Social Networks

In past Fandom Flames, I’ve made reference to rarepairs, and how shipping one, or two, or twenty, can make you feel out of touch with modern-day fandom. Of course, the rarepair has always been there in fandom; dating back to the days when we all loved Harry Potter, people openly wondered all the way back in 2005 if we should be giving ships like Severus Snape/Lucius Malfoy the time of day. There’s an essay, “Slash is where you find it,” archived back in 2001, which argues that watching things with slash goggles on is more enjoyable than with them off and that in turn, doing that opens your eyes up to things you couldn’t have possibly imagined. Still, there are a few consequences to the freedom of truly not giving a crap of what’s popular brings. For one, if you’re a fan creator, your works, no matter how beautiful or poetic, will get ignored over the more popular ships. I’ve experienced this personally: I’ve seen maybe ten or twenty notes tops on Tumblr for gifsets of ships unknown to most and reviled by the few who recognize it. A friend of mine recently posted a beautiful fic for a rare-rarepair…

There are fears children as young as 14 are getting access to drugs through social media. A new investigation has found dozens of accounts advertising the sale of drugs like cocaine and cannabis. Within 10 minutes of setting up an Instagram and Snapchat account, close to 50 accounts advertising the sale of drugs were discovered. Some have thousands of followers and post menus of what they have available that day. Many dealers offer a pick up or delivery service - raising concerns about how easy it is for young people to access drugs. Access Brendan Cummins, a youth worker Familibase youth project in Ballyfermot in Dublin, says it’s very easy to get drugs on social media: "The days of meeting someone on a corner, or someone having a spot they sell drugs from, is long gone… from the 90s, nearly. "Access is very easy, especially for young people." The EU's Drugs Agency is warning social media is playing a bigger part in how people get their drugs during the pandemic. Crackdown Many of those running these accounts use slang terms and emojis to avoid detection - something the social media companies are trying to crack down on. Instagram says it's…

 The Linden Police Department is investigating a reported large party that resulted in a male and a female being transported to the hospital for medical attention. Police Chief Scott Sutter said at 11:27 p.m., Saturday, March 20, an individual in Livingston County called 911 to report a large party they saw on Snapchat or Instagram. They called 911 because they were concerned about large gatherings and COVID-19. Sutter said from their preliminary investigation, police responded to a home in the 200 block of Rustic Trail on a reported large party and someone needing medical attention.  As police arrived, they observed several teens leaving the home and a resident at the home telling the partygoers to leave. Sutter said there were an estimated 25 to 40 people at the home and many had fled before police arrived. One juvenile female and one juvenile male were transported to Ascension Genesys for medical attention. The police chief said the homeowners were out of town and an older brother arrived home after work, saw the party and attempted to make the teens leave. Sutter said police are continuing to interview the teens and the case remains under investigation. From what they know so far, Sutter said there were…

Sometimes it feels like Facebook is caught in a loop. The social media giant is again under fire for acquiring a competitor, except this time it’s not another major social network like Instagram or WhatsApp. Instead, UK regulators have called out Facebook for monopolizing the world’s GIFs.At issue is Facebook’s May 2020 acquisition of Giphy, the world’s leading GIF library. Giphy is the default GIF search engine on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Snapchat, TikTok, and Apple’s iMessage. It claims to serve over 10 billion GIF results to more than 700 million people every day, dwarfing the monthly totals of its nearest rivals Tenor (12 billion results for 300 million people each month) and Gfycat (500 million views from 180 million people each month).The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) released a statement yesterday (March 25) claiming the deal “raises competition concerns in relation to digital advertising and the supply of GIFs.” The pronouncement is the culmination of a two-month preliminary investigation launched in January.It might not be immediately obvious how Facebook and Giphy compete. Giphy touts itself as the world’s second largest search engine, and founder Alex Chung says “the whole goal from the beginning was to see if…

‘New Visions, New Rhythms’ “Azulado,” oil on panel, is one of Jaap Eduard Helder’s pieces on display at Moss Galleries in “New Visions, New Rhythms.” Contributed / Moss Galleries Dance Ongoing “El Lobo y La Paloma,” a Portland-based Bourassa Dance production, rent or purchase online through Vimeo On Demand. Exhibits “A Congregation of Birds,” opens from 3:30-6 p.m. April 2 and runs through May 15 at Chocolate Church Arts Center. Free. Visit chocolatechurcharts.org/gallery for details and COVID-19 protocols. “Aestival: Sun Drawing Water” by Nathaniel Meyer, through April 11 at Moss Galleries, 251 U.S. Route 1, Falmouth. elizabethmossgalleries.com. Art4Good, April 8, 15, 22 and 29, focuses on how the arts can be used to make the world a better place, presented by Chocolate Church Arts Center. Free. Visit chocolatechurcharts.org/livestreams for details. Creative Portland’s “2020 Vision: Past, Present, & Future” online show available through April 2021. creativeportland.com. “East End in Bloom,” installation of flowers at East End Community School through May. 195 North St., Portland. “Kajak!”, virtual exhibit through May at Peary-MacMillan Artic Museum at Bowdoin College in Brunswick. bowdoin.edu/arctic-museum/exhibits/2020/kayak-exhibition.html. The Lemon Block Collective, featuring 10 new artists, 150 Maine St., Brunswick. facebook.com/thelemontblock/. “Mixing It Up,” first exhibit at newly reopened Maine…

Have you noticed that the apps on your Samsung phone are immediately disabled as soon as they are running in the background? It has to do with the battery saving features that Samsung has built into the One UI case. Fortunately this can be adjusted, in this article we explain how to do it. Battery saver on Samsung phones Samsung’s Android software package allows apps to be disabled by default when not in active use. With this block, Samsung ensures that the power consumption of applications is limited. So that’s not even a bad measure of a phone’s battery life. Still, the battery saver in One UI can have unwanted effects. Take notifications, for example: some Android apps are limited by battery saving so they can’t send notifications to the user, or only too late. Another side effect is how Samsung immediately closes apps as soon as you quit them. After closing an app, the battery saver is applied immediately, which means the apps must load again upon restart. While apps typically only take a few seconds to load, it can cause irritation if you have to switch between apps often. Fortunately, this can be fixed, we show you how…

Photo by AronPW/Creative Commons When streaming on Twitch, ensuring that there is minimal delay between your streaming software and Twitch’s feed is critical for being up to date with your chat. As discoverability is so difficult for new streamers on the platform, making a good first impression on any new viewers is vital for growth, and any delays between your OBS and the Twitch feed could be enough to turn away anyone new checking out the stream.  As such, you will want to keep this delay down to a minimum so that you can give the best experience to your viewers for your stream. To do this, there are some measures that you can take in your streaming software to help delay any delays.  One of the first aspects that you should check is your video bitrate. This is one of the main aspects of streaming that can cause a strain on both your computer and your internet connection. If you find that your internet is not fast enough to support the bitrate at which you have set, then lowering it will take less of your upload bandwidth to process and send to Twitch smoothly.  The table below offers a…

Early internet utopians predicted that the world wide web would usher in a new era of enlightenment. With unlimited information at our fingertips and the ability to instantly communicate with people from all around the planet, these people believed, the internet would fundamentally transform our species for the better. Anyway, it’s 2021 and the internet has indeed changed us forever, but mostly in that we can now spend our days doing stuff like watching a stop sign in Salem, Massachusetts that nobody stops at.As Kotaku reports, Stopsigncam is a Twitch channel that’s been streaming a Salem intersection where, its title estimates, “98.73% of Vehicles don’t stop.” Apparently this stream has been going “since at least last year,” just documenting the many cars that pass the sign, hardly ever stopping. It gained more attention recently, though, after the YouTube channel JhbTeam let people know about the feed through a TikTok and summary video where it’s called “one of the best streams in existence.”Now, Stopsigncam has around 150,000 followers on Twitch who just hang out in its chat section betting and commenting on which cars will stop and which will drive right through the intersection. The most devoted stop sign fans have…

It’s difficult to quantify exactly how important trust is for an entrepreneur. For business owners, a lack of trust is your biggest expense. It may take years for a Founder or an Executive to develop the trust of his or her employees, but only moments to lose. Without trust, transactions cannot occur, influence is destroyed, leaders can lose teams and salespeople can lose sales. The list goes on. Trust and relationships, much more than money, are the currency of business. Siddharth Nayak is one such entrepreneur who has this Currency of Business in abundance.There are many reasons why Siddharth Nayak is trusted by not just the top private companies of India but also various government bodies for their tech projects, who want to outsource or want advice over. Apart from this, many potential entrepreneurs approach Siddharth regarding guidance and execution over their ideas. Many clients of his have seen their app ideas go from Ideation to IPO stage with Siddharth.From building the technology to help his clients raise Investments in order to expand the venture, Siddharth has helped various successful companies and truly knows how to build a Successful App or Internet Company.“There are a lot of misconceptions about what…

Spectrum Health said it has concluded its investigation and taken "corrective action" after photos taken in operating rooms accompanied by insensitive comments were posted to an Instagram account linked to 35 medical residents at the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based system.  A Spectrum spokesperson said patients have been informed of the incidents. Becker's did not receive a response about what the corrective measures taken with employees involved in the since-deactivated Instagram account entailed. WOOD-TV, the NBC affiliate for Grand Rapids, aired a segment about the OB-GYN residents' Instagram account March 12. The account was not officially affiliated with 14-hospital Spectrum Health, although the residents were employees of the system, and photos were taken in Spectrum operating rooms.  Since-deleted posts included a photo of a physician holding an organ removed in a cancer operation. "The other game we play in the OR is guess that weight," the poster of the organ picture wrote. "It applies to much more than just babies. As always, 'Price is Right' rules apply so if you go over then you're out!"  At least one patient was visible in a post on the operating table. Spectrum Health shared the following statement with Becker's March 24: "We completed a thorough…