Twitter Saves a Bookstore

Well not Twitter exactly, but back to that in a minute.  

I'm part of a group called ItStartsWith.Us. The goal of ItStartsWith.Us is "to build a global community of individuals focused on making a positive impact in the lives of the people around them." And it takes just 15 minutes a week. This week the mission is to take that 15 minutes to help promote someone or a cause. It was inspired by a video about how a dedicated son, a blog post, a tweet, and a promise of free burritos saved a bookstore. 

When I saw the video I knew I had to share it, so here it is.

Last Monday there was more flooding here in Ireland. We had some really bad flooding in late 2009 and after the earthquake in Haiti (early 2010) there was a huge outcry that we had helped over there but hadn't helped our flood victims. This time let's do more: The Irish Red Cross is running a Floods Appeal until the 26th November. 

Donal Forde, Secretary General of Irish Red Cross said “Donations received will be used to support those whose homes have been damaged by flood water caused by Monday’s record rainfall. We will work closely with the Community Welfare Service within the Department of Social Protection to identify those most in need of our assistance”.

Anyone wishing to donate to the Irish Red Cross ‘Irish Floods’ appeal can do so online; by phone: 1850 50 70 70; or by cheque made out to ‘Irish Red Cross’ and marked ‘Irish Floods’ and sent to Irish Red Cross, 16 Merrion Square, Dublin 2.

Twitter

I am now on Twitter! I have seven tweets. I told DD.

Me - "I now have seven tweets!"
DD -"Tweets?"
ME -"That's right...I am now on Twitter." *sighs melodramatically*
DD - "..."
Me - "I'm into shameless self-promotion."
DD - "That's good for a writer to have."
Me - "Yes, but NO One, and I mean no one reads my blog, or my twitter, or even knows me!"
DD - "I guess it's more like shameful self-promotion, then."

Yes, I guess it is.
Oh well.

Twitter Before His Time

What fascinates people about Twitter anyway? I think it's because humans are a nosy species. We want to know every detail of somebody else's life but have a definite idea that our own should be kept private.

With the fascination over the tiny details of somebody else's life, people can be grateful for what they "are not." And I put quotations because really, if they are that desperate to figure out what is not wrong with them, there must be a heck of a lot that is.
In fact, they only truthful statement one can make on twitter is; I'm typing my tweet right now.

The reason I bring this up is DD has told me the story of a man who "tweeted," by writing (longhand) in a journal exactly what he was doing at the moment (which is as impossible as twitter. I'm writing in my journal right now...)
His name was ... Anthropologists thought it would make a great tool to show how people lived in his time (to be read in the future, of course). However the ordinary public was sharp as nails and said it wasn't a true example because to do that in the first place one had to be insane. (Views have slightly changed, no?)

EDIT: DD and I both searched the web, but couldn't find hide nor hair of the man. His name or anything about him. There was nothing.