Top 20 Facebook Messages: My Hit List

fb top 20 messages Top 20 Facebook Messages: My Hit List

image credit: By Me :)

The Power of a Pic

It’s incredible the effect a Facebook profile picture has on people. When you upload or update one [depending on your privacy settings], your entire list of “friends” gets to know about it – which in turn usually results in a pleasant bombardment of either approving messages and thumbs up’s or sarcastic remarks; but, let’s be honest…you generally enjoy getting them.

However [and once again depending on the settings you have], “the others” or the non-friends, also get their shot at you (whether you update or not). But these guys go straight to your inbox. And here, you will read words that will either put a smile on your face or bring tears to your eyes from laughing so hard! You will be serenaded or even worshiped; you will come out to seem as Shakespear’s muse or Megan Fox’s twin sister; you will get anything from phone number requests and marriage proposals to the ever so popular “let’s chat on MSN”, “are you a model?”, “are we related?” and “we have 33 friends in common, do we know each other?”.

Ahhh yes, the incredible power of a profile picture! And although you know that the message has probably been sent to another 1000 women just like you, what you do from there is completely up to you. As for me, I smile, laugh, smirk, zap, whatever… and then… I click NEXT.

Mind you, your picture doesn’t even have to be great. You don’t need to look like a super model (although I’m sure you’d see your inbox crash if you did); it pretty much doesn’t matter what you look like, because after all, there are tastes to suit every palate and drinks to quench every kind of thirst.

Should I or Should I Not?

I actually went back and forth a hundred times in my head before deciding to actually write this post and another hundred times before pressing PUBLISH. I’m not the type who reveals stuff about others, and I have no intention of doing so – EVER [about the people I know]! But I thought it would be fun to read some of the more creative messages I’ve received from people I don’t know since I’ve been on Facebook. They’re all anonymous of course but in case you read one that sounds familiar then… ooops, sorry. I won’t tell if you don’t ;)!

Here they are!  nittyGriddy’s Top 20 Inbox Messages (in no particular order):

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Are you for real? Cause either way you sound like Prince Freakin' Charming!

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LOL!!!

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Kinda' sounds like a song. Either way thank you - very sweet.

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Am I sitting at a bar? Is this pick up line from a movie?

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I think you're the true poet my friend, not me!

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Thank you Dr. Freud.

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What? Me make confusion!

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This one's actually from a girl. Thanks, but no thanks!

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A rebel at heart! Song or poem?

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I say No!

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You have strange name too! Can't help you, but keep searching and ye shall find what you seek.

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Routine? What you say?

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My personal favorite. Thank you Dear Brotha'!

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I think: 1) I'm not Egyptian. 2) Good luck! 3) What the heck is a mature friendship?

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One word for you: DICTIONARY!

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You didn't disturb me. Very kind message - thank you.

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Huh?

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Do you mean COLOR? Thanks - but a bit creepy!

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Thank you very much. But unfortunately, I NO agree.

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(In French) Impressive CV. Well spoken. Eloquently written. But sounds like a personal ad in the classifieds.

There you have it people. My Top 20 Hit List!

Do you have any good FB messages worth sharing? Or anything to say about these? Post your comments.


The Lebanese Blogosphere: Blogs to Blog About!

Being relatively new to the blogosphere, I tend to discover and learn new things about blogging everyday. Not only that, but the amount of random knowledge I’ve accumulated over the last couple of months (from researching), is simply ridiculous; in a good and valuable sort of way. The best part though, is that I come across new and different blogs all the time; some, I quickly scan whereas others, I deem worthy of reading and sharing. This post is the first of many to come – about blogs that I think are worth blogging about!

On that note, I would like to share with you 3 blogs that recently grabbed my attention. They’re extremely different from one another and each is unique in its’ own way. However, they do have one thing in common; one degree of separation. Each one led me to the next through either a post or a blogroll. You can even say that it was somewhat of a domino effect.

YallaStartup

ys logo The Lebanese Blogosphere: Blogs to Blog About!I was in a casual meeting last week with a few of the folks over at Cre8mania [one of the top-notch multi-media design studios I know and have worked with], when one of their ‘techies’ showed me YallaStartup;  a site which “aims to foster early stage entrepreneurship in the MENA region.” They focus on knowledge sharing, community building and mentorship as well as assist you in finding fruitful investments.

My Opinion:

A useful and instructive blog with a comprehensive and interactive Q&A section as well as several “ask the expert” posts – with guest authors answering relevant questions.

To learn more about entrepreneurship, click here.

Maya’s Amalgam

book cover MZ 224x300 The Lebanese Blogosphere: Blogs to Blog About!While reading bits and pieces of YallaStartup, I came across a blogger they mentioned, Maya Zankoul, whose fantastic art work was showcased in one of their most recent posts. This super talented 22 year old girl is a Lebanese Graphic/Web Designer and Illustrator whose knack for artistic expression and creativity is simply wonderful. Her colorful and comical sketches are interpretations of her personal life occurrences which I dare say ring true for many of us.

My Opinion:

Extremely entertaining and artistic. If you’re looking to hire a freelance designer with a sense of humor and originality, don’t waste any more time – Maya’s your girl!

To check out Maya’s [awesome] Amalgam, click here.

Qifa Nabki

 The Lebanese Blogosphere: Blogs to Blog About!While going through Maya’s list of blogs she likes and supports, I came across Qifa Nabki; a blog about Lebanese politics, history and culture that is run and written by Harvard PhD student, Elias Muhanna. Qifa Nabki is very well written and thought-provoking with numerous controversial topics.

My Opinion:

“An excellent source to learn more about Lebanon’s political system, situation, conspiracies and players – including insightful coverage and opinions on current events from a highly informed and educated standpoint.”

To read intellectual articles on Lebanese politics, click here.

That’s all for now folks, but stay tuned for more Blogs to Blog About! simple smile The Lebanese Blogosphere: Blogs to Blog About!

*Note: I would like to thank Elie from YallaStartup, Maya from Maya’s Amalgam and Elias from Qifa Nabki for sending me their respective logos for me to include in this piece.

Avatar Protest in the West Bank

Unless you live under a rock somewhere, you’re aware of the endless clashes between Israeli’s and Palestinian’s in the West Bank – actually pretty much anywhere in the country. Well, this particular protest which took place about 10 days ago, had a rather cinematic approach. Palestinian demonstrators from a small village painted themselves blue and dressed up like the oppressed aliens from the blockbuster movie, Avatar as a way to draw a parallel between their struggle and that of the film’s alien characters. The 5 protesters, including 3 Israeli’s, marched up to the army blockade in full Na’vi gear as they chanted for an end to the occupation of their lands. Israeli forces, who were surprised at first, responded by firing numerous rounds of tear gas and sound grenades at them.

Take a look at these incredibly captivating images from The Guardian.

Demonstrators dressed as 006 Avatar Protest in the West Bank

The protesters in full Na'vi gear.

Demonstrators dressed as 005 Avatar Protest in the West Bank

Waving the Palestinian flag.

A protester dressed as a 009 Avatar Protest in the West Bank

One of the demonstrators using a plastic bag to shield himself from the tear gas.

A demonstrator dressed as 004 Avatar Protest in the West Bank

A protester at the barrier.

[image credit (all): www.guardian.co.uk]

[sources: The Lede-The New York Times News Blog, Aol News]

Top 3 Naked Sports

I’m gonna’ keep the writing to a bare (ooops Freudian slip?) minimum on this one! After all, I think the title alone is self-explanatory and your eyes will probably go straight to the pictures. That’s if they haven’t already :). So I could pretty much write anything here and most of you wouldn’t even notice. I dluoc neve etirw sdrawkcab dna uoy t’ndluow evig owt stihs I. Dear John, bla bla bla. Filling up text space… Bla bla bla…Enjoy!

Topless Sledging

topless sledging Top 3 Naked Sports

These poor girls look so cold and tired training for the Winter Olympics!

Lingerie Bowl

LFL Top 3 Naked Sports

Lingerie Football League: Peyton Manning's got nothin' on you!

LFL 2 Top 3 Naked Sports

Look, they play too! Just in case you thought they only posed for pics.

World Naked Bike Ride

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Ouch!!!


[image credit: (topless sledging) metro.co.uk]

[image credit: (lingerie bowl 1&2) sun-sentinel.com]

[image credit: (world naked bike ride) yesbutnotbutyes.com]

Facebook Facts & Figures

icon facebook 300x300 Facebook Facts & FiguresFebruary 4th was Facebook’s 6th birthday. Yes, believe it or not, the social networking titan and the most talked about website [actually, the most talked about anything] in the world, is a measly 6 years old! I think that Harvard dropout and boy genius Mark Zuckerberg as well as his roommates do more than just pat themselves on the back. Hell, I’d probably be walking around with a head the size of Jupiter. Come to think about it, I’d probably have a country house there as well. Anyways my point is: that in a little over 5 years, Facebook grew from having 1 million users to an astounding 400 million. At this rate, by next year, Facebook could potentially surpass Microsoft Live’s network which currently has more than 500 million users.

Before I move on to the main attraction – the 2 infographics – here are a few random yet interesting facts about Facebook which I found in an article written by Edwin in December 2009 on Flytrap Games.

  • Facebook’s top application, FarmVille, is more popular than Twitter (a fact that FarmVille made sure to state when they recently won the “Social Networking Game of the Year” award). See nittyGriddy’s article about FarmVille.
  • 35 million active users update their status boxes everyday.
  • Facebook has its’ own unique associated psychological condition known as “Facebook Addiction Disorder”.
  • Facebook is the 2nd most popular keyword on Google globally.
  • 1.4 million photos are updated to Facebook every second.
  • Michael Jackson’s page is the most popular one on Facebook with over 10 million fans.

I came across 2 fantastic infographics which better portray the behemoth site that is Facebook. The first was made by pingdom and is rather simple and straight to the point with big and impressive numbers; whereas the second, made exclusively for Mashable by Muhammad Saleem (a social media consultant), is more detailed as it explores Facebook’s growth over the last 6 years. Both are definitely worth viewing as they present indisputable evidence that Facebook is indeed the ultimate power house when it comes to social media.

To view the full size version of this image directly on pingdom’s website, click here.

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To view the full size version of this image directly on Mashable’s website, click here.

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The Sh*** My Dad Says Made Me Famous [nG’s 100th POST]

*Twitterati – as defined by the Urban Dictionary: The Tweet elite, whose feeds attract thousands of followers and whose 140-character spews capture the attention of the rapt who doggedly monitor them.

*Twitterati – as defined by PCMag.com: The Twitter upper crust. The tweet writers who have thousands of followers.

Now that you’re familiar with the term Twitterati (in case you weren’t already), I can go on and tell you about 29 year old Justin Halpern aka @shitmydadsays – the Twitterati whose claim to fame is the funny shit his 74 year old dad dad bigger The Sh*** My Dad Says Made Me Famous [nGs 100th POST]says – that he (Justin) one day intelligently decided to start tweeting. Today, Justin boasts over 1.1 million avid Twitter followers who anxiously wait for ‘Papa Halpern’ to open his mouth! And if that’s not impressive enough, he’s also been featured in numerous articles and interviewed by the well known online magazine, Maxim.com.

But the biggest bang is yet to come. His immensely popular twitter account is about to be turned into a TV sitcom with William Shatner [Denny Crane from “Boston Legal”] starring as ‘the larger-than-life dad who speaks his mind.’ WOW, a pretty amazing accomplishment for a 29 year old guy who lives at home with his parents! So folks, if you’ve been striving to accumulate Twitter followers, become famous and succeed by working hard everyday, why keep sweating? Instead, find a wickedly funny family member or friend whose comments you can regurgitate on Twitter, Facebook, Digg and all the other social sites out there.

But seriously though, well done Justin! Awesome idea, amazing dad and some insanely funny shit! You just gained another follower (Moi) on your gigantic list ;).

And to show you just how hysterical some of these comments are, here are a few.

“Nah, we don’t celebrate it. Don’t know who St. Valentine was, don’t give a shit, and doubt he wants people screwing in his memory.”

“STOP apologizing. You’re sorry, he gets it, Jesus. You spilled a glass of wine, not fucked his wife.”

“Everybody’s broke, so here’s the rule for Christmas this year; if you still shit your pants, you get a present. Otherwise tough shit.”

“Son, no one gives a shit about all the things your cell phone does. You didn’t invent it, you just bought it. Anybody can do that.”

“Jesus Christ, Just give the dog his fucking food. Why’s he gotta do a trick first? YOU don’t have to do shit before YOU eat.”

“Tennessee is nice. The first time I vomited was in tennessee, I think.”

“Here’s a strawberry, sorry for farting near you…Hey! Either take the strawberry and stop bitching, or no strawberry, that’s the deal.”

“Your brother brought his baby over this morning. He told me it could stand. It couldn’t stand for shit. Just sat there. Big let down.”

For more of these sidesplitting statements, follow @shitmydadsays on Twitter!

[image credit: Justin Halpern’s Twitter account]

And the Winner is…FarmVille!

farmville pic 300x229 And the Winner is...FarmVille!Seeing the massive popularity of Zynga’s FarmVille on Facebook, it’s no surprise that it took home the Social Networking Game of the Year award at the 2010 13th Annual Interactive Achievements Awards this past Thursday at the Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas.

Nominees for this award included, PopCat’s Bejeweled Blitz, Codebell’s Farmtown and Playfish’s Restaurant City. With over 80 million monthly active users, FarmVille is by far the largest of the gang and clearly proved to be in a league of its’ own.

Some other games that won awards are:

  • Naughty Dog’s Unchartered 2: Among Thieves for: Game of the Year, Outstanding Achievement in Animation, Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering and a couple others.
  • Harmonix Music Systems The Beatles: Rock Band for: Family Game of the Year
  • EA Canada’s FIFA Soccer 10 for: Sports Game of the Year
  • 5th Cell Media’s Scribblenauts for: Outstanding Innovation in Gaming
  • Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for: Action Game of the Year

Do you play Farmville? What other games do you play that you think deserve an award? Post your comments.

[image credit: vator.tv]

nittyGriddy Gets a Makeover!

Hello Everyone,

n694765108 9889 nittyGriddy Gets a Makeover!As you can see (if you’ve been here before), nittyGriddy‘s been slightly retouched and freshened up! Thanks to the wonderful people over at Cre8mania, especially Constantine – aka Costa – who put up with my indecisiveness and my looking over his shoulder for a couple days [pretending to understand all the CSS stuff and other technical jargon], nittyGriddy is now using a new and modified version of the Modern Style Theme for WordPress by Flexi Themes. Although it’s not a complete make-over, it’s just what was needed to better reflect the spirit, personality and style of my logo and blog in general. We’re (meaning Costa) still tweaking a few things here and there and should be all set by next week, but this is pretty much it.

I’d love to hear what you think so go ahead and speak your mind. Post your comments or answer the poll – further down on the right hand side of the site.

Other than that, have a great weekend.

Cheers,

Griddy

The Photoshop Effect: Reality Bites!

Ever wonder how celebrities look so good and perfect in magazines? Not one bit of extra fat or cellulite, not one sun spot, blemish, pimple or unwanted hair! Ever wonder why your latest, digital 12.1 megapixel Canon doesn’t deliver the same ‘picture perfect’ look? Why you look…well, just like you?!

Watch this video from diet.com where Sarah investigates the awesome yet deceiving effects of retouching with Photoshop. Discover the truth behind celebrities looking a little too WOW in pictures.

A step by step transformation of Sarah by a professional photographer using Adobe Photoshop. Now I’m thinking “hmm, natural me vs. perfect me?” 😉

0 The Photoshop Effect: Reality Bites!

*Thank you H.E for bringing this video to my attention.

4 Year Old Cheeseburger from McDonald’s: To Eat or Not to Eat?

Time and time again, we’ve heard about the unhealthy and low grade ingredients that McDonald’s uses in their famous and somewhat tasty meals. Many of us have seen films such as Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me“, and yet we continue to super size our orders in turn super sizing our body mass, calorie count and cholesterol levels! What is so unhealthy about McDonald’s? Does McDonald’s play a role in the increasing spread of obesity in the United States? These types of questions and more are answered in this short, eye-opening interview-style documentary made by diet.com.

0 4 Year Old Cheeseburger from McDonalds: To Eat or Not to Eat?

*Thank you H.E for bringing this video to my attention :).

Will you continue eating McDonald’s now that you’ve seen this? Post your comments.

Flying for Dummies

I originally published this post on Feb. 12 – but I’ve updated it by adding another picture of the famous Kulula infographic plane as well as a few more cheeky labels.

As if flying wasn’t frightening enough these days, one airline decided to scare the crap out of its’ passengers even more, by painting an idiot’s guide to aviation on the exterior of its’ plane. Kulula, a budget South African airline, has decorated one of their new boeing 737-800s into an idiot’s guide to aircraft mechanics. I can understand a big, highly recognized airline doing this for laughs and originality points; but an african airline? Really? Do they not have a shaky reputation as it is?

Maybe I’m being a bit harsh, cause the design really does rock!

But enough said…you need to see this infographic style flying tutorial for yourself!

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Other cheeky labels on the plane include:

  • The Big Cheese – for where the pilot sits
  • Avionics (fancy navigations stuff)
  • Black Box (which is actually orange)
  • Loo (mile high club initiation chamber)
  • Wing #1 and Wing #2
  • Engine #1 and #2 (26,000 pounds of thrust)
  • Back Door (no bribery/corruption here)
  • Seats (better than taxi seats)
  • Rudder (the steering thingy)
  • Fuel Tanks (the go-go juice)

I have to admit that Kulula gets an A++ for instructiveness and originality but a big fat F for frightening the f%#@ out of its’ passengers!

[image credits: 1 – metro.co.uk, 2 – via www.coolinfographics.com]

A Tour of the International Space Station

The International Space Station (ISS) is an internationally developed satellite which is currently being assembled in low orbit earth. Construction of the station began in 1998 and is expected to be complete by 2011. The ISS is a joint project and is operated by 5 participating agencies: the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Russian Federal Space Agency (RKA),the European Space Agency (ESA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

To learn more about the International Space Station project, visit NASA’s website.

Take a tour of the station by watching this video that was posted on YouTube just last week. It’s definitely “out of this world!”

0 A Tour of the International Space Station