links for 2009-06-02

• Ma Jian on the great Tiananmen taboo
  "It is 20 years since students and lecturers filled Tiananmen Square, demanding democracy, only to be crushed by tanks and fired on by the Chinese army. Banned novelist Ma Jian, who was there at the protests, returned to Beijing to find a country desperate to erase all memories of the thousands of innocent lives lost."
  
  
  
• BBC Eurovision News: Jury Vote would have moved UK from 5th to 3rd place
  Top 3. Wow. The real winner here (and loser in the public vote) is Denmark, which I would offer analysis on if I could remember what it was like. [Checks YouTube.] Oh thaaat.
  
  
  
• Tweeting Too Hard: "Where self-important tweets get the recognition they deserve."
  On Twitter. Sample: "Girl at the gym was checking me out, I could tell she wanted me. A Philly 8, but she had sweaty arm pits. I don't date girls that sweat."
  
  
  
• Oversharers: When people feel the need to tell us way too much.
  On Twitter. Sample: "Seinfeld finale was eleven years ago last night... I remember watching it with my husband, back when he was still interesting."
  
  
  
• Flickr: Bad News IBM & Apple
  I genuinely believe, with some work, this might be able to grab a large percentage of the market share.
  
  
  
• Microsoft Bing: first impressions
  "I did want this to deliver, if mostly because all competition is good. But seriously, the results vs the video are so wrong: what the hell is happening at Microsoft at the moment. Even those who want to support you, want to kill themselves."