XIAM007

Making Unique Observations in a Very Cluttered World

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Facebook blocks the wrong kind of boobies - someone at Facebook cannot comprehend that a booby is a bird -

Facebook blocks the wrong kind of boobies - someone at Facebook cannot comprehend that a booby is a bird - 



Boobies are taking flight all over Christmas Island this week, but Facebook is not amused by attempts to publicize the event.

"Some gorgeous shots here of some juvenile boobies," read the now-blocked Facebook ad created by the Christmas Island Tourism Association. Below the sly newsprint were photos of large-billed birds including the Red-footed Booby, Brown Booby and endangered Abbott's Booby, reports AdWeek. Obviously the "juvenile boobies" mentioned in the ad are not female breasts but rather the three species of the young seabirds that call the Indian Ocean island home.

Christmas Island is famous for its birds, close to 80,000 of which nest there each year, according to the Australian Associated Press. It is the only island where the Abbott's Booby nests.

While acknowledging its use of a suggestive pun, the tourism group maintained its intentions were merely to drum up publicity for Christmas Island's annual birdwatching week. That distinction didn't seem to make any difference to the content moderators over at the social network, however, causing the birdwatchers to cry foul.

"One of the world's great eco-tourism destinations is being deprived of its lifeline because someone at Facebook cannot comprehend that a booby is a bird," said Sam Collins, founder of Ethos Travel, according to Travel Daily News.

The Christmas Island Tourism Association told The Huffington Post in an email that Facebook rejected the ad because it violated the site's Ad Guidelines, which forbid the use of ad copy deemed "offensive, profane, vulgar, obscene, libelous, slanderous or unlawful."

"Facebook does not accept ads that insult, harass or demean users," Facebook told the Christmas Island Tourism Association. "[L]anguage that addresses age, gender, race, physical condition, sexual preference of a user or generates high negative feedback will not be allowed."

In a statement sent to The Huffington Post, Facebook spokesman Tim Rathschmidt explained that "the advertiser crossed the threshold we are comfortable with by using language such as 'juvenile boobies.' Even if the subject is about birds they are using unacceptable language, and we are therefore not reactivating these ads. ... Ads may not position products or services in a sexually suggestive manner."

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British Airways apologizes to man who bought promoted tweet to complain about service -

British Airways apologizes to man who bought promoted tweet to complain about service - 



British Airways has apologized to a man after he said he was forced to buy a promoted tweet just to get the airline to help with his father’s lost luggage.
Twitter user Hasan Syed, who goes by the handle @HVSVN, vented his frustration Monday by tweeting, "Don't fly @BritishAirways. Their customer service is horrendous."
Syed, who said that he bought the tweet through the site’s self-service ad platform for $1000, wanted to highlight the airline’s slow response to his customer service complaint after he said the airlines lost his father’s luggage on a flight from Chicago to Paris.
The sponsored tweet was aimed at the airline’s 300,000 followers, but was soon passed around the Internet and his story picked up by the media. 
British Airways responded to Syed's complaint on Twitter Wednesday, apologizing for the delayed response, saying the bag was due to be delivered today.
"We would like to apologize to the customer for the inconvenience caused. We have been in contact with the customer and the bag is due to be delivered today," said a British Airways spokesperson.
Posting on his Twitter account on Wednesday, Syed said his tweet got 76,000 impressions on Twitter --and noted that he was satisfied.


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$30,000 coffin comes with music system -

$30,000 coffin comes with music system - 



What do you buy for someone who has everything? How about a gift that keeps on giving after they die.

A $30,000 coffin comes equipped with speakers and a a Spotify music streaming account.

A Swedish company is selling the pricey resting spot with two-way speakers.

It allows the living to hear what's playing for the departed. A digital display on the headstone will allow visitors to see what's playing.

The owner of the first manufactured model of the CataCombo Sound System is Fredrik Hjelmquist. He allows strangers to add tracks to his playlist “Pause 4-ever”.

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Senator Who Advocates for Arming Teachers Accidentally Shoots Teacher With Rubber Bullet during a training course -

Senator Who Advocates for Arming Teachers Accidentally Shoots Teacher With Rubber Bullet during a training course -  



A state senator who is advocating for arming teachers in the aftermath of the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, accidentally shot a teacher with a rubber bullet during a training course, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette  reports.

Arkansas Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson (R) recently participated in “active shooter” training and mistakenly shot a teacher who was confronting a so-called bad guy. The experience gave Hutchinson “some pause” but failed to shake his confidence in the plan.

“The ideal would be to have a trained resource officer in every school,” Hutchinson told the paper. “The state and school districts can’t afford that.”

In July, Arkansas’ Clarksville School District announced that it would “ train and arm 20 staff members who would act as security guards to defend against a gunman” and “applied for a license from the Arkansas Board of Private Investigators and Private Security Agencies to act as a private company with authority to hire private security officers.” Following a legal  squabble, however, a state board is scheduled to decide next month if staff members can in fact act as security guards.

Since the Newtown shooting, schools around the country have moved to  encourage or require teachers (and sometimes  students) to carry firearms.

But serious questions persist about the wisdom of arming teachers.  Even trained police have a track record of mistakenly firing on civilians in standoff situations and in Kansas, a school that armed its teachers was  denied coverage by major insurers, who deemed the armed teachers too great of a risk.

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300,000 attempts to view porn in UK's Houses of Parliament... -

300,000 attempts to view porn in UK's Houses of Parliament... - 



More than 300,000 attempts were made to access pornographic websites at the Houses of Parliament in the past year, according to official records.

The revelations will be awkward for David Cameron who has demanded that internet service providers do more to stop children viewing inappropriate content

MPs, peers and staff at the Houses of Parliament have tried to access ‘adult’ websites using their work computers 309,316 times over the past year, according to official figures.

Almost 850 attempts to click on pornographic websites were blocked each day, the Daily Mirror reports.

The revelations will be awkward for David Cameron who has demanded that internet service providers do more to stop children viewing inappropriate content online.

A response to a Freedom of Information request uncovered the number of staff trying to access adult content online between May 2012 and July this year.

One particularly popular site was “Out of Town Affairs”, a dating site for those wanting to engage in extra-marital affairs, which garnered 52,000 hits in seven months.

Westminster computers were prevented from accessing sex sites 114,844 times last November alone and on 55,552 in April, while February saw just 15 and in June officials blocked 397 attempts.

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