DETECT DUBIOUS LINKS IN FACEBOOK

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Just a few days ago we got so annoyed by the continous spam attacks through wall posts asking FB users to verify accounts to avoid receiving spam posts.

The wall post states, "Please do your part in PREVENTING SPAM by VERIFYING YOUR ACCOUNT. Click VERIFY MY ACCOUNT right next to comment below to begin the verification process...". A Verify My Account link is then located directly after the post.

A lot of FB users were duped to click the verify link which unknowingly allowed it to be reposted to all of their friends facebook walls. A total annoyance. We are not really sure if that is the only thing it did. We are not I had to post a request to on my own wall so that they wont have to click such links anymore. It was even featured in the news.

I thought by now they would have known how such clickjacking practices work but apparently a lot of our friends still have not learned their lessons. Just now, I have received requests on my wall asking people to click the activate a new feature on FB for disliking posts. Apparently they clicked on a button that says ACTIVATE DISLIKE BUTTON. What is worse is that this one is not new and has been out there even before the verify spam came out.

Some people just never learn.

One of the reasons why people still click on such links (aside from plain stupidity) is because they have no idea if it is for real or not.

For those who still have not learned. Here is one simple way of checking out if such a link is dubious or not.




1) Put the mouse cursor over the link. Do not click on it. In this example, the mouse is over the link that says ACTIVATE DISLIKE BUTTON.

2) Look at the status bar at the bottom of your browser and you will find the url where the "Activate.." button is linked to. In this one, it clearly shows that it routes to a website called www.livejournal.com which is not in anyway connected to Facebook.

Now note that if the "dislike message" is indeed from Facebook it should have been linked to the Facebook domain and not to this livejournal guys.

As simple as that really. Safe surfing everyone!!!

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FB Chat : A Social Experiment Kuno

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I recently joined this photocontest and was asking most of my "kamukha" (**ka-facebook, Tan-dyi-ey!) to share the link and like the photo as well to maximize my chances of winning.

Unknowingly, as I was going through the motions of requesting for facebook likes, I realized how each of my kamukha differs with each other in terms of how they communicate, how they react, how they let the communication through chat go on to the extent that I was able to at least somewhat measure what kind and what degree of friendship we are having.

(Go to the main blogger page by clicking the word Magtiblogz)

Now, I am not a chat addict. I rarely even go chat using other media like YM or AIM or Skype. I also do not normally set myself to visible especially on FB as I am not comfortable chatting with people except when I needed to say something to some one or if a task calls for it.

So I thought of a plan. I would try to chat up anyone under the guise of making a specific request coming from a friend and see how the other side would react. This is not some seriously themed Emo plot to know who my real friends are, katuwaan lang ika nga. And since I seem to have all the time in the world right now to do this (hindi pa busy) why-not-chocnut is the decision.

I PM'ed Bryan (***hindi ito ang hindi tunay nyang pangalan) and as soon I sent a message the recipient of the message went offline. I was like Whoah!!, sabay smayl na parang nakatuklas ng bagong specie. Ang kaibahan lamang ay hindi ito ang nanganganib na uri (endangered ungas! tagalog na nga eh nalito pa!).



About 35% of all those I chatted in my kamuks' (pinaiksi ng kamukha o kameysmuk!) seem to have the same weird attitude of turning off chat once they receive one. LOL. It is like an auto-logoff button is being activated as soon as a new message comes in. There are some however who would entertain my initial greeting na parang when I say Hello they say Hi and then kapoom! Nakita ko na lang ay ang bilog na kulay grey sa gilid ng kanilang pangalan sa chatbox (***ooops titingnan mo kung ano ang grey na bilog sa fb chat sa puntong ito) na ang ibig sabihin ay offline ang kausap ko.

As much as I want to judge people hindi ako hukom at lalong hindi ako si Lord. So sa benefit ng doubt, naisip ko na baka naman biglang naubos ang pambayad sa computer shop o nahuli ng boss sa office kaya nawala sa FB. Or it might be that they just do not want to exhaust their massive tupperware elemental presets (kaplastikan) so instead of chatting, just-end-it-right-away mode. It is also possible that the person I chatted with is choosy like me, may mga biases sa friends kung sino ang gusto kausap. Or lastly malamang sobra talagang busy. Although I normally do not just log off like that on somebody. I always make it a point to say adieu as gently (dahan dahan, yung hindi masakit, respectful) as possible.

What I am happy though is that majority, even those who barely even remember me, had been courteous and in fact even tried to open other topics that we can discuss. Some chats even lasted an hour or more, even if as I have said, i am not a chat guy. I could barely even talk to most of you face to face alone chat pa kaya. Buti na nga lang naiipasa ko mga job interviews ko eh!

But these guys who chatted with me head-on as my guinea pigs without them knowing it during the duration of this social experiment are the best!

Someone asked me if I can go to this place (na hindi ko talaga alam basta nsa makati lang yun) later that night just for old times sake. Another one knows me so well he started throwing jokes and insults at me LOL in a friendly and fun way. One is sweet enough to send her regards to my wife (haha Tenchu Ate Mhaye!!).

Those friends we cherish! Man oh man, if I can only save one glass of beer everytime I drink. But you know me.. cant even drink a can of cali since it is not even sold in the market no more. (Not drinking much anymore ever since that embarrassing and messy situation years ago that my wife knows all too well heheh, another story.)

But then again this is not scientific. I myself knows that there are some who talk better and are more comfortable through chat. Others just find it not.

So in the end this experiement isn't really worth a nick' compared to how the Philippine Stock Market was up or compared to Osama Bin Laden's controversial demise. But is it worth trying? Yup! You may also want to try it when you're free. Who knows you may learn a thing or two about your kamuks character heheh? Learned a lot about them, I learned a lot about me :D

Peace and I'm out!

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*** haha nakatuwaan ko lang kung paano magsulat si Master Jamin, ang aking mestrong mahusay magsulat at magsalita habang nagmumura duon sa dati kong pinagtatrabahuhang kumpanya.sensya na po kung may naapektuhang damdamin ng mga salita LOL paminsan minsan healthy ang mag-iba ng salakay bagamat inaamin ko na hindi ko gusto na kayo'y murahin, liban na lamang kung talagang tan-dyi-ey ang nagbabasa, hindi na mura yun kundi riyalidad LOL.


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The "Pamasahe" Syndicate

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I was walking towards Amorsolo Street in Makati the other night to meet my wife when two women approached me. One of two is about 40 to 45 years old while the other one looks frail and maybe about 60 to 70 years old. The younger one was the who spoke asking for help. She said that they were left behind by their companions and needs fare money to get home.

( Read this through the main Blogger page HERE )

Now this is not the first time that some one has approached me and asked for such fare money with the same modus. What made it interesting though was that, someone else did that to me before at the same exact spot. That was a few months ago and I can barely remember that it was a lady and an adolescent kid who were there last time out.

I was like having this Deja Vu feeling at that instance. Matrix the movie came to my mind and I thought I have to do something different right there and then. Wearing my black jacket ala laurence Fishburne I stopped walking, looked slowly towards the two women and in a Keanu Reeves like tone spoke:

"Alam nyo po mas maganda kung sasamahan ko kayo sa pulis. May mga naka-station dyan sa kanto. Mas matutulungan nila kayo."

I can see the womens eyes became alert all of a sudden. The younger of the two hurriedly took the hand of the elder one. The elder one who was looking frail and pitiful stiffened and fixed how she was wearing her slippers.(tatakbo???)

From there, I knew I touched some nerves.

"Ano po? Nandiyan po sila sa kanto, me nakita akong mobil nila. Malamang ihahatid pa kayo ng mga yun."

The younger one said, "Mababait ba mga yun?"

"Opo naman!", was my retort. "Tara po."

"Hindi, kami na lang. Nakakahiya naman sa iyo. Okay na kami."

They then turned away and moved towards the opposite the direction from where I told them the police mobile is.

This modus operandi is very very rampant these days here in Metro Manila. So rampant that there was a time when the same guy whom I've given fare money to while I was in UP Diliman, came up to me also in Ayala in Makati asking for "pamasahe pauwi".

Coincidence? - No!

A Scam? - Definitely!!!

A light scam some calls it as they are not asking for millions but instead asking for coins. The scammer would say, "Kahit piso lang po pandagdag sa pamsahe.". The scammee (heheh imbento ko lang ang salita) on the other hand will have a sudden rush of mercy and give more than just a piso and will in fact give the exact amount of the fare needed to reach Sn Fernando in Pampanga. And so the scammer goes home with more that what he/she asked for.

Now imagine if in one full day the scammer is able to convince a hundred person to give the exact fare each to Pampanga. Riding a van to San Fernando is about a hundred bucks. That is a whopping P10000 all in a days (scam) job.

Budol-budol stems from this kind of scam. Based on my observation, most of those who asks for fare money targets passersby who are in their lonesome. It would be easier for them to scam a single person than do it to two or to a bunch. If they can do this now and still think that they are not doing anything wrong with the failed reasoning that what they are getting were given for free and not stolen, what stops them from being monsters of deception at a later time. For all we know it could be possible that they are already one big syndicate prowling the metro just like those street kids who are asked to beg for alms by criminal gangs.

The solution for this is simple. Do not to give them the money that they are asking. For as long as we give them a few coins, it translates as more fuel for them to ask for more and to continue. If your conscience bothers you, help them but not by giving money. Offer bringing them to a government office whose job is to assist them.

Just like what I did. The police could have helped those two women.

Or may have detained them... if my gut feel was correct.

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Cervical Cancer Free Screening

I should have posted this before Mothers Day para naman tamang-tama sana para sa kababaihan at hindi a day after but as the saying goes "Better Late than Later".

The Department of Health is giving a month long free cervical cancer screening for women within the age of 30 to 45. This is being offered at all 58 DOH accredited hospitals nationwide in accordance with the celebration of the Cervical Cancer Awareness Month.

For NCR the free screening is available every Mondays of the May.
For Luzon it will be every Wednesdays of May.
For Visayas it will be for Thusrdays of May.
It will be available every Fridays of May in Mindanao.



Cervical cancer occurs when normal cells in the cervix change into cancer cells. It is usually caused by a chronic and persistent cancer-causing type of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection that leads to pre-malignant lesions and progress to cancer.

Kindly tell your moms and all the women you love about this.

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