Facebook and it’s doom?
Facebook being the largest social networking website in the world has also managed to supress freedom of speech and contribute to the supression of breaking news. Since the last few weeks, facebook along with twitter and youtube has proved essential for Iranians to release information and spread videos and warnings to others in Iran and the world. However the computer systems at facebook have been regularly identifying this mass communication as illegal spam, and subsequently disabling and banning real users who are in real life and death situations.
On top of that, facebook is too big to have humans identify problems and deal with issues and reactivate accounts. Facebook is too restrictive, too controlling, too automated, and not the social networking site of the future. It won’t be long before people give up with facebook out of frustration and move onto better systems and sites. Actually it wouldn’t be suprising if another site popped up and greatly improved on facebook, and subsequently overtook it at every level.
Facebook needs to take a step back, slow down and begin to improve on their core systems, and rework the relationship with the customer, which they seem to have forgotten a while back. Facebook could still change, but there needs to be a recognition of their failures before they are able to deal with those and future problems.
Michael Jackson Dead…
ok its official, the death of MJ has caused twitter to crash… the MJ effect has pwned the only thing able to pwn the Iranian government, so MJ really is greater than all???
I wish…
i wish i wore glasses, so i could lend them to God…
Euro Elections
Apparently I should be voting Labour or Liberal Democrats at the European elections according to http://www.votematch.co.uk/. Had it not been for the expenses scandal, I might actually be bothered, I guess I will pass this voting season and wait until someone decent comes out of the closet.
London weather sucks
I’m back from the US and first thing I noticed is how bad the weather in London is. I really wish they would invent some kind of space mirror reflector or something to bounce off some sun rays for London…
هر روزتان نوروز، نورزتان پیروز
Wishing everyone a Happy Norooz / New Year, celebrating a year of prosperity and success, and the first day of Spring.
Here is Barack Obama’s speech to the Iranian people and to the Government of Iran. Even though he may draw much criticism and praise, my personal feelings are that many under-estimate how very clever and knowledgeable he really is. I hope that the course he is following will have a beneficial outcome for everyone, especially the many many innocent and poor people in Iran.
Norooz hijacked by the PKK.
I went to Trafalgar Square on Saturday afternoon to enjoy the open air concert which was meant to be a celebration of the Norooz, and international festival celebrating the beginning of the year and spring. Once I arrived there, there was quite a large crowd gathered in front of a stage and on the sides were mostly spectators or tourists trying to see what was going on.
What I saw was a total shock, the concert was orchestrated and hijacked by the ”Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)”. Instead of actually celebrating the beginning of the year, they had obviously under false pretences, used an International festival and respected calender event to stage an illegal political protest. In all honesty, many of the spectators seemed aghast and horrified, especially by the mob of youths running around and shouting their chants, waving flags of a man, Öcalan, who looked quite similar to Saddam Hussein.
The only saving grace was the traditional dancing in the centre of the square, although that was quickly overshadowed by the political rants and communist banners being forcibly thrusted into peoples faces. How these people expect to win any sympathy is beyond one’s imagination, and certainly a potentially good day become very sour indeed.
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- The red communist flag is visible
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- Öcalan’s face is clearly visible on the flag
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- Stage from the back
Obama, the nutty professor?
US President Barack Obama
Barack Obama being the first non-white US President, seems to be over-stepping the mark with his latest escapade of diplomacy. Would a sane man negotiate with mass murderers, rapists and fanatics who are engrossing with outrageous levels of genocide? The Taliban are not your ordinary maniacs, these are a hundred times worse. What’s more, nine years ago, the USA claimed that Osama Bin Laden, sponsored and supported by the Taliban, took down the Twin Towers, so now it appears that something has changed, almost to the point where President Obama doesn’t seem to believe that the Taliban were responsible for what happened in New York in 2001. Whatever is the reasoning behind the latest Presidential foreign policy, it’s definitely not productive or welcome.
Even though it could be hard to the point of impossibility, the Taliban must be totally eradicated and the people of Afghanistan protected from this terrorist group. Since the West has begun this liberation, then it’s extremely important that they finish the task at hand, otherwise there is a large possibility that the next generation of Afghans will not forgive the West and the US will once again reap the seeds of an unfinished war, already sown.
How to make money, become a charity?
I was looking at a number of different websites which seem to promote responsible good charitable causes, some even seem to be quite well connected and linked, an example of this was www.1800genocide.com and www.genocideintervention.net. After spending a good 10+ minutes at ways to help the cause, I was actually quite disappointed. As a hot blooded young activist, I want to contribute in any way that is possible, but when I investigated further, it seemed that there were only a few options available to me,
- write a letter to a politician
- donate money
Now, it may be a pessimistic viewpoint, but I’m not sure how beneficial writing a letter to a politician is. Surely these men and women are very busy people and for me to take a pre-made template and fill in the gaps, then if I was in their shoes, I would probably be inclined to ignore the letter and add it to my spam pile. So that basically that leaves me with giving money. Seems pretty straight forward, and these days it’s easier than ever to donate money online to good causes, Paypal being so universal that it is. So, you would expect some kind of donation like £5 to £10 and maybe in return you will get some kind of badge or thank you gift and news letter explaining what the charity is doing and where the money is being spent. Have a look at these images, and can you imagine my reaction:
Yes, that’s right, my reaction was something like “Arrrrrrrgh”. I am just horrified, not because of how much poverty and disease there is in the world, but because of the countless more examples of how charities seem to be trying to get more money. When it actually comes to actively helping out, there seems to be very very little direction, if any at all. Of course I’m not just going to hand over such a large sum of cash, and why should I? I am not going to finance a paper trail of beaurocracy, a big fat pension for the CEO, luxury company cars and business class flights to seemingly pointless meetings and conferences. What I want to see, with evidence to match, is action! I want to see how the money has helped to change peoples lives, with testimonies, examples, pictures, videos, comments, articles and even more. As a supporter, I want to engage with the charity and with the people that are being helped, so I will get as much out of it, as the people receiving the help and so my effort and money is used in the best way possible.
I think I will look closer to home, for some smaller charities that might be doing something positive in the local neighbourhood, they probably won’t have a website either (thank God), but I think the money will do a lot more good and be more appreciated too.
AIG bankrupt, or not?
Insurance giant AIG has reported a loss of $61.7bn (£43bn) in the final three months of 2008 – the largest quarterly loss in corporate history.
And the firm will receive an extra $30bn from the US government as part of a revamped rescue package.
AIG has already received $150bn in financial support – the biggest bail-out by far of any US company.
This company has already received $150 billion, but the US government will still throw good money after bad and try to save it. Since this is an American company, I’m not really too disappointed, but one thing that I notice straight away is the close link between American and British economic policies, almost as if “one hand” is directing the play, behind the scenes.
Why wouldn’t the government allow this corrupt and failing company to go bankrupt and then invest the money into new businesses and successful companies. I wander how many of the AIG directors are close and personal friends with government officials?