Web 2.0 Suicide Machine

There is an online web application called “Web 2.0 Suicide Machine” whereby you can completely delete your online presence from social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn.

The application launched just before Christmas on December 19, and has since been responsible for over 1,000 virtual deaths – severing over 80,000 Facebook friendships and removing a staggering 276,000 Twitter tweets!

It sounds a little extreme, but people love it! There are thousands of people waiting to have their online selves deleted.

Users can even add last words, ranging from ”Goodbye cruel world” to “Thank you microblogging. You are, in fact, totally useless”. In general, I think people are seeing this as a good thing. I mean, you could probably spend every waking minute of the day by checking your Facebook, Twitter and Stumbling things on StumbleUpon… And people are stalking other people on Facebook, and checking their boyfriend/girlfriend/spouses’ walls etc. Actually, a few years ago, I was out shopping and some guy came up to me and said “You’re Jane’s friend… I recognize you from Facebook” .. I was like OMG, are you kidding me?! Where do you expect to end up by saying that to someone.. I mean it just makes you sound like a weirdo. even if it was a cute guy, you’d still think twice.. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me.. maybe the guy had a photographic memory?! who knows!!

The number of people wanting to do this social networking suicide thing is making the big cats at Facebook nervous. Earlier this month, Facebook blocked the suicide machine from accessing their data, but the number of online social suicides has continued to increase. Facebook has over 350 million users, so they don’t *really* have anything to worry about.. But they do sense a threat!

Maybe the famous people who vow to stop tweeting etc, should give this a go .. ahem, Tila Tequila…..

Would you consider doing this? Do you find social networking is all-consuming? Let me know!

I was trying to tweet my girlfriend when it crashed and the window title became “This Site Has been hacked by the Iranian Cyber Army”

Anyone have the same problem??? Was Twitter Hacked?

I’m sure they’ll fix it soon.. because the site is definitely down right now… no more funny black window…

But did anyone else see this? or was I hallucinating? Let me know in the comments!

Thanks,

VickyC xoxo

** Update **

So, I copied the screen from Twitter.com… from pressing back a few times…

What do you think? legit? fake? why twitter? Why not hack CNN if you’re trying to make a point… ??? Who are the Iranian Cyber Army…??

If you cant read the text, it says: USA think they controlling and managing internet by their access, but they don’t, we control and manage internet by our power, so do not try to stimulation Iranian peoples to…….
Now which country in embargo list? USA?
We push them in embargo list
Take Care.

I didn’t doctor that picture in any way – except a bit of cropping. It’s screenshot from my desk top. note the time and the title of the window (whatever that part of the window is called) and the address bar… And yes, the pictures didn’t open.. Probably because Windows sucks… But that’s a completely different rant…

Weird… ok, so comments below people! Twitter is still down nearly 45 mins later…

** FINAL UPDATE **

Twitter is back up and running… happy tweeting people!

So today is VickyC.me’s 1 month birthday!!!

Thanks to all of you lovely people, I’ve had more than 1000 page views and over 600 visitors!

Which is AWESOME!!!!!!

I really appreciate all your views.. It really does make me happy!

As I said in a previous post, I’ve joined Twitter.. So follow me!! Tweet Tweet!! x

Thanks again for all your support!!!

Be sure to check VickyC.me every day for new posts.

Also, we will giving away prizes soon – so stay tuned!

With that being said, I’m going to have a celebratory drink.

In this new weekly segment, I’m going to do a little round up of what I’ve found to be the most interesting bits of news for the last week. For some reason, this week has felt really long, there has been a LOT of stuff going on – there have been lots of conspiracy stories, lots of leaked info..

Firstly, Twilight hit theaters last weekend. Twilight is truly a money making franchise! Find out how much money it made here!

In TV news, Jon & Kate Plus 8 is now done. The series finale was this week and the couple will now move on in their separ8 directions – hopefully with their beautiful childrens’ best interests at heart. What did you think of the finale?

Biometrics – more and more countries are pooling their biometric data: fingerprints, retina scans, facial mapping. Is anything private anymore?!?!?!? I don’t think so!

New criticism about the cover of W Magazine. Is it Demi Moore’s head on model Anja Rubik’s body? or is it 100% Demi? You decide!

9/11 messages posted on Wikileaks. Is it wrong? Unethical? Necessary to uncover the truth? What do you think?

Mininova has taken most of its content offline in a bid to prevent copyright infringement because of some lawsuit. Read the full story here!

Finally, I have joined Twitter.. Tweet Tweet!! Follow me! I JUST set it up, so not everything is on there.. Bear with me!!!

http://twitter.com/VickyC_me

This little roundup will be a weekly thing. So if you don’t want to visit every day, then at least check in before the weekend!

Alrighty, I hope you all have a fantastic weekend.. To those of you in the USA, Happy Thanksgiving!

Make sure you check VickyC.me everyday for new posts!

After the initial reports that Demi Moore’s photograph had been retouched just a little too much, comes new speculation that the body in the picture is actually that of 26 year old Polish model Anja Rubik.

This was posted yesterday on Oh No They Didn’t and has spread across blogs all over the web. French Elle even have it on their site.

Demi Moore hit Twitter saying that it wasn’t true – even posting the “original” photograph on her twitter page. An actress lying…? I’m shocked! lol.. No but really, the mini dress looks exactly the same on both of them. I know its the fashion industry and most of the time models are sewn into their clothes to make everything appear perfect, but they shouldn’t look THIS similar should they?!?!

Demi Moore on W Magazine's December Cover in the Balmain mini dress.

On the right, Anja Rubik from the Balmain Spring 2010 Show modelling the exact same mini dress.

What do you think? Same dress, different body? Or same dress different head...?


The black platform stilettos in the runway pictures are HOT! x

Photographer, Anthony Citrano, saw her tweet and challenged the actress saying “$5k to charity if that’s really the original”. Demi has yet to respond…

But there is speculation about this all over the internet. I’d be here until next Christmas if I read through all of it. There are a lot of arguments both for and against this “conspiracy” – that has now been dubbed “W-Gate”

The Huffingdon Post has a poll asking readers what they thing of the photograph, and 72% think that her body was replaced, 19% think that they JUST retouched her hip whereas only 9% think that Demi Moore is all natural.

I don’t know – what do you think? In terms of height, Demi Moore is 5ft 5, whereas Anja Rubik is 5 ft 10.5. I know people come in all shapes and sizes, but their bodies are exactly the same – torso length, etc – despite this height difference. Even their arms appear to be the same length. And as much as I think digital retouching is lying, I think it just has to be accepted as the industry norm now. EVERY magazine does it. Beautiful people sell things – that’s just how it is.

NYmag.com posted this shocking statement: “Our retouching expert notes celebrity heads are often only Photoshopped onto models’s bodies for advertisements”. What do you think of that!?!!?

I kind of see it like wearing makeup all the time. Some people have to wear makeup every waking second of their lives, and unfortunately, when they don’t wear make-up, they feel ugly and horrible. They sometimes even appear unrecognizable! Then think about all the famous people who are made to look flawless in these photographs, so everyday they have to go out done up to the 9s, otherwise they get a whole string of “not so flattering” pictures posted all over the internet and glossy mags. It’s not fair, but that’s how it is. It’s the kind of stuff that causes people to have eating disorders and crash diet for no good reason. And it’s also the kind of stuff that keeps cosmetic doctors, dentists and surgeons in business. Everything has to be perfection.

Honestly, I think that at the end of the day, it doesn’t really make the slightest bit of difference whether or not the body is hers or not, or whether or not it was photoshopped to make it look ridiculous. What can you do about it? Do I think it’s right to photoshop things? No. Do I think superimposing faces onto different bodies is right? No. But I’m not the fashion industry, so unfortunately, in the long run, what I think really doesn’t matter.

OhNoTheyDidn’t – You’ve been Punk’d
Huffingtonpost.com – Photos & Poll
Elle.fr – Post is in French
NYmag.com – Demi’s W Cover Conspiracy
Photoshopdisasters – Believe’s the photo is “original”