February 18, 2021

Goodbye Facebook News in Australia

Good for Facebook.

You won’t hear me say those words very often.

Facebook made a decision to turn off the news feeds for Australia.

Australian users cannot share Australian or international news.

International users outside Australia also cannot share Australian news.

“The proposed law fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it to share news content,” Facebook regional managing director William Easton said.

“It has left us facing a stark choice: attempt to comply with a law that ignores the realities of this relationship, or stop allowing news content on our services in Australia. With a heavy heart, we are choosing the latter,” Easton added.

HDWGH – Story 20 – All Washed Up

From The How Did We Get Here Series

Now: Twelve year old Roxanne Davis is standing under a tree in her neighbor’s yard. She is soaked from head to bare toes in urine. She is doing a bit more than crying. It could actually be called wailing. The boys in the treehouse above are trying desperately to remain quiet.

Before: Tom “Scooter” Johnson and Randy Perry loved their new treehouse. They loved everything about it except for one small detail. They had to climb down what seemed like a million foot holds if they needed to take a pee. They loved to climb, but seriously? Since Randy was the brains of the outfit, he decided that they could use a small pail and just pee in that. When no one was looking, they could just dump it out over the side. No one would ever know and they could stay in the treehouse for a longer period of time.

Once the pail filled up, Tom picked it up and looked down below to make sure that no one was standing around. From his vantage point, the coast was clear. He dumped the pail over the side. About a second later, he heard a combination of screaming and crying. The boys looked over the side and at first, couldn’t see anything. After a minute or so, a young girl emerged from under the tree. She was drenched from head to toe in urine and crying. Randy whispered to Tom about the statistical possibilities that must have been involved in dumping the urine on that precise location.

It was a feat of precision that only two boys in a treehouse could appreciate.