Wednesday, July 29, 2015

The discipline of Twitter

"I have made this letter longer than usual, only because I have not had the time to make it shorter."
Pascal
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A humourous thought crossed my mind during dinner and I worked out in my mind how to maximize the surprise at the end.  It fit without difficulty on Facebook and I expect accolades to pour in there.  But it was more than double the allowable length for Twitter.  Still, the idea, the punchline, was succinct. Could I shrink it to one-third length and retain the meaning? See below

Twitter version:
I live near an industrial area where many trucks pass all day long. Yet, there are times when we hear only natural sounds.
Fucking cicadas.

Full length Facebook version:
I live in an apartment complex of more than twenty buildings, next to another complex of similar size.  We are near an industrial area where many trucks come and go all day long.  Despite this, there are times when we hear no man-made sounds at all; nothing but the sounds of nature.

Fucking cicadas.

Transitional versions:
I live near an industrial area where many trucks pass all day long. Still, there are times when we hear only natural sounds.

Fucking cicadas.

Even shorter than Twitter required:
I live near an industrial area where trucks pass all day long. Yet, there are times when we hear only natural sounds.
Fucking cicadas.
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Not every time, but when I think I have added my own content and some value, I post a link on Twitter my posts.  Would it be too Ouroborosian to that this time?

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