Throughout my years of working in Social Media, the topic has repeatedly turned to the subject of Social Bookmarking. If you’re like me, you’ve probably heard some of the following questions too:
- I don’t understand how to do it?
- Why would I want to post that?
- Can search engines spider these links?
- I just don’t understand, why would anyone want to see my favorite sites?
Well today, some of the biggest social bookmarking sites are upping the anti. A prime example is Reddit, a leading name in the space, who has announced the creation of a new feature that allows you to utilize an open source version that can be hosted on your own domain with customizable features including look and feel.
According to Mashable.com, the move follows news last week that Ma.gnolia was going open source, and word earlier this summer that Digg is working on their own offering to let users create their own custom social news sites.
While some argue that social bookmarking is dying, the new wave of open source versions allow the general public to add customizable platforms to expand their own sites, thus breathing new life into the art of tagging sites for the benefit of an entire community.
In March I wrote a brief post about a 2-year old who passed away after he was allegedly crushed by an obese relative.
Today, police don’t know how to take her to jail! Although a grand jury believes that the woman should face murder charges, authorities are unclear as to how to transfer the 1,000 lb 27-year old to the court house due to her massive size.
Apparently, the bedridden woman cannot fit out her front door, let alone into a jail cell. One has to wonder if that is already punishment enough.
The 2008 Summer Olympics in China are awesome so far, right? Records are being broken, political leaders are gathering, and 41 year old Dana Torres will be the oldest female swimmer in the history of the Olympic games. Yet, I am disappointed to find that all of this good news is overshadowed by some disturbing bad events.
To begin with, there was the stabbing of 2 US tourists which lead to the death of Todd Bachman, father of 2004 volleyball Olympian Elisabeth Bachman. His wife, Barbara, was also seriously injured during the attack at a popular Beijing tourist site.
The latest news out of Beijing is that some of China’s female gymnasts may be underage! Bela Karolyi, coach of the US female Olympic gymnastics team, has made it clear that he believes the Chinese competitors are under the age of 16 when Olympic rules state that athletes must be at least 16 during the calendar year in which the Olympics take place. They sure do look young, don’t they?
What are your plans for the 4th of July holiday weekend? Beaches, picnics, BBQ parties, pools, family, friends… you name it and no doubt it’s a summertime tradition. Yet with today’s economy, you can’t help but reconsider travel plans due to soaring gas prices. Food costs have risen, entertainment expenses cost more, and travelling (whether to a distant relatives or to a special vacation destination) is through the roof.
The issue is at such a disappointing state that CNN Money is reporting that travel for the 4th of July weekend is expected to decrease 1.3% since last year. AAA estimates that 40.45 million drivers will travel during the holiday weekend, which is down from the 41 million who traveled last year.
Another interesting gas fact: Missouri has the lowest gas prices at $3.850 per gallon and Alaska has the highest gas prices at $4.611 per gallon.
Per Fox News, the sad news out of New York on Saturday reports that a Vogue cover model, Ruslana Korshunova, 20 has passed away from an apparent suicide. The model, from the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan, fell from her apartment building in the Financial District in New York City.
A week ago my wonderful boyfriend brought me to dinner at a favorite restaurant of ours - McLoone’s Rum Runner in Sea Bright, NJ. Always a beautiful setting with tables set along the Shrewsbury River, our latest outing brought about an added thrill - dolphins! I was so excited that I happily took video on my Sony Cybershot, but now CNN has covered the ‘dolphins in NJ’ story thanks to New 12 NJ.
While adorable and exciting as the dolphins may be, the story is actually a bit sad. It appears as thought the dolphins are trapped in the Shrewsbury River because they hear noise from nearby bridges and construction which confuses them. Experts plan to help guide the dolphins to their natural environment, so hurry to McLoone’s (or a nearby establishment) to see the cute dolphins in the Shrewsbury River soon!
Gas prices are high, MPG ratings are low, and if you’re like me you still have to travel a decent distance for your daily commute to work. So what can you do to try to stretch a few extra miles out of that last gallon of gas? Yahoo! has provided you with 10 easy ways to save over a grand on gas.
Be forewarned that while a lot of these are great tips, a few are a little unrealistic. Prime example, tip #8 says that if you lose 100 lbs you can save 13.1 gallons of gas with a monetary savings of $104 per year. I might need to hit the gym a little more often, but 100 lbs? C’mon!
Here are all 10 tips:
Get that “check engine” light checked out
Check your tire pressure
Change your air filter
Drive 60 on the highway, not 75
Turn off the a/c
Get your engine tuned
Drive calmly in the city
Lose weight
Lose the roof rack
Change your oil on time
To see the estimated savings for each of these tips, check out the article on Yahoo!
I don’t know if this is a sign of how scary technology can be, or how frightening stupid today’s youth is.
In Spain, a teenager posted an open invite to her 16th birthday bash on the popular social networking site Facebook. Over 400 people saw the invitation, and crashed the bash at the $8.6 million dollar mansion where they stole thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and designer clothes in addition to throwing a tv in the estate’s swimming pool.
As Fox News reported, “The place looked like a war zone,” one partygoer said. “All the banisters have been broken. The walls are ruined, the carpets are destroyed, furniture is broken and it is going to take months to sort out.”
While the estate’s owners have incredible damages to repair over the summer, they are also going to miss out on the $8,000 a month that they usually receive for renting the mansion out over the summer. Can you say “grounded”?
Ever feel like that last tank of gas didn’t last as long as it used to? Maybe it’s because some gas stations are cheating you out of what you’re paying for. According to an article from today’s Daily Record, 350 gas stations in New Jersey were fined for cheating people at the pump (including 15 stations in Morris County)!
According to the Daily Record, violations included: pumping the wrong amount of gas, 62; different gas prices on different sides of a sign, 46; failure to post the grade of gasoline, 37; no price per gallon on the pump, 36; service station brand not posted, 30; inaccurate octane ratings, 26; inaccurate total sale price, 15; multiple price changes in 24 hour period, 14; and credit card receipts missing information, 2.
State officials say to look for a blue ’seal of approval’ on pumps that have passed inspection. Any pump that has failed inspection with be flagged with a red seal of non-approval.
BTW, the stations that were confirmed as ripping you off at the pump only received an initial fine of $1,500. I guess the only way they’ll really learn is if we all boycott those particular stations, so choose wisely the next time you fill up!
It’s always amazing when you learn about something that you never thought could exist in 2008.
Late this week, researchers released photos of ‘jungle dwellers’ in the Amazon who have never made contact with civilized people on Earth. Organizations that focus on protecting such tribes are concerned with illegal logging efforts that are taking place near the uncontacted tribe, which could force the group to migrate to an area that is inhabited by another uncontacted group - which could lead to a war.
Check out the photos, which show several men pointing bows and arrows toward the small aircraft that was monitoring the area.