You don’t often hear a three-star general using the word “friend” as a verb. But for Lt. Gen. Benjamin Freakley and other Army brass, a new era has brought a new language — and new tools like online social networks Twitter and Facebook — for seeking out young recruits and spreading the military’s message.
Freakley, who heads the Army command that oversees recruiting, says social networking sites offer another way to reach tomorrow’s soldiers.
“They live in the virtual world,” Freakley said. He cited Facebook as a key component in targeting 18-to 24-year-olds. “You could friend your recruiter, and then he could talk to your friends.”
The Army isn’t the only branch of the military with Facebook friends or that has a following on Twitter. The Air Force has also established a Facebook page, Twitter feeds and a blog, while the Marine Corps is using various networking sites mainly for recruiting purposes. The Navy is “experimenting” with several forms of online media, and some of its commands are using Twitter, a spokesman said.
Even the Coast Guard commandant regularly updates his Facebook status while traveling.
The Army has also added to its Web site video games, a virtual recruiter and clips that answer commonly asked questions about life in uniform.
Showing off the videos during an interview at his office at Fort Monroe, Freakley said some of the questions are surprising: Can I have a dog in the Army? Can I buy a truck in the Army? Can I be married in the Army? The Army, Freakley said, wants to answer those questions.
The Coast Guard also maintains a presence online. Adm. Thad Allen, Coast Guard commandant, routinely updates his own Facebook status from his cell phone while traveling. He also posts video blogs from overseas, said a spokesman, Lt. Tony Migliorini, who called it an effort to collaborate with the public in real time.
According to Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, director of the Army’s newly formed social media division, the services’ presence beyond their Web sites represents a “culture shift.”
“I’m sure there was the same pushback years ago when somebody invented the telephone. ‘Ooh, you can’t talk there because somebody might hear you.’ Well, that’s the whole point. We want people to hear us.” (STAFF WRITER WITH AP)
你很少會聽到一位三顆星的將軍說「交友」這個詞。但對陸軍中將班傑明.菲力克里和其他陸軍軍官而言,新時代的來臨帶來了新的語言──還有像Twitter和Facebook這類社交網站新工具,可以讓他們用來招募新血及傳遞軍方訊息。
菲力克里統領負責募兵工作的陸軍司令部,他表示這些社交網站是另一種招募未來士兵的工具。
菲力克里說:「他們存在虛擬的世界裡,你可以把招募者加入朋友,他就可以和你的朋友交流。」他指出,Facebook是個能鎖定十八到二十四歲族群的重要工具。
陸軍並不是美國軍方唯一在Facebook上交友或在Twitter上有網友追蹤的單位。美國空軍也開了Facebook專屬網頁、Twitter帳號和部落格;海軍陸戰隊也特地使用多種社群網路招募新兵。海軍發言人說,海軍正在「實驗」數種不同類型的線上媒體,部份海軍部隊也已經在使用Twitter了。
就連海岸防衛隊指揮官在巡航時,都會定期上Facebook更新狀態。
陸軍也在其網頁上放了電玩遊戲、一位虛擬招募人員,還有解答軍旅生活常見問題的影片。
菲力克里在他門羅堡的辦公室受訪時放映了這些影片,他說其中有些問題讓人跌破眼鏡:軍隊裡可以養狗嗎?我可以在軍中買一輛卡車嗎?已婚者也可以從軍嗎?菲力克里說,陸軍希望解答那些疑問。
海岸防衛隊也在網路上「駐軍」。海岸防衛隊指揮官泰德.艾倫上將巡航時,習慣透過手機在Facebook上更新他的狀態。他也會從國外張貼影片網誌,海防隊發言人東尼.米格里歐瑞尼上尉說這是為了即時和大眾交流。
陸軍新成立的社交媒體部門主任凱文.亞瑞塔中校說,他們成立的社交網站還象徵一種「文化移轉」。
「我相信這就和數年前電話發明時一樣,『噢,你不能在電話裡說,因為別人可能會聽到。』不過重點就在這裡,我們就是要大眾聽到我們的聲音。」
(翻譯:袁星塵)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110