US – Tuesday, February 9
National
Plant blast under investigation
Federal investigators headed to Connecticut yesterday to determine the cause of an explosion at an unfinished power plant that killed at least five workers and hospitalized dozens of others.
 
International
Pressure grows for sanctions
International pressure for new sanctions against Iran grew yesterday after Tehran announced plans to make higher-enriched uranium and add 10 nuclear sites in a year, raising Western fears it wants to develop atom bombs.
 
The Word
Stern: I’d do ‘Idol’ for $100M
Howard Stern took to his radio show yesterday to address the rumors that he’s a possible replacement for Simon Cowell for the next season of “American Idol.” To sum it up? He’s not going for it.
 
New York Arts
Dancing while the skinny lady sings
You’ve heard of the jukebox musical? David Parsons and singers AnnMarie Milazzo and Tyley Ross of the East Village Opera Co. offer a jukebox opera, playing nightly at the Joyce. Eleven Parsons dancers share the stage with Milazzo and Ross, who clutch microphones cranked to 11 and stroll through the action. On the recorded soundtrack, three drummers create a wall of sound so loud you — well, I — want to hide under the seat. Digital video of abstract patterns, natural landscapes and stunning architecture change for each song.
 
Business
‘Free’ ad leads to fraud suit
NEW YORK. A Wisconsin college student is suing credit firm Experian — the brains behind the ubiquitous FreeCreditReport.com jingles — for fraudulent advertising after she inadvertently signed up for a monthly $14.95 monitoring service.
 
My Wellbeing
Let me count the ways ...
‘Tis the season for writing love letters. But that can be a daunting endeavor, especially when you’re not sure where to start. Should you put it in verse, use flowery language, get erotic? As with almost anything in life, the simpler you keep it, the easier (and often better) it will be. It doesn’t sound that romantic, but think of your love letter as a laundry list of the reasons why you adore your sweetheart. It’s kinda like Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s Sonnet 43: “How do you love your partner? Count the ways!” Here’s how to do it without rhyming or pulling out a thesaurus:
 
Published 22:38, June the 4th, 2009
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Study: Twitter’s close to completely useless

Ten percent of users create 90 percent of content, researchers find

“If you’re trying to get what a representative cross-section of the public is thinking, you’re probably better off staying away from Twitter.”     Piskorski

 

It may seem like everyone — from Ashton to Oprah — uses Twitter, but really it’s a tiny fraction of the people using the fast-growing social network phenomenon who generate nearly all the content, a Harvard study shows.

That makes it hard for companies to use the microblogging site as an accurate gauge of public opinion, the Harvard Business School study showed.

Twitter Inc. is a social networking Web site in which users post messages of 140 characters or less — known as “tweets” — that can be viewed by other users who elect to follow them.

The Twitter bandwagon has been alternately praised and mocked. A segment on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” presented an overexcited recitation of “Sweet Tweets” from celebrities such as Miley Cyrus: “This line is insane! Am I ever going to get my latte?”

The Harvard study examined public entries of a randomly selected group of 300,000 Twitter users. In May, the researchers studied the content created in the lifetime of the users’ Twitter accounts.

They found that 10 percent of Twitter users generated more than 90 percent of the content, said Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, who led the research. More than half of all Twitter users post messages on the site less than once every 74 days.

REUTERS/METRO