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LA shook at 11:42:15 today according to the official record from the U.S. Geological Survey. But according to [a report of] Twitter activity today (by the tweetip site) it happened 43 seconds earlier at 11:41:32 (adjusted for time zone).

(graphic snagged from tweetip site)

That Twitter routinely breaks news fastest is often discussed, notably in the wake of the May quake in China.

Today the AP’s wire posted news of the earthquake 9 minutes after it happened. 9 minutes is fast. Negative :43 is amazing.

(Yeah, yeah. I know. It’s explainable as an accounting error in twitter’s api or tweetip’s processing. But the point remains that twitter is always on the scene.)

I just registered on a shopping web site (to get some staples delivered). I clicked through to skim their privacy policy because some types of shopping sites share info in ways I’m not comfortable with. One section to pay attention to is "Using Personal Information." This one was pretty standard - not great but nothing unexpected. I was happy when I saw the following sentence/offer, as when given the chance I opt out of most mailings:

If you prefer not to receive this type of information from us, you can contact us at 1-877-723-3929 or online, click here.

So I clicked though. Dead link. "Sorry, there is no Safeway.com web page matching your request."

That’s encouraging. Thanks a lot.

(I hacked around for a bit and was able to find the correct link to update your safeway mailing and privacy settings.)

Interesting new this morning: Second Life (Viewer) in now an open source project. Though I’m not active in Second Life, I’m intrigued and think this development says good things about its future. Very interesting.

They only open-sourced the Viewer, but in many ways — almost by definition — they world/environment is already open-source. I guess the laws of physics for SL are not yet open, but that doesn’t bother me.

Releasing the source now is our next invitation to the world to help build this global space for communication, business, and entertainment. … [W]e welcome the inevitable with open arms.

Update: Marshall Kirkpatrick asks, in a paraphrase of WeBreakStuff, if the open-sourcing of the Viewer is akin to the early WWW days when “the early proliferation of browsers made the web much more usable.”

How often do you get a real and important opportunity to stand up for what you believe in? If your answer is “not often enough”, then join me at the “Free Josh Wolf” party tonight at House of Shields in downtown San Francisco. (Event and location details on upcoming.org)

Jackson West summarizes it well:

Josh Wolf is a Bay Area journalist who was imprisoned for refusing to cooperate with the federal grand jury and turn over video footage that wouldn’t have even necessarily been relevant to their case.

Why does this matter to you? Because it means even journalist and citizen could potentially be legally compelled to aid in surveillance of political activity. Because journalists, artists and bloggers have the right to take private notes and recordings in order to cover events and craft stories. And because an attack on Josh is an attack on freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution.

Josh needs help with his legal bills and rent. Booze and music will be on hand, you just need to show up and support Josh. It’s the patriotic thing to do.

And eddie has the whole back story.

Here are links (from eddie’s coverage) that you might visit:

• Legal Defense Fund
• Chronology of events leading up to Josh’s incarceration
• Video of Josh speaking about his case outside the courthouse
• Heated discussion on Scobleizer on the merits of this
• Josh’s own blog is being updated by his mom and has the latest news on his situation
• Free Josh Wolf blog has been setup
• Former NY Time’s reporter Judith Miller tried to visit Josh, but was denied (video)

See you tonight!

I’m getting pretty close to buying the Cingular 8125 cell phone, and, in the process, switching from Sprint to Cingular. Advice or input?

The whole world of “Mobile” is about to get much much more exciting in the US in the next 18 months, and I’d like to be with a carrier and on a device that lets me experiement with as much of it as possible. Is this the carries, the device?

I’m moving from an old Treo (the 600), so it’s also a switch from Palm OS to Windows. Any words of advice in that regard?

Well, I’m still not home yet. Was supposed to be home on Sunday, but I guess thunderstorms and airplanes don’t mesh well.

@media in London was my first stop on this trip. After the conference (which was excellent - I’ll post more soon), I went to Germany for a few days to catch some World Cup action. From Germany I flew to Albany, NY. Aimee and I arrived about 10pm. She stayed in NY to prep for her best friend’s wedding, but I caught a 9am flight out the next morning bound for a family reunion ourside Cleveland on the Lake Erie shore. Reunion was great. I left the family reunion a day early to fly back to NY (Syracuse) on Saturday afternoon to be at the evening wedding there. That was Saturday.

So far so good.

I’m a lucky guy in general, but it sorta ran out. Sunday I was scheduled on an evening flight home: Syracuse-Atlanta-Oakland. Aimee and her Mom dropped me off at the airport and I went inside to check in. After just a few minutes I realized that things weren’t looking good. I called Aimee and told her to pull over in case I needed to be picked back up. (This was a good instinct.)

Turns out ATL was shut down due to severe thunderstorms. All flights were canceled. To make matters worse, it was the end of Syracuse graduation weekend so I wasn’t the only one trying to get out of town. All Monday flights were full. For some reason they don’t fly the route on Tuesdays. They were able to book me confirmed for Thursday, and I got placed at the top of the standby list for Wednesday.

Aimee and her mom picked me back up, and I tagged along with them to their summer place on the St Lawrence Seaway about 90 minutes north of Syracuse.

So here I sit. Current Status: Working From Hundred Yards South of the Canadian Border (WFHYSOTCB).

I called back the next day, and learned they canceled all flights on Monday too. Because I was already on the standby list for Wednesday, the new array of people hunting for flights should have minimal effect on me.

It’s Wednesday now. I’m off to the airport in a couple hours for a late-evening flight to Oakland. Scheduled to arrive about midnight.

I don’t mean to complain; All and all it’s been an outstanding trip. Many great experiences. Many great people and conversations.

It’s just that, really, I’d really like to be home soon please.

Wish me luck.

UPDATE: Well, it’s about 1:30 am local time and I just got home. My bags didn’t - they’re still in Atlanta I guess - but I did and it feels good.