Brynne Update

It's not usually an earth shattering piece of news but we really thought we should immediately bring you a copy Brynne Gordon's updated Facebook profile pic. It doesn't get much better than this. Whispers is sure you will agree. This snap is by Melbourne photographer Greg Desitov. We think he's excelled himself. Check out his work here

World's Largest Message-in-a-Bottle

"What's all this about?", I hear you ask.
It's an excuse to run some pics sent to us of gorgeous Miss Tenerife, Sady Chavez Diaz jumping off a giant bottle of Solo. The bottle will be towed 200 nautical miles off the coast before it's released and it is equipped with the required navigation lights for a drifting object in international waters, it has Automatic Identification System, radar reflector and tracking technology. It will be monitored continuously and if needs be, we will use a tugboat to get it safely ashore wherever it ends up, says Joakim Sande, CEO of Solo. (and many thanks for the crate of Solo). You can follow the bottle's progress on Facebook. Naturally.

The Power of Star Trek's Dr Sulu

If you haven't yet 'liked' the Facebook page of Dr Hikaru Sulu of the SS Enterprise, actor George Takei, never fear, a whopping 3,600.000 have which makes him a Facebook star with power.
George is a gay activist and updates his Facebook page daily, often with amusing photos and tales.
 Today he posted a link to the sensational Youtube video that has dominated the airwaves and TV since it was posted 2 days ago. It features a young man at the Sydney Mardi Gras being thrown to the ground by a fairly large policeman with other police demanding by-standers to stop filming .

Last night when the Shuttle viewed the video it had only 503 hits. At present it has over 400,000. Since George Takei posted a link an extra 100,000 hits were logged within one hour. The power of Facebook !

Facebook Quote :

 

 Kathy Lette:

"My life is in your hands," Barry Humphries confides in me at dinner. I'm intrigued. "Really?" He then hands me a copy of his autobiography.

 

 

Diplomatic Stoush

Martha Stewart and Rosmar Mansour

The fur is still flying over the recent visits of Malaysia's 'First Lady' Rosmar Mansour the wife of the prime minister Najib Rasak.
 A fan of local fashion designs by Paddington's Carl Kapp, Rosmar is said to have picked up $100,000 worth of Kapp's designs although she has claimed the clothing was purchased on behalf of a Malaysian boutique.

Carl Kapp

A Sydney columnist who wrote of her visit has ended up with a mention in dispatches-namely with PM Rasak telling media that the report was 'fabricated'.
 Co-incidentally the day Rosmar was visiting Kapp's boutique the Shuttle was caught in a mini traffic jam as her large black windowed SUV blocked tiny William Street in Paddo, presumably while the First Lady flicked through clothing racks.

But it's the awarding to Rosmar of an honorary doctorate of letters at Curtin University in Perth that has now elevated her visits to crisis level.
 Following the announcement of the award the universities Facebook page was inundated with 1000's of angry comments from Malasyian students who study at Curtin -there are some 2500 there-slamming the award and likening Rosmar to shoe lover Imelda Marcos.

As fast as the University burghers removed the Facebook comments more kept appearing. Now the pages have been cleansed and an ominous warning has appeared :

 Curtin University    Hi all. We have issued several requests to comply with our 'rules of engagement' on this wall. There are now so many personal attacks, allegations of ciminal activity, and hate mongering that we are obliged under the Defamation Act 2006 to remove this type of content
                                  
Meanwhile the Malaysian Blog For Change insinuates all sorts of shady shenanigans have been going on and questions who paid for visits to Malaysia by actor Robert de Niro and Martha Stewart. It's all very exciting. We await the next episode.

exclusive : Defamation Case to Be Launched Against Zuckerberg & Facebook

The Shuttle has seen some of the legal papers but we cannot reveal the name of the litigant. This is going to be a biggie though.

A Melbourne based celebrity and high profile figure is to launch a massive defamation case in the Australian and other courts against Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg.

He/she claims they have almost been driven  mad and to despair by a facebook page set up in their name and only just brought to their attention after 18 months, which contains dozens of defamation's and libelous posts by the approximately 1000 'friends'.

And we aren't talking just personal insults here which this person could wear-we mean viscous nasty rumours of extra-marital affairs, involvement in murder and all sorts of illegal activities.

Our anonymous litigant has a Sydney and a Melbourne QC itching to take on the Internet giant and one of the countries top law firms working pro bono. They intend launching actions in the English, US and Australian courts simultaneously. They also intend to ask a British court to suppress the name  of the litigant because of the nature of the falsehoods which they say may be authored annonymously but are published by facebook.

We have been told that the law firm and both barristers has been appalled by a recent case of a  facebook page that named a deceased child on which pornographic images were posted and the seemingly lax attitude of the facebook managers, and the way in which British anti-child abuse campaigners were continually rebuffed when trying to get a 'panic button' installed for kids. That lawyer claims facebook only acts at the last moment and after considerable pressure and only then , when it feels it may receive bad publicity.

Further-the law firm says it has now been requesting via the normal facebook channels to have the offending pages removed and have basically met a brick wall.

"Facebook is one of the most troubling internet websites at the moment " says one lawyer "It operates under that hoary old claim of 'freedom of speech' which is a cover for the freedom to insult, libel ,defame and humiliate. It offers the most illusory but dangerous feeling of security in that people feel they are reaching out to find friends when the very opposite could be happening. There are stories of vunerable teens committing suicide after hate messages being posted. There are media releases galore from facebook saying they will solve these problems but it's just words in the end"
If successful this could open the floodgates against facebook. It could rival the famous case in 2002 when diamond merchant Joseph Gutnick launched a successful libel action against Dow Jones in a Melbourne court which basically changed the rules.

like some bastard love child of Rupert Murdoch and Silvio Berlusconi..

  Oh dear. That's how Nicky Moore describes the Olympic coverage by Eddie McGuire : "Racist, insular, lowest common denominator, uninformed, homophobic, dull, cheesy, irrelevant, flag-waving … like some bastard love child of Rupert Murdoch and Silvio Berlusconi.".

   The facebook page- Eddie Mcguire is ruining the 2010 Winter Olympics coverage has a growing membership. In the past few days it's grown from a few dozen to 2075. It's description in the 'philosophy' section says : "Anyone else absolutely sick of this no-talent clown and his verbal diarrhoea during the 2010 winter olympics?"
    Michaela Riddell says :"I was embarrassed and ashamed and then to top it all off The Brokeback (Mountain) comment was just outrageous- does Eddie have any evidence that sexuality affects capability ? ".
    Why did the Channel Nine network put Eddie in charge of the Winter Olympics coverage ?. Surely they learnt from James Packer's experience. When McGuire-the host of the quiz show Who Wants to Be A Millionaire ran the network on behalf of Packer he almost stuffed the place. It was typical of younger James-his father Kerry would never have made such a mistake. Nor would Kerry have allowed a raft of homophobic comments to air. He would have been on the blower the following morning blasting the commentators if he got wind of any statement-like McGuire's fellow host Mike Molloy's dig at some Olympians for "not leaving much in the closet" remark.
     Packer cared for every viewer no matter what their race, sexuality or age. They were his meal ticket and he knew it. When he lured one of the top sport's broadcasters away from a rival network he interviewed him personally in his office. When the broadcaster announced he would taking his male partner to any social functions Packer said "everyone knows your a bloody poof and couldn't give a stuff-now sign the bloody contract".
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UPDATE : within 5 hours of tSS reporting on the anti-McGuire facebook group membership has climbed to 4328.

The UK Sun newspaper has got in on the act. The fact the The Sun is owned by Rupert Murdoch who also owns the rival Foxtel cable network where the Olympics are also being reported is entirely co-incidental.