It looked like a milk bar in the back streets of the Geelong suburb of St Albans Park, and for good reason – it was.

But where did the original photo come from? That bit is a lot easier than it used to be – thanks to the ‘search Google for image‘ feature in Chrome.

It didn’t find the exact photo I uploaded, but it did find the original unmodified image.

Which then sent me into the swamp of stolen content that is Pinterest.

Once I swatted away the plague of Pinterest popups and overlay text, I could see the full image.

And a link to the original source.

An Instagram post that has since been deleted.

Great.

And a sad ending

From the March 22, 2017 edition of the Geelong Advertiser.

Another Geelong milk bar closes its doors as world moves on

Another beacon of the past will be lost next Friday when the St Albans Park general store ceases trade.

Owner Mick Robertson has cited lost trade in the wake of job losses at Ford and Alcoa as one of the reasons he has decided to shut his doors for good.

“In 2008 we had about 300 people through the door each day with an average spend of $9 each now we have about the same amount of people through the door but average spend has dropped to $3,” Mr Robertson said.

Mr Robertson said his Westmoreland St milk bar and post office has been in business 23 years and at its peak employed the equivalent of four full time staff.

“At one stage we were extremely busy because supermarkets had restricted trade. Supermarkets closed at 6pm on weekdays, 1pm on Saturday and were closed Sunday,” he said.

Mr Robertson said his business took a hit when supermarket opening hours were extended in 1995.

“We took a hit but it was not fatal, because St Albans Park was a growing suburb,” he said.

Mr Robertson said he and his wife, Karyn, have had to dip into their superannuation to pay staff for the past eight months.

“Our margins have been going down and down, and we can’t compete against the supermarkets.”

Mr Robertson said he would look to redevelop the site in coming years.

Property development – the only “industry” Australia has left?

Footnote

The original Facebook post

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I initially thought it a case of mistargeted Facebook advertising, so I followed the “Why am I seeing this?” link to find out why Facebook had decided to show me the ad.

And there lay the answer.

I tick all four boxes:

• Relationship status: married
• Gender: male
• Age: 18+
• Location: Melbourne

Yet I still don’t care.

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Multicultural Affairs Minister Matthew Guy may ask police to investigate a series of Facebook posts purporting to be one of his staffers making highly racist and sexist comments about senior Liberals.

In a bizarre twist to the state government’s recent social media woes, several Facebook screen grabs claiming to come from one of Mr Guy’s employees have been distributed, with offensive references to Asians as “slopes”, Arabs as “towel-heads” and Arts Minister Heidi Victoria as a “dumb blonde.”

A spokesman for Mr Guy, who is also the state’s planning minister, insisted the statements were fabricated, and the Minister’s office is now considering whether to refer them to police on the grounds of fraud and defamation.

But the fact they were distributed in the first place – and the considerable effort it would have taken to get them looking like genuine Facebook material – paints a worrying sign of the battles now being waged in politics using social media.

The “considerable effort” line is the part that caught my eye, as creating a fake Facebook page is incredibly easy once you know what you are doing – such as this example I created years ago.

In the ‘old’ days of the internet creating fake web pages required one to take a screenshot of a source web page, find a font that matches the original, and then add your own text in using Photoshop.

Today you don’t need to go to anywhere near as much effort – just open up the ‘Developer Tools’ panel of your web browser (my example is Google Chrome), find the text you want to change, and then type in your new slanderous text.

I can’t imagine the Greens ever supporting an expansion of brown coal mining in Victoria, but just look at what their Facebook page says!

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Friend just emailed me this. In his words: "I'm not a train expert, but I'm pretty sure this isn't going to work…" pic.twitter.com/L0RF30WabM

— Denny (@denny) April 6, 2014

Much discussion ensued about what country the photo was taken in, and whether the fire fighters had a clue about what they were doing.

As it happens, the photo was taken in Belgium by a fire fighter named Tom Bongaerts, who posted it to Facebook on April 5:

And the reason for the hose over the tracks – it was a prank played by the fire brigade, as Tom writes in a follow up post:

Hey, this past week our funny photo went viral throughout the whole world. Thousands of shares and likes in many different countries! Once and for all: the picture was taken in Belgium, in a small village called Bornem.

After a minor intervention, we had some time left near the railway to make this picture. Since there were no trains running at all for a week due to maintenance works, we can state that our joke was a real success! Thanks to our entire team, 2nd sqdn Firefighters Bornem!

Back in the real world, a fire hose over the tracks doesn’t cause any trouble to a passing train – just a chopped hose.

The cause of this incident in the United States was the fire department calling up the wrong railroad company to stop the trains.

Fire hoses are unlikely to bother trains because they cross roads on an infrequent basis, but trams are a different matter – they run down the middle of ordinary streets lined with buildings, increasing the probably of an encounter with the local fire brigade.

In 1895 a Samuel B. Sweeney came up with a solution – US patent 556382 for a ‘Street-car bridge for protection of fire-hose’ – allowing normal tram services to keep running while avoiding the hose damage seen in the video above.

Usage of hose bridges soon spread, as this scan from the 1926 ‘Ohio Brass Company’ catalog shows:

Designed as a ‘knock down’ kit of parts, the bridge was intended to be stored with a tramway’s emergency equipment wagon, allowing it to be deployed as needed whenever fire hoses blocked normal services.

Footnote

A photo of an electric tramcar on the Richmond, Virginia system of the late 1880’s traversing a hose bridge – note the perilous angle!

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That advertisement has zero relevance to me – my Facebook profile says I’m not over 28, not single, and that I live nowhere near the Village Green Hotel, which is located in the outer eastern suburb of Mulgrave!

So what is a “Suggested Post” and why did the advert show up? The “Marketing Land” blog has the following to say:

Facebook’s popular Sponsored Stories ad type shows posts from pages but must come from one of the user’s connection. This new “Suggested Post” ad type would allow brands to advertise a specific post to users who have no interactions or connections with a brand.

One issue that could arise from an ad of this type is the opportunity to be abused. If ad targeting is done properly, ads match user interests and intent. However if this intrusive ad type lacks in relevancy and targeting, it could degrade the Facebook experience.

So how can one target these “Suggested Posts”? Facebook has a help page to explain it:

Add targeting to your Page posts so only the most relevant people will see them in their News Feeds. Unlike when you limit your Page’s audience, adding News Feed targeting does not affect who can see the post on your Page.

Add Targeting and choose one or more filters:

• Gender
• Relationship Status
• Education
• Interested In
• Age
• Location
• Language

As for the answer to my initial question – I’m guessing whoever runs the Facebook page for the ‘Village Sounds’ over 28s night was seduced by Facebooks’s promises of social media success through targeting advertising, but without understanding exactly how it works.

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Seriously, Facebook was already on my bad side. One word: appspam. If the only way there is for me to cut off all the FrontierVille and CityVille and all those other things that are clogging up my wall is to turn off all apps, it’s a flawed model—the same flawed formula that made MySpace into the laughing stock of the social networking world

In order to keep my news feed clean, blocking Facebook apps has been an endless struggle: as soon as a notification from a new app shows up in my news feed, it gets added to be banlist. So how big has my list become?

That’s 270 apps all up – do you want to know what they are?

1. МойКалендарь
2. (Lil) Farm Life
3. 21 questions
4. @Drinks
5. @Hearts
6. @Hugs
7. @Kisses
8. @Smiles
9. Airline Manager
10. Airport Madness
11. Airport Madness 2
12. Angry Birds Seasons
13. Anita predictions
14. AppBank
15. App Builder
16. A SPECIAL TREAT FOR YOU MY FRIEND
17. Astrology
18. Astrology
19. Backyard Monsters
20. Baking Life
21. Battle Pirates
22. Bejeweled Blitz
23. Best Android Downloads
24. Birthday Cards
25. Bite Me
26. BRAAAINS
27. Bubble Island
28. Bubble Paradise
29. Bubble Popp
30. Bubble Saga
31. BuddyPoke
32. Café World
33. Car Town
34. Casino City
35. Castle Age
36. Causes
37. Celebrate
38. Chocobo’s Crystal Tower
39. City Life
40. City of Wonder
41. CityVille
42. Classic Word Games
43. Cleopatra’s Pyramid
44. click
45. Click Click
46. Click Thing
47. Collect Hearts
48. Cooking Mama
49. Country Life
50. Crash Pollito
51. Create My App
52. CSI: Crime City
53. Daily Horoscope
54. Daily Horoscope
55. Data Worm
56. Desktop Defender
57. Diamond Dash
58. Doomsday Defense: Towers vs Monsters, PvE, PvP
59. Dots II
60. DoubleDown Casino
61. Dragon Age Legends
62. Draw My Thing
63. Dream World
64. Drinks On Me
65. eBay Mobile
66. Empires & Allies
67. Family Feud
68. Family Tree
69. Fantasy Kingdoms
70. FARKLE
71. Farkle 2
72. Farm Country
73. Farm Town
74. FarmVille
75. Fashion Wars
76. FishHunt
77. FishVille
78. Fish World
79. Flutter
80. Forever Friends
81. Fortune Cookie
82. Fortune Products
83. Fortune Wheel
84. Friend Hug
85. Friend of the Day
86. Friends For Sale!
87. FrontierVille
88. FrontierVille Community
89. Galaxy 2.0 – Best Sci-Fi Strategy Game, 2011
90. Games
91. Games
92. Gardens of Time
93. Get Revealed
94. Gift Creator
95. Give Hearts
96. Go The Socceroos
97. GrouPong Game
98. Happy Aquarium
99. Happy Harvest
100. Happy Island
101. Happy Pets
102. Hello Adventure!
103. Hooves of Fire – Horse Racing Game
104. Horoscopes
105. Horoscopes
106. Hotel City
107. How in Love are you?
108. How innocent are u?
109. How many people secretly want you?
110. How naughty are you ?
111. How Sincere Is Your Love ?
112. HTC Share & Win
113. Hugged
114. iHearts
115. Island Paradise
116. Jelli
117. Just Style
118. Karma
119. Kingdoms of Camelot
120. Kisses
121. Likeness
122. Little Rock Pool
123. Lollipop
124. Lords Online
125. Love Percentage [Daily]
126. Love Quotes Daily
127. Lover of the day
128. Love Zodiac Profile
129. Lucky Train
130. Mafia Wars
131. Mahjongg Dimensions Blast
132. Mahjong Trails
133. Mahjong Zen
134. Make Your Jersey
135. Maya Pyramid
136. Melt Your Photograph
137. Me to You Bear – Gifts
138. Might and Magic: Heroes Battles
139. Millionaire City
140. MindJolt Games
141. Miner Speed
142. Mobsters 2: Vendetta
143. Mob Wars
144. Monopoly Millionaires
145. Monster Galaxy
146. Monster Hero
147. Mood Detector
148. Movie List Challenges
149. Movies
150. MyCalendar
151. My Casino
152. My Christmas Tree
153. My City
154. My City Life
155. My Daily Fortune
156. My Empire
157. My Friend Secrets
158. My Kitten
159. My Photos
160. My Shops
161. Mystery Manor
162. My Super Fans
163. My Vineyard
164. My Zoo
165. Name Meaning
166. Neosaurs
167. Nightclub City
168. Ninja Saga
169. Nuzzle Puzzle
170. Ocean Party
171. PAC-MAN
172. Paradise Life
173. Penguin Toss
174. PetVille
175. Pillow Fight
176. Pirates: Rule the Caribbean!
177. PlayStation®Network
178. Plumet 2
179. Pocket God
180. Pool Club
181. Pool Live Tour
182. Pool Master
183. Postman
184. Pot Farm
185. Pub Life
186. Puzzled Hearts
187. Quizazz
188. QuizBone
189. Quiz Creator
190. Quiz Monster
191. Quiz Planet
192. Quiztacular
193. Quiz Whiz
194. Quizzing
195. Railroad Empire
196. Resort World
197. Restaurant City
198. Robot Unicorn Attack
199. Roller Coaster Kingdom
200. Rummikub®
201. School of Wizardry
202. SCRABBLE® Worldwide (excluding U.S. and Canada)
203. Scramble
204. Sell or no Sell
205. Send Care Bears
206. Send Flowers
207. Send Flowers
208. Slotomania – Slot Machines
209. Smiles
210. Social City
211. Sorority Life
212. Special Drinks
213. Speed Racing
214. SPP Ranch!
215. Street Racing
216. Superhero City
217. SuperPoke! Pets
218. Super Slot Machines
219. Talking Tom 2
220. Tetris Battle
221. Texas HoldEm Poker
222. The Inside of your Brain is …..
223. The Mood Weather Report
224. Toilet Paper Roll
225. Top Friends of mine(ENHANCED)
226. Top Loves
227. TrainCity
228. Treasure Isle
229. Treasure Legend
230. Treasure Madness
231. Tribute Balloon
232. UNO
233. Vampire Wars
234. Virtual City
235. Voyage To Vermont
236. What are You Like most?
237. What Color Of Flower Are You?
238. What does your day of birth say about you?
239. What do people first notice about you?
240. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE MOST?
241. What is your Birthflower?
242. What is your mood right now?
243. What is your true personality?
244. What Kind of Hot Are You?
245. What look should you go for today?(girls only)
246. What should you be thinking about right now?
247. What will you be doing in the next 24 hours?
248. what would you do in 10 years
249. What Your Name Means
250. Which friends was born to strip ?
251. Who Will Be Forever By Your Side?
252. Who Will Win The Top FRIEND Cup?(Enhanced App)
253. Wildlife Refuge
254. Wild West Express
255. Will you find true Love?
256. WonderHill Harmony Mahjong
257. WonderHill Three Hills Solitaire
258. Word Search
259. Word Twist
260. World at War
261. World Conquest
262. World War
263. Your Chinese Zodiac Profile
264. Your Luck [daily]
265. YouTube
266. YoVille
267. Zombie Farm
268. Zombie Mosh
269. Zoo World
270. Zuma Blitz

Sheesh!

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It appears that new type of website has emerged, that work like this:
1. Allow a user to enter a random string of text.
2. Put that piece of text into a webpage, and give it a unique URL.
3. Allow user to ‘like’ the piece of inane rambling on Facebook.
4. ???
5. Profit!

Examples of these websites include http://fblike.net/, http://www.fblike.com/, http://mylike.co.uk/superlike/, http://chelick.net.

They seem to have cropped up in the past few weeks since Facebook enabled third party websites to place “Like” buttons on their sites, a feature from April 2010. Does anyone know what this new genre websites should be called?

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