when animals go berserk

When you put a killer whale in a tank, clap, and dangle fresh food in front of them in exchange for tricks, then one shouldn't be surprised that one day they might get bored with the white man's view of nature as just another entertainment venue. However, one should be surprised to learn that Tilikum had his own Twitter account and that SeaWorld officials, in response to the orca's recent drown-the-trainer routine, went berserk and suspended the account.

one still works

Why talk to the press when you can tweet them? Lance Armstrong provides his own picture of his latest progeny. Imagine. Now we can be the paparazzi of ourselves.






Photo: Max Armstrong by Lance Armstrong via Yfrog

warrior ant press and the rise of the twitterati

Warrior Ant Press, utilizing techniques, technology, and methods too sophisticated (and potentially contentious) to describe on this blog recently subscribed to it's one millionth Twitter feed. The result insures that m.o.i. will never lack for information, and will in fact, constantly suffer from information and media overload. During peak times, typically weekend nights, Twitter feeds arrive at a rate of about one a second. My wireless network, straining under the weight of this gregarious stream of thoughts, has threatened me with sanctions.

A random sampling of recent tweets:

I'm just mad about new jeans and Swine Flu. Dang.
less than 10 seconds ago from PandaBone

Desert Party is the biggest Middle Eastern threat to this country since bin Laden.
1:40 pm May 2nd from Kaintuck Julep

2009 HJ36, ~7m-16m in diameter, just passed the Earth at 6km/s, missing by ~three million, six hundred and eighty thousand km.
1:25 PM Apr 28th from lowflyingrocks

2009 CQ1, ~210m-470m in diameter, just passed the Earth at 8km/s, missing by ~twenty million, two hundred thousand km.
5:31 PM Apr 20th from lowflyingrocks

Quick mini-audit of my backpack confirms it; I have no idea what four of the straps do.
10:09 AM Apr 27th from hotdogsladies

hello mister deadline person don't mind me i'm just going to punch you in the heart until you shit yourself and die
about 5 hours ago from warrenellis

Swine flu reaches Australia: Australians unsure how to deal with something they can't fuck, drink, deport or barbecue
7:09 AM Apr 28th from warrenellis

Just landed in St Louis. Nice ride to say the least. This is a working office.
7:29 AM Apr 29th from clairemc

Off to Andrews to join the President on AF1 for flight to Missouri. Very excited. Will be back in time for the vote on budget later today.
2:58 AM Apr 29th from clairemc

Basecamp is running smoothly again. Sorry for those errors!
8:17 AM Apr 28th from 37signals

Thanks for your patience - Campfire is now back up and running smoothly.
9:56 AM Apr 27th from 37signals

the zeitgeist: sarah palin explains life, love, and why she loves the jonas brothers

Everyone seems to be after the zeitgeist. Last year The Dark Knight was advertised as capturing the zeitgeist of our nation which I suppose was meant to suggest that everyone is corrupt and chasing evil, even if that means our own demons, so why not plunk down a 10 spot and forget that the End is Near.

But once the calendar flipped into '09, regardless that the economy had yet to follow suit, TDK quickly lost much of its vulgar charm. Suddenly it seemed everyone, even politicians who formerly complained about our sound bite culture, were all a Twitter. The book, due this the spring, will surely be more than 140 words.


But beyond the marketing campaigns to define cool, the moment does not stand still even as we are tempted to rest. Therefore, google to the rescue. The same software that allows the government and industry types to track your every whim provides an estimator of the moment, or the moment just passed. Look at the most frequently searched terms over the past the year and the zeitgeist is defined for you. I'll warn you though, it can be depressing. Here's the 2008 top ten list.

Fastest Rising (Global)
1. sarah palin
2. beijing 2008
3. facebook login
4. tuenti
5. heath ledger
6. obama
7, nasza klasa
8. wer kennt wen
9. euro 2008
10. jonas brothers

Even though Sarah Palin topped the 2008 list it's not completely depressing. The top two searches involving the string What is? were what is life? and what is love?. Apparently we haven't completely lost our minds although one is left wonder how many folks are in love with Sarah Palin and believe that she was sent her to explain the meaning of life.

Note that Tuenti, nasza klasa, and wer kennt wen are Spanish-, Polish-, and German-language social engineering sites along the lines of facebook. So it would seem that, the zeitgeist never really changes from year-to-year or culture-to-culture. People just want to hook up with one another and will use whatever tools are at hand to try and do so.

zeitgeist! from google

mac claire mc

claire mccaskill: the lizzle jizzle sizzle of the senate

Ok ok. Mom's upset that I was rude at Pres speech re:tweets.For the record I tweeted bfor,at very begining,& after speech.I wanted to listen
7:12 AM Feb 26th from TinyTwitter

Classified briefing on Afghanstn and Pakstn. Serious challenges.
8:39 AM Feb 25th from TinyTwitter

Great speech. Right tone.Right message of bold action and budget restraint. My favorite line: "We are not quitters."
7:28 PM Feb 24th from TinyTwitter

Pres just hailed the Recov Act. Sen Spector was a lonely Republican when he stood to applaud.
6:25 PM Feb 24th from TinyTwitter

Quite an ovation.The warm greeting between Pres Obama & Sec Clinton makes me proud of our democracy. What a difference a year makes.
6:20 PM Feb 24th from TinyTwitter

Now Supreme Ct. I did big wooohoo for Justice Ginsberg. She looks good.
6:04 PM Feb 24th from TinyTwitter