I know, I know…I am constantly creating appetizers, meals, cocktails, and patisserie using fresh, simple ingredients – BUT, I’m talking about an environment here at this revamped McDonald’s - not food quality.
The McDonald’s on 6th Ave between 14th & 15th streets in Manhattan (Chelsea) is really wonderful!
From the outside, it looks like your average, everyday McDonald’s. But inside, it’s like a trendy Tech-Cafe with no hints of the usual red, orange, and yellow decor. The counters are dimly lit and there are sculptural walls defining certain areas.
It’s like a McDonald’s for grown-ups or a McDonald’s for Today’s Modern Kid. They don’t want Happy Meals (like we use too), they want to plug in their iPods & MacBooks – and here, they can do that while watching cool music videos and movie promos on various HD Flat Screen TVs. There isn’t a “Golden Arch” to be found anywhere inside…not even on the trash receptacles.
The staff wear black (did I just say “staff”?) and they are VERY polite. The bathrooms are also outfitted with a black tile and it looks so modern and smells very clean (a HUGE plus in my book.) The urinals even have a soft spot-light on them, giving them a museum like quality (urinals as “art” if you would) - in a McDonald’s bathroom, could you believe it?
The Laptop Stations at this McDonald’s are sleek and are often filled with teens, students, and business people. They just plug in and and do what they do (there’s free wifi…and by the way, you have to pay nowadays at Starbuck’s for internet connection.) I’ve also seen students doing their homework there (sometimes, I’ll see parents picking their kids up, using the space as a meeting place) and some business owners have been known to hold meetings at the community tables. University sports-teams eat and hang out there too.
You can find me in the lounge-style seating area 4 to 5 times a month, working on “H. Luiz Presents…” or meeting some social-networking colleagues. The chairs are upholstered and so comfortable, the tables are a nice round size (they can fit 2 laptops, 2 mobile phones, 2 blackberrys, open books, plus the food. I like to sit in “this” area, usually by myself with my iPod Touch or even my laptop. I have also witnessed interviews taking place in the same area.
It’s a new look and great place for a young date, socializing with friends, a meeting place, or even a business mini-office where you can hold staff meetings or get a team of creative folks to work on projects.
Now don’t get me wrong. It’s still the same crappy food, filled with who knows what and I don’t really want to promote that aspect of it (although I do LOVE their Sweet Tea.) In a pinch, my family purchases pancakes from the McDonald’s near our home on the weekends when I need to sleep in (can’t they cook me breakfast? Ha!) We like their McCafe coffees too. Of course, our son Jonathan loves their fries (he’s 17.) The McDonald’s near our home has a new “look” too, but it’s more of an updated, sleek look, rather than the lounge look of this one in Chelsea.
Thank goodness that this location in NYC (6th Ave between 14 & 15th streets) is near my health club (work out then eat crappy food? Hmmmmmm.) Right on the corner, I can catch the PATH train home. I can pop in there if an idea hits me for the site, type a few things in, check my emails, drink my Sweet Tea, and update my FaceBook page and Twitter.
Once, when the PATH was delayed (I do believe in email PATHalerts), I popped in this McDonald’s and ”Skyped” with a friend in Australia (we were talking about Serena Williams’ win at the Australian Open…he was actually there in the arena at the Final!) I then received another PATHalert (25 minutes later) stating that the trains were running fine again – I left for home. You see, instead of being stuck in the train station (trapped with hundreds of strangers in a small, confined space) for 25 minutes, I was able to see/hear/communicate with a friend from the “Down Under” and talk about our favorite female athlete. Can you do that at YOUR McDonald’s?? Ha!!
I am NOT a big football fan. I haven’t watched football (besides the super bowl(s) with my son) since I was a kid living in Bayonne. Even back then it was sporadic. I rather play sports than watch them on TV. I was that one kid that would be bored and ask, “You guys want to actually play a game?” They would always look at me in shock.
I am also not crazy about the Super Bowl, never have been really. As I teen, I saw my share of underage drinking, fighting, and teenage heart-break (yes, an immature teenage boy will break up with his girlfriend to watch the Super Bowl…yes, an immature teenage girl will break up with her boyfriend if he chooses to watch the game instead of being with her.)
As I grew older, my feelings about the Super Bowl did not improve. I saw more drinking (or should I say drunkenness?) and my friends use to like to watch the game in sports bars. I hate the smell of sports bars (sweat and and the smell of beer is NOT a good mix.) There was always a fight (or two) a night and the disgusting bar food was always overpriced (although I must admit, that the Big Apple Sports Bar had a great bar pizza.) I’m also not fond of beer (but I always felt that I had to drink at least one and pretend to like it to fit in with the fellas.) I never understood why women came to Sports Bars during the Super Bowl anyway. Nothing exists on Super Bowl Sunday except football, no matter how those girls will look. (However, I use to be that guy that “hooked up” with some of the girls…I was the only one paying attention to them.) When men brought their wives was also a strange thing for me to see at these Sports Bars on Super Bowl Sunday. SHE could nag him and HE could ignore her at home for free (why did we all have to witness it??) I remember this good friend of mine, who broke up with his girlfriend because she was actually into football (her dad played college ball back in his day and had no sons.) I thought the fact that she knew all about football was “HOT” but he said, “Football’s MY thing, I can’t share that with her…she’s a girl!” The male ego – so easily fractured.
These days, the Super Bowl’s not so bad, it’s the “experience” that I like. It’s not the actual game, but it’s my son, it’s the food, it’s the time “spent” together during the super bowl that I enjoy most. We cover the furniture with large sheets (boys are rowdy and messy, especially during a good game) and we have all kinds of good eats.
Last time we had potato skins (topped with garlic,bacon, cheese, and chives), spicy wingettes (coated with my sweet & savory BBQ sauce), Guacamole salsa (served with home-made toasted corn-tortilla chips), fried ravioli stuffed w/ four cheeses and a spicy marinara dipping sauce, garlic infused hummus alongside fresh celery & carrot sticks, mini cheesburgers (my meatballs really) served w/ a tomato chutney on mini-biscuits, old-fashion beverages (Stewart’s) cream, root-beer, orange n’ cream (soda’s a treat on our home), and for dessert – orange pound cake topped with a marshmallow citrus glaze.
Now, you would think that we had a massive Super Bowl party with at least 20 people right? Wrong…it was just us 3. My son wanted a Super Bowl party…and we had one. We even took 2 super-bowl posters and made one 3-D poster that still hangs in his room. Yes, we ate, we cheered, we ate, we drank, we ate, we celebrated, then we ate some more. Thank goodness I put sheets on the couches – they were filled with crumbs and sauces, smudges and spills.
This Sunday – February 7th, 2010 – is Super Bowl XLIV (New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts.) Am I excited? NO, but I’m excited about having a Super Bowl Party…with my son!
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago at 11:37 pm. 2 comments
I just watched the Big O (a DVR’d episode) where 71% of people between the ages of 18-49 admitted that they text on the phone when they drive – WHAT????
Is this true?? Please tell me it’s not! If it is true, please knock it off…it can save lives (even your own.) Nearly 500,000 people are injured and 6,000 are killed each year because drivers are talking, texting and e-mailing behind the wheel…each year!
Sometimes, (not often, but sometimes) I do have conversations on my mobile phone while driving. This is also known as “distracted driving” and it leads to accidents and deaths and I WILL stop! I use to think, “I’m a great multi-tasker, I can handle driving a 2,945-pound car plus carry a conversation on my phone, right?” – DEAD WRONG!
In 2008, two days before Thanksgiving, a little 9-year-old girl named Erica was 15 bike pedals away from her home (about 30 seconds) when a 5,000-pound SUV hit little Erica – head on!! Police say that the driver had recently finished a phone call at the time of the accident. The driver stated that she was sorry and that she didn’t see the young child on her bike because she was on the phone. Little Erica died.
Now, I’m hearing that people TEXT while driving? I’m so naive! I have never seen anyone do that before (maybe it was one of those times that I was talking on the phone and never noticed.) I gather if I think/thought that I could “talk and drive” why wouldn’t people think they could “text and drive,” especially when there’s texting all around our everyday lives.
Do you remember back in September 2008, a Los Angeles commuter train conductor missed a red light while sending and receiving more than 40 text messages? Well, he and 24 others were killed (135 seriously injured) when the packed passenger train collided head-on with a freight train. It was the second worst commuter train crash in U.S. history.
Weeks later, a school bus carrying 21 students was rear-ended by an 18-wheel semi truck. The bus was pushed more than 200 feet before bursting into flames. Twenty students escaped, but 13-year-old Margay Schee was killed. The truck driver admitted he had been texting and hadn’t seen that the bus was stopped.
We think we can do this, but we cannot. We are not perceptually programmed to take-in information that we “see” when driving while carrying conversations on the phone (even with a blue tooth or other hands free device.) Our perceptions are twice as deluded when we text and drive (I mean, you’re reading a small screen instead of watching the road…what the hell is that?)
Here are some facts: Driving while talking on a mobile phone makes you 4 times as likely to be in an accident. Driving while “texting” makes you 8 times as likely to be in an auto accident (the equivalent of having FOUR drinks of alcohol.)
In an unprecedented act of love and support, all major networks and all top broadcasting corporations (including Viacom and all of its networks such as MTV, VH1, and Epix) has donated 2 prime time hours of commercial-free broadcasts in efforts to raise much-needed funds and relief for HAITI.
Singers & Entertainers performed and Actors, Directors, & Producers took phone calls, donating their time in the process to help HAITI. We were impressed that they were all glammed-down, demonstrating that it was NOT about them…I loved each one all the more.
My family and I had the pleasure of speaking with our favorite new rising star, Gabourey Sidibe!!! She is exactly as I have pictured her to be – down to Earth, humble, sweet, and oh-so-real. (She told me I lived in “Dirty Jersey” jajajaja.) I told her about H. Luiz Presents (and how I covered her performance in PRECIOUS!) Gaby (here I go!) mentioned that she’s going to check it out. Speaking with Gabourey was a very delightful surprise for the whole family.
Republican Scott Brown won yesterday’s (Jan. 19, 2010) Massachusetts election for Senator (The seat left by “the Liberal Lion” Ted Kennedy due to his death last Aug ‘09) beating out Democratic hopeful (and State Attorney General) Martha Coakley in a huge upset.
Someone recently asked me, “So what, I live in Jersey! How does this affect me?
I laughed only because this particular individual has lost a great-paying job and can no longer afford health insurance. This individual is also far from ignorant, but was too distraught (over a life-changing career loss) to make the connections. So, I tried to help cross the t’s and dot the i’s…
You see, Brown affects the Senate majority. Until yesterday, there were 60 Democrats and 40 Republicans in the Senate. Sixty (60) “seats” are needed to overcome GOP filibusters (a filibuster is defined as an obstructionin a “decision-making” body whereby one attempts to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a proposal by extending a debate on that proposal.) 60 votes are needed in a caucus in order to pass “Bills.” Now 41 Republicans occupy the Senate (leaving 59 Dems), and the loss of that one seat now imperils generating support for “Health Care Reform.”
No Republican had won a U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts since 1972, and Democrats control the governorship, both houses of the state legislature, and the state’s entire congressional delegation.
Obama called Brown and Coakley on Tuesday night, and a White House statement said the president “told Sen. Brown that he looks forward to working with him on the urgent economic challenges facing Massachusetts families and struggling families across our nation.”
Massachusetts Secretary of State Bill Galvin said last week that certifying Tuesday’s election results could take more than two weeks – potentially enough time to allow congressional Democrats to pass a final health care bill before Brown is seated. (How very unlikely!! Even if House and Senate Democrats could reach a deal to meld their bills and pass them in the next couple of weeks, there would be a huge outcry from not only Republicans, but also an increasingly distrustful public if they appeared to be rushing it through.)
The Coakley campaign held an afternoon news conference Tuesday to complain that many voters in three different places received ballots already marked for Brown – What the Hell?? (They have now confirmed that the secretary of state’s offices received two reports of voters saying they received pre-marked ballots, but they were invalidated and the voters received new ballots.)
Kevin Conroy, the Coakley campaign manager, said the “disturbing incidents” raised questions about the integrity of the election. In response, the Brown campaign issued a statement criticizing Coakley’s team. “Reports that the Coakley campaign is making reckless accusations regarding the integrity of today’s election is a reminder that they are a desperate campaign,” Daniel B. Winslow, the counsel for the Brown campaign, said in the statement.
Vicki Kennedy, the late senator’s widow, called on state Democrats to turn out to save her husband’s legacy. “We need your help. We need your support. We need you to get out there and vote on Tuesday. “We need you to bring your neighbors. We need you to bring your friends.”
The first thing Brown says he’s going to do is oppose Obama’s health care effort.
“People do not want a trillion dollar health-care plan that is being forced on the American people!” – Scott Brown
Facing the possibility of Coakley’s defeat, Democrats were trying to figure out whether they could pass a health care overhaul without that crucial 60th Senate vote. But top White House aides publicly insisted they were not engaging in any talk of contingency plans because they thought Coakly would win. (Did we get complacent?)
Well, some Democratic sources in close contact with the White House (told CNN on Monday) said that they’d urged the administration, in the event of a Brown victory, to push House Democrats to pass the Senate’s health care bill as currently written. Doing so would prevent the plan from having to be taken up by the Senate again. (That could work!)
But to do that Democrats would have to use a process known as reconciliation, which presents technical and procedural issues that would delay the process for a long time. A number of Democrats are eager to put the health care debate behind them and move on to economic issues such as job creation as soon as possible this election year.
Senate Democrats could also try again to get moderate GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine to vote for a compromise health reform plan. (Multiple Democratic sources, however, have said they think that is unlikely now.)
Below is Scott Brown’s speech…
So, this is how a New Republican Senator in Massachusetts affects someone (who definitely needs health insurance) in New Jersey, New York, Florida, California, Texas, Connecticut, Illinois, …
Hope this helps!!
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago at 12:00 pm. 2 comments
You can donate to the Red Cross www.redcross.orgor another legitimate organization helping Haiti.
Offering prayer is a wonderful thing or ask your Church (or Mosque, or Temple, or etc,) to gather donations for Haiti.
Some friends donated their time by participating in “call centers”…they speak the Haitian language.
Other friends who said they could not afford to give, re-evaluated their own situation and gave up 3 lattes or 5 cups of coffee (the equivalent to $10) to give UNICEFhttp://www.unicef.ca/portal/SmartDefault.aspx what they would normally spend on themselves in a week.
My son’s high school (and many, many other schools) asked students to give donations.
Musician Wyclef Jean has used Twitter to rally web users to contribute to his grassroots Yele Haiti earthquake fund. He’s urged his followers to text “Yele” to the number 501501. If you send the text, the organization will receive $5. The amount will be added to your next cell phone bill. Consider retweeting Wyclef’s updates and get some of your Twitter followers to donate, too.
This is the ONLY “text-a-donation” that H. Luiz Presents endorses: You can text “HAITI” to 90999to donate $10 via the Red Cross. There are a lot of scams out there with slight number changes like 90909 or 990990 – be careful!
Companies with hundreds of employees can setup a “check system” where each employee can donate at least $1 directly from their paychecks. My Partner’s very large corporation has donated over $500,000.00 to date via this system (they have literally thousands of employees in NYC alone.) This parent company is also matching dollar for dollar what the Red Cross is receiving as a personal donation. WOW!!
What is the HLP Network!?? In short, it is an internet community, a way for subscribers to really get to know each-other beyond Post Comments. You may find members who share your common interests, same tastes in music perhaps, or possibly the same passion for cooking. Let me give you an example on how this free “community” may benefit you: Say you read a POST about a specific book on www.hluizpresents.com , you’ll be able to “see” who else in the HLP Network!“shares” that same interest. You’ll chat, talk, maybe exchange email addresses, maybe even “Friend” each-other on FaceBook(we WILL use “Facebook Connect.”) From there – you could suggest or start a Book Club for all your new friends or even start a Book Swap…the possibilities to connect with others are endless.
Stribe is the technological force that will enable “H. Luiz Presents” to have its own community (the HLP Network!) directly embedded within the site. Think: A lighter version of FaceBookwithout all the privacy issues and changing policies. It will also allow me to get to know you better and “see” what topics you’d like to see more of or which issues you like to see discussed at H. Luiz Presents.
Founded in March 2008 by Kamel Zeroual, Gaël Delalleau and Demba Diallo, Stribe already enjoys the support of Oséo Innovation, Télécom ParisTech and was the winner of the Scientipôle Initiative Award.
The Award Winning Stribe will create a branded and customized social network for www.hluizpresents.com and will LAUNCH on Monday, January 18, 2009.
Thanks to STRIBE, this social service will allow H. Luiz Presents Subscribers to interact with all members from any page of the website. There will be a “social bar” at the bottom of each page with different shortcuts to comment, chat and meet people on the HLP Network!plus other communities when you log in (again, we will enable “Facebook Connect” or you’ll setup your own personal passwords.)
Thank you for all of your support and I’m honored that Stribe would choose my little website to test this new special product to give readers a more personal setting to interact and relate.
I have always said that people “sharing ideas” together is what H. Luiz Presents is all about. Now, let’s take that lifestyle to a whole new level.
If you haven’t yet: Subscribe first via your email address (located under the “ABOUT”slide tab at the upper left-side of the screen) and retrieve my email confirmation (very important!!) Then, interact with my blog as you usually do. Afterwards, click on the login symbol on the “social bar” located at the bottom/footer of the website to interact with the HLP Network! YES, it’s 100% FREE to be part of this special, innovative community!!!!
THE FIRST 50 SUBSCRIBERS THAT JOIN the HLP Network! WILL RECEIVE A SPECIAL INVITATION TO BE “GUESTS” OF THE FIRST EVER “LIVE” PODCAST ON “H. Luiz Presents…Radio” TO DISCUSS YOUR EXPERIENCE OF “the HLP Network!”
I found out that “Julie Spears” is the name of the individual who placed an order of 20lbs of cookies at H. Luiz Presents!
I was in the process of sending her an email, to let her know, that although I am flattered by her request, H. Luiz Presents is NOT a “Cookies by Mail Order” site. But then I noticed that she left her telephone number at the bottom of her email signature.
Should I? Why the hell not…
BRRRRRIIINNGGGGGGG -
“Hello, thank you for calling _______________, this is Julie Spears speaking, how can I be of service today?”
“Hi July Spears. This is H. Luiz. I’ve received your order for 10 lbs. of biscotti and 10 lbs. of macaroons, but I am not in the business of–”
“Oh, Thank you for calling me back. I couldn’t find your order form and that’s why I emailed you instead. How fast is your delivery service, because I really need these gifts for–”
“Wait a second Miss Spears. I don’t think you understand. I am not–”
“Please tell me that you can deliver by week’s end? I need to have my order rushed so that I could–”
“Sorry to interrupt you again, Miss Spears, but I am NOT an Internet Cookie Company…I believe there’s some confusion.”
THEN LINE WENT DEAD—————————————
So, I called back…BRIIINNGGGGGGGGGGGGG – BRIIINGGG
“Hello, thank you for calling _______________, this is Julie speaking, how may I help you?”
“Miss Spears – please don’t hang up. This is H. Luiz again and I want to speak to you about this cookie confusion.” (I tried to be cute.)
“Is this one of those scam sites! Thank God I never gave you my credit card!”
“Miss Spears…I don’t know how this happened, but let’s remember ‘you contacted me’ for some cookies.”
“Yes, but you’re saying that you don’t do that and so now I’m confused. I did a search for: biscotti, macaroons, gifts and presents. Then I saw your site – H. Luiz Presents. You had biscotti and macaroons all wrapped together so nicely and it even said that you make these for the Holidays, and so I was hoping I was still able to place an order.”
“Miss Spears, it’s not ‘presents’… it’s H. Luiz Presents. The biscotti, macaroons, and the other cookies I bake are for my family members…I make them during the Winter Holidays and give them as presents.”
Then she erupted,“Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!”
“Miss Spears?”
“Hahahaha haha hahaha ha hahahaha hahahahahaha”
“Miss Spears?
“Hahahaha…I’m sorry…hahahaha…sorry, sorry haha…I see what I did now. I am truly sorry hahahaha.”
“That’s okay Miss Spears. I just wanted to call you back so that you would have enough time to place your order to an actual cookies-by-mail company. Will you have enough time?”
“Nooo hahaha ha haha no-no-no hahahahha no-no…this story is far better than any cookie I can buy…hahahaha it’s priceless.”
“Well, I’m glad we can laugh about it now. You take care, Miss Spears.”
“Please, please call me Julieeeeeeeeeeee hahahahahahahaha–”
AND THE LINE WENT DEAD AGAIN——————————————
She must be in her 60’s. By the time she realized what has happened, she couldn’t stop laughing at herself. Miss Spears laughed from deep within, one of those deep in your soul kind of laughs, like I knew she was wiping away tears, trying to hold her water, and losing her breath through her fits of laughter. It was not nearly as funny for me, but hearing her laugh was just so endearing.
Hey, I didn’t make her biscotti nor did I bake her macaroons, but at least I brought some JOY into her life…she made my day too! Who knows, maybe I will send her some cookies by mail…her work address is at the bottom of her signature as well.
Somebody placed an ORDER for 10lbs of my home-made biscotti (packed with dried cherries, pistachios, lemon zest, and almonds) as well as 10 lbs of my coconut macaroons.
“I got a complicated order!”
But I am NOT in the Cookie/Order by Mail business nor do I plan to be – so, it’s a little complicated. It does make me laugh though!!! Obviously, someone was telling somebody else about my cookies, mentioned my site, and this individual thought I was in “business.” I do not have the time to make 20lbs of biscotti and coconut macaroons, but if I did…what would I charge? How would I ship them? How would I charge them (not a Credit Card Merchant) and what happens if someone claims my baked goods made them sick…would I need insurance?
Is this how Cookie Corps start?? jajajajajajajajaja!
I have a few friends in the pastry business (Victor of Lulu Cake Boutique http://everythinglulu.com or Wayne from Billy’s Bakery http://www.billysbakerynyc.com) maybe I should ask them about it, right? Then again, I’m really not interested (at this point in time) to invest in something like this. Maybe I can sell the recipe(s) to them - although they already make their own slammin’ macaroons and biscotti cookies and they SPECIALIZE in out-of-this-world cakes!!
I would forward this email order to my pastry friends, but they do not deliver cookies by mail…I don’t even know if 20 lbs of cookies is even lucrative enough to waste their time.
These days, you can get a great tasting cookie (or a pound or 2, or 3 or 4, or more) in wonderful bakeries, patisseries, and gourmet shops, so an internet/ mail-order cookie business seems so passe…or is it? I don’t know.
So, to the sender of the email order: I don’t know if this was legit or something “funny” to do (maybe it’s someone I know making fun of me and my cookies jajajajajaja) but I am not in the cookie business. However, I am pleased that someone thought my cookies were “worth” ordering – so thank you for that.
If you are near Scarsdale, please stop in at “LuLu Cake Boutique” or if you are in the Chelsea area of Manhattan, please stop by “Billy’s Bakery.” Their email addresses are listed above…tell them H. Luiz sent you!! (smile)
That FaceBook’s new privacy settings are actually LESS private than ever?
I had a conversation that lasted about 3 days with some FB execs, because I was concerned about how my “identity” could be used in relationship to ALL my friends, non-friends, and marketers (H. Luiz Presents gets like 200 spam hits a week.) I noticed that if someone was savvy enough, they can get a lot of MY information on FaceBook, just by having my email address (how many of you have your full names as your email addresses, i.e. johndoe@yahoo.com, janedoe@hotmail.com??)
Just last month In December of 2009, FaceBook changed its privacy settings so that certain information CAN’T be made private (one’s name, current city, profile picture, gender, networks and friend list) but it was NOT marketed to us that way. It was marketed as “more” privacy settings for FaceBook Users. We thought that it was making “privacy” a priority…well, it’s not. It’s making it easier to give out your info.
FaceBook has even admitted that “Anyone with your e-mail address can harvest your information.”
That’s unacceptable, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Kevin Bankston, who says that’s not the FaceBook people signed up for. “Just because FaceBook USERS want to share personal info with their friends does not mean they want to share it with any other parties on the Internet,”Bankston said, “but that is exactly what FaceBook is forcing its users to do.” Some say it’s even illegal.
Let me break it down: It is true that with the new privacy settings, users can shut off being found by their name by changing who can find them on FaceBook or by web searches, however, even if you restrict as much as you can, if an outsider knows your e-mail address, they can find the rest of your profile information that FaceBook now designates as PUBLIC (your name, profile picture, current city, networks and pages you are a fan of) and that’s according to FaceBook
What does this mean? You have to know the identities of the people you do NOT want to share your info with but how many STRANGERS (and potential hackers, marketers, etc.) do we actually know? There’s at least 4 thousand people (that I know of) who have my email address, but do I KNOW them all – HELL NO! If I want to keep my FaceBook profile “private” from these 4 thousand people, I have to place the names of these thousands of people on my FaceBook privacy/blocked access list…and that’s for the people that I know that have my email address. How about the people I don’t know who can get my email address?
“If someone knows your e-mail address, they can find you even if you’ve restricted search privacy,”FaceBook spokesman Andrew Noyes said. “But FaceBook works to catch rogue marketers and sets a limit on the number of e-mail addresses that can be run through its system.” Then he went on to say that “We’ve developed several systems to detect and block malicious use of the Friend Finder. For example, we don’t allow users to upload contact lists past a certain size. We also block users who upload contacts at an anomalous rate.”
YOU SHOULD ALSO KNOW that the reason I delete anything FRIENDS send me like Cute Baby Turtles, Pink Pillows, Cupcakes, Farmville Pets, etc. is because these applications are not only a breeding ground to pass on viruses, but it also exposes information to Third Party FaceBook Affiliates. If a stranger calls you on the phone or stops you on the street and tells you to take a quiz, wouldn’t you know that it’s a marketing ploy to get them to know what products they should be trying to sell you? Well, that’s what all these games, quizes, baby animals, farmville, and “gifts” are – wrapped up as cute little applications. Then you send your friends these quizzes and “gifts” and now they’ll be targeted for marketing purposes.
WHY IS FACEBOOK DOING THIS…well, FaceBook is pushing its users to share information in an attempt to keep TWITTER from eclipsing the site as the center of the net’s online conversations. The site hopes getting users to publish more publicly will make it the place people turn when they need to find recommendations, a function currently dominated (with great profit) by Google.
USE CAUTION!! I am not a whistle-blower but I do see it as my responsibility to share what I know. If you see that my PROFILE has been deleted on FaceBook, then at least you’ll know why.
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago at 6:38 pm. 16 comments
