Every little birdie, every chickadee

Dave K, Salt Lake City,Ut — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 03:27:07 GMT

The mug shots have been posted.

Every little birdie, every chickadee

Jason, NYC — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:40:49 GMT

I'm one of many regular Clicked loyalists; probably bumping on the ceiling of the "wheelhouse" demographic of web content consumers (32 year old NY male), but I fear Twitter is the beginning of the end for me. Clicked will keep me ahead of my surprisingly tech competent uncle and my woefully tech incompetent father, but I can not go quietly into the Twitter youth wave. I don't get it. I am not resistant to the hypercommunicative tone of today's media but what appeal does the potential of minute by minute status updates from friends hold? My cell phone carries enough real life intrusion for me thanks.

Every little birdie, every chickadee

anonymous — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:01:34 GMT

regarding and solution to the batman game:

http://batman.wikibruce.com/Whysoserious.com/Itsallpartoftheplan

Every little birdie, every chickadee

Maurice, Overland Park, KS — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 10:08:29 GMT

I trust that everyone who tried out the "Shooter Effect" game took a moment to think about what they were witnessing. Police officers face this challenge every day. Miss identifying the gun or accidentally shooting an unarmed person in the game and you lose a few points. Real life has different consequences - people are injured or killed. Officers are confronted with people every day that may or may not be a threat and the level of threat may change by the moment. The officer must be right each and every time, at the risk of death.

Not only are officers faced with split-second decision making, they must do so in conditions that often work against them. According to FBI statistics on police shootings, a majority occur at night or in reduced lighting. The game presented images in full light. Additionally, the guns in the game are never pointed directly at the participant, giving the player a better chance of spotting the weapon's larger sides. Try the game again with the contrast on your monitor turned down and with two-thirds of the gun hidden and see what happens to your scores. What happens when it's your life on the line?

I apologize for the length of this comment, but I believe it is vitally important that people attempt to understand what police officers face daily. Please remember this the next time you are tempted to Monday Morning Quarterback an officer-involved shooting.

Every little birdie, every chickadee

Matthew Paul, Ashland, MA — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:19:14 GMT

On the letters link (Bill Geerhart). I think you'll find this was preceded by William Donaldson, a very funny guy who wrote the 'Henry Root' Letters - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Donaldson - in England in the 1980's.

Basically wrote to famous people with outlandish questions, all in character as an ex-fish merchant - used to send them five pounds and offer to turn up on their doorstep to help them out. The people in question would write back, unaware he was a fake. Take a look if you get the chance...

Every little birdie, every chickadee

Beth, St. Louis, MO — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:22:08 GMT

Just guessing, but Suspect Number 3 looks as though he is the victim of a self-inflicted gunshot wound -- perhaps a failed suicide attempt?

Every little birdie, every chickadee

Mike, Austin TX — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 18:45:34 GMT

Jason, I'm with you. I'm 30, and I work in IT (so I'm not some 80 year old Luddite). I just don't get Twitter. What's the point? I just don't see how it could possibly be useful. Can anybody explain to me why I would want to use Twitter?

Every little birdie, every chickadee

Wels, Kingman, AZ — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:25:43 GMT

Jason and Mike, I'm with you also. Twitter is like teen slang, once the inner group knows the outsiders understand, it's changed. And its point? It has no social redeeming factor.

Every little birdie, every chickadee

A.G. Pym — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:16:24 GMT

The first thing I thought of with the Miley Cyrus story is that this is not the first time that Annie Liebovitz has taken somewhat-too-racy pix of a celebrity that became a hoo-raw on publication.

Or am I showing my age to mention the "scandalous" lingerie pix she took of Linda Ronstadt for "Rolling Stone" all those years ago?

Oh, how we college boys jittered!

Every little birdie, every chickadee

Will Femia — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:29:00 GMT

I'm not a Twitter advocate and I'm only beginning to learn how to make it useful to me but the flip side to not having anything worthwhile to type into it is that you can find some good stuff to read in it. Not everyone is typing in what they had for breakfast. The Today show has one hooked up to their RSS feed, so when they publish their stories the headlines with links go to their Twitter subscribers. If you cared about that, you could even have your subscription go to you mobile device. Having headlines and links sent to your phone is pretty handy. Some bloggers are opting for quick Twitter posts (tweets) instead of full blog entries. Others are using Twitter to coordinate live events because you can broadcast to all of your subscribers at once.

Every little birdie, every chickadee

Michael T, Hollywood, CA — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:13:08 GMT

Billy's letters remind me of a time waaaay back when, as a young boy, I wrote a letter to then President Ford...yes, I'm dating myself here, I know. I don't exactly remember what I wrote, but I did get a reply from one of his secretaries (or whatever the proper term is). The letter's long gone, unfortunately--I think I forgot about it since Gerry was apparently too busy pardoning a crook or something to write me himself.

Every little birdie, every chickadee

Jason, NYC — Thu, 01 May 2008 17:43:31 GMT

I guess there's an invisible threshold that I don't have an internal desire to cross. I think that threshold lies in the difference between appreciating a world where information is always available for me to seek out as opposed to the ability to be "fed" information (even if I've narrowed the scope of that information by indicating my preferences). I may like an occasional chocolate frosted donut (Mmmm donuts), but it doesn't mean that everytime I go to the supermarket I want someone to drop a box of Entenmann's into my cart.

Every little birdie, every chickadee

ausador, St. Petersburg, Florida — Thu, 01 May 2008 18:00:46 GMT

Will:

I faithfully read this site at least three or four times a week. Why?, because you show me interesting sites, interesting games, the latest viral net buzz video/audio/blogs/whatever.

I do not come here to read paragraph after paragraph about twitter and it's many add-ons. Sure twitter is apparently the greatest thing since bread was sliced and jesus walked on water, but then again maybe it isn't in the opionion of a segment of those who have been following this site.

I have read more about twitter here already than I ever wanted to know in the last weeks. Since your life and income revolves around and depends upon the internet then I can understand not wanting to miss reporting extensively on 'the next big thing' early and often.

To someone who strives constantly to keep up with everything and anything interesting online 24/7 twitter probably seems useful. To the generation who grew up with a cell phone permanently attached to the side of thier heads and for whom texting has replaced most other forms of communication it is a godsend obviously. (If you have text messaged 'OMG' more than 100 times raise your hand)

However for the 'elderly' (those over...say..perhaps 30) twitter is a non-event to many. If I wanted a following I'd start a blog, at least that way I'd get the ad revenue to pay for it maybe.

Who is your audience here?, are you entertaining them or alienating them?, is your occupation coloring your view of what is informative and interesting?

Just something to think about.

ausador

Every little birdie, every chickadee

Fri, 02 May 2008 15:06:46 GMT

Those Miley Cyrus photos are a little weird, since she's only 15, but I think it's even more weird/strange/scary how much attention this is getting. You know, the fact that we have 40+ year old men on the news spending WAY TOO MUCH time talking about how she shouldn't have posed for the photos (which they show at every opportunity) and how it’s sick that a 15 year old is being sexualized (again, while SHOWING THE PHOTOS THAT THEY THINK ARE INAPPROPRIATE).
Stupid sensationalist news programs. OMG "HALF NAKED" UNDERAGE TEEN!!!! DON’T LOOK!!! (except for right now while we show them to you). ISN’T THIS SICK!!!!!! (Here, take another look so you know just how sick it is). SOMETHING SHOULD BE DONE!!!! PLEASE, WON’T SOMEBODY THINK OF THE CHILDREN !!! (especially the "half naked" one we are currently showing you on the news)

Every little birdie, every chickadee

Mike Pippenger, Denver, Colorado — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:22:44 GMT

Will:

Where are you... dying for an update!

Mike

Every little birdie, every chickadee

phil, Chicago, IL — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:25:50 GMT

Where did Will go?

Every little birdie, every chickadee

Rob, Long Island — Thu, 08 May 2008 11:56:42 GMT

ausador,
With all do respect, calm down. This is one group of posts out of many. There will be more. Maybe there is a reason Twitter is so popular...and not because my generation is a bunch of tech-addicted idiots. Paying attention to what is "in" aint gonna kill ya.

Rob

Every little birdie, every chickadee

ausador, St. Petersburg Florida — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:00:26 GMT

Calm down Rob?....err....sure, I'll take a few deep breaths.

OK, now perhaps you can tell me why I needed to calm down? I voiced an opinion, surely any one of the readers here is entitled to do that? I enjoy and make frequent use of this blog, I forward bits of it to others, I have frequently told others of this site and encouraged them to check it often.

My opinion is only that, and it hasn't changed. Perhaps I'm wrong and most of this sites readers find tweeter and it's add-ons facsinating to no end. Perhaps I'm right and the coverage of tweeter and it's add-ons has become a turn off when done to excess.

Will is the only one who can judge based on the site traffic and comments. I just wished to voice my own opinion.....