Monday, 28 November 2011
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
House sitting and asteroids
Free rent, privacy, quiet. These are just a few things that house sitters enjoy. When I hear that someone is going on a trip and needs a sitter I jump on the rare opportunity like a fat kid on butterfingers. This temporary change is welcome to someone like me who has tasted the freedom of independence but can't afford to live on his own. I've been here for two days and I love it.
I'm a block away from the Corydon area. I love the fact that my bank, a comic book store and a falafel restaurant are right around the corner. Joy :)
In other news a 400m asteroid came within 200,000 km of our planet, closer than the moon's orbit! It was traveling at 30,000 mph.
I wonder what kind of impact it would have had if it hit Earth.
I'm a block away from the Corydon area. I love the fact that my bank, a comic book store and a falafel restaurant are right around the corner. Joy :)
In other news a 400m asteroid came within 200,000 km of our planet, closer than the moon's orbit! It was traveling at 30,000 mph.
I wonder what kind of impact it would have had if it hit Earth.
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Be careful what you post on Facebook
If you're a facebook user or a social network junky I highly recommend that you watch this documentary. Very eye-opening.
Facebook Follies Documentary
"Love it or hate it, Facebook is the world’s most successful social networking site. And whether you use it or nohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gift, it is fundamentally changing the way people connect and communicate. Facebook is easy to use and so far, more than three-quarters of a billion people all over the world have signed up. Our relationships, our thoughts, our pastimes, our memories, our lives and deaths - all are now routinely recorded on Facebook. It represents a paradigm shift in communications as significant as the printing press, or the telegraph, or the television. Inevitably, mishaps, embarrassment and trouble accompany such change.
Facebook Follies is a one-hour documentary that takes a look at the unexpected consequences of people sharing their personal information on social media. Viewers meet people who lost their jobs, their marriages, their dignity, or who even ended up in jail - all because of their own or someone else’s Facebook posting. To give a broader context to the events, these stories are intercut with reflections from experts in the areas of social change, internet security and contemporary media."
- CBC docZone
STATS
Total # of Canadians that are on Facebook : 16 908 380 (Ranked 13th against all other countries – As of October 2011)
Total % of Canadian population that are on Facebook : 50.08% (Ranked 17th against all other countries - As of October 2011)
Total of Facebook users as of September 2011 : 800 Million
Country with highest # of Facebook users : USA - 155 981 460 people (As of October 2011)
Country with lowest # of Facebook users : Vatican City - 20 people (As of October 2011)
Canadian average # of Facebook friends: 190 friends
Global average # of Facebook friends: 130 friends
Average amount of time Canadians spend on Facebook each month: 400 minutes
Daily active Facebook users in Canada : 9 Million
Minimum legal age for Facebook users : 13 years
Fastest growing Facebook user demographic : women 55 years +
Number of photos uploaded to Facebook daily : 250 Million (as of October 2011)
TIPS
You should never post anything on the internet that you don’t want becoming public. (Cyber Security Expert: Graham Cluley).
Limit the amount of personal information you post on Facebook because once it’s on the internet, you can never get it back.
Funny or embarrassing photos posted by yourself or someone else on Facebook might seem funny now, but they can have serious negative consequences in the future.
Un-tagging yourself from embarrassing photos posted on Facebook doesn’t make them go away, it only removes the direct link to your profile. To remove the photos permanently you’ll need to ask the person that posted them to delete them from Facebook.
Always verify that you actually know the people you are friending on Facebook. Accepting a friend request, especially from a stranger, could provide a hacker with access to all of your personal information and increases the risk of identity theft.
Become familiar with how to set your privacy settings on Facebook. The default privacy settings allow everyone to see all of your information. Changing your privacy settings only takes a few minutes and allows you to decide how much and with whom you’re sharing your information. Read more at facebook's Family Security Center
And remember: “Be Careful What You Post On Facebook.” – President Barack Obama
Facebook Follies Documentary
"Love it or hate it, Facebook is the world’s most successful social networking site. And whether you use it or nohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gift, it is fundamentally changing the way people connect and communicate. Facebook is easy to use and so far, more than three-quarters of a billion people all over the world have signed up. Our relationships, our thoughts, our pastimes, our memories, our lives and deaths - all are now routinely recorded on Facebook. It represents a paradigm shift in communications as significant as the printing press, or the telegraph, or the television. Inevitably, mishaps, embarrassment and trouble accompany such change.
Facebook Follies is a one-hour documentary that takes a look at the unexpected consequences of people sharing their personal information on social media. Viewers meet people who lost their jobs, their marriages, their dignity, or who even ended up in jail - all because of their own or someone else’s Facebook posting. To give a broader context to the events, these stories are intercut with reflections from experts in the areas of social change, internet security and contemporary media."
- CBC docZone
STATS
Total # of Canadians that are on Facebook : 16 908 380 (Ranked 13th against all other countries – As of October 2011)
Total % of Canadian population that are on Facebook : 50.08% (Ranked 17th against all other countries - As of October 2011)
Total of Facebook users as of September 2011 : 800 Million
Country with highest # of Facebook users : USA - 155 981 460 people (As of October 2011)
Country with lowest # of Facebook users : Vatican City - 20 people (As of October 2011)
Canadian average # of Facebook friends: 190 friends
Global average # of Facebook friends: 130 friends
Average amount of time Canadians spend on Facebook each month: 400 minutes
Daily active Facebook users in Canada : 9 Million
Minimum legal age for Facebook users : 13 years
Fastest growing Facebook user demographic : women 55 years +
Number of photos uploaded to Facebook daily : 250 Million (as of October 2011)
TIPS
You should never post anything on the internet that you don’t want becoming public. (Cyber Security Expert: Graham Cluley).
Limit the amount of personal information you post on Facebook because once it’s on the internet, you can never get it back.
Funny or embarrassing photos posted by yourself or someone else on Facebook might seem funny now, but they can have serious negative consequences in the future.
Un-tagging yourself from embarrassing photos posted on Facebook doesn’t make them go away, it only removes the direct link to your profile. To remove the photos permanently you’ll need to ask the person that posted them to delete them from Facebook.
Always verify that you actually know the people you are friending on Facebook. Accepting a friend request, especially from a stranger, could provide a hacker with access to all of your personal information and increases the risk of identity theft.
Become familiar with how to set your privacy settings on Facebook. The default privacy settings allow everyone to see all of your information. Changing your privacy settings only takes a few minutes and allows you to decide how much and with whom you’re sharing your information. Read more at facebook's Family Security Center
And remember: “Be Careful What You Post On Facebook.” – President Barack Obama
Saturday, 29 October 2011
Bullying - Stop it!
"Every year in this country 300 kids take their own lives. It is a mind-boggling number. And this past week one of those kids was Jamie Hubley. He was 15, he was depressed and he happened to be gay.
And because this is 2011 we don't just read about a kid like Jamie, we can Google him and then the next thing you know, you’re sitting at home watching his videos on YouTube. And he was gay all right. He was a great big goofy gay kid singing Lady Gaga on the Internet. And as an adult you look at that and you go, you know what, that kid’s going places. But for some reason, some kids, they looked at that and they attacked. And now he's gone.
And because this story is all too familiar we know exactly what’s going to happen next. Grief counselors will go into the school, as they should. But what about the old fashioned assembly? You know, where the cops show up and there's hell to pay and they find out who’s responsible. You know like when the lunchroom is vandalized. Because the kids who bullied this boy, they know who they are. And more importantly other kids know who they are.
It's no longer good enough for us to tell kids who are different that it’s going to get better. We have to make it better now, that's every single one of us. Every teacher, every student, every adult has to step up to the plate. And that’s gay adults too. Because I know gay cops, soldiers, athletes, cabinet ministers, a lot of us do, but the problem is adults, we don't need role models. Kids do. So if you're gay and you’re in public life, I'm sorry, you don't have to run around with a pride flag and bore the hell out of everyone, but you can't be invisible either. Not anymore. 300 kids is 300 too many."
- Rick Mercer
It gets better. Stop bullying now!
And because this is 2011 we don't just read about a kid like Jamie, we can Google him and then the next thing you know, you’re sitting at home watching his videos on YouTube. And he was gay all right. He was a great big goofy gay kid singing Lady Gaga on the Internet. And as an adult you look at that and you go, you know what, that kid’s going places. But for some reason, some kids, they looked at that and they attacked. And now he's gone.
And because this story is all too familiar we know exactly what’s going to happen next. Grief counselors will go into the school, as they should. But what about the old fashioned assembly? You know, where the cops show up and there's hell to pay and they find out who’s responsible. You know like when the lunchroom is vandalized. Because the kids who bullied this boy, they know who they are. And more importantly other kids know who they are.
It's no longer good enough for us to tell kids who are different that it’s going to get better. We have to make it better now, that's every single one of us. Every teacher, every student, every adult has to step up to the plate. And that’s gay adults too. Because I know gay cops, soldiers, athletes, cabinet ministers, a lot of us do, but the problem is adults, we don't need role models. Kids do. So if you're gay and you’re in public life, I'm sorry, you don't have to run around with a pride flag and bore the hell out of everyone, but you can't be invisible either. Not anymore. 300 kids is 300 too many."
- Rick Mercer
It gets better. Stop bullying now!
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