Is Facebook Really Safe?

     There have been a lot of postings showing up on Facebook like the following:

   “FACEBOOK has agreed to let third party advertisers use your posted pictures WITHOUT your permission. Click on SETTINGS up at the top where you see the Log out link. Select Privacy. Then select NEWSFEEDS and WALL. Next select the tab that reads FACEBOOK ADS. There is a drop down box, select NO ONE. Then SAVE your changes. Please re-post this message to your home page so more can see it.”

   This is nothing new.  In fact, if you look at Facebook’s privacy policy, you’ll notice that it has not changed since November 26, 2008.   If you do click on the link above, scroll down to the section called “Sharing Your Information with Third Parties”, which will probably answer all of your questions.

    If you’d rather have the layman version, here are the basics.  The first time you take a quiz, throw a snow ball, start a food fight, engage in a mafia war, or click on any other application in Facebook, a little window comes up that says the following: 

“Allowing <quiz/application name> access will let it pull your profile information, photos, your friends' info, and other content that it requires to work.”

   Each one of these quizzes/applications are a third party company (Not Facebook), and YOU are agreeing to let them have your information to do whatever they want with it.

   Let’s put Facebook on hold here, and step back to see a bigger view of the picture.  Up until 9/11/2001, there was a fierce debate about privacy vs security.  After the horrific tragedy of 9/11, our nation’s leaders feared the worst and thought there might be more attacks to come.  It was at this time that the NSA was given “unsupervised access to all fiber-optic communications going between some of the nation's major telecommunication companies' major interconnect locations, including phone conversations, email, web browsing, and corporate private network traffic.”  - Wiki article

   This massive information gathering, or whatever you want to call it, was supposed to only be for a  short period of time to thwart coming attacks.  But we all know that information is power, and think of how much power you would have with all of that information, especially private corporate information. 

   Several years after 9/11, a “whistle-blower” came forward and said that the datacenters that the NSA had set up to collect all of this information were still up and running, and still collecting all telecommunications.  They were not shut down like they were supposed to be.

    Just last year, there was great debate in our nation’s capital about whether to repeal the immunity that these telecommunication companies had received, and to actually take a look at what they had collected.  I am sad to say that this did not happen.  We still do not know the actual extent of what is being collected, and the massive information gathering is still happening.

    I know it sounds like it, but I am really not that big of a conspiracy theory guy.  Hopefully this article will help caution you as to what information you release on Facebook or anywhere on-line.  If you’re really that concerned about privacy though, you should probably never get on a computer again. 

For the Love of the Game

     I threw up seven times this past Saturday night.  Before this, I  hadn’t thrown up in years.  I hate being sick.  Although I had felt some faint nausea, I kept telling myself that I wasn’t sick.  I believed what I was telling myself so much that I almost didn’t make it to the bathroom in time!

    My mind works the same way when I play volleyball.  I love this sport!  I’ve been playing it for about half of my life now, and I hope to be able to play for many more years.  My mind certainly keeps telling me that I’ll be able to, but I’m not sure my body is going to hold up.  I’m just wondering at what point I’ll actually “puke” and know that its over. 

Home-Based Business (part 1)

Do you want more out of life? Would you like to quit your current job and make a thousand dollars or more per week by only working a couple of hours from home? There are plenty of companies out there that promise this through a home based business. I don’t know why, but I always seem to get hit up by them. Chances are good that you do to, or you will at some point in the near future.

Here are a few examples:

• Amway / Quixtar / LTD (These are all the same company)
• Carbon Copy Pro
• Global Resorts Network
• Freelife (GoChi)
• Agel Enterprises
• Herbalife
• Little Guy Network
• Coastal Vacations
• Platinum 1 Destinations
• EDC Gold
• LifePath Unlimited
• VM Direct
• Melaleuca
• Exfuze
• Mannatech

And there are plenty more.

I will attempt to shed some light on these “opportunities” and attempt to help you make an informed decision about whether or not to join them.

Most of these companies have some degree of Multi-Level Marketing (MLM) in them, and they incorporate Network Marketing into their recruiting scheme.

Multi-Level Marketing is basically recruiting people to sell products. The people you recruit, and the people that they in turn recruit, are referred to as your downline. Anytime somebody in your downline sells a product, you get a percentage of that sale. Think about a basic pyramid scheme and you’ll have a pretty good picture of an MLM.

Network Marketing is using the internet to help you recruit your downline and/or sell the product behind the company. Network Marketing makes a lot of sense as you don’t have to spend time recruiting in person. You can just build a bunch of websites, make videos, post blogs, send emails, etc… that have your recruiting pitch. Then you advertise them with Pay-Per-Click tools (e.g. Google AdWords), and social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) in order to get people to sign up under you.

Here’s a real example that you can do, too. Let’s say that we’ve just heard about Carbon Copy Pro, and we want to find information about it. Go to Google and type in Carbon Copy Pro Reviews to try to find some objective information. One of the top ads (you may not see this ad, but you will find similar) is about a guy who almost spent $9,000 with Carbon Copy pro, but discovered a couple of flaws. I click the link and go to this website: http://www.insidemyglobal.com/ccpro

Ok, that’s pretty impressive, and the guy seems honest enough. Before I give him my name and email though, I want to find out a little more about him since I really don’t know him from Adam. In the video, he says his name is Dan Spransy and he’s from Madison, Wisconsin. So I go back to Google and type in Dan Spransy Madison Wisconsin and the third link down takes me to this site: http://www.insidemyglobal.com/lifepath

It’s almost déjà vu, but instead of talking about Carbon Copy Pro, he’s talking about another company called LifePath Unlimited. The “brilliance” behind this is that he can basically replicate his website to talk about any of these other “opportunities”. Thousands of people can see this every day, and it takes no time at all for him once they are on the web. I’m assuming that would be one of the things he would help you and I do if we signed up for his business.

One problem with this, however, is that there are so many people doing this same thing right now. Here are some more examples:

• http://www.davidahanson.net/free-life
• http://globalresorts.annmclaren.biz/
• http://www.theonetopaybest.com/
• http://www.ccproreview.com/
• http://www.myglobalsecrets.com/ccp.html
• http://www.myglobalformula.com/ccpro.html

These pages were all found by looking at reviews of other companies and just clicking on the ads. It’s all the same thing, just with different colors and people! There are countless others just like this. With all these people talking bad about the other “opportunities” and promoting the one they chose, it ruins the credibility of all the companies.

If you’re still interested in signing up with one of these companies, I will leave the inner workings of internet advertising (PPC) for you to discover, but the glaring fact is that the cost of displaying your PPC ad is based on an auction system. You have to bid a certain amount to get your ad displayed. The more prominent you want it to display, the more money you’ll have to shell out. At the time of this article, there is already very high advertiser competition for almost all keywords pertaining to these home-based businesses.

The burning question in my mind, and I’m sure yours, too, is -- Are these “opportunities” all scams or is there some way to actually make money?

My answer may surprise you, but you’ll have to wait until part 2 of this post to find out.

The Girls

   The girls are gone for the night, leaving Reggie and I to do some male bonding.  Truth be known, we don’t bond that much because Reggie just lays around.  I think it’s due to the fact that he can finally relax without having to think about somebody pulling his tail!

   I sure do miss them when they’re not here, but it also gives me some time to reflect on how much I love them.  This May is mine and Carrie’s fifth wedding anniversary.  We are really excited about this one, but probably not for a reason you would think.

   We really like the anniversary dance at wedding receptions.  The five year mark means that we’ll get to stay dancing a little longer!

   With divorce rates being so high, it’s always encouraging to see the longevity of couples who are able to stay on the dance floor.  Carrie and I consider ourselves very fortunate to both have our parents still together, and we are committed to doing the same for Cecily and our future kid(s). 

Saving Your Memories

    I’ve gotten a lot of questions recently about how to backup pictures, home videos, music, etc… in case of a computer crash.  Its a great question, and there are many ways to do it.  The more convenient ways tend to be more expensive, while the less expensive ways are also less convenient.  I’ll present several ways that I like, and you can choose what is best for you.  I’ll also try to keep this post as non-technical as I can!

   The easiest method that I know of is to sign up with an online backup service like Symantec or iBackup.  These services make everything very simple.  They’ll automatically backup anything you’d like at a time you’d like.  Your files are then “securely” stored on their servers and you can access them from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. Both of these companies have trial periods, and pricing starts at $10/month for 10GB of storage.

    The second way is to use a storage server located right in your house.  There are a couple of really good storage servers out there.  One is the HP MediaSmart Home Server.  The best prices for this can usually be found at Amazon.com.  The really good thing about this home server is that it can be set to automatically backup up to 10 computers at your house.  If one of your computers crashes, it has the ability to help you recover everything, including windows.  It also gives you the ability to access your media from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection.  Setup is also pretty simple.

   If you don’t need all the bells and whistles of the home server mentioned above, you can get a plain old network attached storage device.  The one I’ve used for awhile now is a 1TB MyShare from Hammer Storage.  This is basically a box that sits in my office at the house.  It is a lot cheaper than the HP Home Server, but it is a little more difficult to setup.  You also have to configure your router if you want to access it from outside your home.

   The last way that I’ll mention, is burning data CDs or data DVDs with your files on them.  This is the cheapest method, but organization becomes cumbersome, and there’s the danger of them getting scratched and so forth.

   If you go with the first method, you’re digital files are safe even if your home catches fire, if you get a virus that wipes out all of your computers, or if someone steals your stuff.  The other ways mentioned do not help in these cases.  So I know this sounds crazy, but if you choose any method but the online backups, you’ll want to be sure to create a backup of your backups on a portable media like CD or DVD.

Funny Faces

  This is my daughter Cecily.  Her mother and I are very proud of her, especially during moments like the one pictured here!

  She will be one year old in less than a month, and I have no idea where the time has gone.  It seems like yesterday that she would fall asleep on my chest.  (I think that was my favorite part of the beginning days of her life.)  Now she is almost walking, drinking from a sippy cup (sometimes), and smearing food all over her face when she eats.

  As much as Carrie and I try to keep our focus in the right place, it’s not hard to lose sight of all we have to be thankful for these days.  Sometimes we find ourselves getting caught up in our daily struggles with money, relationships, living in a fixer-upper, and so on. 

  All it takes is one funny face from Cecily to help us see how rich our lives are.

Hypocycloids and Mouth Breathing

   I'm always amazed at how much I don't know.  This doesn't mean that I don't think I'm smart, hopefully I'm smarter because I realize this.  (Ok, wait...  I'm confusing myself. )   I usually learn something new everyday.  I may not always remember what I've learned, but there have been two things recently that have stuck with me so far.

   I enjoy reading a columnist on ESPN.com named Gregg Easterbrook.  His writing is entertaining, and I agree with a majority of the points he makes about the NFL.  He has come up with some pretty creative nicknames for each of the teams, including the Buffalo Budgies, Tennessee Flaming Thumbtacks, and most recently the Pittsburgh Hypocycloids.  

   Seeing that word made me stop and think about what it could mean.  I really had no idea, so I looked it up.  Wikipedia gives this definition, "A hypocycloid is a special plane curve generated by the trace of a fixed point on a small circle that rolls within a larger circle."  Here I've been a Pittsburgh Steelers fan all these years, and never realized there was a  name for the shapes inside of the Steelers logo.  There are actually three hypocycloids in the Steelers logo, and they are classified as astroids, not to be confused with asteroids.  

   The other thing that I learned was from my wife, Carrie.  (I try not to admit this, but I really learn a lot from her.)  After Cecily goes to bed, we usually try to relax for a bit.  A lot of times, this will involve watching something from Netflix or Hulu.  Apparently, I've been doing a lot of mouth breathing lately, and it was driving her crazy enough to say something about it.  I hadn't even noticed that I was doing it (I was just stuffed up or something), but I replied, "What's the big deal?"  She immediately let me know of the health benefits of breathing through my nose, and also mentioned that mouth breathing is unattractive.

   At this, I had to look it up, and what do you think I found?  This article, again from wikipedia. Incredible!  As I was reading the article, I wondered aloud, "What's halitosis"?  Do I even have to say what happened next?  Carrie knew right away.  To make this even worse, my sister Dani came over for New Year's Eve, and I asked her something like, "Did you know that mouth breathing was bad for you"?  To which she replied, "Yeah, it makes you look un-intelligent too" Ouch!

   Although, I've become a much better breather recently, Carrie still endearingly calls me "mouth breather."  I hope that you have learned something from this.  I'd love to hear some of the things you've learned recently.