- Racism and bigotry: they’re not just an American thing. No, people from other cultures can be equally bigoted and for proof of that, look no further than a shipyard at Drydocks World in Batam, Indonesia and an incident that took place there late last week. A near-riot broke out after an Indian manager yelled an alleged racial slur at an Indonesian worker. The resulting upheaval left at least nine people injured and 12 cars burned. So I take it back - that wasn’t a near-riot, it was a riot. Security personnel were called to the scene to quell the right and a representative of the national police force explained afterward what went down. "It started when an Indian manager yelled 'stupid Indonesian' to an Indonesian worker," said national police representative Zainuri Lubis said. "Word caught on and it sparked the anger of around 5,000 other workers. They then attacked their employers and destroyed the buildings and cars." Honestly….that might be the most awesome thing I have heard all week. One guy is insulted and immediately, there is an uprising of 5,000 of his pals against The Man. I love stickin’ it to The Man and wholeheartedly disagree with Denis Welch, chief executive of Drydocks World Southeast Asia, who said "what happened was criminal and we very much regret that it happened in one of our shipyards. We will work closely with the police and unions to investigate the circumstances and will take appropriate action when we understand the full extent of what happened and why." No need to investigate, D. What happened is clear: One of your managers crossed the line, the workers rose up against him and they unleashed a freaking awesome riot in retaliation. No investigation necessary, perhaps just a party to honor these workers for their efforts………
- It’s never a good sign when Congress wants to get involved in your business. That’s the position Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg finds himself in after four Democratic senators called on him Tuesday to reconsider changes in the site’s privacy settings and asked the Federal Trade Commission to streamline guidelines regarding privacy on all social networks. "Now, users have less control over private information, and it was done without the users' permission," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-New York, said. Schumer and fellow Senate pals Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado, Mark Begich of Alaska and Al Franken of Minnesota sent a letter to Zuckerberg about Facebook's decision to green-light third-party sharing of users' information. "We are writing to express our concern regarding recent changes to the Facebook privacy policy and the use of personal data on third party websites," the senators wrote (well, their legislative aids typed, but you get the idea). "The expansion of Facebook -- both in the number of users and applications -- raises new concerns for users who want to maintain control over their information." In case you are like most Facebook users and have no clue about any of this even though it’s your personal information being shared, last week, Facebook began a "small pilot program" with Microsoft Docs.com, Pandora and Yelp to offer personalized experiences when visiting those sites. "These partners have been given access to public information on Facebook -- such as names, friend lists and interests and likes -- to personalize your experience when you're logged into Facebook and visit their sites," Austin Haugen, a Facebook product manager, wrote on the site’s blog. At the center of the senators’ gripes is the requirement that users "opt out" if they do not want to share any information. "The way to go is opt-in," Schumer said. "The default position should be that the information is not shared, not that the information is shared." Agreed and agreed, by the way. Facebook should not assume it has the green light to share your personal information and declare that if you don’t want that to happen, you need to make the effort to opt out. Schumer rightly points out that the burden for this decision should fall on Facebook to get approval, not the user to deny approval. Of course, Facebook intends to keep its head squarely up its backside and refuse to admit any wrongdoing, defending its privacy policies in a letter to Schumer before Tuesday's news conference. The site continues to tout the benefits of its new developments while ignoring the fundamental privacy violations inherent in them. "Facebook is designed to give people the tools to control their information online and our highest priority is to keep and build the trust of the more than 400 million people who use our service," the company wrote in the letter. "These goals were central in the development of the new products we announced last week. Specifically, these new products and features are designed to enhance personalization and promote social activity across the Internet while continuing to give users unprecedented control over what information they share, when they want to share it, and with whom. All of Facebook's partner sites interact with a user's consent." Wrong-O, Facebook. You might want to share that information and doing so without expressed consent of the person it belongs to may benefit the business partners you are now teaming up with, but you need to check yourself, realize that you are jerking with the very people who are your site’s life blood and change your policy………..
- With their season hanging in the balance, you’d like to think the Denver Nuggets would unite behind their common cause and goals in order to keep their dreams of an NBA championship alive. What you would not hope for it that they would be in-fighting and accusing one antoehr of being selfish through press-conference statements and Tweets. However, when your star player kicks off the name-calling by accusing his teammates of not doing their part to help the team win, that sets a bad precedent. But just a day after saying he couldn't beat the Utah Jazz all by himself, Carmelo Anthony tried to hide behind the tried-and-true athlete excuse of being misunderstood and say that he was not, in fact, singling out his teammates for their poor play. "A lot of people took what I said when I said I needed help the wrong way. But I talked to my teammates. They know what I meant," Anthony said after Tuesday's practice. "We talk basketball every day, so they know I'm not pointing nobody out individually. "I'm not saying I'm playing the best I can play. I'm in there with them. We're all losing together.” Nice try, C. We all know what you meant and you know what you meant, even if you don’t like how it sounded or how it made you look. But your apology came a day too late because teammate J.R. Smith chimed in by Tweeting that the Nuggets were selfish. And just like Anthony, Smith tried to double back and shift focus to tonight’s Game 5 in Denver. by mid-day Tuesday, we was banging out more benign messages Tuesday like: "cant stop thinking bout this game coming up!" Oh, and the man dealing with this mutiny is acting head coach Adrian Dantley, who called out Anthony for his nine turnovers despite a 39-point performance in Denver's Game 4 loss.” Dantley is filling in for George Karl, who is still at home recovering from treatment and surgery for throat cancer. Without their regular leader and with teammates arguing on the bench and making snide, veiled remarks about one another in Tweets and press conferences, the Nuggets don’t exactly appear to be poised and ready to win Game 5, do they? But Anthony insists that all is well and that no one is angry at any teammates. "The locker room is fine," Anthony said. "We had a great practice today. Everybody seemed to be on the same page as of right now. And tomorrow, we're going to go out there and battle." You had better be ready for battle because there is no way you are going to win three straight games and rally to win this series unless all of you loose cannons are on the same page………….
- We all pass them on a near-daily basis. They are on street corners, at the top of freeway exit ramps and along the sidewalks in cities around the country. However, most of us never give a second thought to homeless people we encounter and their plight. Maybe encountering them makes you feel uncomfortable, guilty or just plan indifferent, but taking even a moment to consider their struggles would change the way you view them. That’s the idea behind a very unique idea from Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a non-profit organization in Austin, Tex. that launched a billboard campaign along I-35 in south Austin Tuesday. The idea behind the campaign is to get people to think about the homeless and at first glance, the billboard seems much like any other billboard. But look closer and you’ll see that this particular billboard is unique because it doubles as a temporary home for a man named Danny Silver, who is a great spokesman for Mobile Loaves & Fishes because he is homeless. He explained that he receives a wide range of reactions from people who encounter him on the street, ranging from indifference to those who offer him money, food or even a place to stay. “There are some really great people here in Austin,” he recalled. Then there are those that spit at him, shout obscenities or tell him to get a job. “When you first become homeless it hits you pretty hard,” he said. If those words don’t break your heart, I don’t know what to tell you other than there is something wrong with that heart. Hearing Silver feel compelled to say, “I'm not a bad person just because I'm homeless. It’s just embarrassing,” that’s just a huge eye-opener. This is a former construction worker who’s had a difficult time finding work because of the time he spends taking care of his wife Maggie, who is wheelchair-bound. “She’s in a wheelchair. I can’t just leave her out in the woods and go out and get a job,” he said. So really, there is no better spokesman for Mobile Loaves & Fishes than Silver and if he is able to raise the visibility of Austin’s homeless population and hopefully raise some money for Mobile Loaves & Fishes by taking up residence on that billboard as part of the “I am Here” campaign, so much the better. Too often, people ignore those in need and perhaps by putting the problem literally on a billboard, the issue will be elevated in the public consciousness. The goal of the campaign is to get Danny off the billboard and place he and Maggie in their own home. To accomplish this goal, the members of the public can make an instant $10 donation that will provide Danny and others like him with a home through MLF’s Habitat on Wheels program by texting “Danny” to 20222. And anytime you text “MLF” to 20222, you donate $5 to support MLF’s catering trucks that provide much-needed food and clothing for the homeless every night in six cities around the U.S. With 1,200 of the $10 texts to MLF, the organization will be able to provide Danny and Maggie with a home and officials for MLF are hoping to go above and beyond that goal. Silver is happy to be a part of the solution instead of the problem and hopes that his presence on the billboard will make drivers realize there is a story behind each homeless person and not all of them choose to live under bridges or in boxes or tents. “You never know you may be one paycheck away from being on the street yourself depending on what might happen to you," he said. Oh, and props to Reagan Outdoor Advertising for donating the billboard, which it will remain up for a while. Whether you live in the Austin area or not, do your part to step up and help someone who clearly needs it……………
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