Tag: facebook

Some Interesting Morning Headlines

After 4 decades, Islam is weakening in Iran

EPA To End Rule Requiring Companies To Report Their CO2 EmissionsHeartache: EPA To End Rule Requiring Companies To Report Their CO2 Emissions

Visualizing Global Gold Production By Region

2-in-5 Young Adults Are Taking on Debt for Social Image, to Impress Peers

American Airlines Pilots Caught Celebrating Kirk’s Assassination Have Been Removed From Service

To End Political Violence, the Marxist Framework That Legitimizes It Must Be Rooted Out

6 Illegals Arrested Following Fatal Hit-and-Run in Florida

Charlie Kirk’s Murder Reshaped America . . . and the World

Kim Jong Un’s Sister Warns Against US Joint Drills

‘WE F-CKING DID IT’: X User Connected to Tyler Robinson’s Alleged Boyfriend Celebrated Charlie Kirk’s Death in the Moments After Shooting

FBI Agents Sat on Photo of Charlie Kirk Assassination Suspect for 12 Hours Before Briefing Director Kash Patel: Report

Why is America so polarized? I can tell you

Most ICE Deportation Flights Are To Central America

“BULLS**T!”: Michael Savage Isn’t Buying the FBI’s Story on the Assassination of Charlie Kirk [VIDEO]

Europe

WATCH LIVE: 1 MILLION Patriots Flood London to Honor Charlie Kirk at ‘Unite the Kingdom’

Foreigners Avoiding US

Instagram And Meta Roll Out Friend Map, Taking Another Bite Out Of Your Privacy

If you support privacy, you probably aren’t using Instagram anyway, but if you have friends and family that still use it, you want to let them know about this new invasive feature Instagram is introducing.

Meta is rolling out three new Instagram updates, but one of them takes the platform into territory that should set off serious alarm bells for anyone who values privacy.

The first two changes are relatively harmless: a new option to repost public Reels and a “Friends” tab showing posts your contacts have liked or commented on.

The third is far more invasive: Instagram’s new “Friend Map,” a live-tracking system that lets you share your exact location with chosen contacts and see theirs in return.

Meta frames it as a way to “stay up-to-date with friends,” but its real value is to the company, not to you.

The feature mirrors Snapchat’s “Snap Map” and is being introduced first in the United States before a global release. Unlike meeting up for coffee, this kind of “connection” means giving Meta a constant feed of where you are, when you are there, and how often you go.

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You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?

You get some great, amazingly fantastic news. What’s the first thing you do?

Nothing. It’s not important to others so I don’t bother them with it. Some people have to tell the world, but I don’t think others care that much so I usually don’t say much.

I hate people who brag anyway so I go out of my way not to do it.

Since I’m not on Fake book or X, I’m not obligated to post about it.

Life is a lot easier when you live in your own lane and don’t have to show off to others. Those that are happy for you will be. They’ll find out the news sooner or later.

I’ve been around long enough now to know that things are fleeting. Whatever news will fade into life and there will be downs as well as ups. Once you understand that, you look at news differently.

Thought For The Day

It’s why I rarely care what people think of me, even while I’m alive. If someone doesn’t like me, it’s one less hassle for me to deal with and more free time to enjoy what little time I have left.

I’m married to a person who goes through life like a Facebook page trying to collect likes. It’s annoying to watch.

The Free Ride Is Over At Meta – DEI Expert Bemoans the Death of ‘Diversity’ Programs at Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta

Losing Sheryl Sandberg was the best thing that happened to Meta. That and Zuckerberg growing a pair when he learned Ju-Jitsu.

In an opinion piece, former Facebook diversity executive Bärí A. Williams criticizes Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to disband the company’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, signaling a shift in priorities as he aligns with the incoming Trump administration.

Williams, author of Seen Yet Unseen: A Black Woman Crashes the Tech Fraternity and the founder of Facebook’s Supplier Diversity Program, recently published an opinion piece via MSNBC on the shutdown of Meta’s DEI initiatives. In the piece, Williams stated her concerns about Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to disband the company’s DEI programs, signaling a change in priorities as he seeks to align with the incoming Trump administration.

Williams expressed her disappointment in the abandonment of Meta’s Supplier Diversity Program, an initiative she spent countless hours developing. She writes, “From October 2014 to October 2016, I spent nights, weekends and even part of my maternity leave, creating the supplier diversity program. And now it’s defunct.” The decision to dismantle the Supplier Diversity Program comes as a surprise, especially considering Meta’s previous pledges to support diversity and inclusion. As Williams notes, “In June 2020, Facebook pledged a $1.1 billion ‘investment in Black and diverse suppliers and communities in the U.S.’”

However, Williams believes that with the departure of Sheryl Sandberg, who served as Facebook’s chief operating officer between 2008 and 2022 and was a champion of content moderation, sustainability, diversity, equity, and inclusion, “the buffer was removed.” She adds, “Zuckerberg, who’s now evangelizing on the virtues of ‘masculine energy’ in companies, has reportedly blamed Sandberg for the existence of the company’s diversity initiatives and said she was the reason why he couldn’t disband them.” Breitbart News previously reported on Zuckerberg passing the buck to Sandberg by blaming her for the company’s DEI lunacy. Williams believes “this is Zuckerberg showing us who he really is.”

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Anytime the DEI grifters get the rug pulled out from under them, fairness and meritocracy rise above the surface of discriminatory practices

Zuckerberg Blames Sheryl Sanberg For Meta’s DEI Bias

DEI favors some groups over others, be it because of either social pressure or Corporate lending practices (Blackrock).

Zuckerberg is cleaning house, and eliminating the “inclusive” culture that Sheryl Sanberg brought in. Inclusive meaning hiring certain groups based on gender or race.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly trash-talked his former top lieutenant Sheryl Sandberg during his visit to Mar-a-Lago, blaming her for implementing controversial DEI initiatives at Facebook that “encouraged employees’ self-expression in the workplace.”

Zuckerberg, who has drawn criticism for cozying up to the new administration, made the comment during a sit-down with President-elect Donald Trump’s advisers at his Florida retreat shortly after the Republican’s historic election victory in November, according to the New York Times.

The discussions on Nov. 27 — which included Stephen Miller, who will take over as White House deputy chief of staff — covered a range of hot-button topics such as the administration’s expected crackdown on immigration, and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, the Times reported.

Miller told Zuckerberg that the billionaire mogul had “an opportunity to help reform America, but it would be on Trump’s terms,” according to the Times.

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Imagine the white male talent that got overlooked and hired by their competitors.

Is Meta Finally Waking Up And Going Un-Woke?

Or is it just sucking up to the new regime?

In a major sign of where things are headed in the coming months, Facebook/Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the company is dropping its current DEI policies.

People are interpreting this as an indication of how things are changing now that a second Trump administration is about to take power and that is probably correct.

The New York Post reported:

Meta, Amazon ditch DEI programs as tech giants move away from ‘woke’ agenda

Meta and Amazon reportedly killed their DEI programs in recent days – moves that come as both Big Tech giants attempt to cozy up to President-elect Donald Trump.

On Friday, Meta – the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and Threads – said it will no longer take the controversial Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies into consideration before hiring, training and picking suppliers, Axios reported.

According to a memo sent by Janelle Gale, vice president of human resources, she said the company is pivoting away from DEI because the “legal and policy landscape surrounding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the United States is changing.”

A Meta spokesperson reached by The Post confirmed the memo, which was first obtained by Axios.

Meta’s about-face came just days after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that his company would scrap censoring free speech on its popular social media platforms.

Both Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos have recently met with Trump as part of an ongoing thaw in once-frosty relations between the Republican and the tech industry.

Zuckerberg appears to be serious about this and has even removed the tampons from the men’s rooms.

Meta Reportedly Removes Tampons From Men’s Bathrooms As Part Of Broad DEI Crackdown

They Are Scrubbing the Internet Right Now

Instances of censorship are growing to the point of normalization. Despite ongoing litigation and more public attention, mainstream social media has been more ferocious in recent months than ever before. Podcasters know for sure what will be instantly deleted and debate among themselves over content in gray areas. Some like Brownstone have given up on YouTube in favor of Rumble, sacrificing vast audiences if only to see their content survive to see the light of day. 

It’s not always about being censored or not. Today’s algorithms include a range of tools that affect searchability and findability. For example, the Joe Rogan interview with Donald Trump racked up an astonishing 34 million views before YouTube and Google tweaked their search engines to make it hard to discover, while even presiding over a technical malfunction that disabled viewing for many people. Faced with this, Rogan went to the platform X to post all three hours. 

Navigating this thicket of censorship and quasi-censorship has become part of the business model of alternative media. 

Those are just the headline cases. Beneath the headlines, there are technical events taking place that are fundamentally affecting the ability of any historian even to look back and tell what is happening. Incredibly, the service Archive.org which has been around since 1994 has stopped taking images of content on all platforms. For the first time in 30 years, we have gone a long swath of time – since October 8-10 – since this service has chronicled the life of the Internet in real time. 

As of this writing, we have no way to verify content that has been posted for three weeks of October leading to the days of the most contentious and consequential election of our lifetimes. Crucially, this is not about partisanship or ideological discrimination. No websites on the Internet are being archived in ways that are available to users. In effect, the whole memory of our main information system is just a big black hole right now. 

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Maybe they can scrub stuff like my Facebook and Twitter accounts I canceled years ago. I posted some stupid stuff there.

Yes, Here’s How Your Phone (And Facebook/Google/Amazon) Is Listening To you

Millions of people have long suspected it, but now a leak suggests that our phones really are listening to us. 

An apparent pitch deck from one of Facebook‘s alleged marketing partner appears to detail how the firm eavesdrops on users’ conversations to create targeted ads. 

In a slideshow, Cox Media Group (CMG) claims that its ‘Active-Listening’ software uses AI to collect and analyze ‘real-time intent data’ by listening to what you say through your phone, laptop or home assistant microphone.

‘Advertisers can pair this voice-data with behavioral data to target in-market consumers,’ the deck states. 

The pitch deck goes on to tout Facebook, Google and Amazon as clients of CMG, suggesting they could be using its Active-Listening service to target users. 

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The Trouble With People Today, This Close To The Election

I was having a conversation with my buddy George who claims he was perceptive. He was giving me the litany of reasons girls don’t like Trump, while standing firmly behind voting for him.

I did get a lecture as to how good JD Vance was because he was young and didn’t put out mean tweets.

I asked him if he’d investigated Tampon Tim Walz. He’d never heard of him. I’m wondering myself how can you be perceptive if you don’t know 1/4th of the Presidential election lineup.

This caused me to wonder about what Donald Rumsfeld said.

I was watching that press conference and it struck me how true this really was. Most people don’t know much outside of their little world and never see the big picture.

That took me to this well-known joke:

A guy was seated next to a 10-year-old girl on an airplane. Being bored, he turned to the girl and said, “Let’s talk. I’ve heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.”

The girl, who was reading a book, closed it slowly and said to the guy, “What would you like to talk about?”

Oh, I don’t know,” said the guy. “How about nuclear power?”

“OK,” she said. “That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow and a deer all eat the same stuff… grass. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?”

The guy thought about it and said, “Hmmm, I have no idea.”

To which the girl replied, “Do you really feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when you don’t know shit?”

Most people don’t know shit, yet they talk a lot of shit.

I caught a lot of shit from my cousin about Trump’s mean tweets and being an Alpha male, you know the kind that girls let them do stuff to that they wouldn’t a less rich or powerful type. Instead, she went out of her way to promote the disaster that was our current president and how our nation was wrecked by incompetence. She failed to understand the concept of hypergamy. She also ignored that girls sleep with who they want, (most) guys sleep with who they can, except alpha males.

I don’t have a moral to the story other than look at yourself. You probably don’t know as much as you think. You know what you’ve heard and your opinions are usually reflections of other people you’ve heard. That means we all need to get better educated as to the candidates.

Critical thinking is a lost art. They don’t teach it in schools anymore (other than private schools). We sure could use more of that in this election cycle to bring some common sense to how and who we should have run our nation. History for example is a great teacher. We have a lot of it telling us what is the right thing instead of the politically correct thing.

I think our lives would be a lot less difficult if we all thought through things a bit more than what social media and the MSM tells us to think. It’s why I dumped Fakebook and Twitter years ago.

So after lampooning those who claim to be perceptive, I’m not going to do it. I am a person who sees patterns. What I see is a bunch of sheep being told what to think instead of thinking for themselves

YMMV

WTF Is Going On With The UK?

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UK Police Commissioner Threatens International Citizens Over Online Posts “We Will Come After You” (Video)

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UK police block entire North American continent from its website as they begin arresting non-violent Brits for ‘inaccurate social media posts’…

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https://twitter.com/RadioGenoa/status/1822343504305000832

Princeton Finds Racial Bias At Facebook

A recent study by researchers from Princeton University and USC suggests that Meta’s algorithms for presenting educational ads exhibit signs of racial bias, particularly in the delivery of ads realated to for-profit universities and those with a history of predatory marketing practices.

The Register reports that the research paper, titled “Auditing for Racial Discrimination in the Delivery of Education Ads,” is set to be presented at the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (ACM FAccT) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The authors, including researchers from Princeton and USC, found that Meta’s algorithms disproportionately show ads for for-profit colleges and universities with historically predatory practices to black users compared to ads for public universities.

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of course they are biased, not just for some groups but against others. They are against white, christian, male, heterosexual patriots.

Good, Maybe The Pictures Of Some Of The Dumb Shit I Did Got Lost

The internet is disappearing, study says

Almost 40% of webpages from 2013 no longer exist a decade on, research finds

The internet is disappearing, a new study has suggested, as web pages and online content is lost.

The web is often thought of as a place where content lasts forever. But vast swathes of its are being lost as pages are deleted or moved, according to new research.

Of the webpages that existed in 2013, for instance, 38 per cent are now lost. Even newer pages are disappearing: 8 per cent of pages that existed in 2023 are no longer available.

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I’ve been blogging since 2004. I lost a bunch of stuff in the 2008/9 range, but it was mostly work related, work that I don’t do anymore.

Still, cached stuff on facebook or if you had a MySpace page, it might be good to lose that

You Have To Be Really Vain For This

Three women were diagnosed with HIV after getting “vampire facial” procedures at an unlicensed New Mexico medical spa, the CDC said in a report last week, marking the first documented cases of people contracting the virus through cosmetic services using needles.

Federal health officials said in a new report that an investigation from 2018 through 2023 into the clinic in Albuquerque — VIP Spa — found it apparently reused disposable equipment intended for one-time use, transmitting HIV to clients through its services via contaminated blood.

Vampire facials, formally known as platelet-rich plasma microneedling facials, are cosmetic procedures intended to rejuvenate one’s skin, making it more youthful-looking and reducing acne scars and wrinkles, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

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some people are never happy, or they are on social media too much, or both

Flaming Examples Of Times Facebook, YouTube Amazon Were Threatened by The Biden Government

They did what they said Trump would do. This is the most duplicitous regime run like the Gestapo and SS.

Oh, but we can’t have mean tweets.

Social Media And Mental Health For Females

Most of the time when we talk about social media being bad for us we mean for our mental health. These platforms make us anxious, depressed, and insecure, and for many reasons: the constant social comparison; the superficiality and inauthenticity of it all; being ranked and rated by strangers. All this seems to make us miserable.

But I don’t just think it makes us miserable. I’ve written before about how it makes us bitchy. And self-absorbed. And over time I’m becoming convinced that our most pressing concern isn’t that social media makes us feel worse about ourselves. It’s that social media makes us worse people.

Social comparison, for example. This is one of the main problems people mention when talking about the harms of social media. Constantly comparing our beauty, our success, our lifestyle, our popularity, to infinite streams of other people makes us feel anxious and inadequate, yes. But I also think it makes us resentful. Bitter. Competitive. Quietly wishing for others to fail. We talk constantly about what like, follow and comment metrics do to our self-esteem—but don’t they also make us so shallow? We hate when people judge us by numbers on a screen, but aren’t we doing it all the time, to everyone else, even subconsciously? We talk endlessly about how editing apps and filters give girls and young women anxiety and body dysmorphia, which is important, but never about how they make us competitive, envious, vain. Sometimes it’s not my self-esteem I’m worried about. It’s who I become when I obsess over my profile and image and what everyone else is doing. Sometimes I lock my screen and don’t like who is looking back at me in its black reflection.

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How do you use social media?

How do you use social media?

Very restrictively. For informational purposes only, and for here, it helps me discover patterns the ongoing 4D chess of the world.

I cut out most of the childish nonsense. People posting meals, and especially the past that I already said goodbye to once.

My best move was eliminating Facebook.

Dear Tiktok Users, Here Is The data TikTok collects On You, Somewhat Shocking

When you agree to TikTok’s terms of service after downloading the app, you’re handing communist China the keys to the kingdom. I dug up all the creepy things TikTok tracks and how it does it. Plus, how to quickly find red flags in the terms and conditions.

From fingerprints to file names

Think the TikTok paranoia is overblown? It’s not. Here’s the laundry list of data you give up every time you scroll. It’s a lot:

  • Your name, age, username, email address, password, phone number and location.
  • Your IP address, cellphone carrier, time zone, the model of your device and the OS you use.
  • Biometric identifiers, like facial IDs and voiceprints. Yep.
  • The content of your messages, plus exactly when you send, receive and read them.
  • If you buy stuff from the TikTop shop, your purchase information, including your credit card numbers, billing and shipping addresses.
  • Your activities on other websites and apps (or in stores), including info on what you purchased.
  • File names and types.
  • Your keystroke patterns and rhythms.
  • Objects and scenery that show up in your videos, including tourist attractions, shops and other landmarks.
  • The web pages you visit the most and how you interact with them.
  • Any text, images and videos on your clipboard.
  • Information about your videos, images and audio.

Seem like a fair trade for cute kitty videos and a new dance challenge? Didn’t think so.

But wait, there’s more

TikTok also embeds data into images and ads to track the time and date you view a page, complete with a description. The amount of data TikTok collects is so extensive that it can come dangerously close to cloning your entire phone. Where TikTok stores its data is also a major red flag for Congress. Information collected in the U.S. is connected straight to servers in China. 

Read that fine print

I’ve been warning you about the communist China app for a while now, but scanning any app’s terms and conditions too quickly could put you at risk. Here’s how to quickly spot red flags:

  • Use Ctrl + F on Windows (or Command + F on a Mac) to search for buzzwords like “purchase,” “messages” and “third party.” Pay attention to vague words like “may,” which is when they’re trying to get away with something sneaky.
  • Search for sections like “How we collect your personal data” to see what an app collects on you and how they do it. 
  • Look for words like “geolocation” and “geotargeting” to find out if your location information is collected. 
  • Check out the Terms of Service, Didn’t Read tool. It flags shady language in privacy policies on today’s top apps and gives them a rating. TikTok got an E. I also give it an E: Egregiously greedy, don’t download.

Don’t forget to share this article with family and friends so they know the risks using TikTok poses.

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I wouldn’t touch it like I won’t use Google or Facebook

How Social Media Continues To Ruin Dating

But as an unmarried woman in my 30s, I also realize there’s no quick fix to this situation—and that married Americans are often unaware of how bleak the current dating landscape can be. Ultimately, if we’re going to have more healthy marriages, we need to change our dating culture.

Take this new lawsuit, which highlights just how insane the current dating world is.

The plaintiff, Nikko D’Ambrosio, alleges he was defamed in a private Chicago Facebook group for women, called “Are We Dating the Same Guy?” Facebook groups with this name began sprouting up in 2022, allowing thousands of women to swap information—rarely of the flattering variety—about local single men.

Although this seems like a recipe for idle gossip, it was also a way for women to warn other women of the bad behavior of particular local men so they could avoid them.

D’Ambrosio says he was defamed in the Chicago Facebook group, but was unable to join it to defend himself or get the moderators to remove the posts about him. In one post mentioned in his lawsuit, a woman wrote: “Very clingy very fast. Flaunted money very awkwardly and kept talking about how I don’t want to see his bad side, especially when he was on business calls.”

Another woman wrote: “I went out with him a few times just over a year ago—he told me what I wanted to hear until I slept with him and then he ghosted … I’d steer clear.” (The term “ghosted” refers to when a romantic interest stops responding to all forms of communication without announcing a breakup or an end of contact.)

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A bunch of girls getting together to trash men online because they didn’t get what they wanted. I’ve got news for you, you never really get all that you want. 

Anytime I didn’t contact a girl back, it was because there were too many red flags and she practically drove me away. It was never a pump and dump. We didn’t hit it off and I saved both of us a lot of wasted time. Sometimes I read the body language and it was her that said we were done. I can take a hint.

The part about social media ruining people’s lives is right though. It sets up false expectations that are never met, then gives you a place to gripe in public and tear down others at the same time.

Why Am I Not Surprised, She Came From Facebook

Facebook’s former diversity program manager has pleaded guilty to stealing more than $4 million from the company through fake business deals in exchange for kickbacks to fund a luxurious lifestyle, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. 

Barbara Furlow-Smiles, 38, served as the lead strategist, global head of employee resource groups and diversity engagement at the social media giant while she orchestrated the scheme, the Justice Department said. From January 2017 through September 2021, she led Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs at Facebook and was responsible for developing and executing DEI initiatives, operations, and engagement programs.

“Furlow-Smiles used lies and deceit to defraud both vendors and Facebook employees,” said Keri Farley, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Atlanta office. “The FBI works hard to make sure greed like this doesn’t pay off and those who commit fraud are held accountable.”

Furlow-Smiles committed the fraud by linking PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App accounts to credit cards given to her by Facebook and used those accounts to pay friends, relatives, former interns at a prior job, nannies, babysitters, a hairstylist and others for goods and services that were never provided to the company, a federal complaint states.

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I can’t even say anything nice about fake book. The founder who paid $400 million to rig the 2020 presidential election to a platform that is ruining teenage girls, it’s a POS.

Zuckerberg Blew $40 Billion On The Metaverse, Now Betting $36 Billion On Mind Control/Tech Addiction

At the end of the Social Network, the lawyer told Mark Zuckerberg you aren’t really an asshole, you should stop trying so hard to be one. Well, in real life it looks like he is.

Some people are just evil it seems.

EXPOSED: Meta’s $36 Billion Plot to Re-engineer Society and Mark Zuckerberg’s Dangerous Future Plans for Tech Addiction

Out today, Controligarchs: Exposing the Billionaire Class, Their Secret Deals, and the Globalist Plot to Dominate Your Life, blows the lid off of Meta’s pattern of intentionally using harmful and aggressive tactics to get users addicted to social media apps like Facebook and Instagram and documents a shocking rise in depression and suicide that some scientists have linked to social media use.


This comes just weeks after dozens of state attorneys general (AGs) filed suit against Facebook’s and Instagram’s parent company, Meta Platforms Inc. (Meta), and three of its subsidiaries, for harming children by addicting them to the social media platforms. Forty-two states, including California and New York, allege that billionaire creator Mark Zuckerberg’s company “knowingly designed and deployed harmful features on Instagram and Facebook to purposefully addict children and teens.”

Previously, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen claimed that Meta targeted children and teens for monetary reasons and a leaked document showed that the youth demographic was “a valuable but untapped audience.”

Just weeks after Haugen blew the whistle on Facebook’s tactics, Zuckerberg unveiled his plan to release what may prove to be Meta’s most addictive product yet: Facebook Horizon. Zuckerberg’s October 2021 virtual tour of the new product, which was panned as “super weird,” was his coming-out party for what has become known as “the metaverse”—a digital world that users can essentially live in and access via a virtual reality (VR) headset such as Facebook’s Oculus Quest.

Zuckerberg’s metaverse launch was a conveniently timed and thinly veiled rebranding effort to distract from whistleblower documents and allegations that, according to the Associated Press, show that “Facebook ignored or downplayed internal warnings of the negative and often harmful consequences its algorithms wreaked across the world.”

In October 2021, Zuckerberg changed the name of the Facebook Inc. family of companies to Meta Platforms Inc. to signal the direction his social media empire would be heading. And Zuckerberg has pumped more than $36 billion into making his metaverse ambitions a reality.

Lord Chesterfield On Things Social Media Has Robbed Us of

“Great talents, such as honor, virtue, and learning are above the generality of the world, who neither possess them themselves, nor judge of them rightly in others; but all people are judges of the lesser talents, such as civility, affability, and an obliging, agreeable address and manner, because they feel the good effects of them.”

I eliminated a lot of social media because it lost almost all of it’s civility, affability and agreeable address and manner.

I’d post something or read a statement that someone said and by the 4th comment, people (likely unqualified) on the subject would try to tear down your position, call bullshit or start their own thread of whatever social position they supported.

It was tiresome, usually wrong and generally vengeful.

My life is much better without that cesspool. I also have a lot of time back to do more enjoyable things in my life.

As an introvert, it was like being at a party I wanted to leave as soon as I got there. I just don’t go to that party anymore.

FaceBook And Instagram Photo Filters, Also Known As Lying

Social media, where being fake about who you are for a hit on the like button, by people who probably don’t really like it. Adults acting like children and children learning to lie.

Stolen from Woosterman.

More Reason’s And Facts Why You Shouldn’t Trust Social Media, The Chinese Are Using It Against The West

It’s a time suck for some, it causes mental illness in teenage girls and is a propaganda tool now.

It’s being weaponized against the users and they don’t know it.

While I think that it has crossed the Maginot line of some not being able to shut it off, it is being used as a weapon against us now. It probably has for a long time. It was a political football that was kicked around when they started banning people for not thinking the same way the Silicon Valley tech moguls think.

Before the meat of this story, let’s not forget that Tik Tok is also a Chinese spy tool.

Now, Chinese Companies Help CCP Manipulate Global Opinion on Social Media.

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) cyber-influence campaigns against Western democracies on social media have become more frequent, sophisticated, and effective in recent years, with more Chinese government agencies, such as Qi An Xin, becoming involved.

Named “Gaming Public Opinion,” the report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) included data collection spanning Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, Sina Weibo, and ByteDance products.

It reveals previously unreported CCP cyber-influence operations, such as one called the “Spamouflage network,” in which inauthentic accounts are used to spread claims that the United States is irresponsibly conducting cyber-espionage operations against China and other countries.

“The CCP has used these cyber-enabled influence operations to seek to interfere in U.S. politics, Australian politics, and national security decisions, undermine the Quad and Japanese defence policies, and impose costs on Australian and North American rare-earth mining companies,”  the report said.

A Spamouflage account called Erin Chew claimed to live in Sydney. (screenshot/ASPI report)

The most notable Chinese party-state agencies involved include the People’s Liberation Army’s Strategic Support Force, which conducts cyber operations as part of the army’s political warfare; the Ministry of State Security, which conducts covert operations for state security; the Central Propaganda Department, which oversees China’s domestic and foreign propaganda efforts; the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), which enforces China’s internet laws; and the Cyberspace Administration of China, which regulates China’s internet ecosystem.

Chinese state media outlets and Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials are also running clandestine operations that seek to amplify their own overt propaganda and influence activities.

The account of user 7763546981 has a headshot of a public security bureau. (screenshot/ASPI report)

Private Chinese Companies Assisting Government Agencies

In addition, the authors found that private Chinese companies collaborate with CCP agencies in their operations.

In a recent coordinated CCP propaganda campaign named “Operation Honey Badger” (蜜獾行动) by Chinese government-linked entities, for instance, Chinese cybersecurity company Qi An Xin (奇安信) supporting the influence operation.

“We uncover new evidence to suggest that the MPS, with the support of cybersecurity company Qi An Xin, may be involved in this campaign,” they wrote.

“The company has the capacity to seed disinformation about advanced persistent threats to its clients in Southeast Asia and other countries… It’s deeply connected with Chinese intelligence, military, and security services and plays an important role in China’s cybersecurity and state security strategies.”

As of April 2023, the “Operation Honey Badger” campaign continues to attribute cyber-espionage operations to the U.S. government.

Evidence that Chinese officials and state media retweeted tweets from Spamouflage accounts. (screenshot/ASPI report)

Clive Hamilton, the Australian academic who authored “Silent Invasion,” said he agrees with the arguments made in the ASPI report.

Hamilton said he believes the CCP’s goal of manipulating public opinion remains the same, but the way it actually does it is changing.

As countries such as Australia have strengthened legislation and law enforcement to counter foreign interference, it has become more difficult for Beijing to carry out on-the-ground missions in those countries. That’s why underground work through networks is all the more important, he told Radio Free Asia.

Clive Hamilton, author of “Silent Invasion,” speaks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in “A Conversation on Chinese Influence in Australia and Beyond” in Washington on Oct. 18, 2018. (Wu Wei/Epoch Times)

Solution: Strengthen legislation, intelligence sharing, and cooperate with social media

The authors suggest governments review foreign interference legislation and consider mandating that social media platforms disclose state-backed influence operations and other transparency reporting to increase the public’s threat awareness.

In addition, they appeal to partners and allies to share more intelligence with one another on such influence operations.

“Strong open-source intelligence skills and collection capabilities are a crucial part of investigating and attributing these operations, the low classification of which should making intelligence sharing easier,” they argued.

Whole Cows No Bugs

On the other hand, social media platforms are urged to remove access to those analytics for suspicious accounts breaching platform policies, making it difficult for identified malicious actors to measure the effectiveness of influence operations.

Life As A Conspiracy Theorist In 2023

Gettin’ kind of tough for others when stuff starts coming true and the facts come out proving what you knew was right all along. Who’s going to call them out for lying to us, or is it going to be swept under the rug by Google, Facebook, the media and the deep state?

I could have always taken off my tin foil hat, but you can never get un-jabbed.

Now published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature: “The mRNA vaccines are neither safe nor effective, but outright dangerous”

Here are some other direct quotes from the paper, there are 21 total so I spared the reader:

  1. COVID-19 vaccines cause more side effects than any other vaccine
  2. Not only does spike protein produce unwanted side effects, but mRNA and nanoparticles do as well.
  3. Never in vaccine history have we seen 1011 case studies showing side effects of a vaccine (https://www.saveusnow.org.uk/covid-vaccine-scientific-proof-lethal).

Remember it’s safe and effective (just like if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor)

Here’s the two sentences from the paper that everyone should read: 

1) A worldwide Bayesian causal Impact analysis suggests that COVID-19 gene therapy (mRNA vaccine) causes more COVID-19 cases per million and more non-Covid deaths per million than are associated with COVID-19 [43]. 

2) An abundance of studies has shown that the mRNA vaccines are neither safe nor effective, but outright dangerous.

COVID-19 Vaccines Remain Pregnancy Category X: Products Should Never Have Been Administered in Pregnant Women and Those of Childbearing Age

Not Covid, but related and I don’t have to take off my conspiracy hat for this one either. The government is our enemy right now.

Here is one of the liars.

Matt Hancock’s plan to ‘frighten the pants off everyone’ about Covid

Leaked WhatsApp messages reveal how health secretary hoped to shock public into complying with ever-changing lockdown rule

The U.S. Government Created the Vaccine, Did It Also Create the Virus?

Another FBI Whistleblower Says He Was Forced To Inflate Domestic Terrorism Numbers

The Real Reason I Quit Facebook

That’s right, I’m keeping the past in the past.

When I was first on fake book (an early adopter), it was great until people came back that I didn’t want to ever see again. That’s pretty much the way it is for most of my life. When you are in the past, you stay there. It’s too much drama for me to catch up. I have trouble with seeing people I haven’t seen in a while and it’s awkward.

It’s not just people from school or social groups I’ve been affiliated with, it’s family also. It’s very awkward as I know that were we not related that I’d never talk to them. I don’t with most anyway and have lost contact with a lot of the others.

Why haven’t we talked? The answer is usually because I didn’t want to. I have a hard time lying about that. I can fake being excited to see someone, I just refuse to do it anymore. It’s personality turn off when I see it in others.

I didn’t want anything connecting me to memories I didn’t want. It was painful enough the first time around. Why do I want to relive part of my life that are best left as experiences to learn from? I’d already moved on in life having parted ways once. Those memories of my early life don’t make me want to try and pretend it didn’t happen for me. I was glad it was over, dead and buried. It’s easier for me to deal with.

They kept wanting to connect. I did, but muted everyone, but finally I put them back in the history box where they belong, for a good reason. I had to dump it and remain true to myself.

If we were really friends, we wouldn’t need social media. I’m still friends with those who were my real friends. The rest are people I don’t connect with because we mutually don’t want to. To be fair, I mostly don’t want to connect with them, but that is my nature as an introvert.

I have listed other reasons in different posts that point out how fake people are on social media and that it is a time suck.

My life is better not seeing others. Let’s keep it that way.

How Bad Metaverse Actually Sucks: 6 people showed up to The EU’s $400,000 Party (In The Metaverse)

Here is the key sentence.

Even before the empty gala, internal staff had their doubts about such methods, according to a report by Devex citing anonymous interviews; staff described it as “Digital garbage,” and “depressing and embarrassing.”

The link to the article is below, but when you think your s**t doesn’t stink, you usually wind up sitting in it. Zuck is in a Mt. Everest pile right now.

I guess he didn’t live through Second Life, or is behind on his FPS games reality wise. That’s a lot closer to what kids want.

He’s got the money to waste, let him. It’s costing the employees with layoffs, delayed hiring and cuts in perks. Welcome to the real world.

Everyone in the world other than him can see it’s a loser. Even if they gave the $1000 headsets away for free, many get sick wearing them. A lot of people just aren’t ready for this outside of early adopters.

When I can do what they do in the Ironman movies in 3D, I’ll consider it then.

Here’s the story:

The EU commission has tried and failed to be “down with the kids.”

The commission’s foreign aid department threw a virtual “gala” on Tuesday night, having spent €387,000 (about $400,000) on developing their metaverse platform, in an attempt to attract the interest of young people. Only six showed up.

According to one of the only attendees, Devex correspondent Vince Chadwick, it was an immediate flop and he was the only one left after “several bemused chats” with the “roughly five other humans” who briefly joined.

Chadwick shared a short clip on [hotlink]Twitter[/hotlink] showing multi-coloured paperclip-shaped avatars dancing on a stage next to a tropical beach. “Is anybody out there?” read one message on the screen. “The concert is just the same DJ spinning the same music,” said another.

Struggling in its early days, the metaverse space is part of an expensive plan designed to promote the EU commission’s Global Gateway Initiative, which aims to spend $300 billion by 2027 building new infrastructure in developing countries, and the official trailer was dropped on their social media in mid-October.

The platform is supposed to be a new way to explore the Initiative “through a series of ‘hero’ stories in a virtual environment,” according to the commission.

Users can find information through stories played on video screens around the tropical island on which it is set, while encountering other unusual additions such as an open book art installation on a liquid floor, drones that carry screens flashing words such as “education” and “public health,” and the ability to walk on water.

A spokesperson said the project aims to “increase awareness of what the EU does on the world stage,” targeting young people in particular who spend their time on TikTok and [hotlink]Instagram[/hotlink], and who are “neutral about the EU” and “not typically exposed to such information.”

Source

Some Say It’s Because of Meta Or Tik Tok, But I Bet There Are People Still Pissed About Election Interference and Zuckerbucks – Off 70%

Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. posted its second revenue decline in a row, as the social-media giant wrestles with a vortex of challenging business conditions that have combined to shave more than half a trillion dollars from its market value so far this year.

The company reported quarterly revenue of $27.7 billion, down more than 4% from a year ago, after posting a 1% decrease last quarter. Meta’s share price fell more than 5% on Wednesday, amid a broad selloff of tech shares, and is now trading at a price last seen in 2017.

Meta shares dropped a further 20% in off-hours trading following the earnings report.

From the WSJ, more here

I think there are a lot of people like me that are tired of the crap, both from Fakebook and from people over posting.

They interfered with the elections and now disaster for Americans and the world.

I don’t believe in karma, but the saying is right, it’s a bitch.

The FBI And Facebook, I Can’t Un-See It

My life is so much better without fake book. It really went into the toilet pretty fast.

These 2 organizations are on my list of people I’m trying to keep out of my life.

AI Update: 4 Realms Where Technology Has Been Used to Chronically DAMAGE Humanity: Television, AI, Social Media, mRNA

It used to be that most Americans were mainly brainwashed into buying specific products and services by watching television, reading the newspaper, noticing billboards, and seeing films. Propaganda was a front-loaded “machine” that was quite linear in its approach to influence buying motives of consumers. With the invention of the internet and social media, everything changed.

The consumption of news, products, services, lifestyles, pornography, and now most medical “choices” are made online, after “consuming” artificial intelligence. This is how technology has been created and disseminated to chronically DAMAGE humanity, and it’s happening like a tsunami engulfs a coastline, every day.

Machine learning regulates nearly everything users see in front of them online, often in unethical, harmful ways

An artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm regulates the content chosen to be placed in front of user’s eyes specifically to influence their purchases of products, services, and information, based on what they talk about, type about, and search for using smart devices. Ever just talk to a friend about anything, then minutes later an ad pops up on your smart device, selling exactly what you just talked about? That’s AI. Smart devices are almost always RECORDING, whether or not you have the camera, microphone, or app “open” or “live.”

For example, Facebook’s AI software analyzes videos, stories, photos, and even memes, then gathers together ‘recommendations’ for you. Add in some key misinformation and suddenly you find yourself buying what Fakebook told you to buy, and believing what Fakebook calls news.

Google search engine uses AI to guide everyone AWAY from any information about natural health and AWAY from any information that exposes prescription medications and vaccines as the dangerous, experimental mediums they really are. Google blocks, bans, censors and bankrupts people, businesses and organizations that do not support the communist narrative that attempts to control all Americans’ lives and livelihoods.

Rest of the story here

Study: Facebook Causes Mental Illness

A forthcoming study co-authored by a Tel Aviv University researcher appears to confirm widespread fears about the negative impact of Facebook, the world’s biggest social media platform, on its users’ mental health and self-image.

A detailed examination of data showed a correlation between a “statistically significant worsening in mental health symptoms, especially depression and anxiety” and the rapid introduction of the social media network.

Some of the benchmarks include a 20% rise in those who reported anxiety disorders; an increase of 25% to 27% in the proportion of students expected to experience moderate to severe depression; an additional 7% of students experienced “severe depression” since gaining access to the network.

The introduction of Facebook, the study found, led to increased utilization of mental healthcare services.

Rest of the story here:

Who doesn’t know Facebook is at best a waste of time and at worst, life destroying. It certainly is political having funded part of the mail in fraud in the last election and Zuckerbucks 2.0 is underway.

One of the best things I ever did in Social Media, of which I have been an early adopter (and un-loader of the bad ones. I miss nothing from people who want to be seen or appreciated.

Now the Introvert inside of me is loving having cut connections with my past. Facebook presented me with a list of people I hoped never to see again. I got most of them out the way we did it before social media. Then this intrusion.

I couldn’t take the political dumbassery (a word I apparently made up) from people I thought had brains.

I also got to see who matured past high school and who didn’t. I didn’t need to see that either.

Be smart, get rid of it. I read recently that the average person wastes 1.5 hours a day on social media. Don’t be that person.

An Introvert After A Networking Or Social Event

Man I hated them at work. I’d do anything to not go to any group anything. I was work at home as early as the 90’s and didn’t miss office anything.

I drove one time 3 hours for a appointment I knew wasn’t going to happen to miss a networking event. It was my only legitimate out. I knew I couldn’t last as long others and I knew I couldn’t go.

What is the worst thing as they turn into a facebook post. People spend the entire event trying to say stuff about themselves to get likes.

About half way in or less as time went on, I stopped talking and went over to sit down unless I had to do some participation.

Maybe going to diversity training, where they tell you how bad you are for how you were born is as taxing on your social battery. I dunno.

Why I Post Introvert Information. Hint, It’s Not Just For Introverts (plus meme’s to share), But Mostly Ranting

When I post meme’s, I soon find them on social media platforms (that I haven’t left, but people send it to me). Please, copy and share it so others will understand.

For the extroverts, the world isn’t about you. Take some time to understand that although you are louder and have apparently made the social rules that introverts violate, you aren’t the center of the universe. It also means you don’t have to try and cure Introverts. We are happiest if you’d take the time to understand why they are different than you, and are happier about it than you seem to be.

If you want to speak to me, talk about meaningful and deep subjects and I’ll talk all day. If you small talk, my body may be there, but I guarantee my mind is somewhere else. I have a whole world in my mind that I can go to that no one else is allowed in, unless you have passed the real friendship level.

And another thing, I hate having to listen to people at parties (if by chance I can’t get out of going). It is literally a facebook conversation where everyone is telling as much information about themselves as possible to get likes. I would never share that much information. Plus, it just causes small talk, one of the most wasteful uses of time possible.

I cringe when I hear people share this much information. I don’t care about them at this level, but really, there is a lot of personal stuff that you just shouldn’t talk about. It always comes back to bite you and yes, the other person is judging you and criticizing you inside no matter how nice you/they seem, bless your heart. Seriously, I don’t care about most of what your are talking about because you never asked if I was interested. If I wanted to know, I’d ask. Extroverts assume people care about their problems or things/other people that I’ll never meet. I do care about your pets though.

I will check out your bathroom because that’s where I’m going the minute the conversation drones on or my energy battery has hit empty.

Here’s a good hint, the minute I enter a room full of people, I check out the escape routes so I can get out/away as quickly as I have to. I see if there are any pets to play with. They are usually more interesting than small talk.

So here are the latest meme’s to share. Please steal them and post everywhere.

That’s not just high school. Go back to elementary, Jr high, even college. No reunions for me.
In case you thought I was coming or wanted to small talk
See above, especially WPHS
I left that shit show a while back. My life was immediately better

This one above is for my ex’s, most people I went to school with and most that I worked with.

Extroverts who have to dominate the conversation, see the people I had to grow up with, including some family.
Oh Dear God, thank you.
Be very careful. I can be the best and worst of both. Once you cross me, don’t bother trying to be friends again, it ain’t happening.

Posting Stupid Stuff On Facebook

Same thing for Alcohol. When I see a girl post herself holding a drink, like all guys learned when they are growing up, it’s a leg spreader.

If I guy is posting at drink, I think here, hold my beer because something stupid is happening soon.

NYU Marketing Professor – Fake Book/Metaverse/Zuckerberg Going Down Like A Flaming Piece Of S**t

Things aren’t going so well for the platform of hate and envy. In the last 3 stock trading days, Meta stock has dropped nearly $100 a share, falling from $323 last Wednesday to $224.91 on Monday. They announced that they are losing people on the platform for the first time (that we have been told).

Now this from Captain Obvious:

MorningConsult Opinions of Mark Zuckerberg Nov2021

The late October announcement from Mark Zuckerberg that Facebook was being rebranded as Meta has been met with less than stellar reactions from the public. A survey from Morning Consult indicates that the public opinion of the rebrand, the metaverse concept and Zuckerberg, himself, were largely unfavorable. 

While a slight majority (55%) of the US adults surveyed have some level of favorable opinion of Facebook, fewer have a favorable opinion of the company’s rebrand name, Meta. Only one-quarter had favorable opinions of the Meta name, compared to the 4 in 10 who had a somewhat/very unfavorable opinion of the name. Millennials are most likely to express an unfavorable opinion about Meta, while Gen Z are more generous in their opinion of the name change.

The public’s opinion of Mark Zuckerberg is also far from positive. More than half (54%) of all respondents report that their opinion of Zuckerberg is somewhat/very unfavorable. This sentiment is felt most by Baby Boomers, with 62% having an unfavorable opinion, compared to just 16% with a favorable opinion.

Along with announcing the rebrand to Meta, Zuckerberg introduced the company’s concept of the metaverse — “a set of interconnected digital spaces that lets you do things you can’t do in the physical world. Importantly, it’ll be characterized by social presence, the feeling that you’re right there with another person, no matter where in the world you happen to be.” It’s safe to say the concept has fallen flat in the eyes of US adults. About 7 in 10 (68%) say they are not interested in the project. This point of view is shared across all demographic groups but articulated most by women (73%) and Baby Boomers (84%). 

Source for the above

Futurism.com has this to say (where the title of this post comes from)

Meta Roasted

Turns out at least one major marketing expert agrees with what the plebeian public already knows — Mark Zuckerberg may not be able to pull off this Metaverse thing.

On a new new episode of Vox’s Pivot podcast with Kara Swisher, renowned NYU marketing professor Scott Galloway laid the cards on the table. While he gave Zuckerberg credit for being a “visionary” who’s doing the right things to try and pivot a sinking ship — aka Meta-formerly-known-as-Facebook, which is now losing active users for the first time ever — but he’s not convinced that its Metaverse is headed in the right direction.

“If he pulls it off, it’ll be one of the most impressive feats in — not even corporate renewal — but vision around maintaining growth,” Galloway said during the podcast. “I don’t think they’re going to. I think this thing is already a giant flaming bag of shit.”

Form Factor

Part of Zuckerberg’s problem, according to Galloway, is that Meta’s Quest headset, previously known as Oculus, is still way too clunky to impress Meta’s target audience.

“The people in this universe are not impressed with the universe he envisions, and specifically the portal,” Galloway said on the podcast. “One of my predictions in November of 2021… was that the biggest failure in tech-product history might be the Oculus.”

There’s also the issue of spending. Zuckerberg sank $10 billion into the Reality Labs division, only to see company stock prices dip by more than 20 percent this week. Galloway says that with public opinion of Meta so low, there’s little hope the company can recoup its investment.

I for one don’t celebrate failure, but I don’t like those who have ruined the lives of a lot of people, selectively censored what is morally right and have bought an administration who has trashed the country in a year.

Fake book can kiss my ass.

Get woke, go broke.

How (And Why) To Delete Facebook

The instructions below are from PC Magazine. Note: don’t deactivate, delete.

the dislike button they never gave us

Why? Because Fake Book is sucking the life out of your data to sell you to others. They don’t care about you and it ruins most peoples lives by taking up time or sucking your emotional gas tank dry. People put their fake best out there and you compare your real self. It is there to make you feel bad

It was built on an algorithm of hate and prejudice against White Men. It literally gets you to hate to stay on. I call it social terrorism.

Here’s another reason. Fascist Book funded the stealing of the election. It’s coming out now how they paid mules to pick up boxes of fake ballots. It is on the backs of people they sold to advertisers, in other words you. I know the Trump haters will be for this, but ask yourself, are we really better off? I think not.

Footage from '2000 Mules' (Trailer video screenshot)
From the upcoming movie 2000 mules

The investigators used geo-tracking units, through which True the Vote was able to track more than 2,000 “mules,” who wore gloves and disguises to stuff poll containers, the report explained.

D’Souza narrates the film, explaining, “We tracked 2,000 mules making a number of poll drops. Leaving no fingerprints. Snapping pictures to receive a commission. A coordinated ring of unlawful vote harvesting in all the important swing states.”

He confirmed one “mule” made 53 trips to 20 drop containers for the election.

Now, About Deleting Facebook

To fully delete your Facebook account forever, go to facebook.com/help/delete_account. Just be aware that, per the Facebook data use policy, “after you remove information from your profile or delete your account, copies of that information may remain viewable elsewhere to the extent it has been shared with others, it was otherwise distributed pursuant to your privacy settings, or it was copied or stored by other users.”

Account Deletion

Translation: if you wrote a comment on a friend’s status update or photo, it will remain even after you delete your own profile. Some of your posts and pictures may hang around for as long as 90 days after deletion, as well, though just on Facebook servers, not live on the site.

There is a deletion grace period of 30 days. That means there is a month before Facebook really gets rid of your account, just in case you change your mind. It’s just one more way Facebook cares.

On Government Silencing The Opposition

Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear. - Harry S. Truman

Exercise your first amendment.

This is what the MSM/current government/SJW/Woke/PC/climate change people/Fake book/Twitter/Youtube/Google and the left are doing. If you aren’t worried about your truth being challenged, you don’t have to silence anyone. If the facts don’t support your spew, see Harry’s quote.

It seems that you can’t say anything without offending someone. If you read my blog, it’s there waiting for you somewhere. It’s not going to stop me. Look down a post or two about John not giving a fuck.

On a hat tip from Moonbattery.

Some Good News, Ivermectin Is Useful In All Stages Of Covid

Of course it is. It always was. It doesn’t make vaxx money though, nor does it allow governments to pass crappy laws and control the population with fear and scare tactics. It is good to know that you can prevent it or be cured if you catch it.

Well, here it is. Decide for yourselves if you want myocarditis or thrombosis from the jab, or protection from Covid. You can order it from Amazon last time I checked.

Don’t believe the MSM, the government, Fauci, Gates, NIH, WHO, CDC, Fake book, Social Media, Google, Big Pharma or anyone else who stands to make money off of this.

Story begins here:

When it comes to the treatment of COVID-19, many Western nations have been hobbled by the politicization of medicine. Throughout 2020, media and many public health experts warned against the use of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), despite the fact that many practicing doctors were praising its ability to save patients. Most have been silenced through online censorship. Some even lost their jobs for the “sin” of publicly sharing their successes with the drug.

Another decades-old antiparasitic drug that may be even more useful than HCQ is ivermectin. Like HCQ, ivermectin is on the World Health Organization’s list of essential drugs, but its benefits are also being ignored by public health officials and buried by mainstream media.

Ivermectin is a heartworm medication that has been shown to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication in vitro. In the U.S., the Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC) has been calling for widespread adoption of Ivermectin, both as a prophylactic and for the treatment of all phases of COVID-19.

In the video above, Dr. John Campbell interviews Dr. Tess Lawrie about the drug and its use against COVID-19. Lawrie is a medical doctor and Ph.D. researcher who has done a lot of work in South Africa.

She’s also the director of Evidence-Based Medicine Consultancy Ltd., which is based in the U.K., and she helped organize the British Ivermectin Recommendation Development (BIRD) panel and the International Ivermectin for COVID Conference, held April 24, 2021.

Ivermectin Useful in All Stages of COVID

What makes ivermectin particularly useful in COVID-19 is the fact that it works both in the initial viral phase of the illness, when antivirals are required, as well as the inflammatory stage, when the viral load drops off and anti-inflammatories become necessary.

According to Dr. Surya Kant, a medical doctor in India who has written a white paper on ivermectin, the drug reduces replication of the SARS-CoV-2 virus by several thousand times. Kant’s paper led several Indian provinces to start using ivermectin, both as a prophylactic and as treatment for COVID-19 in the summer of 2020.

In the video, Lawrie reviews the science behind her recommendation to use ivermectin. In summary:

  • A scientific review by Dr. Andrew Hill at Liverpool University, funded by the WHO and UNITAID and published January 18, 2021, found ivermectin reduced COVID-19 deaths by 75%. It also increased viral clearance. This finding was based on a review of six randomized, controlled trials involving a total of 1,255 patients.
  • Lawrie’s meta-analysis, published February 8, 2021, found a 68% reduction in deaths. Here, 13 studies were included in the analysis. This, she explains, is an underestimation of the beneficial effect, because they included a study in which the control arm was given HCQ.Since HCQ is an active treatment that has also been shown to have a positive impact on outcomes, it’s not surprising that this particular study did not rate ivermectin as better than the control treatment (which was HCQ).
  • Adding two new randomized controlled trials to her February analysis that included data on mortality, Lawrie published an updated analysis March 31, 2021, showing a 62% reduction in deaths.When four studies with high risk of bias were removed during a subsequent sensitivity analysis, they ended up with a 72% reduction in deaths. Sensitivity analyses are done to double-check and verify results.

Doctors Urge Acceptance of Ivermectin to Save Lives

As mentioned earlier, in the U.S., the FLCCC has also been calling for widespread adoption of ivermectin, both as a prophylactic and for the treatment of all phases of COVID-19.

FLCCC president Dr. Pierre Kory, former professor of medicine at St. Luke’s Aurora Medical Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has testified to the benefits of ivermectin before a number of COVID-19 panels, including the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in December 2020, and the National Institutes of Health COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines Panel January 6, 2021. As noted by the FLCCC:

“The data shows the ability of the drug Ivermectin to prevent COVID-19, to keep those with early symptoms from progressing to the hyper-inflammatory phase of the disease, and even to help critically ill patients recover.

Dr. Kory testified that Ivermectin is effectively a ‘miracle drug’ against COVID-19 and called upon the government’s medical authorities … to urgently review the latest data and then issue guidelines for physicians, nurse-practitioners, and physician assistants to prescribe Ivermectin for COVID-19 …

… numerous clinical studies — including peer-reviewed randomized controlled trials — showed large magnitude benefits of Ivermectin in prophylaxis, early treatment and also in late-stage disease. Taken together … dozens of clinical trials that have now emerged from around the world are substantial enough to reliably assess clinical efficacy.

… data from 18 randomized controlled trials that included over 2,100 patients … demonstrated that Ivermectin produces faster viral clearance, faster time to hospital discharge, faster time to clinical recovery, and a 75% reduction in mortality rates.”

A one-page summary of the clinical trial evidence for Ivermectin can be downloaded from the FLCCC website. A more comprehensive, 31-page review of trials data has been published in the journal Frontiers of Pharmacology.

A listing of all the Ivermectin trials done to date, with links to the published studies, can be found on c19Ivermectin.com.

The FLCCC’s COVID-19 protocol was initially dubbed MATH+ (an acronym based on the key components of the treatment), but after several tweaks and updates, the prophylaxis and early outpatient treatment protocol is now known as I-MASK+ while the hospital treatment has been renamed I-MATH+, due to the addition of ivermectin.

The two protocols are available for download on the FLCCC Alliance website in multiple languages. The clinical and scientific rationale for the I-MATH+ hospital protocol has also been peer-reviewed and was published in the Journal of Intensive Care Medicine in mid-December 2020.

The International Ivermectin for COVID Conference

April 24 through 25, 2021, Lawrie hosted the first International Ivermectin for COVID Conference online. Twelve medical experts from around the world shared their knowledge during this conference, reviewing mechanism of action, protocols for prevention and treatment, including so-called long-hauler syndrome, research findings and real world data.

All of the lectures, which were recorded via Zoom, can be viewed on Bird-Group.org. In her closing address, Lawrie stated:

“The story of Ivermectin has highlighted that we are at a remarkable juncture in medical history. The tools that we use to heal and our connection with our patients are being systematically undermined by relentless disinformation.

The story of Ivermectin shows that we as a public have misplaced our trust in the authorities and have underestimated the extent to which money and power corrupts.

Had Ivermectin being employed in 2020 when medical colleagues around the world first alerted the authorities to its efficacy, millions of lives could have been saved, and the pandemic with all its associated suffering and loss brought to a rapid and timely end.

With politicians and other nonmedical individuals dictating to us what we are allowed to prescribe to the ill, we as doctors, have been put in a position such that our ability to uphold the Hippocratic oath is under attack.”

During the conference, Lawrie proposed that doctors around the world join together to form a new people-centered World Health Organization. “Never before has our role as doctors been so important because never before have we become complicit in causing so much harm,” she said.

References

Antiviral Research June 2020; 178: 104787

FLCCC December 8, 2020

Medpage Today January 6, 2021

Evidence-Based Medicine Consultancy Ltd

Trial Site News April 9, 2021

Indian Journal of Tuberculosis July 2020; 67(3): 448-451

Antiviral Research June 2020; 178: 104787

Financial Express April 14, 2021

The Blaze April 1, 2021

FLCCC December 8, 2020

Medpage Today January 6, 2021

FLCCC December 8, 2020

FLCCC January 7, 2021 Press Release (PDF)

Newswise December 8, 2020

FLCCC December 8, 2020

FLCCC January 7, 2021 Press Release (PDF)

FLCCC Summary of Clinical Trials Evidence for Ivermectin in COVID-19 (PDF)

Frontiers of Pharmacology 2020 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2021.643369

c19Ivermectin.com

FLCCC Alliance I-MASK+ Protocol

FLCCC MATH+ Hospital Protocol

FLCCC Alliance I-MASK+ Protocol

FLCCC MATH+ Hospital Protocol

Journal of Intensive Care Medicine December 15, 2020 DOI: 10.1177/0885066620973585

U.S. FDA March 5, 2021

Ivermectin for COVID Conference Speakers List

Bird-group.org Conference videos

The Desert Review May 6, 2021

Source: Epoch Times and the above links.

Get Ready For The January 6th Circus Since The House Doesn’t Want To Help America. It’s An Agenda About Control – It’s Karen City

Just like trying to impeach a president who wasn’t even in office when Covid was raging across the country, the assholes on parade in the house will prance around with the Media (MSM) instead of trying to solve important issues, say the supply chain or let the people arrested a year ago be given a fair treatment.

Oh, FakeBook Facistbook will ban anyone one who actually represents freedom of speech about it along with Twatter and the other hate groups.

We need to stop this nonsense and get about putting our country back on track. They haven’t accomplished anything other than helping themselves to money for a year now.

Metaverse/Facebook, The Most Evil Business In The World

That’s a big claim, given the existence of Google and Microsoft, but the things that they’ve done pretty much prove it.

My blog won’t do a damn thing to change what they do, so I just choose to not to be on their site. My life is much better that way. Zuck is rich, I wish he would just go away, it never works that way though.

I have seen what social media does to others. It’s not pretty. It’s almost an addiction. It also turns people into haters and gossipers.

What people post is usually not who they are, rather what they want to project to others.

If I want to connect with someone, I don’t need fake book to do it. I would rather forget most of the people that it recommends to me anyway.

The New Meta Is The Same Old Face(fake)Book

Recently, fascist book announced that they were copying Google (Alphabet) by rebranding to Meta.

I was taken aback as meta means death in Hebrew and I’m pretty sure Zuckerberg is Jewish. His actions and those at Facebook don’t indicate that he believes in God though, quite the opposite. It is appropriate as it’s death to your mental health to be on one of their platforms.

Censorship

There are many examples of fake book taking down posts that didn’t fit the narrative, especially during the election. Zuckerbucks donated about $400 million to swing the election the way it went. Who says you can’t buy an election? Joseph Kennedy did it in 1960 so this is nothing new.

They admit that their censorship is just someone’s opinion anyway.

The Metaverse

I’ve been around long enough to remember the farce that was Second Life. It’s where you played a sort of real life video game in a virtual world. The head of quantum computing at IBM had his department go to virtual meetings for about 2 months in that space. It was such a pain in the ass that the world gave up on it.

To me, it was like Leisure Suit Larry and the Land of the Lounge Lizards, if you are old enough to remember that funny game.

Leisure Suit Larry In The Land Of The Lounge Lizards PC ...

So now, they want us to believe that we’ll wear an Oculus headset and pretend we are in the Matrix. That trope has a long way to go before it really catches on.

What I Think

There is a growing trend in the Comics to head to the Metaverse. The next Dr. Strange will go there. Avengers Endgame showed how you can do it through the Quantum Realm.

That’s not what it really is though. Something is up with Facebook that needs a re-direct. That is what you do in the PR World when things aren’t going your way and you don’t want to address the issue on the table. You go ahead and change the subject and talk about something else. The MSM and politicians do it daily.

The WSJ had a series on the issues at Facebook and they are in some turmoil that caused this change. They are selling it as a new platform, but I smell a rat.

Facebook Inc. knows, in acute detail, that its platforms are riddled with flaws that cause harm, often in ways only the company fully understands. That is the central finding of a Wall Street Journal series, based on a review of internal Facebook documents, including research reports, online employee discussions and drafts of presentations to senior management.

It usually has something to do with money, so ad revenue must have been an investor issue, or the fact that Instagram was causing depression in teenage girls because of their self-image being destroyed by others.

It also could be that there are 2 groups of fake book users. The elite users who can break all the rules, and the rest of the rubes that don’t include celebtards, politicians or their favored group.

_01 Facebook Says Its Rules Apply to All. Company Documents Reveal a Secret Elite That’s Exempt

Mark Zuckerberg has said Facebook allows its users to speak on equal footing with the elites of politics, culture and journalism, and that its standards apply to everyone. In private, the company has built a system that has exempted high-profile users from some or all of its rules. The program, known as “cross check” or “XCheck,” was intended as a quality-control measure for high-profile accounts. Today, it shields millions of VIPs from the company’s normal enforcement, the documents show. Many abuse the privilege, posting material including harassment and incitement to violence that would typically lead to sanctions.

Facebook Company has failed in its apparent attempt to disappear into the witness protection program for creepy technology by re-branding as “Meta”. Along with this new facelift for the holding company of Facebook and all of the corporation’s other tech holdings — notably WhatsApp, Instagram, and Oculus VR — founder Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the company has plans for creating a whole “Metaverse,” a virtual alternative reality.

Banning people from the platform for not conforming to their standards. Like a lot of things, that will come back to bite you. Look who he banned and who is building an alternate social media platform now.

AR vs VR

I think there is something to be said for an Augmented Reality world first. That is helpful. I don’t think that a virtual reality world is what anything other than gamers are going to do for now.

If I see someone walking around with an Oculus headset on, I’m going to slap them an then point to someone else when they take it off just to mess with them.

This is something that is way down the road and as soon as the real AR is available, won’t be as attractive. If you want to live in a play world, you can do it via video games right now.

As usual, I distrust Facebook and their motives as should you. I dumped them as a platform. I had to go there a couple of weeks ago to find a workout schedule at my gym that wasn’t anywhere else. I saw the usual tripe there and was almost physically ill for a day. I promptly deleted the account so I wouldn’t have to see it anymore.

Facebook Is Racist And Sexist with ‘Race Blind’ Algorithm As 90% Of Hate Speech Directed Toward White People And Men

Of course it is. We already found out from the whistleblowers that Fake Book knew that hate drove most of the conversation. Here’s the other thing, people hate whoever is successful. Instead of trying to also be successful, they more than not try to take them down. It’s childish, but human nature.

Before you read further, I ask this question. If you discriminate because of skin color, it’s racism right? If you discriminate based on Sex, it’s Gender Discrimination, right?

From 90 miles from Tyranny, we find this:

We now know why Facebook decided to change its “race-blind” hate speech detection algorithm last year to allow more anti-white hatred.

The Washington Post reported last week that an “April 2020 document said roughly 90 percent of ‘hate speech’ subject to content takedowns were statements of contempt, inferiority and disgust directed at White people and men.”

They viewed this as a failure of the system because white people are supposed to be the targets of all hate.

From The Washington Post, “Facebook’s race-blind practices around hate speech came at the expense of Black users, new documents show”:

Facebook spokesman Andy Stone defended the company’s decisions around its hate speech policies and how it conducted its relationship with the civil rights auditors.

“The Worst of the Worst project helped show us what kinds of hate speech our technology was and was not effectively detecting and understand what forms of it people believe to be the most insidious,” Stone said in a statement.

He said progress on racial issues included policies such as banning white nationalist groups, prohibiting content promoting racial stereotypes — such as people wearing blackface or claims that Jews control the media — and reducing the prevalence of hate speech to 0.03 percent of content on the platform.

[…] These findings about the most objectionable content held up even among self-identified White conservatives that the market research team traveled to visit in Southern states. Facebook researchers sought out the views of White conservatives in particular because they wanted to overcome potential objections from the company’s leadership, which was known to appease right-leaning viewpoints, two people said.

Yet racist posts against minorities weren’t what Facebook’s own hate speech detection algorithms were most commonly finding. The software, which the company introduced in 2015, was supposed to detect and automatically delete hate speech before users saw it. Publicly, the company said in 2019 that its algorithms proactively caught more than 80 percent of…

Facebook’s Big Tobacco Moment, And Congress Will Talk And Then Do Nothing

The Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security heard testimony Tuesday from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, a former employee of the tech giant. In a rare show of bipartisanship, a bloc of Republicans and Democrats joined together to demand action against the company.

Haugen, who used to work as a lead product manager for Facebook’s civic misinformation team, came before the Senate to discuss the company’s internal practices, with special emphasis placed on the ways that these practices disproportionately affect children.

Haugen explained, “I’m here today because I believe Facebook’s products harm children, stoke division, and weaken our democracy.”

She added, “I believe in the potential of Facebook, we can have social media we enjoy, that connects us without tearing apart our democracy, putting our children in danger, and sowing ethnic violence around the world. We can do better.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) observed during his opening remarks that predatory targeting and marketing practices by Facebook have “put profits ahead of people.”

The whistleblower said that during her time at the company, she often saw the company faced with a choice between “its own profits and our safety.” When these conflicts arose, Haugen said, the company “consistently resolve[d] these conflicts in favor of its own profits.”

Yes, but so does Congress and Facebook will just pay them off under the table and they’ll get their hands slapped. They will pontificate and then let it slide like they do with anything.

I’m surprised that it even got this far with as illiterate as Congress is about technology. Zuckerberg toys with them when he has to testify while the suits in Washington grill them with questions prepared by their assistants, but don’t have a clue regarding what they are talking about.

This also is likely to be a sideshow while they push their infrastructure pork bill to create socialism through when we aren’t looking.

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As you know if you look a few posts down, I loathe Facebook, but they act like they are above the law and certainly above congress, especially the group that is in there now. They are the biggest bunch of do nothings except cancel culture people and promote everything our country doesn’t stand for.

Expect nothing and you won’t be disappointed.

Why Did Facebook Go Down?

Facebook and its sister properties Instagram and WhatsApp are suffering from ongoing, global outages. We don’t yet know why this happened, but the how is clear: Earlier this morning, something inside Facebook caused the company to revoke key digital records that tell computers and other Internet-enabled devices how to find these destinations online.Kentik’s view of the Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp outage.

Doug Madory is director of internet analysis at Kentik, a San Francisco-based network monitoring company. Madory said at approximately 11:39 a.m. ET today (15:39 UTC), someone at Facebook caused an update to be made to the company’s Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) records. BGP is a mechanism by which Internet service providers of the world share information about which providers are responsible for routing Internet traffic to which specific groups of Internet addresses.

In simpler terms, sometime this morning Facebook took away the map telling the world’s computers how to find its various online properties. As a result, when one types Facebook.com into a web browser, the browser has no idea where to find Facebook.com, and so returns an error page.

More at Krebs on Security.

As Don Surber said, I made $7 billion more than Zuckerberg did yesterday.

Life is better without this site, especially for teenage girls it is reported. I hope others see that and help to eliminate insincere social media from their lives, but I doubt it. If they did, they’d stop trying to be like others (especially celebtards and sportstards) and be themselves

For me, it is an introvert thing. I eliminated it because I didn’t want to see what others had to say, or be connected to groups I have consciously left behind because of Mauerbaurtraurigheit.

It’s Not Friday, Three horrible Facts, And a Silver Lining

Three Horrible Facts 1 Today Is Not Friday 2 Tomorrow Is ...

But, I’m retired so everyday is Saturday for me. I don’t have deadlines or conference calls or personnel issues today. Man I don’t miss work.

I don’t miss Facebook that went down yesterday. I didn’t even know it until I read about it. I’m glad to have that ball and chain out of my life also.

I have a brother-in-Law who is retired not by choice, but defined his life by his job. He doesn’t know what to do. I feel sorry for him. Life is much greater than your job.

For now, I’ll pet my dog and enjoy what comes next.

Facebook Still Sucks

To get a full understanding of how bad it is, the WSJ ran a series on the Facebook files recently. Link here but it might require a subscription. It points out the obvious, but also that it’s such a screwed up company now that it can’t get out of it’s own way.

It talked about how it ruins the lives of people, especially teen aged girls. Zuckerberg then said how it enhances peoples lives in a washing machine spin of doublespeak.

They block who they don’t like and let who they do like post anything, even against their own policies.

Now the Facebook fact checkers just censored peer reviewed science because it doesn’t fit the narrative.

And this about Zuck:

Facebook Investor: Company Paid $5 Billion to FTC as ‘Quid Pro Quo’ to Shield Zuckerberg

Fortunately, I don’t care as I cancelled them. It along with Twitter are helping to ruin the country and people’s lives around the world. It has taken a political position on things. I don’t care which side it picks, but it should have been a neutral platform.

Instead, it is now a high school place where you are a part of the in crowd or not. Those with a triple digit IQ should move to a better and more productive place, like going outside and enjoying life.

It was too childish for me and I didn’t want to open it anymore to see the spew that comes from it.

I still talk to those who really are my friends. Most of them were never on Facebook.

For Introverts, not being on it also lets you escape from a lot of noise that sucks your personal energy and time.

Why I Don’t Argue On Line Anymore

I’ve written about Internet Road Rage and Stupid Things Smart People do. It’s also why I stay away from a lot of social media. My life is a lot happier that way. Also, I don’t have to worry about my body image that Zuckerberg lied about yesterday.

How Social Media Works Against You

I’ve written extensively about this, especially in Internet Road Rage. Go read it to see who these cowards are.

No matter what you do, someone has a beef (vegans will get me here, just another example) with whatever you say.

It used to be don’t talk politics, religion or something else at Thanksgiving or you’ll piss off someone in your family. Now, just like someone and you are one of Hillary’s deplorables (She gave the the best example, why I’m using politics here hoping to draw some ire from a commenter to prove my point. I could care less about her or her opinions other than it works).

Now, you can’t say anything on social media without someone being offended. I think it’s funny if they fall for it though because it just shows how shallow people are. Just go to Quora, hater (twitter) or Fakebook to find a large group of the clueless. That they are trying to censor people who don’t agree with them just shows bias and ignorance.

So, you can either be smart and blow off the idiots looking to be offended or trying to prove their point to the world, or just fall in line with the masses and get into it.

Covid Facts Not Matching The Narrative, It’s How To Manipulate

Well, this won’t be my most popular post, but if you read about me up top, I see patterns. A lot of what has happened smelled wrong to me. I could still be wrong, but I’ll bet a lot of people think the only accident was it escaping the lab it was created in. I see deceit (well, they are politicians), misdirection (a typical PR trick) and a lot of obfuscation. The MSM covers it like the second coming.

I’ll bet I catch some flack from the censors and from subscribers who disagree, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I heard they are stopping articles that say HCQ cures it so read quick as this might not be up long.

Here’s mine, I don’t know the real answer and may never as might not a lot of people. What I do believe is that what actually happened isn’t what we were told and that a lot more will come out about it. I think a lot of eyes are going to be opened about what is going down right now.

Number 6 just gave me another reason to think social media has a dark side and they are one of the faces.

Number 8 looks like it is true based on his emails. Amazon pulled his book so something is up.

I’m seeing guns, beer, cash, hotel stays, joints and a lot of other bribes to get the vaccine. How about letting people make up their own minds before we get to step 4 on the top meme?

Mark Twain: Never Argue With Stupid People….Hello Facebook, Twitter and Most of Social media

Also never get in their way when they are losing arguments and taking each other out. I find this on Quora a lot also. I already published Stupid things smart people do, although the title may be wrong about them being smart.

Bacon and Bombings, Testing the Censors

I love bacon. It’s what I thought of when I saw this. Then of course, I recognized an opportunity to test out the censorship of WordPress.

I think a lot of the tech companies are loony about free speech and who is allowed to have it. That’s why I put stuff up that I know others will get mad about. It’s not about you honey, this is poking the dragon ever so slightly at first.

I self-censored Fake Book and Twitter so I can’t go after them, but then I’d have to be in that cesspool to get kicked out. I left that social media shithole behind to better my life. It worked.

Introverted Social Media

It doesn’t take many posts for you to see that I think Fake book and Twatter are the cesspools of the Internet. More hate is spilled there than Iran towards Israel and the USA.

I happily quit both. My life is better and while I didn’t waste a lot of time on them, it still was mostly useless.

I always hated those friend recommendations because I’m sure they were on the other side also. My rule was if you aren’t my friend then you aren’t worth being my fake book friend either. I happily forgot most of the people I grew up with and didn’t want to find them again, let alone reconnect.

It’s as bad as a phone call for an introvert without first warning that you are about to intrude on my life. There was an introvert on the team that invented texting to avoid that phone call.

When I saw this one, I realized that it was time to dump fake book. I also can’t stand that they are the arbiters of free speech and who is allowed on, so I made the decision for them. I don’t want to be in a place of hate or that has special rules for people who they don’t agree with personally, and went to other platforms that don’t suggest people I’d rather not see or hear from again in life.

Today’s Most Ironic Head Line Of The Day

From the WSJ:

China Is Now Sending Twitter Users to Prison for Posts Most Chinese Can’t See

Two of the most restrictive groups censorship wise are going at each other here to ban information that was made to be published, go figure. Note: It refers to the CCP government, not the Chinese people.

Both are paranoid and neither are really helping anyone get better. My advice, leave both.

MLK On Darkness, Hate and Love

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Yes, I’d rather post the I have a dream, but politicians won’t let us make it come true.

Instead, this is a lesser known quote, but there has been a lot of hate and darkness (Twitter, Facebook, the elections, need I go on?). I for one am tired of it.

For today, I’m letting the Reverend point out what the problem is. He also gave us the answer, if anyone will listen. I hope I”m not alone.

I’m Shocked, Social Media Causes Depression

Social Media, the place where you can make yourself look better to feel good about yourself when someone likes the tripe you post. Aside from being little more than a digital high school, a cesspool of hate (Twitter) and one of the biggest time wasters invented, it appears to causes depression.

In recent years, a number of studies have linked heavy social media use to an increased risk of depression.

“But then you have to ask the chicken-and-egg question,” said study author Dr. Brian Primack, a professor of public health at the University of Arkansas, in Fayetteville.

On one hand, he said, excessive time on Twitter or Facebook might fuel depression symptoms. On the other, people with depression might withdraw from face-to-face interactions and spend more time online.

So Primack and his colleagues decided to see whether social media use made a difference in young adults’ risk of future depression.

It did, according to their report, which was published online Dec. 10 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

The study included nearly 1,000 adults aged 18 to 30 who were depression-free at the outset, based on a standard questionnaire. All reported on their usual social media time and were assessed for depression again six months later.

By that time, nearly 10% fit the criteria for depression.

Overall, depression risk rose in tandem with time spent on social media.

Full report here

Monday Saying – Why Not To Trust Social Media

The only source of information for most people now is a machine that is designed to partially inform people, misinform people, spread conspiracy theories, and lies faster than facts.”- Tristan Harris
The alternate view by Mark Manson is this:

Social media algorithms do not manipulate and push users into believing awful things. People already believe the awful things and social media simply spreads them more easily. Critics like Harris imply that tech companies are sitting in Silicon Valley scheming for ways to extract more ad dollars from people’s anxiety and misinformation.

Either way, it points out that there isn’t that much good to it the way it exists. At best it is a time waster for most.  At worst it is the above.

I say think for yourself and stop believing the group think on Twitter, Fakebook, Instagram and the other time suck platforms.
They could be a a useful tool for sharing pertinent information, but it just isn’t that way.   There is so much out there that spending more than 5 minuted a day on this probably isn’t helping your life.

I’ll leave you with this thought.

How Facebook Causes Depression

Scroll down a few posts and you’ll see other articles I’ve posted that talk about Social Media ruining people’s lives.  It’s their outside daring you to compare, unfortunately to your inside.

Spending too much time on “social media” sites like Facebook is making people more than just miserable. It may also be making them depressed.

A new study conducted by psychologists at the University of Pennsylvania has shown — for the first time — a causal link between time spent on social media and depression and loneliness, the researchers said.

It concluded that those who drastically cut back their use of sites like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat often saw a marked improvement in their mood and in how they felt about their lives.

Many of those who began the study with moderate clinical depression finished just a few weeks later with very mild symptoms, she says.

The study, “No More FOMO: Limiting Social Media Decreases Loneliness and Depression,” was conducted by Melissa Hunt, Rachel Marx, Courtney Lipson and Jordyn Young, is being published by the peer-reviewed Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology.

For the study, Hunt and her team studied 143 undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania over a number of weeks. They tested their mood and sense of well-being using seven different established scales. Half of the participants carried on using social media sites as normal. (Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat did not respond to request for comment.)

The other half were restricted to ten minutes per day for each of the three sites studied: Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, the most popular sites for the age group. (Use was tracked through regular screen shots from the participants’ phones showing battery data.)

Net result: Those who cut back on social media use saw “clinically significant” falls in depression and in loneliness over the course of the study. Their rates of both measures fell sharply, while those among the so-called “control” group, who did not change their behavior, saw no improvement.

This isn’t the first study to find a link between social media use, on the one hand, and depression and loneliness on the other. But previous studies have mainly just shown there is a correlation, and the researchers allege that this shows a “causal connection.”

So I ask, why do you do it to yourselves?  Facebook has a model to make you feel worse while they steal your privacy and track you to sell your profile to everyone and anyone.

Social Media, Ruining Your Life Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjVAC_vpzSI

I recently posted how Social Media is probably making your life worse, especially those who have to look anything up to know everything.  Even more, those whose lives and feelings are governed by their online image and how many likes they got vs. others are losing out on life to a device.

The other issue is having your face buried in your phone while walking.  You are clueless to the world around you.  See the video above.

UPDATE: Getting Cosmetic Surgery for Snapchat Dysmorphia

This is by far the most narcissistic thing I’ve read.  People (tide pod eaters) are getting surgery to look like the filters they use on their Snapchat because they don’t look good enough in life because it is wreaking havoc on their self-esteem.  The report in the journal JAMA Facial Plastic Surgery claims that these filters can sometimes trigger body dysmorphic disorder, a mental illness that can lead to compulsive tendencies and unnecessary beauty procedures, among other negative outcomes.

A study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that people who were regular users of social media were twice as likely to feel lonely than those that were light users.

Another study released found that social media, especially Instagram, deepened feelings of anxiety and inadequacy for 15 to 24 year olds.

Go play outside and leave your phone in your pocket.  Also, don’t live your life on social media and you won’t be so self-obsessed.

UPDATE: A study came out stating that good social media don’t out weigh the bad:

(Reuters Health) – For young adults, the adverse effect of negative social media experiences on mental health outweigh any potential benefits of positive experiences, a study of university students suggests.

Each 10 percent increase in a student’s negative experiences on social media was associated with a 20 percent increase in the odds of depressive symptoms, researchers found.

But positive experiences on social media were only weakly linked to lower depressive symptoms. Each 10 percent increase in positive social media interaction was associated with only a four percent drop in depressive symptoms – a difference so small that it might have been due to chance.

“This is not inconsistent with the way we see things in the offline world . . . The negative things we encounter in the world count more than positive ones,” said study leader Brian A. Primack, director of the Center for Research on Media, Technology and Health at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania.

“If you have four different classes in college, the fourth class that you did poorly in probably took up all your mental energy,” he told Reuters Health by phone.

Primack said he believes social media lends itself to negativity bias because it is saturated with positive experiences that leave people jaded.

YOU ARE BEING WATCHED

I talked with friends at the gym who are or were in law enforcement  In cop terms they are always made by others because they are constantly looking around.  They are aware of their environment, potential danger, potentially dangerous people and escape routes.  As you can see in the video of fails, these people are vulnerable to all of the above.

Guess how else you are vulnerable with your head buried in a screen?  It doesn’t take a genius to know that Facebook, Google, Amazon and every other site is not only tracking your clicks, but are tracking where you go and what you do.

We used to have instructions, a map and intuition to get where we were going and for the most part, we got there.  millennial’s can’t get to the 7-11 without Google Maps now.  It’s also funny how they can know everything, but have knowledge of very little.  Take away their phone and not only would they not run into things, they’d have to actually learn about how things really work and how to navigate (I’m not discriminating here, I know directionally challenged relatives my age who fall into this category).  Looking up something on your phone doesn’t make you smart.

YOU ARE GIVING THE PERV’S A FREE TICKET

I’m not in law enforcement, but I put my phone away and watch others, especially those watching girls.  It’s almost a sport.   It used to be if a guy was looking in the wrong part of a girl, they got busted immediately.  It was like watching a tennis match seeing the heads turn when a cute girl walked by.  They had to use mirrored sunglasses and just glance when they could and not let their wives/girlfriends catch them.   Now, instead of having to glance behind sunglasses, the perv’s just look down or up (or up and down) anyone they want and modesty just goes out the window.  It’s truly tasteless, but if you had your head out of the phone, you wouldn’t be getting eyeballed so lasciviously.

GET A LIFE

It’s amazing to watch people now escape to their phone in what used to be a social situation.  So stop running into things and get a life.

FACEBOOK IS DESIGNED TO EXPLOIT HUMAN VULNERABILITIES

Recently, former Facebook president Sean Parker pointed out how Facebook is hurting people.

When Facebook was getting going, I had these people who would come up to me and they would say, ‘I’m not on social media.’ And I would say, ‘OK. You know, you will be. And then they would say, ‘No, no, no. I value my real-life interactions. I value the moment. I value presence. I value intimacy.’ And I would say, … ‘We’ll get you eventually.’

Parker discussed the possible psychological effects of social media and Facebook in particular, especially for children who are now growing up in a digitally connected age:

I don’t know if I really understood the consequences of what I was saying, because [of] the unintended consequences of a network when it grows to a billion or 2 billion people and … it literally changes your relationship with society, with each other … It probably interferes with productivity in weird ways. God only knows what it’s doing to our children’s brains.

The former Facebook President discussed the company’s initial aim, which was mainly centered around drawing in and building their audience:

The thought process that went into building these applications, Facebook being the first of them, … was all about: ‘How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?’ And that means that we need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever. And that’s going to get you to contribute more content, and that’s going to get you … more likes and comments.

Parker described Facebook’s appeal as a “social-validation feedback loop” which exploits human psychology to keep users coming back to the app:

It’s a social-validation feedback loop … exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you’re exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology. The inventors, creators — it’s me, it’s Mark [Zuckerberg], it’s Kevin Systrom on Instagram, it’s all of these people — understood this consciously. And we did it anyway.

Parker also briefly discussed how his vast wealth is likely to allow him to live longer than the average person due to advances in medical science

Social Media, Making Your Life Worse Just By Using It, And it Proves Sturgeon’s Law

I tend to notice trends early.  I quit Twitter 4 years ago as soon as work didn’t (unofficially) require it.  Almost every time I used it, the conversation degraded by the 3rd or 4th tweet into something political, followed by unsubstantiated name calling.  You have to have a thick skin and a terse personality to want to survive out there.

A few years later I tried helping a friend get on Facebook and we both decided that it was like a high school reunion, or being in high school where you make up stuff to seem like your life is better than others.  He finally told me to stop and to not put him on.  At that point it dawned on me that most of social media falls under Sturgeon’s Law:

Sturgeon’s Law: 90% of everything is crap.

 

There might be a corollary that 99% of social media is crap.

The trend I noticed besides people acting false was that I never felt better after being on twitter and I loathe Facebook for the same reason.  This was 5-8 years ago and now the studies are coming out proving what I noticed.

A recent article in the USA today talked about another high schoolish trend, mob mentality.

Social media also has polluted our more general life, with the ability to form online mobs increasing, as Prof. Glenn Reynolds aka Instapundit recently wrote in USA Today:

People enjoy forming mobs. Mobs allow people to do things they’d be afraid to do on their own, to steal, to hurt and kill, to burn and destroy — and also to feel set free from the bonds of civil society, to experience a kind of atavistic catharsis, a feeling of power and a solidarity with their fellow rioters, in a way that’s otherwise difficult to achieve, especially without suffering serious consequences….

But now there’s a new kind of mob, an online mob. And judging by the events of the past week, this new mob is becoming a more frequent problem. Part of that is because it’s easier (and safer) to be part of an online mob than one in the real world.

Joining a real mob requires you to leave your house, go somewhere else, and experience risks and discomforts. Joining an online mob can be done from an easy chair at home.

There are times that I post something and bizarre comments come it, so much so that I have to moderate them according to the policy on the sidebar.  Some just violate the policy too much.  It’s like twitter, if it can get political it usually does.  Since I’ve posted a lot about the military and patriotism, I caught a lot of crap.

I read a blog post by Legal Insurrection that noted the increase in suicides and the link that may exist between the two.

A New, More Rigorous Study Confirms: The More You Use Facebook, the Worse You Feel

Social Media and Teen Depression: The Two Go Hand-In-Hand

Rise in teen suicide connected to social media popularity: study

Suicide rate’s increase can be tied to social media, technology: Dr. Marc Siegel

Using Many Social Media Platforms Linked With Depression, Anxiety Risk

Why don’t people just put it down?  It looks to be like the new next cigarette, just as addictive and equally as bad for you.

As for me, I can go about my day enjoying not getting into useless tweet storms and having my head glued to my phone.  Hell, I won’t even put Facebook on because I don’t want them in my life.

I’d like to say the higher IQ people would be immune to this, but it’s not true.  They are just as susceptible to this and it goes under things they shouldn’t do.

WHAT FACEBOOK KNOWS AND IT ISN’T TELLING YOU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ez0B3lktKI4

It preys on Women’s emotions and other mind altering and interfering techniques and the company KNOWS THAT IT IS DOING IT.

Even former Facebook President Sean Parker realizes the pitfalls of Facebook:

The former Facebook President discussed the company’s initial aim, which was mainly centered around drawing in and building their audience:

The thought process that went into building these applications, Facebook being the first of them, … was all about: ‘How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?’ And that means that we need to sort of give you a little dopamine hit every once in a while, because someone liked or commented on a photo or a post or whatever. And that’s going to get you to contribute more content, and that’s going to get you … more likes and comments.

Parker described Facebook’s appeal as a “social-validation feedback loop” which exploits human psychology to keep users coming back to the app:

It’s a social-validation feedback loop … exactly the kind of thing that a hacker like myself would come up with, because you’re exploiting a vulnerability in human psychology. The inventors, creators — it’s me, it’s Mark [Zuckerberg], it’s Kevin Systrom on Instagram, it’s all of these people — understood this consciously. And we did it anyway.

Comments such as this from Facebook former President, combined with Facebook’s mishandling of user data, has led to a greater level of distrust around the company. What was previously seen as just a website by many users was becoming better known as a data collection company.

It turns out that platforms like Facebook are the “Junk Food For the Soul”.  In other words crap that isn’t good for you.

When the name of the article is Facebook was designed to exploit human vulnerability, there is a big problem.

THE CESSPOOL OF HATE AND DISCRIMINATION BY TWITTER

Just say something, anything and pretty soon it can turn into a hate storm if you offend someone or anyone.  I saw someone post here’s a picture of a rock, let the arguing begin just to prove it and it did.

Now, it looks like Twitter the company is shadow banning users and groups of users just because someone complained that they don’t like the person’s views, even if they aren’t a follower.

When I check I often find that a user who has blocked me is someone I have never interacted with. So why the block? Often, it’s due to being on a block list created by a liberal activist group. Twitter supports block lists and makes it easy for users to mass-block entire universes of people they don’t even know.

But Twitter now uses factors such as the number of people who have blocked an account to determine whether to classify it as “low quality” content. The company also uses the number of complaints or reports on the account. If the number of these exceeds certain thresholds, an account can be deemed low quality and access to tweets from that user are severely diminished.

I couldn’t wait to leave that platform of time-wasting and hate and my life is better because of it.

Schaeffer’s Law’s of the Digital Age – The Non-Racial Master/Slave Paradigm Through Digital Monitoring

Schaeffer’s First Law of the Digital Age:

The Global Digital Infrastructure (GDI) connects all human life on the planet into a single, giant, metastasizing organism throbbing with incredible potential for advancing human good, expanding knowledge exponentially, invading our lives with unimaginable malice and evil, and transforming unsuspecting users into helpless and obedient cyborgs.

Schaeffer’s Second Law of the Digital Age:

Each breakthrough in utility deriving from advances in the Global Digital Domain is accompanied by equal or greater vulnerabilities and potential detriments to quality of life.  Anything that can do amazingly great things for you can almost always do terribly awful things to you as well.

Schaeffer’s Third Law of the Digital Age:

It’s impossible to make or enforce laws to guard the people against the dangers of global digital power and impossible to prevent exponential growth in this power.  The Zuckerbergs and Bezoses and Googles of the world may propose to use their power benevolently, but they plan to use it and grow it without limit.  They claim they’ll be good masters, but they mean to be masters.

I’m not a conspiracy person, rather an observer of trends and patterns.  Haven’t we been down this path before in history where there are classes of people?  This time, they start as digital helpers like Alexa, Echo, Google assistant or Siri, but at what point are they re-directing our lives?  Aren’t there always people who try to control your lives thus enriching their lives both in money and power.

Since there are hackers constantly attacking the cloud, where your data is stored and accessible, when you lose control over your life?  The digital hacks can be found at Krebsonsecurity.com.

It has already begun with your digital footprint being tracked, monitored and being sold off to advertisers, but where does it stop, the Jetson’s?

I advise that you carefully monitor who is monitoring you, even the government.

Now for fun, why is that in the movies that the robots always try to take over the world and kill humans?

Facebook Overnight Millionaires and Employee Turnover

chatango Pictures, Images and Photos

Update: As predicted, the brain drain has begun with executives leaving and others questioning Zuckerberg’s leadership ability.

As we all know, Facebook will go public in a huge IPO.  This will create many mega-millionaires overnight who work there.

I wonder what the drain in human intellectual property will be when they don’t have to work like maniacs anymore.

WHY PEOPLE WORK

Most people work only because they get paid.  A common cliche is that work is a 4 letter word.  Otherwise, they wouldn’t put up with the job they have, proven by frequent job shifts over a lifetime.  They leave for a better opportunity, or a bigger paycheck.  My observation (not scientific) is that if the paycheck wasn’t a part of the deal, the job wouldn’t get done.

Then there are a few who really like to work like my Dad.  His life was his work (HVAC engineer) and he loved it.  My uncle was a pilot who also loved his job.  Both regretted their retirement.

Finally, there are a few who love what they do because it is their passion.  It has been said that if you do what you really love, it isn’t work.  These are usually the most successful people.

MILLIONAIRE HEAVEN

When Facebook goes public and there will be a group of people created who are the overnight millionaires, many will move on.  Some of them are the creative minds behind what has made the company the success it has been.  Sure you can hire more programmers and throw options at them, but they are in the category of working for a paycheck.  Many won’t have the need (some the desire) to work.  I watched many friends I had at Amazon become millionaires and quit.  They went on to do what they wanted to because they sold stock and had the money to do so.

The people that lived and breathed the Facebook that we know it have and hold the history and the reason that it is what it is today.  That knowledge can’t be replaced.

What will be the brain drain at Facebook?  I’m sure there are loyal employees who will stay.  The executives will likely stay because they already are rich and at that point it is a matter of power, not money.  Others, I’m not so sure.

WILL THEY SELL

You bet they will.  There is already a lot of insider selling:

Insiders and early Facebook investors are taking advantage of increasing investor demand and selling more of their stock in the company’s initial public offering, the company said Wednesday.

Facebook said in a regulatory filing that 84 million shares, worth up to $3.2 billion, are being added to what’s shaping up to be the decade’s hottest IPO.

Facebook’s stock is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market on Friday under the ticker symbol “FB”.

The entire increase comes from insiders and early investors, so the company won’t benefit from the additional sales.

The biggest increases come from investment firms DST Global and Tiger Global. Goldman Sachs is doubling the number of shares it is selling. Facebook board members Peter Thiel and James Breyer are also selling more shares.

Even the Motley Fool is predicting investors will get burned.

Facebook’s IPO: A Quick Way to Go Broke
Facebook’s IPO will create at least 1,000 millionaires, estimates The Wall Street Journal. Founder Mark Zuckerberg is cashing out $1 billion worth of shares. But most investors who buy shares will get burned…

REASONS TO SELL

Recently, it was stated that Facebook could be a passing fad.  This fact is not lost on those looking to make a killing.

If you recall Palm, Friendster, Sony Walkmans and other technologies, or beanie babies and tickle me Elmo’s, fads come and go quickly.  As Qui-Gon Jin said: There is always a bigger fish.  This means the next bigger and better Social Network or better idea is already being worked on.  Innovation drives technology and history has proven it…..ask 3com, Wang, Digital or many others.

We already know that they economy is still in a recession and cash is king.  If this IPO is anything like Groupon, it will trend high, then the price will go down and people want the most bang for their buck.  I know I’d dump it all and diversify by day 2.  I can’t comment as to whether I’d quit as I don’t know the culture, but I’ve worked for paranoid owners before and I know that it is a tough environment.  Zuckerberg has publicly stated that it’s good to be paranoid.  If that was the case, this is the time to bail.

It’s no secret that Facebook is not fully baked on their mobile strategy or execution yet either.  That is a pretty large faux pas.

Worst of all, millions are choosing to not be on Facebook or are just saying no to it.  Many of these are in the high wealth category.

Compound that with the fact that Google is killing Facebook in advertising revenue with Facebook even facing declining revenue:

A comparison of the two companies from WordStream, a search marketing management company, suggests that Facebook is a much less effective ad medium than Google. (The caveat here is that WordStream is, obviously, rather more dependent on Google than Facebook as a medium.)

So how much brain drain and personnel IP will leave?  Time will tell, but I’m sure there are a lot of folks contemplating this issue as I write.  The pressure of work, making a killing on stock or losing a fortune takes its toll on the workers.

I had a lot of friends at Cisco when they were flying high in the market.  While others played solitaire at the other technology companies, Cisco employees spent half their day watching the stock price to see how high it would go and calculate how rich they were.  The problem was that they weren’t vested.  I hope that Zuckerberg and lawyers are smart enough to make their employee options at least 3-5 years before they are fully vested to keep the best and brightest there.  Still, some might be mailing it in until year 3 while dreaming of being rich.

The average Joe won’t get rich anyway because here are the people who have made the money:

My final comment on the greatest brain drain comes in the form of 2 people, Paul Allan and Steve Wozniak.  They got out and went on to different lives, but I’m not sure they still held the passion they had while building their company’s.

Will the New Facebook Take Over Linkedin?

Not for me. There is already too much information available out there and Facebook just increased it. Regardless of the predictions, I don’t see it happening completely.  Some will like millennials, but boomers are much more conservative.  Also, a lot of youngsters don’t go to Facebook as their parents are on, enough reason to not put your life there.

I keep my professional life on Linkedin and my personal life on Facebook, family and real friends only. I like I assume others will keep it that way based on conversations I’ve had. I don’t want to have pictures of co-workers in compromising situations (guaranteed to happen) on my professional profile.

I can screw around a bit on Facebook, but even then I keep it tame as the world doesn’t need to know that much about me.