50 is the new... wait.... no, 50 is still just 50

The Internet can surely be used
better than this

Today I hit my 50th post. True it has taken me a few years to get here, but slow and steady is something I am not known for anywhere else but in the blogosphere. In the outside world I would be known as "the guy that doesn't stop talking" at work, "the guy from the country that can talk proper" at fencing, the "guy who thinks he knows it all" in my home town, "who's that guy? And why is he talking to me?" at stand-up gigs, "the man who isn't funny" with my girlfriend, "the man who runs ultra marathons" at my gym, but in my running group I am "the guy that can barely keep up".

It seems that I am a lot of things these days.

I am also recently a winner of not one, but two more kreativ blogger awards. One from my partner in crime, as long as the crime is murdering jokes, Michael D'Agostino of The world As I See It and one from Red from Doesn't Speak Klingon.

Normally I would have to answer questions and pass the award onto recipients, but considering I take my sweet arse time in writing posts I seem to be last at the restaurant holding the bill. So I will have to announce great new blogs when I find them. So here is a blog to get you started: Delightfully Ludicrous. I am quite new to this blog but I find her posts interesting and amusing. I don't follow blogs unless they do something for me and I follow this one. Coincidence? (I am not sure Kelie will be using that quote anytime soon for promotional purposes: "I follow this one" - Rusty).

Favourite Song?
It jumps between "Forty Six & 2" or "Lateralus" by Tool depending if I am feeling philosophical or mathematical.

Kreativ to the power of 3... allegedly

What's your favourite dessert?
Crepe with Nutella! Also a big fan of biscuits, but it's not a dessert food as it's any time food, because tea is an any time drink.

What do you do when you are upset?
Frown. I usually do something to distract me in the meantime.

Which is your favourite pet?
I currently have no pets because I rent. It is easier to find places when you have no pets. I love dogs, and I generally love it when my friends have dogs, because then they are like children that are not mine, I can play with them and give them back without having to walk them, feed them, vaccinate them, bath them, ...

White Bread or Wholemeal?
If I am having vegemite, then you have got to rock the white bread. Any situation requiring more flair than a standard loaf should be a white bread in my opinion. Everyday sandwich, go the wholemeal, unless you are celiac. Then go with the rice crackers.

Bread is a moot point for Nutella; it doesn't matter what bread you use, because bread is merely the vessel for chocolaty goodness.

What's your biggest fear?
Never being good enough and being a disappointment

What's your attitude most of the time?
It depends on how many people sign up for Nutella over peanut butter, which isn't going well so far. I would like to think happy, but I am at work at the moment so it could be anything...

10 Random facts.
01. I grew up in country South Australia, but I was born in country New South Wales. 
10. I like using binary to cheat.

So after 50 what is next? 51, but there are other projects on the way. I have been asked to submit a short story for a South Australian writing group putting together an anthology, more stand up when I can get these new jokes right (or I throw them out entirely and start again), I am starting a Masters in Project Management in two weeks, full marathon in August, and new and exciting projects with Michael to be released soon, so watch our blogs (and there are a few more blogs coming a long for the ride) for details.

And to celebrate my milestone I am announcing my ascention into more time wasting opportunities, because lets face it, what is the point of having time you are not allowed to waste it?

"Stop stalling give us the announcement!"

Fine, I have decided to joining the swelling ranks of twitter.

Tweet this.

So release the twitters! I have decided to take the plunge into that great time waster of them all, if you wish to follow me you can catch my antics at @RustyHartup


If you have twitter, and you are reading this, then you qualify to being followed so leave it for me to start stalking (not an actual stalk).

I was hoping to post another stand up clip to celebrate 50. I have been working on new stuff, but the jokes are not ready yet to be released into the blogosphere.


But thank you very much for all of you who stop by here time to time, and I hope we can spend many evenings, lunchtimes, or just when the boss isn't looking, what ever the time of day, together.


Cheers,


Rusty

Twitter and science: The forbidden love

Sociologists at Cornell University, in the longest bow ever drawn for science, have been caught spending too much time on Twitter. They fed millions of tweets into a computer, and based on key words, determined and mapped moods of tweeters throughout the day. Scientists found that after breakfast Monday to Friday, people’s general mood starts going downhill. Who would have thought, people do not like being at work. Shock horror.

In the article written for Science magazine, moods were even likely to drop during the weekend, but on average a couple of hours later in the afternoon and not as much. “It could be that the elevated mood on the weekends [and later dip] is because they did not get woken up by the alarm clock,” said Professor Macy who penned the article. Maybe because it’s the fucking weekend Macy. Do we need to a study to tell us we are happier on the weekend? The later dip in the afternoon could be from the realisation that the weekend is coming to an end and the return to work is imminent, or we’re trying to decide what to wear that night.

If we consider the demographic of the average twitter user, self obsessed enough to broadcast every single waking thought that passes through their brain and spam everyone everything they think is “lol” worthy, you would expect to read a lot of tweets intending to be sarcastic. Macy did state that while the computer program could identify words, the context of the words would be lost. It would be something they might be interested in looking at in the future; with cutting edge research like this you would want to eliminate all possibilities of error. For example, “just watched Jessica Black’s Friday, my life is complete :S” should never be misinterpreted.

Macy said that Twitter and like social media is a new and interesting time for the social sciences as it presents a different way to farm data and observe interactions, and that when they slack off it looks like they are working. On a side note, it’s good to see that the stupid fad of having a press release about unconfirmed and unverified experimental data, such as neutrons travelling faster than the speed of light, was only an isolated incident. (NOTE: if the international community verifies that objects can in fact travel faster than light, I am willing to eat my words. Because time travel and light speed engines are so much cooler than my pride)

And it is good to see that scientists obtain data from non-niche sources; who cares if a farmer in Zimbabwe suffers from 3:30-itis? He’s not going to buy an iPhone 5 or even get good reception, therefore not worthy of study. They would have to print more currency for him for a start.

Do you think your tweets or Facebook status updates represent your mood?