Fonseca Trending 10/05/21
Mark Zuckerberg Lost About $7 Billion Yesterday
Yesterday was a bad day for MARK ZUCKERBERG. It all started Sunday night, when a former employee named Frances Haugen did an interview with "60 Minutes", exposing all kinds of internal corruption at Facebook . . . Including the fact that Facebook intentionally prioritizes incendiary content, because they make more money that way. Also, they KNEW Instagram was increasing suicidal thoughts and eating disorders among young girls, and really didn't do anything about it. Then, yesterday at about 11:30 A.M. Eastern, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger all went down . . . and didn't return until the evening. By 4 o'clock, they'd lost nearly $60 million in revenue . . . about $13 million per hour, or $220,000 a minute. And Zuckerberg saw his personal net worth decrease by about $7 BILLION.
It's still not clear what caused the outage, but it appears to have been a problem with the Domain Name System, which translates website names into IP addresses that can be read by a computer.
Today Is World Teachers' Day . . . Here Are Five Things Teachers Never Knew They Could Get for Free
Today is World Teachers' Day and it's REALLY tough to think of anyone who deserves free stuff more. So let's hook them up. Here are five websites teachers might not know about that give them free stuff . . . 1. Microsoft Word, Excel, and Powerpoint. Microsoft gives teachers free access to all of its Office products. All it takes is a school email address. 2. A membership to one of the top organic food websites. Thrive Market sells healthy and organic foods cheap . . . and they can do that because they charge a $5-a-month membership fee like a hippie Costco. But teachers get that membership fee waived. 3. Headspace, the mindfulness and meditation app. It's been maybe a little stressful for teachers lately. Headspace is one of the top apps for calming down . . . and teachers get it totally free, saving $70-per-year. 4. Teacher discounts. . . and good ones. There are lots of stores that offer teacher discounts . . . including some stores, like Apple, who really don't like giving out discounts. Find the stores that offer those discounts, and take advantage of 'em. 5. Insurance if students key your car. Are you tough but fair? Liberty Mutual offers free "vandalism loss protection" to teachers whose cars are vandalized on school property, as well as free collision coverage if you crash while driving to school business. Amazon Launched Its Black Friday Deals Almost Two Months Early
Remember when Black Friday was one day, and everybody would just trample each other over a $10 toaster? Ah, simpler times. Amazon just launched their Black Friday deals earlier than ever. They announced it yesterday . . . 53 days before actual Black Friday . . . and many of the deals are already live. They're technically called "Black Friday-WORTHY" deals, but it marks the start of their big holiday push. They also launched a new feature that lets Prime members send gifts to people even if you don't know their address. All you need is their phone number or email. Then they get a notification to accept the gift and add an address. Or, they can REJECT your gift without telling you, and ask for an Amazon gift card instead
A Woman Wants $1 Million from Geico After She Got an STD While Hooking Up in a Guy's Car
You'd expect your car insurance to cover damages from a crash, or maybe even a big hail storm. But imagine calling and asking if they cover THIS . . . Some woman is demanding that Geico pay her $1 MILLION . . . because she hooked up with a guy in his car, and he gave her an STD. She says she ended up with HPV after getting-it-on with him in his 2014 Hyundai Genesis. She admits they didn't use protection, but still thinks Geico should pay because the guy has a policy with them. Geico filed a lawsuit to have the whole thing dismissed, and to make sure they can't be sued for similar things in the future. They say their car insurance only covers injuries that happen, quote, "out of the ownership, maintenance, or use of" the car. And this doesn't fit into that category.
They claim the two people involved are at fault for choosing to have unprotected sex. But the judge hasn't made a ruling yet.
A Woman Renovated Her Bathroom and Accidentally Walled Up Her Cat
Does your cat have any weird hiding spots? A woman on TikTok had been renovating her house, and removed all the drywall and tile in her bathroom. So her cat decided to go exploring inside the WALLS. She says she was fine with it, and let him hang out in there. But then she forgot to tell the guys who installed her new tile the other day. So after they finished up, she started hearing a faint MEOW . . . and realized the cat was inside her walls with no way out. She ended up cutting out a square of drywall next to her tub. But because cats are jerks, he still refused to come out. He just kept sticking his head through the hole, and then retreating. She posted a video and says it took over an hour to finally coax him out of there. The Best Cities in America for Foodies
The food scene in America hasn't bounced back to pre-pandemic times . . . but most people have moved on after a year of eating a lot of canned soup and frozen dinners. WalletHub.com conducted a study to find the best cities in America for FOODIES. They compared more than 180 cities across 29 factors They did consider fancy restaurants, but a lot more that went into it, like the cost of groceries, and the diversity of options, including craft breweries, coffee shops, stores that sell herbs and spices, farmers markets, and food trucks. In the end, Portland, Oregon scored the best, followed by Orlando . . . Miami . . . San Francisco . . . Austin, Texas . . . Sacramento, California . . . Denver . . . Las Vegas . . . Seattle . . . and Tampa. If you're wondering, L.A. just missed the Top 10 at #11 . . . Chicago is #18 . . . and New York is #23, just below Pittsburgh.
Of the 182 cities they looked at, Pearl City, Hawaii is last.
Today's Showbiz Highlights
1. While Facebook and Instagram were down yesterday, MARK ZUCKERBERG's personal fortune dropped by $7 billion. Some of that may have also been caused by whistleblower Frances Haugen, who spoke to "60 Minutes" Monday night. 2. Someone started a petition to change the name of Lee County, Florida to BRUCE LEE County. Lee County is named after confederate general Robert E. Lee, and the petition says the change would, quote, "continue the battle to eradicate racism in the United States." 3. OPRAH WINFREY only has three close friends: Gayle King, Maria Shriver, and her personal trainer Bob Greene. Her advice for friendships is to surround yourself with people who are as happy for your happiness as you are. 4. Last night's "Monday Night Football" game was delayed due to lightning, even though it was played at SoFi Stadium, which has a DOME. The thing is, the sides are open, so bad weather can still be an issue. 5. ELIJAH WOOD said an orc mask on "Lord of the Rings" was designed to look like HARVEY WEINSTEIN as a sort of payback for making it difficult for the movies to be made. Elijah said, quote, "I think that is okay to talk about now, the guy is [effing] incarcerated." 6. BEN AFFLECK said being Batman in "The Flash" was a fun experience since the previous times were difficult. GEORGE CLOONEY . . . who was not asked to return as Batman . . . jokes that he, himself, ruined the franchise and that he won't let his wife watch "Batman and Robin". 7. A woman who's fluent in Korean says that the English subtitles on "Squid Game" are terrible, and they totally change the show. 8. A site called Repeeted.com lets users calculate the most repeated words by almost any artist or band, from THE BEATLES to BILLIE EILISH. It uses a combination of different technologies and a lyric database. 9. Some guy invented a "fart pedal", so you can make the sounds of flatulence with your guitar. Sadly, you can't play an actual tune . . . it just makes fart noises. But on the plus side, there's a switch for "wet" and "dry" varieties. 10. DAN + SHAY dressed up as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for a Halloween concert back in 2014. Their fans took that as a cue to start bringing them "Ninja Turtle" gifts at every show for about two years.