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Proof that Facebook - not social, not friendly
This is a very sad story and a proof that Facebook doesn’t help people connect with other people. It only gives one a false sense of friendship. Simon Black, a charity worker, had more than a thousand so-called “facebook friends” but they turned out to be not nearly as helpful as one would hope their friends to be. When she announced taking an overdose of pills with intent to commit suicide, none of her online or real life acquaintances helped. Some ignored the message thinking it is yet another cry for help with no action to follow. Others argued about the messages, yet some called her bluff and even encouraged to go through. The result of this last call for help was not what one would expect from true friends. Instead of calling Simon, running down the street to her apartment (some lived within walking distance) or calling local police department immediately the help, just like the friendship, was only virtual. But one can’t travel through the internet and give CPR through a computer monitor. She died due to pill overdose, in her apartment, alone. All of those who she thought were friends turned out to be nothing close to trustworthy and helpful.
While facebook maintains that user safety is “paramount” and they offer help on the website, it is clear that the company isn’t capable of noticing any such activity. If your friend or a child is on facebook – remember that no one will help in the case of emergency. The company is interested only in making money, selling user data, providing access to advertisers and not actually connecting people and helping them strengthen friendships. Instead, this online plague is destroying the true meaning of friends – someone who can be relied upon in the moment of distress, someone who will drop all personal business to help, someone who never calls bluff at a threat of a suicide or worse – encourages to go through with it.
I’ve said it in the past and will say it again – none of the so called “social sites/networks” can replace and help create real life communication and friendships. A computer is a cold machine that does care about you or anyone else out there. Instead of creating and maintaining virtual, meaningless illusion of friends – take a stroll to your local park, talk to a neighbor, chat up someone at a bar or restaurant. You may actually find a friend and not just another “avatar” that will ignore the last cry for help.
Fedex delays packages for no reason
For some unknown to me reason - a lot of people are looking for this post on my site. Since I've updated the site several times and ultimetly archived old posts, it was no longer avaliable. But due to all the trafic related to FedEx delays and sorting facility operation - I've decided to bring this post back.
Recently I have made purchase at my favorite online computer parts retailer – www.NewEgg.com. This retailer exclusively uses FedEx for all their shipping needs within the (I’m not sure who does their international shipping if any). Since NewEgg is a very popular retailer, they send thousands of packages every week. Normally pickup trucks would visit such retailer once a day (some time around 3pm) to pick up fresh orders. Due to the size of operations (and as I noted above NewEgg’s volume is quite large), FedEx gives them special pricing based on that volume, plus special shipping benefits (such as two pickups in one day, empty trucks, dedicated trucks etc). One of those benefits is extremely low price on some shipments. In fact the price is so low, that NewEgg absorbs the shipping costs and offers free shipping on some items (it is possible that they earn the free shipping on a certain amount of packages due to their volume). Of course when you make a purchase you can pick how fast it should be delivered – options include the standard set – overnight, second day and regular (FedEx Super Saver). I always go for the cheapest possible option as time is not critical for me. With this recent purchase all of my items where shipped the same day I have placed an order (Friday). On Monday all of my packages were already in San Diego sorting facility and could be delivered, but they were not! You may ask – why weren’t they delivered? The answer is very simple – since my packaged left on the same truck as priority (or more expensive, faster) packages, they arrived to the destination sorting facility at the same time as the priority packages. But if FedEx delivers them within the same amount of time as the second day, or next day packages, then why would anybody in the world pay more for the same delivery time? So FedEx deliberately leaves regular packages at the sorting facility in order to make the difference in the amount of time it takes for the regular package to arrive versus that of a priority (more expensive). Now most people I know, would ask – why not deliver the regular package as soon as they can (which would be the same as second day package due to very short distance)? If they did so, they would probably gain more clients and businesses all over the country since they would deliver packages faster for less! But no, they went the other route – let the package sit and age just so they can say that their priority service is faster.