Miscellaneous

Let's see you do that, Twitter!

The folks that run Facebook are, if you believe the press, running amuck with concern that Twitter is the next big thing that will lay waste to Facebook's paper value and user base. But Facebook, not Twitter, is what helped save the day for one theft victim:

It all happened on March 13 when [Carla] Mote and a friend were out for drinks at a local Philly eatery. Mote sat at the bar.... To her left sat her friend Stacy.

As the two sipped wine, chatting and catching up, a suited young man sat down to the right of Mote. He was visibly intoxicated, she says, and almost immediately he started behaving oddly.....

The night went on, the bar-restaurant filled up, the man got more drunk. "At one point I heard the bartender say to (the perp), 'I'll serve you food but I can't give you any more drinks', so the guy was definitely wasted."

Then the dude got up to leave. But Mote said she could feel him awkwardly shuffling around next to her at the crowded bar. Little did she know he was preparing to drunkenly steal her computer bag, with taxes and wallet inside. Did we mention she's a senior level staffer and the computer contained delicate data? She is, it did.

By 9:15-9:30pm, Mote and friend had wrapped up their conversation and were ready to leave. Ta da, the bag was gone, and based on the drunk guy's oddness, Mote's inner detective sensed the guy who had been next to her was to blame. So she asked the bartender for the guy's name -- he had used a credit card. He gave it to her, so she ran to the front desk and asked if there was a phone number for, we'll call him, Melvin Bransky (we made that name up) -- there were two numbers, one local and another from St. Louis (the man's city of origin has also been changed).

And Facebook status updates tell the rest of the tale, sorta (you can read the longer non-statusy rundown over at mediabistro):

(Hat tip: Gawker)

Full post as published by Quiz Law on April 08, 2009 (boomark / email).