Seems I'm simply way behind the curve when it comes to following the latest trends on the most popular open-source microblogging script: Statusnet. Unfortunately, Statusnet changed from an AGPL-licensed script to an Apache 2.0 licensed script called pump.io. With that, Identi.ca changed too. The new microblogging community is located at Microca.st. Oops. It seems they dropped the microblogging platform they once had so the microblogs that this blog used to front are gone.

P.S: Statusnet's change reminds me of the Croatian company Shoutem which had a microblogging platform some few years back. Then, voila, it dropped the service and is now a mobile apps company. Is it that the microblogging concept isn't a cashcow model? May be I should leave this for the next blog post.

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I haven't posted anything for the last few months or so (my bad). So, I bet I should add one more New Year Resolution to my list and that is: "Blogging Effectively and Frequently this Year". The unfortunate thing is in the "following through" with such commitments; especially if your "sense of urgency" for matters like blogging is not quite high. So, there it is: blogging more effectively this year plus, may be, a little bit more frequently.
Here is another thought. Should we consider running a blog as more like running an open source project? I think so. Have you ever heard about the "Bus Factor"? Here is what this article on Wikipedia has to say about this (albeit it's more software engineering-centric):

In software development, a software project's bus factor (also known as truck factor, or bus/truck number) is a measurement of the concentration of information in individual team members. The bus factor is the total number of key developers who would need to be incapacitated (as by getting hit by a bus/truck) to send the project into such disarray that it would not be able to proceed; the project would retain information (such as source code) with which no remaining team member is familiar. A high bus factor means that many developers would need to be removed before the project would necessarily fail.
"Getting hit by a bus" could take many different forms. This could be a person taking a new job, having a baby, changing their lifestyle or life status, or literally getting hit by a bus: the effect would be the same.

Getting quite busy of late to post anything on this site (my bad). Now that is really being "hit by a bus". So like any open source project, starting and running a blog requires frequent updates for it to gain an audience.

Additional Resources for those who've Read this Post up to this Point

1. http://www.problogger.net/habits-of-highly-effective-bloggers-reader-submissions/ - Habits of Highly Effective Bloggers – Reader Submissions on ProBlogger
2. http://fitz.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-to-bus-proof-your-open-source.html  - How to "bus-proof" your open source project on Confessions of a Digital Packrat
3. http://www.serverwatch.com/server-news/if-linus-torvalds-got-hit-by-a-bus-would-linux-die.html  - If Linus Torvalds Got Hit By a Bus Would Linux Die? on ServerWatch

Good day, mate!

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Sometimes you have to make a switch from those #tweeps who dish out the most current news or tweets of what they are eating for supper, to #tweeps who churn out funny anecdotes. Don't they make one to forget their worries for a minute. I love that. Take the case of @DepressedDarth. The persona behind this profile spins out very funny tweets (much like this @darthvader profile too). Here are some of his tweets (courtesy of @DeppressedDarth):

After learning that Google's slogan is "Don't be evil", the Death Star was forced to switch its search engine to Bing.

 Saving a princess is a lot less cool when she's your sister, just ask my son.

 (On dating) -->

This is how dating should go --> twitter.com/DepressedDarth…
— Darth Vader (@DepressedDarth) October 6, 2012

 #WorstWayToBreakUp - Tell her you've joined the Dark Side

After destroying so planets, the Death Star has gotten a lot of negative reviews on Yelp. 

And finally, some tweets in remembrance of Steve Jobs form @DepressedDarth himself:

RIP Steve Jobs, a year ago today you joined Obi-Wan and Yoda as a force ghost.

 RIP Steve Jobs, may the Force be with you always.

LOL. For all the fans of the Star Wars movie, May the Force be with you. :-)

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 Update: 12th, October, 2012. Seems that some of the African social networking sites below are dead. I have removed some of the links pointing to Techmasai's profiles (be damned Link Rot).

Oops. That title really gives this post an ol'-like aura. And this is not an obituary. It is just a post to remember a certain African blogger whose input into profiling the little African startups that were blooming in this continent. And his work did list some microblogging sites to it. What was his name? Munashe, if I can remember; a Zimbabwean living in Kenya then. It was through his blog that I came to know of other African microblogging sites like Twyka (currently dead. Read this post), Naijapulse and MyRadeo. At the start, he ran a really informative blog with the Techmasai name. As time went on and the tolls of covering the latest startup news  across the continent caught up with him, he opted to start a wiki. But the wiki did not take off. In the end he called it quits.
One daring (and patriotic) feat that he did was to ditch Twitter all together and run his  microblogging game on purely African initiatives. Here is his suspended Twitter account (oops, what did you just see?). If you are an African you surely should admire such resolve. Here is a list of all his profiles on some African microblogs:

1. Techmasai on Yarnable.
2. Techmasai on Naijapulse.
3. Techmasai on Gistcaster.

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