It’s no secret that I’m not a Twitter fan, but I do have to admit that the Iranian protesters have found a legitimate purpose for it that can’t be equaled by anything else.  While revolution is always a tricky business both in terms of logistics and phrasing, per the musical 1776 “A rebellion is always legal in the first person, such as “our rebellion.” It is only in the third person – “their rebellion” – that it becomes illegal.” But every good offense or defense in history has had quotable calls to arms. Whether this is because the quotes make the event memorable or the memorable events get the press is debatable. How many of those throughout history could be done in 140 characters or less? Here’s a brief survey:

Paul Revere: “The British are coming, the British are coming!” Twitability: room to spare

Patrick Henry: “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death:  Twitability: over the limit although the tag line works

Winston Churchill: “We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the Old.” Twitability: no chance – and that’s all one sentence

And that doesn’t even touch on viral songs – could the French have pulled it off without La Marseillaise?

It turns out there is a lot of ‘helpful’ advice on the web for faking your own death. Here are just a few:

• How to fake your own death from Everything2
• How to fake your own death from eHow (heavy on the etiquette and a little light on the practicalities)
• Faking  it: How to do a Reggie and get away with it from The Independent

I think it just got a lot easier thanks to Webwill. Unfortunately unless you speak Swedish you won’t get a lot from this site right now and might find it easier to get a little more background info in English. If I understand the premise correctly, you decide what you want to say on your various social media profiles in the event of your death and hand over the virtual keys to a trusted friend to actually click the final button.  There doesn’t appear to be anything to prevent the ‘friend’ from being your other gmail address so as long as you go to the library so the IP address doesn’t give it away, you could get the viral buzz going without having to go to the more traditional extremes of car crashes and bridge jumps.

Neither Twitter nor Facebook have anything regarding “death” in their Terms of Service although presumably Webwill requires the handing over of an account and password which does violate most everyone’s terms. Of course if you’re dead, or effectively dead in this persona I suppose you don’t really care.

For those not planning an illusory exit, now you not only have to figure out what catchy phrase to put on your tombstone but how say goodbye in under 140 characters which seems to me to require a great deal more foresight and planning than most Americans are prepared to do.  I think I prefer the alternative of getting through to Lisa Williams after the fact and hoping someone catches it on her monthly bulletin board.

Mindcasting – a new word for giving the world your opinion before checking to see if it’s interested

Open source candy via DRB – and they’re asking for volunteers!

Twitter haiku contest – this might be the best excuse for Twitter yet

The Tetris song played on glass bottles via Walyou – there’s just something about Tetris and college isn’t there?