> She likes how he blogs, her texts turn him on. It’s intense. For right now.
–_press copy from Calvin Klein’s_ in2u _fragrance_
Need to get in good with bloggers and social-network-ites? Doing the opposite of [what Calvin Klein’s doing][ck] couldn’t hurt.
[ck]: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/08/fashion/08CALVIN.html?ex=1331182800&en=b64fffc68152e253&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink “NYT piece on Calvin Klein’s new marketing push”
 School shootings are always shocking in their suddenness and their brutality, and the one yesterday morning at Virginia Tech is no different. According to news reports, 32 people and the gunmen were killed in the attack, making it one of the worst in the nation’s history.
People are already wondering, though, whether the attack could have been mitigated somewhat by quicker action on the part of the university. Via [BoingBoing][boing], I learned of [this New York Times report][1], which notes that the shooting was first reported to police at 7:15 after two people had been killed. It wasn’t until the gunmen moved to the schools engineering building at 9:45 that he killed the remaining 30 victims. In a [second Times article][2], they report that the school didn’t notify faculty and staff of the emergency until they sent out a campus-wide email at 9:26, and even then, some people did not receive the message until after their nine o’clock classes were over.
[boing]: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/04/17/va_tech_questions_co.html “Boing Boing”
[1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/us/17virginia.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5088&en=3b4ba06207da3bcf&ex=1334462400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss “Virginia Gunman Identified as a Student”
[2]: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/17/us/17scene.html?ex=1334462400&en=7eb42f678d2775d4&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss “Drumbeat of Shots, Broken by Pauses to Reload”
Just minutes after launching [Conferenceer][1], someone wrote in to remind me of O’Reilly’s [ExpoCal][2] calendar for their [Web 2.0 Expo][3] conference. The two services provide some common services–displaying the conference calendar and speaker lists–but they have different roles. ExpoCal is an organizational tool that answers the question _What panels am I going to attend?_ Conferenceer is a networking tool that helps you keep track of the folks you meet (and also read up on their blogs, right from the site!)
[1]: http://conferenceer.com/ “Conferenceer”
[2]: http://cal.web2expo.com/ “ExpoCal”
[3]: http://web2expo.com/ “Web 2.0 Expo”
I’ve just relaunched [Conferenceer][1] for the [Web 2.0 Expo][2] conference taking place in San Francisco over the next several days. Conferenceer is a social networking site for conferences, and on the site you can upload your profile, mark the sessions you plan to attend, and create relationships with other conference-goers. A special perq of the site is that it collects the blog feeds of all the participants so that you can easily subscribe to the blogs of your favorite panelists or–more ambitiously–subscribe to _all_ of the attendees blogs to get a feel for what _everyone’s_ posting during the conference.
On Conferenceer, you can subscribe to the panel calendar in iCal, download vCards of all the folks you meet, and mash up all of the info to your heart’s content due to the liberal use of [microformats][3] throughout the site.
[1]: http://conferenceer.com “Conferenceer: Social Networking for Conferences”
[2]: http://web2expo.com/ “Web 2.0 Expo”
[3]: http://microformats.org/ “MicroFormats.org”
From Wikipedia’s entry on [Muammar Gaddafi][1]:
> Gaddafi’s personal bodyguard, the Amazonian guard, is composed of 40 African women who are martial arts experts and highly-trained in the use of weapons….
> The Amazonian Guard sparked an international incident in 2006 when Gaddafi landed in Nigeria with over 200 heavily armed female guards for a summit. Nigerian security officials refused to allow the Libyans entry based on their armaments, and Gaddafi angrily resolved to set off on foot 40 km to Nigeria’s capital from the airport.
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kadaffi “Muammar al-Gaddafi on Wikipedia”
Over on NYC storytelling site [The Moth][1], Matthew McGough recounts [his experience][2] as a new batboy for the Yankees.
If you don’t want to hear the punchline now, go read the story. Else, read on….
[1]: http://www.themoth.com/ “The Moth”
[2]: http://www.themoth.com/index.php?id=89 “MY FIRST DAY WITH THE YANKEES”
The first tremor here woke us up at about one, and I didn’t know what was going on until the second one hit, shaking us as we stumbled for our clothes. The earthquake sent us down the stairs and out into the street, waiting, waiting to go back inside. Finally back in the apartment–and on the Internet–we checked the news reports. Nothing on CNN…but [Twitter][twitter] was abuzz with activity.
[twitter]: http://twitter.com “Twitter”
From my in-the-know friend, Eli: Rapper [50-Cent][shorty] made an appearance at the U.S. Embassy in Angola, for a March AIDS awareness event.
Here’s the notice the embassy sent to its staff (note the passive-aggressive prodding at the end):
> All Embassy staff are invited to bring their children to the Embassy this Friday morning (tomorrow, March 23) at 9:30 a.m. for an event on HIV and AIDS awareness which American musician Fifty Cent will attend. Local Angolan artists will perform raps about AIDS awareness. The event is appropriate for children who are at least 11 years of age. Please arrive at the event promptly–all Embassy staff should plan to attend.
But wait, the story gets better. From a followup email from a government staffer:
> According to people in my agency who attended this event, he didn’t rap but after meeting our Ambassador he urged the kids “Have sex, have lots of sex, but have safe sex!” and then exited by having his bouncers throw $100 bills in the crowd… No kidding–one Embassy maintenance worker scored two of them.
[shorty]: http://www.50cent.com/ “50 Cent’s official website”
Malawian Blogger Soyapi Mumba recently posted [his thoughts][soyapi] on the usefulness of [Twitter][twitter] in Africa. He notes that because so few Africans have access to computers, the usefulness of web technology like blogs email is limited, and people there have resorted to using radio for spreading announcements–even personal ones like deaths or family illnesses–among people. Cellphone use in the continent is much more widespread, and Soyapi lists a number of ways Africans could use a service like Twitter to update each other.
Soyapi’s got some good ideas about Twitter, but his ideas aren’t especially uniquely applicable to Africa. Doing things like sharing sports scores, news, and announcements via cellphone has been tried around the world. There’s a company working out of [Accra, Ghana][accra], however, that’s using text-messaging technology to actually help with the country’s development issues, and I think it’s got some real potential.
[soyapi]: http://soyapi.blogspot.com/2007/03/potential-of-twitter-in-africa.html “The Potential of Twitter in Africa”
[twitter]: http://twitter.com “Twitter”
[accra]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accra%2C_Ghana “Accra, Ghana on Wikipedia”
Earlier today, the Crisis in Darfur project was launched on [Google Earth](http://earth.google.com/ “Google Earth”), and its effect is staggering. Users of [Google Earth](http://earth.google.com/ “Google Earth homepage, where you can download the program”) need only search for the location **Darfur, Sudan** to see location-specific statistics, photographs, and videos of the genocide occuring in Sudan.
**Update [April 11]:** users of Google Earth can download the [Crisis in Darfur .kmz file](http://www.ushmm.org/googleearth/crisisindarfur.kmz “Crisis in Darfur .kmz file”) to go straight to the project in Google Earth.
The Crisis in Darfur project is a joint effort betweent Google and the [US Holocaust Memorial Museum](http://www.ushmm.org/ “US Holocaust Memorial Museum”), an organization dedicated to the study of the Holocaust and prevention of genocides like it.
You’re visiting Trisignia, where all the words, wit, and wonderment is the product of Jacob Patton. Of course, you can use most anything on this site—just share alike.
