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And that’s just for starters, dear readers! The Rumpus.net has an interview with a Facebook employee (whose identity is withheld to safeguard continued employment) about the real state of privacy on the popular social site. Bottom line: if you write something on Facebook, it’s always gonna be there for Facebook employees to find (and even though the company has a policy about intruding on users’ accounts, it’s apparently rarely followed). And at one time the password that let any Facebook staffer log into any account was “Chuck Norris”.

(Feel free to post the inevitable Chuck Norris jokes in the comments.)...

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No wonder it’s often called “Crackbook”: some folks are addicted to it! Consider one Jonathan G. Parker, age 19, of Fort Loudoun, Pennsylvania. Police in the town responded to a call from a home on August 28th in which the resident reported a breaking and entering, and the theft of two diamond rings valued at more than $3,500.

The cops didn’t have far to look for a suspect, however: Parker used the victim’s computer to log into his Facebook account and forgot to log out.

Jonathan Parker was arrested, and is currently in jail on $10,000 bond. He’s facing one to ten years in the slammer if convicted.

Dumb, dumb, dumb. But also very funny šŸ™‚...

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“No Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or TwitPic!” That’s the dictate being sent to sports fans and students of Southeastern Conference member schools if they want to attend athletic events. Under its newly adopted media policy, the SEC has informed its schools that “Ticketed fans can’t produce or disseminate (or aid in producing or disseminating) any material or information about the Event, including, but not limited to, any account, description, picture, video, audio, reproduction or other information concerning the Event.”

It’s effectively a ban on all so-called “social media”. Per the new regs, a fan could get ejected from the premises simply for using his iPhone to take a picture of himself at a Gators football game and sending it to his friends on Facebook.

So what’s behind this boneheaded move? The $3 billion contact with CBS for the next 15 years, giving that network exclusive media rights to cover SEC ...

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Betsy Ramsdale of Wisconsin apparently likes guns. Nothing wrong with that. And she likes them so much that she posted a picture of herself aiming a rifle on her Facebook page. Nothing wrong with that either: it’s her own account, she gets to do with it on her own time whatever she likes and if Facebook doesn’t think it violates the terms of service, nobody else should hassle her about it.

Except that Betsy Ramsdale is also a teacher employed by what is all too often the modern monstrosity of public education. And when officials at Beaver Dam Middle School were “alerted” to the photo, they immediately placed Ramsdale on administrative leave.

So what it all comes down to is that Betsy Ramsdale is being punished for practicing her freedom of speech and right to privacy, by her implied advocacy of the Second Amendment. That’s a heckuva civics lesson ...

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This morning I started a new group on Facebook. It’s called: “I’m NOT Voting For ANY Candidate Who Runs A Negative Ad!”

It’s exactly what it sounds like: a group for people who are sick and tired of negative campaign commercials from political candidates.

The genesis for it came this morning, as I watched a seemingly non-stop torrent of commercials from this state’s gubernatorial candidates. I can’t recall any of the ads having anything upbeat and substantive to say about the candidates running them. They were all aimed toward tearing-down “the other guy”.

That’s when I decided that I wasn’t going to vote for anyone in North Carolina’s governor’s race. Unless there’s a candidate who hasn’t run any negative ads. And even then, I’d have to seriously study him or her before I could give my support. But if they’ve run a single negative commercial, that’s an automatic disqualification. ...

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CBS Sports has an Official NCAA Basketball Tournament Brackets application on Facebook and among other things it lets you rank who your favorite teams are… along with who you loathe the most.

I thought the current standings were pretty funny:

Right now the Tarheels of UNC-Chapel Hill are the top favorite team, followed by the Duke Blue Devils. But in the Despised category, Duke is by far the most hated followed by Carolina, and UNC has almost as many votes as it does in the Favorite chart. Hmmmm…

This might be the most scientific indicator yet of how intense the feud is between Duke and Carolina. Even though it’s a routine part of life here in North Carolina, I must admit it’s still quite neat to see it reflected in this way.

Oh yeah: GO DUKE!! šŸ™‚...

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Right now I’m listening to the CD of Steve Jablonsky‘s score for the movie D-War (it was mostly marketed as Dragon Wars when it came out here in the U.S.). It’s the third time that I’m playing it and admittedly it’s very hard to put movie soundtrack music in context without having seen the movie itself yet. But as a standalone album, the D-War score still rocks the house! I’m going to give it a full review as soon as I’ve had a chance to check out the film when it becomes available on Netflix.

As for the real reason I’m posting here (amid what may or may not still be my sabbatical from blogging): if you have a Facebook account and are also a fan of this amazing composer, a few days ago I started up the Steve Jablonsky Appreciation Group. So if you enjoy Steve’s work ...

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My friend Tilly Gokbudak posted a really nice comment on his blog recently, and I just had to share it here…

Lastly, my friend Christopher Knight of Reidsville, NC, has a quaint photo of himself visiting Natural Bridge near Lexington, Va. I was shocked by the stunning simplicity of this photo because Knight became a virtual overnight household name in the Triad for his great over-the-top tv spots which spoofed “Star Wars.” The ads were part of Knight’s campaign for the Rockingham County school board last year. They were even featured in an article in “The New York Times!”

Tilly is talking about the profile photo that is currently on my Facebook page. Here it is, taken in late August at Natural Bridge in Virginia…

Tilly also adds in this comment…

Alas, he did not win the election, but no one outside of the county knows who Ron Price**

...
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It’s the most memorable line of 2007 … and it wasn’t spoken in a single film or television show.

You know what I’m talking about if you’ve read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It’s the five words that Molly Weasley screams out just before going full-tilt wacko in the final battle. The five words that are going to absolutely rock the house when the movie version comes out.

Well, if you’re on Facebook and you’re also a fan of that indomitable matriarch of the Weasley clan, check this out: the “NOT MY DAUGHTER, YOU BITCH!” Mrs. Weasley Appreciation Group …

It already has over a hundred thousand members!

I will say it again: that is the single greatest line from a children’s book ever. And you wanna know why? Because I don’t know of anything else that’s ever been said in a work of fiction that more ...

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