I have said here several times that I am an “eye for an eye” kind of girl. If someone does something horrible to you that affects your health and livelihood, that person should be punished by having to endure the same horrible act. It’s so easy for some to dish it out, but they are left begging for their life and forgiveness when they are faced with same horrific act administered upon themselves by others.

I think of the Arab women who are thrown in sacks and tossed into a pool of piranha, or dipped head first in a vat of boiling oil, and left to die a slow painful death. While the men stand by and laugh and threaten other women with the same, should they disrespect their family, etc. My first thought is, “These kind of men deserve this exact treatment and more so.”

People have agreed with me and people have said that I am barbaric. The ones that have called me barbaric are men. No surprise that it is the men in this world that are the majority of the perpetrators, murderers, serial killers, etc., and yet they are the ones calling me barbaric, for saying that it is okay to perform a brutal act in retribution for the same brutal act that was initially administered to innocent victims.

The story today is about a man who threw a bucket of acid over a girl’s head because she rejected his marriage proposal. If you ask me I say, “Do the same thing to him.” Evidently, it is allowed under Sharia law if the victim requests it. The victim did. However there are those that oppose and his punishment was postponed.

Here’s the write:

Fury at Iran’s ‘eye-for-an-eye’ acid punishment as sentence is branded ‘cruel and inhumane’

A punishment in which an Iranian man was to be blinded by having acid dropped into his eyes has been postponed after international condemnation.

Majid Movahedi was convicted and sentenced for pouring a bucket of acid over Ameneh Bahrami after she rejected his marriage proposals.

The attack left her blind and severely disfigured.

The court-ordered retribution was due to have been carried out yesterday in Tehran.

Irene: That’s an excellent question to ask. I think the majority of this planet would be happy for aliens to take over even if that meant a percentage of humans would go to feeding the aliens. Hey, they’re dining on us anyway. The ones screaming would be the men because they would no longer be in control of their toys, and they would have a predator themselves to fear for once.  The women would be happy to be free from the abuse, and hey perhaps the chance of some alien dick might put a smile on their faces too. :)

I’d love to say more but I’m already posting late. Done. Your turn.

Peace out.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2011

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

…a couple kisses

Good morning!

I thought this would put a smile on for Saturday.

Vancouver Riots 2011: Couple Kisses During Chaos

While a city burned its Stanley Cup dream in the flurry of flames, looting and bone-breaking that was the 2011 Vancouver riots, an altogether different sort of passion spilled, literally, into the streets.

At the moment, they’re known only as the kissing couple.

But that won’t last long.

When this unlikely snapshot of lovers entangled on a tear-gas filled street, with riot police in the fore and background emerged Thursday morning, you can bet the great media race was on.

It will, most certainly, be the picture that launched a thousand media inquiries. Who are they? What were they thinking? And who will get to them first?

“We’re looking for the kissing couple in this photo,” CBC News tweeted at 10am Thursday “Know them?”

Good start. After all, the Twitterverse, as usual, caught the image on the quick.

Looks like Gerrard Trojillo (gt23GOTHUNDER) was first on the mark, tweeting, “lol couple kissing during #canucksriot” at about 10 am on Thursday. He was referring to the Esquire blog that first published the photo.

The riots began after Vancouver’s Canucks lost the Stanley Cup last night to the Boston Bruins.

The Vancouver Sun has more on the photographer who snapped the picture.

And the kissing couple has been identified:

CBC — The mystery identity of the couple kissing while lying on a Vancouver street as riot police battled crowds following the Canucks’ Stanley Cup loss has been revealed as Australian Scott Jones and his Canadian girlfriend Alex Thomas.

Jones’s family in the Land Down Under said he has been in Canada for six months, working as a bartender and trying to break into acting and standup comedy. At least one of his comedy routines has been posted on YouTube.

Following the Canucks’ Game 7 loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday night, images of the kissing couple were splashed around the world – notably in Australia after the family came forward as knowing the man caught in a passionate embrace with a woman on the street of the B.C. city.

Hannah Jones, Scott’s sister from Perth, told CBC News in an email that the man in the pictures is her 29-year-old brother, and he recently started dating Thomas, who attends the University of Guelph in Ontario.

And via Skype from Perth, their father, Brett, also confirmed that the pair are his son and his new girlfriend.
‘It’s just completely gone viral’

Brett Jones said the couple had been at the NHL final game, and after the frenzy following the loss spilled into the street, the two were caught in the violence.

“They were between the riot police and the rioters, and the riot police were actually charging forward, and Alex got knocked by a [police] shield and fell to the ground,” he told CBC News. “[Scott] was comforting her and gave her a kiss to say, ‘It’s going to be OK,’ and the photographer just took the shot at that moment.”

Brett Jones said Scott is fine, and Alex suffered a bruised leg from falling to the ground.

The two are overwhelmed by all the coverage the picture has gotten, he said, noting that he has been fielding calls from media around the world.

“They are both just totally stunned by it, actually.”

The dad of the now-famous bartender-standup comedian said Scott was in Vancouver on a work visa, and is leaving in a few days for the U.S., and then heading back to Australia.

But the image of Scott Jones and his girlfriend will likely forever be considered the one bright light in the Vancouver post-Stanley Cup frenzy.

“It’s just completely gone viral around the world,” his dad noted.

**************

Peace & Love…

xoxo

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2011

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

This is part one of a series I will be running for the next 3 days.

Part one: A man attacking a woman

Meghan McCain, Cindy McCain Fire Back At Glenn Beck

UPDATE: Meghan McCain responded to Glenn Beck’s mockery of her in a Thursday column for the Daily Beast.

“Clearly you have a problem with me, and possibly women in general, but the truth is, it’s 2011 and I heard your show on Fox was canceled,” McCain wrote. “Isn’t that an indication that the era of the shock jock pundit is over?…There really is no need to make something like my participation in a skin cancer PSA into a sexist rant about my weight and physical appearance, because I’m going to let you in on a little secret, Glenn: you are the only one who looks bad in this scenario, and at the end of the day you have helped me generate publicity for my skin cancer PSA, a cause that I feel quite passionate about.”

ORIGINAL STORY: Cindy McCain lashed out at Glenn Beck after he mimed vomiting over her daughter Meghan’s recent skin cancer PSA.

McCain was only one of the women featured in the ad, which compared not wearing sunscreen to being naked, and which showed McCain seemingly naked.

On Beck’s Wednesday show, he and his co-hosts spent over eight minutes mocking McCain. Beck pretended to vomit repeatedly (with detailed sound effects) while looking at McCain’s ad or even hearing her name.

“Put some extra clothes on,” he said. “Like, lots of extra clothes…has she thought about a burqa, just to be extra safe?”

McCain’s mother, who has suffered from skin cancer, was not happy, and she fired off this tweet on Wednesday afternoon:

Later, McCain even retweeted liberal pundit Roland Martin, who asked, “Actually, I’m wondering if the National Organization for Women will call out @GlennBeck’s sexism?”

This is the ad featuring Meghan McCain:

And this is Glenn Beck and his response to the ad:

Readers: Can you believe this video? That men would actually sit around and talk and act this way towards women? These are not men – they’re 12-year old boys. And they just don’t stop. And we know at least one of these men has daughters. What does that say? This is so god awful, it is simply disgusting.

Oh, but come on…we know there are women out there thinking, “It’s probably the woman’s fault -  she doesn’t know her value”. – this is so screwed up it’s unreal.

Anything to say, say it here. Blog me.

Holly: Yes, you were lied to. I stand corrected. I am not putting any alien on a pedestal. But to me, an alien lying is very different from most human lies so I see no comparison. It seems in the scenario, the lie was necessary. It was the only way to save himself/herself and the other beings, otherwise they would be dead.

And perhaps the alien was given an order to lie. What is the saying, “Mine is not to reason why…mine is but to do or die”?  So the alien did what he was told without question. My point is humans lie differently and daily, no matter what the reason – they could care less who they hurt or affect when they lie.

So yes you were lied to by the aliens, but it seems for good reason – they were in a desperate situation and they needed help. Time was of the essence. I’m sure that someone must’ve told you the truth afterwards, yes?

Aunianue: Have you seen any of those vampire movies? I HOPE you don’t mind me saying, but my guess is he’s not an alien; he’s a vampire.

Have a great Monday everyone!

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2011

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

The other day, Doug pointed out to me that he read an article stating how an Hasidic newspaper in Brooklyn, N.Y., ran a photoshopped copy of the iconic “Situation Room Photo” last Friday. If you haven’t seen the photo it is the one taken of Obama and his national security team during the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound.

Why was it photoshopped? Well, as stated by the newspaper,  ”Because of laws of modesty, we are not allowed to publish pictures of women.” Hence, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and director of counterterrorism Audrey Tomason, were erased out, so to speak, of the photo before it went to print.

Here’s the video, the write, and the before and after photos for your viewing:

Listen to this man use religion as an excuse to discriminate against women. All the while claiming to respect women. So you say you respect women, but then, you don’t respect women in public office? Just what are you saying? Sickening isn’t it?

Can you imagine living In the neighborhood where signs are posted telling women how high they can wear their skirts or to not wear “tight-fitting clothing”?  If you notice you will see by his dress and hair style how far sexually inept men will go to enable them to use religion to repress women. He is the poster child for this.

And ala Mika Brzezinski, who I blogged  about the other day, those women who accept this kind of treatment, support the men who tell them they are better than other women because they are chaste in the eyes of God, because it is they, the other women, who tempt men to be evil by exposing more flesh than a man can mentally take. Don’t you just love how men promote themselves to be so strong, yet they claim the slightest peak of a leg will over power their strong minds?

Yeah right. It’s the same same old story. We (the men) control our women…repress our women. But hey, if they get out of hand…if they show too much leg, wrist, face…whatever, and tempt me, I will not be able to control myself.  And by the way, it’s all your (the women’s) fault.

(CNN) – Faith has outweighed fact at Di Tzeitung, a Hasidic newspaper based in Brooklyn, New York.

The ultra-Orthodox Jewish publication ran a doctored copy of the iconic “Situation Room Photo” last Friday – you know, the one taken of President Barack Obama and his national security team during the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound.

Scrubbed from the picture: the two women in the room.

It’s as if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with her hand clasped over her mouth, and Audrey Tomason, director of counterterrorism, weren’t there and weren’t part of history.

The newspaper later apologized for violating White House instructions against altering photos.

“We should not have published the altered picture, and we have conveyed our regrets and apologies to the White House and to the State Department,” the newspaper said in a statement Monday.

The news of this broke Friday when Shmarya Rosenberg, 52, posted a quick piece on his blog Failed Messiah.

Rosenberg, of St. Paul, Minnesota, said he wasn’t surprised by the photo doctoring and only posted something about it because “it was a slow news day.”

A former ultra-Orthodox Jew, Rosenberg has been writing about the ultra-Orthodox community – mostly about crime and what he dubbed “strange media” – for seven years. He said the newspapers in that community have become “increasingly strange with their censorship of women’s faces and women’s bodies” over the past few years.

He said readers of the Yiddish-language paper used to see photos of rabbis with their wives and that there was then a time when the women were blurred. Now, they’re just not there.

But in a written statement issued Monday afternoon by Di Tzeitung, the newspaper said that its decision to leave women out of photos is religiously mandated and that the right to do so is protected by the U.S. Constitution.

“The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. That has precedence even to our cherished freedom of the press,” the statement said.  “Publishing a newspaper is a big responsibility, and our policies are guided by a Rabbinical Board.

“Because of laws of modesty, we are not allowed to publish pictures of women, and we regret if this gives an impression of disparaging women, which is certainly never our intention,” it continued. “We apologize if this was seen as offensive.”

But offensive it was to Robin Bodner, executive director of the Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance.

At JOFA, “we educate and advocate for increased ritual, spiritual and leadership opportunities for women within Jewish law. And sometimes we get the feeling that men wish women were not even in the room,” Bodner told CNN in a written statement.

“This picture by [an ultra-Orthodox] newspaper goes a step further by revising history to remove important women leaders from the historic room in which they were present.  It reminds us of how much work is still to be done!”

Within Judaism, there are a number of denominations – Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and modern Orthodox, to name some – and ultra-Orthodox Judaism accounts for just one branch of the faith. And within all of these branches, matters of Jewish law and obligation are often debated.

It’s worth noting that the White House included its standard instruction with the photo caption when the image was released:

This official White House photograph is being made available only for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial or political materials, advertisements, emails, products, promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.

“We’re not going to comment” on this matter, a White House senior official told CNN.

The leadership at Di Tzietung, though, apologized for breaking official White House photo rules.

“Our photo editor realized the significance of this historic moment, and published the picture, but in his haste he did not read the ‘fine print’ that accompanied the picture, forbidding any changes,” the newspaper said in its Monday statement.

Furthermore, Di Tzeitung noted the Orthodox community’s respect for Clinton, who served as a senator in New York for eight years.

“She won overwhelming majorities in the Orthodox Jewish communities … because the religious community appreciated her unique capabilities and compassion to all communities,” the statement said. “The allegations that religious Jews denigrate women or do not respect women in public office is a malicious slander and libel.”

*********

Readers: Anything to say…say it here. Blog me.

Rick: Welcome. There is no theme. I know..I know…blogs are supposed to have a “theme”. Nope I don’t. Never wanted to. I like to blog about whatever I feel like, and I do so. As far as my readers and the conversations…well…it is kind of like a soap opera…the stories just keep twisting and turning, changing and developing…One will be the hot topic of the day, only to be lead to another, and then we meander back to the original. Nobody keeps score – what score is there to keep? It does keep it interesting though doesn’t it? If you read long enough you’ll get the drift. :)

Brad: No, you are totally incorrect. I do not have favorites but I do have regulars, and yes they do hold a special place because they have been loyal readers.  And for some reason they seem to get in easier than most. Perhaps it is their loyalty, I don’t know. But do keep trying. It is the luck of the draw and not the luck of my paw. I have nothing to do with it. Shame on you for suggesting otherwise.

AH: I have never read such a delightful description on being pussy-whipped till I read your write. How wonderfully revealing and honest. How women all around the world are wishing that the man of their dreams would say such words and truly mean it with the passion that you possess. A fine hello back to you.

Bruce: Too long to tell. :)

Zen Lill: I  thought about you when I posted it because I know you are tweeting now. Happy that it was helpful for you.

Mike: Nice to see you here again. Thanks for substantiating and sharing that valuable info.

Tim: Well you got in this time. I liked it.

Scott: Happy to hear your conscious about how shitty females are treated.  So… you’re on our side? Great.  Which third are you? – HOPEfully the one third doing something.

Anonymous: How dare you, a man, come onto my blog and ask for my help. Where were you when the women needed their mens’ help? Where were you when Gadaffi’s men raped and brutally disfigured and killed your women? And you’re worried about your precious city…your historical buildings.

Fuck your beautiful city – I could care less if it’s being destroyed. Your beautiful women are being destroyed, and you obviously care more about buildings and less about them…less about human lives. I have no compassion for men like you, nor will I ever help men like you unless you change and love and respect your women with a passion like you say you love and respect your city…your country. Go save your women and treat them as equals, not less than animals, and then come back and ask me for help. Until then, you will get no help from me.

Peace & Love: “Live it, Give it”

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2011

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Social media has been on the rise for a while now. Are you with it? Are you a member of FaceBook? Do you tweet? Some of my readers have asked me about the “tweet” in the upper right hand corner of my daily posts. So if you’re questioning, what is “Twitter” and how do I “tweet”, here’s something that might just get you going and up to date in the social media realm:

Quick Twitter Tips: A Twitter Guide For Beginners

Twitter can be an intimidating jumble of # symbols, RTs, DMs, @’s, and other code-like shorthand to a Twitter newbie.

To help get the hang of it, we’ve put together a Twitter guide for Twitter beginners with nine tips for how to communicate on Twitter, make sense of it, and make the most of it.

Tricks and tips aside, some users suggest the best thing a new tweeter can do is just start sharing. “Just jump in and start engaging (for lack of better cliche word) – and not just with people you know,” suggested @Agrinavich. @BrunuM suggested Twitter newbies should just “tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet and tweet.”

Have other Twitter tips you’d like to share? Click “Add a slide” or “Send a tip” below to share them with us.

Learn The Lingo

The various Twitter shorthand–from DMs and RTs to #’s–can be puzzling to Twitter newbies.

Here’s the basic terminology you need to know:

“RT” stands for “retweet,” in which a user shares another tweeter’s post, verbatim, while crediting the original tweeter. A retweet appears as “RT @[username]” followed by the tweet.

A “DM” is a direct message–a message up to 140 characters in length that is sent only to another specific user, not to all of a user’s Twitter followers. (A “DM fail” describes direct messages that were supposed to be private, but that were accidentally shared with all of a tweeter’s followers.)

A hashtag is created by using the # symbol ahead of a word or term. As Twitterexplains, a hashtag “is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.” Hashtags might be used to add color or personality to a tweet (like “#fail”) or it could be used to tie a tweet to a specific, broader topic (“#Jan25″). Some use hashtags to track all tweets from a specific event (i.e. “#SXSW”)

Tweet Pictures

Want to share a snapshot of a concert? A screenshot? Or any other sort of media? Twitter enables you to share images (and videos) in tweets by embedding the media as links.

One option is to use third-party image sharing services like Twitpic, Twitgoo, TweetPhoto, Yfrog, and Picktor, which allow you to upload photos or videos, then generate a link to the media (i.e. http://twitpic.com/31vyum) and will send a tweet to your account with that link. Users can also use these services, as well as others like Posterous and Mobypicture, to email or SMS photos and text, then have this information appear as tweets.

Twitter’s mobile apps, such as Twitter for iPhone and Twitter’s Android app, also include photo sharing abilities, allowing users to embed links to photos in their tweets.

Use URL Shorteners And Track Your Stats

Given Twitter’s length limit, each character in a tweet is key. Rather than tweeting unwieldy URLs–which can run 120 characters in length–condense your URLs with a URL shortener before you tweet them.

Services like bit.ly, goo.gl, and is.gd will “compress that address” (See the fastest URL shorteners here). URL shorteners will also display stats on how frequently and over what period of time your link has been clicked. To take advantage of this feature using bit.ly, for example, enter the shortened URL followed by a plus sign to check on the stats (i.e. “http://huff.to/fhlo5M+”)

Hashtags: Use Them, But Don’t Abuse Them

Hashtags (such as “#SXSW” or “#Facebook”) offer a way to “tag” tweets to a particular event, topic, trend, or location, or as a way of adding color or personality to a tweet.

Hashtags can help your tweet get attention and traction–for example, some users might track all tweets from “#TED”–because, as Twitter explains, “if Tweet with a hashtag on a public account, anyone who does a search for that hashtag may find your Tweet.”

However, it’s possible to include too many hashtags, which can turn some users off of retweeting (or even reading) a tweet. Three hashtags is generally the maximum number recommended per tweet.

Keep It Short

Sometimes, you really do need all 140 characters to get your point across in a tweet. But other times, it’s worth thinking about how you can keep your tweets a bit pithier, as there can be a downside to using all of your allotted characters: maxing out the 140 character limit makes it harder for other users to retweet your posts, as their retweet will add at several extra characters to the post–RT @yourtwittername. When you tweet, think about leaving som extra room (around 20 characters) to make your post more share-able. Alternately, if you are tweeting several 140 character posts in a row that are all part of a single thought o theme, alert your followers that the tweets are part of a series by including “1/3″ or “2/3″ in the tweet.

Twitter Lists

It can be overwhelming at times to follow the firehose of tweets coming from the varied sources you follow, from friends to politicians, brands to pundits.

Instead of having to absorb a wide range of tweets from the perhaps hundreds of tweeters you follow, users can use Twitter Lists to better organize the content that is shared and zero-in on a particular topic. Twitterers can create their own lists, or follow lists other people have created of tweeps tweeting about everything from Apple news to the unrest in Egypt. For example, for the latest tech news, you might follow HuffPostTech’s “tech journalists” list, or tune in to TIME’s “funny people” list for a laugh.

@ Replies

Want to respond directly to someone’s tweet? Start a conversation on Twitter with an “@ reply” directed at the tweeter you’re replying to.

To send an @ reply, start your tweet with “@username.” For example, if @HuffPostTech posed a question on Twitter about people’s first smartphones, a user could tweet back “@HuffPostTech my first phone was an iPhone.” Note: @ replies will not be viewed by all of your followers. A tweet that begins @username is only visible to a subsection of tweeters. As Twitter explains, “People will only see others’ replies in their home timeline if they are following both the sender and recipient of the update.

@ Mentions

Let other Twitter users know you’re tweeting to them or about them by including users’ Twitter usernames in your tweets. For example, instead of saying “Going to dinner with my friend Bianca,” you might tweet “Going to dinner with my friend @bbosker.”

Mentioning another account by its Twitter username can help that account gain followers–others can see that user’s tweets and profile with just a click–and can also help you get other people’s attention on Twitter.

Many tweeters monitor their @ mentions to see what others are saying to them or about them, and in turn people use @ mentions to communicate with brands, media outlets, individuals, and other accounts. You can see your @mentions by clicking the “@mentions” tab on your homepage on Twitter.

Stay Organized With Third-Party Twitter Clients

Rather than go to Twitter.com to track what’s happening on Twitter, there are a host of third-party Twitter applications that can help you to better monitor–and tweet from–various accounts, as well as keep track of various social media platforms all in one place. Tweetdeck, Seesmic, and Hootsuite are just a few of the options.

*******

Peace out.

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

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