Some of those expressions look familiar... definitely a Buchheit boy. - Clare Dibble
Which expressions are you referring to, Clare? Are they being curled up, stretching, yawning, just laying there sleeping all day, or all of the above? ;) - April Buchheit
Don't like FISA? How bout the IRS? If you are concerned about privacy, this campaign promise will interest you -- and affect many more Americans than FISA. From the Obama site: http://tinyurl.com/6p48f8 Obama will ensure that the IRS uses the information it already gets from banks and employers to give taxpayers the option of pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign and return. - Jay Tannenbaum
How does providing me with pre-filled tax forms using info that they already have affect my privacy? It seems like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. (I understand that the income tax is itself a privacy invasion, but that's a separate issue) - Paul Buchheit
He says he'll "take his lumps." I wonder if he realizes that his "lumps" could mean a McCain victory. - Nick Dynice
Existing EZ 1040 should be easy enough. I don't want my employment records and my banking records in a giant database that sends me a bill. Just because they have the data doesn't make it right. For me it affects more people and is worse than FISA. (Closet Libertarian) - Jay Tannenbaum
Jay, the fact that H&R Block and the like exist proves that it isn't easy enough for many people. I don't like taxes either, but they already have the data -- sending a little bit of it back to me doesn't harm my privacy one bit. - Paul Buchheit
Keep in mind that it's now been conclusively proven, in case anyone was still a believer that Obama was "different", that "Obama SAYS he will... " and "Obama ACTUALLY will..." are completely different things. Apply as needed to the other things he *says* he'll do to get a little more down-to-earth view. - Ryan Waldron
"Haven't been listening" ha! The audacity of arrogance. I'll be voting against McCain, and it just so happens that means Obama will get my vote, but I don't support his duplicity. - Jason Wehmhoener
Don't worry Jay, those of you making $8-$14 million dollars a year from 59 different income sources won't be part of that pre-filled tax form and can continue to cheat on your complicated tax returns with a tax preparer of your choosing. But for the rest of us 99.9% of Americans who have household incomes less than $80,000 and most from one source, it would be nice not to pay H&R block $80 every year just to put the X's in the box for us. - Adam Turetzky
Adam, are you really saying that I make 14 mil a year and cheat on my taxes? That you willingly want to give your private banking and employment info to the feds but freak out over FISA? The whole class warfare thing is fogging your goggles there a little. I mean, you don't want anarchists at the socialist barbecue. Haven't you ever read Kropotkin? Fill out your own taxes and you can still keep the dough to buy toys at circuit city and the apple store! ;) And I don't mind worrying. - Jay Tannenbaum
I haven't a clue what you make or cheat on. But why do you or anyone think that your banking and earnings are private? Hell I'll agree with you about abolishing personal income tax on wages earned. But as things are now, my employer, my creditors and if I had them my investment institutions already report everything I make to the IRS. The way things are now, I just regurgitate this info to them once a year for them see how good I am at reading it back to them. - Adam Turetzky
LOL well um, nader ftp (for the presidency)? - Mona N.
Jay: absolutely not. I'm outraged by his decision. It doesn't make sense. My only hunch is there is some reason he did this and plans to change it down the road. His past voting record almost never breaks rank with my other Senator from Illinois Dick Durbin. I don't know what to make of this other than if he wins the white house he plans on introducing bills or using the abusive tools already exercised by this administration (signing statements) to strip all of the last 8 years out of the books. - Adam Turetzky
Adam: What he was thinking will be revealed soon enough. I miss Chicago and Chicago politics. Next time I'll buy you a hot dog at Poochy's or Herm's -- your choice. - Jay Tannenbaum
Ahhh yes, Dempster street hot dog joints. I'm more partial to Superdog! Although I hear they're moving it and tearing down the old one. This time for real. :) - Adam Turetzky
Adam, your hunch "there is some reason he did this" may be right. :-) See the Keith Olbermann MSNBC commentary on this issue. (I am reposting the link Alexei Tolkachev shared in the Dave Winer thread on Obama & FISA) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25... Watch the video. It is 10 minutes long but worth it. - Karim
Eh, "there is some clever secret reason this isn't awful" usually turns out to be wrong. Secret reasons in politics are hardly ever good reasons. It's just good old fashioned lameness. - ⓞnor
So, Olbermann thinks there's maybe a loophole in the bill that allows criminal liability, and maybe Obama's gonna say "Ha ha! Fooled you all! BRING ON THE ATTACK DOGS OF JUSTICE" once Bush signs it. Bet you ten to one odds it doesn't go down that way. Ten to one odds the whole thing fizzles and we're all a bunch of fringe moonbats harping on some issue that's So Over. - ⓞnor
Olbermann is an apparatchik. He will justify whatever Obama does. - Jay Tannenbaum
He's got some wishful thinking going on for sure, but he's no apparatchik. - ⓞnor
What made the democrats during Watergate (or republicans too) so much tougher than today's congress? - Chris White
Karim, thanks, I hadn't seen that. It's interesting and goes along the lines of what I was thinking. But Keith said something right at the end that I think made more sense; "you're going to take the hit anyway, you're going to get beat up no matter what, do what's right". - Adam Turetzky
Well, it sounded plausible to me. :-) It's kind of the opposite of what happened in the OJ Simpson trials: he was found "not guilty" in the criminal trial, but got bankrupted in the civil trial. In this case the phone companies won't lose billions in class-action lawsuits, but maybe some of the responsible people will go to jail. Was it a flip-flop? Yes. Should he have stood his ground at the cost of losing the election? Don't think so, no. - Karim
loved the way you put that, ⓞnor - "BRING ON THE ATTACK DOGS OF JUSTICE!!!" :-D - Karim
Hey it just the Constitution, who gives a hoot...Kinda reminds me of that old adage about frogs and boiling water - if you toss one into a pot whose water is hot, it'll jump right out. But if you put one in while the water is cool, then slowly heat it up, the gradual warming will actually make the frog doze off into happily slumber... in fact, the frog will literally let himself be cooked to death without so much as a ribbit. - Will DeLuca
@Will, that's actually not true of frogs, just humans. Only in this case they aren't bothering to do it slowly. - ourdoings test
"For amusement, I made a graph of the last ten years of the Dow, as measured in Euros instead of dollars." - Chris White
Anybody know of a more up-to-date graph of the DJIA in Euros? - Chris White
Interesting. Chris, why do you think the dollar is overvalued? And compare to what? - Harry Chen
Harry, I didn't make the chart, I just quoted Joe Williams, the guy who did. However, I think it was overvalued at the time (2006), which has been proved so far since then. - Chris White
"The more powerful an application is, the more specialized it is, and thus with increased power its intended audience shrinks, and ironically, it becomes more, not less, vulnerable to competition." - proee
"Determine a basic need -> Create a service that satisfies it in the simplest way possible -> Open it up" - proee
I'm shrieking and throwing good china at twitter right now. the bastard. - Erin Kotecki Vest
Can't until their mobile client works better on Blackberry. Currently, I'm disconnected from FF when I'm mobile - which is a lot. Twitter has Twitterberry so when Twitter is semi-working, I'm still connected. That's a missing piece for Friendfeed. - Aaron Brazell
The mobile component of Twitter is still the winner for me. This is better for conversation, but still not really intended for true status. - Jared Smith
@technosailor - Now that I've started work on Blackbird, I could clone it for FriendFeed's API - got a suggestion for a good name? :-) - Dossy Shiobara
@Dennis... I have. Gotta remember a remote key? I don't think so... the font-size also looks ridiculous on the blackberry and makes it hard to read, much less follow conversations. - Aaron Brazell
@queenofspain - yeah, "BlackFriend" isn't the first name I'd use, LOL. FriendBerry isn't exactly great, either. BlackFeed? Uhh... - Dossy Shiobara
I'm trying, but I need a Twhirl type program that works for FF. - Summer
FFtoGo works well, better than FF on the iPhone. Still needs "hide" though. - Thomas Hawk
You can change the colors pretty easily with the Stylish Firefox extension. The appropriate style is at http://ungroundedoutlet.com/mi... (I can't add it to userstyles.org right now as that site is not working) - James Williams (willia4)
"BerryBuddy" ...but it sounds like one of my daughter's Strawberry Shortcake dolls - Erin Kotecki Vest
Now that I have SMS gateway via Post2FF, the only thing I'm missing is WAP browser support (aka mobile) and the rest of my friends from Twitter. - Brian Daniel Eisenberg
Dennis, I don't have an iPhone/iTouch. Neither do most people. Welcome to real life. - Aaron Brazell
@itsinsider - Cool names, but FriendFeed's "mascot" isn't a bird (like Twitter's), is it? - Dossy Shiobara
Only thing I dislike is the remote key when signing in. That and having to scroll to find new tweets. I think there should be an SMS option. - Les
via fftogo
Agreed. Also, if you don't like the Friend Feed web interface, try Twhirl - Matthew Davidson
via twhirl
Hey James, thanks. I knew about Stylish but the code for friendfeed works well. - Michael Tefft
@Dossy his other app is Blackbird, hense the bird thing. - Susan Scrupski
via twhirl
I do use Twitter via the SMS interface and would want to have that functionality still. - Joe Magennis
@Aaron - also works fine on S60 mobile with standard web client. Just checked with Nokia N95. Quite a few people have those along with 10+ million iPhone peeps + however many iTouch peeps. - Dennis Howlett
via fftogo
I've done my part, haven't logged into twitter in a month. - Jason Kaneshiro
I am all for it if I can get people to move over - twitter is driving me absolutely nuts - at the same time it helped me make some awesome new connections just this week. Love/Hate defined. - Tony
via Alert Thingy
I'm one of Twitter's biggest fans, and it's driving me up the wall today. I need to make sure FF could replace the "feed hub" functions and more importantly the mobile access I have to Twitter tho - Doug Haslam
via twhirl
I've added a link to FF on my blog bio - Andy Roberts
Until FF or Pownce, Jaiku, and Plurk have SMS capability, Twitter is the way to go - Glenn Batuyong
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How about naming it "Grackle"? A fine shiny resourceful bird found in the south that apparently have no fear of lawnmowers as they used the agitated state of the lawn to find things to eat... - Aron Michalski
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I find it very interesting that this article appears in the Financial Times. Definitely more interest in this new platform is coming from the Business community; until recently FriendFeed was only visible for the more IT oriented people IMO. - Jeroen De Miranda
Just installed Stylish and suddenly Friendfeed is a much nicer place to be. - Roger Benningfield
I'm just trying to convert myself being a morning person. I really don't get it. After being in bed (sleeping!) from 9PM, at 7AM I STILL won't wake up... - Claudio Cicali
At 3:30pm every day, I'm a sleepy monkey - Ginger Makela
I have tried to take naps in the past and have always ended up feeling awful for the rest of the day. I've tried both short naps (~20 minutes) and longer naps but either way I end up suffering from "sleep inertia" for hours (ie: until I get a night's sleep). - Laurence Gonsalves
I often have the craziest dreams when I nap. Awsome. - Marianne
""Testifying to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Michael Masters of Masters Capital Management said that the price of oil would quickly drop closer to its marginal cost of around $65 to $75 a barrel, about half the current $135. Fadel Gheit of Oppenheimer & Co., Edward Krapels of Energy Security Analysis and Roger Diwan of PFC Energy Consultants agreed with Masters' assessment at a hearing on proposed legislation to limit speculation in futures markets. Krapels said that it wouldn't even take 30 days to drive prices lower, as fund managers quickly liquidated their positions in futures markets."" - Chris White
These guys are full of crap and they know it or they should be fired. These guys are attempting to manipulate the price oil in their favor by playing on the credulity of Congress and the public. If rampant speculation accounted for 50% of the price of oil then there would be huge ammounts of money to be made by betting in the opposite direction and the price would crash. Why not just eliminate all futures markets? No more hedging your bets! - Kevin D. White
The lesson here is the most basic one in Economics. When demand outstrips supply the price goes up until demand comes back down. You want the price of oil to drop quickly? Find a way to dramatically increase supply or decrease demand. Anything else is a waste of time. - Kevin D. White
I actually agree that the price is going up because people are moving their capital from the stock and real estate markets to commodities, as well as a hedge against inflation and devaluation of the dollar. I don't buy the argument that this is supply and demand, because I don't believe demand has risen that much in the past 6 months. - Chris White
The stock market is not about supply and demand. AAPL is not making less iPhones or Macs than they were last week, yet speculators have decided that it's not where they want their money right now. Why should commodities be any different? Of course the difference, is the price of Apple stock doesn't affect every aspect of our economy. - Chris White
Kevin: Have you noticed a smaller supply of Oil? Enough to account for a doubling in price? I've seen one gas station during this whole thing that didn't have gas and it was because their gas was cheaper. We've actually had a fairly dramatic supply increase during the price escalation and the price has continued rising. - Andrew Burd
And if you still believe that the price of Oil is being driven by supply and demand for the underlying product, watch the news that Petrol trades on. Pipeline problems in countries or political turmoil in the mideast or Sabre Rattling by despots. These are the things that speculators trade on. These shouldn't have a 1-2% effect on the price of oil in a day because they haven't actually affected the supply yet. - Andrew Burd
Nearly all markets are volatile in the short term and are often swayed by emotion and imperfect information. You can blame a short term rise in price on speculation. Oil is no different than any other market. But the long term trend? Nearly 50% of the price? No. For that to be true the entire free market model has to be wrong. Bets on the future turn into obligations in the present where supply and demand still rule. How do you stop people from planning for the future? You can't. It's nonsense. - Kevin D. White
The only reason I'm considering buying USO right now is because I want to protect my portfolio from eroding. If the Fed raises interest rates and the dollar strengthens, I would dump the USO. Look at the US real estate market. Most real estate agents a year and a half ago would have said it was bogus to suggest that houses weren't worth as much as they were. Well, they aren't worth that now. - Chris White
Kevin: we have actually had rules in place on commodity speculation by institutions since the 1930s. We had those rules in place because of price problems caused by speculators in the past. In fact, the reason we had a CFTC is that these problems have arisen in the past and been solved by legislation. And the relaxing of these rules coincides pretty directly with the massive increase in prices among commodities. - Andrew Burd
Chris: I've read a number of economist discussions on the Fed and they all seem to believe we are going to still be below or at 2.75 by early next year. I wouldn't count on the Fed raising rates too dramatically anytime soon. Not with the Bank activity as low as it is. - Andrew Burd
The only ways to make (or keep) money right now seems to be buying commodity indexes, moving from dollars to euros, or shorting the market. :( And Andrew, I think our banks are taking that liquidity and pouring it into the commodities markets which is fueling the problem. - Chris White
Banks are being really really tight with their capital right now. I actually traced back the cash reserves for Bank of American on Bloomberg today and they have actually increased reserves since this time last year. That tells me they are hanging on to every dollar they can in case of disaster. That isn't really an endorsement of BAC so much as a sign of how worried these banks are. If they weren't worried they would be loaning like crazy while their competition is frozen. - Andrew Burd
Andrew: can you tell if these dollars are invested in commodities though? Probably not, as there is no transparency to commodities futures trading by institutional investors right now. I agree, they are not loaning money, since 30 year mortgages are at 6.25 and the Fed is at 2.75. What was the point of all those rate decreases? - Chris White
The rate decreases are keeping the banks solvent. Banks can't sell off their mortgages now so they have to keep their loans on the books. So they can't make as much $ which means more could go under. This could lead to a LOT of problems for every single citizen. Especially if the bank is a big futures player. It's weird to see the rate banks are borrowing at so much lower than the rate you can, but until this storm passes it's the way it needs to be. - Andrew Burd
And the cash is listed as "cash or cash equivalents" so it is most likely invested in very short term bonds. With the commodities market as volatile as it is, it would be more of a risk than a bank living their the wreckage of their previous risk could handle. - Andrew Burd
This is where the free market, or government, or the system breaks down. The banks and real estate industry makes some really bad decisions about housing and loans which I never agreed with at the time, The whole thing goes south, the government bails them out, and I pay for the thing I was against with my taxes and decreased value of my capital through devaluation and inflation. And then we get soaring oil prices as a door prize. - Chris White
Well think about it like this, subprime mortgages are good things. It encompasses microlending and helping the poor get something of real value in this world. And the banks can and should provide that. The problem was the fact that those very risky but very good items were sold wrong, as a stable item. This caused a big mess. So the real problem lies with the people who packaged the loans in such a way that they could be sold to people who shouldn't have bought them. - Andrew Burd
So now you have banks who were doing what they should have been doing on the edge of collapse. And if they collapse, because of the large series of hedges in the managed futures market, you could have an impact upon all of us that is much larger than the impact of just that bank (think in the trillions as a legit possibility). So the gov't stepping in may cost you a billion but it takes away the risk of you losing thousands of billions. While I wish this wasn't going on, I like the gov't stepping in. - Andrew Burd
"it doesn't matter very much to me if I'm a despised cubicle rat who can't afford a nice car and gets sneered at by pretty girls, because when I go home and turn on my PC, I suddenly become a level 75 Night Elf Rogue who Kicks Serious Ass!" - Michael Mink
wow. 50 bucks an hour. low barriers to entry. no degree required. no experience required. Only issue is that it is unethical. It turns out that a lot of people do not care about ethics. - rokhayakebe
@rokhayakebe I can think of less ethical jobs with worse hours. - Kevin D. White
Is that even legal? The 4 weeks of stalking, that is. - Mark Trapp
If everyone keeps pushing that all content should be free, then I'm looking at this as a backup career choice. Gotta work on my technique. Can you spare a quarter while I'm learning? - Cyndy
Disgusting -- I'll happily give my money to the shelter instead - Shey
I used to keep some soup lunches in my car and when I would get panhandled on a corner, I would offer one. Nobody ever took it. - Phil Glockner
I friend of mine used to keep fast food gift certificates in his car. Whenever people would ask him for money for food, he'd offer them enough gift certificates to buy a meal. I don't recall anyone ever taking one. - ha3rvey (That One)
BTW, I give regularly to the community services department at my church, and to the local food bank. - ha3rvey (That One)
To add to the list of those who offered food in lieu of cash, I had the same experience. Many times I would offer the container of left overs when I left the restaurants, on some occasions I hadn't even gotten to open the bag and offered whatever I had gotten through the drive through. I even remember once I ordered an extra value meal cause I had seen a panhandler at the corner. While there were times my offer was accepted, way more often than not it was turned down. - daniel the cuban
I had to play the video to just work out what a "pan handler" was. So beggars... sometimes I appreciate living in a nanny state where we hardly see beggars...ever. Maybe a handful in major cities. The beggars always freak me out in the States.... - Duncan Riley
My favorite: a guy stops me in the parking lot at a drug store near a train station. Tells me his starter is out, and he needs a few bucks to take the train home since his wife is out of town. I had *no* cash on me, and I told him. He said "okay" and went on his way. About a month later, same guy gives me the same pitch at a different drug store. I told him, "Dude, you need a new car. I should call the police." - ha3rvey (That One)
@Duncan Riley: You are in Perth, right? I've never had a problem in Perth, but every other city seems to be the same. I had a guy come into a restaurant in Sydney the other day and ask people for change... - Nick Lothian
Sprague, if you lived in San Francisco, you'd likely become destitute yourself pretty quickly with that attitude. - Adam Lasnik
Nick, in Melbourne now, you still don't see them very often. Maybe in the odd spot in the CBD, but really no where else. SF and the Valley they're like rabbits. Everywhere. SF is worst, but even Palo Alto and other classier areas as well - Duncan Riley
This story contains everything that's wrong with local TV news. Ick ick ick. - Leo Laporte
This story tells some of the truth to these people on the street wanting money, now It's not all right but it has some truth in there!! You have to know where it is!! - Paul
Who cares. Give them money or don't give them money. But it's not ok to stalk them for a month. - Leo Laporte
leo you dont get the point, this has been going on for years & as someone who lives next to one of the assholes i am glad to see this. i do agree its distasteful but it had to be done - sam
via twhirl
My parents (who are from the East Coast) were shocked by both the ubiquity and tenacity of the panhandling when they visited SF. Ick. SF is such a sad, sad place. - wyclif
If they're committing a crime, arrest them. If you think it's criminal, urge your local government to make it a crime. But just because you don't like it or you think they're assholes doesn't make it ok for a private party, even the sacrosanct fourth estate, to follow them home. This is typical crappy holier-than-thou reporting. - Leo Laporte
I'm with Leo - these newscasters give me an icky feeling. yet I agree with the solution - find institutions that I trust and approve of. I live in NYC - I love funding good subway performances though.. - sedgewick
I see them all the time in my area and I know half of what i see isn't the truth and I feel if they really need help they'd of gotten it!! - Paul
gotta love the assumption that his reporting proves they are all frauds... "are they hungry? are they telling the truth? chances are, after the investigation we did, the answer to all those questions is no." so, you spend a few days following one girl, and now "chances are" all panhandlers are lying? mmkay. - Anthony Citrano
leo the sad thing is what you talk about happening wont because everone wants drama with a happy ending. this is typical of old media but i think you are over stepping - sam
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Is he over stepping or is he using what he knows, I am not saying we should assume everyone who is on the street being a panhandler but I don't give money to anyone without just cause. Just like religion and freedom of speech, they have their rights, and I have mine. If they want to do it for money that's there business but they do make it harder for the ones who REALLY need Help. it's the idea of one bad apple don't ruin the bunch. - Paul
I have very mixed feelings on all this. I'm annoyed at sensationalist journalism. I'm saddened that real homeless often don't get the help they need. I'm disgusted that stupid kneejerk focus on permissiveness re: homelessness rather than long term, often difficult decisions. And I'm bummed that I wasted 6 minutes of my life watching that lame video. - Adam Lasnik
In Dallas, back in the 90s, these types of panhandlers reached epic proportions. Finally, the clubs and the various shops down in Deep Ellum (the punk post-industrial district) banded together and created a campaign complete with signage saying "don't give the bums money - it only encourages them - keep Deep Ellum clean." Turns out all the Deep Ellum bums were running the same scam and living together in a three-story mansion in the most upscale neighborhood in town, according to an investigative report. - Mark "Rizzn" Hopkins
@Phil Good call, I'll gladly give food. I've gone into restaurants to bring them out food and they've all taken it and seemed appreciative. - Shey
@Leo if anyone in my neighborhood is ripping me off (plumber, mechanic, local beggar) I'd want to know about it. - Shey
I think we know we should give our resources to shelter and other charitable organizations, but it is often hard, because we would like to think if we were in the position where we needed help someone might. Of course, often you aren't helping anyone even if it is not a scam, but you want to believe this is the person where some kindness will make a difference. - RAPatton
It's not accurate to say that those giving money are not getting anything for it. They are. They're paying off their guilt, or making themselves feel good for helping someone in need, all because they probably haven't made time or money available in the rest of their lives to do something about the homeless, or any number of other social problems. I seriously doubt anyone who was actually involved in socio-economic causes would give money to a stranger on the street. - Rick Powell
Great screencast-- I hadn't used hides before. I have mixed feelings on the UI, especially the number of options for "friend-of-friends." I also think pushing hidden items to the bottom might not be discoverable enough. But whatever - awesome. - Jake
Very helpful to see how this was intended to be used. Thanks! - RyanEs
Hope Ross spends his whole internship making videos (Dan, too) to explain how to use all FF features. This is especially helpful for mainstreamers like me who pose as early adopters. - Anne Bouey
