The Cranking Widgets Blog

Let me be honest with you – last week’s drinking game (in honor of Friday Fun) that dealt with the television show House, M.D. was, frankly, a dud. I did my best, but it kind of sucked. So, I’m here to redeem myself with a little pre-Friday Friday Fun. That said, let’s get going…

For all of the social networking sites/applications/systems that crop up on an almost daily basis, few have enjoyed popularity and longevity like that of Twitter. As I’m sure most of you are probably aware of what Twitter is/does, I won’t bore you with a description. If, perchance, you are not familiar with Twitter, I invite you to briefly skim this entry in Wikipedia to get caught up. Oh, and a “tweet” is a single message sent to Twitter, and a “twoosh” is a tweet that’s exactly 140 characters (the size limit per tweet).

If you’re a regular user of Twitter, you learn very quickly who the “main players” are – the people that everyone follows but who follow almost nobody (though, there are a handful of exceptions). This is a fairly pivotal concept to the rules listed in the game, as many of them deal directly with some of these heavy hitters. Most of them will not make sense if you aren’t somewhat active on Twitter – you’ve been warned.

Now then – this works just like the other games I’ve described. Below is a list of triggers, and when any one of them occurs, you take a drink (shot, swallow of beer, whatever). Unless otherwise noted, that’s the deal. The point here is not to become blitzed inside of 15 minutes (though, I suppose it’s possible under the correct circumstances), but rather to develop a relaxed and enjoyable mood at your next geek event. It’s ok to omit certain triggers if you feel yourself going to far, too quickly. After all, this is just for fun.

The triggers:

• Justine Ezarik (ijustine) unnecessarily uses multiple vowels where a single vowel is appropriate. For example “sooooo” instead of “so” or “uuuuuugh” instead of “ugh”.
• Merlin Mann (hotdogsladies) posts a tweet that, to fully understand, requires the use of a dictionary or encyclopedia
• Jason Calacanis (jasoncalacanis) has his travel plans unexpected delayed or altered. His flight getting cancelled, for example.
• Robert Scoble (scobleizer) mentions a brand new social networking application or website (or posts a link a blog post he wrote regarding a brand new social networking application or website).
• Somebody says “twoosh” using the letter ‘o’ more than 5 times, e.g., “twoooooosh”
• Anybody mentions being at, just having visited, or being on their way to Starbucks.
• Andy Ihnatko (ihnatko) says something about an impending deadline for an article he’s supposed to be writing. Bonus drink if he does so while making an obscure science fiction reference.
• A new twitter client application is released. Bonus drink if it runs on Adobe’s AIR platform.
• Veronica Belmont (veronica) mentions World of Warcraft, her cat or her boyfriend (Ryan Block of Engadget). Bonus drink if she does so in the third person.
• More than 50% of the tweets on the public timeline are written in a language you can’t read.
• You decide it’s a good idea to follow a “fake celebrity” (Henry Rollins, Darth Vader, etc.)

If curiosity has completely overwhelmed and gotten the best of you, I invite you to give Twitter a try. It’s hardly the most productive use of your time, I know, but it’s a really great distraction when you need one.

And if you’re not already, consider following me!

Have a great weekend everyone!

(One administrative note: things will be fairly quiet around here next week, so don’t expect the normal tidal wave of content delivered during the average week. Happy Holidays!)

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