My favorite Daddy blog, Wat da Wat

Like a lot of my age cohort (calling us Gen X is passe, right?), Facebook’s been a fun, and occassionally awkward, tool for re-connecting with lost high school classmates. I’m learning about how people I used to see everyday have spend the last 18 years, but without direct communication, as most of these adds happen without much conversation. Among my more valued re-connections has been Chris Austria, whom I alphabetically followed in homeroom attendance checks for four years. (“Austria! Bracken!” was a daily refrain from Mr. Bush at 10:18 am for all my four years in Division 002.)

I haven’t spoken with Chris since we graduated in 1990, but have a nice window onto his life thanks to his blog, Wat de Wat, which he describes as “one man’s adventures in parenting five crazy children, while educating ninety more.” His Car Chronicles is a set of sweet and funny reports from his kid carpooling mornings. His tale of his July family trip to the Philippines is also worth a click:

5.      Once again I’m in the wrong business. I realized that instead of opening schools, I should be opening churches or starting my own religious cult. Man talk about big money making business. These religious sects (Christians) are making out like bank robbers. What’s worse is that their leaders openly flaunt their wealth and political power (courtesy of their followers). I guess they’re just continuing the grand tradition that the Catholic Chruch started some 500 years ago. I wonder what Jesus would say if he finds out that his name is being used to take money from church members who the majority are dirt poor.

6.   I need to remind myself that the next time I go to the Philippines that I have to condition my body into my college drinking days. Needless to say, when I went drinking with my male in-laws, I pretty got my ass kicked. Hey but at least I redeemed myself when we had diet coke drinking contest.

Is Bilawal Bhutto Zadari the world’s first political leader with (his own) a Facebook profile?

I’ve heard Dan Gillmor on a couple of occasions note that a future American President or two can be found on Facebook. With Bilawal Bhutto Zadari, the new co-chair of the Pakistan People’s Party, we may be seeing the first head of government with an active Facebook life.

A picture of him taken just weeks ago at a fancy dress party shows his face plastered with heavy make-up and a pair of horns attached to his head.

Benazir Bhutto, Bilawal dons a devil outfit for a fancy dress party… The picture was taken only a few weeks earlier, when Bilawal lived in ordinary student accommodation in Christ Church College with no obvious security.

He used the surname Lawalib – his first name spelt backwards – presumably to avoid the attention his real name might have brought on campus.

The pictures posted by friends on Facebook suggest Bilawal had settled well into undergraduate life.

Are Facebook Employees Creepy Voyeurs?

One way that Facebook can kill the golden goose is to mess up the privacy issue. This report from Valleywag suggests that they are doing just that.

Facebook employees can (and do) check out anyone’s profile. Not only that, but they also see which profiles a user has viewed — a major privacy violation…Within the company, it’s considered a job perk, and employees check this data for fun.