33 tweets for 2008-12-29

[azurelunatic]

In the last 24 hours, I posted the following to Twitter:

• Monday, 0030: Ooo, text message pricing is a rip-off: http://tinyurl.com/8gbot8
• Monday, 0107: Merlin meta-humor: http://penknife.livejournal.com/384729.html
• Monday, 0147: Found poetry: searching for a McShep fic: http://linabean.livejournal.com/61235.html
• Monday, 0949: @semanticist My parents had a very simple and totally awesome wedding, and I want one just like it if I find somebody worthy.
• Monday, 1119: My nose hates me. Alas. Throat doesn't like me much either, but it's biding its time.
• Monday, 1121: @afuna Woe.
• Monday, 1128: Headed to http://www.calacademy.org/ fairly soon with aunt. Dogs cross that they do not get to attend.
• Monday, 1134: Pants
• Monday, 1225: Driving all the fuck over SF at the whim of the GPS.
• Monday, 1501: Cat Santa: http://tinyurl.com/9fk6xe (SFW)
• Monday, 1544: @emptybackpack #lj having database fail; status is updated, ops have been paged, sing-along in #lj_s
• Monday, 1548: @scapwell Goodness only knows. Whatever it is, it's mild enough to only annoy, and not even inconvenience.
• Monday, 1548: @tangowildheart It's not even bad enough to be medicated, just my NOSE ITCHES.
• Monday, 1607: In the current intermittent LJ-flakiness, I'm looking through cakes: http://tinyurl.com/8yqny5
• Monday, 1612: Dresden & Marcone: http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/76/goodfor.html
• Monday, 1718: @semanticist Yeah, people are in contact with LJ ops. IRC is going stir-crazy. I'm reading fic.
• Monday, 1725: @semanticist I've noticed more consistency with these things lately, which can only be a good thing.
• Monday, 1737: Browncoats will appreciate this cake: http://tinyurl.com/7yl5p5
• Monday, 1819: http://twitpic.com/xsqe - PictureMail
• Monday, 1825: http://twitpic.com/xsqe - My cousin is the walrus. That is the poodle. Coo coo catchoo.
• Monday, 1852: Cordelia, including giving the sex talk to Gregor: http://lightgetsin.livejournal.com/286300.html
• Monday, 2130: Little Settlement on the Moon: Pa Ingalls has to move on. http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/67/littlesettlement.html
• Monday, 2136: @intrepia I'd walk half an hour for wireless too.
• Monday, 2227: Ivan starring as Father Frost for the twins: http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/82/fatherfrosts.html
• Monday, 2231: Poor Miles. http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/83/blunderingtactically.html (Cordelia is perfect here.)
• Monday, 2234: Choosing a Head for Komarran Affairs: http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/68/comitatus.html
• Monday, 2239: Some couples lack subtlety: http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/77/alonetime.html
• Monday, 2241: @gameboyguy13 That was IJ, not LJ.
• Monday, 2243: Oh, *Taura* http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/76/goodat.html
• Monday, 2303: Bel Thorne. At the Winterfair Ball. Put down drinks prior to reading. http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/77/theballs.html
• Monday, 2328: OMG, I am amazed that this is a Yuletide fandom! Warning for consent issues. http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/60/bonded.html
• Monday, 2348: Mary Poppins: http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/78/windin.html
• Monday, 2351: Matrix (and speaks to my generation so well) http://yuletidetreasure.org/archive/83/wireless.html

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Comments

[lacey]

I cannot stop laughing at Cat Santa.

[azurelunatic]

Poor Santa looks so calm.

[lacey]

He has accepted what is about to happen! (Surely, it isn't the first time, and certainly it won't be the last.)

[azurelunatic]

The riot, and the ensuing horrible blood loss?

[lacey]

That would be it, exactly!

But he also knows from prior experience to wear riot-gear under that suit. The hazard pay from the first year more than covered the cost, well worth it.

[sraun]

Re: text message pricing

Yeah, that pretty much matches with what I learned about it a few years ago. And it ignores another aspect - text messages are delayable. If it takes 6 seconds or 60, who's going to notice the difference? So they don't have to expand the channel any until it gets really loaded!

[azurelunatic]

Yes -- voice has to be realtime, but text can arrive within a few minutes and still work just fine.

[sraun]

Oh, and it can be re-sent!

Which reminds me of when this was really brought home to me - 9/11. The most reliable communication in to and out of southern Manhattan all day? Blackberries. They were working in the tiny crevices of bandwidth - which meant they kept working, even under severe overload conditions. I'd expect we'd find the same thing to be true of SMS in a disaster today.

[azurelunatic]

I use the re-send relatively often, when I'm using Brightkite and checking in at the same place again, or someone didn't get something, or I realized someone else had to get the same information. And you can send it to multiple people!

And it probably would be!

[sraun]

Actually, I was thinking of systemic re-sends - as I understand it, Blackberries at least - and I assume something similar applies to SMS - have a 'message received' acknowledgment. If the first packet doesn't get through, then the automatic re-send probably will, and it just keeps trying until it does. Much better than voice, where a missed data packet is gone to the bit bucket forever, and you have a signal degradation of some kind.

[azurelunatic]

Aha, yes.