April 17, 2009

Featured TwitPic: Summer festival in suburban Sydney


"Gorgeous day at the Surry Hills Festival" (Posted by @dministry)

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Thai protest leader shot

Per BBC News, the "yellow shirt" protest leader of the People Alliance of Democracy (PAD), Sondhi Limthongkul, was shot and wounded on Friday. In 2006, his protest demonstrations ousted the then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Local Twitter users in Thailand react:

  1. Matthew Hunt
    matthew_hunt (Bangkok, Thailand) Sondhi shot in his car; driver badly hurt. But I thought Sondhi and his Manager Co. were bankrupt - how can he afford a driver (or car!) ??
  2. wetfdstamp
    wetfdstamp (Chiang Mai, Thailand) So Sondhi's shooters, for 5 minutes sprayed auto-rifle fire into an immobilized car from close range and DID NOT KILL HIM?? ....HOW??
  3. Passakorn Hongsyok
    hongsyok (Bangkok, Thailand) This is a week that Thailand made headlines news globally everyday. The incident this morning ensures that there will be more to come.
  4. George
    georgebkk (Bangkok, Thailand) Police say 84 bullets fired from M-16 and AK4 rifles were found at Sondhi's assassination attempt scene
  5. Sucha
    sucha (Bangkok, Thailand) No one, red/yellow-shirted people, deserve death although he is Sondhi. Action must be taken against the assassination. wish he is alright.
  6. nkoleszar
    nkoleszar (Bangkok, Thailand) #Sondhi's condition now called "serious" but his life is not in danger. Well, not from these injuries, anyway. #bangkok #PAD #thailand

A couple Twitter users discussed the possible identity of the assassins.

  1. Piriya Sambandaraksa
    piriya (Bangkok, Thailand) BTW, that last one was about how Sae Dang denies Sondhi's assasination attempt, saying that nobody use a pickup truck to do stuff like that.
  2. Don
    smartbrain (Pathumthani, Thailand) Gen Kathiya (#redshirt) says that it was the Abhisit government who gunned down Sondhi as pro assassins don't use pick-up trucks.
  3. Don
    smartbrain (Pathumthani, Thailand) @stshuting Sondhi promised to expose Anupong, Suthep and Newin on their conspiracy to stage a coup tonight. Perhaps that's the reason?
  4. Piriya Sambandaraksa
    piriya (Bangkok, Thailand) @stshuting "Abhisit was able to pull this off beautifully because he listens to a good strategist" I kinda get the feeling it was him, lol


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Twitter reacts to Obama releasing Bush torture memos

Per guardian.co.uk, U.S. President Barack Obama released top secret memos that allowed Bush-era CIA interrogators to torture terrorist suspects. In an attempt to move forward, Obama will not be prosecuting the offenders but has ended their interrogation programs.

Twitterers spread the word about the memo release:

  1. Michael Hasko
    mhasko (Pittsburgh, PA) Obama releases 4 Bush-era memos about CIA torture, very little redacted. Read for yourself what our country did http://tinyurl.com/c4wzkv
  2. Eric Goldberg
    stumbling_eric (Undisclosed) Woah. You can read some of the Bush Torture Documents online now. Thanks President Obama!... http://su.pr/2zqtgj
  3. Cortney A.
    MalaproposDame (Undisclosed) Obama ends CIA interrogation program-crazy! http://tinyurl.com/c8ktjl
    (thanks, @whoissuresh
  4. Katy
    KatyinIndy (Undisclosed) RT @tweetdej: RT stephrosendahl Ex-CIA Director, Hayden: Obama endangers security w/memo release http://tinyurl.com/c84xun #tcot #sgp #hhrs

Many Twitterers are debating whether Obama should absolve the crimes. Most call for accountability.

  1. David Speigner
    pir8dave (New England) Upholding the laws on the books is a duty of the President. Obama is wrong on torture prosecutions. http://bit.ly/4aevVY
  2. Carlo Scannella
    cscannella (NYC) Obama letting this torture go is going to to cast a shadow on anything positive he ends up doing with his presidency.
  3. Monroe Anderson
    MonroeAnderson (Chicago, IL) Some change, Obama's wimp out on CIA torture is incredibly disappointing.
  4. Lemurs & Meerkat
    Lemurs_Meerkats (Undisclosed) Torture = Bad! So, no Obama Love this week [from @katharinehay] b/c of this: http://tinyurl.com/dclo6y
  5. HumanityCritic
    HumanityCritic (Virginia Beach, VA) Maybe I'm wrong here: As much as I want to see them jailed, prosecuting Bush officials would cripple Obama's presidency. What do you think?
  6. Greg Robinson
    mumbly_joe (NYC) Or, if we absolutely must protest Obama, the fact that these guys are getting a free pass? WE CAN'T MOVE FORWARD WITHOUT RESOLVING THE PAST

Several Twitterers also respond to MSNBC Keith Olbermann's critique of Obama's decision.

  1. Fake Virginia
    FakeVirginia (Virginia) Keith Olbermann says President Obama is wrong on the Bush torture memos. http://bit.ly/S8vIt Could this be something the #tcot crowd likes?
  2. Krista Pilot
    kjpilot (Gramercy Park, NYC) I think Obama is right - no good to be gained by pursuing former Bush administration over the torture memos. Sorry to Keith Olbermann.
  3. BrandonPickens
    BrandonPickens (Undisclosed) Olberman is urging Obama to prosecute BUSH with war crimes and to keep the fight going NO MATTER WHAT! I find new ways to hate Olby everyday
  4. Bill Wheaton
    yellowgnife (Decatur, GA) Listening to Olbermann giving hell to Obama for not prosecuting Bush. Like thats going to happen phtltht.


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1,500 Indian farmers commit suicide this year

Per the Independent, more than 1,500 farmers in India have committed suicide on account of bad crops and considerable amounts of debt. Residents of villages producing bad crops insist the government should step in and take low water levels and the high suicide count into consideration when planning policies, according to the article.

The article states that 1,500 farmers conducted a mass suicide, however the report was misleading, as these did not occur all at once as is suggested. Twitterers tried to clarify the story through alternative sources, then commented on the report.

  1. Sanjay Jha
    SanjayJha (New Delhi, India) #farmersuicides For more accurate detail on farmers sucicide in Indian state please visit http://tinyurl.com/d5h369.
  2. arnoldyb
    arnoldyb (New Delhi, India) #India "Mass suicide" of farmers in Chhattisgarh seems to be an annual stat, not 1,500 farmers quaffing kool-aid all at once. Still, sad.
  3. Alan Lewis
    Azbats (Tallahassee, Fla.) @mcantelon @charenton @liberationbc The 'mass' is misleading but the suicide rate is 4 farmers a day due to this. http://tinyurl.com/d5h369
  4. Rick Voorhees
    RickVoorhees (Colorado) How to balance news abt India's farmers. Unfathomable http://tinyurl.com/cqe35p
  5. Mary Cate O'Malley
    MaryCateOMalley (So. Calif.) What a tragedy 4 all humanity: 1,500 farmers commit mass suicide in India http://twurl.nl/vvq73y
  6. cfrew
    cfrew (Baltimore, Md.) An Unacceptable Loss:
    My guts coiled when I read the headline on the Huffington Post: "1,500 Farmers in India C.. http://tinyurl.com/c2o8zd


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Ashton Kutcher becomes first on Twitter to 1 million followers

American actor Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) became the first Twitter user to reach 1,000,000 followers, beating out CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) and Britney Spears (@britneyspears) to the mark in a race closely watched by the Twitterverse in recent days.

The race to one million had been monitored by hundreds of blogs and news outlets, including TechCrunch, VentureBeat, CNN, and ABC News.

Kutcher will celebrate the milestone live on the Oprah Winfrey Show on Friday. He has said that Oprah will send out her first ever tweet during the broadcast using the Twitter name @Oprah.

Kutcher passed CNN for the first time Thursday before CNN regained the lead after an on-air shout-out by personality Anderson Cooper. But Kutcher fired back with this tweet and his own broadcast via UStream.TV:

  1. ashton kutcher
    aplusk I'm am live on ustream now if CNN is gonna fight it out on tv I'll fight it out on the web http://ustream.tv/ashton


Here's a screenshot from the UStream broadcast of Kutcher watching with wife Demi Moore when he had reached 995,000 followers.



The Twitterverse celebrated the milestone.

  1. Miquette
    berryanarchy @aplusk This is kinda exciting and it's good to see a celeb be a real person on webcam too
  2. Peter Vizel
    petervizel Hey @aplusk CONGRATULATIONS!! You DID IT!! You ARE the MAN on the MOON!!!! (Ashton Kutcher Live > http://bit.ly/xEu6c)
  3. Paul J. Gorzkowski
    PaulJGorzkowski @MCHammer @kingsthings @aplusk CNN didnt stand a chance. Congrats Ashton!
  4. Jane Fearon
    justicenathan Hey @aplusk goosebump time! twitter revolutionised! (Ashton Kutcher Live > http://bit.ly/xEu6c)
  5. John Hall
    johnhall702 Hey @aplusk CONGRATS!!! (Ashton Kutcher Live > http://bit.ly/xEu6c)


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