SERIOUSLY!?!?

Yeah, THAT makes me want to go into nursing! Where can I sign up!?

And B) What the heck IS that!?

Just… LOL

It’s not only laughable that this hit the “news” at all, but at how long it took. The “new” Facebook layout has been out for, what, four months or so now? It’s also laughable that there are people out there who actually think changing their profile picture is goinng to affect how Facebook is going to look.

Morons.

Then, seriously. That is ground for de-friending. Dang people.

Yes, I did de-friend that person, but that’s not really the real reason. I only saw that when I went to the profile to go to the bottom to click “remove as friend.” I mean, wow, it took that page like 20 minutes to load and you can see that not even all the icons loaded. And to make things better? Not a single one of those applications was in the extended part of the profile. Bah!

Now, in case that image is failing for some reason, Facebook gave me the message: “Content rejected. Some of the content you included in this message is not allowed by Facebook.”

Yes, as you can see, my friend was asking me about the digital scrapbooking pages I uploaded last night. So what was in my message? Two links and some text about photos, digital scrapbooking freebies, and Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.

Not only, though, did Facebook not send my message, it also didn’t save it, or show me where I’d gone wrong so I could edit… whatever it was… out of the message.

I tried again.

Got the same message.

Had a thought and I removed the first link. It went through. Yup, the problem was the tinyURL link I’d included as a short link to show where one can get Elements 6 cheaper: tinyurl.com/2co7c4.

So I’m guessing that Facebook doesn’t like TinyURL because it can’t follow it and know what the link is to create a preview? I went to the help pages, the section about messaging and all I can find regarding links in messages is the following:

There are two main ways to include a link in your message.

1. Start by clicking “Add Link” in the “Attach” section below the Message field. Next, copy and paste a link to any sort of media (blog, news article, website, video, music) into the “Share link” box and then click “Attach.”
2. When you are not on Facebook, use our Share functionality (either in the form of our Share Bookmarklet or the Share on Facebook Links) to send a message with the link to that site included in the message.

In both of these cases, the links you are sharing will generate previews that will be visible in the body of your message.

I never use either of these methods. I put the link in, Facebook creates the preview, and I usually remove the preview because it’s friggin’ annoying.

So, what’s the deal, Facebook? Much like when I wrote about Yahoo’s Captcha (over two years ago), I think it’s ridiculous that the message is not saved. Facebook should let us know what’s not allowed, at least in the FAQ, but moreso in the error message itself. How can one follow the rules if he/she doesn’t know what they are? :)

I’ve never played a trading card game before, but I’m really having fun! And it actually requires me to think, so that’s good, too!

So how do you play? In a nutshell, you have a pack that can hold up to 15 items. You can either buy from the marketplace or steal from friends (mutual Facebook friends who also play) or steal from these game rats’ inventory. The objective is to eventually gather all the items in the various collections. Some can be bought, some are surprise pop-ups that you can claim, others are created by combining basic items. As long as an item is in your pack, a friend can steal it away. You have to vault the items to make them permanently yours. To vault items, you either have to have five identical ones, or five unique ones from the same collection. You can lock items by playing little games within your pack, but the lock takes up space and it can be broken if your friend scores higher than you on the same game.

For instance, here’s my pack right now:

I’ve got those apple pie slices locked ’cause I made them out of three apples each and I need another one to make a whole apple pie. I have a set in the Cimarron Canyon group (Western) but I’m not vaulting it yet because I already have all that stuff and want to at least turn three lassos into a 10 gallon hat.

When stealing items, you’re given a status bar of sorts. You have to replace that stolen item with something from your pack and when you select it, you’re shown on the bar if you have a higher or lower chance of getting “caught” stealing and it being unsuccessful. There’s always a chance you’ll get caught, but your chances are lower if you offer an item that’s as high or higher in value than the one you’re stealing, or from the same collection. Successful thefts not only get you the item you want but get you points too. For an item worth 500 points, you’ll get 50 points for stealing it. I’ve found it’s good strategy to just take items I don’t need/want and just run around to the rats and keep trying to trade up. I actually won an item the other day that was worth 5000 points with something that was only worth 1500 points and a few other steals like that.

Not only this, but as you surf around, you can pick up more credits wherever they pop up (they look like a coin almost) by clicking on them. The same with some items that will pop up in a box.

So y’all, what’s your strategy/secrets. ;-) If you’re playing that is. If you’re not, come on, especially if you’re my friend on Facebook, you know, so I can stop stealing from the same few people hehehehe.

There is a recipe page out there, by the way, but I’ve never been able to access it, server’s always down or something. So I’m gonna just start listing here the recipes I find out. Feel free to add. :) (Some might have images if you click on the collection title.)

Ancient Realms

Castle (15800) — Wizard, Dragon, Stone Golem
Wizard (7800) — Alfgar the Wise, Spell Book, Crystal Ball
Succubus (6000) — Skeleton Warrior, Kyeera of the Amazons, Fairy Queen
Dragon (3300) — Spell Book, Wyrm, Goblin Soldier
Armored Knight (2500) — Short Sword, Gavin the Squire, Knight’s Shield
Skeleton Warrior (1750) — Dark Slime, Flail, Short Sword
Trebuchet (1550) — Bow, Buckler, Hammer
Stone Golem (1450) — Scroll, Hammer, Magic Potion
Spell Book (1200) — Scroll x 3
Knight’s Shield (1200) — Buckler x 3

Cimarron Canyon

Sam the Gambler (2300) — Outlaw, Six Shooter, Ace of Spades
Great State of Texas (1600) — Tin Star x 3
Outlaw (800) — Cerveza x 3
10 Gallon Hat (400) — Lasso x 3

Ninja Dawn

General Yutaka (6300) — Samurai Helmet, Robo-Ninja, Pagoda
Robo-Ninja (2300) — Samurai Helmet x 3
Red Ninja Hoshi (1900) — Shuriken, Katana, Ninja Hoshi
Nigiri (800) — Maki Roll x 3
Karate Headband (400) — Chop Sticks x3

Oh, the Drama

Gossip Rag (6800) — Little Black Dress, Red Carpet, Paparazzo
Sparklie (5600) — Credit Cards x 3
Red Carpet (2000) — Designer Handbag, Audrey Shades, Lipstick
Credit Cards (1650) — Designer Handbag, Audrey Shades, Pink Cellphone

Primary Colors 2008

George Bush (5000) — Ballot Box, I Voted Sticker, GOP Button
Bill Clinton (5000) — Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Upset
Al Gore (3000) — Ballot Box, I Voted Sticker, Dem Button
State of New York (2500) — Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg
Upset (2000) — Ron Paul, Michael Bloomberg, Dennis Kucinich

Safari Kingdom

Periodical au Naturale (4600) — Giraffe, Rangefinder, Rover
Rover (1300) — Suitcase, Binoculars, Pith Helmet
Rangefinder (1200) — Binoculars x 3
Good Doctor Livingston (1000) — Canteen, Binoculars, Pith Helmet

South by Southwest

Dome (3500) — Swank Guitar, Superswank Hotel, Bratwurst
Swank Guitar (1200) — Billiards, Longnecks, Bratwurst
Margarita (800) — Krauterlikor x 3

Sugar Rush

Apple Pie (3200) — Slice of apple pie x 3
Dentist (2500) — Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Dental Drill
Diet Cola Geiser (2000) — Diet Cola, Berry Freshmakers, Mint Freshmakers
Banana Split (1200) — Soft Serve, Cherry Cordial, Banana
Slice of Apple Pie (800) — Apple x 3

Supermassive Black Hole

Cyclops Invader (1400) — Ray Gun, Mercury Communicator, Martian
Deluxe Alien (1200) — Extraterrestrial x 3
Foo Fighter (400) — Tabloid x 3

Tiki Island

Pop Idol (2400) – Tiki x 3
Halapaleki Hula Girl (900) — Lei, Coconut Palm, Grass Skirt
Piña Colada (400) – Pineapple Juice x 3

Urban Hipster

Hipster Deejay (2300) — Turntable, Pricey Headphones, LP

Well, yes, I’ve wasted entirely too much time with this, heh. But I do think I’m entitled, especially when I’m not feeling well, I suppose!

Okay, thanks Facebook, because I totally didn’t know that… :)