This Marie Kondo-inspired Twitter tool will help you declutter your timeline so it again ‘sparks joy’
Article via TechCrunch
Does your Twitter timeline spark joy? If you’re like most people, probably not. Over the years, you probably politely followed back a few too many Twitter accounts, and now have a timeline filled with all sorts of random tweets from people you can’t even remember following in the first place. A new Twitter tool, Tokimeki Unfollow, may help.
Designed by Julius Tarng, previously of Facebook and Branch, “tokimeki” roughly translates to “spark joy.” It’s a nod to Tarng’s source of inspiration for the new tool — Marie Kondo’s hugely popular Netflix show “Tidying Up.” The series, based on the decluttering expert’s own KonMari method of organization, has prompted many to start purging their homes of unwanted and unloved clothing, books, papers, toys and more in the weeks following the series’ debut.
So why not take the idea to Twitter?
After all, if anything is a source of clutter these days, it’s the build-up of timeline junk thanks to poor following choices in years past.
Tokimeki Unfollow is easy to use, though its newfound popularity may have it running a little slow at times, we found.
The tool works by using cookies and your browser’s local storage to save its progress. If you opt in, it can save your “keep” and “unfollow” progress secured on the Glitch servers.
The tool also uses your Twitter authentication to pull in your follows, their tweets and to unfollow accounts and help you manage your lists.
The tool will ask you which order you want to use to begin the decluttering, with “oldest first” as the recommended default. It suggests that you hide the account’s bio — in case you’re too swayed by who someone is, rather than what they tweet. But you can toggle this setting on or off as you prefer.
Once up-and-running, the tool asks you if the tweets still spark joy or feel important?
You then have to choose to keep following the account or unfollow it.
If you unfollow, the tool even reminds you to thank the account for all the tweets you enjoyed before.
You can also organize accounts into lists along the way, which is handy.
List-making is a good middle ground for those times when there are accounts you want to track — like perhaps those with memes or jokes, or those dedicated to favorites celebs, musicians, sports figures and teams, etc. — but don’t want in your main timeline.
Unfortunately, the tool missed pulling in a couple of my lists (perhaps I have too many…), but you can open the Twitter user’s account in a separate tab and add them to a list from there, if need be.
The process of decluttering Twitter this way will take time, but it will also give you the chance to truly consider whose content is worth following.
For those who have been on Twitter from day one, it may be impossible to ever get through the decluttering process this way — but it’s at least a productive time filler.
Now if only someone would build Tokimeki tools for Facebook, Instagram and my browser’s bookmarks…
We asked Tarng to give us more info about the idea behind building Tokimeki Unfollow and how it helps to clean up messy Twitter accounts.
TC: Were you a fan of Marie Kondo and the KonMari method before the Netflix series?
JT: I wouldn’t say “fan” but I had adopted her clothes folding techniques since her book made the rounds a few years ago. The new Netflix show was definitely a reminder, and it was interesting and (at times disappointing) to see American mixed reactions to it!
TC: Have you practiced the method yourself at home?
JT: I actually had always been pretty good about getting rid of stuff since I was young, so KonMari was actually more of a confirmation to me that I wasn’t the only one that thought that way. But I loved the idea of thanking the objects before throwing or donating them away — it’s a very thoughtful way to think about your possessions.
TC: Why did you decide to use this organizational method on your Twitter account?
JT: Well, I had just come back to the states after a year abroad and a year off of Twitter. I really missed the human connection, but my feed had become very anxiety-inducing. I saw some joke tweets about KonMari for Twitter, and that was the confirmation for me that I should spend some time building it! Firstly, it was for myself, so some of my personal opinions are in there — like hiding people’s bios so I wouldn’t be swayed by who they were, [and] focusing on the content itself.
TC: How long did it take to build?
JT: I started about three weeks ago. Finished this past weekend. The code is open source on Glitch and you can rewind the history to see the development unfold!
TC: Did anyone help?
JT: I had some guidance from my fiancée and some friends, but I did most of it myself.
TC: What should people know about using this tool?
JT: The tool is more about the process than the end result. Even if people use it for 15 minutes and stop, I hope those 15 minutes help them construct new rules for themselves for who and what type of account to follow in the future. I hope they reflect on how they’ve changed as a person through their follows over the years! I recommend using the “Oldest first” option to really get a look at your past.
TC: The tool has received a lot of attention in the past couple of days (see, for example, Wired, Fortune and Motherboard’s reports, among others). Do you plan to keep working on it or adding more features, as a result?
JT: It is open source so I’m hoping others remix it on Glitch and customize their experience. It is a personal tool that happened to become popular, so I won’t add features I wouldn’t use myself. I still have 600/1,000 to go myself, so however long it takes to go through the rest I’ll tweak it!
B. Smith’s husband speaks out about girlfriend controversy: ‘It spun out of control’
Article via TODAY
Dan Gasby opened up about the reason he thinks the backlash has been so intense after he revealed he has a girlfriend while his wife battles Alzheimer’s.
Dan Gasby says he believes race plays a role in the backlash he received after revealing that he is in a relationship with another woman while caring for his ailing wife, model and restaurateur B. Smith, who has Alzheimer’s disease.
Gasby, 64, who is African-American, revealed in December that he and Alex Lerner, 53, who is white, were in a romantic relationship, sparking an angry response from B. Smith fans. Gasby said he has even received death threats.
“The 800-pound gorilla in this situation is she’s white,” Gasby told Al Roker on TODAY Wednesday.
“In other words, if Alex were black, you don’t think that…” Al said.
“Nah,” Gasby said. “Not at all. I’m not supposed to be conscripted to somebody because of their race.”
Gasby also responded to criticism about why he made his relationship with Lerner public rather than just keeping it private as he cares for his 69-year-old wife, who was diagnosed in 2013 with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
“Because that’s what Barbara asked me to do, to talk about it,” he said. “It spun out of control to ‘I’m having an affair. This woman, because of who she is, is taking B’s money. We’re abusing B. B wouldn’t want this.’ These people have never even talked to B.”
Gasby and his wife – whose full name is Barbara Smith – spent the time after her diagnosis spreading awareness of the disease and speaking about the challenges of living with it. B. Smith is a former fashion model who had a nationally-syndicated television show, “B. Smith With Style,” owned multiple restaurants, and frequently appeared as a guest on TODAY.
Her initial diagnosis was a crushing blow for the couple, who are going on 27 years of marriage.
“It was like chewing glass,” Gasby said. “She said to me one day, ‘Dan, I feel broken, like there’s something not right.’ And then I started to notice things were becoming more repetitive. I had an inkling, but I wouldn’t believe that it could be something as devastating, as catastrophic, as Alzheimer’s.”
Gasby said he fought depression and loneliness in the years following his wife’s diagnosis until he met Lerner, who was caring for her dying father, who also had Alzheimer’s disease.
“Taking care of someone like B, even having someone who is taking care of her periodically…the weight of every minute of the day is a blanket on you,” he said. “And (Lerner) was funny. The most important thing, she was kind. And we became friends, and that friendship got closer and closer.”
Lerner admitted she was hesitant to enter in a relationship with Gasby given the circumstances.
“But after a while, I understood, or it seemed to me, as if I had met a man who has a child,” Lerner said on TODAY. “In a sense that B. is now very child-like. And his responsibilities are almost those of a single father. Like, really being there 24/7. Taking care of every and all of her needs.”
Black History Month Part 4: Rosa Parks
In honor of Black History Month and Rosa Parks’ Birthday, here’s an interview of her in 1995 detailing the events, life in the south, and life after the Montgomery Bus Boycott
Michael Jackson’s Brother Responds to Shocking New Allegations: “Leave Us Alone”
Article via VanityFair
The documentary Leaving Neverland, about two men who say Jackson abused them when they were children, stunned audiences at the Sundance Film Festival premiere last week.
Hours after filmmaker Dan Reed debuted his shocking documentaryLeaving Neverland—a film that details abuse allegedly committed by Michael Jackson—at the Sundance Film Festival last week, the late musician’s family released a strongly worded statement, deriding the project as “tabloid character assassination.” On Wednesday, as disturbing details contained in the film continued to circulate across the Internet, a Jackson family member offered the first televised interview in response to the documentary’s claims from accusers Wade Robson and James Safechuck.
Jackson’s brother Jermaine began his nearly 10-minute interview on Good Morning Britain by not stating whether he has actually seen the four-hour documentary—which contains such distressing allegations that the film festival reportedly had mental-health professionals available to counsel audience members, just in case. Instead, Jermaine produced a page of notes from his jacket pocket and shakily outlined Robson’s previous defense of Michael Jackson, and other arguments the Jackson estate made in its initial statement. (As Vanity Fair’s Nicole Sperlingreported from Sundance, both Robson and Safechuck did initially defend Jackson when other young men accused him of molestation in 1993: “Neither man was able to admit that the sexual relationship they each say they shared with Jackson was abuse until they became fathers, and the weight of their secrets proved overbearing.”)
When Good Morning Britain co-host Piers Morgan countered with purported evidence that Jackson may have molested children—citing Jackson’s multi-million-dollar settlements with accusers and sleepovers Jackson hosted at his Neverland Ranch—Jermaine interjected to argue, “Those were slumber parties, and what they didn’t tell you was that there were little girls there, even with their parents, their uncles . . . they were watching movies.”
“How sure can you be, Jermaine, that Michael was completely innocent?” Morgan pressed.
“Piers, I’m 1,000 percent sure, because Michael was tried by a jury and . . . he was acquitted on all of this,” Jermaine responded. “Our family is tired. Let this man rest. He did a lot for the world. Let him rest. I’ll just say this: there is no truth to this documentary.”
Growing emotional as Morgan continued with more questions, Jermaine begged, “Leave us alone. Leave him alone. Let him rest—please. Let him rest. He deserves to rest.”
During a Q&A at the Sundance Film Festival, Robson revealed that he wasn’t particularly comfortable sharing the documentary with his own family members.
“I was really scared for my mother to see [Leaving Neverland],”said Robson. “Each of us watched it by ourselves, and there are things that I said, things my brother said, that have never been communicated within the family dynamic. It was an intense experience for them. My hope is that while this is not the usual way to healing—for a movie that goes out to the world—hopefully this can open new doors for them. This is an important story to tell.”
The documentary will air on HBO this spring in a two-part series.
Check out some Lovelyti videos:
Former White House insider releases explosive book
Cliff Sims, author of “Team of Vipers,” speaks out on “GMA” about his experiences in the Oval Office with the president and the reaction to the book. (via ABCNews)
HULU FYRE FRAUD
Watch HULU FYRE FRAUD. You will hear Billy McFarland’s excuses and defections on his life who,what where and when from him his family friends and others who tried to make it all possible. On Sunday January 27th our Miss Auntie Lovelyti will be having her documentaries and discussions episode 9. FYRE: The Greatest Party That Never Happened. So pop your popcorn drink some tea. And watch Netflix Fyre The Greatest Party That Never Happened. Then watch HULU FYRE FRAUD. And then come join Ti on YOUTUBE LIVE on Sunday at 4pm y’all!! I know I’m gonna be in the first row to discuss sip some tea! And eat some chips and dip!!
Cardi B claps back at conservative columnist: ‘If I twerk… does that mean I deserve to get raped’
Article via Yahoo
Don’t come for Cardi B this week.
After firing back at Tomi Lahren, the “Money” rapper aimed her social media ire at Daily Caller video columnist Stephanie Hamill on Tuesday. The conservative reporter singled out Cardi — who has been making headlines for her anti-Trump views recently — claiming her sexualized music videos, like the one for “Twerk,” don’t empower women. Hamill invited “leftists” and the musician to chime in.
Well, Cardi B did just that. The Grammy-nominated artist replied, tweeting she can “wear and not wear” whatever she wants. She added, “So Stephanie chime in…If I twerk and be half naked does that mean I deserve to get raped and molested ?”
Hamill tweeted back agreeing that, “No means NO, NO MATTER what!” However, she claimed “this video” and others like it “sexually objectify women.” She added, “I think this hurts all women & the cause. We’re not sex OBJECTS!”
We’re guessing the invite to appear on Hamill’s show is most likely going to be a hard pass from the star. Although Cardi B didn’t engage with the reporter again, she had one more thing to say.
“All these conservatives been harassing me and telling me the most disgusting things these past few days,” she tweeted. “Listen I’m not telling ya to turn liberal all I’m saying is to admit that your president is f***in up this country right now! Liberal or conservative we ALL suffer as citizens.”
