Monday Minis!!

BRB...G2P

Now THAT'S technology! So, here's the situation. You're vacationing in Europe, soaking up the sights...and the ale. After stumbling out of your 18th pub, you decide you need to make some room in the old waterworks before visiting the next house of sin and suds. Now, you COULD just drain the main vein in an alleyway, but you'll only be adding to the estimated 10,000 gallons of recycled beer that gets unloaded in the streets of Westminster every year. Try this instead.

Tourists, theatergoers, shoppers and pub patrons in London's West End can now text the word "toilet" — and receive a text back with the address of the nearest public facility.

Source

Call information? Hell no! Text "toilet"! What won't they think of next (that question is ALMOST getting scary!)?



Facebook backs down
(Go here for the original rant, if you don't know the story.)

It seems like Facebook has decided to bite the bullet and admit that it made a mistake. Facebook users are now given a global "opt-out" option with regards to the new Beacon advertising program. It's still tough to find, requiring users to access the "External Websites" portion of the "Privacy" section of their profiles, but it's there, which is a big change from where we stood last week.

"We've made a lot of mistakes building this feature, but we've made even more with how we've handled them," Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook's blog. "We simply did a bad job with this release, and I apologize for it."

Empowering to users block Beacon entirely "is big step in the right direction, and we hope it begins an industrywide trend that puts the basic rights of Internet users ahead of the wish lists of corporate advertisers," said Adam Green, a spokesman for MoveOn.org.

Source

Now, this is just the first step. Facebook got busted, but look at what it took to get the "opt-out" added to the program (example: 65,000 Facebook users signing a petition hosted by MoveOn.org). Your information is valuable. Be sure you know who has access to it, and how.

Now, there's still the issue of how Beacon works, by sending ALL user data from affiliated sites to Facebook servers. Whether you're a Facebook user or not, Mark Zuckerberg still knows about your Christmas purchaes from his Nike affiliates. Facebook "deletes all information from users who have not opted-in to the program", but even if that is the case, they shouldn't have that info in the first place.

Perhaps it's time to take the fight to the affiliates. When word got out about Eidos' potential involvement in the termination of a Gamespot reviewer over a less-than-enthusiastic review of one of Eidos' new games, users immediately began pulling support from Gamespot and their advertisers. We've seen the effect we can have. These people are working for our dollars, people. Let's show them where the power lies.

Is it necessary for us to start boycotting Facebook affiliates? As long as those affiliates are comfortable sharing YOUR information with Facebook, whether they have your permission or not, then I say yes. We will not be toyed with, not in this world where identity theft is only one click away.

UPDATE 10:02 p.m.
Further proof that Facebook affiliates send info no matter what, from the blog of Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg.

If you select that you don't want to share some Beacon actions or if you turn off Beacon, then Facebook won't store those actions even when partners send them to Facebook.

Source

"Even when partners send them to Facebook". Way to go Mark. Throw them under the bus.


Ahhh! Cooties!

They pull their sleeves down over their hands to open doors, surreptitiously sanitize while on buses, subways and airplanes. At the gym, they towel off their elliptical trainers like car detailers in search of a $100 tip. At work, they’re ready to break out the Clorox the minute somebody coughs.

Who are these incredibly sterile souls? They’re the citizens of a germ-conscious segment of the country you might call hand-sanitation nation.

Source

These people are contributing to shorter life spans and the prevalence of superbugs and drug-resistant bacteria. You know the commercials for all those handy disinfectant wipes and crap? The ones that kill 99% of germs and bacteria? I think it's time to start a new ad campaign.

"NEW! Leaves 1% of the bacteria behind to mutate and breed into something even worse!"

Think about it. How long have people been getting cancer? Or AIDS? Or the flu-that-kills-you? Barring the whole "back in the old days we didn't know what was killing us" argument, I'd say, not very long. Yes, people are healthier, but almost EVERY DAY we learn about a new health threat. Where are all these coming from? Some of them have always been around, but our bodies could handle them. Now, we've antibacterialed ourselves to the point that dirt could probaly make us ill (and I mean nice, clean dirt). Every time you use antibacterial soap, you're killing your immune system. That just makes it so that you have to use the stuff more often. Which makes your immune system weaker. And so eventually, antibacterial soap becomes a must-have for survival, because the immune system went the way of the appendix, and atrophied into nothing, since we were no longer using it for anything.

Want a hint? Do you know what HIV is? Let's ask wikipedia.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in humans in which the immune system begins to fail, leading to life-threatening opportunistic infections.

Guess what? I know this is an exaggeration, but every time you antibacterialize yourself, you're bringing yourself one step closer toward voluntarily giving yourself HIV. HIV/AIDS kills the immune system ENTIRELY, and any little old bug that wants to can waltz right in and kill your squeaky clean ass. And you're signing up for it, every time you buy a bottle of antibacterial sanitizer.

PLUS! It's not healthy whe nyou kill all the germs. But what's even worse are the ones that survive! There are new drug-resistant strains of EVERYTHING popping up around the world daily. When will the germs start to win the race against the medical researchers that keep finding new ways to kill them? Seriously, if we've had flu vaccines for DECADES, why isn't it dead? Why does it get more vicious every year? Because we keep making it smarter, and hardier. Yup.

We're killing ourselves with clean.
Which is why I only bathe twice a week.
I may smell, but I'm healthier than you.
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