Monday, April 19, 2010

Mark This Date in American History

Call the Twitter Archivist at the Library of Congress. A big anniversary in cultural history would have passed unnoticed yesterday, but fortunately Jared reminded us that:

It has also been 1-year to date since @jack signed me up for @twitter at a picnic table in US Embassy Baghdad


We all own Jack a debt of gratitude for that.

I don't know what it is about Jared's tweets that so infuriate me. Probably the incredible self-absorption that would make someone suppose the entire world - or anybody other than maybe his mother - could possibly care less about his every stray thought.

Here's a test. Which of these tweets is real and which did I make up as a parody of a twittering twit preoccupied with himself?

(a) Baggage claim in miami is annoyingly far away

(b) No matter how much time I spend on an airplane, I still enjoy flying through the clouds

(c) African Kitamu beans make awesome cafe au lait! anyone know if SBUX has a Fair Trade deal with Rwanda?

(d) There is literally a dark cloud over DC. So much for early summer

(e) So hard to fill out customs forms legibly when the plane is landing

(f) Had a big idea this morning - green computers. electronics make up 70% of all hazardous waste!

(g) Hummus is just super! never knew that when I was growing up

(h) I'm desperate for Sbarro right now, not sure what that is all about

(i) I'm scientifically fascinated by the ash cloud and it's whereabouts

(j) So amazing to look down at all the plains and mountains between DC and Stanford. Super places I'd like to go someday!

Answers tomorrow.

3 comments:

Brian... said...

In a certain sense blogging in itself is self-absorption, or at least self-promotion. It is difficult but important to ensure one is trying to add some value or insight to the lives of those who choose to read a post.

I value your posts, thanks for the hard work.

In other news, I can't handle Twitter. Maybe I'm a stick in the mud.

TSB said...

I find it hard to handle Twitter, also, but you're right that blogging is only a step or two up. I suppose we should all be reading good books instead of doing this.

Are you in Quito, or Guayaquil? I haven't been to either in over ten years, but I always enjoyed my visits to Quito.

Anonymous said...

I don't think Brian has left DC for post yet.

Okay, well, let's put it this way: if Brian has left for post, then I suck at keeping up with people. Which totally happens. But I *think* Brian is still stateside, waiting to go to his first post. But I could be wrong.