Kicked Off Facebook, Kid Creates Own Social Network

If you can't join it, create your own.

That's the attitude one Florida preteen ran with after his parents banned him from using Facebook. Instead of begging or slamming doors when his account was deactivated, the 11-year-old launched his own social network tailored specifically to children.

Grom Social founder Zachary Marks had a Facebook account for roughly a week despite being two years too young to join the site, having lied about his age to create an account. And when his parents discovered that he may have been engaging in risky online activities, they pulled the plug.

"I spent all my time on the computer chatting with friends. Then, I made mistakes," Marks explained on the Grom Social About page. "One of my adult friends cursed and posted something inappropriate, and I cursed back. Also, I friend-requested grownups who I did not know. About a day later, my dad found out. He was really mad. I had to deactivate my account."

Marks said he wasn't interested in any existing, kid-friendly, social networks ? "They were all childish," he said ? so he set out to create one for "Groms," a slang term for young surfers that he repurposed to mean something close to "precocious kid."

In order to keep kid members safe, only parents and parent-approved adults can join Grom Social. Parents of kid members are kept up to date on their youngster's online activities via email. The site also has a built-in language filter to keep the expletives from flying straight into kids' virgin eyes.

Grom Social is also compliant with COPPA, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, a controversial law aimed at keeping kids safe online that some argue is ineffective and unconstitutionally limits children's First Amendment rights.

Under COPPA, websites, apps and plug-ins are not allowed to collect information from children less than 13 years old without their parent's express consent. The burden of verification, however, simply isn't worth it to most mainstream social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and Foursquare, so they ban members under 13.

To date, Grom Social has almost 7,000 members and is open to users under 15 in the United States and Canada.

This story was provided by TechNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kicked-off-facebook-kid-creates-own-social-network-214814811.html

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Bullied or cajoled ? Butterflies and Wheels

More anti-feminist rage, more pro-feminist pushback. No doubt you?re aware of Thunderfoot?s video, which (for my sins)?I watched. That?s the rage. The pushback is?

Michael Nugent for instance.

Thunderf00t has published a video in which he includes me on a list of people who he claims have been ?bullied or cajoled? into what he calls ?a bullshit PC appeasement position? regarding feminism.

In my case he is referring to an article I wrote last August for Skepchick, without being either bullied or cajoled, as part of a series on speaking out against hate directed at women.

I?m republishing that article here, because it is still important to speak out against hate directed at women, regardless of your opinions about the internal politics of the atheist movement.

The article follows. Notice the sweetly indirect way Nugent points out that Thunderfoot lied about him and all the other men who wrote articles for Amy?s series at Skepchick. Thunderfoot said they were all bullied or cajoled, and that?s a falsehood.

Notice what the lie implies ? that all men hate feminism, that all men naturally agree with Thunderfoot about feminism, that no men would have written articles for that series without being bullied or cajoled ? and that feminists are manipulative bullies.

As Adam Lee put it in a comment on Nugent?s post -

The really bizarre part is how Thunderfoot and others are settling on the position that we can?t be saying this because we actually believe it, that someone must have somehow coerced or blackmailed so many prominent atheist men into speaking out against misogyny. This is black-helicopter territory, folks. I?d love to hear what leverage they think the evil feminists have over so many of us, that they can force us to make statements we don?t truly believe.

PZ for another instance.

It?s a new year, and Thunderf00t hasn?t changed a bit ? he has a new video where he?s apparently ranting about how feminism is poisoning atheism, which I haven?t watched, so I can?t judge. But there are hints that it?s more of the same. It?s been picked up and praised by A Voice For Men.

Here are a few of the amusing reactions that the video elicited from that gang. Well, they would be amusing if they didn?t testify to a deep hatred of women.

Well, now I look upon these women as nothing but Clowns who have deliberately allowed themselves to brainwashed into believing stupid things like the Earth is flat or some other stupid crap. The vomit that spews from their mouths is not just stupid, it is absolutely laughable. I now sit here laughing my head off at what I read. In my own social movements in life, I laugh at the idiotic dialog of the females I come into contact with. It is unbelievable the level of childish trash that issues forth from the mouths of women whose ages range from 20 all the up to nearly 70.

Women, WILL NEVER BE EQUAL TO MEN!

I don?t care how they put it, because the simple overwhelming fact throughout the history of Mankind, is that women have NEVER been equal to men and they never will be.

Will at Skepchick for another instance.

Thunderfoot has published a video (it?s getting rave reviews from the MRA blog A Voice For Men) in which he accuses Skepchick Surly Amy of ?bullying or cajoling? men into contributing to her awesome series of posts ?Speaking out against hate directed at women.? Michael Nugent has a blog post up about it, noting that he was never bullied (or cajoled, which is kind of the opposite of bullying) into writing the article and then reposts the article in question. I?m not going to link to Thunderfoot?s video here, but the link is on Nugent?s post for those with the intestinal fortitude.

I have two major issues with this sort of discourse. First, using ?bullying? to poison the well against people because you disagree with them is the exact opposite of rational. And for people in a community that prides itself on rationality and skeptical/critical thinking, there sure is a whole hell of a lot of this kind of nonsense going on.

The second (and more important) concern that I have about this sort of thing is that it has the effect of diminishing the experiences of people who are actually bullied. It lessens the impact of accusing actual bullies. It?s the same sort of shit that these same people complain about with the use of the word ?misogynist.? They?re right about one thing?labeling every instance of sexism directed at women as misogyny does lessen the impact that that word has. So stop fucking doing it with ?bully.?

Of course poisoning the well is the whole point, so they?re not going to stop.

Source: http://freethoughtblogs.com/butterfliesandwheels/2013/01/bullied-or-cajoled/

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Colo. theater shooting kin reject movie invitation

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) ? Relatives of the majority of people killed in a Colorado movie theater rejected an invitation on Wednesday to attend its reopening later this month, calling it a "disgusting offer."

The parents, grandparents, cousins and widow of nine of the 12 people killed released a letter sent to the theater's owner, Cinemark, in which they criticized the Plano, Texas-based company for not reaching out to the families of victims to offer their condolences. They also said the company refused to meet with them one-on-one without lawyers present.

The families said they were asked to attend an "evening of remembrance" followed by a movie when the Aurora theater reopens on Jan. 17 in invitations sent two days after Christmas.

"Thanks for making what is a very difficult holiday season that much more difficult. Timing is everything and yours is awful," they wrote.

The company had no immediate comment.

Cinemark has been renovating the Aurora theater and plans to re-open it Jan. 17, a move the city's mayor said had widespread support in the community. Gov. John Hickenlooper is among those planning to attend.

The families of some victims have sued Cinemark. The father of the youngest person killed in the shooting, 6-year-old Veronica Moser-Sullivan, is among them. He didn't sign the letter but the girl's grandparents did.

Also Wednesday, prosecutors and defense lawyers said they are ready for a crucial hearing next week in which prosecutors will outline their case against James Holmes, who is charged with killing 12 people and wounding 70 during a midnight showing of the Batman movie "The Dark Night Rises" on July 20.

It starts Monday and is scheduled to run all week. At its conclusion, state District Judge William B. Sylvester will decide if the evidence is sufficient to put Holmes on trial.

During Wednesday's hearing, prosecutors and defense lawyers also discussed with Sylvester a sealed motion from the prosecution that made some reference to witnesses. Sylvester said he planned to rule on it later in the day but wouldn't refer to witnesses by name.

Holmes didn't say anything during the half-hour hearing.

He is charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder and hasn't been asked to enter a plea yet. His lawyers have said he suffers from mental illness.

Next week's preliminary hearing will give the public its first officially sanctioned look at much of the evidence against Holmes.

Sylvester imposed a gag order shortly after Holmes' arrest barring attorneys and investigators from speaking publicly about the case, and many documents have been sealed.

The University of Colorado, where Holmes was a graduate student, has also been tight-lipped about the case.

At prosecutors' request, Sylvester barred the university from releasing records requested by numerous media organizations. Prosecutors argued that the information could jeopardize Holmes' right to a fair trial. Sylvester initially agreed but amended his order last month to allow the release after media organizations objected in court.

Holmes was enrolled in a Ph.D. neuroscience program at the university. Investigators said he began stockpiling firearms and ammunition while taking classes in the spring.

In June, he made threats to a professor and on June 10 filed withdrawal papers after failing a year-end exam, prosecutors said. The next day he saw his school psychiatrist who tried to report him to a campus security committee, according to Holmes' lawyers.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/colo-theater-shooting-kin-reject-movie-invitation-184020439.html

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A tedious New Year for all my readers!

By Ken Y-N ( January 2, 2013 at 01:26) ? Filed under Polls, Rankings

No, that?s not a comment on this blog?s contents (I hope), but instead the theme of a goo Ranking survey into when one feels it tedious spending the New Year holiday at the family home.

Demographics

Between the 5th and 7th of November 2012 1,049 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 58.8% of the sample were female, 10.2% in their teens, 14.6% in their twenties, 27.5% in their thirties, 25.1% in their forties, 11.0% in their fifties, and 11.7% aged sixty or older. Note that the score in the results refers to the relative number of votes for each option, not a percentage of the total sample.

Here?s what I find tedious about Japanese New Year, standing in queues like these for shrines and temples.

Living so far away from home and having few opportunities to visit, there is little I feel is tedious regarding spending the Christmas and New Year holiday there, especially as my parents tend to spoil me, so I can lie in as long as I like but there is always food waiting, washing gets done without my intervention, etc. Perhaps only number 15 gets tedious.

On the other hand, regarding number 13 there was something my father said about 13 Christmases ago that I think I remember as being tedious at the time, but it kicked off a chain of events that resulted in me getting married. And I still haven?t forgiven the bugger yet. (No no, darling, that was a joke!)

Ranking results

Q1: What are the tedious things about spending the New Year holiday at the family home? (Sample size=1,049)

Rank	?	Score
1	Television is only on for New Year-themed programmes	100
2	There?s nowhere to go to enjoy myself	40.3
3	I?ve no time for myself	37.7
4=	It?s much colder than my own place	28.6
4=	The only thing fun is movies and dramas, etc	28.6
6	Having to give the children otoshidama, New Year gifts of cash	26.3
7	New Year food	24.3
8	Being made to do the spring cleaning	18.0
9	Horrible internet connection	17.1
10	Talking with mother	13.4
11	Talking with relatives? children	12.6
12	Being taken along to do the shopping	11.4
13	Talking with father	10.3
14	Being asked about boyfriends/girlfriends, marriage plans, etc	10.0
15	Being asked about how I?m keeping myself (food, etc)	9.1
16	Being arm-twisted into filial piety	8.6
17	Having to look after the relatives? children	8.3
18	Talking with the neighbours	8.0
19	Talking with my siblings	7.1
20	Talking with my grannie	3.7

Read more on: goo ranking,new year

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhatJapanThinks/~3/Um6f-HuD_E4/

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Cute quotient overload: eyes-on with the Street Fighter x Sanrio Fightstick for Xbox 360

Thought the holidays were over? So did we. Imagine our surprise, then, when we returned to the office to find one last, special package lying in wait: Mad Catz Street Fighter x Sanrio Arcade Fightstick Pro. As ridiculous explosions of cute go, this one takes the sugoku kawaii cake -- even the box is a Hello Kitty collector's wet dream. Obvious overall otaku appeal aside, Xbox 360 gamers interested in the Fightstick Pro will find an eight button "authentic Japanese-style Sanwa Denshi" layout, switches for button lock / unlock and three joystick configuration settings (d-pad, left or right analog stick), turbo functionality, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack upfront and a storage compartment housing the 13-foot long USB cable around back. Really though, no amount of English words will do this kitsch item justice. So check out the gallery below for a photo tour of this adorable collision of anime worlds.

Gallery: Street Fighter x Sanrio Fightstick for Xbox 360 eyes-on

Filed under: Gaming

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/swPW1adRksw/

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Avis buying Zipcar in $500 million all-cash deal

10 hrs.

Paul A. Eisenstein , The Detroit Bureau

The car-share business has just gotten a big vote of confidence from rent-a-car giant Avis, which is buying Zipcar for $491.2 million.?

The move is the biggest deal yet in the nascent market for alternatives to traditional automotive rental?systems where users might seek a set of wheels for trip of as little as an hour. Founded in 2000, Zipcar is generally seen as the leader in the car-share market and now claims 760,000 members.??

The Detroit Bureau:?Ford Focus Expected to Be #1 Best-Seller for 2012

?By combining with Zipcar, we will significantly increase our growth potential, both in the United States and internationally, and will position our company to better serve a greater variety of consumer and commercial transportation needs,? Avis Chairman and CEO Ronald Nelson said in a statement accompany the Wednesday morning announcement.?

The car-sharing concept has begun to revolutionize the rental business, attracting young and often affluent buyers, especially in urban areas and around college campuses. Ford Motor Co. last year announced a partnership that placed hundreds of new Ford Focus models on campuses around the country, an alliance the maker hoped would eventually convince students to buy the car once they graduated.

The challenge for many of the new competitors in the field has been to raise capital to expand, industry experts note.? Zipcar has so far spread into 20 metropolitan markets in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

?It?s a fact of life in those places that people want the convenience of a car but don?t want the hassle of owning one,? noted Dr. David Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research, or CAR, based in Ann Arbor, ?so, I think the carsharing concept is going to work.??

The Detroit Bureau:?Approval of Toyota Settlement Doesn?t End Unintended Acceleration Nightmare

The most significant difference between a car-sharing service and a traditional rental company like Avis Budget Group Inc. is in providing community-based access to vehicles that can be rented on a short-term basis, rather than by the day or week.

?We?re targeting a generation that only knows how to buy music by the song so paying for a car by the hour is a natural for them,? Scott Griffith, Zipcar?s chairman and CEO, told TheDetroitBureau.com in an earlier interview.

Several key executives, including Zipcar Chairman Griffith and Chief Operating Officer Mark Norman, are expected to remain with the firm, though they will relocate to new headquarters in Boston.

Zipcar went public in 2011 and in November said it anticipated ending its fiscal year with its first annual profit of $4 million. It had ended the third quarter with a 15% jump in revenue, which climbed to $78 million.

Observers were not entirely surprised by the announcement, especially in light of the consolidation in the overall rental industry.? Rival Hertz just last month locked down a takeover of the Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group.?

The Detroit Bureau:?Beyonce to Get New C7 Corvette at Super Bowl

Avis said it expects significant ?synergies? as part of the deal.? It could ease pressure on Zipcar on weekends and other occasions when it struggles to maintain a large enough fleet to meet demand. It could lead the car-sharing company to expand into other metropolitan markets.

Avis itself sees the opportunity to save between $50 million and $70 million through the acquisition ? for which it will pay $12.25 for Zipcar shares, a 49% premium over the December 31, 2012 closing price of $8.24. ?That is still a significant decline from the strike price of $18 a share for Zipcar stock during its April 2011 IPO.

Under Avis, Zipcar will face a number of other car-sharing services, some looking to take even more radical approaches, such as RelayRides.? That services concept not only skips the traditional busy rental counter but allows individual vehicle owners to put their cars, trucks and crossovers on the market for short-term rentals.?

Last summer, RelayRides announced a partnership with General Motors? OnStar service that lets a renter access a vehicle without having to first connect with the owner to get the keys.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/avis-buying-zipcar-500-million-all-cash-deal-1C7785094

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NHL, union dig in for a long day of talks

AAA??Jan. 1, 2013?12:32 PM ET
NHL, union dig in for a long day of talks
By IRA PODELL??By IRA PODELL

FILE - This Aug. 14, 2012, file photo shows NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, left, and Bill Daly, deputy commissioner and chief legal officer, following collective bargaining talks in Toronto. The NHL is set to get back to the bargaining table Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, with the locked-out players? association after a new contract offer from the league broke the ice between the fighting sides. "We delivered to the union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement Friday, Dec. 28. "We are not prepared to discuss the details of our proposal at this time." (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young, File)

FILE - This Aug. 14, 2012, file photo shows NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, left, and Bill Daly, deputy commissioner and chief legal officer, following collective bargaining talks in Toronto. The NHL is set to get back to the bargaining table Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012, with the locked-out players? association after a new contract offer from the league broke the ice between the fighting sides. "We delivered to the union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement Friday, Dec. 28. "We are not prepared to discuss the details of our proposal at this time." (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 6, 2012, file photo, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, right, and deputy commissioner Bill Daly speak to reporters in New York. The NHL made a new proposal to the players' association, hoping to spark talks to end the long lockout and save the hockey season. Daly said Friday, Dec. 28, 2012, the league made its offer Thursday and was waiting for a response. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The NHL and the union are gearing up for a full day of talks as the deadline nears to reach a deal to save the hockey season.

After the players' association presented a counterproposal Monday, the sides made plans Tuesday for talks that were expected to take up much of the day.

Small groups from each side are to meet or confer by conference call during the afternoon about provisions regarding a potential collective bargaining agreement. A full get-together of negotiating teams wasn't expected at the league office before 5 p.m. EST.

Monday's talks marked the first time the NHL and union met in person since Dec. 13. Commissioner Gary Bettman says a deal must be reached by Jan. 11 so a 48-game season can begin eight days later.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-01-NHL%20Labor/id-7158987e357b4d6b90f399aad730a9f4

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