Would Lincoln Have Tweeted From the Bathroom?

One of the leading issues that I hear from people who do not use and have not tried to use Twitter is, “What the hell is it good for?”  This complaint is typically followed by a derogatory comment like, “Why should I care what Ashton Kutcher had for breakfast?”

I often have trouble explaining Twitter to a newbie, because the flexibility of the platform is pretty extreme.  You can do things as simple and (relatively) useless as pushing out a stream of consciousness with your daily minutiae, or you can do the sort of thing that Tom Caswell started at Utah State University last year.

TwHistory uses the Twitter service to “re-enact” historical events by tweeting in the voices of key figures who were involved.  They’ve covered Gettysburg, the Cuban Missile Crisis, plans are in the work for the sailing (and sinking) of the Titanic, and they link out to others.

From now on, when I am introducing someone new to Twitter, I’ll still try to generalize and explain the basic purpose; but I’m going to mention this, too.

BBC News – Russia to kick off construction of a new spaceport

BBC News – Russia to kick off construction of a new spaceport.

First we find spies, and now this?!

The port is actually meant for civilian use, but it’s nice that the Russian government is providing the infrastructure for it.

Perhaps we could redirect all the revenue Americans are spending on gourmet food for their pets to keep up with these folks.

Theologian Calls New U2 Album ‘Most Thoroughly Christian’ Project to Date | Christianpost.com

Theologian Calls New U2 Album ‘Most Thoroughly Christian’ Project to Date | Christianpost.com.

Conspiracy theory:

What if U2 is really a band co-opted by JP2 to promote Catholicism to popular culture?

Bono pretending to meet the pope for the first time

U2 wouldn’t need the pope to do that, I suppose, but I’ve always wondered why the large number of otherwise agnostic U2 fans worship their music.  Are they not listening to the words or do they choose to ignore them?

Or do they quietly respect a pious band?

U2′s most religious songs are among my favorite in their catalog.

They are one of the few bands that can produce a serious song about a serious topic and still get air time.

I hope they’re not the last.

The new face of reading? Some e-books now outselling hardbacks – CNN.com

I didn’t think this would happen so soon.

The new face of reading? Some e-books now outselling hardbacks – CNN.com.

I always assume the number of people who are less tech-y than me is far greater than those are more tech-y.

Where’s my abacus?