Congratulations world, we are all not pulverized by meteors. 

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HERO OF THE DAY: Marine father stands watch at Nashville elementary school

Let’s get into the holiday spirit a little. No douche of the day as we’re approaching the major holiday breaks. In the wake of the Newtown, CT, shooting, many parents are wondering what they can do to keep their children safe at school. That is why one Nashville father decided that if anyone was going to keep watch of his kids and their teachers, it would be him. With no armed police and no metal detectors at Gower Elementary, there is just Staff Sgt. Jordan Pritchard. "I feel like this is something I had to do," he said. Like so many parents, Pritchard asked himself 'what can I do?' after 26 people - including 20 children - were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. His answer was to take his kids to school at Gower, then just stand out front, in full Marine uniform, and watch for any suspicious activity. Calling him a guard is a bit of a stretch. He's not official security and he has no weapon. "What this uniform represents, the hope it brings, is larger than any weapon that I would ever need," Pritchard said. The sight, alone, of a Marine standing in the front of the school, watching everyone who comes in, is providing a sense of security for many in the community. Pritchard, who is the father of two Gower students, said he will stand watch at least until the holiday break. He said he would like to see other veterans come to their children's schools in uniform just to provide an extra sense of security. [First Coast News]

You can archive your tweets now!!

If you’re on twitter, you may have found yourself wanting to go back in time and explore your past Tweets. Maybe you wanted to recall your reaction to the 2008 election, reminisce on what you said to your partner on your 10th anniversary, or just see your first few Tweets. We know lots of you would like to explore your Twitter past.  Twitter have just announced the ability to download your entire Twitter archive, so you’ll get all your Tweets (including Retweets) going back to the beginning. Once you have your Twitter archive, you can view your Tweets by month, or search your archive to find Tweets with certain words, phrases, hashtags or @usernames. You can even engage with your old Tweets just as you would with current ones. Pretty awesome!!

From twitter.com...

Go to Settings and scroll down to the bottom to check for the option to request your Twitter archive. If you do see it, go ahead and click the button. You’ll receive an email with instructions on how to access your archive when it’s ready for you to download. 

If you don’t see that option in Settings today, know that it’s on the way! We’re rolling out this feature slowly, starting today with a small percentage of users whose language is set to English. Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll make it available to all users around the world, for all the languages we offer. We’re really excited to bring this feature to everyone, and we appreciate your patience as we work to do so.

This project was first built during one of our quarterly Hack Weeks. Since then, we’ve done the engineering work necessary to make it available to Twitter users. We look forward to seeing the old Tweets you uncover. As you go through all of your Tweets, share your favorites using #TwitterArchive.

 [Twitter]

 Minneapolis teacher suspended for bringing loaded gun to school

At Seward Montessori, a magnet school in Minneapolis, the flag's at half-staff in honor of the students and staff members who died at the mass school shooting in Connecticut. But that very tragedy led a Seward teacher to bring a loaded handgun to school, according to police. "The loaded handgun was locked in her locker," Sgt. William Palmer of the Minneapolis Police Dept. told KARE. "It's still under investigation, but she gave the officer a statement that indicates this is related to the Connecticut incident." Acting on a tip from another staff member, the school's principal followed protocol and called police to the school, where the students range from kindergarteners through to eighth graders. Police confiscated the weapon from the locked locker. The Minneapolis Public Schools then placed the unnamed teacher, described as a female in her 50's, on administrative leave. [First Coast News]