Twitter Question

I was asked today about something via e-mail and I thought I'd share my response:

--- On Thu, 4/15/10, G wrote:

From: G
Subject: Twitter question
To: Stephen
Date: Thursday, April 15, 2010, 2:57 PM

Stephen,
Explain to me something about Twitter.

Here is something I saw:

BrentSpiner

RT @# * Reply * Retweet # Shawn Lewis salact81 @BrentSpiner I love you!!!! --Thank you, Shawn. You are very wise for your age.

What does the "@" sign indicate.

G.

On Thu, Apr 15, 2010 at 4:10 PM, Stephen Koehler wrote:

Very good question. I would ask a friendly teenager. Taking a stab I would assume @ stands for 'AT". However, I might be wrong and the whole meaning is something else entirely. I am getting to the point that texting is a whole other language and translators will soon have to be employed to sort out the gibberish.

Unfortunately I do not use Twitter that much. Well, really I see no real use for it and I log on only once in a blue moon. I have too many online accounts as it is and its getting to the point of information overload.

This whole exchange sounds like that kind of shorthand that texters use and this whole thing about keeping it under 150 characters really limits it in my opinion. It looks like some have made use of it though and God bless em. Call me a Luddite, but I have only relatively recently started using the text function on my cell phone. I am the idiot you seeing typing whole words on texts and thus using all 150 characters.

Sorry I couldn't help, and I probably could have been a little less verbose, but I am bored at the moment and this is a wonderful day off. I hope you get out and hike and see the sun if its there.

Stephen

I miss the day when it was just us technogeeks on the computer and we could understand each other.....

Maybe someone out there has a translation?

The Cardiologist's Funeral.

Cardiologist's Funeral:

A very prestigious cardiologist died, and was given a very elaborate funeral by the hospital he worked for most of his life... A huge heart... covered in flowers stood behind the casket during the service as all the doctors from the hospital sat in awe. Following the eulogy, the heart opened, and the casket was rolled inside.The heart then closed, sealing the doctor in the beautiful heart forever.

At that point, one of the mourners burst into laughter. When all eyes
stared at him, he said, 'I am so sorry, I was just thinking of my own
funeral... I'm a gynecologist.'

The proctologist fainted!!

Among the Righteous

After Robert Satloff saw the Twin Towers fall in 2001, he was transferred with his wife to Morocco. He then made it his mission in life to find a Righteous Arab. There is a memorial in Israel to Righteous Gentiles who saved Jews during the Holocaust. But among the thousands of names there is not one Arab. Robert Satloff set out to find one and maybe more. His journey took him through the former Jewish communities through out North Africa. In Tunisia which was occupied for many years by the Nazis he found several stories. In Morocco, he found the king who said that if they put stars of David on the Jews of Morocco, then they should make more for every citizen of the country.

The hope of his mission is that if he finds righteous Arabs and their names are on that Holocaust memorial then there can be a better dialogue between Arabs and Jews.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/among-the-righteous/

40 years ago today

Fourty years ago today, at around the time I am writing this, three men were on their way to Moon. their Apollo spacecraft was state of the art. They had been on the way to the Moon three days and everything was going normally. The media didn't even bother to run the TV show they broadcast from about halfway between the Moon and the Earth. Having concluded their broadcast they got ready to close down for the night. There were a few "housekeeping procedures" they had to perform. Jack Swigert flicked a switch he had turned many times before. The current flowed through the wires and stirred the slushy liquid oxygen in tank number 2. What he didn't know was that in a previous incident several years before, the tank had been overheated and the wires in the tank were bare. A spark flew and the pure oxygen exploded into a fire. The explosion damaged all the other tanks in the Service Module and the vehicle was now useless.

What happened next was a triumph of technology and innovation which allowed them to safely return to the Earth. That triumph became NASA's finest hour.

Random thoughts

Someone commented on another blog here about loosing the ability to read. She lamented that as a former avid reader, books no longer held her interest. I feel the same way. I love the stories of Larry Niven and his fantastic Known Space Series. The Ringworld, Jinx the Easter Egg Planet, the puppeteers and the Kzinti all dance in my head. Niven hadn't written much in Known Space, but then a fan has written three novels which Niven put a co-author stamp on which has made the universe a lot richer and I have been listening to the audio books for them lately. I have hundreds of books. I used to read and reread them voraciously. Now I am lucky if I can get a book or two a year in. Lately I have been listening to Audio books which have helped somewhat since I spend hours driving a security truck around a mall in the middle of the night with nothing to do. It helps pass the time. But then I find myself squirming sometimes wanting it all to be over with, not really life but just the day so I can get home and away from the boredom.

Someone else commented on Smoking. They just passed a smoking ban here in St. Louis county. The city law depended upon the county vote happening. So now both the City and the County have bans soon to be in place. There are exceptions for big money areas like casinos and the like, but in general we have smoking banned. the opposition to this law, you would think they were banning cigarettes all together. I think smoking is a reprehensible habit because one's money can be better spent on other things. Plus its a very unhealthy habit

But I am one to talk. My diet/lifestyle needs changing and I find it difficult with my schedule to modify it. I live pretty varied as far as time is concerned and setting a schedule is so problematic. but soon I hope to start something as far as an exercise program. I am the only one that can change myself. My uncle who is a retired doctor called me the other day and had me come over for dinner where he expressed his concern for my health and offered me a gym membership. I am probably going to take him up on the offer since I do need to get something done about things.

I need a few successes to make me feel good about myself. I have been really down lately and I think its seasonal. Spring being in the air has made things feel so much better. My recent success with my car radio installation has confirmed that I can do things right and accomplish things. In the recent past, something like that would have sat for ages hanging out and never have gotten done. I am so glad to have accomplished something.

Next week is my ham radio and maybe a few other things about my car. I have toyed with putting a windshield wiper on my back window using one pulled from a junker. I'd have to replace the back glass, and there would be no washer, but beggars can't be choosers. Another item to install is to replace my tire rack on the back with a newer model that eliminates the infernal rattling that goes on. I have a list of projects that might span into infinity. I love my Blazer because its the car I can work on without worrying about things getting over my head technically. New cars you need a masters degree it seems to work on them.

Things have to change for good or ill or I will surely vegetate into catatonia. Maybe I am out of my deep blue funk.

The Facebook Song

I saw this song on Barb Nutopia's page and here is a different version of the song. I swear this so funny. Warning! ADULT language. Quite a few F-bombs in this one!

Please read - very important

http://honor74.multiply.com/journal/item/630/Missing_Child

Please read this and look at the pictures so you can recognize this person. Please be on the look out for her.