(add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/twittering-mode") ; if non-standard
(require 'twittering-mode)
(setq twittering-username "yourtwittername") ; replace
(setq twittering-notify-successful-http-get nil)
(add-hook 'twittering-new-tweets-hook (lambda ()
(let ((n twittering-new-tweets-count))
(format "%d New Tweet%s" n (if (> n 1) "s" "")))))


The weirdness started after I took an awesome salt bath, which I love to do on full moons because a salt bath helps the body detoxify, which apparently happens during full moons. I slept for a few hours, and woke up very early (or late depending on your point of view.) I learned that Asus had just released the successor to my Netbook literally the day before I ordered mine. I felt kind of upset, and for about ten minutes, considered returning mine for the newer model. I decided not to, however, because it didn’t differ too much – 6.4 ounces lighter, an extra hour of battery life, and a new case design didn’t seem worth the hassle.

That prompted a rousing discussion about Microsoft versus Linux on a Netbook. I will not rehash the whole debate, as many have already become familiar with the various arguments. Blind people may know Windows, but having something forced on them by a monolith does not make it the best. As for the argument that the manufacturers design the Netbook for Windows, I would just say that without people with the hacker spirit, wanting to do things with their machines beyond their design, we wouldn’t have Netbooks in the first place!

After I simmered down from that, I read a rather disconcerting and poignant email from my friend Chuck Young. You can find him on the blog roll, though I doubt he will publish the article he sent me! By this time it had gotten onto about eight o’clock in the morning, and I need to take a power nap, prepare a shopping list, and meditate.

As well as declaring this the Summer of the Netbook, I also declared it the Summer of Zazen. They don’t call the hara the Golden Stone for nothing!

After recharging and getting my shopping order, it had gotten on to around three o’clock, or noon Pacific time. Ordinarily this wouldn’t matter, but today something extraordinary happened, at least in the eyes of many: Michael Jackson’s Memorial. Oh no! I feel awful blogging about this. I only watched small amounts, as I couldn’t stand hearing people going on and on about Jesus. Viewing it reminded me of viewing Twitter in the past week: lots of #moonfruits! Ha, I saved that joke for now! Things felt kind of creepy, and a kid cried. I tried to enter the mind of a Michael Jackson fan, and feel some remorse. It worked for around two minutes. I still don’t know what the scene looked like, but I heard they had a solid gold casket on stage. I kind of hoped that something cool would happen, like they would lower it down on air, or that the lid would creak open and Michael Jackson’s ghostly countenance would emerge. Alas, nothing of the kind happened, but as with the initial event of his death, I could feel the collective pull. Every channel showed it, and within minutes of it ending they had sound bytes and collages. Programs continue to run as I write this. It also sort of weirded me out that it happened under a full moon. Did they know?

As I sit here outside typing on my lovely netbook, I realize how much I love blogging under the night sky with a full moon, the cool feel of the summer air mingles with the sounds of a suburban town, and the astral light of the full moon permiates my spirit and this entry. I can sense it with my third eye. I only ever saw moonlight once in my life, when a September full moon reflected off the ocean. It looked like a glittering mirror.

The fact that the law of attraction attracted a bunch of spammers seems to have some universal irony, albeit only due to them automatically searching for a popular keyword, “Law of Attraction” in this case. It seems especially funny because I even referenced how the law of attraction had become a pop newage thing, despite its basic truth. It simply states that you attract what you focus on. A bunch of documentaries, self-help books, websites, and the like have sprung up around this simple concept, giving it somewhat of a bad reputation. Despite the fact that a bunch of marketers have latched onto it as the latest fad of 2006, its universal truth remains, though I don’t care for the greed or selfish aspects it has since inherited. A song plays in the background: “I trust I always will have love, I trust I always will receive love” which synchronistically and concurrently proves all my points.

Did those spammers prove the law of attraction, or the inevitability of parasite marketers? Whether or not one believes in it, or whatever one thinks of the various dreams and schemes which have recently sprung up around it, one objective truth does exist that we can all agree on, and one from which all the marketers of the world cannot escape: Spammer Saturday happens in three days! Use it as a tool for self-improvement. It won’t give you riches or that perfect partner, but it will help elevate the collective spirit of humanity in some small way. Just use the #SpammerSaturday tag on twitter, followed by all the spammers who have followed you this week. For a real bonus, tweet about the Law of Attraction. In a way, this entire post serving as a promotion for Spammer Saturday proves yet another point in somewhat of a self-referential way. I love metahumor!

Do things happen for a reason? From our point of view, they do. From the universe’s point of view, they don’t. Meditate on that, acai berry farmers! While on the subject, this reminds me of another thought I had during meditation: Good intention paves the way to Hell. Good attention paves the way to Heaven.

Some time ago, I started seeing #ff or #followfriday. Hash marks denote keywords for easy searching. A friend explained that it simply referred to when people would post other users for people to follow, prepended by an @ sign of course. For instance:

#followfriday @omeron23

would suggest that others follow me on Follow Friday. The idea seemed novel and cool for about a week, but I quickly started seeing friends complain. It makes it easy for spammers to harvest addresses, and many people notice an influx of spammers on Fridays now. This gave me an idea: Spammer Saturday!

In contrast to Follow Friday, Spammer Saturday will serve as the day to identify and delete all the annoying spammers that latch onto your account, largely on Follow Friday. Just do it on Saturday, and use the #spammersaturday hash tag. For example:

#spammersaturday @spammer1 @spammer2 @spammer3

You might also like to add the word unfollow to contrast with Follow Friday.

I hope this idea catches on. It seems simple enough, and makes an easy way to identify spammers for the good of all. Feel free to retweet. I DON’T LIKE SPAM!

Update: Twitter Tools dumped a bunch of posts with old updates, weird! I disabled that part. I wonder…..