The Net and nothing but the Net

Your Children on Facebook? This is a must read

JohnF — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:09:05 +0000

Even after 15 years in child protection, I was shocked by what I encountered when I spent just five minutes on Facebook posing as a 14-year-old girl. Within 90 seconds, a middle-aged man wanted to perform a sex act in front of me.

I was deluged by strangers asking stomach-churning questions about my sexual experience. I was pressured to meet men with whom I’d never before communicated.

So I wasn’t surprised that a vulnerable teenager, Ashleigh Hall, was groomed on Facebook before being brutally raped and killed.

Australians favorite recipe

JohnF — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:30:12 +0000

IT’S 5pm and busy Australian mums and dads are searching online for inspiration on what to cook for dinner.

What are they looking up? How to roast a chicken, do a beef stir-fry or marinade pork cutlets?

No, they’re searching for zucchini slice.

Strange though it may seem, the dish is No. 1 on the recipe site taste.com.au, with almost 40,000 copies downloaded in the website’s three-year history.

Following zucchini slice, the nation’s next favourite recipes are banana bread, gingerbread men and classic shepherd’s pie.

Other recipes that make it into the Taste top 10 are equally old-fashioned favourites cupcakes, scones and Anzac biscuits.

Taste.com.au editor Syrie Wongkaew said the online popularity of items such as scones and Anzac biscuits reflected the continued enthusiasm among home cooks for food “like your grandma or mum used to make”.

“While Australians are willing to embrace new food trends, people tend to be a bit nostalgic and they want homemade food that tastes good and reminds them of their childhoods,” Ms Wongkaew said.

Another factor in the popularity of these recipes could be that most of them are missing from trendy or glossy cookbooks.

Are you scared of Google

JohnF — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 05:08:59 +0000

One Sydney web development professional, who did not want to be named because he does business with Google, says: “People are very scared of it.

If you’re not listed in Google, you’re f—ed. But they keep changing the ground rules.” Google regularly updates its secret search algorithm, which can dramatically affect a site’s ranking, but says its searches are not rigged and sponsored links are clearly marked.

Thought this was an interesting comment. I suppose I am not scared of Google as such, but when they do change their ground rules, it makes life difficult.

One of my sites was receiving, on average 800 visitors per day. Since one of these Google changes took place, I am now flat out getting 100 visitors to the site.

Of course less visitors less adsense revenue.

Parents should act on bullying

JohnF — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:45:21 +0000

PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd has urged parents to take matters into their own hands if they are unsatisfied with the way their child’s school handles a case of bullying.

“Parents have to exercise their responsibilities as the carer of their kids,” Mr Rudd said speaking on ABC radio this morning.

Mr Rudd said ideally bullying should be sorted out between the children, and then if that did not work by the teacher or principal.

“That means if things are going wrong, things are going bad and your kid is terrified about going to school, that is unacceptable and you’ve got to do something about it,” he said.

“If it comes to it then you’ve got to actually pick up the phone and talk to the parent of another kid, I would see that there’s nothing wrong with that at all.”

Mr Rudd said he “would not object … one bit” to a parent of a victim who contacted the parents of a school bully.

Wheretofind

Whoopi Goldberg to increase awareness of bladder leakage

JohnF — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:16:07 +0000

WHOOPI Goldberg has a wee problem and she’s tackling it head on by enlisting the help of several “great women in history.”

Goldberg, 54, is the face of Poise’s 1in3 Like Me initiative which aims to increase women’s awareness of bladder leakage, but this is no ordinary campaign.

The Sister Act star, who has played many characters in her time, impersonates the Statue of Liberty, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Joan of Arc and a host of other famous historical figures for a series of comedic routines.

It’s all in the name of talking about what Goldberg calls “the spritz,” or that “little bit of water” that is otherwise known as Light Bladder Leakage.

“Did LBL slow down these great women in history?” asks Goldberg.

Wheretofind

Tsunami Threat for Australia h…

JohnF — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 02:13:23 +0000

Tsunami Threat for Australia http://fb.me/6eDdqF7

Sponsor deals for Jessica Wats…

JohnF — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 02:10:35 +0000

Sponsor deals for Jessica Watson, could make her a very rich teenager http://fb.me/68LyYha

Raining fish in the Northern T…

JohnF — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 02:08:57 +0000

Raining fish in the Northern Territory http://fb.me/5MEcDCY

http://fb.me/5Qp3qz4

JohnF — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 02:08:16 +0000

http://fb.me/5Qp3qz4

Scammers targeting insulation program

JohnF — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 09:02:00 +0000

POLICE are warning people to be on the lookout for scammers after reports of people trying to sell insulation under the government’s discontinued home insulation program.

A family from Canberra’s south reported that three men came to their home and tried to get them to sign documents relating to home insulation installation.

Whilst at the property, it is alleged, one of the men acted inappropriately towards the 74-year-old woman living there.

ACT Police reminded the public that the home insulation program was halted on February 19 and the government rebate was no longer available.

They urge anyone approached by people claiming the rebate is still available or by anyone offering deals that seem too good to be true to contact police immediately.

Further information is available on the SCAMwatch website at www.scamwatch.gov.au.

Wheretofind