The Fearless Blogger

This month’s Twestival showed the potential of harnessing Twitter’s power to rally the masses to raise money and awareness for a cause.

On March 1, we’ll get to see what happens when one person’s fate is left in the hands of these same masses – again with the goal of raising money and awareness for a cause.

Meet the Twitchhiker
The Twitchhiker is also known as Paul Smith.  Paul used to “have a proper job in radio”, but now write about media for the Guardian, and blogs “about radio, TV and tech for several other websites”.

On March 1st, Paul will

attempt to travel as far around the world as possible in 30 days, relying only on the goodwill of people using Twitter.

His goal is to span the globe as far from his hometown of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK as possible within the month.   Paul has set his sites on New Zealand, since it is “closest to the opposite point on the planet” to his house.  More specifically, the Twitchhiker’s true goal is located at 52.546° S 169.173° E, “an island barely five miles wide that’s so insignificant that Google can’t be bothered to name it”. read more

This post falls under the better-late-than-never category.

MacHeist3 kicked off just over three weeks ago, but there’s still time to sign up to get in on the fun and nab yourself some free software in the process.

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Part Mac
MacHeist is website with a unique approach to reselling Mac OS shareware software.  Created by John Casasanta, Phill Ryu, and Scott Meinzer (known collectively as “The Directorate“), the site periodically offers bundles of software for a price that is substantially discounted from the combined softwares’ standard retail prices (past bundles have cost around $50 and included 10-14 products, valued around $500).

A portion of the proceeds are donated to charity.  To further encourage purchases, the bundles contain applications that will only be “unlocked” (license keys provided) once specified sales goals have been achieved.  As additional incentive, participants who referred friends to the Heist received “bonus” software not included the standard bundle.

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Part Heist
Several weeks before the latest bundle is released, the MacHeist Directorate transitions the website to reveal a series of “missions“.  Participants are rewarded for successful completion with “loot”: software and/or discounts off the upcoming bundle. read more

I was a bit hesitant to post this today, as it’s been a bit of time since I’ve posted any original content.  But I’m working on resolving that right now and figured it would be selfish not to share this in the meantime!

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While searching for Star Wars-related videos online to keep my four-year-old nephew entertained, I happened upon this classic:

The Star Wars Holiday Special!

Luke Skywalker and Han Solo battle evil Imperial forces to help Chewbacca reach his imperiled family on the Wookiee planet – in time for Life Day, their most important day of the year!

The video may not be the best quality/resolution – but then again, it was made in a day when things were Hi-Fi, not Hi-Def!

Usually I use my sidenotes to share videos – but this was too good to not give it its own blog post! The opening credits alone merit the video four stars in each the nostalgia and cheese-factor categories. (Heck, one of the writers was Bruce Vilanch!)

It so gloriously falls into the so-bad-it’s-good category, that George Lucas has been quoted as saying ”if I had the time and a sledgehammer, I would track down every bootlegged copy of that program and smash it.”

Grab your Star Wars Underoos, a bowl of Cocoa Puffs and glass of Tang and enjoy! read more

OK, so “pranked’ might be more like it.

And instead of Ashton Kutcher, the perpetrator was comedy site zug.com.  

The premise
Send a letter to each US Senator posing as 10 year old John Hargrave doing a school project.  Young Johnny wants to be a comedian when he grows up, so asks each Senator to fill out an attached form and reply with their favorite joke. (view a copy of the letter and accompanying form).

The outcome
First, all 100 joke letters were screened for traces of chemical residue, in accordance withHomeland Security regulations before landing in the Senators’ hands.

Once received, fifteen Senators actually took the time to reply with their favorite jokes. Among them: Senators Larry Craig, John Kerry, and John McCain.

My favorite joke
This prank actually took place in 2003. I wonder if John McCain would use the same joke today?

Read the full account and view the other Senators’ replies.

I’m extremely excited to announce that
The Fearless Blogger has been selected
to be the featured blog at www.chuckwestbrook.com
for the next two weeks!
(Not familiar with it? Read my spotlight on the site!)

I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome any new readers who’ve dropped by from Chuck’s blog.  

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In addition to the “About” page, here are some links to help you get acquainted with The Fearless Blogger:

1. To get a sense of how I started and the background of The Fearless Blogger: The Fearless Blogger’s Maiden Voyage.
2. A post that’s just about me putting my thoughts and feelings out there: Free Fall | Dedicated to my Brother.
3. In the “least -creative-but-most-popular” category would be: Four Blog Ideas Worth Stealing.
4. Any of the posts in my Inside the Bloggers Studio series.
5. Because it’s a message I don’t think can be said enough: Never too Late to Say “Thank You”
6. For those with short attention spans (and proof I can be brief!):
    - Musings: Wealth and Happiness
   - I Have a Pornographic Mind
   - It’s funny ’cause it’s true
7. For fun pics, helpful links, humor, pop culture and other randomness: The Fearless Blogger Sidenotes(my tumblr: “Links and other tidbits perhaps not worth blogging about, but definitely worth telling you about”

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Please share any thoughts, suggestions or ideas in the comments – I’d love to hear from you!  You can also reach me by using the contact form, on Twitter or any of these sites.