Uploaded on June 21, 2009
by manyhighways @ 2009 MSRA “Back to the Fifties” Car Show

Do you know what goes really well with music? Cool old cars.

I don’t have any shows to see this weekend, but I bought a ton of Cd’s last night at Half Priced Books. So I guess I’ll be ripping them to disk and dumping’em on my iPod Bombadil.

Heard and good local music lately?
I hear the new Vampire Hands release is superb, which I don’t doubt for a second. It’s my opinion they are the best “vampire” band out there, and that other vampire band that was so popular on 89.3 . . . well I’m not going to even mention their name.

Here’s Vampire Hands with Safe Word.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrEpN21FSnQ[/youtube]

What are you listening to?

*Saturday Morning Update*Ways to get live and local this evening, Tim Mahoney will be rocking the 5:00 PM slot at St. Anthony Village Fest (FREE!) and the Unknown Prophets will be laying it down later in the eve at the 501 (FREE?) (I think so)

Or spend a little money and get artsy at the Fringe Festival [ #MNFRINGE ] or perhaps help the Common Room “bust through gallery stereotypes” at The Soap Factory.

So much to do. Rock on.

.

That Tony Hawk guy still knows how to have a good time. He said something about an Easter Egg hunt, but his idea of something is on a huge scale, and the Easter Eggs were signed boards. Their kinda exact locations were posted to Twitter on Sunday, including two around the Cities. So, in other words, scenes like this were happening all over the country (and Australia, and…?) on Sunday morning. (more…)

Leif is throwing down the Tweetup card, and you’re all invited.

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

6:00pm to 8:00pm

Grumpy’s Downtown Minneapolis

1111 Washington Ave. South.

Hashtag is #msptweetup.

And if you miss this one, there’s another next week, in conjunction with Social Media Happy Hour and Twestival, for charity on Feb. 12 at Moto I.

Hell, go to both. Get out and meet your online friends IRL (in real life). :)

Ed Kohler ranks Minneapolis Twitter users by “interestingness” using his patent-pending “F/U” algorhythm.

• I made #18 on Ed’s List.
• I made #11 on Twitterholic’s list of Top 100 users in Minneapolis.
• I’m currently #18 on Twitter Grader’s Minneapolis Elite list (although I was #3 just 16 days ago)

But focusing on your own rankings is mostly an effort in ego surfing. I suggest you use these lists to find people interesting to you to follow in Minneapolis, and more importantly, use Twitter to form REAL relationships.

I’ve said it 100 times, I know, but Twitter has helped me make more real-life friendships in the Twin Cities than Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn combined.

Oh, and I’m @perfectporridge if we aren’t already friends. :)

Our MB peers over at the Mumbai Metroblog are covering the terror attacks.

Their citizen journalism efforts were even mentioned in yesterday’s CNN story, “Tweeting the terror: How social media reacted to Mumbai“

The minute news broke of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai, India, social media sites like Twitter were inundated with a huge volume of messages…

With more than 6 million members worldwide, an estimated 80 messages, or “tweets,” were being sent to Twitter.com via SMS every five seconds, providing eyewitness accounts and updates.

Many Twitter users also sent pleas for blood donors to make their way to specific hospitals in Mumbai where doctors were faced with low stocks and rising casualties.

Others sent information about helplines and contact numbers for those who had friends and relatives caught up in the attacks. Tweeters were also mobilized to help with transcribing a list of the dead and injured from hospitals, which were quickly posted online.

As Twitter user “naomieve” wrote: “Mumbai is not a city under attack as much as it is a social media experiment in action.”

Neha Viswanathan, a former regional editor for Southeast Asia and a volunteer at Global Voices, told CNN, “Even before I actually heard of it on the news I saw stuff about this on Twitter.

“People were sending in messages about what they were hearing. There were at least five or six blogs from people who were trapped, or who were very close to what happened.”

One tweet from “Dupree” appeared to be coming from inside one of the hotels: “Mumbai terrorists are asking hotel reception for rooms of American citizens and holding them hostage on one floor.”

A group of Mumbai-based bloggers turned their Metroblog into a news wire service, while the blog MumbaiHelp offered to help users get through to their family and friends in the city, or to get information about them, and has had a number of successes.

Flickr also proved a useful source of haunting images chronicling the aftermath of the attacks. Journalist Vinukumar Ranganathan’s stream of photos were published by CNN and other major broadcasters. A Google Map showing the key locations and buildings with links to news stories and eyewitness accounts, and CNN’s iReporters flooded the site with their videos and images of the terror attacks.

The Mumbain Metrobloggers have 6 new posts up already today. Read the Mumbai Metroblog here.

The all-Twitter version.

• The James J Hill Library is on Twitter: @jjhill_library. Blogging, too. Matt the Librarian is doing an awesome job. Interesting insight as to how a business research library works.
• ThriftyLocalHipster’s website is still not operational, but they are putting all the happy hours and various events that they would post if they had a website on Twitter: @localhipster.
• You tell me whether @MPRMemberDrive is as annoying to read as it is to listen to. It does have some quirky behind the scenes stuff. I guess I don’t ever think about what it’s like to sit/work inside a radio studio. And official tweeter Jacquie Fuller (On-Air Fundraising Manager at MPR) has a sense of humor.
• The PiPress folks are using @MNvotes to attract election day votecasting stories. Tweet ’em your tales of polling place folly/woe/appalledness/crowds/whatever. You could probably tell ’em how pleasant and stress-free your early voting experience was, too. Use the hashtag #mnvotes. They’ve got some useful tidbits and factoids, too. And a terrible retweet from @MayorRTRybak (because the original was a terrible tweet).
• Jason DeRusha turned me on to Second Act, a store in Eden Prairie that sells discounted fancy TVs. I was perusing their website looking at electronicals that I really have no good reason to buy and I noticed that they are twittering at @secondact. That fact alone made it so much more likely that I would personally shop there. They’ve got some small business behind-the-scenes stuff and the occasional deal. And, apparently, their own fantasy football and baseball leagues. Guess what the prizes are….
• The Link is the latest local non-profit to jump into the social media fray with @thelinkmn. They’re still pretty new (to Twitter), but so far they have some tidbits about non-profits in general, issues specific to their mission (“Our mission is to build a supportive community network that links youth and their families to their inner strength through life skills, education, advocacy, supportive housing, and a dynamic network of social services to transform lives.”), and some things about what people in their organization are actually doing as part of their jobs. If they keep that up, I’d say it’s a great example of helping people to get to know their organization. (via @lisa_ray)
• Speaking of non-profits, the Nonprofits Assistance Fund (@NAFund) has certainly been a leader in using Twitter and teaching other NPs how to do the same.

Comes from Bill Stiteler, aka @bstiteler.

I’m in funky cold Medina County.

He may not be the first or the last to make that joke, but I’ll go for a little Tone Loc anytime.

Not only is the soybean harvest disturbing their preferred environs, yesterday’s extremely warm weather brought out the Asian Lady Beetles in full force…including at my house.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNtl37BKOwg[/youtube]

A quick scan of Twitter shows this is happening across the country.

Asian Lady Beetles are often confused with ladybugs, but ALB’s bite, leave yellow stains and smell horrible when disturbed. Mostly a nuisance, there are instances when thousands infest walls and attics and may necessitate pest control.

If they aren’t that serious, some patience, caulk and a good vacuum will get you through the next week or so.

• It seems to me that the sort of person that would go to The Shout House wouldn’t so much be the same sort of person who hangs out on Twitter, but that could just be the circles I run in. If you are on of those people, you can now follow the Shout House on Twitter: @ShoutHouseMpls.
• Also on Twitter, @barackobama_mn, if you’re into that sort of thing. Which lead me to the Minnesota Tax Plan Challenge, which will show you (very roughly) how your taxes will be affected by each presidential candidate’s plan (assuming either of them could manage to get their plan passed intact).
• Per electoral-vote.com, here’s how Barack Obama and John McCain are trending in Minnesota. Sorry, Greg, no numbers for Bob Barr. Also, pretty good (non-partisan) news summary on the front page there. Worth a daily visit.
• Twitter again: @techkaraokempls. The Tech Karaoke craze is sweeping the nation and Minneapolis is one of six chapters nationally. Next event is Friday, 9pm, at the U Otter Stop Inn. Open to all. [facebook event] [facebook group] [facebook fan page]
• At Minnov8, Court Paves Way for Publicly Owned Broadband. This is big. Not surprising that smaller, more rural communities with little access to broadband are leading this charge.

When: Thursday, 10/9, 5pm
Where: Sweeney’s Saloon
Who: Special guests Chuck Olsen (on behalf of TheUptake.org) and WCCO’s Esme Murphy
Who Else: Anyone within reach of the word “bloginar”

A “bloginar” is an evening of live, in-person, information and conversation between bloggers of all kinds.

Kinda short notice, I know. But what else were you gonna do on Thursday? All y’all east siders better be there. I’ll be honest, I might not have made it all the way over there from Eden Prairie just for this event, but since I coincidentally have another thing in Saint Paul later on Thursday anyway, I’ll be there for the first 90 minutes or so. Come say hi!

The last event’s format went something like: mingling, Q&A, prizes, CBS local ad network pitch. I imagine this one will be similar (but if there are no prizes, don’t blame me). Complete details here. Chuck will talk about how to get involved as a citizen journalist, Esme will talk about blogging and covering politics online, and there will be a short SEO workshop. Mingling from 5-6pm, programmed discussion from 6-7pm. Make sure you RSVP.

Also see @wccobloginar on Twitter for details. The info is there, even if you’re not a Twitter user. If you are a Twitter user and have questions for Chuck and/or Esme that you’d like to submit, use the hashtag #bloginar.