Blackened Sun

Funniest. Convo. EVER.

Oh MY GOD. So, I’m talking to my former coworker Justin, who’s in his 30’s, and married. And he gets a bunch of random IMs from a young kid. He was ignoring the kid for a while, as he didn’t know who it was, but then decided the other day to actually give it a shot and find out if it was someone he knew trying to prank him. Here’s the conversation:

For the sake of privacy (as this was originally a note on my friend’s private Facebook account), and by his request. All nicknames and screen names have been removed.

Plenty of moments where I can’t figure out who’s playing a prank with who, but god I was laughing so hard by the end of this.

Enjoy

(*kidsscreenname*): yoo

Justin: who is (*Screenname*)?

(*kidsscreenname*): justin u dont kno me

Justin: i know you are, but what am i?

(*kidsscreenname*): wat

Justin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOGWbzUM-y8

(*kidsscreenname*): wtf

Justin: yea

(*kidsscreenname*): U DID ALL UR HOMEWORK

Justin: so, who is this? donna?
because your friend tiffany was talking a lot of smack 2nite

(*kidsscreenname*): WHO IS DONNA
DIZ IZ (*GhettoNickname*)

Justin: you aren’t donna?

(*kidsscreenname*): NO

Justin: don’t lie
donna – you gotta get tiffany off my back

(*kidsscreenname*): NIGGA DIZ IZ (*GhettoNickname*)

Justin: you live in NY?

(*kidsscreenname*): omg

Justin: tiffany is a jersey girl

(*kidsscreenname*): nigga diz iz (*GhettoNickname*) u high

Justin: i don’t know – i bought this stuff from the janitor at school
wild stuff
it’s like, gives me energy, but makes me to read a book too

(*kidsscreenname*): wat was it called

Justin: 5 hour energy
i’ve seen a commercial for it
during judge judy

(*kidsscreenname*): u dont kno who diz iz

Justin: it’s donna

(*kidsscreenname*): who tha fukk iz dona

Justin: i really want a dog
i don’t want some ugly dog either

(*kidsscreenname*): u kno wat ima c u 2marrow

Justin: but wait, (*GhettoNickname*)

(*kidsscreenname*): yea

Justin: seriously, who is (*GhettoNickname*)?

(*kidsscreenname*): iz diz justin

Justin: yea

(*kidsscreenname*): (*kid’s real name*)

Justin: i was about to say

Justin: i was about to say
you aren’t donna
and i’m probably not the justin you were looking for
i’m guessing
i mean, yo, i thought donna was trying to get me
she’s crazy

(*kidsscreenname*): u go 2 skoll 23
skool

Justin: nope, i’m not in the city
I’m in the south

(*kidsscreenname*): ii

Justin: you like ny?

(*kidsscreenname*): WTF
u a stalker

Justin: naaa

(*kidsscreenname*): so how u kno where i b
telll me

Justin: only nyc calls their schools like that
by numbers
i know that from law and order
so i but 2 and 2 together

(*kidsscreenname*): ii
wat

Justin: you take care
be a leader
study hard

(*kidsscreenname*): y
y u tellin me diz n u dont kno me

Justin: yea
i’m just some dude you thought was justin … but i am justin … but not the justin who you probably go to school with
i’m from DC
i’m in DC
near obama

(*kidsscreenname*): do u kno any justinz

Justin: nope

(*kidsscreenname*): ok

Justin: he must be cool though

(*kidsscreenname*): diz iz justin aint it

Justin: what do you think my last name is?

(*kidsscreenname*): idk his last name

Justin: you think i live in nyc, right?

(*kidsscreenname*): yea
u gave me diz aim
i dont b in dc

Justin: my be the wrong AIM
must be

(*kidsscreenname*): ok

Justin: maybe his hand writing is like chicken-scratch

(*kidsscreenname*): ok
how many aimz u got

Justin: i think one

(*kidsscreenname*): how u think

(*kidsscreenname*): tellme or u gettin blokked who iz diz

Justin: no one can block me, i’m the fastest wide receiver
it’s justin

(*kidsscreenname*): shutup
wat justin

Justin: justin from DC

(*kidsscreenname*): blokk
bye

Justin: latr

Net Neutrality

That battle isn’t over yet? I could’ve sworn it was over a damn long time ago. It certainly fell out of the mainstream media, atleast.

The net MUST remain neutral. Any attempts to control it will cause it’s collapse. The only reason why the internet made it as big as it is is because of the neutrality. The biggest forms of social media that is so popular today is due to the freedom of the internet. So many smaller businesses won’t be able to start. All of those little niche markets online that we know and love will cease to exist. Removing the net neutrality, from what I originally heard, would make it damn near impossible for any new company to spring up online, which is damaging to entrepreneurs and also allow the economy to grow a little stagnant with not enough change happening. Of course, I may be completely wrong about this. I really need to read up on it again, as I didn’t even know it was still around.

I found this interesting blog post on Take Part, a Social Action network. It mentions how much lobbyists are fighting against net neutrality. An excerpt:

Our friends at Free Press created this amazing widget that exposes fake grassroots groups formed and funded by big phone and cable corporations to kill Net Neutrality. These phony grassroots groups (or “astroturf,” as they are very cleverly named!) try to fool the public and politicians into thinking that they represent everyday citizens. Their populist names and vague mission statements misinform the public and fight on behalf of large corporations. But they can’t fool the grassroots, and certainly not the netroots.

The little widget below is about the big internet companies and what they’re doing to try to prevent a net freedom act from passing. Hell, I didn’t even know there was an Internet Freedom Preservation Act of 2009 even in the makings.

Articles like these about Lobbyists working in Congress to resist certain bills just reinforces my opinion that they need to be REMOVED from the government process. They interfere with what the majority may truly feel, and interrupt politicians from really making decisions for the people they were elected to represent.

Playing for Change

A month or so ago (I honestly don’t remember how long ago it was already) I was linked to a music video that was a collaboration of random, small scale artists, from around the globe. Most of these artists are street performers. They listen to the already existing recordings, and add their own flair, and own style to the music, always greatly enhancing it. It just gave me absolute shivers listening to it.

It’s a concept called “Playing for Change“, and I can’t remotely describe it anywhere near as well as they have on their website:

Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world.

The first video (and still by far my favorite) that I watched, was “Stand by Me,” originally performed by Ben King… Goosebumps are intense when I listen to this song. You really do feel the power and emotion of the song, probably a LOT more than the original version. It’s intense. Check it out below.

I honestly try to watch that video on a frequent basis, to remind myself how powerful music can be, and also to remind me that the world can’t be as bad as the news stations and other things we see in our daily lives make it out to be.

Check out the website, and the two other songs below… and take in the power and meaning of the songs. And support this project!

Peace Through Music!

War (No More Trouble) – Originally performed by Bob Marley:

“One Love” – Originally performed by Bob Marley

Twitter Statistics from Sysomos

Ogilvy PR 360’s Fresh Influence blog did a recent post about Twitter statistics that have been recently collected by the social media analytical company Sysomos.

The top 10 stats that Ogilvy lists show some of the highlights of the report.

Beyond the fact that Twitter is amazing for getting your product and news across, some stats show how Twitter just might not be hitting the amount of people you hope to be. For instance, the report shows that “a small minority creates most of the activity.”… only 5% of the users generate 75% of all of the activity on the site.

Hell, I used to think I was part of the minority for only having 148 followers (and only following 133), but the survey also tells me that “nearly 94% of all Twitter accounts have less than 100 followers.”… That was actually very surprising for me to read.

But yes, check out the rest of the 10 Stunning (And Useful) Stats About Twitter, and if you’re still interested, download the rest of the report from Synomos

A Brief History of Twitter

So, Twitter is 3 years old this month (went Beta on March 31st 2006, and Live on June 13th 2006 so depends on what date you use)… I actually have been a member since February 7th 2007 (thanks to this api for that information). I joined a little bit later than it began, but I actually joined prior to @replies became an actual part of Twitter (prior, people used it for communication, but posts were not intricately connected when they were used).

I feel like I’m trying to say “I used them before they were popular” to not sound like a bandwagon fan of the service? Perhaps.

This is a great drawing shows, briefly, how Twitter has expanded over the past 3 years. I’m glad I have been part of it since near the beginning.

Thanks to Tech Crunch for reporting it, which is where I first saw it, I think. I’ve been seeing multiple mentions of it across the web today, and thought that my audience (do I even have one?) would enjoy it as well.

I find it particularly amusing that it includes the Twitpocalypse, which threatened to cause many 3rd party Twitter apps to crash.

History Lesson from Monolith