Twitter Break is Over…
Monday, August 11th, 2008“Twitter break is over. Back to slaving in the hot, dark, social-media mine that’s hidden 5 miles beneath the surface of the earth’s crust.”
04:13 PM August 05, 2008
Archive for August, 2008
The Path to Salvation
Thursday, August 7th, 2008
Guest Blog Post by @junkdnafiction
The late autumn evening air filled the monk’s lungs with a chill the fire around which he sat was unable to dissipate. The heavy-handed presence of evil he had experienced since entering the woods surrounding this mountain village had not bothered to conceal itself from him.
“The hellspawn has devoured four of the village’s young women in the past two weeks, leaving their desiccated bodies to drip from trees. It feasted on their innards, rend the meat from their bones…”
The village elder lost himself in his recollection, revisiting the horror through his mind’s eye. Trapped by what he had seen. Not wishing to relive it, yet unable to let it go. Horrified and fascinated simultaneously. A vision beyond all imagined nightmares so horrible one must look upon for the brain to comprehend the reality of the situation.
There was no doubt in the monk’s mind of the demon’s origin. It was a Rasetsu. A devourer of human beings. A powerful demon that reveled in the kill. The flesh of humans was as sweet as any fruit to it.
The old man returned from his unspeakable vision and spoke once more to his guest the monk, a holy man called from a revered temple in the next province. “We turned to you for two reasons-you are a holy man and a samurai.”
“I was a samurai,” corrected the monk. “I left the path of the samurai when I joined the temple.”
“But you will forever retain your skills. You have the strength and cunning of samurai, and the wisdom and ways of a monk. We are doubly blessed by your decision to come.”
While there was truth in the words, the grim shadow of hallowed expectation darkened the room a shade. It was not his place to argue with the village elder. Furthermore, one way or another, the village would need taking care of. He could not allow this demon Rasetsu to continue to devour the flesh of innocents. Who knew what vile violations it visited upon their souls once they tried to escape its power for the safety of Heaven.
The last of the elder’s words rang in his ears before he slept that evening… “We wish you to save us from this monster.”
He had, of course, agreed.
The next morning the monk began rigorous rituals that included incantations, meditation, the studying of script scrolls, and collecting a tiny memento from each villager-of which there were nearly forty. The job they were asking would take every ounce of power he held in both the heavenly and earthly realms to defeat this eater of men and violator of souls.
For two nights and days he prepared himself for the single most taxing task of his career as either warrior or holy man. When it was through, he spoke once more with the village elder.
“I am ready.”
“Is there anything we can do to aide you?”
The monk’s face went grim with determination, “There is.”
The old man was immediately attentive.
“No matter what hellish screams are heard. No matter what horrors might be imagined. No villager must leave his or her home. In fact, I insist every villager bed early to get the best rest possible.”
“This is all?”
The monk’s voice was deeply earnest, “This is the path to salvation for the village. If I should be disturbed at any point during my task, then you are all doomed to a hell of Rasetsu tortures for eternity.”
Nodding his understanding, the elder quickly rounded up the heads of each household, and relayed the instructions of the monk. They all agreed to obey without question.
That evening, as the deep night held the village in its cold embrace, the once-samurai now-monk said a final prayer before he entered the home of each village family to send them directly to Heaven by slitting their throats as they slept.
© 2008, Made in DNA
Guest post for Twitter Stars by @junkdnafiction
Made in DNA is an American short story author living in Japan and writes serial fiction on Twitter. Made in DNA has been recognized by comic book author @warrenellis on WarrenEllis.com and on Warren Ellis’ LiveJournal.
If you’ve enjoyed Made in DNA’s guest post on Twitter Stars, his ebook, Media Whores is available at lulu.com as a download for $1.00.
A man, a woman, the yakuza, and zombie sex, all part of an original bizarro microfiction short story first serialized on Twitter and then touted across the blogosphere.
Serialized and short fiction blog of Made in DNA. Feel free to tumble my work.
“I channel my muse in a little known, yet up and coming, genre called BIZARRO (twisted fiction). It is heavily poisoned with cyberpunk, hardboiled, noir elements, and Japanese culture. I like it like that.”
Tweet Up Blood Drive
Monday, August 4th, 2008Is That Ping You Hear an Enemy’s Destroyer?
Sunday, August 3rd, 2008
I recently started toying around with Ping.fm. I belong to a lot of social networking sites and I have a pretty strong understanding of each. Understanding how social bookmarking, social networking, and social conversational sites can be used effectively is my job. I only actively use a very few social networking sites for my own personal use. The rest I have so that I can advise my clients on how they might use them to their benefit.
To die with one`s sword still sheathed is most regrettable—Miyamoto Musashi, circa 1645
I held off on exploring Ping.fm for a bit—until last night when I found myself in that new tool, what can we make it do, kind of mood. So on a whim, I spent the time setting it up with the various sites I have accounts with.
I use Ping.fm with:
The first thing that I discovered with Ping.fm is that it’s a very lonely place. Sure, I was sending out messages but unlike other social network aggregation sites such as FriendFeed or MyBlogLog, I couldn’t see if anyone was replying back to me.
This caused me to leap back onto Twitter just to see what was going on over there. Were people responding to my insipid blurbs? In order to make effective use of Ping.fm, I still had to return to my social networking sites. In the end, how much benefit did Ping.fm create for me?
To use social media and conversational media sites effectively, we have to interact with our followers. To simply broadcast messages to people defeats the purpose of social networking. If I was simply broadcasting my message all day long, who would be listening? Would I have any followers to broadcast to?
Because I teach people how to effectively use social networking, it’s important that I understand the benefits and the limitations of as many sites as possible. My first foray into Ping.fm taught me that it’s a tool of limited value. Part of a good SMM practice is to monitor the result or effect you’re having on your audience. In the case of Ping.fm, I found that really, it’s only effective as a tool for announcements and therefore has limited use. The benefit of social media is the bi-directional communication on sites such as Twitter.
In the future, I will only recommend to my clients that they use of Ping.fm to make brief and a limited number of announcements. A good example of how I will use Ping.fm, is to announce new blog posts on Twitter Stars.
What are your opinions on Ping.fm?
- Can Ping.fm be used successfully to market?
- Does Ping.fm promote social interaction or does it impede it?
- Does Ping.fm serve a purpose beyond updating your Facebook Status?
- How do you use Ping.fm?
From Twitter
markdavidson I think using Ping.fm sorta defeats the whole point of conversational networking.
markdavidson I feel like the tree that fell in the forest with nobody around to hear it… Ping.fm makes the sound.
tmatzner @markdavidson indeed. Therefore I only use it for to post interesting links but not for standard conversation. #ping.fm
scifirantergirl @markdavidson agrees about Ping.fm. I like that it posts to several places. Dont like that it’s more for announcements than conversation.
tofu916 @markdavidson well, you may be right, but its a good traffic tool if you can make good use of it.
DaveWares @markdavidson That’s why I gave up on it.
dedlam @markdavidson Pings like the bullhorn that goes with your soap box. Great way to start a conversation, then choose another svcs to continue
markdavidson @tofu916 I’m not sure how to make good use of it. I’m not as much of a fan of broadcasting as I am of bi-directional communication.
markdavidson @dedlam It’s like a Facebook Status update.
tofu916 @markdavidson i gotcha. you are truly a webmaster. im happy to get traffic peanuts! LOL
LEMills @markdavidson - amen re ping.fm. When I see the 2nd (and 3rd and 4th) echo, I wonder if I have to chase around to reply everywhere…no!
markdavidson I’m trying to see just how obnoxious I can be with Ping.fm. This is not how conversational media is supposed to work! lol! 
markdavidson Dear Friend, I am interested in importation of goods into our country with funds which are presently trapped in Nigeria…
DevilBlueDress @markdavidson Glad to hear someone is causing some trouble
sheilas @markdavidson Wow, I wish I could get a sincere email like that from some nice banker in Nigeria….
OutlanderUSA @markdavidson LOL!! You too, huh? Have you won the 2010 South African Lottery yet? I have. Twice!
Tojosan @markdavidson down with Ping.FM. It’s one way.
markdavidson Do women laugh hysterically at you before running out of the bedroom? Markzyte Natural male enhancement for only $1.99. Buy now in bulk!
urbanbohemian @markdavidson Pretty darn obnoxious, I assure you. It’s almost like it’s turned US into the spammers. -)
RickWolff @markdavidson Do they have an affiliate program? How about the Nigerian guy?
markdavidson Hehehe! Ping.fm is FUN! I wonder what else I can make it do? lol. Okay, bored with it again. Back to having conversations…
czarphanguye @markdavidson Lmao! I’m positive you can rate yourself a 10 (out of 10) on the obnoxious scale when using Pingfm improperly.
markdavidson @czarphanguye Thanks! I normally try to use my social media skills for purposes of good rather than evil. The temptation is just too much!
markdavidson @RickWolff lol. Yes, the Nigerian consulate has a great affiliate program but oddly I’ve never received a single check from them…
markdavidson @Tojosan Definitely! The whole point of conversational media is bi-directional communication. This one-way broadcasting thing… *yawn*
markdavidson Are you into hot one-on-one bi-directional social communication? Call now! Wayward college girls want to talk to you! 976-TWITTER!
markdavidson @OutlanderUSA No! I have not won that one yet! Some people seem to have all the luck!
Tojosan @markdavidson what, were you tweeting to me? Ha. Yeah, I’m bored with one way comms. I’ll read a blog post or magazine for that.
RobertFischer @markdavidson That’s why I don’t follow a lot of the “social media superstars”. They throw stuff at me, but never engage in conversation!
markdavidson Dear Sir/Madam. My Alexa ranking is trapped at 100,001. I am currently living in exile from Google for abuse. I desperately need your help.
markdavidson @SheilaS Hahaha! There seems to be an unlimited supply of Nigerian bankers! Perhaps we can set up some kind of social networking site!
markdavidson @DevilBlueDress Yeah, it’s been a while! Hehehe! Got a cause a ruckus every now and again just to keep things lively in social media. Echo?
Stumble it!
