Twitter Tries to Cash In

Twitter is trying to become a profitable business; the Pentagon is giving Afghanistan’s riches to China; and Icelanders are egging their leaders. These discoveries and more below.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that have found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top.

Tweet Science Twitter is building a machine to convert 140 characters on Barack Obama, Ashton Kutcher, narcissism, the struggle for human freedom, and Starbucks into cash—and quick, before its moment passes. Is this asking too much of even the world’s best technologists?

Academics Help Wall Street Protests Gain Credibility Nobel-winning economist, Harvard law prof among those attempting to articulate demonstrators’ goals.

Pressuring Pakistan, Afghanistan’s Karzai signs deal with India Afghanistan signed a strategic partnership with India today that allows arms transfers and military training in India. The move puts pressure on Pakistan to rein in militants.

The Not-So-Great Game Why is the Pentagon handing over Afghanistan’s riches to the Chinese?

Third of Vets See Iraq, Afghan Wars as a Waste One in three U.S. veterans of the post-9/11 military believes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting, and a majority think that after 10 years of combat America should be focusing less on foreign affairs and more on its own problems, according to an opinion survey released Wednesday.

Occupy Wall Street’s Plugged-In Protest When the first wave of Wall Street occupiers arrived, they set up a technology infrastructure: A donated generator that’s been pumping since Sept. 18, a charging station for laptops, lighting for nighttime, and wireless Internet, all protected from the rain by tarps and umbrellas.

Fed-funded research: magic mushrooms create ‘openness’ A single high dose of the hallucinogen psilocybin, the active ingredient in “magic mushrooms,” was enough to bring about a measureable and lasting personality change — “openness” — lasting at least a year in nearly 60 percent of the 51 participants in a new study, say Johns Hopkins researchers.

Can Obama legally kill you? Should the president have the right to kill you? And if so, under what circumstances?

Why are Icelanders pelting their leaders with eggs? Icelanders angry with the slow pace of the country’s economic recovery threw eggs at members of parliament and other politicians as they headed to mass in Reykjavik Saturday.