Never let your employees control your social media account. This is something that British pub The Plough learnt the hard way. After firing their head chef just over a week before Christmas, he took to Twitter to vent his outrage.
Unfortunately for The Plough, the Twitter account he used wasn't his own, but instead the account for his ex-employers.
Since then, this topic has gone completely crazy on Twitter, with people expressing both their disgust of firing an employee a week before Christmas, and their love of the way the ex-head chef got his revenge.
Of course, I wouldn't suggest doing this, just in case your ex-employers have a good knowledge of the law and how to best sue you. Also, as funny as this is, we don't know the full story or even why the guy was fired. Until we do, it makes for a funny anecdote and I wish this guy all the best in finding a new job in the future.
The other day, the internet went wild. It wasn’t because Miley Cyrus
performed another dance where she couldn’t put her tongue back into her mouth,
and it wasn’t because Robin Thicke wrote a sexist song. It went crazy for
a different reason.
Pop music royalty, Beyoncé did something that no one expected.
Armed and dangerous with an abundance of loyal followers, Twitter suddenly
became the platform on which Bey would announce that she had secretly released
an album on iTunes without anyone knowing anything about it.
Now that’s what I call a successful album release! The
self-titled album Beyoncé by Beyoncé suddenly just appeared on iTunes, with
brand 14 new songs and a large number of videos. It wasn’t even given a release
date, that’s how secret it was! But it wasn’t leaked early, and basically all
of the advertising for her new album has been done via word of mouth in the
Twitterverse.
And it all started with one tweet from Columbia Records:
This started the spark, sending Twitter users into overdrive
and opening up iTunes to see what new and amazing songs Bey had given us. And
you won’t be disappointed! This album is full of amazing lyrics and really
relaxing yet catchy music. It’s typical, commanding and awesome Beyoncé, but in
my opinion it’s more of a personal album. The fourteen new songs are already a
hit with fans, and have already regained the number one throne on iTunes.
One year on from the Sandy Hook Massacre and the United States of America still hasn't learnt its lesson regarding gun control legislation. Exactly one year ago, killer Adam Lanza murdered 20 children and six teachers in cold blood with a semi-automatic assault rifle.
Some argue that gun control laws are not needed, and that they would be taking away the fundamental, constitutional rights of Americans. How is this the case when so many lives would be spared from early deaths? In the past year, many Americans have blamed the USA's lack of a public healthcare system. More than a few times, I've heard mental illness described as being the key factor in many US massacres, and not the guns.
How, then, can citizens of the USA not see that guns are to blame. Yes, the lack of a proper healthcare system means that those suffering from mental health are not receiving proper treatment. But the fact that anyone is able to buy a gun is scary.
Even if the USA had a working healthcare system equivalent to that of Australia or Canada's, there would still be a major gun problem. Gun violence is not just from the mentally ill. Gun violence can occur when anyone who owns a gun decides to use it to the detriment of those around them. Yes, if healthcare was improved, maybe the situation with guns would improve also, but healthcare cannot be blamed in its entirety.
Another argument which I've heard is that criminals would still have guns, whereas the honest-to-God, true-blue citizens would be left to fend for themselves with nothing but baseball bats for protection.
Gun laws became an issue in Australia after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, and since then, crimes involving shootings have dropped dramatically. As for the fact that criminals would be the only ones with guns, I think that Australia needs to be recognised once again.
Gun violence is never going to completely disappear, but Australia serves as a reminder that our mass shootings and gun murders in general have gone down since stricter legislation was implemented. There will always be ways for criminals do get guns, however ordinary citizens should not be able to carry a gun for 'protection'. After all, culture permitting violence only encourages more violence. The reason why so many US citizens feel the need to own a gun is because everyone else owns a gun. It is a self-perpetuating cycle which needs to stop.
Finally, the Second Amendment is always the fundamental issue. According to many Americans, taking away guns is the equivalent of taking away their fundamental human rights. Incorrect. The guns which were available to citizens when the United States Constitution first came about were vastly different to the guns of today. In fact, the semi-automatic assault rifle used in the Sandy Hook massacre was capable of firing 20 shots every 3 seconds. This is an extreme difference to guns which used to take 30 seconds to load up only one bullet.
America needs stricter gun laws. Despite the fact that I live in Australia and don't really deserve a say, everyone needs to realise that America's gun law are outdated and that ordinary citizens should not feel the need to own nor carry a gun.
At this point, I think that the bravery of both the teachers and children at Sandy Hook Elementary should be recognised. The actions of the brave people in that school, many of whom lost their lives, meant that many more lives were saved. But for what? One year later and there is still no legislation limiting gun ownership.
Whilst some still like to fantasise that the whole thing was a hoax, it was definitely not the case. The Sandy Hook massacre was entirely real, and that is why, one year on, families are still trying to come to terms with the deaths of their friends, family and loved ones. No more.
