“Frankly, we made a mistake in the last version and issued some unclear language,” Zuckerberg told Lauer. “Our intent is that people own their own information. One of the things that makes Facebook really special is it’s a service that people are using to put up information that they want to share with people that often is very personal, private, intimate.”

If a member decides to leave Facebook and takes down his or her page, he added, “None of that information will be shared with anyone going forward.”

Chalk up one for the good guys.

In fact, all I had to do was search “stimulus” in the Facebook search tool and these two ads came up.

Now I am all about using the Internet to make a quick buck, so I figured this might be worth some investigation. I clicked one of the links on my profile (not the advertisements pictured above) and I came across this website:

http://www.kevin-gets-grants.com/?t202id=51954&t202kw=300×250_1

Meet Kevin Hoeffer. He claims the following on his “blog”.

My name is Kevin Hoeffer, and I started this blog because I want everyone to know how I went from being broke to completely paying off my debt in 30 days by spending a few minutes filling out a form online that qualified me for a Free $12,000 Financial Aid Check from the US Government.

Interesting concept. Kevin’s story may not be unlike your own; underpaid, overworked, deep in credit card debt and habitually broke.

It turns out that Kevin’s friend would give him some valuable advice on how to get money from the government that he would never have to pay back. Kevin followed his buddy’s advice and received a check for twelve thousand dollars in less then thirty days.

Sounds easy enough right?

The blog even has a bunch of user comments all claiming large monetary gains in short periods of times.

The user karmasnow claims: I did use the tip. I got my grant check in less than 2 weeks. It wasn’t exactly 30 days!

Ravenfly really hit it big: Thanks I just got a check for $80,000 to pay off my mortgage. Thanks. It works.

Make note of this one:

Aojon: I want to add my testimonial on this blog. Here you go Kevin. “I was wary about working from home, because I’d heard horror stories about the Internet. But I’d heard that there were rounds of layoffs coming at my company, so I figured I should do something to try and have a backup should the worst happen. I was amazed when I got your kit. It started working right away. By the time the layoffs happened, I was already making more money from Google than I was in my job. Now I apply to grants full time and have a great income.

As luck, or my obsession, would have it, I was also perusing one of my favorite mixed martial arts news sites. I was reading through a column when I come across an advertisement for another grant website. The guy in the advertisement looked exactly like Kevin. I clicked the ad, and was led to this website:

http://www.jeffsgrantstory.com/

Once I found this link I came to one of two conclusions.

1) Kevin Hoeffer is a scam artist.
2) Kevin Hoeffer’s wife is an adulterer who likes to cheat on her husband with men that look exactly like Kevin . (See blog links for images)

You have to dismiss the latter.

Jeff’s blog carries virtually the same theme as Kevin’s blog; it even contains all of the same photos of Kevin, his wife and kid, all while using a completely different name.

The real kick is that the comments on Kevin’s blog are nearly identical to Jeff’s blog.

I did use the tip. I got my grant check in less than 2 weeks. It wasn’t exactly 30 days!
-karmasnow

Thanks I just got a check for $80,000 to pay off my mortgage. Thanks. It works.
-Ravensfly

At least he was clever enough to change the user name on this comment:

I want to add my testimonial on this blog. Here you go Jeff. “I was wary about working from home, because I’d heard horror stories about the Internet. But I’d heard that there were rounds of layoffs coming at my company, so I figured I should do something to try and have a backup should the worst happen. I was amazed when I got your kit. It started working right away. By the time the layoffs happened, I was already making more money from Google than I was in my job. Now I apply to grants full time and have a great income.
-Misty339

This same comment was posted by user Aojon on Kevin’s grant blog.

In your face Kevin, or Jeff, or whoever, you have been exposed.

A simple google search for “Kevin’s grant blog” will provide you with a third link:

http://www.jeffsgrantblog.com/

Three blogs, same guy, same picture, similar story, different names and all swindle.

Kevin Hoeffer
http://www.kevin-gets-grants.com/?t202id=51954&t202kw=300×250_1

Jeff Donahue
http://www.jeffsgrantstory.com/

Jeff Hoeffer
http://www.jeffsgrantblog.com

I like how he mixes the naming convention up.

Long story short, don’t fall for these dumb scams. We are an era of 20-something adults who want results yesterday, not today, and these schemes might be enticing to some of us. We could all use an extra buck, but protect the cash you do have by not falling for these cons.

Mark Zuckerberg released the following statement today on the Facebook blog:

“A couple of weeks ago, we revised our terms of use hoping to clarify some parts for our users. Over the past couple of days, we received a lot of questions and comments about the changes and what they mean for people and their information. Based on this feedback, we have decided to return to our previous terms of use while we resolve the issues that people have raised.”

I am curious to see how this plays out. If your privacy is a major concern, you may want to consider deleting your current account and sign back up when the terms of service are finalized.

A few days ago, Facebook modified its terms of use. The new terms grant Facebook permanent rights to users’ photos, wall posts and other information even after a user closes their account.

That means any status update, photo, wall post, note etc. will be owned by Facebook .forever. That is kind of alarming.

In an effort to make the language of the terms easier to read, Facebook is in the process of modifying it’s terms of use. The bottom line is that you have to be more careful then ever if you wish to keep your Facebook account. If someone tags you in something inappropriate, then simply untag it. Watch what you upload and what you write and you should be ok.

If before your 26th birthday you’d accomplished all that (in front of a potential, international, satellite audience of millions, no less), they’d probably call you “Prime Time” too.

If you saw “Prime Time” Sam Roberts on the streets of his hometown of Mamaroneck, NY, you might mistake him for an average 25-year-old kid from Westchester County. He’s a college graduate with a serious girlfriend, a day job, hoodie collection, wrestling obsession and a huge Afro.

But on Saturday night, this local boy will put on the headphones and be heard all across North America when he co-hosts the 4th installment of “Special Delivery Starring Sam and Dave,” live on The Virus XM 202/Sirius 197. Sam Roberts sits along side “East Side” David McDonald of “The Ron and Fez Show”

The duo bills the show as the future of radio and it will give you an earful of chuckles as they discuss “Star Wars,” “Degrassi” and video game champion Billy Mitchell.

For more information about the show, join the Special Delivery Facebook fan page here

Or Find them on myspace here:

And keep an eye on 25 Sense for an upcoming interview with Roberts.

Check out “Special Delivery starring Sam and Dave” this Saturday at 7PM EST on XM202/Sirius 197.

Special thanks to Germain “G Baby” Lussier for helping me out with this blog.

To hear previous episodes and to get involved with the “Special Delivery” online community, visit SpecialDeliveryfans.com here.

Facebook has not issued an official reason, but the social network site has disabled the Whopper Sacrifice application. 233,906 friends were sacrificed before facebook pulled the plug on the application.

Burger King must issue at least 23,390 free Whopper coupons.

Earlier in the week my co-worker, and eligible bachelor, Chris Serico posted a facebook status that turned me on to WhopperSacrifice.com. If you install the Whopper sacrifice application to your facebook account and delete ten friends, you will receive a coupon for a free Whopper.

I installed it and was immediately able to trim some excess fat off of my facebook friend list. A few girls that I don’t even know requested me when I initially opened the account. Sayonara to them. Immediately I was 60 percent closer to a flame broiled treat. A few people from high school didn’t make the cut either. I didn’t talk to them back then, nor do I talk to them now. See ya. Whopper time for me.

The application itself is clever, yet does not run as efficiently as I’d like. It was slow and clunky at times.

The application imports your friend list. You can click one of your friends and the application will allow you to delete them. It then takes the default facebook photo of the “sacrificed friend” and burns it in front of you. Pretty cool.

In this case, Kari bites the dust.


Like I said earlier, the application runs a bit slow so it took me about ten minutes to delete ten friends. Upon my tenth deletion, this screen appeared in the main window of the application:

Sweet! Take me to my free Whopper! I clicked the link and was redirected to the following screen:

Disappointment immediately ensues. I see I have to provide my mailing information in order to receive a hard copy coupon for a free Whopper. Complete bummer. I totally expected to be able to print out my coupon, not wait 2-4 weeks for stupid snail mail. I find this as the only flaw in the campaign. The generation that this campaign appeals to wants everything here and now. We want it today, not yesterday. I really should have been able to print out a coupon, but what are you going to do?

As I publish this blog, 219,416 friends have been “sacrificed”. That means 21,416 free Whopper coupons must be issued. If a Whopper runs about four bucks a pop, then almost 88,000 dollars worth of Whoppers will be consumed on BK’s dime.

This is a very clever campaign to say the least. I enjoyed the whole process and I hope am curious to see whether or not Burger King achieves the desired results from this marketing strategy.

Until then, I’ll wait 2-4 weeks to “have it my way”.

I know I can find ten people to trim off of my facebook friend list and I bet you can too. According to the website , almost 200,000 facebook friends have been “sacrificed”. I keep checking my friend count to see if I have been defriended. So far I have evaded the cut.

(Photo:Business Wire)

Patterson wants to put a tax on or propose a tax or increase on the following:

ipod tax – Taxing downloaded music and other “digitally delivered entertainment services” by four percent.

Gas – I couldn’t find any numbers on this, but now that gas is finally affordable again, why not drive the price back up? Way to go.

Taxi Rides – Thank god I can swipe a credit card in most NYC cabs now.

Cable and Satellite TV service – I can hardly read my bill as it is with all of the imposed taxes, let’s add a few more.

Sports Tickets – Kill me now. It’s bad enough that it’s near impossible to get an affordable ticket to any sporting even worth watching live, so let’s slap more fees associated with acquiring a ticket.

Cigars and Beer – I hate sin taxes.

Health spa visits – This is totally not fabulous.

During difficult economic times, it’s been historically documented that entertainment has provided people with some piece of mind; a way to escape the anxiety of debt and unemployment. Now the government wants to tax that. Ugh.

(Photo Courtesy of AP)

In 2008 alone, the United States government is providing 1.3 trillion dollars to companies who have burned through cash hand over foot.

So far , the following companies are being provided with aid:
Bear Stearns – 30 milllion
Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac – 200 billion
American International Group (A.I.G.) – 150 billion
Auto Industry – 25 Billion
Troubled Asset Relief Program – 700 Billion
Citigroup – $247.5 billion

OVER A TRILLION DOLLARS! Dr. Evil has a pinky in his mouth somewhere.

I’ve made some pretty smart decisions with my money, like finishing college, purchasing a car, getting out of my parents house, etc. I’ve made a few careless financial decisions as well. Nothing in the billion-dollar range, thankfully, but being a bachelor in White Plains, NY tends to add up and I think I am entitled to a little financial relief. If the government can bail out banks and auto makers, why can’t they throw a couple of bucks my way?

Maybe there is some type of application or online form that I can fill out. I mean if companies who are supposed to be fiscally responsible are seeking and receiving billions of dollars due to poor and irresponsible financial and business practices, I am sure the government can throw a couple big ones at the big guy.

If anyone comes across such an application, feel free to send it my way. I’ll be waiting.

(Photo Courtesy of AP)