’ve had facebook I’ve watched it blossom from a small website of college kids into the face of a new generation. It has taken over myspace and is now the king of the social networking world. Since the creation of it we have seen many new changes and upgrades or downgrades to what it is now, but no matter how many times they change the format or add new features, some d-bags will always find a way to keep it down. I will share some of my findings that make me cringe and sometimes wonder about what the future has in store.
1. I can’t stand people who have a stupid nickname where their middle name would be. You ether have a middle name or you don’t it’s that simple. I mean how many kids out there can have the middle name “shots” or “noonecallsmethisbutiwishtheywould.” I wish there was a lie detector for things like this so you would start seeing more realistic nicknames like, John “I’m a d-bag” Smith or Jane “Slut” Doe. If you are reading this and you have a stupid nickname as your middle name you should probably change it or do the rest of the world a favor and kill yourself, if your luck your nickname might make it on to your tombstone.
2. This isn’t so much facebook as it is technology in general, but I think that kids really do not know how to spell anymore. Granted I make mistakes here and there, but kids now days have something I didn’t have when I was growing up…spell check. I was lucky enough to be in the generation right before the bell curve took a turn for the worse. Internet chat and cell phones didn’t become popular until I knew basic grammar function, and proper spelling. Kids now have grown up with a language of their own, which involves laziness and slurring of speech. Example; wassup dawg u c that girl 2day she was so hawt I bet she wuld prly be my gurlfren if I axd her. Aight homie ill chck u l8r. Now I’m not sure when ignorance actually started but I am sure that it is getting out of hand. I think the only solution to this, is to have everyone take a spelling and grammar test before they are allowed to get a cell phone or use the internet. F u think u are prly part of the problem u shuld do the rest of the wrld a fvor and kil urself.
3. People using their facebook status as a way to vent. I can’t stand this at all, some people always have negative things to say on their statuses. Blah blah blah my day is going bad, blah blah blah this isn’t the way it’s supposed to be. Well you will get no sympathy from me, if you want to complain get a blog or write it in your journal don’t waste your facebook status on something looking for a self esteem booster. You are not the only one that has bad days, everyone does but you can either share it with the rest of the world and feel sorry for yourself or you can talk about it with one of your friends, that’s why you have them. I would tellyou o kill yourself but you might actually do it so save it for a rainy day, and start putting thing up that make you happy.
4. The news feed and the stupid shit facebook has decided to put on it. I really don’t about how people’s farms are doing or if their mafia had new members join. I don’t even play those games what makes you think that I would be so interested to see how other people are doing in them. That would be like me having a ticker on my computer or TV that shows the scores to all the cricket matches taking place, it means absolutely nothing to me, it serves me no purpose. Facebook news feed guys, go kill yourselves maybe someone will make a cool app about you.
5. Facebook chat. You have spent so many times changing the layout of the website to make it more user friendly. You don’t even tell us the layout is changing you just lay it on us and let us figure it out. Even though you must get so much negative feed back every time you do this. Now this doesn’t bother me that much but I always see a lot of people complain. Lets be honest, we grew up in the age of technology, if you can’t figure out how to operate a new lay out to facebook you should probably kill yourself. The thing that I hate about all these changes is that facebook has a team of people to brainstorm on how they can make things easier and they spend all their time on that when they need to fix a simple glitch in the program which is facebook chat. This thing is a crap shoot, you never know what’s going to happen. You’ll be talking to someone and the automatically disconnected, am I still on dial up? Did some one call the house and kick me off the internet? Why is it that AIM and ICQ could do this and they are far older than you facebook. Facebook chat members you should probably do the world a favor an go kil
Sorry I got cut off in that last sentence. These are just a couple of things that bother me about facebook, do you have anything that bothers you, well lets here about it. There is a lot more stuff out there that I didn’t mention, but I thought 5 would be more than enough to read about me bitching.
Until next time,
Timbo
But what did the Internet ever do to me? Nothing horrible, truthfully. But maybe that’s the problem. Maybe the Internet is so common in everyday life that I don’t even notice its absolutely devastating effects. I should really title this entire blog “Why I am a huge hypocrite: Irony, Irony, Irony.” But then my search engine optimization would probably be terrible. Because I’m told I’m supposed to care about these things. Ugh!
I have a few short reasons, aside from the fact that this stupid series of tubes has gone ahead and ruined any hope I ever had of working in print journalist.
One of these reasons occurred to me today while I was sitting in my 5:30 class. We had a pretty serious publishing mogul and seasoned politician come to our class. I’m pretty sure my professor had to pull a lot of strings to get him there. So, I’m sitting in the back of the room, taking pretty good notes and listening to this guy talk to a room filled with college seniors. I take a couple seconds to look around at my peers, and of course, nearly everyone had their laptops open to Facebook. Now, I’m as addicted to mindless social networking as most other people my age, but come on, people. This guy was actually interesting. Why anyone would feel the need to creep on other people’s profiles at that given moment is so far beyond me.
Another thing that really gets me about them Inter-webs is how easily people with no social skills can get through life without having any incentive to improve that. My roommate asked me this afternoon if I’d ever heard of this Web site called “Chat Roulette.” It’s exactly what it sounds like. Think, modern speed dating. Or fleeting interactions with strange-looking people from across the world. While cool in its concept, there is no reason to let most of these people within 100 yards of a school. And yet we probably do. Every day.
My roommate met me with a problem yesterday. Some guy she’d known, ugh, “IRL,” who she’d recently been linking to in her blog and communicating (sort of) via Twitter, recently asked her on what sounded like a date over a Twitter message. We both pondered whether or not one could successfully score a date in 140 characters. My vote is: a resounding no.
Sure, I take full advantage of the Internet. I wouldn’t have even considered blogging if the world/my university didn’t beat me over the head with the importance of these “tubes.” But I think the trouble with “kids these days” is that we’re forced to put ourselves in the public eye through all this social networking blah blah blah. So many of my journalist-in-training friends measure their success based on how many pages come up when they Google their names. Certain publications pride themselves in their ability to tweet out breaking news and then never follow-up on it. And sure, there is a need for those things in this fast-moving world. But I can’t say I’ve ever been moved by a tweet or a twit-pic. At least not the way a well-written, thorough article has. I worry that someday, I’m going to be stuck in a world that puts priority on speed over accuracy and brevity over thoroughness.
But for now, I’ll keep my fingers crossed. Oh, and check my Facebook page. And tweet out this (poorly-written, not even a little bit thorough) post.
During the 1990s, Microsoft was the evil corporation of computing, trying to tie together a litany of shabby software products including Internet Explorer, thus making it impossible for any other companies to move in to the industry. However, in the last 10 years, Apple and Google have made serious strides gaining not just market share, but mind share as well. Apple with computing and hardware, Google with software programs. And in the last 10 years, these companies have taken on the image of fighting the big guy, David v. Goliath, Rudy just trying to make a tackle (more Google, Apple really already had this brand image). But with the release of Google Buzz, some people (I’m not really sure how many) are starting to this that Google is the big bad wolf that needs to be escaped from. But in reality, is it true?
I recently found on Gizmodo a step-by-step manual on how to take your life out of the hands of Google. Let me tell you, after reading through it, it would not be easy for me to rid myself of all of my Google ties. Not only do I use Gmail, but I use Wave, Google search, Chrome, Docs, Chat, and on occasion, Google Reader. That list is not exclusive, I will still actively search out any new product that Google releases. But the real question is, do I want to take away all of my services from Google? One of the biggest issues that consumers are dealing with right now is the privacy issue.
Google specializes in targeting advertising. By tracking your searches, just like Facebook tracks your posted information, Google can better feed you ads that relate closer to you.
The ad in the picture above is for ESPN, which not only do I have bookmarked, but I also sports in many of my e-mails. While this would bother a lot of people, thinking that it hits a little too close to home, I am not one of those people. I know the risks of having information online, and I’m of a firm belief that if I don’t want someone to know something about me, I will not post it or discuss it online.
The most backlash with Google Buzz is coming from the automatic tracking that Google added so you have a group of friends to start with, instead of having to search them all down. However, they created this list from people you contact with frequently in your contacts, which is a list that could include bosses, lawyers, ex-significant others and many other that you do not want being able to see any of your updates.
But Google Buzz cannot be the only cause of the public backlash against Google, can it? Google gave us Gmail, which allowed us to escape from the amateurish e-mail clients of Hotmail, Yahoo, and AOL. Google gave us Docs, the first well publicized, well constructed online document creation program. But most of all, they gave us Google searches. Think back to the days before Google search. What was available? Ask Jeeves? Yahoo? Google redefined the search industry and have became the market leader because it is well deserved.
These search engines might be a thing of the past, however, Microsoft has thrown their gauntlets into the search engine industry with the ambitious release of Bing. Bing is not just another search engine, it is a redefinition on the common search, and gives the user a very different experience than does Google.
While Google will give you all web-pages, images, news articles and other such information having to do with any specific search, Bing goes a different route. They will still provide you with the same information, however, they will summarize basic information and display it for the user on the front page. Sort of like a Wiki Junior.
So while there are modern options from switching from Google platforms, the question is still there. Why do it? I believe that it all comes down to how much information are you willing to let one company not only know about you, but control. I know that by using as many Google products as I do, they could paint a very realistic picture of who I am. Every time you sign up for a company’s website you submit information. And with Google products, most of the time it’s not just submitting entry information, but the sending and receiving of messages with their products by E-mails, searches, documents, etc.
Until the release of Google Buzz, Google had a near spotless brand image and no signs of an evil corporation. But by looking in the news lately, that’s have to have changed, right? I mean, start angering your customers and your going to get a lot of negative PR. But what recourse is the right recourse? In the comments section of the article I discussed earlier, on how to delete Google from your life, a few consumers are discussing what they think on the subject.
“Why would I ditch a great service?” Never been more simple to some I guess. Until Google starts to seriously inconvenience my life, I will continue to use Google products. If I start to worry about online privacy more than I currently do, I think Facebook with be my first stop. Google may sell certain information to create targeted ads, but Facebook has more information publicly listed than I will ever disclose on any of my Google accounts. But I still easily found this online, but I just think this is pretty funny. Enjoy.
A recent facebook post I made stirred up–well, I will say comments, not so much “controversy.” I was asking why so many of my friends who were not Roman Catholic celebrated Lent. I got lots of responses. Some people who were not religious were using it as a time to try to do something different. I’m assuming they chose Lent mainly because it is a conveniently defined period of time. Some felt that they did not think enough about the sacrifice that Jesus made for us in their day-to-day life and felt that giving something up would help them to remember that. Some people were doing something rather than giving something up; in fact one person was doing something that I believe is based on a misinterpretation of 1 Corinthians 11:3-16. I am not participating in Lent. I don’t think it’s wrong, necessarily, I just don’t think it is something I want to do, and here are some reasons why:
1. I don’t feel like I need to give anything up now any more than usual. A few weeks ago I set a goal of trying to drink more water than soda everyday. I haven’t been achieving that goal everyday, but I’m keeping track. I don’t want to give something up because I feel like I can enjoy a soda to the glory of God, just as I can enjoy any of the many things with which He has blessed me.
2. I don’t “need” to give something up to remember what Jesus did for me. Maybe I don’t think about His sacrifice every second of the day or even every day but it isn’t something I will forget easily, at least not now. I think that giving something up for me would just feel like a chore and my religion is not a chore.
3. I don’t like the idea of Lent being “self-improvement.” I can’t help myself. Only God can help to effect any kind of real change in me.
Today at church the bulletin had a passage that addressed Lent. I’m going to quote a little bit of it (if you wrote this and want credit let me know–there was no author or anything it’s just from a church bulletin):
“It is very important to remember that whatever you do during Lent, it must not be construed as a spiritual act that achieves any status or favor with God. Rituals and habits are meant to educate, discipline, and sensitize. They should never be meant to impress or give spiritual self-satisfaction. Hyper-devotion and super spirituality often lead to an exaltation of the self.”
I feel like a lot of people give up things that will help them. I don’t think that’s what Lent is for and I would rather enjoy what the Lord has given me every day and remember His suffering throughout the entire year, not just 40 days.
Well the weekend is now over and on to the next week of no Facebook. It is actually getting quite easy, if I may say. I’m not really suffering too much, and I guess it helps that nearly all my friends are filling me in anyway on what I missing out on. I got a little nervous when my friends told me I was tagged in a couple pictures from Friday night. Found out they’re all good. As my good friend Matt Wachtel said earlier to me, “Is there ever such a thing as a bad picture if you’re in it?” It’s so true.
Anyways, since it was Sunday, and “technically” Sundays do not count, I thought it would be funny to sign on to Facebook to just see the status of my account. No, I did not look at my wall, look at anyone else’s status, harvest my crops, compare my friends, admire how Chad Michael Murray was my Celebrity Doppelganger (no joke), or do any Friends Exposed, but I did just take note of everything. Current Tally: 63 notifications, 4 friend requests, 8 inbox messages, 12 other requests, and 1 poke (thanks, Mike Cattermole). It’s been only 5 days. Rumor has it that Facebook stops keeping track at 99 notifications. At this pace, I guess we’ll find out by Thursday night…
In case you haven’t heard, Facebook recently announced the development of its first data center in Princeville, Oregon, and instead of buying electricity from a clean source within the state, they’re going to mostly import coal electricity from Idaho. Why?
“With the price of hydropower increasing in the Northwest, Facebook opted to bet on the incremental price increases associated with coal rather than face tier-two pricing from BPA.
Brian Oley, a data center site selection expert at the real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle, said it’s no secret that the Northwest’s hydropower is getting tapped out. Oley expects that when tier-two pricing kicks in, prices will increase from two cents per kWh to six or seven cents.”
As Treehugger notes, data centers such as the one Facebook is building are big energy hogs
“Data center power use of the last decade is astounding. In 2000, data centers comprised 0.8 percent of total US electrical consumption, but just 5 years later, data centers’ power consumption grew to 1.4 percent of the total energy use in the country, according to the Energy Information Administration.”
What’s interesting here is how Facebook is clearly aware that they’re making an unpopular decision. They touted the energy efficiency measures taken to minimize the environmental impact of the data center, and posted an official defense of their decision on Treehugger by touting the energy efficiency measures again. A big
They don’t seem to be addressing the head on issue of what KIND of power they’re using. Efficiency is good, coal is terrible on emissions of every kind which damage human health at every stage of the life-cycle and causes climate change. An energy efficient coal-powered building does NOT make for a green building. Sorry Facebook.
But I think they know that too. I’m hearing from multiple users they’ve started censoring Facebook groups which include the words “Facebook and coal”. This was the most recent comment on TreeHugger…
“Facebook has, without warning, deleted the FB-group “Tell Facebook to use clean energy in its data center.” The group existed for merely two days, was very popular and swiftly growing. At the moment of its deletion the group had about 700 members and there were over 3000 invitations to join the group, send out by its members, which were not yet responded upon. The number of group memberships was rising exponential. Also at the moment of deletion the groups creator was in the progress to join forces with a major environmental movement to mobilize the public and to let them show their dismay by becoming member of the group. Which would have boosted membership even more.
We regret the undemocratic tactics which Facebook has applied in this matter.”
Also, the Facebook group “Get Facebook Off Coal” had to use zeros in place of their o’s in order to create their group. They’re clearly afraid of this one getting around because they know what they’re doing as wrong. If you have a Facebook account, please join the group linked above, and sign this petition.
Yeah, so I just introduced myself to twitter (welcome to the 21st century dumbass!) and I find myself reading up on how to connect each and every account that I have to each other (or to twitter, mostly). Facebook to Twitter, WordPress to Twitter, WordPress to Yahoo, WordPress to Facebook…. Luckily, with WordPress, I just have to tick the box on links. I really don’t want to sound like an advertisement for wordpress, but connecting Facebook to twitter is such a pain in the *ss.
Luckily, I didn’t have to subject myself in reading how to create an RSS feed for my Facebook status. I found this blog where you don’t have to create a new facebook account or create your own RSS feed. Then, there’s twitterfeed! God bless the makers of those apps/sites. Big BOO! on facebook disabling RSS on our own status’.
Yeah, and I just made this post to see how all the connections that I made goes, hehe. So if you’re reading this, congratulations! You know how to read!
The way Facebook is growing with millions of users joining it without a break, I am concerned that soon there will be only two mankind species – some who use Facebook and others who don’t. But many users still need proper handholding to use and become popular on the world’s biggest social hangout on the Net. How? Here are the 10 Tips
Each American Facebook user spent an average of 421 minutes on Facebook per month
via Facebook Is the Web’s Ultimate Timesink [STATS].
Exactly why everyone is so ready to kick Facebook to the curb, because they really fear what will happen if nothing can check its growth. Think more about how many ways Facebook could have completely fallen down
Change UI – everybody howls let’s go back
Allow advertisers to use your profile pic in advertisements to your friends – oops let’s back out of that one
Change privacy settings – Zuckerberg pens letter to the masses saying Facebook cherishes privacy (while really just trying to push the envelope of acceptable sharing)
Change UI – everybody is just tired of complaining
In all that time MySpace, Orkut (who?), and Twitter have yet to make any significant decrease in the growth of Facebook. Games like Farmville help to feed the addiction to Facebook. Allowing more and more interoperability like Vivox for voice chat (potential competitor to Skype?) and opening IM to other 3rd party clients like AIM.
You started flirting with me today. Dont denie it im not that stupid. We actaully talked, about when we were going out, about how you cheated on me… we were whispering in class. Talking about everything, all the walls were down, no secrets, If i went out with you again… thats what it would be like.
Social interactions with people you would never really interact with in the flesh. The virtual self seems to be more appealing – how do we aggregate all of this extraneous information?
Are we trying to communicate that which can not be said?! I wonder. McLuhan believed that eventually media technologies would lead to a ‘post-literate’ world, where the written word and language would be superseded by the visual medium.
Hmm. Well, that’s hardly the case is it?! All of our ’social’ networking is highly contingent upon the written language!! Gah! Literacy is a HUGE aspect of how we now communicate in our ICT (information and communication technology) laden world!
But is literature social? The written word is not entirely a social thing – I mean you are reading this and I have written it and in some way we are sharing the experience – but not in ‘real time’, not with any meaningful fleshy connection (no sexual innuendo intended here). Doesn’t being social inherently include a human connection which is predicated upon a physical human characteristic? (Touch, taste, smell, sound…you get the idea). We are experiencing a social moment together in some sort of suspended time warp where the human aspect has to be ‘guestimated’ – sarcasm and intonation fail miserably over social networks.
Even if we can have updates that are fractions of a minute or second apart (ahem..twitter), it’s not nearly as quickly as you could transmit a message by just talking to me in person. Granted of course that these technologies are leaping great distances in short periods of time, What is the need for people in the same place to have an interface between them? More over – why do I need to know INSTANTANEOUSLY what is going on in the world?! How have our social interactions been hijacked by technologies created by the inherently anti-social? We sit in our own rooms distanced greatly not only by physical geography but by a constant interface through which we must first pass our message. I suppose telephones did the same thing – but then with telephones there was a physical connection still – the human voice.
Oh – and does Blogging count as a social media?! Is a cork based real life bulletin board a social media? So confusing!
Obviously this is just the beginning of a phase or stage of communications technologies – we have yet to plateau. Where are we going – where is this taking us? After you have read this, are we now ‘friends’?! (I’m a pretty great friend who always has chocolate on hand just so you know)
So here I sit, cozy at home, looking nerdy, and listening to the Olympic brou ha-ha which echos across English Bay. Fireworks, crowds, and what may you.
Meh!
I hate crowds, and for as much as I’m happy that Vancouver’s hosting the Games, I don’t feel it necessary to check-out the scene downtown. I also shall not be tuning-in to the opening ceremonies tomorrow night. Instead, I’ll be having fun out at (former) Riverview Psychiatric Hospital, being an extra on some indie film about zombies. (One of my best friends is the caterer/with craft services for the film.)
I get to be a zombie for several hours
Whoo! Big stretch, hey? I wonder if I ought just roll outta bed, fail to brush my furry teeth, and frighten the shit out of everyone on-set?
Much more fun than sitting at home, watching the opening ceremonies, or being part of the crazy scene, downtown! I can watch that stuff online, later. I’d rather be a zombie, and have fun with my friends Dawn (caterer) and Dana (fellow Mistress of Macabre). I’ll be certain to take some photos & post some to the blog over the weekend.
So … apparently, I wasn’t the only person who’d noticed the distinct similarity between an earlier blog post (and Facebook notes) and that which was published to a local blogger’s website AND in yesterday’s issue of 24 Hours Vancouver.
I was not imagining things, nor am I delusional. The content was awfully close to what I’ve previously written elsewhere.
I hope that this was just a coincidence.
This was NOT the first time I’ve written something, only to stumble upon eerily similar content published in 24 Hours Vancouver, weeks later.
Last January 7th, I wrote and published a note to Facebook entitled You Know You’ve Become Comfortable In A Relationship When … (see hyperlink for actual note, clipped/pasted from Facebook).
It was about crossing the “fart threshold” in new relationships.
You Know You’ve Become Comfortable in a Relationship When … (Note Published to Facebook: Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 3:08pm)
… the farting begins.
You know it’s “real”, and you’ve moved beyond the casual dating/early relationship stage when the farts start a’-rippin’! Oh, yes!
Farts happen. Farts are funny (in moderation). Farts are sometimes just too good not to share with a special someone. Nothing defines “intimacy” more than fart-sharing.
However, there seems to be an unspoken, undetermined “honeymoon period” when one wouldn’t dream of blowing the asstastic trombone, and should one let a fart accidentally slip … utter mortification ensues.
As per my status update last night:
“Kate says, ‘Dignity comes in many forms. Such as: laying naked in someone’s bed, post-coitus, in gastrointestinal agony, never letting-on that you’re dying to fart.’ “
So, so true, and most of us have been there! You know it, I know it, and there is no shame in laughing at one’s gastacular moments!
In case you’re wondering: yes, that status update was based on personal experience, and I’ll bet that at one time or another, you too have experienced something similar (especially fellow members of the fairer sex)! Possibly too much information for some to share, but … it’s funny, and ladies will sympathize with the fartastic tale!
Just know that I’d been dating someone for several weeks, and while laying in his bed early one morning, put myself through the AGONY of withholding … something really evil. Put it this way: we’d been drinking a lot of beer the night before, and like the brewmaster who’d perfected whatever we’d been drinking, yours truly had been brewing something special in her gut over-night.
Though the guy laid asleep next to me, I knew that he wouldn’t be for long, should I let-loose under the sheets. And so I laid there, perfectly still, trying not to double-over, but not daring to move an inch, lest the post-beer brew slip-out with violent velocity. There was an adjoining en suite bathroom, but forget the awkwardness of strolling naked across the room: I was more worried that the fart would fly out while trekking across the room, or once having reached the bathroom, the powerful blast would vibrate & ricochet off walls, echoing throughout the room. There’d be no muffling or disguising that one.
Clearly, we hadn’t reached the “I’m comfortable enough to fart in front of you” stage. (we never arrived at that point, breaking-up when he cheated on myself about a week later.)
And so I laid there, painfully … for more than an hour, pretending to be asleep, just waiting for him to get-up & hit the shower. Let’s just say that when I let-loose, the duvet almost rippled, and I think that a robin may have fallen out the tree near the bedroom window.
For all of my agony, dignity & consideration, he was none the wiser, detected nothing, and (soaking wet) jumped back into the freshly farted-in sheets.
Others aren’t as considerate as myself, I might add. Without saying too much, or being overtly graphic, just know that my former fiancé, “Sharty Sweatpant Man”, cut-loose during … up-close & personal moments with myself.
Yup. Horrific. Traumatizing. (and you wonder why I didn’t marry him?!) “Poor Kate!”, indeed.
I reckon that like trimesters of pregnancy, new couples ought to arrive at an official “you can fart in my presence” point of their relationship. You know: say, 3-6 months into the relationship?
Perhaps there should even be an intimate, personal “fart sharing” ceremony of sorts. Copious amounts of cabbage, beans, and beer could be consumed during a romantic, candle-lit dinner for two … some Julio Iglesias, Luther Vandross, Barry White & Peabo Bryson playing in the background … gifts of Beano exchanged in-between words of love, softly whispered into each others’ ears … (“oh, you shouldn’t have! thank you! does this mean that you really love me?”)
Like a kiss to seal a wedding ceremony, this intimate, pivotal point in a couple’s relationship could culminate with a synchronized game of “Pull My Finger”: farts shared simultaneously. One might compare it to … the dizzying explosion of release one feels at the point of climax, or (for you less risqué types) … pulling a Christmas cracker together, without having to wear funny paper hats!
Capping the evening of the romantic, fartastic ceremony: some horizontal hokey-pokey, in a bed warmed by intimate … Dutch ovens.
Whoo! I don’t know about you, but I’m getting chills just thinking about it …
The majority of my notes published to Facebook were set for a limited amount of my contacts to read. However, there were some notes which I permitted all of my contacts to read, as well as “friends of friends”. Meaning that all 350+ of my former Facebook contacts, as well as all of their contacts could read my note about farting.
That’s a lot of people, folks!
The note was/is humourous, and — no doubt, struck a chord with many whom read it’s content. It garnered several responses from Facebook contacts, including one from a former uncle (who shared his story about a honeymoon fart, when he’d married my aunt).
I can’t remember the exact time frame (definitely within less than two months after I’d published my note to Facebook), but one morning, I sat reading that day’s new issue of 24 Hours Vancouver, and there on the page was … an article about couples farting, within the beginning stages of their relationship.
Very similar to what I’d written, weeks prior — including the line “the honeymoon’s over”!
What. The. Fuck.
The author, a local freelance writer (woman, about my age), writes a dating column in that paper, but also has work occasionally published to another well-known, freebie paper, The Georgia Straight. It appears that she also has a small online blog.
Out of respect for her talent, reputation, and credibility — and because I am now unable to find an online link to the specific piece published to that paper — she shall remain anonymous.
I am not insinuating that my work (published to Facebook) had been viewed by her (a friend of a friend?), she was “inspired-by”, nor plagiarized what I had written. No. But it’s very similar content, and the time frame which that piece of her work had succeeded my own certainly DID cause me to raise my eyebrow.
This is a small city. People know people. People are connected via Facebook.
Can you blame me for wondering about the article’s coincidentally close content, published within 4-8 weeks of my own work hitting the `net?
I clipped & pasted the content of my work, and sent her a friendly email, saying something along the lines of, “Wow. Great minds clearly think alike. Isn’t it ironic that I too wrote something similar, recently? We must be on the same wavelength. I enjoyed the humourous slant of your article.”
I blind carbon-copied that email to the editor of 24 Hours Vancouver, but no response was forthcoming from either the writer nor editor.
And like I just said: I can no longer find that piece of her work online (though it used to be published there).
Hunh!
There are a lot of talented, witty writers out there. I’m sure that this city is filled with thousands of them, competing to get their work published & make a living. Many have spent thousands of dollars on university or college educations — degrees in Journalism or English. They have worked hard, are trying to keep a roof over their head(s), and like all areas within the arts, freelance writing is a cut-throat industry. Sink or swim.
I do not have a formal education in writing. I am a self-taught, life-long writer. I have not tried to earn a living by writing. Many have suggested that I do so, and many others have sited that I can write circles around many of those whom are earning a living, writing.
I write, because it brings me joy, and I love sharing my wit with others. Hence, I’ve given it away for free, here, and previously on Facebook. I probably could stand to make a fair bit of money from what I write.
**shrug!**
Coincidence or not, it chafes my ass and upsets me when I see other local authors, having EXTREMELY SIMILAR content (to that of my own) published, weeks/months after I’ve already shared MY original, gifted content with people. Those authors are being PAID for what they’ve had published, and receive professional accolades for their work.
I have received not a penny, but praise & encouragement from friends, relatives, and strangers who love what I so generously GIVE to people to read.
Something’s not write right, here, folks!
I wonder if there shall be any “open letters” written & published by those two aforementioned columnists. You know, something similar to my Mark Darcy, penis, Jake Ryan, and vagina letters?
You can bet that I shall be watching & reading local columns with great interest. To those of you living within Vancouver, following my blog (or back from Facebook): I hope you’ll keep your eyes peeled for “coincidentally” similar content, too!Maybe my hot, new look should be coincidentally copied/posted to the local papers, too? “Yahoo Serious-chic”?
With the advent of Google Buzz, I’m starting to get tired of all the rapid changes in technology and social media. If technology is going to progress so quickly, I’d like to be able to choose whether or not I can opt in or opt out of these changes. For instance, Google Buzz simply swooped in and gave its Gmail users Twitter-like abilities and public profiles without fair warning. Facebook has changed its image and added more features so many times that it’s becoming frustrating. What was wrong with the first 500 versions of the website?
Today’s phones don’t just take calls, but also videos, photos, hold music, store important documents, act as a GPS, balance your check book, and count your calories. Anything you’d want to do in your daily life, now there is a phone app for that. Remember when text messaging was a novel concept?!
It’s hard to keep up with all these changes, especially when I preferred some of the older models better than their newer counterpoints. I’m still adjusting to the fact that VHS tapes are out along with video rental stores like Blockbuster.
In honor of my favorite “oldies, but goodies,” here are 5 technologies that are fine just the way they are:
1) The boom box. Do you really need to bring your personal computer around with you to provide music at parties? The boom box did just fine. Plus it still plays your old mix tapes.
2) The overhead projector. Invented during the 1940s, this is hands down the best way to display information on a wall in front of large groups of people. No need to worry about memory stick problems or losing your connection to the internet during a presentation.
3) A physical book. No digital reader can ever replace the feeling of holding a book in your hands and feeling the pages between your fingers (and of course the new book smell).
4) The Nokia cell phone. I agree, we all need cell phones, but you can’t even use a touch screen with your winter gloves! Flip phones tend to snap in half eventually, but the Nokia can fly down a flight of stairs (and even survive a drop in the toilet) and still accept your calls and text messages.
5) The single air conditioner unit. Forget central air. I just want my bedroom to be cold. The noise these things make is soothing, especially if white noise helps you sleep. I don’t need my whole house to be cold all the time and I like how easy you can control the temperature on these things.
What are some of your favorite technological “oldies but goodies”?
2 Years ago I wrote a blog post entitled “Dear Yahoo, Microsoft and Google mail, forget Facebook, start innovating”. Facebook was coming up strong (still is), giving headaches to everyone. And it occurred to me (and other, smarter people, like Om Malik) that these companies had an extremely strong asset that could be socialized, e-mail!
There are, even today, more people on the web using e-mail than there are people on Facebook. E-mail, as old-fashioned and clumsy as it sounds, is still at the heart of our social interactions. It has been declared dead uncountable times, mostly by people without imagination. But the basis service e-mail provides us, the ability to reach out and interact with the people we know, was there long before any social network was ever imagined.
Google made the first real attempt to innovate on e-mail, and gave us Gmail. Gmail brought a nr of important features to mail that didn’t exist before. It is web-based (and easily reachable from anywhere), has excellent SPAM filters and it gives us free storage. They added chat to it and the ability to change its appearance and functioning via scripts.
I’ve mentioned 9 improvements to mail 2 years ago. These improvements would make email more social for me. And now that I’ve watched the video on Google Buzz, it has become clear to me that Google implemented these requests (and more) into Google Buzz (I wonder, did they ever read my post )
Google never ceases to amaze me. Everyone laughed when they “missed” social networks. Everyone declared Facebook the winner. I’m sure Google would have liked to own a company like Facebook. But I’m glad Google didn’t and had to invent social networking the hard way. Building a closed walled garden was the easy way out then. Google was forced to solve the issue differently. And it turns out they had all the assets already available to them. Just think about it. They have (real-time) search, maps, localization, mobile, chat, e-mail, photos, video’s, and they most likely have you and all of your friends using Google accounts. It’s all there.
And with Google Buzz they now offer an open solution that connects and integrates with anything else Google and others have to offer. And by opening up this social space, Google has made the web just a little more User-Centric.
Well done! Let the buzz begin
ps. hat tip to @stevie_glass who pointed me to my post on Twitter this morning
The 7x9 feet three panel mural painted by the University of the Philippines Artists’ Circle Fraternity to commemorate the 20th anniversary of SV Rainbow Warrior’s bombing.
To the dismay of my colleagues here in the Philippine office I am licensed to surf the web and even accessed this pesky website called Facebook –and come to think of it is indeed really interesting what you can find over there, as a few minutes ago I was able to come across Greenpeace International’s profile picture on their page and seeing it again (although technically I see it everyday) reminded me of the my first assignments when I started to become a part of Greenpeace, fulltime, not to mention one of the first people that I’ve been glad to call a comrade in the cause who is none other than –Tomas Leonor. It was during a rainy after noon sometime in August 2009 when I first met Tomas, remember having been assigned by the office to write an article for their project to paint a mural painted to commemorate the 20th anniversary of SV Rainbow Warrior’s bombing.
Greenpeace Activists assemble smoke-spewing coal plant at the Asian Development Bank headquarters in Manila.
Tomas was a part of the University of the Philippines Artists’ Circle Fraternity a university-based fraternity, which carried out the task of creating a 7×9 feet three panel mural which will serve as a fitting tribute to the first Rainbow Warrior which was bombed back in 1985 for its role as a symbol of the growing consensus for a nuclear-free world at the time.
During the violent direct action at Masinloc, Tomas was again one of the first activists that I interviewed at the scene after the activists were intercepted by plant security. As the years past he has been one of the more active Greenpeace volunteers who’ve dedicated his time and talent for advancing our campaigns and to add color and life in our creative confrontations with the powers that seek to jeopardize the welfare of our planet.
Greenpeace activists dress up as genetically modified (GM)'zombie' crops.
His signature can easily be seen in the works that he has done over the years here at Greenpeace not only in the Philippines but in Southeast Asia who could forget the coal plant that we constructed outside the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters in Manila; or the Genetically Modified Zombies that blockaded the Thai Government House; to the novel solar cooker that was deployed during a cookout that was done in at the site of a soon-to-be constructed coal plant in Iloilo to demonstrate the viability of renewable energy like solar energy; to the recent alien costumes that I was able to wear during the ADB’s Climate and Clean Energy Week.
Tomas collecting plastic rubbish from Manila Bay.
A group of unidentified aliens visited the Asian Development Bank.
None can question Tomas’ flare for outrageousness and his penchant for creatively getting our attention on important issues like climate change, genetic engineering, toxics pollution and the like.
All this is evident with his recent endeavour called Step Juan which is the embodiment of Tomas’ dream of helping out children under the Cancer Warriors Treatment Program.
Step Juan is a walking expedition done by Tomas. The idea is to walk from Pagudpod to Sorsogon without any means of vehicular assistance and to do this for several weeks, straight, stopping only for food and rest. The backbone and foundation for this idea is to raise funds for the cancer children under the Cancer Warriors Foundation.
It is with great joy that I speak for the rest of Greenpeace in our support for this venture, because we know that change (whether it bee ecological, social or political) is only possible if there are people who are crazy (in a good way) enough like Tomas who seeks to step up to the challenge of the time and have fun while working to make the world a better place for all of us.
The top 100 sites in Malaysia. The sites in the top sites lists are ordered by their 1 month alexa traffic rank.
The 1 month rank is calculated using a combination of average daily visitors and pageviews over the past month. The site with the highest combination of visitors and pageviews is ranked #1.
Facebook facebook.com
A social utility that connects people, to keep up with friends, upload photos, share links and videos.
Google google.com.my
google.com.my
Yahoo! yahoo.com
Personalized content and search options. Chatrooms, free e-mail, clubs, and pager.
Google google.com
Enables users to search the Web, Usenet, and images. Features include PageRank, caching and translation of results, and an option to find similar pages. The company’s focus is developing search technology.
YouTube – Broadcast yourself youtube.com
YouTube is a way to get your videos to the people who matter to you. Upload, tag and share your videos worldwide!
Blogger.com blogger.com
Free, automated weblog publishing tool that sends updates to a site via FTP.
Windows Live live.com
Search engine from Microsoft.
Wikipedia wikipedia.org
An online collaborative encyclopedia.
Microsoft Network (MSN) msn.com
Dialup access and content provider.
Maybank2u.com, A Complete One-stop Financial Portal maybank2u.com.my
maybank2u.com.my
Myspace myspace.com
Social Networking Site.
Mudah.my mudah.my
mudah.my
The Star Online thestar.com.my
Breaking news and views from Malaysia’s top English language news source
WordPress.com wordpress.com
Free blogs managed by the developers of the WordPress software. Includes custom design templates, integrated statistics, automatic spam protection and other features.
Tagged tagged.com
Tagged.com is one of the top social networking sites in the world.
Malaysiakini.com malaysiakini.com
Malaysiakini.com, a subscription-based website, offers news and views that matter in Malaysia. Updated daily, the site has won several awards for its quality reporting. In English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil.
Friendster friendster.com
Friendster is a leading global social network emphasizing genuine friendships and the discovery of new people through friends. Search for old friends and classmates, stay in better touch with friends, share photos and videos, and so much more.
Lowyat.NET lowyat.net
Malaysia s Tech Enthusiast Resource Community. Tech News, Reviews and hyper active discussion forums focusing on the Malaysian IT scene.
Cari Malaysia cari.com.my
One of the most popular local Malaysian community website started in 1996. The three languages forum, English, Malay, and Chinese are the largest and most popular in Malaysian community. Also provides directory listing of over 30,000 Malaysia related web sites and company details.
RapidShare rapidshare.com
Users can upload up to 100 meg files for sharing. Provides downloads of 100 megs per hour on the free service. Premium service also available.
My sentence: “I promise nothing other than to devote time, adoration, and passion to my family, friends, professional life, and personal life and I will do just that.”
First and foremost, I absolutely dislike talking about myself. It’s the worst thing ever. Give me a topic to discuss and I will state my blunt opinions but it better not be about myself. I get very nervous and get the butterflies. However, I liked this assignment because it actually took me 45 minutes to figure out a sentence that hit right on the mark and is honest.
I can’t write a professional sentence without incorporating the people and things that matter most to me in my life. My family and friends come before my career. Careers can come and go, but family and true friends never leave your side. I can’t even go a day without speaking to every member of my family or friend about what they had for dinner or thought about a tv show – which is standard procedure. (Notice how I am rambling because I don’t know what to say).
What I do know is that my sentence could not be complete without incorporating spending time and loving the momements captured with the people I love and the activities I love to do.
Social media and the rapid technological advances constantly change my sentence, both positively and negatively. The more communication devices created, the many more ways in keeping in touch with what matters most to me. On the contrary, the more advances, the less time spent building a relationship one-on-one and the more time spent on facebook, twitter, and text messaging. But wait, no one can live without them.
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After being ousted from my last writing job, I decided to pull a Conan and take my act on the road, er…Internet….via my own blog.
I will take too long to learn. Easy answer – outsource it! Obviously Social Rabbit can help, but there are also lots of people out there that specialise in social media. Just talk to them about what they have achieved for previous clients, and maybe even chat to past clients before you jump in.
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Are you on Facebook? Do you love brand new luxury retail and residential buildings? Become a fan of MODA on Facebook! With approximately 45,000 square feet of retail space and 346 apartments, MODA sits in the heart of Jamaica, Queens at 89-14 Parsons Boulevard. The property has easy access to several transportation options, a 500-space underground parking garage, and is neighbored by national and international retailers like The Home Depot, Old Navy, and Walgreens.
I recently found on Gizmodo a step-by-step manual on how to take your life out of the hands of Google. Let me tell you, after reading through it, it would not be easy for me to rid myself of all of my Google ties. Not only do I use Gmail, but I use Wave, Google search, Chrome, Docs, Chat, and on occasion, Google Reader. That list is not exclusive, I will still actively search out any new product that Google releases. But the real question is, do I want to take away all of my services from Google? One of the biggest issues that consumers are dealing with right now is the privacy issue.
The ad in the picture above is for ESPN, which not only do I have bookmarked, but I also sports in many of my e-mails. While this would bother a lot of people, thinking that it hits a little too close to home, I am not one of those people. I know the risks of having information online, and I’m of a firm belief that if I don’t want someone to know something about me, I will not post it or discuss it online.
The way Facebook is growing with millions of users joining it without a break, I am concerned that soon there will be only two mankind species – some who use Facebook and others who don’t. But many users still need proper handholding to use and become popular on the world’s biggest social hangout on the Net. How? Here are the 10 Tips
So here I sit, cozy at home, looking nerdy, and listening to the Olympic brou ha-ha which echos across English Bay. Fireworks, crowds, and what may you.
Maybe my hot, new look should be coincidentally copied/posted to the local papers, too? “Yahoo Serious-chic”?
With the advent of Google Buzz, I’m starting to get tired of all the rapid changes in technology and social media. If technology is going to progress so quickly, I’d like to be able to choose whether or not I can opt in or opt out of these changes. For instance, Google Buzz simply swooped in and gave its Gmail users Twitter-like abilities and public profiles without fair warning. Facebook has changed its image and added more features so many times that it’s becoming frustrating. What was wrong with the first 500 versions of the website? 
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