Author Topic: Talking Heads ~ Twitter (Read 22949 times)

pedln · « **Reply #40 on:** May 25, 2009, 10:13:14 AM »

Talking Heads #5

"It occurred to me that nothing is more interesting than opinion when opinion is interesting..."
Herbert Bayard Swope, creator of the Op-Ed page.

A two week forum for opinions on anything in print: magazines, newspaper articles, online: bring your ideas and let's discuss.

Our Fifth Selection is:
Do You Tweet?
USA Today

Quote

"What are you doing?" is the question Twitter asks "Twitterers" to answer in a simple text message as they connect with friends, co-workers or the wider world. Twitterers "tweet" about everything from what they had for lunch to how much they enjoyed their latest Netflix DVD. If that sounds silly and incredibly narrow at first, don't worry, you're not alone.

"When people hear about Twitter, their immediate reaction is that it's the simplest and stupidest idea in the world," says co-founder Biz Stone.

"They do not want to know that their brother is eating a hot dog right now," he says. "But then they discover that their friends are on it. And so are the L.A. Fire Department, NASA and JetBlue. Then they get it.

Do YOU get it? Do YOU "Tweet?" (which is what they call a post). Have you ever even looked at it? Millions do.

What is the appeal of Twitter, really?

You can only post 140 characters at a time, which may lead to conciseness OR perhaps more abbreviations.

What is it doing to the language? Why aren't you doing it? Want to try once?

Let's discuss the latest Internet Phenomenon: Twitter!

But what IS Twitter? Here is a video which explains it, see what you think: http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter

Let's not leave Twitter just yet. Up real early this am and no local paper on Memorial Day, so just started browsing the Net, including local paper online blogs, previously ignored. And met Tyler G, a young man who writes science and technology stuff, including this recent article on social networks.

A beginner's guide to social networking websites

Quote

And if you're concerned about privacy, they all now have extensive options to limit access to whatever information you choose to post, and of course you don't have to worry about anything you don't post. If nothing else, there's no harm in signing up just to take a look around.

Maybe I'll give Facebook a try. But forget Twitter. Who has the time? What's the sense?

maryz · « **Reply #41 on:** May 25, 2009, 10:52:21 AM »

The Time article on Kindle is good - but semi-out-of-date (2008). It's about Kindle-1, and Kindle2 is what's now out. The oversized paging buttons have been made smaller, so are not as easy to hit accidentally. The 2 doesn't come with a cover, you have to buy one, but the K2 doesn't slide out as easily of the one I got. Anyhow, amazon did address some of the problems. I'd still like the "page" to be a bit whiter, but I do think it's easy for the eyes. And since my main reason for buying it was that I can no longer hold a book comfortably, it is light-weight and easily held or propped.

And even John likes it (when he can get it

). Verdict from here is a thumbs-up!

ginny · « **Reply #42 on:** May 25, 2009, 12:00:41 PM »

see below and above

ginny · « **Reply #43 on:** May 25, 2009, 12:11:49 PM »

Oh honestly, thank you for being so alert, Mary! hahaha

Newsweek, March 25, 2009:

Emmanuel Dunand /
Hooked: Kindle redefines the book
THE BIG IDEA
Curling Up With A Good Screen

Why should a civilization that reads electronically be any less literate than one that harvests trees to do so?

http://www.newsweek.com/id/190358

New developments and a good question actually!

I'll fix it above.

CallieOK · « **Reply #44 on:** May 25, 2009, 01:33:29 PM »

Ginny, I agree with everything you wrote about people and their cell phones!

I can't believe that people will wave off an in-person conversation thread to answer their cell phone - which is usually someone they talk to all the time. (Most infamous experience: a friend and I were riding along visiting when her son <in his 30's!> called to ask where his mother had put the salt shaker!)

I'm curmudgeonly enough to just sit in silence when the offender finally hangs up and offers an off-handed "sorry".

When did it stop being rude to not actually listen and respond to someone who is talking to you???

maryz · « **Reply #45 on:** May 25, 2009, 06:10:14 PM »

Talk about timely...

Click here to see today's comic strip, Zits.

CallieOK · « **Reply #46 on:** May 25, 2009, 07:49:43 PM »

I saw that this morning! I love Zits!

maryz · « **Reply #47 on:** May 25, 2009, 10:31:26 PM »

We have four grandsons, now in their 20s. But they have all been Zits - and sometimes still are.

CallieOK · « **Reply #48 on:** May 25, 2009, 10:43:24 PM »

I read the strip - remember - and then smile because #1 son is going through that with his children now.

Babi · « **Reply #49 on:** May 26, 2009, 08:54:09 AM »

GINNY, I suspect that "we met at the Bannerman's" guy was desperately
looking for someone to offer him a place to stay. He was either broke or
hated to spend money if he could scrounge off someone else. (See, I can be
cynical, too.)

Steph · « **Reply #50 on:** May 26, 2009, 08:57:32 AM »

Ginny, you are so eloquent.. Cell phones are a pet peeve for me and you did such a good job of explaining why.
We had lunch out yesterday and across the room was a large family, mom,dad,children and grandparents.. One of the children about 12 or so.. male, jerked the cell phone in and out and obviously texted from the moment he sat down. His grandmother sitting next to him tried over and over to have a conversation, but he just ignored her and even turned his back to her when she persisted. So sad.. He is missing a chance to learn something in favor of the eternal texting..

maryz · « **Reply #51 on:** May 26, 2009, 09:06:08 AM »

Re the kid in the restaurant: If it had been one of my kids, or even one of my grandkids, I would have confiscated the phone for the mealtime. No ifs, ands, or buts. There have been times around here during holiday visits when we have had "no laptop" hours.

marjifay · « **Reply #52 on:** May 26, 2009, 02:23:49 PM »

I agree with you, Mary, about confiscating a kid's cell phone during mealtimes and other visits. Talk about rude! Thankfully, none of my friends are cell phone addicts, and when we go out to lunch, we talk to each other and no one gets interrupted by a phone. I guess this is mostly a young people's obsession.

Steph · « **Reply #53 on:** May 27, 2009, 07:41:20 AM »

No, no, we have at least two sets of friends who constantly check their phones. Its like it was a small child or something. We also have friends who live pretty far away. When we stop to visit them, the wife drives me nuts. She calls her grown children over and over.. We go out to dinner and she is busy telling them what she is going to eat, asking if they have been to the restaurant lately, what the traffic was like. REally drove me nuts.. She just goes.. Oh,, I fell in love with my cell. It keeps me in touch.. Hmm. you do wonder what the kids feel.

Babi · « **Reply #54 on:** May 27, 2009, 08:55:55 AM »

STEPH, that sounds like the kind of occasion where I would have trouble keeping my tongue between my teeth. It would have been very hard not to comment in some way. I suppose this lady must really be missing her kids.

Mippy · « **Reply #55 on:** May 27, 2009, 09:08:55 AM »

Not all texting is bad manners ~

My son-in-law sends a text to my daughter whenever he's on the commuter train
coming home ... so she can plan either the baby's bath or dinner or whatever to match his
arrival. This is a big advantage, since it's hard to talk on a cell phone over the noise on the train, plus it's much more private to text than to yell into your cell. Thus not all texting is "bad" teenagers!

JoanR · « **Reply #56 on:** May 27, 2009, 09:19:10 AM »

Very timely to this discussion is an article in today's NYT!!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/dining/27text.html?_r=1&ref=dining

Someday I promise that I will really learn how to shorten those long URL's!!

pedln · « **Reply #57 on:** May 27, 2009, 10:01:15 AM »

Quote

Evvajean Mintz’s husband, Richard, a partner in a Boston law firm, arrives at the table with his BlackBerry clipped to his belt. “If there’s one second of spare time, and if you look away from him and lose eye contact, he immediately whips it out and starts looking at it,” she said. “I suggested I’d throw it out the window.”

Like a lot of couples, the Mintzes have conflicting views of the rate of tableside BlackBerry use. Mr. Mintz, who is working part time at 87, thought he was doing it only when his wife was preoccupied — when, for example, she ducks into another room to catch a few minutes of television.

An unbelievable article, JOanP. Should we applaud the guy above for being so "with it" technology wise or . . . ? But she gets up from the dinner table to run look at TV. Guess it takes all kinds.

But what really caught my eye -- young dinner GUESTS who thought it was perfectly okay to text while invited out for dinner, let alone texting at home.

And these typeA personality types who never let go of their phones.

I think my DIL has set some pretty strong ground rules because I have yet to see a cell phone at the breakfast, lunch, or dinner table. Now in the car, my son is on his cell phone continually -- with some kind of hands-free setup (it's the law there.) I remember dropping my granddaughter and friend at the movies -- "do you have your house key," I asked the then 16-year-old, "Oh, no. We'll call (brother) and get his." The cell phone never gets forgotten.

ginny · « **Reply #58 on:** May 27, 2009, 10:20:12 AM »

Gosh! And talk about au courant, the NY Times and an 87 year old Twitterer and yesterday's USA Today has a huge page on "Not All Are On The Twitter Train," talking about how "Twitter has swept Tinseltown but there are a few stars who say they aren't riding the wave..."

You really need to read Katie Couric's opinion of it: "I don't think anybody gives a rat's (behind) whether I am about to eat a tuna sandwich. Some of it is so inane and narcissistic and bizarre, I don't quite get it."

Then read in the next block what the reality might be. It's cute.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2009-05-25-celebs-twitter_N.htm?csp=34

maryz · « **Reply #59 on:** May 27, 2009, 10:23:30 PM »

Our kids were not allowed to talk on the phone or read during the evening dinner. If the phone rang, whoever answered it said, "I (she) can't talk right now - we're eating. I (she)'ll call you back." That was in the 1960s and '70s. I still do that - and I'll bet our grown-up girls do, too.

Steph · « **Reply #60 on:** May 28, 2009, 08:33:39 AM »

I do agree, our sons were not allowed phone, read or tv during the dinner hour.. Our eldest with no children still feels like this. Our younger with the grandchildren is in law enforcement, so he has to break his rules for his job, but that is the only time.
Oh, the woman always on the cell phone to her children. The point, I did not make but meant to..her children all live in the same town as she does.. No more than 30 minutes from the house.. So the keeping in touch is a tad posessive.

pedln · « **Reply #61 on:** May 28, 2009, 10:47:41 AM »

And did y ou see the current Time Magazine article about the ministers who asked their congregation to bring their laptops to church so they could Twitter spiritually? CNN also had a short blurb on it last night.

I asked my youngest her advice about Facebook and if she were a member. Her response, "I plan to die without ever joining Facebook or sending a tweet or a twitter... Call me old-fashioned" I have a feeling the rest of my children would answer similarly.

Steph · « **Reply #62 on:** May 29, 2009, 07:57:34 AM »

I like facebook because it has reunited me with lots of college classmates, some high school and some old neighbors. I moved so much as an adult it is nice to reconnect. One of our sons and his wife also belong.. The other son ,,,not.. he is just too private for that.

maryz · « **Reply #63 on:** May 29, 2009, 12:55:04 PM »

I'm on facebook, but seldom post. Mostly I read what some of the grandchildren post.

Babi · « **Reply #64 on:** May 29, 2009, 05:52:30 PM »

A 'tad' possessive, STEPH? Gads! I feel sorry for her children, and
in their place I thinkg I think I would start 'forgetting' to carry
my cell phone...or whatever gadget she 'twitters' on.

I'm more in tune with PEDLN's daughter. I can live out my live
quite happily with nary a twitter.

Steph · « **Reply #65 on:** May 30, 2009, 09:50:25 AM »

Reading the papers this morning.. It seems that more and more restaurants are joining facebook and twitter.. I never honestly thought of them, but think I will see what I can find out at least on facebook.. Maybe coupons.. she says hopefully??

pedln · « **Reply #66 on:** May 30, 2009, 10:39:28 PM »

I asked my 17-year-old grandson what he knew about twitter -- his response

"Regarding twitter. I have never used it, and am not at all a fan; I
think its kinda useless. But, as i understand it, twitter allows you
to publish short (140 character) messages that describe your current
status. Additionally, you can send new statuses (stati?) from your
cell phone by text message so as to update your twitter even when not
at a computer. The idea, then, would be that while doing various
activities you could broadcast to your friends your updates. I also
understand that their is a subscribe feature, so that whenever
somebody changes their status, you can choose to receive a text
message to your phone about it. I personally don't feel that it is
very useful because i don't know how much i wish to get constant
updates on my friends lives. Additionally, it has been parodied
several times recently in newspapers and online."

Babi · « **Reply #67 on:** May 31, 2009, 09:04:37 AM »

I can't think of anything that lends itself more naturally to parody.

Steph · « **Reply #68 on:** May 31, 2009, 10:02:12 AM »

Yes, the absurdity of wanting to know every time someone has a drink of water or walks across the floor..

Babi · « **Reply #69 on:** June 02, 2009, 08:49:06 AM »

I picked up an copy of the New York Times Magazine for April10. and found a
short article there by Virginia Heffernan on Twitter. She refers to the "me-me-me" aspect of tweeting, and say is reminds of an Emily Dickinson poem,
"I'm nobody! Who are you?"

"How public - like a Frog
To tell one's name, the livelong June
To an admiring Bog!

"

ginny · « **Reply #70 on:** June 02, 2009, 01:29:49 PM »

Babi! What a HOOT!~ I loved Pedln's grandson's intelligent take on it. Not everybody is into it, despite their charity appeals which are wonderful for the charity but seem to me to perhaps be an effort to legitimize their well, tweets to the admiring Bog. hhhhahaha

What a topic this has been but it's been two weeks, are we ready to move on? And if so to what? What's in the news you'd like to discuss?

The floor is now open for your suggestions!

Babi · « **Reply #71 on:** June 03, 2009, 08:49:26 AM »

This isn't a suggestion for a discussion, but I thought people might be interested in this item. I don't know any returned vets, and besides I'm now
deaf and can't listen. But some of you might.

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/06/02/sos-from-vfw-combat-vets-in-trouble

Steph · « **Reply #72 on:** June 05, 2009, 09:47:22 AM »

If you are talking about Iraq, I h ave a returned son. He is a Major in the reserves and basically got hijacked by the Army into a unit going over.. He has been home a year now..
Did you see that China has blocked facebook and twitter just now..

Babi · « **Reply #73 on:** June 06, 2009, 08:58:42 AM »

Did they say why, STEPH? Not that they usually condescend to explain themselves.

Steph · « **Reply #74 on:** June 06, 2009, 11:54:47 AM »

It is the anniversary of
Tiannen(spelling).. and they dont want communications about it. Noone has ever known exactly how many died and are still in prison, etc.

Babi · « **Reply #75 on:** June 07, 2009, 09:20:28 AM »

Ah, thank you, that explains it. Not that their actions will prevent remembrances elsewhere. Do you suppose the Chinese government
will ever simply admit that the situation was handled badly? It is the
wisest thing they could do, IMO.

ginny · « **Reply #76 on:** June 07, 2009, 10:46:27 AM »

Well my goodness this subject will NOT let go, the Never Ending Au Courant Twitter wins again: the new issue of Time Magazine, June 15, 2009, has Twitter on the cover, it's the cover story, followed by sample Tweets from several celebrities. Including mrskutcher: http://www.time.com/time/magazine

It's also got the news that the White House now has a tweet and you can catch up on it hourly, or daily, I forget how often it's updated.

Today in my email came a nice invite from Facebook, from people I have never heard of inviting me to be their friend. Friendship is good, never heard of any of them.

The Twitter article tackles how this is changing our lives:

How Twitter Will Change The Way We Live (in 140 characters or less) (The Well / Cover Story)
Once just a fad, Twitter is developing into a powerful form of communication. What its growth says about us--and the future of American innovation

But it seems to conclude it will blow over as a fad, isn't that interesting?

Thank you for that link Babi, would you all like to talk about our returning Veterans, or health care issues or what would you like next?

Steph · « **Reply #77 on:** June 07, 2009, 11:32:35 AM »

Having to fill a new prescription for my husband Friday.. Health care. His new internist insists on a new Chlorestrol drug called Zetia.. MDH has liver enzyme problems and has been through all of the statins and they all raised the enzymes. This new one does as well, but he hopes slower. If not they will try 90 days on and 90 days off. The thing is.. This med cost 319.00 for three months supply.. Since MDH does not do a drug supplement because all of his meds come much cheaper through the VA, we had to pay this. VA does not use it. Now.. we bought the three months, but I thought that I would check the net and boom.... If we order this drug from a Canadian place.. it is 100 pills for 99.00. Now this is not a little change, this is an enormous change. Why does the US not try to control the drug companies to a better extent. There is no reason on earth for the diffeence, other than Canada buys it un der a special deal and the US makes every single person make a deal on their own..Disgraceful.They talk of the cost of a health program.. Maybe it would not be so horrible if they reined in the profits of drug companies. hospitals and all of the hundreds of companies that do MRI, CT scans, etc.

maryz · « **Reply #78 on:** June 07, 2009, 04:20:28 PM »

Steph, I hope the new Rx works for your DH. And I totally agree about the prices of drugs. It's insane!

Steph · « **Reply #79 on:** June 08, 2009, 07:43:22 AM »

I must confess that I dont hold out much hope that the new drug will not affect the liver. All the rest have and this one also has warnings on liver involvement. Plus the VA doctors and our nephew who is a doctor dont like Zetia at all.. But MDH promised to do 90 days as a trial. We will be leaving in the rv on Saturday, so hopefully all will go well. He will have another enzyme level done on Thursday.. Not that we expect it to do much up or down.
I just could not believe the price. I take generics for both blood pressure and ostioporosis, so am used to a fairer price.

News:

Author Topic: Talking Heads ~ Twitter (Read 22949 times)