Twitter and Tweets

Twitter Avatars This is the image associated with your Twitter account. Whether you use a photo of yourself or a logo depends on what you want to use Twitter for. If you are promoting a company or charity, the key element is the logo. If you use Twitter to chat to other people (who you might also meet at a conference, etc.) , then it's sensible to have a photograph that's immediately recognisable. If you don't want to use a photograph of yourself, choose some abstract image that people will come to associate with you, but best to steer clear of the little cartoony faces which tend to look much the same. (Dump the 'egg image' that is assigned by twitter when you sign up - it signals 'newbie'.)

Twitter hashtags The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. There are three sites that can tell you more about specific hashtags, though they all try and do slightly different things. They are: www.hashtags.org and www.twubs.com and www.tagdef.com.

Track retweets? (1) Sign in to your Twitter account and in the search bar type 'RT@accountname' and then you can select 'top' to see the most re-tweeted ones. (2) Retweetrank (www.retweetrank.com) lets you see how you rank with other Twitter users in terms of retweets. (3) use a tool called Tweetreach (http://tweetreach.com).

Tweetping (www.tweetping.net) provides a real time visualisation of tweets from around the world. The presentation is very high tech and it's quite astonishing, not to say hypnotic. It's only value seems to be to show how busy Twitter is, but it's worth a look.

Phil Bradley in CILIP Update (various dates)

Where Does Spam Come From?

Is there a source for information on working out where an email has come from? I sometimes get spam sent back to me that I supposedly sent out (though I didn't) and I want to see if I can track down the real sender.

There are lots of resources that will help you read and understand email headers, and the one I'd recommend is from the Stop Spam website (www.stopspam.org/email/headers.html).

Phil Bradley in CILIP Update

Mindful Eating

Rushing your food and snacking on the run - or in front of a TV or computer screen - almost ceratinly leads to overeating. Mindful eating - taking your time and genunely relishing each bite - curbs your desire to eat more than you need. With its origins in Buddhist teaching, it isn't about dieting or giving up foods, but rather about experiencing food more intensely. Try paying attention to the colours, smells, textures, flavours, temperatures and even the sounds (crunch!).

• When you eat, just eat. Turn off electronic gadgets and concentrate on what is in front of you.
• Take a (small) bite of food, then put daown your knife and fork.
• Chew patiently and contemplate the flavour and texture of your food, aiming for 25 to 30 chews for each mouthful.
• Put flowers and candles on the table before dinner to create a calm, unhurried environment.
• Try making it a regular habit - set aside one sit-down meal each week as an experiment in mindfulness.

Good Housekeeping, October 2013

Squashes

Acorn squashes are best for most gardens as they are not too large, easy to grow and the orange ones taste great.

Need 100 days to flower, set and ripen.

Sow: May for end of September harvest.

Email Accounts not needing Mobile Phone Numbers

Many email providers now seem to be demanding a mobile phone number as a security measure when signing up, particularly when they recognise a previously used IP address. Are there any solutions to this?

When this was posted on a discussion list, Andy Brisley came up with an answer: both www.mail.com and www.gmx.co.uk allow you to set up free email accounts without requiring mobile phone addresses.

Phil Bradley in CILIP Update, October 2013