'Cause 4,059 people need a good laugh.

​Peter Kinder didn't need the Riverfront Times to embarrass him last year by exposing his bizarre relationship with a former stripper and Penthouse centerfold.

It turns out Missouri's lieutenant governor is plenty skilled at embarrassing himself -- via Twitter. Last week the NationalJournal named Kinder as its second-biggest "Twitter Loser" of the year, right after disgraced New York Rep. Anthony Weiner, who famously stepped down from Congress after tweeting nude photos of himself.

As for Kinder, here's what the NationalJournal had to say: 
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So, just to review: Allen Craig's fictitious pet turtle has a Twitter account. So does the Cardinals' rally squirrel and Jason Motte's glove.

Only fitting, then, that the mysterious bullpen phone should also get its own Twitter handle. Then again, if it can't communicate effectively via the phone lines, we're not sure social media is the answer.
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Your (least?) favorite blogger v. Bob Watson.

​March Madness extends beyond the basketball floor this year for Missouri political junkies.

Over at Fired Up! Missouri they've created what they call the "Tiger Blood Tourney" -- a 64-person bracket pitting politicians, activists and journalists in head-to-head match ups to -- in the words of Charlie Sheen -- determine who is really "winning."

I've been entered into the Press Gallery Regional where in the first-round I'm facing the esteemed Bob Watson (pictured here at his computer) of the Jefferson City News-Tribune. And as of right now, Bob is kicking my ass in this popularity contest.

So won't you do me the favor of hopping over to Fired Up! and giving me a vote? Please? Don't make me beg. My trophy locker (okay, it's more like an infant's shoebox) needs some Tiger Blood!

Cast your vote here.

flickr.com/photos/jackdorsey

​The initial programming for Twitter began five years ago yesterday. To mark the event, Twitter co-founder (and, yes, St. Louis native) Jack Dorsey has been sharing the story about how the social media site was born -- in, naturally, 140 characters or less.

Dorsey writes that he'd been thinking of a Twitter-like site since 2001 when he sketched out plans (right) for a program called Stat.Us.

The following are a few of Dorsey's tweets from yesterday, recalling the wild two weeks in 2006 when he and his fellow coders raced to create twttr, later renamed Twitter. 
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St. Louis: Average tweety birds.

​We're generally pretty skeptical of the endless number of lists ranking U.S. cities on everything from street crime to tipping servers at restaurants.

That said, the list out this week from Men's Health seems somewhat scientific. Editors at the magazine compiled the number of Facebook and LinkedIn users per capita in U.S. cities, followed that up by looking at overall Twitter usage (via NetProspex) and traffic generated by the other social networks, including Myspace, Friendster, Reddit, and Digg. Finally, they analyzed the percentage of households on chat rooms and blogs (via SimplyMap), and voila! A ranking of the nation's most social media cities.

St. Louis earned a "B" from the report and ranked in at No. 24 nationally. Top 10 cities in ascending order: Washington D.C.; Atlanta; Denver; Minneapolis; Seattle; San Francisco; Orlando; Austin; Boston and Salt Lake City. 

So, I was just on Twitter when I came across the following news: Jack Dorsey, the 34-year-old St. Louis native who helped found the social-media tool is the subject of a Vanity Fair profile this month.

But the article isn't about Twitter. It's about his current project, Square, that allows merchants to accept credit card payments via their smart phones. Oh, and here's what I learned about Square this afternoon, from Jack Dorsey himself.

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If you haven't heard by now, someone last week created a fake Twitter account for Dana Loesch, St. Louis' most hated and/or adored political pundit depending on your leanings. 

​The fake account (@fake_dloesch) closely resembles Loesch's real account (@dloesch), except for the comments -- intentionally more outrageous than the original's.

Here, then, is our list of the ten best tweets thus far...
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Local independent bookstores have joined together to form an alliance, not just another chain.

​Let it be known that Subterranean Books may be in mortal danger, but it's not going to lay down and die, no sirree. Instead, it's fighting back by forming a superfriends-like coalition with its fellow indie bookstores, the St. Louis Independent Bookstore Alliance.

The Alliance was formed one fateful Tuesday evening (last Tuesday evening, to be precise) over dinner at Pi in the Central West End. Kelly von Plonski of Subterranean, Nikki Furrer of Pudd'nhead Books, Jay Steele of Left Bank Books and Vicki Ervin of Main Street Books in St. Charles all decided to work together to raise the collective profile of St. Louis' independent bookstores. They would produce a map of independent bookstores to be distributed with other tourist information, set up a website listing all the goings-on at bookstores around town and local bestsellers and plan mega-events together.

They also decided to invite every other independent bookstore in St. Louis, both new and used, to take part. So far, several other stores, including Big Sleep Books, Dunaway Books and Hammond's Antiques & Books have agreed to join in.

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​So, if you're like me, you're surfin' the Internets today wondering if you should go into work or just stick it out at home.

We're supposed to be getting the blizzard of the decade century today, and all anyone can talk about is the white stuff. At least, that's the topic du jour on Twitter. Below are some of the best and/or most informative tweets I've come across so far today.

No need to go into the office if you're a St. Louis City employee. This from the mayor's press agent:

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Cartographer Daniel Huffman just made a new map of the continental U.S. This is a very special map. It tracks the amount people in various parts of this glorious country swear. He did it like a heat map. Take a look.

image via

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You may notice that the area around St. Louis looks a little...pale. In this case, lighter colors mean more profanity.

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