Social Iran

The two Twitterers I'm following from the ground in Iran - @Change_for_Iran and @mousavi1388 - haven't tweeted in 14 hours and 17 hours respectively. This makes me nervous.

I cannot imagine what it's like to have all forms of communication shut down. Or to be arrested or killed over 140 characters.

My generation has never had an uprising. What would have happened here if McCain had "won by a landslide" under suspicious circumstances? I'd like to think we would have voiced our concerns.

These are Flash Mobs with a purpose. These are letters from the resistance. These are inspiration.

The world is reading along, hoping for a happy end.

Susan and Edward

I get a lot of thinking done in the shower. Last night's revelation was that Susan Boyle is the real-life Edward Scissorhands.

Proof:

Susan and Edward both lived alone, away from people.

They both look weird.

They have amazing talents - Edward with his gardening and haircuts, Susan with her singing

Once they revealed these talents to the world, they became sensations.

They could not handle the pressure - Edward started ripping wallpaper and knocking down shrubs, Susan had some public rants.

The public turned on them - the neighbors said Edward was unstable and dangerous, the tabloids said Susan was cracking.

They both had to disappear for awhile - Edward ran back to his lonely house, Susan checked into a facility.

Susan Boyle's story seems to be continuing. I saw something about a comeback concert in a headline today. By the way, can someone have a "comeback" concert when they were never making big money and were only performing on a reality show? I guess so. But the real point is, look what the world can do. Is it better to remain isolated or to expose yourself?

Thesaurus

I find that the thesaurus only helps me about 30% of the time.

FAIL

abort, back wrong horse, backslide, be defeated, be demoted, be found lacking, be in vain, be ruined, blunder, break down, come to naught, come to nothing, decline, deteriorate,fall, fall flat, fall short, fall through*, fizzle,flop, flounder, fold, founder, go astray, go down swinging, go down*, go downhill, go up in smoke, go wrong, hit bottom, hit the skids, lose control, lose out, lose status, meet with disaster, miscarry, miss, miss the boat, play into, run aground, slip, turn out badly

Pandora and my continued iPhone love

I'm a million years behind on this discovery. But I finally found Pandora. I found it through my iPhone app, actually. And now I'm listening to it on my computer too.

The site has all the functionality I would've put in there. At least so far. I am only sadly disappointed that I can't play it through my wireless speakers. But I guess Apple is protecting iTunes by making Airtunes only work with that program.

In other iPhone-related news, I want a new one like everyone else. But the one I have continues to save me in all sorts of situations. Yesterday I was looking for cat food at a pet store. No customer service in the cat food section. I was left to blindly stare at labels.

The problem was, all the brands I recognized, I had heard bad things about. (Wall-e is having stomach problems and I'm tired of cleaning cat puke. This was an important decision.) So I used my iPhone and looked up the best brands. I ended up with a brand I never would have looked at because their logo is a little "I-designed-this-in-the-back-of-my-wiccan-candle-store-under-my-wooden-wind-chimes." But supposedly it's natural and great for him. I probably would've ended up with the best of the bad if I hadn't had my phone. Or I would've stared for 30 more minutes in a consumer panic.