SINGAPORE: The opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) said it'll address the "shortcomings" of the government's Budget 2013 and propose a more efficient way of prioritising Singapore's expenditure estimates in its own "Shadow Budget".
The party said on Tuesday that the measures in Budget 2013 have failed to address Singapore's long-term needs.
It said while the Budget attempts to address systemic problems, it still falls short of addressing what Singapore really needs.
The SDP welcomes Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam's effort to tackle the problem of income disparity through the Wage Credit Scheme (WCS).
However, it felt that the WCS will not be an effective remedy if the root cause of the income gap is not addressed.
The root cause, the SDP said,, is the continued downward pressure on wages brought about by the importation of lower-wage foreign labour.
The SDP welcomed the move to raise the foreign worker levy for 2014 and 2015 but urged the government to rethink its policy of importing more foreign workers and to introduce minimum wage.
Turning to healthcare, the SDP said it's heartening to note that the Budget will increase funding of Eldercare, a programme which it supports.
However, it wants the 3M-system of Medisave, Medishield and Medifund replaced by a single-payer system, as well as government healthcare expenditure raised from the current 30 per cent to the international norm of about 70 per cent.
One of the many Facebook tribute pages created to honor the victims of the Newtown tragedy.
(Credit: Screenshot by Dara Kerr/CNET)
Government officials and family members of victims from the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting have asked Facebook to delete several offensive posts or tribute pages related to the massacre, according to the Associated Press.
Authorities have said that many of the Facebook pages are being used to berate survivors and victims' families, while others are fraudulently asking for funeral fund donations.
"Certainly there have been many, too many, of these pages that are intimidating or harassing or exploitive," U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal told the Associated Press.
Facebook has responded saying that it will work to remove the offending posts and pages but that some of the tribute pages help people share their sorrow.
Jodi Seth, a spokesperson for the social network, told the Associated Press that Facebook wants to respond quickly "while also recognizing that people across the country want to express grief for a terrible national tragedy."
In December, an armed man stormed the Connecticut elementary school and killed 26 people, including 20 children. Many of the victims have been memorialized and several of the survivors have been lauded on social networks. According to the Associated Press, more than 100 Facebook pages have been created and dedicated to Victoria Soto, one of the teachers killed in the shooting.
The insulting posts include conspiracy theorists who allege that the shooting was staged and all victims were actors. According to the Associated Press, a Facebook tribute page for survivor Kaitlin Roig -- the teacher who saved her students by barricading them in a bathroom -- has a post that reads, "Congratulations Kaitlin or whatever your name is.. Now you're famous and got to meet the 'President.' You ought to be ashamed of yourself."
Lawmakers have asked Facebook to remove the pages that are not authorized by the victims' families and to also make sure new fraudulent pages aren't created. Under Facebook's terms of use, it is prohibited for people to open accounts for anyone but themselves.
"We will continue to be vigilant," Seth told the Associated Press.
CNET contacted Facebook for comment. We'll update the story when we get more information.
Daniel Day-Lewis won the Oscar for best actor for his exactingly authentic performance as President Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's historical drama at Sunday's Academy Awards. Going into the night, the British actor was the favorite to win.
He's the first to ever win the best actor Oscar three times. He's been nominated five times in all, winning for "My Left Foot" in 1990 and "There Will Be Blood" in 2008.
15 Photos
Oscars 2013: Press room
Day-Lewis, 55, spent a year preparing for "Lincoln," and, in his customary method, remained in character during the production. His widely-expected Oscar win further cements his status as the most admired actor currently working.
When asked backstage if there's anyone he'd like to portray next, Day-Lewis said, "I can't think of anyone right now because I need to have to lie down for a couple of years. No, I can't think of any. I really can't, no. It's really hard to imagine doing anything after this."
The other nominees Sunday night were Bradley Cooper ("Silver Linings Playbook"), Hugh Jackman ("Les Miserables"), Joaquin Phoenix ("The Master") and Denzel Washington ("Flight").
"Argo" took home the top prize as best picture at the Oscars Sunday night, with first lady Michelle Obama announcing the winner from the White House.
"You directed a hell of a film," co-producer Grant Heslov told director and fellow producer Ben Affleck. "I couldn't be more proud of the film and more proud of our director."
Affleck was snubbed in the directing category but humbly accepted the best picture Oscar as one of the three producers on the film. George Clooney was the third.
Affleck thanked Steven Spielberg and the other best picture nominees and his wife Jennifer Garner for "working on our marriage."
"It's good, it's work," he said, adding, "but there's no one I'd rather work with."
For Full List of Winners
Acknowledging his last Oscar win, as a screenwriter for "Good Will Hunting," Affleck said, "I was really just a kid. I never thought I would be back here."
In the acting categories, Daniel Day-Lewis won the Oscar for best actor, being the first actor to three-peat in that category. As he accepted the award from Hollywood's greatest actress, Meryl Streep, he joked, "I had actually been committed to play Margaret Thatcher. ... Meryl was Stephen's first choice for Lincoln."
He also thanked his wife, Rebecca Miller, for "living with some very strange men," with each new role that he takes on.
"She's the versatile one in the family and she's been the perfect companion to all of them," he said.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
Jennifer Lawrence won the award for best actress. She tripped on the stairs on her way to accepting her award but picked herself up and made her way to the stage, earning a standing ovation.
"You're just standing up because you feel bad that I fell and that's embarrassing," she said, before rattling off a list of thank-yous and leaving the stage looking slightly stunned.
Watch Jennifer Lawrence's Oscar Tumble
"Life of Pi," which had a total of 11 nominations, was another big winner of the night. Director Ang Lee took home the Oscar for best director over Steven Spielberg and David O. Russell.
"Thank you, movie god," Lee said, accepting his award.
As expected, the film took home the first technical awards of the night for cinematography and visual effects. "Life of Pi" also won for best original score.
The first big acting awards of the night went to Christoph Waltz and Anne Hathaway in the supporting actor categories.
In one of the biggest tossups, Waltz claimed the award for supporting actor for his role in "Django Unchained." It was his second Oscar for a Quentin Tarantino film; his first was for Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds."
PHOTOS: Stars on the Red Carpet
As expected, Hathaway took home the award for best supporting actress for her role as Fantine in "Les Miserables."
"It came true," she said, launching into a breathy speech, in which she thanked the cast and crew, her team and her husband. "The greatest moment of my life was when you walked into it," she said.
Tarantino won the Oscar for best original screenplay for his slave revenge western "Django Unchained." He thanked his cast.
"I have to cast the right people," he said. "And boy this time did I do it."
Chris Terrio won the award for best adapted screenplay for "Argo," which also won for film editing.
For only the sixth time in Academy history, there was a tie at the Oscars. "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Skyfall" tied for sound editing.
MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin signed a law banning smoking in public places in Russia from June, a cornerstone of the government's bid to improve public health, the Kremlin said Monday.
The law, called "On protecting the health of citizens from the danger of passive smoking and the consequences of the use of tabacco," makes smoking illegal in restaurants, cafes, hotels, trains and a host of other places.
Pay for goods using MasterPass loaded on a smartphone.
(Credit: MasterCard)
BARCELONA, Spain--The hype around mobile payments is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the coming transformation for how people purchase goods and services.
That's according to Ed McLaughlin, chief emerging payments officer for MasterCard, who spoke with CNET about his company's vision. While at the Mobile World Congress conference, MasterCard unveiled its MasterPass system, which addresses not only mobile payments, but also all forms of digital transactions. MasterPass is designed for purchases made in stores, online, or on the phone. "It's a foundation for moving to a world beyond plastic," McLaughlin said. "We're in a generational shift from the physical to the connected digital."
While other players are focusing on the traditional concept of mobile payment, or the idea of flashing your smartphone in front of a cash register to pay for clothes, food, and other items, MasterPass will attempt to unify all transactions under one system. As a result, both the merchant and consumer have a consistent experience whether the purchase is made at the cash register with a phone or credit card, online, or through a browser on the smartphone. "There's no e-commerce or m-commerce, there's just commerce," McLaughlin said.
That's not to say that mobile payments isn't a huge driver of what's going on in the industry, including at MasterCard. There are a few initiatives out there, on which MasterCard is also playing a part. Google, for instance, has had its Google Wallet out in the market for roughly a year and a half, but has seen limited adoption. ISIS, a joint venture between Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and T-Mobile, has started testing the service in Salt Lake City and Austin, Texas.
MasterPass is intended to tie it all together. For the consumer, MasterPass is a place to securely store credit card data, address books, and other important information in the cloud. It acts as a digital wallet that can use other branded credit cards as well. Bank, merchants, and other companies can offer their own wallets to consumers that are tied into MasterPass too. For online purchases, consumers can opt for a simpler checkout process with retailers who are participating in the program.
For merchants, MasterPass also includes a consistent method of accepting electronic payments regardless of location or device. More retailers are opting to use near-field communication, or NFC, technology to enable tap-and-pay functions at the register, as well as experimenting with different methods like the use of QR codes, and MasterPass is designed to address all of the different options.
Consumers in Australia and Canada will be able to sign up for the service through financial institutions in March. The U.S. will get access to it in the spring, the U.K. will get it in the summer, and it will gradually expand to other parts of the world, including China, Brazil and Spain. MasterCard has lined up scores of financial institutions, including Citi and Commonwealth Bank in the U.S., merchants, and technology partners to help roll out the service. So what's taking so long?
McLaughlin has an interesting way of describing the transition to a digital payments world: "It's happening, and it will happen when it gets better."
The seemingly contradictory statement underscores perfectly the complexity and snail's pace of progress that has weighed on the progress of mobile payments. The services and features are here, as evidenced by the initiatives of Google and the carriers, but for many people, it hasn't yet happened and things still need to get a lot better. Just as it took a long time for consumers to warm up to the idea of paying bills through a Web site, there will be a slow progression toward getting people to take their wallet into the cloud. It's been a journey just to get to where things are today. Previously, the carriers, banks, payment networks, and merchants all disagreed over which parties would take what cut. Ultimately, does the bank serve the customer? A merchant? Or Google? These are issues the payments industry is still settling.
MasterCard, for its part, is staying out of the fray. The company intends to stay in the background, aside from the MasterPass logo, and preserve the relationship between the merchant or bank and the consumer.
There remains, however, reluctance over the safety of these services, as well as a general lack of awareness. But ultimately, the move to digital is a good thing for consumers, McLaughlin said. For the first time, the act of paying could potentially become both easier and more secure. With traditional plastic credit cards, any effort to make things convenient often resulted in higher risks for the consumer.
Services such as MasterPass, or the ones provided by companies such as Square and Starbucks, also enable new ways to purchase items. Even now, restaurants and stores are experimenting with allowing consumers to order food or goods through mobile point-of-sale devices, allowing them to avoid checkout lines. "It's an extension of what we've been talking about," McLaughlin said. "It's a huge leap forward."
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. At least 33 fans were injured Saturday during a NASCAR race when a car flew into the fence at Daytona International Speedway, hurling a tire and large pieces of debris into the stands.
The accident happened on the last lap of the second-tier Nationwide Series race on the eve of Sunday's Daytona 500, which officials said would go on as scheduled.
The crash began as the field approached the checkered flag and leader Regan Smith attempted to block Brad Keselowski to preserve the win. That triggered a chain reaction, and rookie Kyle Larson hit the cars in front of him and went airborne into the fence.
The entire front end was sheared off Larson's car, and his burning engine wedged through a gaping hole in the fence. Chunks of debris from the car were thrown into the stands, including a tire that cleared the top of the fence and landed midway up the spectator section closest to the track.
The 20-year-old Larson stood in shock several yards away from his car as fans in the stands waived frantically for help. Smoke from the burning engine briefly clouded the area, and emergency vehicles descended on the scene.
Ambulance sirens could be heard wailing behind the grandstands at a time the race winner would typically be doing celebratory burnouts.
"It was freaky. When I looked to my right, the accident happened," said Rick Harpster of Orange Park, Fla., who had a bird's-eye view of the wreck. "I looked over and I saw a tire fly straight over the fence into the stands, but after that I didn't see anything else That was the worst thing I have seen, seeing that tire fly into the stands. I knew it was going to be severe."
Daytona International Speedway released a statement from speedway President Joie Chitwood Saturday evening saying 28 people were injured in the accident in the race held the day before the season-opening Daytona 500.
21 Photos
Daytona racecar loses control
According to the statement, emergency medical personnel transported 14 people off the property and 14 others were treated at the on-track care center.
"We are in the process of repairing the facility, and we will be ready to go racing tomorrow," Chitwood said.
Nathan Kimpel, 24, who works at a concession stand near where the crash happened, told CBS News correspondent Adriana Diaz that he saw 10 to 15 fans being carried out on stretchers.
"As soon as I saw the accident I just turned my head because I didn't want to get injured or anything," Kimpel told Diaz. "I saw the fence separate and more pieces of car parts flying up."
Meghan Willams, 20, who also works at a concession stand, told Diaz the crash sounded like an "earthquake." She saw people running and crying and a girl completely covered in engine oil.
Byron Cogdell, a spokesman for Halifax Health Medical Center, told CBS News that one of the 11 patents taken to the hospital was in critical condition and five more were listed as "trauma" patients.
Lindsay Rew, a spokeswoman for Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center, said its Daytona Beach hospital had one fan there who was in good condition. She said they were expecting three more people who were coming by ambulance, but she didn't yet know their conditions.
"There obviously was some intrusion into the fence and fortunately with the way the event's equipped up, there were plenty of emergency workers ready to go and they all jumped in on it pretty quickly," NASCAR President Mike Helton said. "Right now, it's just a function of determining what all damage is done. They're moving folks, as we've seen, to care centers and take some folks over to Halifax Medical."
As emergency workers tended to injured fans and ambulance sirens wailed in the background, a somber Tony Stewart skipped the traditional post-race victory celebration.
Stewart, who won for the 19th time at Daytona and seventh time in the last nine season-opening Nationwide races, was in no mood to celebrate.
"The important thing is what going on on the frontstretch right now," said Stewart, the three-time NASCAR champion. "We've always known, and since racing started, this is a dangerous sport. But it's hard. We assume that risk, but it's hard when the fans get caught up in it.
"So as much as we want to celebrate right now and as much as this is a big deal to us, I'm more worried about the drivers and the fans that are in the stands right now because that was ... I could see it all in my mirror, and it didn't look good from where I was at."
The accident spread into the upper deck and emergency crews treated fans on both levels. There were five stretchers that appeared to be carrying fans out, and a helicopter flew overhead. A forklift was used to pluck Larson's engine out of the fence.
"It's a violent wreck. Just seeing the carnage on the racetrack, it's truly unbelievable," driver Justin Allgaier said.
It was a chaotic finish to a race that was stopped for nearly 20 minutes five laps from the finish by a 13-car accident that sent driver Michael Annett to a hospital, where his Richard Petty Motorsports team said he would be held overnight with bruising to his chest.
The race resumed with three laps to go, and the final accident occurred with Smith trying to hold off Keselowski through the final turn.
"I tried to throw a block. It's Daytona, you want to go for the win here," Smith said. "I don't know how you can play it any different other than concede second place, and I wasn't willing to do that today. Our job is to put them in position to win, and it was, and it didn't work out."
As the cars began wrecking all around Smith and Keselowski, Stewart slid through for the win, but Larson plowed into Keselowski and his car was sent airborne into the stands. When Larson's car came to a stop, it was missing its entire front end. The 20-year-old, who made his Daytona debut this week, stood apparently stunned, hands on his hips, several feet away from his car, before finally making the mandatory trip to the care center.
He said his first thought was with the fans.
"I hope all the fans are OK and all the drivers are all right," Larson said. "I took a couple big hits there and saw my engine was gone. Just hope everybody's all right."
"Honestly, the race itself pales in comparison to the injuries sustained by the fans," said Chip Ganassi, the team owner who has Larson in his driver development program. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the fans that were injured as a result of the crash. As for Kyle, I am very happy that he is OK."
Keselowski watched a replay of the final accident, and said his first thoughts were with the fans. As for the accident, he agreed he tried to make a winning move and Smith tried to block.
"He felt like that's what he had to do, and that's his right. The chaos comes with it," Keselowski said. "I made the move and he blocked it, and the two of us got together and started the chain events that caused that wreck. First and foremost, just want to make sure everyone in the stands is OK and we're thinking about them."
Keselowski said the incident could cast a pall on the Daytona 500.
"I think until we know exactly the statuses of everyone involved, it's hard to lock yourself into the 500," Keselowski said. "Hopefully, we'll know soon and hopefully everyone's OK. And if that's the case, we'll staring focusing on Sunday."
Las Vegas police identified a suspect today in a shooting on the strip that caused a Maserati to hit a taxi and burst into flames, killing three people.
Ammar Harris, 26, has been named a suspect in the Thursday skirmish that killed three people, including rapper Kenny Clutch.
The altercation between Harris and Clutch, 27, whose legal name was Kenneth Cherry Jr., is believed to have originated in the valet area of a Las Vegas hotel, police said.
Police said Harris fired several rounds into a Maserati that was being driven by Cherry as both vehicles continued northbound on glitzy Las Vegas Boulevard.
The rapper's expensive sports car careened out of control after he was shot, slamming into several cars, including a taxi. The impact caused the cab to burst into flames, killing the driver, Michael Boldon and a female passenger. Witnesses said it looked like the car exploded.
"He was a number one guy," Carolyn Jean Trimble, Boldon's sister, told ABC News.
California Man's Carjacking Spree Takes 3 Victims Watch Video
Chicago Teen Killed Day of Obama's Anti-Violence Speech Watch Video
Dallas Courthouse Shooting Manhunt Intensify Watch Video
"I looked out my window and I could see one vehicle down here on the corner of the intersection totally engulfed in flames," witness John Lamb told ABC News.
Boldon, 62, and his passenger, who has not yet been identified, were both killed, as was Clutch.
Timble said her brother loved driving his taxi around Vegas.
"He came to live with me in Las Vegas last year to help take care of our mother, and the first day he got here he said, 'I have to get a job.' The second day, I came home from work, and he said he got a job," she recalled.
"He says, 'You'll never guess what it is,' and I said, 'what,' and he said, 'taxi cab driver,' and we both fell out laughing," Trimble said. "He loved that job. He never complained. He'd come home and tell me stories about what happened, who he picked up."
Boldon was a single father who raised a 36-year-old son and was a new grandfather. His grandson was named after him, Trimble said.
"Of all the people to take from this earth," she said. "But I guess the Lord needed him."
A passenger in the Maserati was hit and sustained only a minor injury to his arm. Clutch died at University Medical Center.
His father, Kenneth Cherry Sr., expressed his grief for the loss of his son while speaking with ABC News.
"This is something you never really, really ever want to experience as a parent, to lose a child before you go," he said.
Harris is described as 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Las Vegas Metro Police Department's homicide division.
BARCELONA - Chinese handset makers will lead an onslaught on smartphone titans Samsung and Apple when the world's biggest mobile fair opens on Monday in Barcelona, Spain.
Offering big-screen, slick, slim smartphones at lower prices, Chinese manufacturers Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo will leverage the Mobile World Congress to chip away at the mighty duopoly, analysts say.
The handset battle is part of a broader revolt against a handful of companies with a stranglehold on the booming industry's handsets, operating systems and microchips, they say.
Apple, as usual, is steering clear of the February 25-28 congress that draws 1,500 exhibitors to this Mediterranean city in northeastern Spain, and Samsung is not expected to launch its next big offer, the Galaxy S4, until some time after the show.
That may leave the field clear for rivals to tout their ambitions for a slice of the smartphone market, which is set to grow to a record one billion handset shipments in 2013, according to a forecast by global consultancy Deloitte.
"I think we will see challengers trying to make noise at the Mobile World Congress this year," said Ian Fogg, London-based senior mobile analyst at research house IHS.
New players face a daunting task, though.
Samsung and Apple accounted for more than half of all smartphone sales in the final quarter of 2012 -- 29.0 percent for Samsung and 22.1 percent for Apple -- according to research firm Strategy Analytics.
Behind Samsung and Apple, however, Chinese firms held the third, fourth and fifth spots -- with 5.3 percent for Huawei, 4.7 percent for ZTE and 4.4 percent for Lenovo.
Demand for smartphones in developing countries could give Chinese firms a bigger opening, said Magnus Rehle, senior partner at telecommunications management consultancy group Greenwich Consulting.
"Hundreds of millions of Africans and Indians and Asians want to have a smartphone and so far the blocking point has been the price," said Rehle, speaking from Ghana.
Now the Chinese firms were offering attractive smartphones at lower prices, he said.
"I think they will be quite successful in grabbing the new market outside of Europe and the US, and that is where the growth is," Rehle said.
An even mightier duopoly holds sway over the operating system software that makes the smartphones work.
Google's Android ran 69 percent of all handsets sold last year and Apple's iOS 22 percent, said a study by independent analytical house Canalys.
Yet they face challengers, too, including Mozilla's new open-sourced Firefox OS, backed by an array of mobile phone operators.
Microsoft's new Windows Mobile operating system is struggling, however.
"The number of apps that is available is one thing that is blocking Windows from being successful," Rehle said.
"They have had problems and everybody is hoping this will change because the duopoly is maybe not good for the market."
Firefox could face similar difficulties, he predicted.
A battle has broken out, too, over the processor chips that run the smartphones.
Santa Clara, California-based Intel is offering new high-performance chips to break its way into smartphones, of which almost all now use chip technology licensed by ARM, based in Cambridge, England.
Chinese group Lenovo, for example, is launching a new handset, the IdeaPhone K900, just 6.9mm thick with a 5.5-inch high definition screen, which contains an Intel Clover Trail processor.
The potential rewards for Intel could be rich: the market in processor chips for smartphone applications was worth nearly seven billion euros (US$9 billion) last year, said Francis Sideco, communications technology analyst at IHS.
Despite robust growth in smartphones and tablet sales, however, the mobile industry still faces a major challenge moving customers over to new ultrafast fourth generation, or 4G, networks, which can offer speeds similar to a fixed fibre-optic connection.
"There are 3G networks in many parts of the world like in Sweden that have been overcrowded and then you have parallel 4G networks that are almost empty," said Greenwich Consulting's Rehle.
Network operators need to convince their customers to pay a little more for the faster speeds, he said, pointing to videos as the "killer application" to lure people to the system over the longer term.
If the operators succeed, they can make more money and invest in greater capacity, the analyst said.
A new year is barely old. Hope springs eternal. And then there's Valentine's Day to add a little piquancy to their emotional state.
Sometimes, though, lovers suffer from a certain lack of self-control. This can manifest itself on society's everyday manifest: Facebook.
I was moved, therefore, that someone had taken the time to list the major faux pas that occur when social contact accelerates beyond decent norms.
I am lovingly grateful to Ranker, which has taken it upon itself to reduce the rancor that might be caused by Facebooked overenthusiasm -- the site has listed behavior to avoid.
Apparently the worst thing you can do after meeting someone in whose charm and personality you might be interested is to immediately send them a Facebook friend request.
This might seem obvious to some.
You don't necessarily have any idea what the other person might really think of you. You know, inside their heads.
And, as Ranker wisely offers: "Now you've just given yourself something else to obsess over: 'Why hasn't my friend request been accepted? Why is it taking so long? Did they even see it?!'
And from one small click, a whole new series of sessions with your shrink is created.
It seems, though, that the human imagination has found many more ways of ruining the course of true love on Facebook.
People apparently pore over their new date's Facebook page, seeking secrets to their true friends, thoughts, and, who knows, other objects of affection.
Some devolve into what seems utterly psychotic behavior, such as liking old photos of their new potential paramour. Who does that? Twisted humans, that's who.
But Facebook offers so many more opportunities for self-destruction.
There's revealing too much in your status update. Sample: "I just went on the best date ever with Marie Dupree and her sexy knees."
More Technically Incorrect
Some people, though, go even further and attempt to insert themselves into comments on their love-object's Facebook page, should they already be Facebook friends. Sample: "You look so WONDERFUL when you're saluting the sun, Shoshanna. Can't wait until we do some saluting together!!"
No, it doesn't end there.
The Facebook gauche end up stalking every second of their new friend's Timeline. ("She dated a clown in 2008? Why would she DO that?")
Worse, there are apparently instances of enthusiasts who get so carried away that they start friending the families of their new objects of affection. ("Hi, Mrs. Aziel, you don't know me, but your daughter and I...." Oh, you finish the sentence.)
Facebook offers so many avenues of potential despair that there is only one way that you can use it to avoid complication, pain, sorrow, heartbreak, sleepless nights, and that bottomless feeling of lost opportunity: Don't go anywhere near it.
