Tag Archives: Twitter

In a continuation from yesterday’s post, I am listing the people that I am following on Twitter along with a mini-description of who/what they are/have done.

@UN: While I may not always agree with what the UN does (or doesn’t do), I think that the work they do is very important to fostering a global climate of peace. Moreover, I think an organization like the UN would likely be involved in any initiative of this kind.

@Dennis_Kucinich: I am not from Ohio nor do I think that I will ever live in Ohio (long-term), but if Kucinich’s idea of a Department of Peace is ever realized, I will happily submit my resume to be part of that government agency.

@SenatorSanders: From Sanders’ site: “Bernie Sanders is the longest serving independent member of Congress in American history.” It just goes to show that it is possible for independents to be elected to the US Congress and stay there and make a difference.

@algore: We can chalk this one up to smart people. If SCOTUS had ruled in favor of Al Gore and Joe Lieberman in 2000, the political landscape may look very different — same goes for the scientific landscape. We may not have had the documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

@BodyTalkSystem: This is the Twitter feed of the complementary healthcare modality of which I am certified to use.

@therealyrussellp: A comedian (from Canada) who has some of the funniest bits on race that I have ever seen. For some of his funniest jokes, check out what I wrote about him here.

@MarilynSchlitz: The current president of the Institute of Noetic Sciences. I’m looking forward to updates from her about new studies connecting consciousness, science, spirituality, and wisdom.

@ByronKatie: The founder of “The Work.” I have no doubt that there will be some pleasant reminders from her about “believing your thoughts.”

@RipplesGuy: I saw Paul give a presentation to a group of students during my sophomore year as an undergrad. I liked his positive message and am glad that he continues to share it with the world.

@LouiseHay: I like to think of Louise as the “Queen of Self-Help.” She has helped change so many lives with the principles from “You Can Heal Your Life.”

@IntegralLife: I wish Ken Wilber were on Twitter. Integral Life is the organization that continues to see the world through the eyes of Integral Theory.

@EckhartTolle: He has been talking about spirituality for nearly 20 years, but he didn’t get “famous” until he went on Oprah and nearly “broke the internet.” Footage from the ten sessions can be found here.

@equalitytrust: I recently had the good fortune to read The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger. Of course, there was a refutation published in opposition to the ideas put forth in the book, but the authors of The Spirit Level have published an updated edition and continue to provide updated information on their blog. My favorite bit in this ongoing debate is a video of the 4 of them (two in favor and two opposed) talking to the RSA.

@storyofstuff: I don’t remember where I first saw The Story of Stuff, but I continue to be amazed at how Annie Leonard breaks down the issues in a way that can be accessible to many people.

@EbooPatel: I first saw Eboo give a lecture during my undergrad called: “The Role of Religious Youth in the 21st Century.” This guy is really smart and like Rachel Maddow, he, too, is a Rhodes Scholar.

@camanpour: Christiane Amanpour is probably one of the better journalists of the last 30 years. I don’t often watch her show on Sunday mornings, but I think she is very smart.

@InstHeartMath: “Institute of HeartMath is dedicated to conducting research and providing programs for schools and families to facilitate heart-based living.” Some of the research that happens here is incredible. Check out the two studies on intuition under “Most Popular Research.”

@jacklayton: The Leader of the Official Opposition in Canada. Layton led the New Democrats to 103 seats in Parliament in 2011, more than double its previous high. It’s quite possible that he’ll be the first Canadian Prime Minister not affiliated with the Liberal Party (kind of like the Democrats) or Conservative Party (kind of like the Republicans) in history.

@308dotcom: ThreeHundredEight is the Canadian equivalent for FiveThirtyEight. ThreeHundredEight refres to the number of seats in the Canadian House of Commons.

@ElizabethMay: Elizabeth May is the first member of the Green Party of Canada to be elected to serve as a member of parliament.

@JeremyRifkin: Another very smart person. Rifkin wrote The Empathic Civilization: The Race to Global Consciousness in a World in Crisis. I highly recommend reading it.

@SirKenRobinson: While Robinson has done a number of things, I first learned of him through his TEDTalk called “Do schools kill creativity?“. From there I got a hold of his book — another great read. I also like the RSA Animate video of him.

@HansRolling: I was first introduced to Hans Rolling through his TEDTalk, “No More Boring Data.” I have since learned that he does a number of cool things with statistics on his site, Gapminder.

@JeffDSachs: Another really, really smart person. My introduction to Jeffrey Sachs was through his book, Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet. He’s the Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and, interesting fact: at the age of 29, he became one of the youngest economic professors in the history of Harvard.

@chrislhayes: Like I talked about with Ezra Klein yesterday, my first introduction to Chris Hayes was through The Rachel Maddow Show. He seems like a really smart guy that knows his stuff, especially when it comes to politics.

@KeithOlbermann: He is sometimes credited with “discovering Rachel Maddow.” I can’t say I’m a fan of some of the things he says, especially segments like ‘Worst Person in the World,’ but he’s smart. I may not continue following him throughout my time on Twitter, but at least initially, I’m going to give it a go.

~~~

So this is the rest of the list that I have chosen to initially follow. There’s no doubt that the list of people I follow will expand and as it does, I may do a Part 3 (and Part 4) of this series. Is there anyone I’ve missed? Is there someone you might suggest? Who are you following and why?

So I did it. I finally did it. I joined the Twitterverse. I’m not sure how or why, but I had the strange idea that Twitter was mainly for cell phones and seeing as though I don’t have a cell phone, I never joined. A few months ago, I decided that I might dip my toe in the water and I signed up for an account. I never used it, but it was there. Over the last couple of weeks, (off and on) I’ve done a bunch of reading about Twitter – what is its purpose, what it can be used for, how not to use it, how to use it, etc. What’s clear to me, there is an abundance of opinions about the “right” and wrong way to use Twitter.

Once I made the decision to join Twitter, I had to then decide who it was that I was going to follow. A good place for me to start was the list of “pages” I’ve liked on Facebook. Since I didn’t want my Twitter feed to just be about (information), I thought it would also be appropriate to add comedy as well as major sports teams that I’m fans of. Without further adieu, I give you, the list of people who I am following (at least after the first 24 hours of being on Twitter):

@maddow: Rachel Maddow is the host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” weeknights at 9pm on MSNBC. I try to catch the show when it’s posted to the web a couple of hours after it’s over. Interesting tidbit: she earned her PhD in Politics at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship.

@Oprah: I’m not sure what I can say about Oprah that most people wouldn’t already know. I have a sneaky suspicion that now she’s not hosting her TV show every afternoon, she may use Twitter more often. Pure speculation.

@BarackObama: The current President of the United States. Say what you want about his policies, he is most definitely among the greatest orators of our time. His speeches are a treat to listen to. If you haven’t, I’d go back and watch this one and remember, at the time he gave it, he was a still a State Senator for Illinois. (An interesting tidbit: the reaction from the PBS commentators after the speech showed that some people, in 2004, were already calling Barack Obama the 1st black President of the United States.)

@toptweets: “Top Tweets algorithmically selects and retweets some of the most interesting tweets spreading across Twitter. Enjoy!” As a ‘lurker’ of Twitter, I often checked out the @toptweets feed to see what was being bandied about. Now that I’m on Twitter, of course I’d follow @toptweets.

@NaomiAKlein: I really like smart people. I think Naomi Klein is brilliant. She’s quite well-known as the author of two books: No Logo and The Shock Doctrine. I’ve only supplied links to the Wiki articles for both these books, which is a nice introduction into the book. I’d still advise spending some time reading the actual book.

@strombo: George Stroumboulopoulos is the host of a Canadian talk show that covers everything from politics to celebrities spliced with pop culture and news. I see it as a hybrid between The Colbert Report and The Rachel Maddow Show (without all of the analysis that Maddow and her team do).

@fivethirtyeight: Nate Silver and the FiveThirtyEight blog are the best place to get forecasts of presidential, Congressional, and gubernatorial elections in the United States. Not only does he forecast elections, but he also addresses things like March Madness and other questions of science.

@ezraklein: I was first introduced to Ezra Klein on an “episode” of The Rachel Maddow Show. Again, my affinity for smart people has me following Ezra Klein. On a side note, I was surprised to see someone (my age) on TV as a commentator. I’m sure most people at some point have that (s/he’s my age!) moment when watching TV — seeing Ezra Klein was that for me.

@OMGFacts: I like to learn and the tweets from this account are supposedly factual. Assuming that is in fact the case, most of what I’ve seen come from the feed so far has made me think, “well that’s interesting.”

@BlueJays: I’ve been a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays for as long as I can remember. This is a great way to stay up to date with Blue Jays information. In fact, since I follow the Blue Jays feed, I learned that they were demoting one of their young stars (temporarily, of course).

@MapleLeafs: Like the Blue Jays, I’ve been a fan of the Toronto Maple Leafs for as long as I can remember. Just like with the Jays’ feed, I’m able to keep abreast of the latest Leafs’ information. For instance, today, I learned the Leafs’ signed one of their young stars to a 2-year contract.

@dallascowboys: As with the Blue Jays and the Maple Leafs, I’ve been a fan of the Cowboys for quite some time, too. I don’t have any random signing or demotion to mention for the Cowboys, but I am hopeful that there will be a new deal between the players and the NFL.

@andersoncooper: When I was younger, I used to watch a lot of CNN and got used to seeing Anderson Cooper. I always liked how he seemed to ask some of the tougher questions of the people he interviewed. I don’t watch him very much anymore (only in the airports where there always seems to be a TV tuned to CNN), but I thought he might be an interesting person to follow.

@TheDailyShow: I really, really like Jon Stewart. I think he is a very smart. I’m a little sad that he doesn’t have his own Twitter account, so I thought I’d follow the next best thing: his TV show’s Twitter account.

@StephenAtHome: Like Jon Stewart, I think that Stephen Colbert is really smart. I think it takes a smart person to be able to satirize the news in the way that Colbert does. Most recently, I’ve enjoyed his take on the Citizens United case.

~~~

I try to make a point of having posts no longer than 1000 words (or very near to that), so look for the rest of this list in tomorrow’s post.