Facebook? Facebook. Facebook!

Digital Warfare?

"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

Life Unplugged?

My curfew was the street lights. My mom called my name NOT my cell. 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 and neighbors cared as much as your parents. Re-post if you drank water from a garden hose and survived.

Battle for the Internet?

Google's Sergey Brin warns Web freedom faces greatest threat ever?
Read More...




Do you remember the first time you heard the phrase 'the internet'? For this blogger, it was in January 1994 while vacationing with the United Nations in Mogadishu, Somalia. A young American military officer, camping inside a bombed out building at the airport, had linked a computer via satellite to this digital highway called the World Wide Web.

Maybe it's just me, but on most days, it feels like this still adolescent, globally interconnected digital world is drowning in information but starved of knowledge. So, could someone please help me understand why Paris Hilton is famous?

"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).

Searching for Answers?

Gingrich charges Fox News with pro-Romney bias? Really? Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Mike Huckabee are 'unfair and unbalanced'? Is there a vast right-wing media conspiracy against Gingrich?

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? Read More...

Possible Definition of "Politically Incorrect"?

Facebook Quote: "I drove behind a car with an Obama sticker on it, which means I'm a follower of an Obama follower, so I'm a gobless Commie, according to the real America. Right?"

Satan Attacks America?

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

[pseu·do·nym]

A fictitious name used by an author to conceal his or her identity.

"Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority. It thus exemplifies the purpose behind the Bill of Rights, and of the First Amendment in particular: to protect unpopular individuals from retaliation—and their ideas from suppression—at the hand of an intolerant society. The right to remain anonymous may be abused when it shields fraudulent conduct. But political speech by its nature will sometimes have unpalatable consequences, and, in general, our society accords greater weight to the value of free speech than to the dangers of its misuse."
~ Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens
McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Comm’n 514 U.S. 334, 357 (1995)

How to Remove Your Google Search History Before Google's New Privacy Policy Takes Effect?
Read More...

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. Also, employing these technologies could cut both political ways.

Hacked e-mails reveal Syrian spin used to defend crackdown?
Read More...

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

Message to Faux News

If a user LIKES a candidate on Facebook, it does not mean that person actually supports that specific individual. Don't believe me? Just spend a few minutes reading the comments left on Michele Bachmann's page.


Because of Facebook's technical architecture, in order to leave a comment on a candidate's page (either positive or negative), a user must JOIN that candidate's LIKE page. IF a journalist (and/or news agency) uses a candidate's Facebook LIKE page to gauge popular support, that journalist (and/or news agency) is an IDIOT.

FYI: The Facebook LIKE function does not represent a scientific poll or survey (even one funded by a special interest group). Anyhow, these days, this blogger watches Comedy Central for an insightful look at the news and laughs from watching Faux News.
Fair and Balanced, My Ass!:
An Unbridled Look at the Bizarre Reality of Fox News (Paperback)

Mural on Town Post Office

May 2010

Stromberg, Nebraska

"The Swede Capital of Nebraska"

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

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]

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

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, this blogger 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
(October 17, 2011)
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:(September 26, 2011) 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)

German State UNLIKEs Facebook?

Agencies Banned From Using Facebook, 'Like' Button
PC Magazine
by Chloe Albanesius
August 19, 2011


"German data watchdogs on Friday ordered federal agencies to shut down their Facebook pages and remove 'like' buttons from their Web sites, suggesting that anyone who uses Facebook will have their online activity tracked."
READ MORE...
I think, therefore, I'm Facebook.

The Humongous Book of Calculus Problems: For People Who Don't Speak Math