Explore the Universe

I *Might* Follow You I'm far from an expert on Twitter.  In fact, I only gave it a try after hearing a real expert go on and on about it for probably the tenth time.  What I'd classify myself...

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I believe This is Yours? Looking around and watching the world go by can be interesting. No, I'm not saying you should sit and do nothing in life but watch it pass by. You should occasionally...

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Second Time's Easier but is it Better? If you've been following along here and on Twitter (and who isn't, right?) you'll know that I've dipped my toes into the world of writing.  Through what can only be described...

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The Other Shoe Has Fallen Some may not have heard the news but on March 1st I and some 2400 others were informed that short of finding another job within the company, our services would no longer be...

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Orion's Universe Rss

Giving Digg.com a Try

Posted on : 26-08-2010 | By : Orion | In : News, Observations, Updates

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I've got something to say but what?In an effort to likely bore even more people I’m going to give Digg.com a try.  Though I’d never consider myself a writer that doesn’t mean I don’t want as many people as possible to read and, more importantly, comment on the things I try to share.  Many have blogged or tweeted why they write or maintain a blog.  Though the reasons vary, one common point was the desire to share with others.  In fact the more the merrier, right?

So here we go.  If you care to follow then add me, ObiOrion, on Digg.com.  Right now I don’t see my own profile when I do a search so it may take a little time to appear.  I’ll update this post when it does.

Also, since I love comments I’ve left the sign blank on purpose.  Let me know here or @Obiorion what you’d like to see on it. Please remember, this is a family program.  I’ll pick the best one.  Sorry, I can’t afford an independent firm to administer this sweepstake.  The winner will forever have a warm, special place in my heart :-)

Thanks and pass it along!

I *Might* Follow You

Posted on : 23-08-2010 | By : Orion | In : Observations

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ObiOrion's Twitter Profile - Screenshot from Osfoora HD

I’m far from an expert on Twitter.  In fact, I only gave it a try after hearing a real expert go on and on about it for probably the tenth time.  What I’d classify myself as would be a borderline addict.  I’m more a voyeur than anything else.  Don’t let the 10500+ tweets fool you.  I read more than I tweet.  Also, I’ve been exchanging comments on twitter for a little over a year and for a time the majority of my tweets this past year were about ABC’s LOST <==R.I.P. I’ve noticed questions/issues raised about those a person follows versus followers.  It’s almost childishly comes off as I’ll follow you if you follow me and it made me wonder why people follow others and how they choose whom to follow.

In my case I tend to follow users that seem intriguing, engaging, or offer a service of interest.  As for the reverse, well I offer no service so my first guess would be that oddly enough they find me intriguing and/or engaging enough to follow.

Alas, that guess isn’t always correct.  I learned that back when I protected my tweets.  Not going to get into why because that’s not all that important.  What is is while I was protecting my tweets I’d get follow requests almost daily (yeah, I was suprised too) and in searching for some means of validating the requests searched for a tool to help.  What I needed back then was a means of building a picture regarding the requester.  Short of reading their tweets, I wanted to quickly see if we had anything in common.  In the world of twitter that commonality would be in the people we followed or those that followed us.  After getting several recommendations via the HiveMind I settled on one and gained better control.  In the process I came to learn of tools that completely managed your follow/followers for you.

It happened when I stopped following someone then months later they asked if I was still out there because they hadn’t seen a tweet form me.  Of course I’m not normally a rude person so I responded directly to them.  Turns out, according to them when I unfollowed them they instantly, via 3rd party utility, unfollowed me.  Now I’m not in anyway offended but left wondering why they followed me in the first place?

In truth, I didn’t give the exchange another thought until some pointed out that it’s a common tactic of those who seek only to inflate their numbers to follow people hoping for the follow back.  Sort of a mutual stroking, if you will.  And once they get the follow of that person they then unfollow.  Now in the instances that this tactic has been mentioned the people sharing all seemed miffed.  Upset at being duped into following that person who no longer followed them.  (Confused yet?)  I have to ask why get upset at all?  So what if that person only followed you to get you to follow them and hence build up their follower numbers?  Unless you too are using some automated app to manage your followers then you chose to follow them, right?  So now what?  Unfollow back.

See how it’s pretty childish?

Now I don’t give a hoot who you’ve followed or how you’re cleaning your follow list and getting rid of accounts that have stopped following you.  But for people who feel the need to announce this too all please take it a bit further and ask yourself why you followed them in the first place.  If it’s purely because they followed you then you’re no better then those often referred to as SMD’s (Social Media Douches).  Maybe, just maybe, it was a change in their tastes, interests, or needs that resulted in the unfollow.  Even so, it’s still your business again whether or not you’re going to continue following them.

In the end follow or unfollow — I need not know.  Just do me a favor and grow up about it.

Oh, and it would be so cool if I had 500+ followers.  Yes, I’m being a little snarky.  Key word “little”  :-)

Thoughts?  Why do you follow people on Twitter?

Universal Org Chart

Posted on : 26-05-2010 | By : Orion | In : Humor, Observations

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On Wednesdays you can count on two things — The weekend is just around the corner and there’ll be a little something shared from the funny emails I’ve collected over the years.

We’ve all seen org charts. Depending on the time of year you may see several revisions of the same chart as people are hired, fired, or retired. Through all these changes one sentiment seems constant. Once again, you can thank my dad for this gem.

I think this may just about cover it all.

They say it flows downhill

Where do you tend to find yourself on this chart?

The Lost & Castle Connection

Posted on : 18-05-2010 | By : Orion | In : Funny Moments, Humor, Observations

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Disclosure: I’ve yet to watch a single episode of Castle
Moving on: I’ve more than a few friends who’ve been going on and on about Castle being a great show. More to the point they’re unanimous that it’s Nathan Fillion that’s great. I’m sure he is. I mean they had him on Lost which says it all. :-)

I love the expression on his face in this one.

Anyway, I’ll be one of the million that come next month will have a huge void to fill after the series finale of Lost. Once I’m through with the healing process I’ll give Castle a good look. When I do should I start from the beginning or can I just take it up from the current episode?