I have to agree, if you've a throwaway comment you want to make that's too long for twitter, then I can't imagine anyone's that interested anyway. Learn to shorten yourself, or make a comment you don't mind being a little more permanent on a service like posterous (that then posts to twitter in an identical way to these "paste bins", but with hashtags and a shorter url (post.ly))
I don't randomly walk up to people and discuss my opinion of them. But if someone started a conversation with me about how many people do or don't like them then yes I would have to tell them I find them irritating and walk away. There is nothing 'tough' about it.
Nor am I an Internet tough guy, just giving an opinion is all I'm doing. People that obsess over who like them or not and why, I just don't like them.
I've never met the guy and I like him a lot. This is probably why I gave him the benefit of the doubt when reading the blog entry and why I think the detractors calling it "ham fisted" and "unsatisfying" and "inconclusive" and "lacking empathy" must be people who did but skim over it before spraying their unhelpful personal attacks.
I just checked one literally at random, the one about the conductor stabbing himself through the hand with his baton during a performance. It has been confirmed by Wikipedia and two other sources, although I can't vouch for Wikipedia's accuracy, nor for the independence of the sources.
One sample does not a proof make, and the pural of "anecdote" is not "data." However, some of the items do check out as true.
I personally think it's a good starting point for talking to kids and asking whether you can believe everything you read on the internet. I also find it amusing.
Identica was a StatusNet instance it is now a Pump instance.
GNUSocial is a re-branding of StatusNet.