To Facebook or NOT to Facebook?

It's ALL about choice. Up until Google+, Facebook did not have any REAL social nutworking competition. There's a reason why the auto industry produces different vehicles. Consumers should DRIVE the internet marketplace.

Indeed, after the Goldman Sachs backroom investment deal with Mark Zuckerberg, a deal which at first left average Americans standing on the sidelines, I was waiting for a dot-com to challenge the Jolly Green Billionaire. READ MORE...

China forbids Google+ Social Network?
In life, I've learned that most things usually happen for a reason.
READ MORE...

Why, IF Facebook is BLOCKED in the People's Republic of China, did the Chinese Communist Party invest in Facebook?
READ MORE...
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Broken Dragons: Crime and Corruption in Today's China (Paperback)

"Words can be deleted, but the facts won't be deleted with them."
~ Ai Weiei



On June 13th, 2009, my wife and I were still living in the Chinese city of Changsha. After lunch, I turned on CCTV to catch up on the latest news. There on my TV screen were the CCTV news anchors discussing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election victory with a visiting Iranian Professor and a representative from the Iranian Embassy. A graphic crawl indicated that CCTV had scheduled ALL DAY extended coverage of the Iranian Election.

After about 20 minutes, the TV went black. Roughly two minutes later, a travel documentary started airing. No mention was made about why the station went dark or the sudden, unannounced change in programming. Curious, this blogger logged onto the internet and discovered that Iranians in Tehran were taking to the streets to protest the election results.

Economic sanctions against Iran? What sanctions? One member of the security council will continue doing business with the current Iranian Government (as well as the DPRK).

Chinese activist wants to go to U.S.?
Read More...

Here Comes the Sun?

‎


"If it weren't for the coffee, I'd have no identifiable personality whatsoever." 
~ David Letterman
Late Show Fun Facts (Hardcover)

Facebook Blasts Password Snooping Employers?

"We don’t think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don’t think it’s right the thing to do."
~ Erin Egan
Facebook's Chief
Privacy Officer
Read More...




Conspiracy Theory: Up to this point, the U.S. Congress has been unable to craft legislation which actually protects the privacy of internet users and prevents government censorship. Who did Mark Zuckerberg meet with on Nov. 16, 2010? Why hasn't the Supreme Court judged a case dealing with the privacy of electronic correspondence? With all due respect to Senator Al Franken, he's addressing the issue of internet privacy with the wrong group of people. Read More...

Facebook's incorporates both facial recognize and global positioning software into its platform. In the view of this blogger, Facebook's public response to a growing trend of employers asking employees for their passwords is an attempt to legally protect the company from future liability. The bigger question is what internal security safeguards are in place to protect user data within the company itself?

Update: Facebook and Apple a threat to Internet freedom?
Read More...

Google+?

"This is your last chance. After this there is no turning back. You take the blue pill: the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill: you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes." ~ Morpheus, The Matrix

Satan Attacks America?

Suggested Reading:
Modern Language Association guidelines for citing a Tweet
in an academic paper or news report.

Tweet of the Week?

Facebook unsure it can enter China because of government regulations?
Read More...

Social Networking = The BORG? IF you're reading this message, you've been Assimilation!

Make your Aluminum Foil Deflector Beanie 
before it's too late!

"I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts."
~ Will Rogers
Chairman Mao Watch

Maybe I had the wrong high school English teacher. I always thought that the words FAIR meant FAIR and BALANCED meant BALANCED?

My curfew was the street lights. My mom called my name NOT my cell phone. I played outside with friends NOT online. If I didn't eat what mom cooked then I didn't eat. Sanitizer didn't exist but you COULD get your mouth washed out with soap. I rode a bike without a helmet, getting dirty was OK & neighbors cared as much as your parents. Re-post if you drank water from a garden hose & survived.

Five Seconds or LESS?

The amount of time folks spend visiting a BLOG. 

With the dramatic rise of Facebook, blogging itself has become an endangered art. While I've devoted countless hours posting various items on this small corner of cyberspace, realistically, it's rather doubtful this site will ever attract an active, worldwide following. So, why do I continue to BLOG? Well, it's FUN. That's it. No more, no less. I enjoy sharing my political ramblings and images of our world.

While my wife and I were still living in Beijing, I received an e-mail from a musician in California. Basically, he wanted permission to use one of my Wiki photos for his next album cover. I said sure go ahead...no charge.

His name is Sharif.

Here's the final version of the album cover itself, followed by a short poem this blogger wrote about memories along with a music video from Sharif's album Kisses and Lies.

There was a time, not long ago, 
when record covers were considered works of art...

There was a time, not long ago, 
when friends would sit around and listen to music together...

There was a time, not long ago, 
when people played stupid board games...

There was a time, not long ago, 
when families still shared the joys of laughter around the dinner table...

Some memories can never be downloaded...
Perhaps some ideas should never change.

No matter where the next road takes me,
I'll always remember that along the way,
It's not the place, but the people
who make us who we are.


The Facebook Effect [Kindle Edition]

Facebook glitch reveals Zuckerberg's private photos?
Read More...

You know you're in DEEP trouble when CNN & Faux News quotes your Twitter?

“You're excited?
You should feel my nipples!”
~ Leslie Nielsen
Airplane! DVD




How many ways can the vast army of television script writers, movie directors, radio announcers and network news reporters work the word Facebook into a program?

CIA Following Twitter And Facebook To Analyze Public Opinion, Predict Major Events?
Read More...

Theory: Could an agent of a foreign government, employed by one of the major social networking services, directly access the accounts of human rights activists in different countries? For example, Facebook uses both facial recognition and global positioning software. Theoretically, anonymous user data, obtained using these specific technologies, could be shared between foreign governments attempting to suppress internal political opposition.





Chinese human rights activists claim their Google emails were hacked?
Read More...

The more a conspiracy theory appears technically plausible,
the more likely that same theory becomes highly probable.

Facebook Profile "Going Out Of Business" Sale!

Witty status updates & political remarks FREE.
Everything must go!
Actually, this blogger CLOSED his Facebook account in August. 
Why? Well, I DO NOT believe its founder gives a "rats behind" about protecting user privacy or intellectual property rights. The sole purpose of Facebook is to make m-o-n-e-y. No problem. However, when Mark Zuckerberg locked out American investors, but then accepted BILLIONS from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), I made the decision to BOYCOTT Facebook. READ MORE...

Fargo-Moorhead Redhawks, Fargo, North Dakota (July 9th, 2010).

While a majority of Facebook users have been focused on the latest batch of profile design changes, recently, the social networking giant jumped into the political ring & was caught tracking its users AFTER they logged out :

~ Facebook forms its own Political Action Committee (PAC)
   Read More...
~ Facebook's FAKE Log Out Button?
   Read More...
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Facebook MAP of the World

#Occupy Facebook Graphic

Anything you WRITE, LINK, LIKE or UPLOAD on Facebook or Twitter CAN & WILL be used against you in a court of law?

While I know it's a bit early, I've been contemplating my New Year's Resolution for 2012. On January 1st, I will ATTEMPT to start speaking out of BOTH sides of my mouth along with releasing volumes of frivolous HOT AIR from the lower UNMENTIONABLE reaches of my body.


The Los Angeles Times
Alabama teacher allegedly mocks
special-ed students on Facebook
(10/17/11)
Read More...

"If at first you don't succeed..."

Jakarta, Indonesian (July 2009)
The Meaning of Life (DVD)

What's Tweeting You?

After two years of tracking over 500 million messages written by 2.4 million people in 84 countries, researchers at Cornell University have discovered that the cliché Tomorrow is a New Day starts shortly after a breakfast of Cheerios.

Evidently, a majority of people wake up happy, but as the day progresses, dealing with the reality of daily life takes its emotional toll. Then, right before folks prepare for bed, individual moods generally shift back into a positive gear.

On the surface, the research study itself appears rather benign. How people feel and when they feel it adds yet another mundane piece to that complex puzzle called the human condition. However, with the dramatic rise of social networking sites like Facebook, important privacy questions need to be raised regarding how personal digital information is being collected and analyzed. Read More...

For 99.99% of human history, private correspondence between individuals took the form of an old-fashion, handwritten letter. At some point, the same level of privacy protection governing the international movement of snail mail needs to be extended to the internet. Where is the line between collecting marketing data vs. reading private e-mails?  Read More...

"I really believe that we don't have to make a trade-off between security and privacy. I think technology gives us the ability to have both." ~ John Poindexter
Nothing to Hide: The False Tradeoff between Privacy and Security (Hardcover)

The slow death of the U.S. Postal Service?

When was the last time you wrote a handwritten letter?

Remember when kids collected postage stamps instead of Facebook friends and families mailed off vacation postcards instead of updating Twitter?

Related Update:(9/26/11) Mark Zuckerberg and Lady Gaga on a postage stamp? It could happen. In a bid to promote stamp collecting (and increase revenue), the U.S. Postal Service will now allow living Americans to be featured on its stamps. To submit a proposal for your favorite musician, actor, sports star, writer, artist or Snooki, send your recommendation via snail mail to:

Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee
c/o Stamp Development, Room 3300
475 L'Enfant Plaza SW
Washington DC 20260-3501

The Saga of the Pony Express (Paperback)

Twitter + Facebook = Twitbook?

I'm still a recovering Facebook addict. I've never used Twitter. So, when these two social networking giants announced their latest cyber-marriage, it had little direct impact on my virtual life.
Read More...

Or did it?

With Google+ still struggling to gain a widespread audience, it's only a matter of time before the company takes a hard financial look at Blogger. Indeed, are there enough active Bloggers to keep this site alive?

IF Google wants to compete against Facebook, it needs to consider integrating it's + platform with Blogger. In the same way Facebook users can now Tweet status updates, Google+ users should be able to directly post comments, links, videos and images on Blogger. The ability to cross-platform updates may breath new life into the art of Blogging.

In the unlikely event someone at Google actually reads this post, I have one more suggestion. The company needs to change the name Google+ to Google Me. Before the NBA player (formally known as Ron Artest) changed his name to Metta World Peace, the musician Prince had changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol (1993-2000).

While some ideas sound great in a office cubicle, when it comes to product marketing and branding, using a + symbol to sell a new brand of SOAP makes absolutely ZERO dollars & AdSense.

Photo of terracotta opera sculpture, 798 Art District / 798艺术区, Beijing, PRC (June 2008).
In The Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives
(See all Company Profiles Biography & History Books)