"Facebook says, 'Privacy is theft,' because they're selling your lack of privacy to the advertisers who might show up one day." - Jaron Lanier
Well, the articles that will make one really want to start thinking about deleting their Facebook account are coming hard and fast. This time, a married woman finds out her husband has another wife through Facebook!
The same thing happened in the sixties! Just that word got out a different way.
TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Facebook's automatic efforts to connect user through "friends" they may know recently led two Washington women to find out they were married to the same man, at the same time.
That led to the man, corrections officer Alan L. O'Neill, being slapped with bigamy charges.
According to charging documents filed Thursday, O'Neill married a woman in 2001, moved out in 2009, changed his name and remarried without divorcing her. The first wife first noticed O'Neill had moved on to another woman when Facebook suggested the friendship connection to wife No. 2 under the "People You May Know" feature.
"Wife No. 1 went to wife No. 2's page and saw a picture of her and her husband with a wedding cake," said Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist told The Associated Press.
If that were my spouse? Why, yes! I would politely inquire what this was all about!
Wife No. 1 then called the defendant's mother.
"An hour later the defendant arrived at (Wife No. 1's) apartment, and she asked him several times if they were divorced," court records show. "The defendant said, 'No, we are still married.'"
Neither O'Neill nor his first wife had filed for divorce, according to charging documents. The name change came in December, and later that month he married his second wife.
O'Neill allegedly told Wife No. 1 not to tell anybody about his dual marriages, that he would fix it, the documents state. But wife No. 1 alerted authorities.
"Facebook is now some place where people discover things about each other that end up reporting that to law enforcement," Lindquist said.
O'Neill, 41, was previously known at Alan Fulk. He has worked as a Pierce County corrections officer for five years, sheriff's spokesman Ed Troyer said. He was placed on administrative leave after prosecutors charged him Thursday. He could face up to a year in jail if convicted.
His name is Alan Fulk? Well, I guess he Fulked up! Yuk! Yuk! Yuk!
Junior high school grade jokes aside, I think one year in jail is far too severe. This guy obviously has some sort of mental problem as one has to wonder, "Why in the world would he want two wives? Isn't one enough trouble as it is?" As Jerry Lee Lewis would counter: "Well, since I wasn't really married to my first wife then I didn't need a divorce!" Or some sort of twisted logic like that...
Seriously, I predict that something is going to come along that is like Facebook excepting it is more protective of your privacy (a friend recommended "Anonymousbook") and also really confines who your "friends" can be.
I see some really bad promotions and marketing all of the time. They make me want to pull my hair out. Spending money on promotions is great, but if you run a company and your folks aren't going to go out and spend the effort, elbow grease, sweat and time to make the promotions a success, you shouldn't do those promotions... Or you need to find someone who will spend the effort.
I think the biggest mistake of promotions, and you won't find a company executive who disagrees with me, is thinking that throwing money at a promotion will make it good. Even though you won't find a company executive who doesn't agree with me, you'll find one heck of a lot of them who are guilty of doing this very thing or, at the least, allowing it.
I see it all the time.
Frankly speaking, if you are not going to do a promotion right, then don't do it at all. Little things are what really make or break a promotion to potential customers; to me, to you. Far too many company executives look at a promotion purely from their point of view and fail to see it from the other side.
Need proof that little things make a BIG difference? Here's one that everyone has seen: When you see a clock in public and the clock is broken do you think well of that clock makers merchandise? No. No one does. Of course.
How much more basic can you get than that example?
It takes a licking but keeps on ticking
Here's a few other examples that I can give you of promotions I saw recently with my own eyes that were absolute disasters.
I recall a time at a very famous record company when they were preparing the release of the CD of a new artist. The artist management was demanding (as they should) all sorts of promotion and cooperation from the label.
The label promised this and that. The one item I clearly remember was the label boss bragging to the artist's agent that they were going to go all out and print the most in-store flyers they'd printed in years to push this one artist. A few months later, when sales didn't materialize, I was visiting the record label. There I saw, under the desk of the promotions manager, stacks and stacks of unused flyers for that artist stored under his desk. There must have been 50,000 flyers there. This was two months after release.
So they spent a lot of money on the promotion but the people were too lazy to get off their rears and hit the streets and distribute those flyers. Needless to say the promotion was a flop as well as a waste of money.
That was several years ago. Last I heard was that this same guy was still in charge of promotions. Any wonder why their sales do not increase?
The guy is lazy. That's all there is to it.
Another example that made me want to pull my hair out was a promotion for a famous automobile company. It was a charity banquet at one of the top hotels in Hong Kong. There were famous politicians and movie stars there too. Besides those folks, a lot of movers and shakers in town were also in attendance.
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW
Banquet table. Can you pick out the automobile promotion?
An American automobile company was a co-sponsor for this event. On the banquet tables they put boxed automobile models of their newest car. Guess what? No one knew what was in those boxes because they didn't bother to open one and make the model for display for each table. They left the model cars in the boxes!
Now, that is inexcusable. Any good promotion will allow the potential customer to recognize instantaneously what the service or product is. That the end user has to pick up the box, look at it and think, "What is this?" is just plain embarrassing for the sponsor. How long does it take to recognize a Coca-Cola promotion? One one-hundredth of a second?
On the cluttered tables at the banquet, the cars got lost in the shuffle and few people knew what they were (I took home a dozen to give to my kid and his friends). When I was taking boxes of models, one lady (who sat next to me all night) asked me, "What are those?" I showed her and she exclaimed, "Oh? I want some for my kids too!" and she grabbed a few from the neighboring table... Why not? No one at the neighboring tables took any home. Why should they? They didn't know what they were either. (By the way, including opening of the boxes, it required the average chimpanzee about 30 seconds to assemble one of the models).
Great promotion, eh? These things are sitting on a table right in front of people and no one even knew what they were.
Just before the banquet started, I asked one of the guys from the automobile company to open the boxes so that people would know what the heck they were but he told me that he "didn't have time."
Think about that folks. The guy from the automobile company says he "didn't have time." So what he is saying is that, "I didn't have time to get my butt over here an hour or two early to get the job done right."
Hell, they could have at least tried to display the cars correctly on some of the tables. But they decided that they didn't have time to do them all so they didn't even start or make an attempt, so they didn't do any!
The guy is lazy. That's all there is to it.
In spite of what you see going on around you, folks, there are a lot of people who are observant and thinking. In both the examples above, anyone can see that this is incompetence.
Now be honest with yourselves? How do these examples reflect on the companies that ran these promotions? Good? Bad?
I think the impression is decidedly bad. It is half-a*sed and poor work. It is unacceptable.
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW
Question: What does a model car in a box look like? Answer: A box.
Think about it: If, say, an automobile company can't even handle a simple promotion at a dinner show, how am I to expect that they will make their cars or run their business? How can I confidently purchase their vehicles? I can't.
The point? If you are going to do a promotion then do it right or don't do it at all. A poorly run promotion is damaging to a company image.
Now why in the world would a company spend money on a promotion that is just going to create a bad image or hurt their brand?
CLICK ON IMAGE FOR LARGER VIEW
This is my rendition but, anyone can see, within one-twenty-fifth of a second that above the black boxes is a model car. It shouldn't be too difficult to figure that this is an automobile promotion.
I have a report that Lady Gaga has ripped off her fans who bought a "Lady Gaga wristband". The proceeds from those wristbands were to be donated to the poor folks who suffered in Japan from the March 11 earthquake and subsequent tsunami. Seems like, as of this date, no proceeds have been forthcoming.
That event brought out tons of charlatans who used other people's misery for financial gain. You'd think that someone who were as rich as Lady Gaga would make sure that the money (I'm sure it's not a lot) would get into the hands of those who really need it instead of going towards her next wardrobe prupose.
As I have written before, people like Hayden Panettiere don't really give a rat's ass about any dolphins or anything like that, they only care about fame. Just like jerks like U2's Bono who prop up charities and claim to care about poverty (yet give only 1%) or Sting with his BS about rain forests or the next Hollywood clown who makes noise about endangered monkeys, it's all just blah, blah, blah... Yadda, yadda, yadda. These people don't really give a sh*t about these things. Their "charities" and work are all promotions capitalizing on other people's misery and they constitute tax breaks.
In Hayden's case, if she really did care about the Dolphins, she'd still be talking about it... But, she doesn't. She doesn't because, you see, the advertising budget for that film is over with and, well, she does have a movie star career to attend to.
Far, far too often, these charities are just scams to evade taxes or just promotional gimmicks to make themselves look good.... But don't let my scorn for these fakes fool you. I also am a fair minded person, the Japanese Red Cross deserves heaps of criticism too.
Homeless and orphaned children in Japan after tsunami? Use their plight to rip off the public? Great idea! Cashing in on other people's misery! What an excellent marketing plan!
Well, now, we have Lady Gaga being accussed and sued in court for ripping off her fans for a charity to help the survivors of the March 11 disaster in Japan.
"Lady Gaga has been a champion for relief efforts in recovering Japan, but now the singer is facing allegations she pocketed donations that should have gone to the ravaged country.
The federal class action lawsuit alleges Gaga (real name Stefani Germonatta) jacked up the shipping costs on the "We Pray for Japan" wristbands she designed and sold on her website after the March earthquake and tsunami, keeping a portion of the money from each sale despite her promise that all proceeds would go to directly to relief efforts."
A class action lawsuit filed in the US claims that Lady Gaga failed to donate proceeds of her “relief wristband” to victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
The suit also alleges that the singer “charged buyers an excessive $3.99 for shipping within the United States, against the actual cost of only $.50 cents.”
Lady Gaga is being sued in a $5 million class action suit for allegedly scamming a Japan relief charity.
The singer said on her website that all proceeds from the sale of the “We Pray For Japan” wristbands were going to the victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
But a Michigan law firm says that’s not true.
According to the lawsuit filed by 1-800-Law-Firm, Gaga sold the bracelets for $5, plus $3.99 for shipping and handling, and 60 cents for taxes, but jacked up the price of the shipping costs in an effort to pocket the extra money.
The federal suit also claims Gaga never disclosed how much of the $5 bracelets was actually going to Japan relief, even though she included the money she allegedly pocketed as part of her claimed donation.
The lawsuit says Lady Gaga violated a number of federal racketeering laws as well as consumer protection laws from the alleged scam.
Welcome to 2012... The scams and criminal activity of Wall Street and their like continue to trickle down to the average person.
I think 2012 is going to be one wild ride. Oh, and make sure to buy Lady Gaga's records. You might as well get in on the fun of being screwed over by corporate greed.
Every year at about this time, Santa Claus visits the mothers and their children who have been diagnosed with incurable diseases. In Japanese, "incurable disease" is 難病 (Nanbyou).
The good folks at the NPO Nanbyonet (Nanbyonet.or.jp http://www.nanbyonet.or.jp/) help Santa and his helpers to visit these wonderful children and to try to brighten their day and spend some time with them and bring them happiness and Christmas cheer.
Santa tells me that he thinks that Nanbyonet.or.jp is one of, if not thee, most reputable charities in Japan. Nanbyonet.ot.jp helps to raise funds to give these children some happiness and enjoyment in their short time on this earth and to bring people closer together.
Besides Christmas events, Nanbyonet.or.jp also arranges camping for the kids, poolside and swimming events, arts and crafts, musical events and others to create enjoyment for these wonderful little people. Nanbyonet.or.jp also arranges training and support for the parents of these special needs children.
Today, Dec. 6, 2011 Santa Claus and his helpers got an early start and had the pleasure of going to Juntendo University Hospital in Tokyo, near Ochanomizu Station to visit several dozen children and their mothers in the hospital.
Santa brought presents to all and took pictures for the moms and the kids to keep forever.
Of course, Santa can't show you all the pictures with his friends and their mothers, but here are a few that you might enjoy...
Oops! This little girl was out at the moment so Santa left a present behind on the bed. Luckily for Santa, when he came back a little later on, the girl was waiting for him!
In the three wards Santa visited were about 60+ kids with varying degrees of illness. In spite of that, you probably couldn't find a more positive and happy bunch of kids and their moms anywhere else in the world! Ho! Ho! Ho!
This little girl thought Santa was scary! Maybe the yelling, "Merry Christmas" loudly in the usually quiet hospital hallways was a bit much. Next year, Santa may have to tone it down a bit in front of the very little tykes! But no! Santa is sure these kids are all going to get better and I will see them next year too.... ... Happy and healthy at their homes!
All the children Santa met were wonderful and loving, special children. One little girl, her name was Miki, sang a song for Santa and, even though she couldn't see Santa very well, she asked Santa to sit next to her so she could feel Santa's beard. She even gave Santa a big Christmas hug... Not only that, she handmade the best Christmas present any Santa could ever receive. She made Santa a candy cane out of red & white pipe cleaners with a bow on it! What a beautiful present from that lovely little girl's heart. How thoughtful! Santa took it home and showed it to Mrs. Santa and promptly hung it on the Santa family Christmas tree.
Candy cane present from lovely Miki san!
Santa will never forget, Miki san. That's a promise!
Now, every year, Santa is going to think about Miki and all the wonderful children who shared their time with him this year. Santa loves you and is praying for you all and may a miracle happen to you and may god bless you all!
Santa and his friends and helpers from Juntendo University Hospital and Nanbyonet.or.jp
CHRISTMAS NOTE: Every day of every year, some child is struck down with a terrible disease. While medical science desperately searches for cures, there is something you and I can do to make these children's (and their parents) lives just a little bit better. We can volunteer our time or donate to a worthy cause.
Won't you consider all the good things you have and just how fortunate we really are and give some of your time or donations to a just cause?
You'll feel better about yourself. I know I do. I wish I could do more. Won't you help this Christmas season?
The Japanese schlock group SCAM have joined in with the effort of "helping" (themselves) and looking like they are actually doing something besides holding a mirror and combing their hair by releasing an album of their old and tired songs in a new song order on a new record.
There will be nothing new recorded for this album at all and the boys really will do nothing to actually help anyone in need after the March 11 disaster. They won't lift a finger to help anyone but their record label, agency and bank.
Like I said, what they will do is allow old music to be recompiled into a different order and then repackaged and sold as if it is a new product.
The real kicker is, even though this schlock is being advertising as a charity effort and proceeds will be donated, the fact of the matter is only about 5% of sales will go towards any charity.
You'd think that with a project that his a supposed charity that is reusing old material, that they could give a bit more than that...
J-pop group SMAP have announced the songs on their new album “SMAP AID,” which goes on sale Aug 17 to help raise funds for recovery efforts in the Tohoku region. The album features the group’s 15 most popular songs chosen by their fans. It will be the group’s first “best” album in 10 years.
The top three tracks are “Original Smile” (from June 1994), “Hazimari no uta” (from September 2008), and “Not Alone” (from May 2005).
The album, which will sell for 3,570 yen, comes with a yellow or red handkerchief — red representing health, and yellow representing happiness. Two hundred yen from the sale of each album will go toward the “Marching J” charity project.
According to SMAP’s management, Johnny’s Entertainment, many Japanese fans wrote to the agency following the March earthquake and tsunami disaster to say that SMAP songs cheered them up in the wake of the tragedy. The messages led to the album’s concept.
They say that there's one born every minute!... Many fans wrote to the agency and said the songs cheered them up? This lead to the album's concept? Yes! That and the temptation to steal from suckers was too great to resist.
Two hundred yen out of a ¥3,570 sale goes to charity!? Here's what little a*swipe SCAM singer says as he's admiring himself in the mirror:
"Gee, I'd like to really help those poor people in Tohoku... As long as I don't have to do anything, make any effort, and it doesn't hurt my pocketbook."
Korean artists are doing great in Japan. Japan keeps trying to push sh*tty artists like SCAM on the Korean public. Any wonder why Japanese artists are not as popular over there as Korean artists are over here?
Let me finish this article with an intelligent comment: "Those twits in SCAM might be nice guys - no one could blame them for having any brains or morals - but their agency are douchebags." This is an even worse charity than Red Cross. At least Red Cross has been able to get a lame 51% of the money to the survivors.
5%!? Any media in Japan - especially the English media - who report on this nonsense without a commentary are just as big a bunch of jerks as SCAM and all their members.
No wonder English rags like Metropolis and Japan Today are going bankrupt. On the one hand they criticize Japan and Japan's "entertainment"... On the other hand, they bootlick because they need sponsors for their trashy rags.
You’re cordially invited to a multiple award winning pianist Yumi Okazaki’s charity concert on June 18th (Saturday) 2011 at the Office Sekkei Hall, conveniently located on the 34th floor of Izumi Garden Tower, Roppongi.
Yumi Okazaki
Yumi will perform such popular numbers such as Fur Elise (Beethoven), Traumerei (R.A.Schumann), La Campanella (Liszt), Moonlight (Debussy), and more. Also, renowned singer Miki Asakura will also perform.
The tickets are on sale for ¥3,500 yen at the door which is equivalent to one English/Japanese dictionary. All proceeds will be donated to schools in the Tohoku region to support children’s education. The doors will open at 13:15 on June 18th; the performance will start at 14:00.
Unbelievable. The Japan Red Cross seems to be doing its best to retain its reputation as a scam. Peace Boat Japan is in second place, close behind.
HANK WILLIAMS JR. - YOUR CHEATIN' HEART
The big earthquake, tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster happened more than three months ago, and useless organizations like the Japan Red Cross have seen to it that most of the money collected have not reached the hands of those in need. The papers report that over 55% of all monies collected have yet to be distributed! The incompetence and bureaucracy are mind-boggling.
"We lost our car in the tsunami and we can't buy a new one to get on with our lives without money. I hope the donation money arrives as soon as possible," said a 64-year-old unemployed man who is living at a shelter in Higashi-Matsushima.
The prefecture's social welfare section said many municipalities lost their family and resident registries in the tsunami. Without these documents, it is difficult to decide who is entitled to a share of the donations. "The quake left us with a ton of clerical work, and we're short of staff who can handle making donation payments," one official said.
To be paid, a person needs a disaster victim certificate. To get a certificate, one must undergo an inspection. The problem is that there is not enough staff to handle the issuing of the certificates, which has severely slowed up distribution of the donation money.
Great! We have $1.6 billion dollars... And Red Cross spends $0.17 cents on the dollar for the actual charity programs and these clowns can't hire a few part-timers to do paperwork to get things moving along at a better pace? All the while in the Great Red Cross and General Charity Scam it was reported that the CEO of the Red Cross was reportedly paid:
"Her salary for the year 2010 was $651,957, plus all personal, medical, & pension expenses. Less than 10 cents of your donated dollar actually goes to the cause..."
Wonderful. People are suffering and they can't get their money "because there aren't enough volunteers" and we have $1.6 billion dollars and can't hire a few people to push papers for a few weeks?
The Tagajo city government said staff shortages mean it takes at least one week to issue a certificate. But even after a person gets a disaster victim certificate, the city said it takes even more time for them to get paid.
Tagajo resident Ayako Hirayama, 57, visited the city office Saturday to apply for a certificate. She lives in an apartment with her husband and her son's family because their house was flooded by the tsunami. They have no refrigerator, so they have to go shopping nearly every day. She said having a place to store food would be a big help, but a city official told her the donations would not be distributed for about a month.
"Without money I'm just wilting with worry. We're really having to tap our savings, so I'd like to get the donations as soon as possible," she said.
Don't worry, Hirayama san. The checks in the mail.... It's been that way for over three months. Just don't hold your breath.
God, Japan Red Cross is totally useless. People are in trouble now and it takes these idiots over three months to help some of them!?
But I write this post with an eye on objectivity. I think the Red Cross is a crap organization and I believe their track record all around the world shows it. But let us not hold our derision merely for the Red Cross. I am a fair person and am willing to hold another charity in equal distain. There's another that I must insist upon slapping up side the head and that is Peace Boat Japan.
Peace Boat Japan seems to be another shady scam operation.
I will never help Japan Red Cross again and I will not help Peace Boat Japan again. I suggest that you do not either. I am not sure about all of Peace Boat's hijinks, but I imagine that my recent experience is symptomatic of a larger problem. Concerning Peace Boat Japan, and my experience, here are the facts:
On Sunday, June 5, some friends held a charity concert for which the proceeds went to Peace Boat Japan ostensibly to help survivors and victims of the Tohoku disaster. On May 31, I stupidly allowed the Peace Boat Japan people on my radio show to promote the charity and the event. By allowing Peace Boat on the radio show that gives them a defacto approval from a major Japanese broadcasting station that they are reputable.
A broadcasting station has a responsibility to the public to protect them, provide them with proper information and to not be scammed. The charity who uses that position of the broadcaster to promote themselves have a responsibility to do likewise. This is not a responsibility to be taken lightly.
This is why broadcasters will not allow, for example, mafia-type of organizations or scams to advertise their services on air with commercials. It's because the station has a responsibility to the public and for the public good. If something bad happens, and the station had promoted that service, product or event, in this country that station has responsibility.
"What's your assessment of Peace Boat, Sargent?"
"It's a clusterf*ck, sir!"
Let me make it clear that I have no problem at all with these sorts of charity events (like the one held on June 5) and I think it is great that wonderful individuals get together to help out anywhere they can. I merely have a problem with organizations like Japan Red Cross and Peace Boat. Read on and you'll see why I do have a problem with these organizations. I think anyone with an ounce of common sense will agree with me.
After the Peace Boat event ended, I met with one of the promoters yesterday and asked about the results of the charity. I want to know how much money was collected (actually, as program producer, I have a responsibility to report this to the station) and how it was or will be used. The promoter was upset. He told me that he, too, was angry at Peace Boat. He said that when he inquired about this, he was told that Peace Boat Japan cannot, and will not, give out that information.
Astounding! Something really stinks. Talk about ripping people off! How do we know that these Peace Boat reps didn't just pocket the money? What criminals! They have a responsibility to faithfully and dutifully report income and all usage of these funds!
That an organization like Peace Boat Japan would go on air, using (abusing) the good will of the public and a free broadcaster to make a monetary gain yet not faithfully report the results of their actions and the collective efforts of that promotion is nothing short of scandalous. This cannot be allowed to go without public notice and this simple blog post is a part and parcel of that.
The people at Peace Boat Japan that I dealt with have some questions to answer and, until they do, they will be considered by me as a scam charity in Japan and are banned from ever being on my show again. They also should be made to settle things correctly by other Peace Boat members for these people have shamed that organization.
Trust that, until it is rectified, I will make every effort that other broadcasters are aware of this sham.
Pardon my French, but, Japan Red Cross and Peace Boat Japan, "Baise toi!"
NOTE: Probably Peace Boat Japan and Japan Red Cross don't care about this blog. Even though it is small, it still gets about 5,000 readers a day. My radio show has over 100,000 listeners a day in Tokyo alone. Both charities have the chance to respond fairly to the charges leveled against them.... Bet you a half a doughnut (spelled correctly in this case) they are such conceited jerks that they do not respond.
SECOND NOTE: I don't know of many charities that I can recommend in Japan but I do support Rock Challenge Japan and Support Our Kids. I have worked with them and seen what they do and like it. You can trust, though, that if they ever do betray our trust, you'll be the first to read about it here.
