Twitter Updates for 2012-09-07

Twitter Updates for 2012-09-07

What Bill Clinton Wrote vs. What Bill Clinton Said

I heard that Bill Clinton ad-libbed a lot of his speech last night. What I didn’t realize is just how much he ad-libbed.

The Atlantic Wire compares what he said with what he wrote. Check it out here.

If you were following any journalists on Twitter last night, one of the most remarked upon aspects of Bill Clinton’s nomination speech was how liberally he deviated from the prepared text. What was handed out to the media was four pages of single-spaced, small font text, but — as an exasperated TelePrompTer operator found out —that was really just a guideline to what Clinton actually wanted to say during his 49-minute address. We decided to compare the two versions to see how one of the great speechmakers of his era goes about his business.

via What Bill Clinton Wrote vs. What Bill Clinton Said – Politics – The Atlantic Wire.

Why High-Tech Companies Are Moving to the City – WSJ.com

Downtown’s where it’s at. Just ask Red Hat and Citrix!

For as long as many of us can remember, high-tech industries have flourished in the suburban office parks that are so ubiquitous in Silicon Valley, North Carolina’s Research Triangle and other "nerdistans." But in recent years, high-tech has been taking a decidedly urban turn.

Silicon Valley remains the world’s pre-eminent center of high-tech industry, of course. But even in the Valley, denser, more mixed-use and walkable places, like downtown Palo Alto, are becoming the preferred locations for start-ups and smaller firms. And many other start-ups—Pinterest, Zynga, Yelp, Square and Salesforce.com, to name just a notable few—are taking up residence in downtown San Francisco.

via Why High-Tech Companies Are Moving to the City – WSJ.com.

Clinton’s DNC speech

Bill Clinton


Wow, did Bill Clinton give a good speech last night. Regardless of what you think of the man (he has his faults), he is a masterful communicator. There are few people who can connect with an audience the way Clinton can. He was thoroughly in control at that podium last night and it showed.

Obama can give a good speech, too, but while Obama is undeniably intelligent and generally chooses good policy he does tend to come across as too scripted. A bit on the wonkish side. I think the main reason voters have a tough time connecting with him because his fabled cool demeanor. A quote in The New Yorker from a source close to Obama says he “doesn’t really like very many people.” Contrast this with Clinton, who was legendary for chatting with nearly everyone he met to the point of always running late. Obama’s speeches often come across more as lectures, like he’s a high school principal or the law professor he once was. He needs to trade in that cold calculation for some unscripted passion every once in a while (though, uh, not to Howard Dean levels). It apparently doesn’t come naturally to him the way it does to Clinton.
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Statistical Probability That Mitt Romney’s New Twitter Followers Are Just Normal Users: 0% – Alexander Furnas and Devin Gaffney – The Atlantic

Last week Zach Green of 140Elect, noticed some strange goings-on with Mitt Romney’s Twitter account (@MittRomney). Romney’s account, which had been averaging around 2,000 to 5,000 new followers a day, gained 141,000 followers in two days.

This observation prompted speculation – from Green, Slate,The Huffington Post, CNN, and many others – that the Romney Campaign was buying robot followers, or perhaps (conspiratorially) someone else was buying them to make Romney look bad.

via Statistical Probability That Mitt Romney’s New Twitter Followers Are Just Normal Users: 0% – Alexander Furnas and Devin Gaffney – The Atlantic.

How to simulate being a sailor

I found this on another website and thought it was funny. If you’ve ever been in the Navy you’ll recognize these.

How to Simulate Being a Sailor

  1. Buy a steel dumpster, paint it gray inside and out, and live in it for six months.
  2. Run all the pipes and wires in your house exposed on the walls.
  3. Repaint your entire house every month.
  4. Renovate your bathroom. Build a wall across the middle of the bathtub and move the shower head to chest level. When you take showers, make sure you turn off the water while you soap down.
  5. Put lube oil in your humidifier and set it on high.
  6. Once a week, blow compressed air up your chimney, making sure the wind carries the soot onto your neighbor’s house. Ignore his complaints.
  7. Once a month, take all major appliances apart and then reassemble them.
  8. Raise the thresholds and lower the headers of your front and backdoors, so that you either trip or bang your head every time you pass through them.
  9. Disassemble and inspect your lawnmower every week.
  10. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, turn your water heater temperature up to 200 degrees. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, turn the water heater off. On Saturdays and Sundays tell your family they use too much water during the week, so no bathing will be allowed.
  11. Raise your bed to within 6 inches of the ceiling, so you can’t turn over without getting out and then getting back in.
  12. Sleep on the shelf in your closet. Replace the closet door with a curtain. Have your spouse whip open the curtain about 3 hours after you go to sleep, shine a flashlight in your eyes, and say “Sorry, wrong rack.”

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