From Pine View Farm

Geek Stuff category archive

Like, You Know, Facebook Frolics 0

Like, like, dude.

Hitting the “Like” button on Facebook is an element of free speech protected by the U.S. constitution, a federal court ruled Wednesday, in a case closely watched by employment lawyers.

The U.S. Court of Appeals based in Richmond, Virginia, made the judgment in the case of a Virginia sheriff’s department worker who claimed he was fired for exercising his free speech rights — in this case “liking” a political opponent of his boss.

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Facebook Frolics 0

Breaking Bad News.

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Twits on Twitter 0

The Ascent:  Monkey to ape to caveman to modern man to texter falling off cliff.


Click for a larger image.

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Facebook Frolics 0

Using Facebook to find stolen bicycles.

I know that I would be most upset if my bike disappeared. Not just because it’s my bike, but because it came from the Urban Bike Project to which Second Son introduced me and because it’s old, like me, and still functions, like me.

But mostly because it’s fun to ride.

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Facebook Frolics 0

Facebook is mucking with its “privacy” (c’est rire) policy once again in its continuing effort to parade you naked through the internets.

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The Next Next Big Thing 0

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Filtering the Internet 0

Thom reports on Verizon’s attempt to ration your internet so they can collect money on both ends.

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Digital Divides 0

Right here in River City.

Well, just down the road a piece:

But residents of Land of Promise Road, a rural enclave less than a mile from Fentress Naval Auxiliary Landing Field, say they are being left behind in an era of near-instant communication.

Unable to get high-speed Internet or cable TV or reliable phone service, about a dozen residents have banded together to press local communications companies and the city government to come to their aid.

Cox Cable and Verizon say it’s outside their service areas.

More properly, it’s inside their service areas, completely surrounded by folks with access to home broadband, an island of dialup in a sea of speed.

It’s been almost a decade since I used dial-up. I have no idea how long it would take to have one of today’s heavy, graphics intensive, script-laden web pages full of embedded video to load over a 28.8 modem. Days, I imagine. Long enough that, when residents of Land of Fortune Road need to use the internet to do such things as, say, fill out college applications or check their course assignments, it’s easier for them to drive to Starbucks than wait for the download.

At the rate my cable and phone bills go up annually with no improvement of service (which is, I must say to be fair, pretty reliable), one would think a bit of them could be used to lay some cable for Land of Fortune’s unfortunates.

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Twits on Twitter 0

Execrable twits.

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Dulcet Tones 0

In which I bake honey wheat bread.

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Facebook Frolics, Expropriation Dept. 0

What’s yours is theirs.

Facebook is proposing new changes to its policies that will allow Facebook to use your name, profile photo and content in ads without compensation.

The proposed update is set to go into effect in about a week, in September.

A judge mandated the clarifying language as part of Facebook’s recent $20 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought on by users who said Facebook was using people’s information and images for advertising without consent or compensation. Some of those users were under 18.

Details at the link.

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Facebook Frolics, None So Blind Dept. 3

At the end, she asks for twits.

Remember, the “user” is not the customer; he or she is the product.

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Facebook Frolics 0

Status update: Charged.

An 18-year-old is facing a slew of charges for allegedly stabbing a family dog and his pregnant teenage girlfriend — and authorities plan to use his Facebook account as evidence, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

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Intermission: A Moment of Linux Goodness 0

Desktop Screenshot


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E17 on Slackware –Current with real time Conky status and weather updates and Konsole open to the Conky weather script. Weather script courtesy of Raging Penguin.

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Spywear 0

You will be assimilated.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is arming some of its officers with tiny cameras that can be pinned right onto their uniforms or their sunglasses.

CMPD says the cameras are better than traditional dashboard cameras because they can go where the officer goes.

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Reverse Midas 0

Everyone who has been following Windows 8 saw this coming.

Pretty much everything Ballmer has touched from the Windows phone on has failed miserably, not just as technology, but as a commodity on the marketplace.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who succeeded founder Bill Gates as CEO, will retire within the next 12 months.

The world’s biggest software company did not name a successor.

Microsoft Corp.’s stock shot up 9 percent in premarket trading following the news.

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Dulcet Tones 0

In which I talk to my LUG about HPR.

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Tumblr Tomfoolery 0

Loose lips sink ships get student banned from social media for five years.

That should work out well.

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Twits on Twitter 0

Shrink-wrapped twits.

As far as I am concerned, any good that Oprah Winfrey has done is outweighed by her unleashing Dr. Phil on an unsuspecting world.

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Facebook Frolics 0

Another guy gets zucked.

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