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  • Geebo 9:15 am on June 20, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , ,   

    Will Peter Thiel be ousted from Facebook? 

    Will Peter Thiel be ousted from Facebook?

    Later today the board of directors of Facebook will meet for the annual shareholder’s meeting. One of the items said to be on the agenda is whether or not venture capitalist and Gawker lawsuit backer Peter Thiel will remain on the board.

    According to TheWrap The Writers Guild of America East sent a petition to Facebook stating that Peter Thiel’s presence on the board is too much of a threat to freedom of the press.

    “Facebook is the portal through which so much news, particularly online news, is accessed and even sent out now,” WGAE executive director Lowell Peterson added. “[News outlets] depend on social media like Facebook for their survival, for getting their message out, for getting their stories and videos out.”

    Another point of controversy is that Thiel is a delegate for Donald Trump. This kind of explains why Thiel’s attack lawyers are threatening Gawker with legal action over Donald Trump’s alleged hairpiece. However, could it also mean that with Thiel in Trump’s camp will this start a campaign where media outlets critical of Trump are threatened with legal action?

    So will Facebook take a stand in defense of the press or will they continue to support a legitimate threat to journalism?

     

  • Geebo 10:28 am on June 17, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: father's day   

    Off Topic Friday: What is the right Father’s Day gift? 

    Off Topic Friday: What is the right Father's Day gift

    With Father’s day being this Sunday I’m sure some of you still haven’t picked out a gift for the man you call Dad. The cliché is you can just get him a tie or some cologne and be done with it. That’s what I gave my dad when I was young. However, after becoming a father myself I learned that the right gift can make all the difference in the world.

    If you’re still looking for a gift for Dad this weekend I have one bit of advice for you, think it out. A thoughtful gift can often be better than an expensive gift. A gift that has a lot of thought put into it can show just how much you appreciate your Dad rather than saying “I picked up the first thing I saw” or “I spent a lot of money on this so you better appreciate this.”

    In my case there are two Father’s Days that stuck out in my mind. The first one was the time I got a t-shirt from a TV show I watched for one season with my wife. This was obvious that my wife got it for me at the last-minute because the kids forgot. No harm no foul because it happens to the best of us sometimes. The other one that sticks out in my mind was the year that my adult children only got me a card. It wasn’t just any card though. It was a card that was not only funny but mentioned something that was an inside joke between me and the kids that I hadn’t thought about in a long time but something that obviously stuck with them through the years. It was the greatest Father’s Day present I could have ever received.

    So if you find yourself hitting the stores this weekend remember, it doesn’t have to be lavish, it doesn’t have to be practical, and it sure doesn’t have to be a tie. As long as you put some real thought into it, Dad will probably be more than happy.

     

  • Geebo 10:37 am on June 16, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , suicide prevention   

    Are Facebook’s new suicide prevention tools susceptible to abuse? 

    Are Facebook's new suicide prevention tools susceptible to abuse?

    Recently, Facebook announced that they will be adding new suicide prevention tools to the ever burgeoning social network. Some of these tools will include being able to flag a friend’s post if you think they may be in danger of harming themselves. According to Tech Crunch this could result in a number of options…

    Facebook gives them several options. For example, a list of resources, including numbers for suicide prevention organizations, can be shared anonymously, or a message of support can be sent (Facebook suggests wording).

    The post may also be reviewed by Facebook’s global community operations team, which may then “reach out to this person with information that might be helpful to them,”

    However, with this being the internet every tool that’s designed to help can also be used to hurt, or as the saying goes ‘this is why we can’t have nice things.’ While Facebook should be applauded for adding this feature there is also a potential for abuse, especially when it comes to younger users who may be cyberbullied.

    It’s almost inevitable that group of trolls or bullies will hammer someone’s Facebook posts with this ‘suicide flag’, for lack of a better term, as either a threatening message (e.g., the ‘kill yourself’ type of harassment) or just as a way to interfere with their Facebook experience.

    Mental health is still a tricky topic even in today’s society and is still somewhat stigmatized. In that case Facebook should be commended for helping to try to bring the topic to the forefront however, they need to be careful that this feature isn’t used to even further stigmatize though who may be in need of mental healthcare by allowing this new tool of theirs to be abused.

    Engadget is reporting that Facebook does have a team in place to monitor for potential abuse. Hopefully they’ll be able to curtail abuse so resources for those who need it can be effectively put to use.

     

  • Geebo 11:30 am on June 15, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , ,   

    Is Peter Thiel suing Gawker over Donald Trump’s hair? 

    Is Peter Thiel suing Gawker over Donald Trump's hair?

    From the ridiculous to the sublime.

    Just when you thought the feud between venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Gawker Media couldn’t get anymore strange comes the news that Thiel’s team of legal attack dogs of Harder Mirell & Abrams are threatening more legal action against Gawker over Donald Trump’s hair.

    One of Gawker’s reporters, Ashley Feinberg, has claimed that she has solved the mystery of Donald Trump’s infamous coiffure. In a Gawker blog post she claims that The Donald’s hair is actually an expensive hairpiece produced by a company named Ivari International. Ivari, while being represented by Charles J. Harder, of the above named legal firm, sent a letter to Gawker…

    Thiel’s lawyer-for-hire, Charles J. Harder, sent Gawker a letter on behalf of Ivari International’s owner and namesake, Edward Ivari, in which Harder claims that Feinberg’s story was “false and defamatory,” invaded Ivari’s privacy, intentionally inflicted emotional distress, and committed “tortious interference” with Ivari’s business relations.

    As it currently stands, Thiel backed lawsuits are already draining Gawker of all available capital. How much more money does he think that his paid proxies can bleed from an already drained stone and is Donald Trump’s hair really the hill that he wants to die on?

    In this blogger’s opinion this recent threat of legal action shows not only how petty Thiel has become and not only how much he’s abusing the legal system but also shows how much he’s willing to strong-arm a media outlet into non-existence. What happens when a media giant like the Washington Post or the New York Times reports something about Thiel that he doesn’t like? Will he back lawsuits against them too and if so where does it end? What’s stopping other billionaires from funding lawsuits by proxy against the media? Will they all try to sue the media out of existence? Granted, that’s an extreme scenario that is unlikely to come to pass but how many journalistic voices could fall in the meantime?

     

  • Geebo 9:59 am on June 14, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , ,   

    Gawker Bankruptcy: A defeat for a free press 

    Gawker Bankruptcy: A defeat for a free press

    This past weekend it was announced that Gawker has filed for bankruptcy in the wake of the $140 million settlement awarded to Hulk Hogan in a lawsuit funded by venture capitalist Peter Thiel. However, while Gawker may have lost the battle the war rages on.

    While Gawker has declared bankruptcy to protect itself against creditors it’s not yet officially out of business. Not only is media publishing company Ziff Davis looking to buy Gawker but Gawker is exploring legal options against Peter Thiel to see if his funding of lawsuits against them violated any laws.

    As has been mentioned before on this blog, Peter Thiel’s and Hulk Hogan’s win over Gawker sets a dangerous precedent of billionaires being able to squelch the press if they don’t agree with or even like the content. It’s reminiscent of old gangster movies where a heavy would threaten a store owner. It’s almost like Peter Thiel told Gawker media “You have a nice network here, it would be a shame if something happened to it.”

     

  • Geebo 9:45 am on June 13, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Pulse Orlando   

    Remembering the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting 

    Remembering the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting

    We here at Geebo would like to offer our sincerest condolences to the friends and families of the innocent lives lost at the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando and our best wishes and hopes to those recovering from injuries.

    If anything positive is to come from this tragedy please let it be for us to come together as a country in order to fight all the intolerance and hate that has permeated our society.

     

  • Geebo 9:52 am on June 10, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: boxing, Muhamad Ali, ,   

    Off Topic Friday: Are scalpers disgracing the memory of Ali? 

    Off Topic Friday: Are scalpers disgracing the memory of Ali?

    As most of us know Muhammad Ali passed away this past weekend. A public memorial is scheduled today at the Yum Center in Ali’s hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. The admission to the event is free and thousands lined up yesterday in order to get tickets. It didn’t take long for scalpers to start trying to sell the tickets online for exorbitant prices leading a number of people to claim that this goes against the memory of Ali.

    While Ali was probably the greatest boxer who ever lived he was so much more than that. Not only was Ali active in the Civil Rights Movement but was so adamantly opposed to the Vietnam War that he was stripped of his heavyweight boxing title and was suspended from boxing for four years after refusing to be conscripted into military service. Whether or not you agree with his stance you have to admire his conviction considering it kept him away from his passion for four years. After his boxing career was over Ali was still active within social causes around the world and at one point was even awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. We also can’t forget the work Ali did for raising the awareness of Parkinson’s disease which had plagued the boxer since 1984. The thought of people extorting other people just to attend his public memorial would probably be anathema to him.

    Since the ticket price was zero, selling the tickets for any amount is considered illegal. Ali was a hero to many and those who looked up to him should not be charged and arm and a leg for a chance to say goodbye to The Greatest.

     

  • Geebo 9:59 am on June 9, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Gersh Zavodnik, ,   

    Overly abusive litigant sues man for $30K over $40 printer 

    Overly litigious litigant sues man for $30K over $40 printer

    In case you needed another reason to only do online transactions locally, comes this story out of Massachusetts, and Indiana.

    in 2009 a Massachusetts man sold a used printer to a man from Indiana for $40. This was done through an online classifieds site that has a reputation for attracting people who may be, to put it politely, not all there. The man from Indiana is said to allegedly be one of those people. He is 54-year-old Gersh Zavodnik of Indianapolis who makes his living off of what some may describe as frivolous lawsuits. The Indiana Supreme Court is so familiar with him that he is sometimes called a “prolific, abusive litigant.”

    Mr. Zavodnik is suing the Massachusetts man for $30,000 claiming breach of contract because the printer allegedly did not work. This case has bounced around in courts for so long that the seller of the printer has racked up $12,000 in legal fees from fending off Mr. Zavodnik’s legal attacks. The case could be dismissed later this year, then again with some of the stranger lawsuits that have happened in the past, it might not be.

    If you’re selling something relatively inexpensive and innocuous and someone from halfway across the country offers to buy it, when it’s obviously something that they could buy in their own region, you may want to question their reasons before ending up in a mess like this.

     

  • Geebo 10:08 am on June 8, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , jacksonville, , ,   

    Dad sells son’s truck online for smoking weed 

    Dad sells sons truck online for smoking weed

    Possibly inspired by the Minnesota mom who sold her daughter’s truck for skipping class, a Florida father recently sold his son’s truck online. A Jacksonville, Florida, man recently sold his son’s Ford Explorer online because of the 16-year-old’s penchant for smoking weed and ‘acting all thug’ in the father’s words. To add a little insult to injury the father offered to take $250 off the price if the buyer lived in the same neighborhood so his son could ‘see it every now and then and be reminded of how good he had it’.

    The father continues…

    “Now he can put those Jordans to use walk his a** off on these hot summer days!” his father wrote in the post.

    The sale of the truck seems to be working as the father has said that his son has approached him about turning over a new leaf.

    How do you feel about the viral ad? Is online embarrassment of an unruly teen really the way to go for parents? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.

     

  • Geebo 10:41 am on June 7, 2016 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , ,   

    Just hang up 

    Just hang up

    Even with the advent of the internet, phone scams are still as prevalent as ever. Whether it’s someone posing as the IRS, your bank or credit card company, or winning sweepstakes company they’re all looking for the same thing. They’re all looking for just the smallest bit of personal information to use to try to steal your money. Now you may think that you’re clever enough on how to deal with these scammers but you may be inadvertently providing them with the exact information that they’re looking for.

    This article from Forbes by tax attorney Kelly Phillips Erb advises not to engage in any way with these scammers. She says that your best bet is to just hangup on them. She goes on to say that of you engage them in any way you may be providing them with just enough information for them to try to either steal your identity or your money. She goes into detail about a number of the possible outcomes that could happen when engaging a scammer.

    Much like our post about being careful of your reflection it only takes just a tiny crumb of information for scammers to be able to overturn your life.

     

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