Five things worth sharing from the last week or so, brought to you by a different member of the Browser Media team every Friday.
This week’s My Five is by Will.
1. Twitter’s new verification process
It wouldn’t be a My Five if Twitter wasn’t mentioned in some way. On Wednesday, Twitter released a new set of guidelines for verified accounts (the ones with the little blue tick). The guidelines come after Twitter was highly criticised for verifying the account of Jason Kessler, the organiser of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville back in August. Following the update, the platform started to remove that precious little blue tick from selected accounts.
The coveted blue tick was initially only given to public figures, journalists and organisations so people can know they are following the genuine account. However, this all changed in 2016 when Twitter allowed members of the public to apply for verification, allowing more accounts to become verified.
The new guidelines aim to make Twitter a safer place, removing the verification of individuals who promote hate/violence, support hate groups, or incite or engage in harassment of others. To read more about the new guidelines and why they were implemented click here.
2. Greggs advent calendar
Novelty advents calendars are extremely popular right now, with tiny little chocolates being replaced for all kinds of luxurious items, including makeup, alcohol, and pastries from everyone’s favourite bakery – Greggs. That’s right, Greggs have released an advent calendar that has vouchers behind each of the doors that can be exchanged for ‘tasty treats’ at your local store.
However, earlier this week Greggs released an official apology after it replaced Jesus with a sausage roll in an advert for this advent calendar. The public took to Twitter (of course) to vent their anger towards the bakery chain for their “religious insensitivity” in the advert while encouraging others to boycott Greggs stores.
There was, however, a portion of the internet who managed to see the advert for the light-hearted joke it was intended to be, and as always, it produced some great responses on social media.
https://twitter.com/andyparmo/status/930894937134108672
Sorry about the swear…
Don't see any problem with what Greggs have done, seeing as Jesus backwards is sausage
— Tom Victor (@tomvictor) November 15, 2017
Well, he’s not wrong
3. We apologise for the disruption to our regular service
If there is one thing we can’t seem to get right in England, it’s our trains. Whether there are leaves on the track, signalling problems, or issues with the overhead lines there always seems to be a reason as to why your train is delayed. Japan, on the other hand, has one of the most efficient railway systems in the world. This is why it took everyone by surprise that management on the Tsukuba Express line between Tokyo and the city of Tsukuba has to release an apology for disruptions to their normal timetable.
So what went wrong? Were the trains delayed by hours for no real reason? Did they have to cancel services and squeeze everyone into one smaller train? No – the 09:44 trains left at 09:44:20 instead of 09:44:40, a whole 20 seconds early, what a disgrace!
The mistake happened because staff “did not sufficiently check the departure time” before the train left. Unsurprisingly, no customers complained about the service leaving early, but it is a very rare for trains in Japan to run at a different time to the one scheduled.
4. The world’s fastest car
Elon Musk unveiled Tesla’s first electric semi-truck at an event in L.A. on Thursday evening, however, it was the surprise reveal of a new Tesla sports car that stole the show. At the end of the presentation the new Tesla Roadster emerged from the back of one of the trucks, and it’s quite spectacular.
https://t.co/0rBaJNQrum pic.twitter.com/pyoDmOj4XC
— Tesla (@Tesla) November 17, 2017
Not only does the new Roadster look gorgeous but it’s got a very impressive battery in it as well. We’re talking 0-60mph in 1.9 seconds (the first car to break 2 seconds), 0-100mph in 4.2 seconds, and a quarter mile time of 8.9 seconds (the first car to go under 9 seconds). In other words, it’s quick… really quick with an expected top speed of over 250mph! However, it does come at an eye-watering price with a base cost of $200,000.
Reservations have begun with a special edition available to the first 1,00 people, so you better hurry and get yours ordered now.
5. Mambo No. 5
I would assume most people haven’t heard of Ebbsfleet United defender, Yado Mambo, currently in his third spell with Ebbsfleet United, a National League team in the fifth tier of English football. However, after his TV appearance last week against Leyton Orient, Mambo caused quite the stir online because of his squad number.
Football fans were quick to point out how the team had missed a trick by not giving him the number 5 shirt – it would have been perfect.
Imagine signing a player called Mambo and not giving him the number 5 shirt. Poor form from Ebbsfleet United. pic.twitter.com/ZFjVGlXRIV
— Joe (@RedAndWhite11) November 11, 2017
Unfortunately, as the team numbers have already been registered Ebbsfleet are not able to swap numbers without breaking the laws, but they have made a brilliant compromise. The club has released a one-off Mambo No.5 shirt that is being auctioned on eBay along with a signed photo of the player and a certificate of authenticity from the club. The listing currently has 5 days left and the highest bid is sitting at £721. If you want to get your hands on this limited edition shirt, then you can join in the bidding here.
Additionally, all funds raised from the sale of the shirt are being donated to Prostate Cancer UK, well played Ebbsfleet.
