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Brandon Wood › Likes
A dollar bill taped to the floor of friendfeed's offices: - http://www.flickr.com/photos...
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Monique, Pat Hawks, Erik S and 152 other people liked this
This is a dollar bill taped to the floor of FriendFeed's headquarters. It's a bit of social engineering. They figured out it kept people from tripping on the cord cover because people noticed the money on the floor.
- Robert Scoble
Hahaha, now that is brilliant stuff. Awesome.
- James Mowery
from twhirl
This is a fantastic idea.
- Jeremy Botter
Wouldn't last long in my office.
- Ralph Whitbeck
Amazing.. think I could use this idea in a few places.
- Roberto Bonini
Clever! i love it.
- Kurai (ff)
from twhirl
Simple, clever, great idea. That FriendFeed crew is a bunch of smart fellers!
- Brandon Wood
My employer is too frugal to do that.
- Jonathon
Inexpensive risk management.
- Dave Pelland
Ha! Very clever.
- Brent Newhall
brilliant
- mjc
Wow! I'm speechless.
- directeur
from NoiseRiver
nice
- Mike Collett
The dollar bill trick doesn’t work with strippers though ;)
- Moved to Facebook
@Earl: Consider it a stripper-filter, then. You know someone's a stripper if they trip over it.
- April Buchheit
for some reason i expect a "stripper filter" to be something coded using regular expressions. sad, i know.
- Karim
The message here is that Web 2.0 companies are so ignorant of money and revenue that they even step over a dollar on the floor
- Jason Carreira
from twhirl
Genius!!!
- Joe Dawson
Interesting. The photo has been viewed more than 500 times, but has only earned 62 likes and 19 comments. So, for every 1 thing we can see here there's another 9 people hanging out lurking in the shadows.
- Robert Scoble
@Scoble the old 90-9-1 rule :) (well almost)
- Naor Mark
You could always just superglue some road kill to those things. Nothing gets people's attention more than a dead opossum.
- Andrew Leyden
wow, that's funny smart!
- Susan Beebe
I stubbed my toe on that dollar.
- Michael Muller
Heath And Safety in the UK would not approve....but I do!
- Toby Graham
"but has only earned 62 likes". This currently stands as the most-liked Flickr photo of all time.
- Vezquex: God of FF
I forgot about that photo. It does work, though. Everytime I visit friendfeed's offices I see the dollar and I'm careful not to trip over it. :-)
- Robert Scoble
That's dumb. Why couldn't they afford to run the cord somewhere where it wouldn't be in the way in the first place?
- Robert Peña
As an IE I can state that's definitely not something to publicize. Definitely not OSHA Kosher.
- Adi
Great idea will have to remember this.
- Laura Gonzalez
Reminds me of the deli counter in grocery store in Scotts Valley across the street from NorCal offices of MetaCreations (the Fractal Design arm of it). Local companies'd go there for lunch daily. PROBLEM: Deli counter pencils (for marking your sandwich menu) disappeared at frightful rate. SOLUTION: Deli affixed pencils with price label. Price: $100.00. Pencils stayed at store. :)
- Susan A. Kitchens
Haha I like that trick for keeping Pens from going missing Susan!
- Garin Kilpatrick
Want to Know What Flickr Thinks Should be Censored, Public Art, Museum Paintings and Screenshots of the Flickr Blog When They’re Critical of Flickr - http://thomashawk.com/2009...
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David Slater, endiaferon, Mihai Secasiu and 44 other people liked this
The first of the images of mine censored by Flickr is of a sculpture that sits in the middle of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. It’s public art approved by the City of Beverly Hills and seen by thousands of children every year. Unfortunately Flickr deems the image too risque for the public view and has instead chosen to censor it. The second image of mine censored is of a painting by artist Mel Ramos that hangs in the Oakland Museum of California. Again, a public museum visited by children every single week of the year. The third image of mine censored by Flickr is of a screenshot of the Flickr Blog announcing the Yahoo acquisition of Flickr from back in 2004 stating, “…but we’re going to stay true to our vision and to the people who made us what we are — that’s you, the Flickr pioneers…” The post was critical of Flickr who many feel have not stayed “true” to their original vision. The fourth image of mine censored is a screenshot of an interview that I did with the website Black Star Rising. The fifth ima
- Thomas Hawk
Good point here. Flickr censorship are very random.
- Håkan Dahlström
It's really too bad that Flickr takes this kind of approach on censorship. I really don't think they should be censoring anything (short of child porn), but if they are going to censor their members' photos, they should at the very least have a very specific set of guidelines that they follow. And these guidelines should be posted prominently on the site, so their members know exactly what's going on, and to what standard they are being held to.
- Brandon Wood
Furthermore, users in Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and South Korea are permanently barred from seeing restricted images, even if they have a Pro account. Supposedly because Yahoo fears lawsuits from overzealous porn prosecutors.
- Nils Sandin
@Nils And Germany as well? Must be the prohibition on the Nutty Pinwheels.
- Christopher Harley
it does suck that adults in Germany, et al, can't see boobs on Flickr even when signed in as an adult even though they can see them on commercials in Germany. I think the thing that bothers me the most about all of this is that it happens quietly and behind your back. I feel that if Flickr is going to censor you that they should at least have the courtesy to notifying you that they are doing it to you and why.
- Thomas Hawk
Censorship and communication re: censorship is the consistently bad part of Flickr, ever since their beginnings, actually. Early on (pre-Yahoo purchase), Flickr marked my entire stream as "restricted", but I never did find out why, or why it was changed (other than me complaining)
- Seth Anderson
You're right Seth. Flickr has consistently had a censorship problem. I'd just like to see them make some systematic changes to improve this. Starting with notifying people when they censor them. I don't think that this is too much to ask. Especially as a paying customer of the site I think I should be allowed to be told by them if/when I'm being censored and why.
- Thomas Hawk
ok, flickr has uncensored 4 of my 5 images now. Still working on getting the fifth one uncensored. I'm also hoping that they'll agree to notify users in the future when they mark their work "restricted."
- Thomas Hawk
Good work, Thomas. That's great news.
- Alberto Lopez
Welcome to Social Media Fascism! FAIL
- Igor The Troll יִצְחָק
Let's all just abandon flickr and zooom over to Zooomr. Much better atmosphere there.
- Bill Scherer
I don't mind a "possibly objectionable content" flag (though I'd like it to be broken down into categories) for the benefit of people who aren't necessarily prudes themselves but have bosses who are. But the way the Flickr/Yahoo bends over backwards for the "It's for the children" crowd really gets under my skin. And I completely agree that they shouldn't flag a photo without notifying the user.
- Eric P
Eric, exactly, notification is probably the single biggest issue here. If Flickr is going to censor you I think that they have an obligation to let you know when it happens and why. Doing it behind your back is BS. My own images were censored for months and I didn't even know about it until I figured out the fairly obscure way of using the organizer to find these censored images.
- Thomas Hawk
Flickr just closed the thread where this was being discussed in the Flickr Help Forum allowing no more commentary on the topic. Not surprising of course: http://flickr.com/help... They never did agree to notify users when they are being censored going forward.
- Thomas Hawk
Media is clueless on what 3G means. Some news reporters claim that "the three-gigabyte iPhone" was released. Some report that it's the 3rd Generation iPhone. Ugh.
Anthony Citrano, Joe Lencioni, Armando Alves and 32 other people liked this
Aaron- it stands for 'Go wait in line while a Get a burrito because we're going to be here all night. Goodnight...'what? they're sold out?' Greeeeat.
- Ryan
I'll take a guess - 3G refers to the iPhone using the 3G or 3rd generation high-speed mobile phone data network?
- Internet's Tad
Yuck. I've seen this, too. Luckily our reporter didn't even get into it, but I made sure I looked at her copy before the story was released. It's not just the media though -- lots of buyers are saying ridiculous things. Like, they're buying this version of the iPhone because "the OS is more of an open platform than the previous model." Ehhhh. I cut that quote, along with a quote about "speedier cell phone service." No, the phone service is not faster.
- Kevin Hessel
iPhone 3G doesn't mean 3G.
- Chris Qie
I heard a Canadian reporter call it a G3 iPhone. Nice try lady, but you're about three processor brands too late. ;-)
- cecily
LOL @ "3rd Gen" iPhone! Had that same discussion with the three iPhone users in my office. They swore this was the third gen phone, thus 3G. Ugh...
- JA Castillo
So what DOES it mean already?!?!
- Lisa L. Seifert
Gee, you mean ordinary non-technical people get confused by the mobile industry's vast array of acronyms, and don't even bother to try to comprehend? You don't say? Seriously, you can say "3rd generation high-speed mobil phone data network" but now try to explain what THAT means to someone who doesn't really care.
- Jason Wehmhoener
its the mobile phone standard/technology between 2g & 4g
- mike "glemak" dunn
G is for "generation" The original iPhone used the 2G GSM standard, but, because it took advantage of some updated standards for data, it was called a 2.5G phone. GSM and other 2G standards like CDMA are all digital, as distinguished from the first gen analog phones. 3G (of which there are a few competing standards) offers faster data transmission than the the fastest 2.5G data standardsstandards, and in theory can support higher quality voice too. 4G will be faster still. WiMax is sort of a 4g preview.
- Erik S
People tend to lose interest when they hear an acronym explained with more acronyms. What's the difference between GSM and CDMA? What makes 2.5G different from those? Why are there so many different incompatible standards? (I follow this stuff and have answers to these questions, but most people are just irritated by the whole mess)
- Jason Wehmhoener
@Jason, (a) Not caring doesn't excuse a journalist's obligation to get the facts right, (b) a journalist's job is to cut through the mumbo jumbo to make it understandable, (c) one would hope the reporter covering such an event is either a biz or tech reporter and they DO understand it. If that's not possible, it doesn't negate "a" and "b," (d) they can avoid the issue and just call it "faster" because the average *reader* of an iPhone story as a news story (rather than as a tech story) probably doesn't care
- Kevin Hessel
Kevin I want to agree with you but the mobile phone technology space is fragmented beyond reason. I don't expect a reporter on a culture beat to get it.
- Jason Wehmhoener
Most people are clueless about "3G" -- they don't care about the things we think they do.
- Mitch Ratcliffe
The main stream media is generally clueless about tech. It never ceases to amaze me how lazy some reporters are. If they did just 5 minutes of research before writing or reporting on a story they would be 100% more informed and not look like idiots. Even here in silicon valley we still have reporters that fit this MO.
- Jeff P. Henderson
Well, they are THE media.. What do you expect? They are not geeks, like us. =)
- Winston Teo
That's almost as funny as their use of the word 'hacker'
- Rob Fuller
from twhirl
OHH...and i thought 3G stands for three grams.
- Nir Ben Yona
from twhirl
It gets worse: http://badwriting.plugly.net/38...
- Jules
And they tell that old media are very careful about fact checking. As a blogger I at least have a habit to google everything I'm not 100% sure about. I have a feeling they are connected at least.
- Svetlana Gladkova
from twhirl
The reporter on the culture beat who isn't sure talks to either the tech colunist or looks it up. That's his or her JOB.
- Cyndy
@Jules- wow, that has to be the worst.
- Jake (aka Jawee)
Are this people even human?
- Jim Williams
Here's a wikipedia entry for 3G: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki...
- imabonehead
and last night on MSNBC: http://friendfeed.com/e...
- Anthony Citrano
Now that Replies are back, we get to find out if our fling with FF is the real thing, or just a summer love.
Dave Martin, brian junyor, MarkFromIreland and 10 other people liked this
The conversational-centric-ness is making Friendfeed a pretty noisy place. I'm still trying to get use to the noise. On Twitter, it's like streams of silent messages; pretty much 'In space, no one can hear you scream'. On Friendfeed, it's like being in a bar on a Saturday night!
- Yung-Hui Lim
I'll continue to use both - FF is quite nice for other reasons, and when Twitter goes down, it's still up.
- Dossy Shiobara
Twitter is the Cliff Notes of Friendfeed. Quick and easy & you get the gist.
- Stephen Terlizzi
For me, it's like friends with benefits and evaporates when my true love returns.
- Francine Hardaway
FF is like digg with a twist. And you know who the people commenting on your posts. Well. most of the time. Would be nice to get a mobile widget of FF like Tinytwitter. Maybe there's one that I don't know about.
- Carolyn Chan
Twitter is like a topping on FriendFeed's pizza. Everybody loves pizza. Not everybody agrees on toppings.
- Louis Gray
FF is the Killer! It centralizes discussions and lets things bubble up to the surface! Everything is Transparent!
- Igor The Troll יִצְחָק
Twitter is my Best Friend... Friend Feed is my Book Club... there's more 'deep conversation' over here - but I don't always want every conversation to either be non-existent or terribly deep. Sometimes I just want to twitter like a little bird.
- Lucretia Pruitt
they're becoming complementary tools for me
- .LAG liked that
I'm starting to get annoyed by the repetition of things here, i.e., if Louis Gray shares an item on Google Reader, then over the course of the day 10 or 15 other people share the same item (or Digg, Stumble, etc.). The comments fragment, and the number of items to browse through multiply.
- Kirk Kittell
However, I like both Twitter and FriendFeed. They're different tools for me, and generally reach different subsets of people.
- Kirk Kittell
I like FF - I love Twitter - FF needs to be organized differently, I think - it doesn't have the right logical setup for me
- Renee Hendricks
I'm a newbie on FF. I have twhirl configured to show FF side by side with Twitter. I like the conversational aspect of FF, the ticker-tape-like stream of thought of Twitter.
- Mark Dixon
from twhirl
I'm sure people will complain about twitter when it fails to work, but when they manage to kick themselves and make it work, people will flock back. Twitter can't be beat imo for mobile interaction, or to track things of interest, but both of these are down, so it has no value for me. As I said on my blog I quit twitter so if it works I'm happy but if it doesn't pan out I'm not disappointed
- BCK
I dont care anymore
- Alan Wilensky
from Alert Thingy
Dave looks like Loren still has a Love affair with you! What did you do to the guy?
- Igor The Troll יִצְחָק
Actually, who cares. Everything is a summer love. Some summers happen to be longer than others. So, excuse me but there's really nothing intellectual to discuss here as in which is better. Don't like it, don't use it. Simple.
- Carolyn Chan
I use Twitter and Google Reader to find interesting articles to send to FriendFeed.
- Elizabeth
I just posted something to Twtiter, first time in over a day. Still on FF though :-)
- Duncan Riley
I like FF! Once you get a set of people around you who do not try to inflate their Egos and show how great they are, it is really a cool place! We just share ideas! Dave am I on topic? LOL
- Igor The Troll יִצְחָק
I use FF most of the time. I post messages to Twitter, but that's because they get sent to FF anyway. Better discussion in FF.
- David Sim
How do you know someone is smart? I've been thinking about that this morning and looking back at all the conversations I've had and one common theme is smart people talk to you about ideas, not about celebrities.
John Serra, Roy Montero, LPH™ and his dog P™ and 86 other people liked this
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie would certainly agree!
- Internet's Tad
What about people who share stupid ideas? Like Free Enegery, most conspiracy theories, many political statements, etc etc...
- Internet's Tad
Robert, I like this and totally agree :)
- directeur
from NoiseRiver
Tad: even those people are still smarter than people who tell you about what Britney Spears did last night.
- Robert Scoble
You could replace "celebrities" in that sentence with "names of people". In other words, it's ideas and concepts that are important, not egos. Even "nobodies" can have egos. Narcissism shuts out the world beyond the self, we can't learn if we are always holding up a mirror, never looking beyond it.
- Jason Wehmhoener
My dad once told me that even the dumbest person in the world can teach you something because he probably knows something you don't.
- Jason Shultz
from twhirl
Smart people listen more than they talk.
- Randy Hall
To me the smart people are those that make a well-reasoned argument for and idea and then do two things. 1. Have the guts to put it out there to the world and 2. Have the guts to change their mind if they're wrong (or hold their ground when they know they're right)
- Morgan
I think it all depends on the topic you're discussing. I'd say someone is smart if she can engage with you on the discussion and make you think about it from a different angle.
- Bruno Pedro
Jason: it's one thing if I tell you "Doug Engelbart had dinner at the Ritz last night." It's a whole nother thing if I tell you "Doug Engelbart told me that xxxx idea is interesting and he's working on making that better."
- Robert Scoble
I absolutely agree, Randy.
- Jack (a.k.a. Jeber)
Duncan for example is a smart guy, but still talks about celebrities, so it's possible to do both and still be smart
- Dobromir Hadzhiev
Which reminds me I need to talk to you about an 'idea' at blogher. ok. not really...more about which cam to get for the conventions. lol
- Erin @queenofspain
I agree... This is especially obvious here in LA... although sometimes the celeb mention is the nature of the business -- or at least mention of -- as Calacanis would say -- "webebrities."
- Andy Sternberg
Jason: that's true. I have yet to meet someone who is able to communicate (I have a friend with a mentally retarded son who isn't able to communicate, so we'll leave him out of this) who I couldn't learn something from. Randy: exactly. When I fail as an interviewer it isn't because I'm listening, it's probably cause I'm talking.
- Robert Scoble
Andy: when you talk to the smartest people in Hollywood they talk to you about ideas. Trends. People's work. They don't talk about "I saw Tom Cruise at dinner last night" or "did you see what they said about Oprah in the tabloids?"
- Robert Scoble
Robert: I agree. The point I was trying to make is that we can learn something from almost everybody, even those who we may think know less then us.
- Jason Shultz
from twhirl
I think one can be smart and still talk about "Weird Al" Yankovic, because he's smart.
- MiniMage TKDteacher of FF
from NoiseRiver
Dobromir: Duncan's best work is when he talks about ideas. That's why I love Duncan, cause he tells me who has the most interesting ideas, and he's very willing to debate ideas (I've debated a few with him).
- Robert Scoble
I think people can be both highly intelligent and pretty stupid at the same time. Robert Anton Wilson said it better than I can, "When dogma enters the brain, all intellectual activity ceases." And that doesn't apply to just religious dogma - any kind including political, scientific, cultural, etc.
- Internet's Tad
Robert Anton Wilson++
- Jason Wehmhoener
this is a cool thread! we need a lightbulb "intelligence meter" on FF - users vote on how smart you are based on your posts... bulb gets brighter with more votes!
- Susan Beebe
Susan: fantastic idea! Now that's smart.
- Bruno Pedro
I have a theory that being smart is simply a matter of the attention that you give somthing. Granted, Nobel Prize winning physicists dont grow on trees.
- Roberto Bonini
smart to me is someone who knows what they know but more importantly knows what they don't know - too many intelligent people who never make it to smart because they are too busy broadcasting what they know
- Marco(aureliusmaximus)
That would give credence to the old saying “if smarts was electricity that boy couldn’t light up a 10 watt bulb. “
- Moved to Facebook
Social media is about inclusion, don't alienate too much with your labels and boxes
- Michael W. May
from twhirl
I've found smart people treat being smart like fight club: rule number one is you don't talk about being smart. Rule number two is you don't talk about being smart. To Jason Wehmhoener's point, smart people don't spend their time making a point of how they're wrapped up in smart things or "look what a good person I am for talking to x or doing y."
- Mark Trapp
Smart people usually start talking by conditioning everything - and the first condition is for them to say they are not an expert ...
- LPH™ and his dog P™
Smart folks understand questions are important, they are not afraid to admit ignorance and appreciate that learning is a process not an event.
- Dave Martin
LPH: hmmm, the ultra smart like Douglas Engelbart (who really is the true visionary I've spent time with) just paint pictures in your mind of how the world will be someday. He never said he was expert at something, just talked about how this new world would work. I could listen to that guy for hours. At 82 he's easily the smartest person I've met.
- Robert Scoble
Michael: that's an interesting question. The biggest way I've found? The only skill not smart people have is in ripping down other people's ideas, or, worse, trying to rip down other people altogether.
- Robert Scoble
Robert, put it another way: smart people talk about the world that could be, not that the world that is?
- Mark Dykeman
"No one who cannot rejoice in the discovery of his own mistakes deserves to be called a scholar." - Donald Foster
- Roberto Bonini
Smart people simply can get the job done faster and pay attention to the hidden details that others would miss. I still don't know how to best test for it, though.
- Ben Parr
smart people are visionaries, humble and most likely pious too. Take a look at the peoples who are deemed as being smart. These are some of the comman attributes of these type of people.!
- Peter Dawson
I think it can go both ways-Charlie Rose talks about both-ideas are great, but what is with the people behind those ideas - that's very interesting! I also think its a natural human instinct to talk about others - it depends on the context. "I saw Tom Cruise last night" is the lowest common denominator. Inquiring about the dynamic of Shell's latest barrage of public vitriol and the work ethic of others in the Valley are spurned from natural human curiosity that we all share, whether we ask it or not.
- j sven
+1 for Paul
- Steven Hodson
Robert: ”Smart” here as different from ”Intelligent” – I have one story that will help us out here to identify a smart person. I had a friend at high school that knew he was not that intelligent, but he was smart: - he used to research old exams to see what the previous year tests would possibly cover on the upcoming exams. He used to collect all class notes from the top “dedicated”...
more...
- Joao
@susanbeebe: I dunno, I'd feel pretty hurt when the system took away my lightbult entirely.
- MiniMage TKDteacher of FF
from NoiseRiver
@regila: all this for a "bob"? ;-)
- directeur
from NoiseRiver
I remember my dad once telling me what Eleanor Roosevelt said... "Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."
- Brian Sloane
the first sign that someone is really smart... they will tell you they're not but they will show you they are.
- Scott Lockhart
I'm not saying I'm particularly smart, but I truly find celeb gossip one of the most uninteresting things I can think of.
- Ian May
I think that smart people are the people that get things done. Imagine two people that have never heard or met each other and both of them come up with the exact same brilliant idea. One person brings the brilliant idea to a reality, while the other person doesn't. Which person is smarter?
- Rishabh Mishra (p248)
from NoiseRiver
Plug for the "highfalutin" room: http://friendfeed.com/rooms... if you want to talk about things with depth
- Ňicķ
maybe true...but everyone is smart in their own right. you might be a social media whiz but not know anything about putting in kitchen cabinets. I'm a firm believer that everyone has their sweet spots in terms of knowledge. The really smart ones, just take the time to expand that sweet spot so it's more than just a spot and more like an area.
- Don Martelli
I think a smart person can talk about both. That way he/she can converse with all people and not make anyone feel less smart than them.
- Adrienne Van Houten
Adrienne: I agree with that. But smart people never start out that way.
- Robert Scoble
What an awful generalization. That's how I know when someone is smart. When he doesn't make an implied generalization like "stupid people talk about celebrities".
- Jay Cruz
smart people think through questions and give full answers. who talks to you about angelina jolie? i agree anybody asking scoble about that is "not as intelligent," but probably nice people...unless they have no idea who you are....maybe they ask you these questions: "is veronica belmont really cute in person? or is kevin rose really a ladies man?" however, smart people are not always smart in all aspects of their lives...
- Pokai
"Smart people talk about ideas. Common people talk about things. Mediocre people talk about people." -Jules Romains
- Joe Lencioni
@Jay: You spelled know wrong.
- Daniel Smith
For the record, that was a joke ;)
- Daniel Smith
Thank's @Daniel Smith
- Jay Cruz
You know when someone is smart when they know what they're talking about and they have a good understanding. "Smart" people grasp things better and/or have ideas.
- Kevin Porter
from twhirl
Smart is not about opinions ("Stupid ideas"). You can be smart and have different beliefs. I'm wondering if they are "smart" conversations or just engaging conversations. I'm much more interested in sharing ideas than sports scores, gossip, or transitory circumstances.
- Barb Gonzalez
Ugh. Most of these comments seem to prescribe behavior to those who are "smart" - one of the only commonalities I've ever seen of truly smart people is that they make their own rules. To say they only talk about X not Y or they listen more than they talk or any other behavioral observation misses the mark with me. Smart people don't subscribe to other peoples' ideas of what they should be.
- Lucretia Pruitt
Smart people realize how little they know but have no need to try and convince others that they know a lot.
- Dossy Shiobara
Scoble, no one is "smart" or an "expert." It doesn't really matter at all. The only thing that matters is how people preceive someone to be. My blog, http://onlyjames.com/ is constantly growing, so I believe people to think I am smart. Then again, I might be a complete nutcase. :D
- James Mowery
from twhirl
I think you can define smart a few different ways as well. I think the question you're really asking is "How to determine if someone is INTELLIGENT?"
- David Andrzejewski
I have noticed that they seem less likely to urinate in their pants than the general population
- Seth Shapiro
I wish I understood this.
- Michael Markman
Takes a long time of knowing someone and seeing how they react under differents sets of circumstances. People are smart in some ways, but not in others.
- Francine Hardaway
from twhirl
When I hear the word "celebrity" I now think of Sarah Austin's Pop17 which come to think of it Robert, you have never acknowledged that I know of. Her site is about a new kind of celebrity. For her, and for me, the interesting celebrities are people who become famous because of their outstanding work. And she does not attempt to ask about shallow tips or favorite colors, but rather about their work. The people she tends to interview are micro-celebrities small in size, but important.
- Andrew Baron
Smart people don't brag about how they can recognize smart people.
- Rutger Blom
I enjoy people who talk about other change-makers in the world. People who point me towards amazing & influential musicians, dancers, physicists, politicians, chefs, etc... Sometimes the geek-world is a little heavy on ideas. I enjoy hearing about the life history & paths of unusual chemists, religious leaders, and environmentalists. Just as some of my friends have more "aesthetic sense" than others, some are unusually attuned to remarkable people, and some to innovative ideas.
- Mitchell Tsai
smart people just know
- Pokai
@ Scoble, once again you've hit a collective nerve with this thread. it goes back to what makes us human? "i'm not human without you"- Desmond Tutu re: Umuntu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... communities like friendfeed should be a place where we explore these types of questions, there is enough pablum out in this world already, thanks for pursuing this line of questioning.
- michael sean wright
I have an idea in that I'd love to get Britney Spears on Twitter - I think that would do wonders for her career. ;)
- Jesse Stay
Is smart a measurement of intelligence or emotional quotient? One's intelligence is measured and quantified, like it or not, whether intelligence is synonmous with smart, that maybe another question. One can have emotional quotient as well i.e. street smarts and it too is measurable. Intelligence is not dribble. Intelligence, for me, is the generation of ideas with vision followed by implementation. Intelligence has many forms as well albeit plasticity or crystallized. Good nature versus nurture question.
- ka3drr
I'll answer with this: the people's intelligence that I most desire and respect are the ones who are able to bring reality to the "out of the box" ideas they have. Plenty of people can speculate, but very few have the competence to bring a good idea to the rest of us.
- Tony
depressingly true...
- Stephen Roberts
I still have no clue who these A-listers are that people talk about but I'm interested in ideas both from other people and also sharing ones I come across. Celebrities? Phooey, give me an original thinker any day.
- Sally Church
Pop culture aficionados are not necessarily stupid. I think the smartest people can carry on a conversation about nearly anything, and like it or not popular culture is a great source of inspiration for many ideas.
- Lindsey is Fierce!
Hmmm, how about... Methinks "smart people" think about having conversations with people (aka "intellectual celebrities") with whom they can talk about ideas and... Sigh... It still goes back to Howard Bloom: http://users.ucom.net/~vegan... —I'm a Zen Buddhist, but I still do think "God" is fair... As in, I can brainstorm pretty well, yes, but I'd die in the Aussie outback if you put me there. :P
- asepsotic
Thats a great observation. If only we could make those ideas a reality :) You are a fun guy to talk about ideas with.
- Christian Burns
Is this where we talk about Paris Hilton ?
- Eric Berlin
Eric: my niece says Sean Faris is hot. I don't even know who that is. Off to the Google for me! :-)
- Robert Scoble
I think I have a trump card. go look at The Inquisitr..there's some pretty intelligent posts on there and, also talk about celebrities. You can tell someone you are talking to is smart by the way they treat the subject at hand and, how they deliver their portion of the conversation.
- Candace
Funny you should mention him, Robert. I'm working with a website, and he's one of our celebs on it. The odd part, for me, is that we have all of these B+ list celebs, and I don't know any of them.
- Bradley McSpinn
I put it to you that smart people talk about people rather than ideas
- Jim
Frederick - http://thomashawk.com/2008...
Allison Kipta, Jesper Kjær Hansen, Lisa L. Seifert and 24 other people liked this
Nice story and photo
- Bob Gannon
love this project
- Marshall Kirkpatrick
from fftogo
This is incredible Thomas. It's sad that Frederick won't ever see our comments. Do you think he ever will?
- Eric Thompson
Great idea and "Frederick" is an awesome portrait.
- James
This is one of my most favorite projects being done ... excellent
- Steven Hodson
he picked a great pose... great photo!
- Tim Hoeck
from NoiseRiver
Thomas, another great portrait! I love the expression on his face, he looks very happy considering he is homeless. What is your sense about the homeless people you have photographed so far. Do they seem at peace with the fact they are homeless or is there an underlying sense of despair?
- Jeff P. Henderson
I think this is one of my favorites so far. Well done.
- Justin Korn
Beautiful shot. I think your $2 portrait project is a fantastic idea.
- matt hollingsworth
Nice one again! It's easy to just ignore these guys (that's what I do most of the time). By taking a picture you give them some time and show respect. I think that's great!
- Daan
I truly look forward to reading your $2 portrait stories. I think I like most that you talk to them about their lives. That shot was amazing. I love the emotion.
- Jeremy Kunz
EPIC LOLZ @ the "Blog owner has died, notify kin." WordPress plugin. Seriously. http://wordpress.org/extend...
Brian Sullivan, Alan Le, Paul Whitaker and Brandon Wood liked this
Rob McNair-Huff, Brandon Wood, Anna Haro and Igor The Troll יִצְחָק liked this
Jeff Wright, Brandon Wood, RAPatton and 7 other people liked this
Brandon Wood, Shannon Carver and pcnerd37 liked this
Great picture!
- pcnerd37
iTunes activation servers go down, iPhone 3G customers being sent home unactivated - http://www.engadget.com/2008...
Steve Spalding, InPerpetualMotion(Gina k), Adewale Oshineye and 20 other people liked this
Yes, everyone who didn't stand in line this morning can now begin laughing.
- Carla Thompson
I'd think the net-crush this time would be lighter than iPhone 1.0, and they did OK with that. But maybe along with all the Apps downloads, etc. it is more load than they planned for.
- Anthony Citrano
@Carla - exactly. I love Apple, and I am going to go get an Airport Express today/tonight for another project, but I can't see standing in a long line for anything. Just not in my personality.
- Anthony Citrano
Epic fail. Historic fail.
- Chris Baskind
Does anybody know what the line is like at the San Francisco store now? I want a new phone, but don't have the time for a long wait in line.
- Jeremy Brooks
So will those who walk out with an unactivated iPhone 3G be somehow charged if we don't activate within 30 days?
- Hao Chen
Nelson has something to say about that: http://op-for.com/simpson... ... (Sorry)
- Chris Reed
Oh and my email is down too. I feel completely cut off from the outside world.
- Carla Thompson
Not here... In Rochester, they said too damn bad.
- Cyndy
Activation Server down affects first gen iPhones too that try to upgrade to 2.0 - yes, I wasn't paying attention and hit the upgrade automatically, iPhone is now sitting there deactivated with inability to connect to iTunes store.
- William Reveal
Wow, guess AT&T/Apple should really have tried the "stadium flush" test before going out
- Doug Haslam
from twhirl
And once again, AT&T screws the whole thing up (the activation server isn't something Apple controls).
- Adam Turetzky
That and the iPod touch 2.0 update still isn't available
- Nick Humphries
The guy that helped me at the AT&T store said that they didn't set up any sort of internal access to iTunes so, not only were they dealing with traffic from other stores, but also from regular joes around the globe accessing iTunes. Brilliant.
- Carla Thompson
And thus begins my guilt for leaving ITunes open on the PC when I left home today... (wife is home... figure she'll use it...)
- Chris Reed
Well, which is it?? Some are saying it's Apple's global iTunes servers failing - Adam says it's ATT's servers...
- Anthony Citrano
It's my understanding (and I certainly could be wrong) that the "activation" step of the process is done over TCP/IP to AT&T's serial # servers to register your phones radio transceiver (or check it's registration in the case of a firmware update to an already registered phone) on their network. Something Apple would really have no business running or dealing with.
- Adam Turetzky
Nope... the issue is with registering to Apple. Phone is now working, but can't sync to iTunes because it can't connect to Apple.
- Cyndy
I have a really pretty white apple brick, I like to look at it.. maybe touch it lightly, every once in a while.
- Phil G
i did a little retrospective with a bunch of videos taken during the failure here in SF http://venturebeat.com/2008...
- MG Siegler
To top everything off on my iPhone misadventure, I discovered the little handheld devices Apple stores reps are using? Ya, they run Windows. Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you. But kind of ironic, wouldn't you say?
- Tom Landini
I've been trying to download the 2.0 upgrade for my iTouch since 8AM this morning. Keep getting a message the the iTunes store is unavailable. Itunes itself upgraded fine and actually lets me select the app and add them. Anyone else having this issue?
- Kevin Shannon
SF downtown store had a line down the block and around the corner. AT&T store across Market was shorter, but still estimated at over an hour. I think I will leave early today and go wait in line.
- Jeremy Brooks
My girlfriend is at the Freehold, NJ mall and says there's a good 4-500 people in a line coming from the Apple store. Don't know how the AT&T store is doing in the mall.
- Robert DeBord
Pike Place Market - http://www.zooomr.com/photos...
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Brandon Wood, Alexander Tsang, Naor Mark and 6 other people liked this
Oy! I used to have a phone. Now I have a brick. - http://www.flickr.com/photos...
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Mike Reynolds, Anthony Citrano, Alexei Tolkachev and 3 other people liked this
my office mate has had the exact same screen up on his computer for the last hour...
- Morgan
same problem Dave. I tried to stop you :-)
- Francine Hardaway
from twhirl
same here, except I'm getting error -4
- Cartwright Reed
same problem here, should have checked online for brick stories before clicking OK on the upgrade, damn.
- David Billingham
Weird - seems like their servers are groaning. The reason it's weird to me is - you'd think the net-crush this time would be lighter than iPhone 1.0, and they did OK with that. But maybe along with all the Apps downloads, etc. it is more load than they planned for.
- Anthony Citrano
Anthony, don't forget that, in addition to the apps, the iPhone is selling in a lot more countries now that a year ago, and in many of those countries, today is the first day they've been on sale.
- Erik S
Excellent point, Erik. Do you know, is it a network problem? It looks that way to me, but I'm not an engineer and no one has really said that out loud yet that I can see.
- Anthony Citrano
I'm finally un bricked, solution left phone in cradle and kept clicking on store and the iphone until it connected to the store, still can't sync
- Bryan Thatcher
from twhirl
lightning through my camera - http://www.flickr.com/photos...
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Geraldine Copywright, RyanEs, Richard Peat and 13 other people liked this
saw that yesterday , glad she is fine I'm a fireman in Canada , many years ago I was at a school where a man took cover under a large tree during a lightning storm and this man wasn't so fortunate. This lady is very lucky.
- johnpiercy
omg, that is awesome and messed up at the same time.
- jered reynolds
from feedalizr
I will think about this every time I'm out in a thunderstorm. And I'll be positive that I'm next.
- Dan McFarland
Holy Crap Weasles Batman! I think if that happened to me there would be lots and lots of swearing.
- Toby Graham
Demo of the month: Yosemite Gigapixel Extreme Imaging Proj: http://scobleizer.com/2008...
Brandon Wood, Scott Bauer, Sally Church and 7 other people liked this
This looks really really nice! Exactly the reason why I love technology.
- Jorg Jansen
Whoa. HAve you seen this search engine TinEye that allows you to find image duplicates on the Web via direct recognition technology? Very cool. http://tineye.com/login
- john conroy
OpenDNS screwed up on the xrez.com site. It's categorized as Nudity,Pornography.
- eyeonpower
Maybe it's the 'x'-prefix? But I use OpenDNS and it seemed to be fine.
- Manu Ullas
from twhirl
Still, quite amazing to see pictures so sharp and with such detail. Is the term 'Gigapixel' used loosely? Or is it truly giga?
- Manu Ullas
from twhirl
using the most excellent Browsershots to debug retarded IE 6 problems https://browsershots.org
Brandon Wood, AJ Batac and oyunfound liked this
In an Iranian Image, a Missile Too Many - The Lede - Breaking News - New York Times Blog - http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2008...
Kol Tregaskes, Gavin, tomit and 99 other people liked this
For its part, Agence France-Presse retracted its four-missile version this morning, saying that the image was “apparently digitally altered” by Iranian state media. The fourth missile “has apparently been added in digital retouch to cover a grounded missile that may have failed during the test,” the agency said. Later, it published an article quoting several experts. Throughout the day, several news sites have taken steps to disown the photograph that they ran on Wednesday, including LATimes.com and MSNBC.com.
- Thomas Hawk
from Bookmarklet
Oh come on - you'd think they would learn that we live in the 21st century by now?
- DAVE ID
Idiots.
- Shawn Farner
We should have caught this on the desk though. It probably got validated in a hurry and wasn't thoroughly checked
- Jon Dillon
Yikes.
- l0ckergn0me
That's amazing. lol
- justine
I find the enthusiasm of media funny. Media should better direct our country's foreign policy than scoring some brownie points on photoshop disasters. How does it matter if one missile failed. What matters is what we are going to do to stop missile proliferation without using our own missile. Scoring such brownie points are kid's play and not media's.
- Krishnan Subramanian
The Iranians should be writing Photoshop tutorials instead of trying to mimic their missle supply!
- John Barker
busted by the Lizard Army
- Jeff Evans
Great story!
- Daan
Nice catch ya'll. Wag the dog indeed!
- Mathew A. Koeneker
http://www.flickr.com/photos... I suck at Photoshop :-(
- AJ Batac
Good that AFP caught it. I've been documenting "fauxtography" in the media: theory.isthereason.com/?p=1164
- Kevin Lim
If the photo would have come the Pentagon instead of Iran's Revolutionary Guard the AP would have checked it out.
- Robert Hafer
@Robert you mean the AFP
- Rubin Sfadj
Animated version http://tinyurl.com/6gg57x
- Oldengrey (Jay)
@RobertHafer, the AFP ran the unedited, doctored satellite photos prior to the war in Iraq.
- Prolific Programmer
Looks like one of their missiles didn't fire!
- Ben Metcalfe
from twhirl
"If you suffer from Ballistic Missile Launch Malfunction, then Misalys may be right for you..."
- Live4Emma (L4S)
5 to 1 they used a pirated copy...they need to download a few Photoshop Podcasts for some tips on cloning...better yet, download "You Suck at Photoshop"...
- Live4Emma (L4S)
That is incredibly disturbing; the Photoshop clone tool will prolly be the cause of the button press on the next significant US-involved conflict.
- Clay Newton
Photography can be a powerful tool and terribly politically influential. I watched a photography documentary recently that cited the famous photo of a buddhist monk lighting himself on fire as the tipping point on the Vietnam involvement with President Kennedy.
- Thomas Hawk
My Dad told me that it was when Cronkite declared the war "unwinnable" after the Tet Offensive that America changed their tune on the war...
- Live4Emma (L4S)
seems the bbc hasnt noticed. now they are showing footage of the missile launch that matches the AP photo and then also different newspaper front pages which published the photos, some using the AFP and others AP, but no mention of this. interesting.
- Katie Ratcliffe
Let's just drop the old one down the memory tubes to get rid of the double-plus-un-true version.
- Nicholas Molnar
Boycott Hyatt Hotels - http://thomashawk.com/2008...
edythe, Jennifer Van Grove, Holger Eilhard and 14 other people liked this
I have to disagree with you on this Hawk. I think everyone deserves some degree of privacy. I have to give Hyatt some credit for protecting the privacy of their guests. Otherwise the paparazzi can just run free. And I think paparazzi suck.
- Scott Wamsley
Is this chain-wide? We have been to the Embarcadero Hyatt to shoot many times, and they have always been cool. Their security people have even talked to us while we were up on the 12th floor (I think it was 12) shooting the ferry building at night, and they didn't care.
- Jeremy Brooks
i've taken tons of photos in hotel lobbies - makes no sense why they'd ban them (didn't sound like a paparazzi related issue the way you explained it) sounds like you just ran into a hard-ass security guard thomas...
- mike "glemak" dunn
@Scott, but he wasn't taking photos of people, and he was in a public place.
- Jeff P. Henderson
Mike, he said it was hotel policy. I've shot plenty in the SF Hyatt.
- Thomas Hawk
I think that he was just jealous of your wife.
- Kreg Steppe
I had a similar experience recently. I was shooting the open architecture of the vaulted (4 story) ceiling in the lobby of a hotel. The security guard scenario ensued. I actually laughed and said, "taking a picture of the ceiling is a security risk?" Stone faced he replied "Yes." After a few more back and forths, I just shook my head and moved on. It wasn't that good of a picture anyway.
- Jeremy Hall
Well, this is what I saw at the Pittsburgh Westin: http://www.flickr.com/photos... To be fair though, it was because the NY Yankees were staying there.
- Morton Fox
Kind of odd that they have the Pro Photo Summit going on and this happens :) I don't know the area, but I am assuming this is nearby, and they might be aware that there would be a ton of photographers in the area.
- Tim Hoeck
Matthew and while it is in their rights to prohibit photography, it's in my rights to no longer stay at Hyatt Hotels.
- Thomas Hawk
@Jeff, ... I think its borderline public/ private place. I think to some degree, you are paying for some privacy. But I wasn't there, so I don't know the details.
- Scott Wamsley
It might be worth investigating whether this is a Hyatt policy, or a Bellevue Hyatt policy.
- Dave Roth
@Jeremy: I always try to get a shot of the guard when this happens to me. It pisses them off to no end....
- Jeremy Brooks
You're paying for privacy in the hotel *room*. In the hotel lobby, it's according to their discretion.
- Morton Fox
While they are technically well within their rights to limit photography, given that is a private business, it seems ridiculous that they would choose to do so. I think if you asked most businesses that have no photography policies why the policy is in place, they wouldn't be able to give you a very compelling answer.
- Brandon Wood
It's my hope that by raising awareness about stupid no photography policies that business would see that having these policies in place hurts business and take steps to make the world a more free place for photographers.
- Thomas Hawk
@Scott, You are correct, even though it is a publicly accessible place, technically it is private property, so the do have a right to limit photography. What is unfortunate is that if TH had been using a point and shoot to take a picture of a group of people in the lobby the security would probably not have given it it a second thought. The guard did say it was OK to shoot if MrsTH was in the photo. I do not see the logic in this policy. Was it the big camera that prompted this?
- Jeff P. Henderson
My biggest disagreement is with places that enforce (or spontaneously invent) policy differently based on what kind of camera you have. I have literally 10 times as much trouble walking around with a DSLR than I do with a point-and-shoot. For most purposes that a vendor or police officer would want to inhibit photography (privacy, security) it doesn't matter whether my camera has a...
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- Kevin Fox
I guess I will stick my neck out here. Hyatt's no photography policy makes me want to stay there more. It is not reasonable for Hyatt to ask their security guards to determine if each photographer is taking pictures of the architecture in a lobby or if they are snapping photos of people inside. I appreciate that they defaulted to privacy in this case.
- Michael Carter
Michael, bear in mind that when I was asked to stop taking photos I was very clearly taking photographs of bamboo. Something pretty harmless from a privacy standpoint.
- Thomas Hawk
I just did a quick search on flickr using "hyatt bellevue washington" and came up with more than a few photos of the interior lobby/bar area (granted, not tons). I also checked their website to see if I could find their policy on photography and couldn't find anything. What is most frustrating about this to me is that if there is a policy in place, it should be posted so that you can choose to stay or not. It should not be left to the discretion of hotel staff on a case by case basis.
- carlotta fancypants
Thomas, if you haven't already you should open a FF room to collect all of the conversations you have re: no photography policies. I see them pop up fairly often, but it would be great to see all of them in one location. Might also be easier to display how big of an issue this really is.
- Robert DeBord
I definitely see your point Thomas and respect your decision to spend your money elsewhere. I am just saying that it is not practical for Hyatt's security guards to keep their eye on every photographer to make sure they keep their focus away from people. Hyatt needed a practical policy that would be easy for their guards to implement. I have seen the paparazzi acting like they were taking pictures of the scenery until the star they were stalking walked by.
- Michael Carter
Michael, I would be *very* surprised if Hyatt's security guards hassle people with small point-and-shoot cameras taking picturs of the lobby. If this is the case, then I would disagree with you and say that if they can differentiate by camera size they can differentiate by behavior as well. Most importantly, a clear and consistant policy is what's missing here, and what I would expect...
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- Kevin Fox
I think in this case, because you were on private property, they were within their rights. Your crime was getting caught. ;)
- Chris Luckhardt
Kevin's right, their "no photography" policy should be clearer and in this case as is frequently the case the big DSLR gets targeted while the camera phones and cell phones do not. I did also specifically tell the security guard that I was just shooting bamboo. He still told me I was not allowed to shoot it.
- Thomas Hawk
the hotel Roosevelt here in hollywood has the same policy. What are they so worried about?
- sean percival
He seemed sincerely apologetic for having to do his job. He was closer in proximity to me & though I was shooting, he gave me a pass & went straight for Thomas for the reprimand. Hmmmm?
- Mrsth
Tech security blogger Bruce Schneier has apparently been writing a lot on this subject recently. http://www.schneier.com/blog...
- Rafael Robayna
They are well within their rights to ban photography. TH is clearly within his rights to choose not to patronize them. If I choose to eat only organic meat, it doesn't mean that McDonalds has to make me an organic Big Mac.
- David Thomas
Lise Gagne, Artistic Director, iStockPhoto - http://www.zooomr.com/photos...
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Parth Awasthi, edythe, Mahdi Ebrahimi and 5 other people liked this
Twitter Keynote Theme. ;) http://www.tonsai.de/blog-en...
Brandon Wood and andy brudtkuhl liked this
An Ode to the Bellevue Hyatt and Their No Photography Policy on Flickr - Photo Sharing! - http://www.flickr.com/photos...
Allison Kipta, edythe, gfurry and 5 other people liked this
While attending the Microsoft Pro Photo Summit I'm staying at the Bellevue Hyatt. Last night my wife and I were taking a few photographs in the lobby when we were approached by hotel security who informed me that taking photographs in the hotel was not allowed. I argued with him a bit and told him that I was only taking pictures of bamboo. He still pressed on with his no photography policy. I finally got him to relent that if my wife were in the photo that I could still take the photo. As soon as he went the other way I started taking pictures again. Illegal, renegade photography. I think that it is absurd that any hotel would prohibit photography in their public lobby and will never stay at another Hyatt again unless they change their photography policy and apologize.
- Thomas Hawk
from Bookmarklet
Like they didn't know a bunch of photographers were coming
- Dave Pelland
Was there any reason given for the policy?
- Brian Sullivan
Mahdi Ebrahimi, Mitchell Tsai, RAPatton and 21 other people liked this
I am in love with your Flickr stream :)
- Andrew Villeneuve
hey tom I don't know if you know this but the photograview flickr group now displays the newest 15 to the pool on the pages of http://photograview.com
- Greg Wilker
from twhirl
did i'm acting stupid if i say that TH is my mentor? great stuff
- Mathias Pastwa
You and me both, Mathias. :-)
- Jeremy Brooks
Thomas,how do you find the time to upload photos to flickr while on a conference?
- Rutger Blom
Rutger I'm uploading photos in the background that I processed earlier this morning before the conference while the conference is going on right now. Multi tasking :) Thanks to MSFT for the free wi-fi!
- Thomas Hawk
Seriously, I want to be as good as you. I need to take more pictures and I guess get a better camera or better lenses.
- Andrea Baker
Thomas, I'm truly impressed by how you manage to keep such a pace. Despite the huge quantity of photos you produce the quality is often very high.
- Rutger Blom
Often? Always...
- Håkan Dahlström
Jeff P. Henderson, Mrsth, Brandon Wood and 5 other people liked this
Jesse Jackson said he wants to cut Obama's nuts off. So? I've had the same thought today after the FISA thing. Maybe more than his nuts.
Mark Edwards, Brandon Wood, Stefan Hayden and 21 other people liked this
Makes me homesick for Chicago.
- Oldengrey (Jay)
Lol, Jesse Jackson is one crazy ass mofo.
- Andrew Fielding
Keith Olbermann had a good one on Obama and FISA. In case you missed it: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id...
- Alexei Tolkachev
What's next on Obama's agenda over the next four or eight years, after the FISA thing -- inquiring minds want to know.
- Sean McBride
Turley had some great words about it on MSNBC last night... in my recent feed.
- Anthony Citrano
Jesse doesn't do cowering either. ;)
- Oldengrey (Jay)
you're joking, of course - however don't be surprised if you're contacted by secret service for this "threat"... :-)
- Andy Green
Anyone who has seen the content of the unwarranted wiretaps has fully supported them.... not saying that makes it right but it does make them necessary.
- Aaron deMello
Aaron -- can you document your statement about the content of unwarranted wiretaps?
- Sean McBride
Nothing makes them "necessary". What's happening now is exactly the type of oppression the sons of liberty revolted against.
- Adam Turetzky
Even if _everyone_ "supported" the wiretaps based on the content, Aaron...the point is that it's not good enough. We have laws.
- Ken Kennedy
@Sean McBride - the tricky part is getting into specifics, which I can't. I am in the surveillance biz (or was, rather) and the ugly aspect for law enforcement is that the 'bad guys' (for lack of a better term) are better armed - with PGP, HushMail, stenography, casual SecondLife or Habbo meetups, etc. Makes it almost impossible to trace their convos. For all the $ in the world I would not want the job of an analyst following up on a FISA warrant.
- Aaron deMello
@Ken Kennedy - great name, btw - I agree in principle but data is like fishing - you catch it when its there in front of you, or you kiss it goodbye. The sons of liberty have a very hard time trying to find the balance between protecting our rights and exploiting technology for their goals - which protect our way of life. The FISA laws worked well in the past but today - rest assured that the guys we are looking for are far more adept at exploiting the tools than we allow our boys to be.
- Aaron deMello
@Aaron...don't take this the wrong way, but spare me. If it's against the law, you kiss it goodbye. You and I both know that the FISA law as (it was at the time) written allows for "catching it when it's there"...it's just more of a pain. It's DESIGNED to be a pain. We're not /supposed/ to be spying on people without warrants. Once upon a time, we (rightly) condemned other countries for doing this. *sigh*
- Ken Kennedy
And please, no movie plots. kthx. *grin* And thanks for chatting, btw. Seriously. We need to have these discussions out in the open; it's important for our society.
- Ken Kennedy
@Ken Kennedy - sure, they are designed to be a pain. I just don't think its fair that we have to play the very same game under extremely different rules. Should our lofty ideals be preserved in the name of security? That is the question that will be debated for the next few generations but personally I am willing to give the benefit of the doubt to those charged with tackling the problem, rather than us - the peanut gallery.
- Aaron deMello
@Aaron...you laid that out rather well, thanks. And we disagree (which is ok) on alot. *grin* Probably the most important difference to me is actually at the end there; the peanut gallery comment. We're not the peanut gallery, Aaron...we are where those "charged with tackling the problem" derive their power from. This is no divine right monarchy; we're a cantankerous republic where the people ultimately run the show. Good questions, though!
- Ken Kennedy
OMG, what a dumb-ass thing to do for a seasoned media guy like Jesse. FAIL!
- John McCrea
If it was a Republican folks woudl be screaming racism. Apparently Jesse gets a pass.
- Soulhuntre
from twhirl
Had a flash on Obama and FISA. When he's elected Pres he uses FISA authority to legally eavesdrop on George Dubya Bush without court oversight, Private Citizen and ex-president, and leaks the juiciest bits to Olbermann. Puts him on the terror watch list, and while you're at it puts him in Guantanamo. Gives paparzzi full access.
- Dave Winer
@Ken Kennedy - agreed. I believe in the end, perhaps not the means.
- Aaron deMello
Aaron: How many terrorists have been convicted of terrorist activities in the United States as the result of warrantless wiretapping? How many cases against alleged terrorists have fallen part? How many times have neoconservatives accused their political opponents of being "terrorists"? How many despotic and state terrorist regimes throughout history have used the threat of "terrorism" to acquire and protect their power? So many interesting questions on this issue.
- Sean McBride
@Sean - all those are very interesting questions and there are many more. My sentiment is that we are severely outclassed in the war on terror given all the legal restrictions that are not shared by the enemy. Even the simple act of getting a warrant to expose the phone calls of a unidentified pre-paid SIM card can be a living nightmare. How can one get a warrant when you don't even know if the subscriber is a suspect? These and other complex issues are the ones facing the intelligence community today.
- Aaron deMello
Dave, I owe you an apology. I was sure you had made up that comment about what Jesse Jackson said. I think Jesse just threw himself under the bus. When is the last time he was relevant?
- Ha3rvey (not Akiva)
I thought the fact that Obama voted for the FISA would be indicative that he was already neutered?
- Vidar Andersen
Aaron: history proves that the most dangerous terrorists in the world are state terrorists, like the Nazi, Stalinist and Maoist regimes, which collectively murdered more than 100 million people in the 20th century. State terrorists typically define all their political opponents as "terrorists," and then proceed to spy on them, torture them and murder them without any legal restraints....
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- Sean McBride
Aaron: If I don't break into your house to find the dismembered bodies, how can I prove that you're an axe murderer?
- David Worrell
Dave, Obama's vot eon FISA was simply a political consideration. Need to get him elected, then fix the FISA problem.
- ron k jeffries
Aaron: focusing on the first question: to the best of my knowledge, no one has been convicted of being a terrorist or being involved in terrorist activities as a result of warrantless wiretapping. Do you agree? I don't think it's worth trashing the Constitution and Bill of Rights to promote police state methods that were pioneered by Stalin and Hitler and that have produced such meager results.
- Sean McBride
Ron: Obama's position on FISA demonstrates that he is politically tone deaf and may well not get elected. What made him a viable candidate was the enthusiasm of his base, which he has now destroyed. Most Americans do not support the FISA bill -- it's not even a "center" issue. It's a hard right neoconservative issue. Check out the discussion of this controversy on On Point Radio today <http://tinyurl.com/6crxv6> and especially note the exchanges between Tom Ashbrook and Glenn Greenwald.
- Sean McBride
Ron, respectfully: I don't think it's right to 'play politics' with a bill that undercuts the constitutional balance of power itself. I'll still vote for him. But this makes him just another 'lesser evil' to me.
- Madsimian
Dave Winer makes an important point: once a police state machine and culture is installed in any government, it will be used by any political faction that acquires control of it to destroy the political opposition. The American Founding Fathers were acutely aware of this problem, and that is why they created the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. Bush 43 and the neocons are perhaps...
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- Sean McBride
Harvey, he's relevant to the companies he's shaken down for money and donations for percieved abuses.
- Jason Shultz
from twhirl
Sean: we will never know the answer to that question, which is the entire purpose of the warrant-less wire-tapping program. The results of the program were never going to be used as evidence, at least not in a public court. Like I said before, there are always challenges in a democracy where the need to balance public safety with personal privacy becomes a very gray area. As to the effectiveness of the program, this is something else we will never know, since we have no idea how many attacks were prevented.
- Aaron deMello
Aaron: any totalitarian dictator anywhere in the world, following in the footsteps of Stalin, Hitler and Mao, could use some of the arguments we have seen here to construct a terrorist police state that is completely unaccountable. Neocons like John Yoo, David Addington and Alberto Gonzales really don't get America and the thinking of the American Founding Fathers, in my opinion. They are paranoid authoritarians by temperament who fear a free and open society which encourages political dissent.
- Sean McBride
some say Jackson has a point?! not! http://www.slate.com/id...
- ~C4Chaos
Sean: Paranoia does play a part in it, and some paranoia can be healthy. At the same time, I'd rather have hawks than doves protecting my freedoms, and will grant them the wiggle room necessary to do what they feel must be done. What did you think of the voting numbers? 69 to 28?
- Aaron deMello
Aaron: any political movement which thinks nothing of trashing the Constitution, while labeling its mainstream American political opponents as "terrorists" and "traitors" (yes, the neocons have done this repeatedly -- check out the log of these events on Media Matters for America), is only interested in destroying our freedoms, not protecting them. The neocons are the last people in the...
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- Sean McBride
As has been pointed out to me, it's not the fault of the telcos that Bush and company failed to get the necessary warrants (which they can legally do after the fact). So there's good reason to protect the telcos from civil trials. Remember, it was Bush who broke the law. Don't make this about Obama. He didn't violate the 4th Amendment. That was the President, who's sworn to protect and uphold the Constitution.
- phil.gs
Based on the FISA vote, there's nothing to cut.
- Michael Markman
speaking of FISA, according to Lessig, "Obama has not shifted in his opposition to immunity for telcos" check it out http://lessig.org/blog...
- ~C4Chaos
The main effect of Lessig's annoying taunt will be to further alienate what was once Obama's base. Lessig just doesn't get it. On the other hand, McCain is such a weak candidate that there is very little Obama could do at this point to lose the election. Word is that the McCain campaign is seriously demoralized.
- Sean McBride
10 More Tips for Stunning Portrait Photography - http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r...
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