Written by: Patrick Galvin An IBM employee in Canada lost her medical disability benefits for severe depression when photos were reviewed of her “having fun,” on Facebook.
Story from AP (Courtesy of Yahoo! News)
BROMONT, Quebec – A Canadian woman on long-term sick leave for depression says she lost her benefits because her insurance agent found photos of her on Facebook in which she appeared to be having fun.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday she was diagnosed with major depression and was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits from insurance giant Manulife.
But the payments dried up this fall and when Blanchard called Manulife, she says she was told she was available to work because of Facebook.
She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on Facebook, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a sun holiday.
I’ll tell ya, if there’s any quicker way to get rid of the blues than to go to Chippendale’s, somebody let me know. Works every time. There’s great food there, too.
Seriously, the buffet there is fantastic.
Blanchard told the CBC that on her doctor’s advice, she tried to have fun, including nights out at her local bar with friends and short getaways to sun destinations, as a way to forget her problems.
Manulife wouldn’t comment on Blanchard’s case, but did say they would not deny or terminate a claim solely based on information published on Web sites such as Facebook.
This lady isn’t the first to be outed for her exploits via social networking sites (Here’s looking at you, Larry Johnson). From the “halloween costume” fairy who said he was out sick, to countless college students apprehended for drinking, the internet is becoming the newest stomping grounds for people to stalk your character.
There’s two ways to deal with this, either no one puts up anything of themselves online anymore, or there becomes an Internet Constitution so to speak, where things like Facebook and Myspace can no longer be used as evidence in employment cases, without additional criminal charges, for example. I’m hoping it’s the latter, otherwise I’ll have to take down all my Chippendales pictures… again. Sigh…
Written by: Mike Marv Albert, best known for his legal battle which alleged he forcibly had his way with a womans bum, and bit her backside, was almost treated the same way by the upstanding human beings who comprise Curtis Jackson’s (aka 50 cent) entourage.
From LA Times
As Albert arrived, with an entourage of one, TNT public relations specialist Jeff Pomeroy, there was a sudden scuffle when a multitude of 50 Cent protectors seemed unfamiliar with Albert. There was shouting (“It’s Marv Albert,” yelled a Kimmel show guard, a pronouncement that seemed to have no effect on the 50 Cent phalanx.) There were obscenities. A fist or two flying. A “Don’t you put your hands on me” pronouncement.
The question everyone is asking at this point is who would actually win in a brawl – 50 or Albert? Lets look at the tale of the tape.
It’s a tossup!!! The deciding factor has to be the degree of craziness. We know at this point how crazy 50 cent and his entourage are…. but what Marv Albert does behind closed doors is largely a mystery. I’ll take Albert in this fight; we know what to expect from 50, but Albert could surprise us all!
Written by: Mike When I think of the sport I enjoy watching the most, college basketball immediately comes to mind. It’s not that other sports, such as the NFL, NBA, MLB, CFB are bad, but lately they are not resonating with me as they once did. Sure, the National Football League is great, Sunday’s this time of year you can pretty much sit your ass on the couch all day and watch people hit each other for 8 hour. (You do this while stuffing your face with wings, chips, and beer – then have the audacity to criticize the players and coaches)
I know you won't bother reading this unless you see boobs. I understand the internet.
But no other sport is as balanced, TV friendly, or easy to start enjoying whether you start watching in November or March. The number one reason college basketball is so great is the depth of talent. With only 5 players starting, and 12-14 total players per team, the immense talent spread across the nation can fill out collegiate rosters with ease. This is the reason you see March Madness, and Butler make a run to the sweet sixteen, or a bunch of hicks from Vermont knock of perennial powerhouse Syracuse. Football has a 50 man roster, Baseball a 25-30.
Roster size also affects the dynamics of the team. In this case, smaller is better – there is a more intimate connection between the players on the floor. If one player is struggling its harder for the team to overcome. Likewise, when one player dominates, the team stands a great chance to win (Steph Curry with Davidson a few years back).
I’ve heard many times that college basketball is all about coaches, and its true. While I can’t name you a single player on Gonzaga this year, I know their coach Mark Few is going to have that squad positioned for a run in the tournament come March. Once you get to know the coaches you get an immediate idea of the power structure of the league.
The balance between great and good coaches is what makes the difference come March. Sure, upsets happen, and Cinderella goes dancing for a few games, but in the end the combination of great coaches with great talent, and good coaches with good talent wins out.
You've made it this far, another image to reward you.
The final piece of the puzzle here is the fans. Find me an NFL stadium, MLB ball park, or NBA arena with such a close nit, coordinated, and quite frankly drunk group of people and I’ll eat my hat (in typing that last part i aged by 50 years and got nervous my social security check got lost in the mail).
The fans at these games CARE. They don’t pay obscene amounts of money for a ticket, try to impress clients, and show a passion not seen outside from the soccer pitch in Europe. Why bother with a 4 hour baseball game with half the stadium more interested in seeing the Rally Monkey than the game itself, when you can watch a 2 hour fast paced game and get pulled in by the energy of the crowd?
As much as I love all sports, nothing else quite comes together for me like college basketball does. Great players, legendary coaches, passionate fans, and only 2 hours; its the perfect recipe for the greatest sport on Earth.
Written by: Mike Marketing Rule #1 – Sex Sells. This is so well known, that even old curmudgeons like Billy Packer understand the premise. The most coveted demographic in advertising is the 18-45 year old male. It is no coincidence that 18-45 year old men enjoy beer, cars, sports, and video games.
So when launching a promotion related to video games over the internet, one would think a great way to generate interest would be to use pictures of attractive women. To the folks at Haynes, this was too difficult to figure out. Not only did they violate this rule, but they used perhaps the worst image possible to convey the tagline of the campaign “Game in Comfort”
Seriously, does this man on the right look at all to you like he is comfortable? Sitting there in a shirt and tie, and some serious perspiration going on; he’s sweating more than the fat hairy kid who you seemed to always have to play against in basketball (to make matters worse, this guy would always be on the skins team).
But I digress – his facial expression alone is the exact opposite of something 99.7%* of men consider to be a look of comfort. I can’t tell if hes trying to hold in a bowel movement, or he just thought of his mother and father fucking upstairs. To game in comfort means to be in sweatpants and a t-shirt, have a beer, and some good snacks. I know this from experience.
Haynes really dropped the ball on this one. Then again, I wrote a whole article on it, so maybe they got the last laugh…
(* You may be wondering about the .3% of men who think that is a comfortable look. According to South Park, those are the guys who enjoy gerbils in their butt.)
Written by: Patrick Galvin Lou Dobbs, the man who spent 29 years at CNN most notably combing over his hair and yelling at immigrants, has left the news network abruptly this week. Supposedly the split is on good terms.
Story From AP (Courtesy of Yahoo! News):
NEW YORK – Lou Dobbs says he doesn’t feel like he was pushed out of CNN, the news organization where he worked for all but two years of its existence until last Wednesday.
“Not at all,” he said in a weekend interview. “I don’t know if people will believe it, but we had a very amicable parting on the best of terms. I spent 29 years there building that company, and I wish everyone there nothing but the best, and they have reciprocated with me.”
He announced his resignation on “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” finished the newscast and walked out of CNN.
…
CNN has tried to promote an unbiased approach to establish a middle ground between opinionated hosts on Fox News Channel and MSNBC. Dobbs was quickly replaced by John King, the straightforward political reporter who used to work for The Associated Press.
Dobbs’ next plans also include discussions with the people who disagreed with him (mainly Latinos):
He said he’s eager to meet with some of the groups that have criticized him. Most prominent are Latino organizations that had contended his anti-illegal immigration stance was insulting and encouraged an atmosphere of prejudice.
“This has been an orchestrated campaign of both distortion and outright propaganda for the purpose of the open border and unconditional amnesty agenda,” Dobbs said. “That’s politics. I understand that. But I’m going to reach out to everyone with whom I’ve had a disagreement and see if there’s a way in which we can calmly and dispassionately discuss our differences and talk about solutions.”
Roberto Lovato, whose Presente.org group helped organize the anti-Dobbs petition effort, said Dobbs has called him a “flea,” a “bozo” and a “nonentity” on his radio show. He declined an opportunity to face off with Dobbs on his turf, the radio program, and said he wouldn’t be on Dobbs’ CNN show unless Klein also appeared. It didn’t happen.
Calmly and dispassionately. Right. Dobbs called this guy a “flea” ! A FUCKING FLEA! This is gonna be a SHOWDOWN! Old-school vs. new-school, conservative vs. liberal, yelling over each other tooth-and-nail the whole time! A quarrel this contentious clearly needs to be scheduled and broadcast for the country to see on a prime-time news network. FOX? No they’re too conservatively biased. MSNBC? No they’re too liberally biased. Maybe a more centrist network could do it if there was one.
