Calif. city mulls posting DUI mug shots to PD's Facebook page

Social networking sites like Facebook can be a source of embarrassment for those who might post things they regret. However, a city is considering helping DUI offenders along in that sort of embarrassment.

Devin Dwyer, a councilman in Huntington Beach, CA, wants police to begin posting mug shots of DUI repeat offenders to the Huntington Beach PD's Facebook page. Originally, he wanted all DUI offenders posted, but Dwyer modified the proposal in an attempt to get it past the 7-member city council.

Huntington Beach is a city of about 200,000 residents. Among 56 California cities of a similar size, Huntington Beach is ranked tops in alcohol-related traffic fatalities. In 2009, 195 people were killed or injured. At the same time, drunk driving laws are strictly enforced, and in 2009, there were 1,687 DUI arrests.

Police spokesman Lt. Russell Reinhart said that the PD's Facebook page, launched in November, has proven to be a valuable way of getting information to and from the public. He is concerned public interest might dry up if this practice of public shaming of all repeat DUI offenders were conducted. He said,

"We see no value in doing that. Law enforcement is not about public shaming."

Despite this, Dwyer says he has wide support from residents. The vote takes place next Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011.

Facebook's Zuckerberg named to Esquire's '2010 Celebrity Style Hall of Shame'

Should we really care if someone as rich and famous as Mark Zuckerberg dresses well, or not? After all, isn't all his networking via the Internet anyway, hidden from the public eye? Be that as it may, Esquire recently named Zuckerberg to its "2010 Celebrity Style Hall of Shame" list (To be honest, we believe this was announced last year, but for some reason no one really noticed Zuckerberg's naming then.  On the other hand, plenty noticed Robert Pattinson's naming).

Scoring Time's Person of the Year apparently doesn't rate with Esquire. However, we're surprised, if you're going to pick Zuckerberg, that a certain other Silicon Valley CEO who seems to only have turtlenecks and blue jeans in his iCloset isn't on the list, but he's not.

Among the others on the list are Rush Limbaugh, Robert Pattinson, Russell Brand, and Joaquin Phoenix. Esquire said:

you cannot show up to a black-tie event in a t-shirt and jeans and expect to be taken seriously. Seriously.

Their suggestion:

You just gave a hundred million to Newark's schools. Would it kill you to throw a couple thousand to, say, Zegna for a couple of nice suits? Even Bill Gates wears a sport coat, for chrissakes.

True, but remember that when it was suggested that Apple CEO Steve Jobs wear a suit to meet with AT&T execs, one of his subordinates said, “We’re Apple. We don’t wear suits. We don’t even own suits.”

MySpace to axe 55 - 60 percent of its workforce on Tuesday: report

MySpace, which was once the king of social networking, but made mistakes and lost the title long ago to Facebook, is about to shed some 60 percent of its staff on Tuesday, according to a report.

The company will axe from 550 to 600 of its 1,000 employees, said the report, which added that the spin on the layoffs will be "shedding legacy products" and restructuring. Following that, News Corp. will attempt to sell the site, for which it paid some $580 million for in 2005. Currently, it's looking at private equity firms, but Yahoo! has also been mentioned as a suitor, although Yahoo! isn't exactly doing great on its own, right now.

It's clear that MySpace is, if not on its last legs, heading there. The Sync with Facebook feature that was unveiled in August, as well as the Mashup with Facebook feature from November, were probably embarrassing for a company that once dwarfed the now dominant social networking site.

Update: MySpace laid off nearly half their workforce.