 |
|
| FriendFeed is the easiest way to share online. Learn more » |
Alex Nesbitt › Comments
Google Chrome Themes Video Uses Some YouTube Magic To Make A Lasting Impression - http://www.techcrunch.com/2009...
fun designs for your chrome browser.
- Alex Nesbitt
Video: Google's Mayer Shows Off 'Social Search' - http://paidcontent.org/article...
This video is worth watching to see what google is thinking about re: social search.
- Alex Nesbitt
Social Search: Customers Influence Search Results Over Brands - http://www.web-strategist.com/blog...
This will definitely impact search and seo strategies. Something to keep an eye on.
- Alex Nesbitt
Ning Launches Virtual Gifts, Allows Network Creators To Design Their Own - http://www.techcrunch.com/2009...
finally a social network sees the light. This should change their economics significantly. Hopefully, FB and Myspace will see the light soon.
- Alex Nesbitt
Amazon Makes Brick And Mortar Stores More Irrelevant With Same Day Shipping - http://www.crunchgear.com/2009...
This is what I started sameday.com to do. 10 years ago. Hopefully the timing is right now.
- Alex Nesbitt
Lifetime's Digital Strategy For Project Runway Includes Streaming On Demand For First Time - http://paidcontent.org/article...
Seems like they are finally beginning to understand that content support community, and turning the community into an economy will soon become a reality
- Alex Nesbitt
How Effective is American Healthcare? - http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/haque...
Interesting analysis, but I think it would be helpful to segment years lost by cause and how much is spent on the last year of life and for what gain. The US loses a lot of young people due to factors other than the health care systems. Gun deaths, suicides, accidents, and war just to name a few areas where I expect we lose young people at a much higher rate than any other developed country. The other area is in a higher than average birth mortality rate due to low birth weight babies (primarily due to high teen pregnancy rates). I know the US spends a huge sum of money on the last year of life, I'm sure way more than the rest of the countries involved in the analysis. In the UK they explicitly take into account how many "quality adjusted" years a drug or treatment will provide and have a cut off point. The Wall Street Journal reported on this in an article called Of NICE and Men http://online.wsj.com/article... Here's an excerpt: "The NICE (National Institute...
- Alex Nesbitt
Worth Reading: How Effective is American Healthcare?: There's a yawning gap between left and right.. http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/haque...
Interesting analysis, but I think it would be helpful to segment years lost by cause and how much is spent on the last year of life and for what gain. The US loses a lot of young people due to factors other than the health care systems. Gun deaths, suicides, accidents, and war just to name a few areas where I expect we lose young people at a much higher rate than any other developed country. The other area is in a higher than average birth mortality rate due to low birth weight babies (primarily due to high teen pregnancy rates). I know the US spends a huge sum of money on the last year of life, I'm sure way more than the rest of the countries involved in the analysis. In the UK they explicitly take into account how many "quality adjusted" years a drug or treatment will provide and have a cut off point. The Wall Street Journal reported on this in an article called Of NICE and Men http://online.wsj.com/article... Here's an excerpt: "The NICE (National Institute...
more...
- Alex Nesbitt
The Time Has Come To Regulate Search Engine Marketing And SEO - http://www.techcrunch.com/2009...
I've experienced the frustration and financial pain from this first hand. IMO it may be worse than this. When sites that show up on the first page of the organic results can be judged by Adwords to be "low quality" and blocked by Adwords for the same search term you know that the process is way too arbitrary for a company with so much power.
- Alex Nesbitt
Comments - What makes people comment? - http://www.digitalpodcast.com/podcast...
Buff Toast, Ed Dale, Isha (Marysia) and 4 other people liked this
interesting ....the bullet points at the end are gold
- Allison
from Bookmarklet
Allison - great find. It's all about motivating people ... which Mizfit is good at on and off the page.
- davidraffenberg
Mizfit is good. It's amazing how quickly she built her audience.
- Alex Nesbitt
Or, show me all conversations that happened on first three hours after Chinese earthquake. http://search.twitter.com doesn't do that.
Grey Drane, Arneh, Christopher Golda and 7 other people liked this
we need a strong,open social search engine to span across all of the popular social sites with robust filtering and alerts
- Susan Beebe
Susan: This is something frienfeed should do... It would instantly become the one stop shop for social content
- peter huesken
"we need a strong,open social search engine to span across all of the popular social sites with robust filtering and alerts" -- I've been thinking about this. What are the best existing sites for searching news and discussion? A few: 1. Backtype 2. Friendfeed 3. FriendFeedLinks 4. Google Blog Search 5. Google Groups 6. Google News 7. Twitter 8. Youtube.
- Sean McBride
Hmm... could Friendfeed become the ultimate social search engine? A worthy goal to pursue.
- Sean McBride
Add Digg and Reddit to the previous list of social search engines.
- Sean McBride
yahoo search picks up 16 status updates on May 12 including a couple of Scobleizer tweets http://ta.gg/1qv
- Alex Nesbitt
Alex: there were thousands of tweets in the first three hours and Yahoo could only find 16 of them? Maybe that's why Yahoo is in trouble.
- Robert Scoble
I am trying to do something similar on www.twollo.com it follows the people talking about what you are interested in
- Paul Kinlan
Wow only 16... EPIC FAIL
- Susan Beebe
It's the difference between the real time web and the time lagged web.
- Alex Nesbitt
Learn How This Blogger Averages 100+ Comments Per Post And Did It In Under a Year - http://www.theeverydayblogger.com/2008...
Andrew Badera, Matthew Freeman, Arvind and 4 other people liked this
I checked this out. The resulting analysis is very interesting. At least to me. Here's the link http://www.digitalpodcast.com/podcast...
- Alex Nesbitt
Dec 14, 2008: Long beach psychic readings by rebecca at Long beach - http://thebeachly.com/upcomin...
Gotta love what a social network can deliver
- Alex Nesbitt
The last thing newspapers need - http://www.buzzmachine.com/2008...
This looks like a planning session to coordinate lobbying efforts for a newspaper industry bailout
- Alex Nesbitt
American Express to become a bank so they can access the $700B bailout... ?
Morton Fox liked this
i wanna be a bank
- Russell Holliman
1. Start a bank. 2. Invest in credit default swaps. 3. Get bailout. 4. ?? 5. Profit!
- Morton Fox
I'll be a bank as well. How much would I get? I could be bailed out with as little as $5mil? Let me look at my books... yep, $5mil outta do it.
- Damien Franco
I think i've lent people money in the past. Does a £5 loan count?
- Roberto Bonini
looking forward to the day GM and Ford decide that they are banks too
- Alex Nesbitt
Daylight Saving Time Ends November 2nd [Daylight Saving Time] - http://consumerist.com/5072350...
Alan Le, Roger Kondrat, Lisa L. Seifert and 6 other people liked this
Thanks for the reminder! Fall back!
- Mona Nomura
PITA - but thanks for the reminder
- Ian May
I wish they'd just get rid of DST...it serves no purpose anymore...it's been dark here at 7am...just ridiculous.
- Alex Scoble
I read somewhere that having DST saves a ton of money. It's still a PITA though
- Ian May
It used to save money in our agricultural past when it was invented. It actually costs today.
- Bora Zivkovic
Yay. An extra hour of sleep tomorrow
- DO ANYBODY NO MONIQUE
if DST saves money... cool... let's be on DST year round... the back and forth is the problem
- Bastard Operator From FF
My best friend lives in Arizona where they don't do DST, so it's a double adjustment twice a year...
- Kev
Careful it may be a Republicn scheme to steal the election.:)
- Alex Nesbitt
Interesting to see people's reactions to Obama advertisement. Many say it is over the top awesome (I agree). Others are saying very boring.
Alejandro, Rebecca Briggs, Glenn Batuyong and 15 other people liked this
I think it's funny to see people get emotional over a politician, especially a scumbag Chicago one. They don't care about you, and 0bama is no different.
- Spencer
It is supposed to be boring, people had enough excitement and frothing-at-the-mouth campaigning, and emo-guys leading the country - they want someone calm, thoughtful and....boring!
- Bora Zivkovic
I basically think it was for those who were undecided. It was basically just a list of things from Obama. Though I have to say. When it comes to production, Obama's campaign has just produced so many polished things. The level of production has just been way up there. I will be interested to see the ratings though lol Highest rated infomercial ever!
- Dean Clark
They just seem absolutely ridiculous to me. People CRYING over an infomercial. Seriously, why would I want to watch an additional 30 minutes of campaign talk more than I already have?
- Zach Flauaus
I think he nailed it. It's not over until it's over but I simply can't see how he loses at this point. Glad I had my kids watch this with me
- Kevin C. Tofel
Some people get inspired in different ways, and connect emotionally to different and in different ways. nothing wrong with that.
- Johan
The funniest thing is the WIIFM reactions. This was produced for a targeted audience of undecideds.
- Graham English
At this point, it's the math. And the math is very, very weird this go round. One thing many politicos agree on is that the polling data could be very off given so many unknowns (youth vote, african american vote, new vote) This type of election that has not been modeled and tested properly before. WP-http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...
- Andrew Leyden
Obama has long ago proven he's brilliant when he's scripted. And...well...not brilliant...when he isn't. Sorry, but the presidency doesn't come with a script. Obama is like the person who seems perfect when you hire him on Friday, but come Monday morning, that's not the guy who shows up to work. I predict he will have a disasterous presidency, worse than Jimmy Carter. I hope I'm wrong.
- Dawn
It did it's job in delivering his message. Those who don't like him will poo poo it. Those who were already going to vote for him may find it boring. This was for undecideds who are being hammered daily with smear after smear on Obama. He got his message out on his terms. I think it will help his cause.
- Rolf Schewe
polls show that mccain evening out the lead, a lot are down to two or three points
- Jonathan Jesse
and those polls are investor weekly, zogby and rasmussen
- Jonathan Jesse
The average 'inaccuracy' of the 2004 polls was about 2-3% (depending on how you measure it). The average over the last 50 years is closer to 4% or so. http://stolenthunder.blogspot.com/2004...
- Andrew Leyden
Dawn: He can't be as bad off script as McCain: "that one" or Palin: "I read all the news, all of them". And I disagree, the presidency absolutely does come with a script, haven't you been watching the show the last 8 years?
- Will Higgins™
Nearly perfect. There is absolutely no way that McCain could come even close to matching it. He is already many people's favorite president. Now Americans need to rise to his standard. Over the top awesome indeed...
- david beckwith
Uggh, so sorry I missed it! Maybe it will be rebroadcast.
- jcunwired
Dawn, no offense, but I'll go with Powell's (and many other prominent republicans, not to mention the endorsement of countless democrats) enthusiasm over your pessimism.
- jcunwired
@Dawn way to quote Guiliani! Was that scripted too?
- Jeremy Toeman
Joe: If the President were a just a figure head and spokesperson, I'd be enthusiastic, too. But considering Obama's only real experience for the job is what he's learned running for the job, I think that makes me more of a realist than a pessimist. He couldn't get hired as CEO of any company of size in this country and you know it, but he's being elected CEO of this huge nation when,...
more...
- Dawn
Jeremy, I have no idea what you're talking about. I haven't seen Guiliani in months.
- Dawn
"He couldn't get hired as CEO of any company of size in this country and you know it, but he's being elected CEO of this huge nation when" - really? how do you know that? what's your evidence? oh, ya, as usual, you don't have any, you just spew typical right-wing commentary without giving it a second thought
- Jeremy Toeman
The problem with the Zogby poll is that he uses the exact voter percentages that showed up in 2004 as his likely voter model. And Investors Business Daily is showing that 70% of the youth are going towards McCain, so judge it's validity accordingly. I can't recommend enough reading the fivethirtyeight.com for poll analysis. It's really detailed and good. The state polls say Obama is killing it.
- Andrew
Dawn, if this country were in a strong healthy state we wouldn't NEED Obama. It's precisely because we're in such a bad state that he even has the opportunity to get elected. The previous administration and its party has failed miserably and proven they can't handle the job. Time to give someone else a chance. Is it a toss up as to whether we'll start heading in the right direction? Yeah, but some chance of making things right is better than the alternative of keeping going in the wrong direction.
- Fa La La La Lindsay
Dawn, I asked before and you didn't answer. What, specifically, is McCain's real experience for the job of president? For bonus points, point out how a McCain presidency would be less erratic than a McCain campaign.
- jcunwired
Dawn: Businesspeople and Politicians are different sorts. You have to realize that a Public servant such as Obama has dedicated his career to representing his constituents and performing the duties which have been assigned to him in his role as Senator, as opposed to building a business. While Obama may not have the business experience to be hired as a CEO, that's got nothing to do with being President. If you want a CEO type leader, you should go vote for Mitt Romney.
- Will Higgins™
I also think it's kind of ironic that Republicans are so concerned about experience when their V.P. candidate has absolutely none! If experience was truly a major concern, wouldn't it make more sense to chose a running mate that has some? You know, to add credibility, both to them and their arguments? Obviously credibility isn't a major concern for the GOP.
- Will Higgins™
@will i continue to be perplexed by that argument - setting aside the question of whether palin or obama are or are not qualified - it strikes me as logically odd to say that if a VP is not qualified for the presidency that automatically eradicates the need to determine if the opponent's candidate for PRESIDENT is or isn't qualified. so if party A nominates a 6 year old for president the fact that party B nominated a small town mayor for VP negates the need for party A to justify their pick's qualifcations?
- Marco(aureliusmaximus)
I thought it was very compelling and very moving.
- Jeff P. Henderson
@Dawn, your description of Obama sounds more befitting of Palin.
- Jeff P. Henderson
The AP didn't seem to like it very much.
- Aram Zucker-Scharff
from twhirl
@Marco - the problem is that not only is Palin not qualified, she's also downright terrifying. And the chance of her becoming president in McCain's term is unfortunately a good bit higher than not since McCain is old and has health problems. It's vitally important that she is qualified to be President. To many people Obama has proved that he is qualified, but there's a much smaller number that believe Palin is.
- Fa La La La Lindsay
very much understand the sentiment - was trying to construct it in a way that was completely neutral and avoided the palin/obama-specific qualification discussion because different people obviously believe different things with regards to that - regardless of what % more likely it is that palin may become vp if mccain wins on a purely logical level the fact remains that the argument has been made that the credibility of the questions about obama's qualifications negate the need for that question to be...
- Marco(aureliusmaximus)
...answered because of the selection of Palin to be VP - its an assertion that i have heard time and again and it just doesnt stand up logically to me - i would rather people say "palin is frighteningly unqualified for these reason and even if she was qualified obama is still a better choice than mccain for these reasons" instead of trying to go for the dig on "Republicans"
- Marco(aureliusmaximus)
Dawn+1 amazing how FF can gang up against any negative comments about Obama. It's puts a bad face on the party that's supposed to be for civil rights and makes you wonder if intolerence will lead to a splintering of communities like FF into right and left just like Fox and Msnbc.
- Alex Nesbitt
@Alex no, its the *type* of negativity. thinking his tax plan has issues is fine. claiming he'll probably be the worst president since Carter is simply baiting for a fight. and unlike mainstream media, here the people who won't tolerate such pettiness choose to voice our opinion. and by the way, your little word trick of linking "civil rights" and "intolerance" to people who don't want to hear this kind of BS is a very cheap shot.
- Jeremy Toeman
Alex Nesbitt -- Yes, Robert claimed the other day that he likes it when people disagree with him and he's claimed that it's not okay to call people "unAmerican" for having different opinions, but he's called Dawn "an idiot" and blocked her for daring to question Obama's qualifications. That says a lot about what kind guy Robert Scoble really is. Look at what he does not what he says.
- theNoseKnows
Alex and Bishop I haven't blocked you guys and you obviously don't agree with me.
- Robert Scoble
Then maybe you're just being sexist. I don't see anything that Dawn said that justifies calling her an idiot much less blocking her.
- theNoseKnows
Bishop: Dawn earned her block over time. I am going to block you next if you try the sexist line again. Update: I blocked Bishop.
- Robert Scoble
I don't know anything about Robert's.issue with Dawn and he can follow/block whomever he likes. My observation is that when some dares to challenge Obama's qualifications they face the wrath of ff community. It feels like it will drive dissenting pov out of the community. BTW I voted for Obama in the primaries and I have serious concerns about the guy and his policies.
- Alex Nesbitt
I'm just shocked, as I was during the convention and debates, that Obama can use the same generic Democratic message as Gore and Kerry, but somehow it's winning this campaign. The country just had to fall so much further for the D message to gain relevance? http://friendfeed.com/e...
- Christopher Galtenberg
Alex the bug in your thinking is that there is one community here. Everyone creates their own community. I only want to see smart people in my community. That has nothing to do with whether you are a Republican or not.
- Robert Scoble
Robert, I agree for most of the discussion on FF, but for the Obama v. McCain issue there is overwhelming support on FF for Obama. His room has 324 people vs only 42 for McCain. That's not a bad thing, but it does weight the discussion throughout the site. I think it's driving some good discussions and maybe people out of FF. I don't need to be in an echo chamber for my own party.
- Alex Nesbitt
@Alex unfortunately it seems that most of the "vocal" McCain supporters on FF tend to use the campaign-like smear attacks as their form of "discussion". very few conversations seem to have straight-forward, levelheaded talk (vs "he pals around with terrorists" or "not enough experience to be a CEO")... i dont think you'd see as much "ganging up" if the McCain supporters took less offensive approaches...
- Jeremy Toeman
After reading Rizzn's post on quitting FF, it got me thinking? Do you feel like it's hard to ask questions on FF - especially political questions?
Keith - @tsudo, Mark Dykeman, Mo Kargas and 4 other people liked this
Nope. I agree that there's a huge swell of Obama supporters on FF, but that's no different than me sitting in the cigar store surrounded by Republicans and starting a political conversation. If you choose to be uncomfortable, you will be. If you have a thin skin, chances are you'll get your feelings hurt during a political discussion anywhere.
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
Ok. I've had my say, perhaps too much of it. I hope for the day when politics can be discussed in a better way, but I realistically doubt that day will ever happen. (sigh)
- Justin Long
Yes.
- Mona Nomura
Asking questions is easy... accepting and allowing the answers is the hard part.
- Johnny Worthington
Nay -- from the conversation flows, I can foresee the outcome (usually). Although there was one thread that surprised me, where it was amicable. (about race). http://friendfeed.com/e...
- Mona Nomura
Tina, when you are having face-to-face discussions in the cigar shop, does the conversation get heated while remaining respectful? Or do they resort to name calling?
- Ken Stewart | ChangeForge
Questions are one thing. Making claims without facts to back them up is another. I've seen a lot of political questions being asked, and users have been very polite when answering them.
- Alejandro
Yes 2
- Alex Nesbitt
No. Though finding people who can actually debate and are willing to defend an opinion with facts and references is difficult.
- AJ Kohn
Not hard to ask, but hard to listen to the same inane responses that merely question the questioner as opposed to answer the question.
- Craig Eddy
Much like on FF, it depends on who I'm talking to. My father (a Republican who's probably Libertarian and just doesn't know it) will smile at the person getting heated and say "I wouldn't go there with her if I were you, but if you want to go on ahead". I've been told I don't know what I'm talking about, that I'll be more conservative when I'm older/more 'mature', and there have been hints at the thought of a 'uterus vote'. And if someone wants to get heated, I use reason to a point....
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
... And if they don't want to listen to reasoned discourse, I'll take of the gloves for a bit. Sometimes that's all people respond to. These are people I've known for years and thus far it's never actually hurt a relationship.
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
Wow, that was an interesting conversation, Mona.
- Ken Stewart | ChangeForge
Name calling is the fortress of the weak of mind and barren of knowledge...
- Johnny Worthington
Sorry, couldn't resist: has it ever changed anyone's mind? or vote? :)
- Justin Long
@John: +1
- AJ Kohn
It can get a little shrill around here at times ...
- Oldengrey (Jay)
A little, Jay? LOL That's a total understatement!! @Ken, that was the first time I EVER had an amicable convo about race...
- Mona Nomura
I'd never get into passionate arguments about ObamaCain 2008. I don't feel passionate about either of them!
- Ian May
I suppose that is the core point, Tina - relationship. Here on "Friend" Feed people assume a great deal - and most often take liberty. This combined with little other signals (e.g. body language), can create undesired tension - I'm sure. I agree with your point, but I had to ask ;-) In the short time you and I have been chatting - I got a similar impression that you don't mind taking the gloves off ;-P
- Ken Stewart | ChangeForge
I think Peanut Butter is better with Jelly, and I'd debate anyone on the topic. But I wouldn't harbor any discourse toward their opinions or place on the matter.
- Terence
Justin, I might have to agree... I usually seek clarity to understand an issue - to continually check that my moral compass is pointing in the same direction as my intellectual compass (yes one can change another in my book). @AJ and @Tina have some very good thoughts on the subject. I must say, I have been very pleased with the communities I frequent. I've seen some really nasty conversations though...
- Ken Stewart | ChangeForge
It's not hard to ask anything here, but people do tend to get all butt-hurt about the answers they get. You have to be able to accept what people say in response, even if you don't agree. Seems like people start getting defensive too quick or just can't seem to agree to disagree.
- Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah
LOL @Rah - "all butt-hurt" Just where did you come up with that one?
- Ken Stewart | ChangeForge
Mona: I was showing some uncharacteristic restraint ;) Terence: I worked on the Welch's Jelly account -- we always said, "Welch's Grape Jelly was the lubricant for Peanut Butter".
- Oldengrey (Jay)
Actually, I think if some of these conversations took place in person (as written) they would result in a fist fight. And because there are no "physical" consequences here they get all wound around the axle. People wouldn't say a lot of this stuff in person.
- Oldengrey (Jay)
I got it from someone on here, I think...LOL
- Rahsheen ™, Coach Rah
Why do people "announce" that they are quitting something? Obviously to get a rise. I find it somewhat hypocritical -- like announcing in a Usenet group that you are putting someone in the bozo bin. If you want to do it just do it and stfu.
- Brian Sullivan
Fine, BE that way Ken!!! *huffs off* ;-) The problem is that there are personalities (on both sides) that only want to hear their point of view and the rest is noise. Kinda like all the noise v signal crud you see posted on FF re: tech et al. There are other personalities that respond to reasoned discourse. There are yet other personalities that respond to the gifted use of metaphor and hyperbole. The problem is you never know what kind of personality you're dealing with during the 1st few conversations.
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
Jay, now there is an idea. Some conversations might just have resulted in "Jerry Springer-like" behavior. Now that is just fun for the whole family.
- Ken Stewart | ChangeForge
Ken: Maybe we should insist on a "chair throw" button as well as a "like" button. Feature request!
- Oldengrey (Jay)
<Tina swings, Ken ducks left> LOL, Tina... I couldn't agree more. It is very difficult to tell what type of personality you are dealing with... The problem with text only conversations... And then there is the other side of the coin that people take what they want away from the conversation - not necessarily what you intended... communication is so hard ;-)
- Ken Stewart | ChangeForge
LOL, Jay... that might be an issue I could get behind ;-)
- Ken Stewart | ChangeForge
I actually think friendfeed is one of the more friendly environments for discussion online. I read Rizzn's post that he quit over. I commented there also. The vast majority of people were super-sensitive to his point of view but they were disagreeing. If disagreement is unconstructive, then the answer is yes. People will not always agree with you here. But there isn't as much name-calling as exists on other sites.
- Andrew
@Occasional, very interesting observation. So if you can't stand the heat get out of the oven, like Tina said...
- Ken Stewart | ChangeForge
NY Times endorses Obama. http://x.techwheat.com/2XO
randulo, Ontario Emperor, Sean Kelly and 9 other people liked this
sadly given their financial situation, it could be their last ever endorsement.
- Duncan Riley
The dems can always pull out the to big to fail argument. They will be running everything else anyway.
- Alex Nesbitt
The last time that the New York Times endorsed a Republican was in 1956. http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/data...
- Ontario Emperor
the editorial is beautifully written, the logic impeccable. Read even if you already voted for Obama
- randulo
yes. there is always impeccable logic for avoiding morons like bush 1 or 2, reagan, nixon, etc. etc.
- Indio Apache
from twhirl
@techcrunch is there any chance you can respect the copyright of my work and NOT republish it on techcrunch?!??! come on guys be fair.
Rakesh, Javier Aroche, Igor Poltavskiy and 13 other people liked this
I would have thought that he would of had some common sense, but I guess not
- Joshua Smith
from twhirl
Does controversy as linkbait *solve* anything? Then current MSM must have world peace in their pocket...
- Robert Worstell
Smells like link bait for all involved. TC gets controversy and links. Mahalo layoffs become background noise to same controversy. Net result more links to Mahalo and TC.
- Alex Nesbitt
Wow, seriously? I always thought Jason gave Arrington implicit permission to post on TC, especially since this all happened around the TC50 awards which Jason was very instrumental in organizing. However, I've always wondered why TC would do that. Jason stopped blogging, after all, so why not give another blog the ability to sound off with his thoughts? (I still think Jason should return to blogging.)
- Tamar Weinberg
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
- Stephan Miller
ROFLMAO
- Igor The Troll יִצְחָק
I now know why Obama stands for "Change", everytime I open an email from him he asks for five dollars. seriously.
Hassan Ibraheem, chartreuse, Nick Defina and 6 other people liked this
exactly. even I'm not american...
- Pico Seno
LOL
- Allen Stern
all part of being patriotic and doing your part to redistrubute your wealth. :)
- Alex Nesbitt
Is that why McCain keeps calling me friend? He wants more friends on Twitter and Facebook?
- Jesse Stay
Let's have a contest, who can find the most outdated corporate blog? Oct 2 2007 http://blogs.hds.com/claus/
Admiral Anika liked this
Jeremiah, I'd also suggest taking a look at who has the most "renegade" blogs representing them. For example, if you take a look at any big hotel chain they will have independent blogs, squidoo pages etc made by employees and other for different properties in addition to their official blog. The information is often out of date and different than the official blog. This has a huge...
more...
- Alex Nesbitt
Now that's not nice. :-) Jeremiah, should you disclose you used to work for HDS?
- Louis Gray
Louis Gray, Yup, it's my job to call it like it is. It's also on my profile page loud and clear. I'm not responsible for any given individuals actions. but it's my job to point it out loud and clear when I see something regardless of my previous affiliations.
- Jeremiah Owyang
I heard Republicans are against wealth redistribution. OK, that's fair. How about all Republicans sign an agreement not to take any unemployment checks after they get laid off? Then I'll believe them. I bet if that were to happen at least 85% would join Democratic party. Especially now.
Prof. Pamela Hood, General Kafka, Adam Bullied and 21 other people liked this
Also, no driving on interstate highways! Don't send your kids to public schools either, etc etc etc
- Chrimmus Tad
Only flaw with that argument: employers pay for unemployment insurance not the employees. It's not the redistribution of anyone's wealth other than the company's.
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
I believe that many Republicans take that position due to the party's platform, not because of their own personal beliefs. That being said - what does John McCain's plan to buy up bad mortgages count as?
- Shawn Farner
They mean the wealth (re)distribution should not be reversed from the present direction of "taking from the poor and giving more to the rich."
- LPH™ and his dog P™
Capitalism *is* wealth redistribution.
- Steve Lowe
I've been laid off a couple times in my life and spent months looking. But I never took any unemployment from the government.
- Sam J. West IV
@Tina The myth that your employer pays your unemployment insurance is the same as the myth that your employer pays half of your Social Security tax. It's all part of your compensation. Your employer just hands it over to the government on your behalf. It's still you making the payment.
- Chris Johnson
Wealth Redistribution is easy to define. It's when Person A gets together with Person B and they decide to give Person C money by taking it forcibly from Person D against their will.
- Sam J. West IV
Again: unemployment is paid for BY YOUR EMPLOYERS. It is NOT a government handout, and if you DON'T take it then who do you think keeps the money? Do you think the government gives it back to the companies that paid in?
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
Chris: by that argument, aren't you shortchanging *yourself* (rather than "not taking a government handout") when you choose to not accept unemployment?
- FFing Enigma (aka Tina)
+1 tina
- Kyle Lacy
You are shortchanging yourself if you don't take unemployment.
- Alex Scoble
Twenty years ago I started a company after being layed off and using unemployment to keep me going.
- Michael Krigsman
@Chris White, we are in danger of finding out.
- Morgan Warstler
Robert, wealth redistribution and unemployment insurance are two totally separate things. Please read and educate yourself as to what conservatives stand for. You don't have to agree, but please understand.
- ChiliMac
I don't understand the connection, sorry. It's like someone saying, "You don't believe in one thing, so you shouldn't do this other, completely different thing." Or maybe not saying it, but posting it on FF. Water off a duck's back keeps the doctor away, that sort of thing.
- Mistletoe Glen
@Tina Yes, you are. You're forgoing an insurance benefit for which you paid the premium. Scoble's thought experiment would only make sense if you could choose to opt out of the unemployment insurance system altogether, neither paying the premium nor getting unemployment benefits.
- Chris Johnson
Chris White: You made me laugh! "And Trix are for kids".
- Melanie Reed
Our society is so abnormal that the normal man never dreams of having the normal occupation of looking after his own property. When he chooses a trade, he chooses one of the ten thousand trades that involve looking after other people's property. - G. K. Chesterton
- Melanie Reed
This was a tiresome argument when the likes of Tibor Machan, Ayn Rand and other libertarians beat it to death in the 60s and 70s. But yes, I'd gladly opt out of government benefits if the proportionate cost of those benefits was deducted from my tax burden. Social security, unemployment, medicare, medicaid...bring it on.
- Rob Sterling
Actually Robert, every time I've been unemployed, I've refused unemployment checks. Never once collected a government cash stipend. And yes, I've qualified for it more than once.
- Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
I'm not a republican, but I'm against wealth redistribution. And I will take any benefits that I've already been forced to pay for via taxes.
- Kingsley Joseph
So the Republicans need a Opt-Out bill.
- Uncle CW™
like any of them would need an unemployment check to begin with .. stupid argument
- Steven Hodson
If the employer is paying for unemployment, why'd I only get $40 for 4 days of temporary layoff in 1996? The reason cited was that I hadn't been working long enough. Sounds like I had to contribute something to get something, and being a college student / grad student didn't count...
- MiniMage TKDteacher of FF
I'm a Dem who's never taken unemployment, despite paying lots in taxes. Obama and Biden have decided it's only fair to have people over $250k pay more. I think the discussion should be what's a fair level of wealth redistribution. Since 40% of us don't pay taxes at all, and get stimulus checks we know what the bottom level is. What's a fair level at the top? How much should government be allowed to take 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%? Or should we just say no one's allowed to make over a certain amount?
- Alex Nesbitt
This is such a weird discussion. As if all Republicans and all Democrats believe the same things as others registered in their party. The Republicans particularly these days are a mish-mash of libertarian-leaning small-government economic conservatives and religious social conservatives...
- LogEx
...there are a lot of people out there who are truly independent, but register with a party so they can participate more fully in primaries. Many of these folks, for example, lean libertarian on issues of freedoms, justice, liberties, property, etc., but may lean economically conservative but socially progressive.
- LogEx
There are a ton of poor Republicans, and a ton of rich Democrats.
- LogEx
McCain is already covered, he gets disability, he really does. Is that not grand.
- MedicalQuack
from twhirl
In a country with so much opportunity for virtually every individual, I find it strange that it's considered ok by any mainstream political group to take money away from people who are willing to work hard for it only to give it to those who either aren't or have made personal choices that make it much more difficult.
- Jim Dittmer
I hear you but at the same time unemployment is insurance that everyone's employer pays into so it hardly seems like wealth redistribution to collect on an insurance claim.
- Brian Shields
@Scoobie - Employees pay for unemployment, just like they pay for health insurance. Dude, have you ever run a company? When you agree to give an employee $X, you do it in full knowledge that you also have to cover other costs for them - if you suddenly didn't have to pay those costs, the employee could, and would, be paid more. The government is only robbing Peter to pay Paul. Don't be dense.
- Morgan Warstler
It's amazing how the experiences of a little misfortune in life can turn a Republican into a Democrat. It's also called "developing empathy.";-)
- Cathryn Hrudicka
Cathryn: It sounds like you are implying Conservatives/Republicans lack empathy. Trust me, we do not. :D
- ChiliMac
I am an individual. I have NO FAMILY. $5000 is half of what I pay.
Aaron Krug, ·[▪_▪]·, Uncle CW™ and Alix Whitmire liked this
Maryam turned to me and asked "is McCain on crack?" when he brought up the $5,000.
- Robert Scoble
Less than $5700 would give my family and I the highest available medical, dental, and vision option
- Jeff Layton
from twhirl
I thought the same thing, Robert. And Jeff, all I can say is, lucky you. I hope this new "master health plan" of McCain's doesn't change the quality and value of your coverage if we get stuck with it, but I'm guessing it would.
- Leslie Poston
Just to be clear, the assumption is you'd ALSO be getting the money in your salary that you currently get in health benefits. That's $5K + current. That's why Obama keeps noting McCain would tax it. The real point is for those 42M who use the emergency room, they'd have $5K to spend to get HMO style preventative, which is plenty.
- Morgan Warstler
simple question: you get 5K back as a tax break (? still not sure on this) .. I don't see how this would make any difference to the rich but do you really think that the poor would be spending it on healthcare or are they more likely to spend in on things like .. ohh .. say ... rent that is increasing , food bills that are increasing or how about car insurance and gas that is all increasing as well .. chances are that tax break wouldn't see a single doctor bill .. in other words it would be a fancy bookkeep
- Steven Hodson
Yep 5000 gets me through 5 months of premiums if i stick with the plan i have, which means we have to pay 3500 per person deductible (that would be 10K per year) on TOP of the 5K and 30 percent of medical costs after that deductible is met. NOT TO MENTION $1500 in pharmacy deductibles. HOW MANY HOUSES DO YOU HAVE MCCAIN?
- jeneane sessum
since this is a thread on healthcare I just wrote this on my "personal" blog and some might find it an interesting viewpoint http://www.braincellsoup.com/healthc...
- Steven Hodson
Your rate depends in large part on state mandates. Basically, whatever the medical industry lobby has been able to get away with. In some states like NJ, it's insane. McC plan is to let people buy insurance from plans in other states which are not so bloated with state mandates. This works fine for those that have it now eg dependents who are out of state for school but covered by...
more...
- Alex Nesbitt
Yes, someone mentioned that we still have our employers health care. If we have employers. I *am* my employer (self employed) and this $5000 doesn't touch my health care premiums now, not to mention the deductables, and I'm a fairly healthy woman in my 30s whose biggest issue is allergies and asthma (thank goodness)
- Leslie Poston
Even if you have an employer, health insurance is part of your employer's cost in hiring you. It's not free.
- Morton Fox
Individuals would only get $2500 on McCain's plan...$5k is for families.
- Alex Scoble
The problem is that it is highly likely that employeers will no longer offer health insurance. They get a tax break too... for what they pay. Why would they continue to do that?
- Brian Roy
How does a tax credit help someone get insurance if they have preexisting conditions? They'd have to cap premiums. I doubt the McC plan considers that.
- ·[▪_▪]·
Wait, wait... $2500 for an individual?? Is he even operating on the same planet we are??
- Leslie Poston
People telling me to not discuss my fears of the economy have got me fired up! Jeremy told me that saying that the economy is in a death spiral is irresponsible. My brother told me the same thing the other night. But, the truth is the truth and I'm going to report it. Asian markets down 10%: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap...
Dimitar Vesselinov, Frank S., Susan Beebe and 19 other people liked this
So, argue with me. Why are we NOT in a downward spiral that there is no end in sight to?
- Robert Scoble
“Guess the way to think about it is we took everything we saved the last few years and instead of putting it into things that grow and make other things (like technology, better food, etc), we put it into something we didn’t need more of: a bunch of tract homes in Antioch. And those don’t give anything back. It was all well intended and set up for about 10 years — lets give...
more...
- Mona Nomura
via my 'smartest' friend (Stanford econ grad with an MBA from Wharton) He lives in Manhattan and is employed by one of the biggest investment and securities firms. He's also appeared a few times on MSNBC.
- Mona Nomura
What about Cramer telling folks to get the hell out of the market? Coming from a man who pumped up the market for the past few years.
- Aviv
Robert I am more with Jeremy. Down 10%. Not good to be sure. BUt a good data persons says: 10%. Ok that is steep but it is NOT 50% - the energy of the conversation, the panic stuff, that would equate to 50% from a data point of view.
- Roxanne Darling
from twhirl
Robert, I think the issue is that people are already afraid, you throw out more reasons for them to be fearful, and they are afraid of that. Honestly, I'm worried about what's going on but, I try to provide solidarity to the people around me. As such a big pillar of the blogging community, I think that maybe they just want you to try and be solid. I respect you for your unflinching honesty.
- Jimminy Fuller
from twhirl
Robert: I agree. The truth is the truth. We often don't understand the "principle of bread dough" when it comes to our own country's actions financially or otherwise. (Anyone who bakes, knows what this metaphor means) Or put another way, its like disturbing the water table: you can't dig in one area and not think someplace off site will not be affected. Re: home ownership. Everyone needs a home. The problem lies in elevating the cost of the high end so that the low end becomes increasingly....
- Melanie Reed
Crammer didn't tell people to get out of the market. He said you should have a cash reserve for 5 years to plan for the worst. He said definitaly not to pull out your 401k if you are more than 5 years from retirerment
- Robert Hafer
Aviv: Cramer was right, based on this week's performance in the markets so far.
- Robert Scoble
talking about fear - yours, others is not the same thing as saying we're in a death spiral. being positive about the future does not preclude talking about your fears. i see it like this. things are bad. they're gonna be bad for a while. not a lot of this is within our control, but some is. i am focused on identifying that which i can control and dealing with it. i am also working to keep from allowing my fear to gain too much control over my actions.
- MikeAmundsen
Robert: of course he was, but calling doomsday when it's, well, actually doomsday, is not really all that difficult. Some smart folks have been predicting this for many months (even years) now, but as you can imagine they weren't the most popular ones at dinner parties. People were too afraid to think about what's going to happen.
- Aviv
Mike: so far my only actions has been to put off some major home repairs that aren't totally necessary in order to have more cash on hand. Problem is, one little action like that repeated by everyone causes plumbers to get laid off. And the cycle continues. Roxanne: the stocks I track have lost about 30% of their value so far, or more. Nvidia, for instance, used to be at 40. Now it's about 8. That's not just "10%" and I don't see any resistance to it going down more.
- Robert Scoble
Robert: Do people not realize that with outstanding debt, what we robbed from Social Security & Medicare, the US is in the tank for $53Trillion? This will be a wake up for many...
- MVB (Grinch of FF)
unattainable for larger and larger groups of people who miss even that entry. The more luxuries we demand in our society the more we take our eyes off what we really need. Why should we begrudge making it possible for everyone to afford a home if it means we do without some things that frankly we don't really need?
- Melanie Reed
Robert: i hear ya. right now some of your actions might cause some pain for others. that sucks. i'm sure you only do this cuz you need to. not everyone will be in the same spot. some will be able to do things that help others in important ways - even it that it not monetary. and i think that's important ot keep in mind. the 'solution' is not tied only to money. i found some changes i can make to improve our family's lifestyle even while we adjust where/how we spend.i see others doing similar things, too.
- MikeAmundsen
I think it's more of a call for you to report on how people are trying to correct the economy instead of just saying that it's going under. Shed a little hope and optimism on the situation instead of more fear.
- xero
xero: the problem is that most everyone I talk to is still in the middle of fear. It's not known how deep or destructive this crisis will be. It's clear it's one hell of a storm coming though. I said it's like having a Cat 5 hurricane coming directly toward you and the best you can do is hope it doesn't swamp the levies near your house.
- Robert Scoble
My portfolio is down avg 37% and one of my stocks down 82% ... I sold some of my tech stocks two weeks ago; glad I did. Looking at BIDU and GOOG now, might get some tomorrow. They will go up again. Companies need the leads they get from search engines.
- Julio F ~ @SocialJulio
To add, have you evaluated your investment strategies? (long term, short term, etc.) And are you sure the recent events will impact you in the long term? Bigger picture, you guys. Look at the bigger picture...
- Mona Nomura
@Mona: +1
- MikeAmundsen
Julio: I would dollar cost average back into the market. I'm still seeing a LOT of downward pressure on stocks. We haven't yet faced the true bottoms of our fears. Plus, if financial results come in at the end of the quarter and they are bad, GOOG could go down even more.
- Robert Scoble
Mona: the market probably won't come back up a lot for at least two quarters. First we need to really get to the bottom of the market (we ain't there yet). Then we need two quarters of better than expected results to really see a good move upward. Maybe even one, if we push this sucker down enough. But I'm hearing of lots of layoffs coming through. Those will be tougher for people to recover from.
- Robert Scoble
Aaron: good advice, but that requires a bit of self delusion. I'm not quite there yet. :-)
- Robert Scoble
I went 100% into cash Apr 2007 because I didn't want the risk of being in the market given an unpredictable housing bubble (Also left the market in Feb 2000 except for $20,000 which did terribly). Many friends in the Bay Area sold their houses 2-3 yrs ago & started renting. I've been watching the market to see if I want to cost-average in... S&P is down 36% (996, high 1556 in July 2007).
- Mitchell Tsai
Robert: And that's only four quarters. Are you planning to retire any time soon? I sure as hell hope not. And as a leader in the tech industry, people are looking at you to tell them: "Look, everything is crap right now, I'm not sugar coating anything. Things ARE going to get tough. But this what you can do and how you can do it. There *is* hope." You have such a large voice and a huge presence. Don't use it to instill fear, but use it to tell people be realistic but optimistic, and we will pull through.
- Mona Nomura
...unless you truly think we're not.
- Mona Nomura
Aaron: leaving Microsoft was the best thing I could have done for me and my family. Since then I've gotten to meet Queens and Presidential Candidates, not to mention the world's smartest geeks. All stuff I would never have gotten to do if I had stayed at Microsoft. And, if I get laid off, I can always go back!
- Robert Scoble
Yeah, I figured. But it deserved a straight answer. :-)
- Robert Scoble
International markets are simply responding to what happens on Wall St. Forget the Nikkei, it's an outlier, the other markets reflect more like 5%, in line with the results from the US overnight (here). Right now, the US moves global markets, not the other way around.
- Warren
i wonder if someone will give me a loan so i can invest in the market right now...
- George Lee
from twhirl
Robert, I'm not going to argue with you on the facts. Right now, it's an emotional issue with you and everyone else. My one observation is that you seem much more pessimistic than most of the people I work with, and I work for Yahoo!
- Mistletoe Glen
I promised myself I would stay out of this but I have to at least say this: Robert - who is to say the "truth" you are "reporting" is the right "truth"? Surely you don't see yourself as a economy expert able to say what is and what isn't the "truth". Honestly I wish you'd stop talking about the economy and fear and get back to talking about those "world's smartest geeks" and companies...
more...
- Brandon LeBlanc
from twhirl
Brandon: that's an interesting point. But if my truth is not the right truth, put out an alternate view of what you view as truth. Don't tell me to shut up. And I refuse to be typecast into a little box of only doing PR for startups. If that's what you think I'm all about you are definitely wrong. By the way, if you want some good news you should read this: http://www.avc.com/a_vc... from Fred Wilson, VC.
- Robert Scoble
There is more to the economy than people's stock portfolio. Mine is down on average 18%. I don't like it but really, the hyberbole here is not in synchrony with the math. The markets are more driven by psychology than math. We can manage our psychology, if we want.
- Roxanne Darling
from twhirl
Better yet - http://www.rgemonitor.com/
- Aviv
I love how we can have "conversations" thanks to FriedFeed. If this was a topic on a blog, I would read it, but not participate... not sure why...
- Julio F ~ @SocialJulio
Robert, with your awesome contacts and press pass, I would like to see you post some stuff as to what we as common tech folk should do, and when. Something helpful with much information that the geek factor can use to in protecting ourselves. What to plan for? What companies are doing in tech? Does Cisco see a down turn, if not now when? What should we look for in the companies we work for as signs of coming cuts or something. Just keep a close eye on things for us.
- Uncle CW™
it is scary down in So Cal too, but somewhat depends where you are and who's talking
- MedicalQuack
from twhirl
As I understand it, Robert is saying (and please correct me if I'm wrong) that we are possibly in deeper trouble than we realize. Now I agree with everyone that we should have hope and look forward to a recovery but I believe Robert is kinda calling for a deep and frank examination of the fundamental issues underlining this in an attempt to ensure this doesn't happen again. Glazing over the eyeballs and only looking forward won't expose the weakness in the system, a system we all have responsibility for.
- Johnny Worthington
John: I certainly am looking for more pushback than I'm getting. That lack of serious pushback (and pushback does NOT mean telling me to "shut up", but providing evidence that I'm wrong) is really freaking me out even more. The fact that I have to go and find my own "anti" evidence is telling me that we aren't really having a good conversation yet about what's going on. That too tells me that there's more downside because if FF'ers aren't able to articulate where the economy is going I have little hope.
- Robert Scoble
Robert, my point wasn't you to go off an do PR for startups. My point was you have the power to influence folks here in such a way it can help ease fears. I don't think you're all about PR for startups. Why I like reading your stuff is because you point out really neat stuff YOU think is cool. You thought some of what Seagate is doing with storage was cool and you talked about that. BTW...
more...
- Brandon LeBlanc
from twhirl
I think it's worse than most people can even understand. I thought the downside exposure was the housing bubble burst, until I learned about the credit default swap (CDS) market. It is a huge, never regulated ponzi scheme built on top of the mortgage market that dwarfs the mortgage problem by 10x. The CDS market has collapsed and frozen the commercial credit market. This American Life has an incredible podcast about this. Links and a summary - The Crash of 2008 Explained http://ta.gg/1h8
- Alex Nesbitt
Aaron: I don't think we're at bottom. I think it might solidify at 9,000 for a little while, until financial results start coming in. Then I wouldn't be shocked to find us at 8,000 or below. Once we hit that bottom then I think we can start talking about rebuilding the economy. But that's just my opinion and, you know what they say about opinions! :-)
- Robert Scoble
Robert: if you're looking for folks to tell you it's not gonna get any worse i suspect you're out of luck. if you're looking for some predictions about wher the bottom is, i don't think it's pretty early for that. i, personally, think we'll see resistance@ 9000. i can't get my head around the int'l economies, tho. Pakistan and Iceland are teetering this morning and Europe is just starting to deal.
- MikeAmundsen
Robert, you have a great deal of influence - why spread fear when you can help ease people's fears instead?
- Brandon LeBlanc
from twhirl
Well, here's something to think about Robert: of all the banking crises around the world from 1970 through to today, the average amount injected by governments to bail out their banks has been something like 6% of GDP. Your bailout is, (perhaps not) coincidentally, 6% of your GDP. So either you've got it really bad, and 6% isn't enough, or the bailout will work once its effects flow through.
- Warren
it is scary down in So Cal too, but somewhat depends where you are and who's talking
- MedicalQuack
from twhirl
Brandon: simple: I'm not a propogandist. The day I become one is the day that I lose all that influence you ascribe to me. And, finally, we all have equal voices here on FriendFeed. If you see that I'm wrong, put out an alternate theory!
- Robert Scoble
Sorry about the duplicate post,
- MedicalQuack
from twhirl
You don't have to be at rock-bottom to cost-average in...just as you don't have to sell at the tops. Or mimic some institutions and slide in-out positions partially (e.g. 25-50-75% at a time). You don't make the maximum gains, but you can be happy about "hey. I pulled 25% out, and bought back in x% cheaper in one month". Gives some happy news in a down market. I started investing just after the 1987 crash (86 college grad), so I grew up on down-markets. They're opportunities!
- Mitchell Tsai
Scoobie, you were moaning that McCain was going to win 2 weeks ago - and you knew more about that than you do about the economy. Just do your job we subscribed to you for and shut up about all your amateur feelings.
- Morgan Warstler
Waht blows me away is all the money going towards R and D, millions, but someone has to be able to afford the end result product or service somewhere down the line
- MedicalQuack
from twhirl
We're not in an endless downward spiral because eventually it'll get to zero and stop. Okay, seriously, there are still real assets out there. What's happening is the leverage applied to those assets is going away. We should not get too far below 1:1 or else... I'll buy it up.
- Morton Fox
Aaron. Stop-losses are a classic exit technique. You can also use multiple stop-losses (e.g. 1/3 sell at -15%, -25%, and -35%). That set doesn't help you now that the market is down 36%, but consider a new set of stop losses at -36%, -40%, and -45%. If the market tanks & goes down 60%, you'll be patting yourself on the back. If the market goes up tomorrow after selling 1/3 at 36%, you can be sad about taking a little loss, and happy that the other 2/3 has recovered. Find happiness either way.
- Mitchell Tsai
If you are down 36%, you need a 56% gain to recover. But if you are down 50%, you need a 100% gain to recover. That 14% difference is crucial. Difficult lesson of stocks - "Sell your losers, Hold your winners". I didn't think the potential gain in 2007 (given China's boom and the sky-high stocks) was worth the possible losses from a crazy housing bubble. Yeah, I've only made a lousy 4% in 2007 and 2008. I think in 1991 I made -1%, and was happy I beat the -4% S&P.
- Mitchell Tsai
I actually have to agree with you Robert.
- Mathew™ one of a kind
.. and the tsunami has not hit europe. yet. i'm simply tryin' to take cover, and abandon all investments. then, we'll see.
- Marco Scano
I think fear is good, because we've been on such a high for the last few years. "Irrational exuberance" in the housing market is as much of a problem as it was in the tech stock. Getting back to the fundamental with a balance of fear and greed is not neccessary a bad thing.
- Eric Lau
My thoughts here: http://www.jeremytoeman.com/why-im-...
- Jeremy Toeman
They have a point because fear feeds on itself. We are seeing politicians play on our fears right now, trying to use fear to their advantage. But fear mostly comes from the unknown. We should discuss our fears. Understand them and then realize that the worst case scenarios aren't that bad.
- ChiliMac
FriendFeed should add a time stamp at the end of each message ... Robert, I did not buy GOOG ... saved a few dollars; Thanks!
- Julio F ~ @SocialJulio
The War on Intellectualism - http://www.bilerico.com/2008...
Aaron Schaub, bill giltner, Aviv and 28 other people liked this
"It seems there is a new threat to our country- an insidious danger that is seeping into our homes and everyday lives that must be stopped at any cost. That threat is intellectualism. We have heard the some of the buzzwords of this political season- Folksy, Joe Six-pack, Elitist, and Arugula Eating. It seems the new "culture war" or wedge issue is intelligence. The Vice-Presidential debate only solidified the lines in this war. On one side, you had Palin- full of "folksy charm" and "you betcha" language. Then you had Biden, who had a command of the issues, but was called "boring" and (gasp!) "professorial" by the pundits."
- Sean McBride
from Bookmarklet
Except it is nothing new - it's been an undercurrent of American politics and culture for a long time now.
- Bora Zivkovic
Obama One Kenobi is our only hope :) But seriously, how does the US hope to survive. Our days as a manufacturing center are long gone. Seems that the way of the knowledge worker and technology are the right way. As such, can we convince Joe Sixpack that he needs to study more? Perhaps the greatest thing about Bush is that nearly no one likes him. If it weren't for Dubya, perhaps McCain or Romney would be more popular.
- Mike Reynolds
Mike, I don't think this is as much to do with Dubya as many like to think. IMO that's symptomatic of a general trend. When I first came to the states, when Clinton was still the man, one of the first things I noticed was the lack of respect for knowledge and education (and this exists even in the tech community). I remain completely baffled by this.
- Deepak Singh
Agree with Deepak, he took the words out of my mouth
- Sally Church
Maybe if you berate them, call them "idiots" and "morons," they'll suddenly start agreeing with you.
- Mistletoe Glen
I think the problem starts with the culture in our schools (which, at least publicly, are funded and "guided" by the government) which emphasizes complete submission to authority and elevates athleticism above academic performance. The whole "nerds vs jocks" thing... It's fortunate now that at least technology is changing that among the kids somewhat, if not among their teachers and school administration. It will take at least another generation before the tide really turns for intellectuals.
- Fa La La La Lindsay
I think it goes even deeper than that: the culture in our schools is really just the culture in our country.
- j1m
Sorry to disagree about schools but they do not reflect much of our society. At best, some schools might provide a distorted view of someone's interpretation of our society. The best we can hope is that schools are freed from the trappings of society and an environment is provided so students may explore knowledge from many angles.
- LPH™ and his dog P™
I would stipulate that schools in many places are not reflections of society. Most of my respect for knowledge was fostered at home. That said, in the schools I studied in, excelling at academics was always given more importance, both in the public and private schools I went to. Since I did not grow up in the US, can't really claim to understand what the reasons are, but it's the kind of situation where it might be impossible to pinpoint one or two reasons
- Deepak Singh
Well, the culture 'which emphasizes complete submission to authority and elevates athleticism above academic performance' is a deep part American culture, and that culture also permeates American schools. The history of submission to authority is much, much older than the history of public schools, so I think schools are pretty much ruled out as the source. I don't know anything about the history of why athleticism is so widely revered, but I'd be curious to know more.
- j1m
Like #1. 10/05/2008.
- Robert Scoble
We see the aftermath everywhere. From the economy collapse, to Apple's stock dropping 10% from a silly rumor from an uncredible site, to politics. It's about time America woke up. THINK, people!
- Mona Nomura
Define authority though. To me the ultimate authority is my parents, even today when I am not quite a young un. Probably true for many others from the subcontinent. Is that the problem, or part thereof?
- Deepak Singh
My pet theory: the key to making people care more about their own education is to make the rewards more apparent or immediate. If getting A's on tests earned more money than selling drugs, many people would probably behave differently ;-) (And of course there are many ways to make rewards more apparent/immediate that don't involve money.)
- j1m
Deepak, I'm assuming you're probably from somewhere like India from the comments you've made (and please forgive me if that's a bad assumption)... The cultural relationship between kids and parents is somewhat different in the US and when I say authority I basically mean the government and its model in the school system, administration and teachers. Kids usually don't listen to their parents after they leave home, and sometimes they stop much earlier than that.
- Fa La La La Lindsay
@j1m - I agree... there needs to be some way to inspire kids by internal motivation, not just to get good grades but to actually LEARN things. The problem is they are given assignments that are much less interesting than the alternative ways they could spend their time... they finish them because they have to be done, not to actually LEARN the materials... We are missing something. I think it's because our school system is geared to produce factory workers and not knowledge workers.
- Fa La La La Lindsay
Schools are too focused on test results and their rankings in the districts to be concerned about whether a child is actually getting the material or is gaining an appreciation for learning. Since it's easy to look at test scores as an indicator instead of judging a child's excitement and comprehension of the materials as the criteria for advancement there's a disconnect. We need to teach them how to teach themselves and reward them for going above and beyond the baseline curriculum.
- Fa La La La Lindsay
Lindsay, correct assumption. The reason this topic fascinates me so much is that most of the people I have met in the dozen or so years I've lived in the US do not fit the general "anti-intellectual" mould, which leads to the question about how they got to where they are today in a culture which seems to discourage that.
- Deepak Singh
I think it's the easy manipulation of the media. Anyone with a lot of money or tireless drive can hire a publicist/work the media garnering enough coverage/exposure to eventually create an impact or image, positive or negative. The barrier of entry to become an influencer is almost zero these days, sometimes not necessarily in a good way. We are what we consume, in a sense. If we raise the bar, we'll rise with it.
- Patricia
This convo is evidence enough that the "intellectuals" don't get it. It's about popularity not IQ. Just look at Hollywood box office vs real art. Brad Pitt, Jolie, julia Roberts etc. bring in the big money and $$ mean power. There is nothing intellectual about it.
- Alex Nesbitt
I think this has been a part of US culture since the 1970s - Nixon was the first Republican politician to base his campaign on anger and bitterness directed against the country's intellectuals, and it's been like that ever since.
- Alexander Carlill
lindsay: I'd be careful about scrapping exams. The UK has shown that the move towards coursework orientated teaching methods precipitate a collapse in the performance and engagement of males in the education process. A decline that is reversed upon entry into the competative environment of the university. Using exam results in order to rank schools is bad however.
- alphaxion
It's like your whole country is subject to one giant instance of the Dunning-Kruger effect when it comes to choosing a leader. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...
- Warren
obama pokes fun at palin: "We're not going to let him hoodwink ya, and bamboozle ya, we're not going to let him run the okie doke on ya."
Alex Nesbitt and Leslie Poston liked this
Is that like "lipstick on a pig" "but I didn't mean Palin"?
- Alex Nesbitt
Congress may have fiddled too long, the levees are breaking now, but the sandbags are still in the warehouse. http://bit.ly/3o86ik
Zachary Tumin liked this
Nancy Pelosis should be held accountable for bringing this to the floor only to have it voted down. I'm sure she crushed many retirees along the way
- Alex Nesbitt
So first we have the fat cats on Wall Street, and now future elite in college being hammered.... but hey Main Street shouldn't be right? Unfortunately the Senate bill still has the problems of the House Bill - plus being festooned with ornaments galore. And don't get me started on Mark to Market ... remember the first reports that acknowledged a big part of the problem was the...
more...
- David HC Soul
I am sitting next to a guy reading Wall Street Journal. All the news in it was on FriendFeed and Techneme and Google Reader yesterday.
Göze Sencer, Lu Tao, Nicholas James and 84 other people liked this
What does getting that news 24h early do for you, Robert? I feel the same smug feeling seeing slower outlets sometimes but I'm not always sure I benefit from being so close to the news volcano.
- Daniel J. Pritchett
I work for Yahoo! News - I get to see it before it happens....
- Mistletoe Glen
if wsj was smart, it would have known to marry you to its online platform - and you'd be getting it there instead :)
- Patricia
Guy here at work got an SMS on his iphone today from Rogers - USB power adapter recall - quick search in FF showed that tidbit 10 days ago!
- Capn' One Eye - adrift
For all those not in high-tech, Google Reader, Friendfeed, and Techneme isn't an option. Reading the news in the WSJ is the resource.
- Randy Ksar
from twhirl
ALL the news? or all the top headlines?
- Michael Markman
from twhirl
I glanced over the front page of the NYTimes today on a coffee break and thought to myself, "geez, that's all old news already".
- Brian Ries
The definition of "News" is something that is "New" to the reader. Those not sitting online all day can get a handy filtered, noise free and considered opinion in a portable format. In-depth analysis is missing from "lifestream journalism" and a good newspaper will expand "yesterday's news"
- Michael Rose
The thing that the WSJ can do for someone is add in depth analysis and opinion. Something the social media echo chamber is rapidly showing itself to be HORRIBLE about. We get lots of info on FF / Twitter / Techmeme but much of it is distorted and biased almost beyond use. Don't get me wrong, I think there is HUGE value in FF / Twitter and love them both - but it is becoming clear that more in depth outlets are also needed.
- Soulhuntre
Did you inform the guy of this thing called the "Internet"
- Michael McGimpsey
from twhirl
Soulhuntre raises a valid point.
- Mathew A. Koeneker
Agreed. It'd be tragic for all if we lost what newspapers bring to the table. People should want to be helping them make the transition, not gleefully clapping their demise. Those are huge entities who supply jobs. Web 2.0 is quick to want the death of all things 'old' but sadly, none ever talk about or create models to replace it. At best, one out of the million blogs will be grown enough to be able to employ 30 people. Conde Nast employs hundreds and thousands. It's just a loss all around.
- Patricia
I love my elitist brethren. And imagine, some people don't get or can't get news AS IT HAPPENS WORLDWIDE.app.php like the rest of the upper class. So yeah, thanks for that.
- Eric Rice
the same with every newspaper in Sweden.
- Svartling
Internet = breaking news, newspaper = backstory
- Alex Nesbitt
This is the same reason I'm letting all my magazine subscriptions lapse. There's nothing in them I hadn't already seen.
- Joey Gibson
There's still something about enjoying a relaxing Sunday morning with the paper, though.
- MVB (Grinch of FF)
My wife's allergic to legumes; since most papers are printed with soy-based ink these days, I haven't subscribed to a newspaper since the mid-1980's.
- Mistletoe Glen
that might be true for the news and headlines, but lengthier and more explanatory stuff often requires a bit of digging and some time to weigh and reflect -- there's much more to news than what's on the envelope.
- Adrian Chan
Ha I wrote about this not long ago.. http://is.gd/3avk
- Joe Dawson
I doubt that everything in the WSJ was in FriendFeed . There are only a few papers in America because most are really part of a homogeneous blob due to all the syndicated stories they pick up. The WSJ does not rely on syndication, and instead produces its own material; it is by far the best newspaper in the states and is interesting all the way through. If you said the NYT or LAT, yes they are all over FriendFeed and have little depth unless they are articles dealing with culture or their local domain
- RAPatton
same here although I still read the WSJ (online only)
- Chris Selland
Nothing new. I have stopped reading newspapers. I have my Google Reader in my mobile to take care of the news. Newspapers are yesterdays story.
- Sidharth Dassani
More than likely, print media will be hybrid models or go digital entirely. expect it in TV as well (already has happened, etc.). the next project i'm considering is a hybrid model in hopes to create an example that can work for both. Don't kill print media!! Just help it become more modern :)
- Patricia
Makes sense. Its not like there's anything interesting going on in finance at the moment.
- john conroy
Had to be on Twitter too, if not first!
- Ed Shahzade /NextInstinct
I'm a fan of the WSJ. They might not be the fastest, but they have some of the best insight I've found. FriendFeed, TechMeme, and Google Reader are better tools for determining what happened. I think the WSJ is better for figuring out the why and how. Different tools for different jobs.
- Aaron Schaub
Apple Bans Podcasting App From App Store - http://www.podcastingnews.com/2008...
This is really bad. Hope it's some kind of mix up.
- Alex Nesbitt
Other ways to read this feed:
