debate

Spoiler alert: The Cuban Missile Crisis ended without the United States and the Soviet Union launching even a single nuclear weapon, and the Allies won World War II.

You're no doubt well aware of those ultimate outcomes, but what if you don't remember, or never knew, the myriad individual moments, big and small, that led to those famous conclusions? There are plenty of thick history books you could pick up, but maybe you're someone who wants a more dramatic sense of what happened -- even, perhaps, to feel like you're right in the thick of the drama.

To be sure, there's no time machine that can take you back to London during The Blitz, or to the White House Situation Room as JFK stood firm against belligerent military leaders wanting to engage the Soviets over surreptitiously putting nukes in Cuba. But these days, in little 140-character snippets, many of those moments are being played out for the whole world to see. And if you close your eyes, you can almost imagine you're there. … Read more

With less than two weeks to go before the November 6 presidential election, things are getting heated out there on social-media sites like Twitter and Facebook.

Twitter said that Monday's third presidential debate generated 6.5 million tweets, on top of the 21 million churned out during the previous debates (two presidential and one vice presidential). Most of that activity was harmless -- partisans supporting their candidate or taunting the opponent, remarking on hot memes like Big Bird or binders full of women, noting interesting exchanges, and more.

But according to the Los Angeles Times, some people tweeting during … Read more

The last of three debates between the presidential candidates also brought up the rear in Twitter activity.

During tonight's showdown between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Twitter users sent 6.5 million tweets regarding the debate during the event, the microblogging site said. That comes in well behind the 10.3 million tweets sent during the first presidential debate on October 3 but close on the heels of the 7.2 million tweets sent during the October 16 debate.

Tweets peaked around midway through the debate with 105,767 tweets per minute when Obama -- … Read more

In the waning moments of the second presidential debate, CNN moderator Candy Crowley asked how Apple could bring manufacturing jobs to the U.S.

Crowley prefaced the question by saying that Apple makes the iPhone and iPad in China. Then asked how to get a company like Apple to make more products in the U.S., citing the iPhone and iPad as products made by Apple exclusively in China.

Mitt Romney was the first to respond. "First, we'll have to have [China] play on a fair basis...Second, we have to make America the most attractive place for … Read more

Although there were no Big Bird or JFK moments during tonight's second showdown between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Twitter users still sent more than 7.2 million tweets during the debate, peaking at either 110,000 per minute or 108,000 per minute, depending on which official tweet you believe.

And there was, of course, at least one popular new meme and the resulting Twitter account, @RomneysBinder.

According to Twitter, there were just more than 7.2 million tweets sent during the debate, down substantially from 10.3 million tweets sent during the first … Read more

For the second time, JFK may have been the star of a vice presidential debate, and Twitter was all over it.

During tonight's debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the two got into a brief skirmish over former President Kennedy, leading Biden to say, disbelievingly to Ryan, "Now you're Jack Kennedy?" The line brought to mind then Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee Lloyd Bentsen's famous moment in his 1988 debate against Republican vice presidential nominee Dan Quayle, who had compared his level of experience to that of JFK prior to Kennedy becoming … Read more

Twitter users may be tired of political tweets streaming through their feeds, but they shouldn't expect the flow to subside, because those tweets are driving actual political donations.

In a study Twitter conducted after last week's first presidential debate between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and released today, the microblogging service said that people exposed to any kind of political tweet are 98 percent more likely to visit a donation page as the average person on Twitter. Not only that, but even the average Twitter user is 68 percent more likely to visit such … Read more

The results of the first presidential debate are in, and despite a lackluster performance from the incumbent moderator -- the NewsHour's Jim Lehrer -- PBS was clearly the winner.

Now, the makers of an online privacy app are looking to further capitalize on the increasing interest in the political campaigns with a pair of viral videos mocking everyone from Obama and Romney to Mark Zuckerberg, all in the name of taking personal responsibility for safeguarding individual privacy on social networks.… Read more

Twitter launched a new star during the presidential debate on Wednesday, but he wasn't wearing a suit and tie. Big Bird from "Sesame Street" was the subject of an explosion of tweets after the topic of cutting funding to PBS came up between President Obama and his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

There was a point during the debate where the phrase "Big Bird" was tweeted 17,000 times a minute. That's some serious action for a fictional creature. He also spawned a slew of satirical accounts. This all just goes to show how Twitter … Read more