Twitter hits the streets

I like this clever graff tweet seen on the streets via Questionmarc.

If that's not a sign of Twitter being top of pop culture mind virtually everywhere right now, then this awesome "Flutter" mocumentary surely is...yep, it's the nano-blogging movement:



via Laughing Squid (great blog from sf)

Twit Universe: To Infinity and Beyond!

This social satire sparked a lot of questions. With the advent of online social networking, are we living from the inside-out or the outside-in, now? How do we give our lives meaning and identity, online? Do we trivialize? Do we constantly seek the approval networks? Do we inflate our sense of self-importance? Or do we simply love sharing more? Have we traded human-to-human relationship building for online, speedy interactions? Are we actually moving forward? But, have we also exchanged monologue for dialogue -- saying goodbye to a pyramid of top-down authority communication and hello to honest conversations between people all over the world?...Or just the privileged, with computers, internet know-how and access, without a great firewall? Sometimes, to quote Pablo Picasso, "computers are useless. They can only give you answers."

Here's Bill Maher this week on our mind-boggling obsessions with twitter, useless iphone aps ("pull my finger", no joke) and even those damn snuggies:


A hilarious addendum via current TV from Super News! on Twitter.

Happiness is Contagious

"It is a wonderful law of nature, that the three things we crave most - happiness, freedom, and peace of mind - are always attained by giving them to someone else." -Anonymous

It's no surprise that your cheerful state of mind, or that of others, has the power to elevate and spread happiness.

Karen Kaplan's front page article in the Los Angeles Times explores this idea through an enlightening Framingham Heart study published today in the British Medical Journal. The research examined relationships of nearly 5,000 people tracked for decades, basically affirming that good cheer spreads through social networks of nearby family, friends and neighbors.

The feel-good contagion effect shows that just knowing someone who is happy makes you 15.3% more likely to be happy yourself, and even a happy friend of a friend increases your odds of happiness by 9.8%. Happy people in close geographic proximity and larger network sizes also share positive vibes more effectively.


















I believe in the power of social ties and smiles, because "you can't just treat individuals; you have to treat networks and communities." I am eternally grateful for the amazing and supportive people in my life who have helped me stay me, even through this especially turbulent year.