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After a letter filled with white powder arrived at the L.A. studio of CBS's "Late Late Show," host Craig Ferguson tweeted, "Ack! Someone mailed my show white powder & claimed it was anthrax. I'm not a big fan of that sort of thing." He then went on to thank the LAPD, FBI, and CBS security. After initially quarantining the two "Late Late Show" staff members who had come in contact with the powder, specialists declared the powder was harmless. The LAPD and FBI determined that the powder-filled letter originated in Europe and are trying to track its sender. Meanwhile the scare gave Ferguson comedic material for last night's show. In his monologue he said, "I was going to come out and talk about the earthquake, because the earthquake only scared millions of people ... the white powder did something much worse -- it scared me." Just last week, a post on a message board used by Al-Qaida threatened Ferguson's CBS colleague David Letterman. Letterman quipped about the source of his threat on his own show, saying, "They're questioning, they're interrogating, there's an electronic trail -- but everybody knows it's Leno." What do you think of the threats? Tell me at Facebook.com/AdrianaDiazNews and on Twitter @AdrianaTweeting!
Although yesterday's 5.8-magnitude earthquake seemed to come out of nowhere, some people knew it was coming. Scores of people from New York said they read tweets about the earthquake hitting D.C. nearly 30 seconds before rumbling started in the Big Apple. Oddly enough, a 2010 online comic strip called "XKCD" predicted that this could happen as seismic waves move slower than the fiber-optic signals that send tweets, text messages, and emails. Twitter agrees. After the quake, Twitter's official account tweeted, "Are Tweets faster than seismic waves? We can't speak to speed of seismic waves, but a Tweet can reach your followers in less than a second." The U.S. Geological Survey used Twitter to send earthquake updates and even to collect data, tweeting, "If you felt the 5.9 quake, let us know...help us improve the data." According to Twitter, the shock wave of earthquake tweets totaled 40,000 in all, with 5,500 tweets sent per second. That's more than were sent per second when news broke of Osama bin Laden's death and the same amount sent during Japan's earthquake. Celebs were among those who tweeted, like "American Pie" actor Jason Biggs, who wrote, "Obviously, God is mad about Will and Jada," referring to yesterday's rumors that the Hollywood couple split (sources say the rumors are false).
A New York City-based pranking group known as "Improv Everywhere" is trying to show the world that New Yorkers are not as mean as people think. At Manhattan's busy Union Square, the group set up a podium with a sign that read "Say Something Nice ," and random New Yorkers followed the directions. Some took to the podium's megaphone to announce, "Have a great day!" Others bellowed, "I love New York City." My personal favorite was a toddler (held up by his mother) who took the opportunity to declare, "To infinity and beyond!" The YouTube video of the well-wishers got over a half-million views in just over a day. Many people are reacting to it on Twitter with, what else, a ":)"
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